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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44338 ***
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
+
+Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+  BLACKWOOD'S
+
+  Edinburgh
+
+  MAGAZINE.
+
+  VOL. LXVIII.
+
+  JULY-DECEMBER, 1850.
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+  WILLIAM BLACKWOOD & SONS, EDINBURGH;
+
+  AND
+
+  37 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.
+
+  1850.
+
+
+
+
+BLACKWOOD'S
+
+EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.
+
+  NO. CCCCXVII.       JULY, 1850.       VOL. LXVIII.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+  THE HOUSE OF GUISE,                                          1
+
+  MY PENINSULAR MEDAL. BY AN OLD PENINSULAR. CONCLUSION,      20
+
+  CHATEAUBRIAND'S MEMOIRS,                                    33
+
+  THE GREEN HAND--A "SHORT" YARN. PART XI.,                   48
+
+  THE JEW BILL,                                               73
+
+  THE PICTURES OF THE SEASON,                                 77
+
+  THE YEAR OF SORROW.--IRELAND--1849,                         93
+
+  LONDON AND EDINBURGH CHESS MATCH,                           97
+
+  THE INDUSTRY OF THE PEOPLE,                                106
+
+
+EDINBURGH:
+
+WILLIAM BLACKWOOD & 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. CCCCXVII.       JULY, 1850.       VOL. LXVIII.
+
+
+
+
+THE HOUSE OF GUISE.[1]
+
+  [1] _Histoire des Ducs de Guise._ Par RÉNÉ DE BOUILLÉ, ancien
+  ministre plénipotentiaire. Volume the First. Paris: 1849.
+
+
+Upon the page of history are inscribed the names of many great men,
+uncrowned, but more illustrious than most kings, whose biography
+essentially involves the records of their country and times. The
+cases are very rare in which this occurs of an entire lineage;
+when through several successive generations the same extraordinary
+qualities are transmitted, and the hero or statesman who perished
+yesterday, to-day and to-morrow seems to start again to life in the
+persons of descendants who rival and even eclipse his fame. These
+remarkable and most unfrequent instances are exemplified in the
+house of Guise, those puissant nobles of Lorraine, immigrant into
+and naturalised in France, who for eighty years led the armies and
+directed the councils of their adopted country. Great warriors, bold
+and profound politicians, unscrupulous and interested champions of
+Rome, alternately defenders of and competitors for thrones, they
+upheld their power and pretensions by the double lever of religious
+enthusiasm, and of skilful appeals to the sympathy of the people.
+Rich in glory, in wealth, in popularity, they were alternately
+indispensable and formidable to their sovereigns, and were virtually
+the last representatives of that energetic, able, and arrogant
+aristocracy, whose services to the state were often limited by
+the jealousy their power inspired, and whose patriotism was not
+unfrequently tarnished by their factious temper and unbounded
+ambition. From an early period of the sixteenth century, the
+influence of Guise was felt in France, for the most part paramount
+to that of royalty itself; until the might and glory of the house
+sank and disappeared beneath the daggers of assassins, and before
+the conquering sword of the Fourth Henry.
+
+The history of France during the sixteenth century necessarily
+comprises the public acts of the family of Guise, and the memoirs
+of the time abound in personal details of the members of that
+renowned house; but a work especially devoted to them was still
+a desideratum, until the appearance of that which M. Réné de
+Bouillé has just produced. One of the chief difficulties of his
+task must have been to avoid including the history of the century
+in that of the extraordinary men so intimately connected with its
+chief events. Whilst confining himself as much as possible to his
+immediate subject, he has yet, as he himself says, found his horizon
+of necessity extensive. And in order to assemble in one frame the
+various members of that celebrated family, he has been compelled
+to admit with them a host of other personages, who in their turn
+have brought a retinue, and have insisted on at least a corner of
+the canvass being allotted to their deeds. The manner in which M. de
+Bouillé has treated this great historical picture, whose magnitude
+and difficulty must have deterred a less zealous and persevering
+artist, is most judicious. "I have been as sparing as possible of
+discussion," he says, "prodigal perhaps, on the other hand, of
+cotemporary evidence, of faithful quotations, of such details as
+bring facts into a stronger light, exhibit the actors on the stage
+in a more animated manner, and display and make known, of and by
+themselves, the personages, parties, manners and spirit of the
+times, and the character of the situations." M. de Bouillé claims,
+as a matter of justice, credit for conscientious application, and
+declares his whole aim will have been attained if his work be
+admitted to possess historical interest and utility. No impartial
+critic will refuse it these qualities. It is at once substantial
+and agreeable; valuable to the student, and attractive to those who
+consider histories of the Middle Ages as fascinating collections of
+strange adventures and romantic enterprises.
+
+Réné the Second, reigning duke of Lorraine--the same who fought and
+conquered with the Swiss at Morat, and defeated Charles the Bold at
+Nancy--desired to see one of his sons settled in France. He selected
+the fifth, Claude, to whom he left by will his various lordships in
+Normandy, Picardy, and other French provinces, causing him to be
+naturalised a Frenchman, and sending him at a very early age to the
+court of France, where he was presented as Count de Guise, a title
+derived from one of his domains. The young count found immediate
+favour with Louis XII., to the hand of whose daughter Renée he was
+considered a likely aspirant. But he fell in love with Antoinette
+de Bourbon, daughter of Count de Vendôme, (the great-grandfather of
+Henry IV.,) asked and obtained her in marriage, and celebrated his
+wedding, when he was but sixteen years of age, in 1513, at Paris,
+in presence of the whole French court. The following year another
+wedding occurred, but this time youth was on one side only. In his
+infirm and declining age, Louis XII. took to wife the blooming
+sister of Harry VIII. of England, and honoured Guise by selecting
+him to go, in company with the Duke of Angoulême and other princes
+of the blood, to receive his bride at Boulogne. The wedding was
+quickly followed by a funeral, and Francis I. sat upon the throne.
+This chivalrous and warlike monarch at once took his young cousin of
+Guise into high favour, to which he had a fair claim, not only by
+reason of his birth, and of his alliance with the house of Bourbon,
+but on account of his eminent capacity, and of the martial qualities
+whose future utility Francis doubtless foresaw. To his triumphs in
+the field, Guise preluded by others less sanguinary, but in their
+kind as brilliant, in the lists and in the drawing room. His grace
+and magnificence were celebrated even at a court of which those were
+the distinguishing characteristics, thronged as it was with princes
+and nobles, most of them, like the king himself, in the first flush
+of youth, and with keen appetites for those enjoyments which their
+wealth gave them ample means to command. He gained great credit by
+his prowess at the jousts and tournament held at Paris on occasion
+of the coronation, and his conduct in another circumstance secured
+him the favour of the ladies of that gallant and voluptuous court.
+"One night," says his historian, "he accompanied Francis I. to the
+queen's circle, composed of those ladies most distinguished by their
+charms and amiability. Struck by the brilliancy and fascination of
+the scene, unusual at a time when custom, by assigning to women a
+sort of inferior position, or at least of reserve, interdicted their
+mingling in the conversation, and to a certain extent in the society
+of men, Guise communicated his impression to the king, who received
+it favourably, and at once decided that, throughout the whole
+kingdom, women should be freed from this unjust and undesirable
+constraint." It will easily be conceived that such an emancipation
+insured Guise the suffrages of the fair and influential class who
+benefited by it. From his first arrival at the French court he seems
+to have made it his study to win universal favour; and he was so
+promptly successful that, at the end of a very few months, he had
+conquered the goodwill of both nobility and army. He took pains to
+study and adapt his conduct to the character of all with whom he
+came in contact, thus laying the foundation of the long popularity
+which he and his successors enjoyed in France.
+
+But courtly pleasures and diversions were quickly to be succeeded
+by the sterner business of war. At his death, Louis XII. had left
+all things prepared for an Italian campaign; and Francis, eager
+to signalise his accession by the recovery of the Milanese, moved
+southwards in the month of August 1515, at the head of the finest
+troops that had yet crossed the boundary line between France and
+Italy. His army consisted of fifteen thousand excellent cavalry,
+twenty-two thousand lansquenets, fourteen thousand French and
+Gascon infantry, besides pioneers and a numerous artillery. The
+Constable of Bourbon led the van, the Duke of Alençon commanded the
+rear; Francis himself headed the main body, accompanied by Duke
+Anthony of Lorraine, (eldest brother of Guise,) with Bayard for his
+lieutenant, and by the Duke of Gueldres, captain-general of the
+lansquenets, whose lieutenant was the Count de Guise. If the army
+was good, none, assuredly, ever reckoned greater warriors amongst
+its leaders. Guise, during the passage of the Alps--accomplished by
+extraordinary labour, and which completely surprised the enemy--made
+himself remarkable by his constancy and activity, by the wisdom of
+his counsels, and by his generosity to the soldiers, thus further
+augmenting the affection they already bore him. Bayard and other
+illustrious officers formed his habitual society; and in him they
+found the most cordial and affable of comrades, as well as the most
+zealous advocate of their interests with the king. Devoted to his
+sovereign, Guise, when Francis somewhat over-hastily promised the
+Swiss an exorbitant sum of money as the price of the Milanese, nobly
+offered to contribute to it to the extent of all he possessed. The
+treaty, however, was broken by the Swiss. Steel, not gold, was to
+settle the dispute; and the plains of Marignano already trembled at
+the approach of the hostile armies. At the age of eighteen, Guise
+found himself general-in-chief of twenty thousand men. The Duke of
+Gueldres, having been recalled to his dominions by an invasion of
+the Brabanters, transferred his command to his young lieutenant, at
+the unanimous entreaty of the lansquenets, and in preference to all
+the French princes there present. In the quickly ensuing battle,
+Guise showed himself worthy of his high post. In the course of the
+combat, when the Swiss, with lowered pikes and in stern silence,
+made one of those deadly charges which in the wars of the previous
+century had more than once disordered the array of Burgundy's
+chivalry, the lansquenets, who covered the French artillery, gave
+way. Claude of Lorraine, immovable in the front rank, shamed them
+by his example; they rallied; the guns, already nearly captured,
+were saved; the battle continued with greater fierceness than
+before, and ceased only with darkness. Daybreak was the signal
+for its resumption, and at last the Swiss were defeated. After
+breaking their battalions, Guise, over eager in pursuit, and already
+twice wounded, had his horse killed under him, was surrounded,
+overmatched, and left for dead, with twenty-two wounds. Nor would
+these have been all, but for the devotedness of an esquire, whose
+name Brantôme has handed down as a model of fidelity. Adam Fouvert
+of Nuremberg threw himself on his master's body, and was slain,
+serving as his shield. After the action, Guise was dragged out
+from amongst the dead, and conveyed by a Scottish gentleman to the
+tent of the Duke of Lorraine. He was scarcely recognisable, by
+reason of his wounds; he gave no sign of life, and his recovery was
+deemed hopeless. He did recover, however, thanks to great care,
+and still more to the vigorous constitution and energetic vitality
+which distinguished all of his house, and without which the career
+of most of them would have been very short. Scarcely one of the
+prominent members of that family but received, in the martial
+ardour of his youth, wounds whose severity made their cure resemble
+a miracle. A month after the battle of Marignano, Guise, although
+still suffering, was able to accompany Francis I. on his triumphant
+entry into Milan, "as captain-general of the lansquenets, with four
+lieutenants, all dressed in cloth of gold and white velvet." One
+of his arms was in a scarf, one of his thighs had to be supported
+by an esquire, but still, by his manly beauty and martial fame, he
+attracted the admiring gaze of both army and people. Francis, in his
+report to his mother of the battle, named Guise amongst the bravest,
+as well he might; and thenceforward his great esteem for the young
+hero was testified in various ways--amongst others, by intrusting to
+him several important and delicate diplomatic missions. At Bologna,
+on occasion of the interview between Francis and Leo X., the Pope
+addressed to Guise the most flattering eulogiums. "Your holiness,"
+replied the ardent soldier, in a prophetic spirit, "shall see that
+I am of Lorraine, if ever I have the happiness to draw sword in the
+Church's quarrel."
+
+Master of the Milanese, Francis I. returned to France and beheld
+his alliance courted by all the powers of Europe, when suddenly the
+death of the Emperor Maximilian (15th January 1519) proved a brand
+of discord. Francis and Charles were the only serious candidates
+for the vacant dignity. Guise, with a secret view, perhaps, to
+the crown of Jerusalem for himself, strained every nerve, exerted
+all his influence, on behalf of the French King. But Charles, the
+more skilful intriguer, prevailed; and Francis, deeply wounded and
+humiliated by his failure, revolved in his mind projects of war.
+In these the king did not lose sight of the great assistance he
+might expect from Guise, brave, skilful, and prudent as he was; and
+the esteem in which the young chief was held at court increased so
+greatly, that the French nobles came to consider him almost the
+equal of the members of the royal family. Guise, on the other hand,
+by reason of his enormous fortune and high birth, and in his quality
+of a foreign prince, spared no effort to place himself on the
+footing of an ally rather than of a subject of the King of France.
+
+Pretexts for hostilities were not wanting; and soon we find Guise,
+at the head of his lansquenets, fighting victoriously over the
+very same ground upon which, in our day, French armies contended
+with very different results. Maya, Fontarabia, and the banks of
+the Bidassoa witnessed his prowess; he himself, a half-pike in his
+hand, led his men through the river, with water to his armpits,
+dislodging the enemy by the mere terror his audacity inspired. When
+he returned to Compiègne, where the court then was, the King hurried
+forth from his chamber to meet him, embraced him warmly, and gaily
+said, "that it was but fair he should go out to meet his old friend,
+who, on his part, always made such haste to meet and revenge him
+on his enemies." His summer triumphs in the Pyrenees were followed
+by a winter campaign in Picardy, where he succeeded in preventing
+the junction of the English and Imperialists, besides obtaining
+some advantages over the former, and harassing their retreat to the
+coast. He thus added to his popularity with the army, and acquired
+strong claims to the gratitude of the Parisians, deeply alarmed by
+the proximity of the enemy to the capital, and who viewed him as
+their saviour.
+
+The year 1523 opened under menacing auspices. Germany, Italy,
+England, were leagued against France, whose sole allies were
+Scotland, the Swiss, (the adhesion of these depending entirely
+on regular subsidies,) and the Duke of Savoy, whose chief merit
+was that he could facilitate the passage of the Alps. Undeterred,
+almost foolhardy, Francis, instead of prudently standing on the
+defensive, beheld, in each new opponent, only a fresh source of
+glory. Unhappily for him, at the very moment he had greatest need
+of skilful captains, the Constable of Bourbon, irritated and
+persecuted in France, courted and seduced by the astute Charles V.,
+entered into a treasonable combination with the Imperialists. It was
+discovered; he fled, and effected his escape. Out of France, he
+was but one man the less, but that man was such a leader as could
+hardly be replaced, and Charles gave him command of his troops in
+the Milanese. The Constable's misconduct brought disfavour on the
+princes of the house of Bourbon, (of that of Valois none remained,)
+and this further increased the credit and importance of the Count
+of Guise. He was already governor of Champagne and Burgundy,
+provinces the Emperor was likely to attack. This command, however,
+was not the object of his desires; he would rather have gone to
+Italy, and applied to do so; but the King, rendered suspicious by
+the Constable's defection, began to consider, with some slight
+uneasiness, the position acquired by the Count of Guise; and it
+was probably on this account only that he would not confer on the
+Lorraine prince the direction of the Italian war. The glory of Guise
+lost nothing by the refusal, although that of France grievously
+suffered by the army of Italy being confided to the less capable
+hands of Admiral Bonnivet. Fortune soon afforded the younger general
+one of those opportunities of high distinction, of which no leader
+ever was more covetous or better knew how to take advantage. A large
+body of Imperialist infantry having made an irruption into Burgundy,
+he assembled the nobility of the province and about nine hundred
+men-at-arms, with which force he deemed himself able to keep the
+field against the twelve thousand lansquenets that Count Furstemberg
+led to meet him. By an odd accident, he had no infantry, his
+adversary no cavalry. By dividing his horsemen into small parties,
+and maintaining an incessant harassing warfare, Guise prevented
+the Germans from foraging; and at last, compelled by famine, they
+prepared to recross the Meuse, abandoning two forts they had
+captured, and carrying off a large amount of spoil. Thus encumbered,
+and vigorously pursued, their rearguard was cut to pieces, and
+their retreat converted into a rout. "With a feeling of chivalrous
+gallantry," says M. de Bouillé, "Guise desired to procure the
+duchess his sister-in-law, Antoinette de Bourbon, and the ladies of
+the court of Lorraine, then assembled at Neufchâteau, the enjoyment
+of this spectacle, (the battle), to them so new. Warned by him, and
+stationed at windows, out of reach of danger, whence they looked out
+upon the plain, they had the pastime, and were able to recompense,
+by their applause and cries of joy, the courage of the troops whom
+their presence animated."
+
+But such partial successes, however glorious to him by whom they
+were achieved, were all insufficient to turn the tide of disaster
+that had set in against the French arms. The defeat of Bonnivet,
+the invasion of Provence by the Constable, were succeeded by that
+terrible day before the walls of Pavia, when Francis I., vanquished,
+wounded, made prisoner by a rebellious subject, beheld his army
+destroyed, and the battle-field strewn with the bodies of his best
+generals, whilst, bleeding at his feet, slain in his defence, lay
+Francis of Lorraine, a younger brother of the Count of Guise, the
+second of that brave brotherhood who had fallen in arms under the
+_fleur-de-lis_.[2] When the brave but most imprudent monarch was
+carried into captivity, his mother, regent in his absence, placed
+her chief trust and dependence in Guise. Of these he proved himself
+worthy. He checked the ambition of the Duke of Vendôme, who, as
+first prince of the blood, showed a disposition to seize upon the
+regency; he advised the ransoming of the French prisoners taken
+at Pavia, and exercised altogether a most salutary influence upon
+the circumstances of that critical time. His good sword, as well
+as his precocious wisdom, was soon in request. A large body of
+German fanatics, proclaiming the doctrine of absolute equality,
+and the abolition of all human superiority, had swept over Suabia,
+Wurtemberg, and Franconia, burning churches and slaying priests, and
+threatened to carry the like excesses into Lorraine and Burgundy.
+By aid of his brothers, at much expense and with great difficulty,
+Guise got together ten thousand men, four thousand of whom were
+cavalry. The double cross was the rallying sign of this little
+army. The time was come for Guise to perform his promise to Pope
+Leo, to fight stoutly in defence of the Church. And truly his hand
+was heavy upon the unfortunate and half frantic Lutherans, although
+to a certain extent he tempered its weight with mercy. Besieged
+in Saverne, the fanatics put to death the herald who summoned
+them to surrender. Learning that reinforcements from Germany were
+at hand, Guise hurried to meet them with three thousand men, and
+encountered them at the village of Lupstein, into which the Germans
+retreated, after a terrible conflict outside the place, and threw
+up a barricade as best they could, of carts, casks, and gabions.
+From the cover of these, and of the adjacent hedges, they kept up
+so obstinate a defence, that Guise, whose men fell fast, caused
+fire to be applied to the houses. But hardly had the flames begun
+their ravages, when the Count, seized with compassion, threw himself
+from his horse to assist in extinguishing them, and succeeded, at
+imminent risk to his own life, in saving upwards of four thousand
+persons of all ages. Nearly double that number perished; as many
+more at Saverne and in the mountains, to which the unfortunate
+Germans fled; and about fifteen thousand in a final engagement
+at Chenouville, which broke the strength of the fanatic host,
+and finally closed the campaign. During one of these battles,
+the soldiers of Guise beheld in the air the image of the Saviour
+attached to the cross, a phenomenon in which they saw assurance of
+victory.
+
+  [2] Francis of Lorraine was eighteen years old when slain at Pavia.
+  One of his brothers had fallen, at about the same age, at the battle
+  of Marignano.
+
+"Once more," says M. de Bouillé, "Guise had rendered a most
+important service to the kingdom; he had also assumed a peculiar
+and marked position, and had fixed a point of departure for himself
+and his descendants, by striking, of his own accord, and without
+instructions from the Government, the first blows that Protestantism
+received in France: a circumstance often recalled, with more or less
+exultation, by the panegyrists of that family, and which procured
+Claude de Lorraine the nickname of the _Great Butcher_, given him
+by the heretics, who were exasperated by the loss of nearly forty
+thousand men, caused them by his arms in that fatal expedition."
+
+Determined foes to the Reformed faith as both of them were, a
+distinction must yet be made between the Count of Guise assailing
+and slaughtering, with far inferior forces, a formidable body of
+armed and aggressive foreigners, and the fierce _Balafré_, wielding
+a murderous sword against his defenceless and inoffensive Huguenot
+countrymen, on the terrible night of St Bartholomew. If the amount
+of bloodshed at Saverne and Chenouville appears excessive, and
+implies that little quarter was given, it must yet be remembered
+that greater clemency to the vanquished might have had the most
+disastrous consequences to the handful of conquerors. The Council
+of Regency disapproved of Guise's conduct in the affair; taxing him
+with rashness in risking the whole of the small number of regular
+troops disposable for the defence of the kingdom. But there could
+hardly have been more pressing occasion to expose them; and Francis
+I., on returning from exile, recognised and rewarded that and other
+good services by elevating the county of Guise into a duchy and
+peerage--further enriching the newly-made duke with a portion of
+the crown domains. Such honours and advantages had previously been
+almost exclusively reserved for persons of the blood-royal. The
+Parliament remonstrated in vain; but Francis himself, before very
+long, repented what he had done. He took umbrage at the increasing
+popularity of the Duke of Guise, and gave ear to the calumnies
+and insinuations of the French nobles, who were irritated by the
+haughty bearing, great prosperity, and ambitious views of the house
+of Lorraine. The manner in which Francis testified his jealousy and
+distrust was unworthy of a monarch who has left a great name in
+history. He showed himself indulgent to those of his courtiers and
+officers who organised resistance to the influence and pretensions
+of the Guises. "One time, amongst others," says M. de Bouillé, "the
+Duke of Guise, governor of Burgundy, wishing to visit the castle
+of Auxonne, whose governorship was a charge distinct from that of
+the province, the titulary, Rouvray, a French gentleman, refused
+him admittance, which he would not have dared to do had Guise been
+recognised as prince. When the Duke complained of this treatment,
+the King, delighted, whilst taking advantage of his services, to see
+his pride and ambition thwarted, lauded the conduct of Rouvray, and
+laughed at him who had wished to play the prince of royal blood."
+For annoyances of this kind Guise sought compensation in popularity,
+thus tracing out for his descendants the line they should most
+advantageously follow.
+
+The partial disfavour into which the Guises had fallen, during
+an interval of peace when their services were not indispensable,
+was dissipated by the zeal and talents exhibited by the Duke's
+brother, John Cardinal of Lorraine, in a most difficult and delicate
+negotiation with Charles V., and by the prompt good-will with
+which, when negotiation failed and war broke out, the Duke hurried
+to the relief of Peronne, accompanied by his eldest son, the Count
+of Aumale, then scarcely nineteen years old. Peronne la Pucelle
+was hard beset by the Count of Nassau, who pounded its ramparts
+with seventy-two pieces of cannon, and was defended with equal
+valour by Fleuranges, Marshal de la Marck, who repulsed an assault
+made simultaneously by two breaches, and destroyed a mine on which
+the enemy reckoned for his discomfiture. Want of supplies, and
+especially of powder, must soon, however, have compelled him to
+yield, but for a stratagem practised by Guise. That able commander
+selected four hundred resolute soldiers, loaded each of them with
+a bag containing ten pounds of powder, and set out, at six in the
+evening, from his headquarters at Ham, with the Count of Aumale,
+whose first experience of war this was, and to whom Guise, as he
+wrote to the King, "intended soon to give up his sword, as capable
+of doing better service in his young hands than in his own." Two
+hundred horsemen escorted them as far as the edge of the marshes of
+Peronne, and at midnight Guise, who had brought with him a large
+number of drummers and trumpeters, distributed these at different
+points around the besiegers' camp. Whilst they sounded and beat
+the charge, and the Imperialist generals, believing themselves
+attacked on all sides, hastily formed their troops for the combat,
+the powder-bearers, guided by a soldier of the garrison who had
+borne news of its distress from Fleuranges to Guise, crossed the
+marshes by means of a number of little roads and bridges, which the
+enemy himself had made to maintain his communications, and reached
+the moat, whence by means of ropes and ladders they entered the
+fortress. The last of them were just getting in when day broke, and
+the Count of Nassau discovered the trick that had been played him,
+and detached a body of cavalry to pursue Guise, then retreating with
+his drums and trumpets, and whose steady array discouraged attack.
+A few days later the Imperialists raised the siege, and Paris,
+which had been in consternation at the danger of Peronne, its last
+bulwark against the advancing foe, knew no bounds in its gratitude
+to the man to whom it thus, for the second time, was indebted for
+its salvation. Guise's great services in this and the following
+campaign rendered Francis I. indulgent to his still-recurring
+pretensions; to the arrogance which led him frequently to refuse
+obeying orders that did not emanate directly from the King, and
+to assume a sort of independence and irresponsibility in the
+exercise of his government. Looking back, through the clarifying
+medium of history, upon the character and conduct of Claude of
+Lorraine, we are disinclined to think that Francis had ever serious
+cause for mistrusting the loyalty of his powerful subject; whose
+encroachments, however, it cannot be denied, were sufficient grounds
+for jealousy and uneasiness. And on more than one occasion we find
+the royal anger--perhaps complete disgrace--averted from him only
+by the interest of his brother the Cardinal, to whom Francis could
+refuse nothing.
+
+As a diplomatist and patron of the arts, Cardinal John of
+Lorraine occupies almost as elevated a pedestal in the gallery
+of distinguished Frenchmen of the sixteenth century, as does his
+brother Claude in his more active capacity of general of armies
+and administrator of provinces. His courtly qualities, and a
+congeniality of tastes--some of which, although they might be
+held excusable in a king, were scarcely to be palliated in a
+prelate, even in that age of lax morality--endeared him to Francis,
+who associated with him on a footing of great familiarity. His
+generosity and charity were on such a scale as at times to resemble
+prodigality and ostentation; his love of pleasure and addiction
+to gallantry were in like manner excessive. "He was," says M. de
+Bouillé, "a very lettered prince, a splendid patron of learned men,
+whom he treated as friends, and in whose labours he associated
+himself. A writer named Bertrand de Vaux, having presented and
+read to him a critical work, containing low personality, awaited,
+notwithstanding its base character, the recompense which the
+Cardinal always granted to those authors with whose productions he
+was satisfied. The prelate accordingly handed him a golden etui.
+'Take this, friend Bertrand,' he said; 'it is to pay the fatigue and
+salary of the reader. The writer must seek payment from some more
+malignant man than myself.'" The celebrated Erasmus, Clement Marot
+the poet, and Rabelais the satirist, all benefited by the patronage
+or enjoyed the intimacy of the Cardinal, who, conjointly with his
+nephew the Cardinal Charles of Lorraine, is believed by some to
+have been indicated by the witty priest of Meudon in the character
+of Panurge. Passionately fond of art, the prelate-prince gathered
+around him the men of genius whom the largesses and magnificence
+of Francis I. seduced from Italy to France. He showed particular
+favour to Benvenuto Cellini, who presented him with some of his
+works and received from him costly gifts. "When in full blaze of
+fortune and favour, he caused to be built and decorated, with blind
+prodigality, after the designs of Primaticcio and by the pupils
+of that famous artist, the superb chateau of Meudon, in whose
+park was constructed, amongst other costly ornaments, a grotto,
+'excellently fine and pleasant to save oneself from being wetted
+by the rain.' He had musicians in his service, and Arcadelt, a
+distinguished composer, some of whose works are still preserved and
+esteemed, was his _maître de chapelle_." His charity, although often
+too indiscriminate, sprang from real kindness of heart. Numerous
+children, belonging to poor families, were educated at his expense
+in the Paris schools. And his good grace in conferring favours
+doubled their value. The farmer of his abbey of Fécamp, having made
+the same receipt serve for three separate payments, and endeavouring
+to make it pass a fourth time, the Cardinal's receivers refused
+to admit it, and the case was referred to the prelate himself,
+who, having examined and recognised his signature, merely said,
+"Since John is there, John shall be believed," and ordered it to
+be definitively admitted. When he went abroad, "he usually," says
+Brantôme, "carried a great pouch, which his _valet-de-chambre_, who
+had charge of the money for his petty expenses, failed not to fill
+each morning with three or four hundred crowns: and as many poor
+as he met he put his hand into the pouch and gave, without stint
+or consideration, whatever he drew forth." The story is well known
+of the blind mendicant, who, having implored an alms of him in the
+streets of Rome, exclaimed, on receiving a handful of gold: "_O tu
+sei Christo, o veramente il cardinal di Loriena_." By the light
+which these details throw upon his character, it is not difficult
+to discern that the magnificent cardinal must have been a welcome
+courtier to the sumptuous Francis, who, during the period of his
+favour, made him his constant companion and delighted to do him
+honour. He sat upon the King's left hand on occasion of the _lit
+de justice_ held at Paris on New Year's day 1537, at which Francis
+declared Charles of Austria attainted of rebellion and felony, and
+deprived of Artois, Flanders, and all the domains that he held _en
+mouvance_ of the crown of France--a sentence more easily pronounced
+than enforced, and which of course entailed a war. Peace again
+concluded, in great measure by the diplomacy of the Cardinal, he it
+was, according to Du Bellay, who alone accompanied the King and
+Queen at dinner, on the day of Charles V.'s entrance into Paris.
+The friendship borne him by Francis, was the cause of his being
+charged to break to that monarch the death of his son, the Dauphin
+of France. Of the familiarity with which the King treated him, M.
+de Bouillé gives a specimen in a curious anecdote: "One day, at
+mass, the Cardinal did not perceive that a thief, who had managed to
+enter the chapel, had picked his pocket. The rogue, observing that
+the King had his eyes fixed upon him, with extraordinary coolness
+and audacity put his finger on his lips, looking at the same time
+significantly at Francis I., who took the hint and said nothing,
+in order not to spoil what he imagined to be an adroit practical
+joke. Service over, however, he made an observation which induced
+the Cardinal to put his hand in his pocket, when he discovered his
+loss. When the King had amused himself at his surprise, he ordered
+that what had been stolen should be restored; but the thief, who
+was perfectly serious in his intentions, had made his escape, which
+greatly increased the mirth of the monarch, thus cleverly duped. 'On
+the word of a gentleman,' he exclaimed, 'the rogue has made me his
+accomplice!'"
+
+Powerfully supported at court by his brother, Claude of Lorraine
+was no less ably seconded in the field by his son Francis, Count
+of Aumale, a young hero destined ultimately to surpass even him in
+glory, and to raise the name of Guise to its apogee of splendour.
+The constantly-recurring wars with the Emperor yielded him abundant
+opportunities to display his prowess. In the campaign of 1543 he did
+good service, until, at the siege of Luxemburg, he was dangerously
+wounded above the ankle by an arquebuse ball. "Carried, almost
+without hopes--on account of the fracture of the bones and the
+injury to the nerves--first to his tent and then to Longwy, five
+leagues in rear, he owed his recovery to the attention of the King,
+who sent him his own physicians, and to the care bestowed upon him
+by his father. And nevertheless, when he suffered signs of pain
+to escape him during the dressing, the Duke of Guise addressed
+to him reproaches by which it will be seen that he subsequently
+profited, saying to him--a noble and stoical maxim--'That persons
+of his rank ought not to feel their wounds, but, on the contrary,
+to take pleasure in building up their reputation on the ruin of
+their bodies.'" It was in no feather-bed school that the Guises were
+educated. Nearly at the same time that the Count d'Aumale was hit
+before Luxemburg, Gaspard de Coligny-Châtillon, then his rival in
+valour, and at a subsequent day his deadly foe, was severely wounded
+in the throat at the siege of Binche.
+
+In the war in which these incidents occurred, England was allied
+with the Emperor against France. Personal motives combined with
+political irritation to dispose the violent and uxorious Henry VIII.
+to a rupture with Francis I. Mary of Lorraine, daughter of the Duke
+of Guise, and widow of Louis of Orleans, duke of Longueville, had
+been given in marriage to James V. of Scotland, in preference to
+Henry, who, inflamed by the report of her beauty, had solicited her
+hand as a pledge of perpetual alliance with France. Dazzling as
+was the offer of so powerful a sovereign, his anti-catholic acts,
+and his evil reputation as a husband, deterred the Guises from
+entertaining it; and Francis I., obeying the dictates of feeling
+rather than those of prudence, extricated them from a dilemma by
+alleging a previous promise to the Scottish king. It is said that
+Henry would then gladly have espoused Louisa, second daughter of the
+Duke, and that, means being found to elude his pursuit, this second
+disappointment further augmented his rancorous feelings towards
+Francis and the house of Guise. However this may have been, the
+war with England continued subsequently to the conclusion of peace
+between Francis and Charles--chiefly in Picardy, around Boulogne,
+which Henry held, and in whose neighbourhood his army was encamped.
+Some severe skirmishes and partial engagements occurred, and in one
+of these the Count of Aumale received a wound, probably the severest
+ever survived by mortal man, from the lance of an English officer.
+The weapon, according to the description of Ambrose Paré, entered
+"above the right eye, declining towards the nose, and piercing
+through on the other side, between the nape and the ear." So violent
+was the blow that the weapon broke in the head, into which it had
+penetrated more than half a foot, the entire lance-iron and two
+fingers' breadth of the staff remaining in the wound. Paré explains
+the possibility of such a wound, in an age when helmets and visors
+were in use, by mentioning that the Count always went into action
+with his face bare.
+
+"Terrible as was the shock," says M. de Bouillé, "it did not unhorse
+d'Aumale. He still made head against his foes, succeeded in forcing
+a passage through them, aided by his young and valiant brother
+Claude, and by de Vieilleville--who, alone of all, had not abandoned
+him--and rode gloriously into camp. His appearance was frightful;
+his face, armour, and clothes were deluged with blood. The surgeons,
+stupified by the depth and gravity of the wound, despaired of cure,
+and refused to inflict useless sufferings upon the patient. But
+Ambrose Paré, the King's surgeon, sent by Francis with orders to
+try every means of saving the hero's life, was not discouraged.
+Confiding in his skill, and in the firmness of the wounded man, he
+resolved to attempt an operation, terrible indeed, but admirable for
+those days, and worthy alone to insure celebrity to him who imagined
+it. The lance-head was broken off so short, that it was impossible
+to grasp it with the hand. Taking then a blacksmith's pincers, to
+draw it out with great force, and assisted, amongst others, by
+Master Nicolle Lavernan, a very experienced surgeon, he asked the
+Lorraine prince, in presence of a crowd of officers shuddering
+with horror, if he would submit to the employment of such means,
+and would suffer him to place his foot upon his face. 'I consent
+to everything; proceed,' replied d'Aumale. Nor did his fortitude
+abandon him for an instant during this cruel operation, which was
+not effected without fracture of bones, nerves, veins, and arteries,
+and other parts, and which he endured as if they had only pulled out
+a hair. The agony extorted from him but the single exclamation--'Ah!
+my God!' Transported afterwards in a litter to Pecquigny, he
+remained for three days in a hopeless state: early on the fifth day
+more favourable symptoms declared themselves, and nature made such
+powerful efforts, that the cure was completed without leaving the
+Count d'Aumale any trace of this astonishing wound, except a scar,
+equally glorious for him and for Ambrose Paré. That skilful surgeon
+was wont modestly to say, when speaking of the marvellous cure of
+Francis of Lorraine--'I dressed it, and God healed it.' As soon as
+he began to get better, the Count d'Aumale hastened to write to the
+King, with a hand still unsteady, the following note, characterised
+by a calmness remarkable in such circumstances:--'Sire, I take the
+liberty to inform you that I find myself well, hoping not to lose an
+eye. Your very humble servant, LE GUIZARD.'" Admiring his energy,
+and in recompense of his services, Francis I. made him governor
+of Dauphiny; whilst the numerous partisans of the house of Guise
+attributed his cure to a miracle wrought by the prayers of his pious
+mother, Antoinette of Bourbon. This princess carefully preserved
+till her death the lance-point which had penetrated her son's head.
+The extent of the wound, as described by Paré, would be scarcely
+credible, but for the testimony of that learned and excellent man,
+and of other cotemporary writers quoted by M. de Bouillé. In a
+short time the heroic Count had forgotten his hurt, and was again
+in arms against the English, with whom, however, peace was shortly
+afterwards concluded.
+
+Notwithstanding the frequent uneasiness occasioned him by the power
+and ambition of the family of Guise, Francis I. continued, almost to
+the close of his reign, to enrich and aggrandise them. The magnitude
+of their services, and their many great qualities, at intervals
+elicited his gratitude and generosity, to the oblivion of mistrust
+and apprehension. Thus, only three years prior to his death, he
+erected into a marquisate certain lands and lordships of the Duke
+of Guise, and immediately afterwards elevated the marquisate to a
+duchy, in consideration, said the letters patent, of the great,
+virtuous, and commendable services that the Duke of Guise had long
+rendered to king and country, without sparing his own person, his
+children, or goods; "and also that our said cousin Duke of Guise
+is of the house of Lorraine, descended by wife and alliance from
+the house of Anjou, and from our predecessors, kings of France."
+Thus was the title of Duke of Mayenne provided for a younger son of
+Claude of Lorraine. Such laudatory declarations as the one above
+cited were concurrent, however, with the systematic restriction of
+the Guises' direct influence on state affairs. And on his deathbed,
+when dividing his last hours upon earth between religious duties and
+sage counsels to his son, Francis enjoined this prince not to recall
+the Constable of Montmorency, or to admit to a share of government
+the princes of the house of Guise. Montmorency had incurred disgrace
+and banishment by exciting the King's conjugal jealousy. Henry II.
+showed slight regard to his father's dying injunctions. Scarcely
+had the earth closed over the deceased monarch, when those he had
+recommended to his son's favour were removed from their posts;
+Montmorency was recalled, and the Guises were taken into favour;
+the Count of Aumale, and Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine, dividing
+between them Henry's whole confidence. It must be admitted, that the
+means to which they resorted to secure and preserve this favour,
+were not of the most delicate description, although, doubtless,
+they would be very differently estimated then and now. They
+sustained their credit with Henry II. by their attentions to Diana
+of Poitiers, his all-powerful mistress, whose eldest daughter one
+of the brothers, Claude, Marquis of Mayenne, had just married. From
+this discreditable alliance Châtillon, afterwards the Admiral de
+Coligny, had tried to dissuade them, by pointing out, says Brantôme,
+in his Life of the Admiral, "that it was not very honourable for
+them, and that an inch of authority and favour with honour was
+better than an armful without." The Count of Aumale, up to that
+time the inseparable companion of Coligny, was but ill-pleased by
+the freedom of this advice, which, he said, was less that of a
+friend than of one envious of the good fortune such an alliance
+insured to his family. This difference, however, cast but a slight
+cloud over the intimacy which thereafter was exchanged for so
+bitter an enmity. Meanwhile the royal favour, lavished on the young
+Guises, was not extended to their father, who was excluded from the
+government which his sons freely exercised, and who, immediately
+after the coronation of Henry, left the court, to live in retirement
+in his castle of Joinville. The prudence and moderation of the
+elder Guise were probably less welcome to the young king than the
+bolder and more impetuous counsels of his sons. There were six of
+these, all pretty well provided for when Claude of Lorraine retired
+into private life: Francis, Count of Aumale; Claude, Marquis of
+Mayenne; Charles, Archbishop of Rheims; Louis, Bishop of Troyes, and
+Francis, Chevalier of Lorraine, afterwards grand-prior and general
+of the galleys of France. "During his stay at Paris, after the
+campaign of 1544, the Duke of Guise frequently went, accompanied
+by his six young sons, to pay his devoirs to the King, who always
+graciously received and congratulated him, saying 'that he was six
+times fortunate in seeing himself live again, before his death, in
+a posterity of such great promise.' One day Charles, the second
+brother, who was intended for the church, presented to Francis
+I. some moral and theological theses, accompanying them with an
+eloquent and tasteful harangue. His promotion to the archbishopric
+of Rheims, the richest benefice in France, was, it is said, the
+munificent reward of this precocious ability." Henry II. received
+his crown from the hands of this youthful archbishop, upon whom the
+Pope, five days after the ceremony, conferred a cardinal's hat.
+Charles of Lorraine can have been but thirty or thirty-one years
+old, when he thus attained to the highest dignities of the church.
+
+A few days before the coronation, Henry II. sanctioned by his
+presence the celebrated judicial duel--which gave rise to a proverb
+still current in France--between Guy Chabot de Jarnac, and François
+de Vivonne. It took place in lists erected near the chateau of St
+Germains. Vivonne's second (or godfather, as it was then called)
+was the Count of Aumale, who attracted universal attention by the
+grandeur of his air and the lustre of his renown. "Towards half-past
+seven in the morning," says M. de Bouillé, "d'Aumale pronounced
+it time to bring the arms, and the combatants appeared in the
+lists, Vivonne conducted by d'Aumale; and, after the customary
+salutations and injunctions, the king-at-arms, Normandy, having
+thrice exclaimed--_Laissez aller les bons combattants!_ the combat
+commenced with skill and fury. In a few moments, however, by a
+blow, since proverbial, dealt and repeated on the left ham, Vivonne
+was prostrated by his adversary. The Count d'Aumale sprang to the
+assistance of the vanquished man, and to calm the rage which made
+him tear open his own wounds. But Vivonne survived only three
+days, and, after his death, d'Aumale had the following inscription
+engraved upon his tomb: 'A great prince _Lorrain et François_, much
+grieved and afflicted by so unexpected an event, has dedicated
+this to the manes of a brave knight of Poitou.' In these few words
+was revealed a pretension constantly entertained by the house of
+Guise, and which then appeared surprising, but which received a sort
+of consecration from its silent toleration by the King." It was
+doubtless this toleration, combined with the sentiment of growing
+power and influence, which raised the arrogance of the Guises to
+such a pitch that, on occasion of Henry II.'s solemn entrance into
+Chambery, during a visit of inspection to his frontier fortresses,
+we find the Count of Aumale placing himself on the same line with
+the Duke of Vendôme, first prince of the blood, and afterwards King
+of Navarre. The angry dispute to which this gave rise was terminated
+by the King, who maintained Guise in the place he had audaciously
+assumed. Like his father, Henry was nurturing a pride which was
+afterwards to give him umbrage. Already d'Aumale's influence and
+popularity were so great as to make him courted by all classes, even
+to the highest, not excluding persons of blood-royal; and only a
+few months after the dispute at Chambery, we find the same King of
+Navarre thanking him, conjointly with the Cardinal of Bourbon, for
+services he had rendered to friends of theirs. The first nobles of
+the land had recourse to his protection and support, and strove to
+propitiate him by presents and flattering letters. From all quarters
+he received offerings of "wine, fruit, confections, ortolans,
+horses, dogs, hawks, and gerfalcons, the letters accompanying
+these very often containing a second paragraph, petitioning for
+pensions or grants from the King, or for places, even down to that
+of apothecary, or of barber to the Dauphin, &c." The memoirs and
+manuscripts of the time furnish many curious particulars of this
+kind, especially the MSS. Gaignières, often referred to by M. de
+Bouillé. And they further show that d'Aumale, amidst his countless
+occupations, found leisure to listen to all petitioners, and means
+to content many. There exist the most flattering letters written to
+him by the hand of kings; the humblest supplications addressed to
+him by great state corporations, such as the parliaments of Paris,
+Bordeaux, and other cities; testimony of the profoundest deference
+from the nobles of the court--names such as Brézé and Brissac being
+affixed to fulsome protestations of service and thanks for favour
+shown. Such was the immense position of the Duke d'Aumale, (that
+county also had become a duchy,) who now openly affected the state
+and quality of prince of the blood. Then, as afterwards, (when he
+was duke of Guise,) he always received the title of _monseigneur_,
+(except from the princes of the blood, who called him _monsieur_,)
+and that of _vostre excellence or vostre seigneurie_. And in 1548
+the nuns of Bonneuil addressed him a supplication as _vostre haulte
+et puissante majesté et seigneurie_. So great was his reputation for
+magnanimity, so popular his rule, that those provinces rejoiced over
+which he was appointed governor. And the affection borne him by the
+French people became at last so great "that it may be said it was
+carried to an excess, even to the point of making them forget their
+fidelity to the King." For a time the favour and confidence of the
+King kept pace with the love of the nation; and it was augmented by
+the ability with which d'Aumale pacified several revolted provinces,
+where his presence alone sufficed, for the most part, to calm angry
+passions and revive the loyalty of the population. Soon after this
+expedition, occurred his marriage with Anne d'Est, daughter of the
+Duke of Ferrara, a beautiful, virtuous, and well-dowered princess
+who had been sought in marriage by Sigismund, King of Poland,
+but whom an innate sympathy for France, combined with the able
+management of Cardinal de Guise, induced to give the preference to
+the Duke d'Aumale.
+
+In his castle of Joinville, on the 12th April 1550, Claude, first
+duke of Guise, piously and resignedly terminated his illustrious and
+honourable career. His duchess, Antoinette de Bourbon, one of the
+most virtuous and amiable princesses of her time, his eldest son
+and the Marquis of Elbeuf, were beside his dying bed; and during
+his illness the King sent frequent expresses to inquire his state.
+His premature death, at the age of fifty-three, after a short but
+violent illness,--combined with some solemn and generous expressions
+he used a few minutes before breathing his last, to the effect
+that he heartily forgave the person, whosoever it might be, who
+had given him "_le morceau pour mourir_,"--gave rise to a belief,
+further accredited by his funeral oration and by the inscription on
+his tomb, that he had perished by poison. History has difficulty
+in confirming this popular notion, in support of which no evidence
+was ever produced, nor anything beyond a vague supposition that the
+author of the Duke's death was a Genoese, an agent of the Emperor,
+then in France to watch the measures taken by that republic to
+obtain from Henry II. means of resistance to the party of Ferdinand,
+in opposition to whom there was little doubt that Guise would
+advise the King to give his support to Genoa. Considering, however,
+that Claude of Lorraine lived away from court, where his son had
+succeeded to his influence, this is rather a far-fetched story;
+and the probability is that the Duke died of some unusual malady,
+misunderstood by, perhaps wholly unknown to, the imperfect medical
+science of those days. But natural deaths were rare in the house of
+Guise; and in the sixteenth century poison had no unimportant share
+in the bills of mortality. Some indeed have hinted its possible
+agency in the death of John, Cardinal of Lorraine, which occurred
+within forty days of that of his brother Claude. This prelate was on
+his way back from Rome, where he had been an unsuccessful aspirant
+to the papal tiara, when he was suddenly informed, on his passage
+through Lyons, of the Duke's decease. It was possibly the shock of
+this intelligence that brought on an attack of apoplexy under which
+he sank and shortly expired. "Providence," says M. de Bouillé, "had
+perhaps resolved to consecrate, by an almost simultaneous death, the
+union which had so constantly and advantageously existed between him
+and his brother, and which the cotemporary writers characterise, in
+their mythological style, by comparing the two princes to Castor
+and Pollux. Their place was not to remain vacant, but was about to
+be even more than filled by two brothers, also 'the happiest pair
+of brothers that ever were seen;' one an accomplished warrior and
+magnanimous hero, the other a skilful and enterprising prelate,
+who, by renewing the example of a constant agreement of views, by
+putting in practice that useful and remarkable combination of the
+churchman and the man of the sword, peculiar to their family, and
+efficaciously applied by them to politics and ambition, realised an
+immense amount of favour and authority. The first generation of this
+dynasty--if not sovereign, at least so brilliantly episodical--had
+passed away, already almost surpassed in grandeur by its successor,
+destined to elevate itself in the inverse ratio of the wearer of
+that crown which gradually became almost illusory."
+
+Certain it is that the figure of Francis, second Duke of Guise,
+surnamed the Great, occupies, upon the canvass of French history,
+a far more remarkable and important place than that of any one of
+the three kings whose reigns were cotemporary with his power. Early
+distinguished in arms, his generosity, urbanity, and irresistible
+valour made him the idol of the army, whilst the prudence and
+precocious wisdom he inherited from his father, rendered him
+invaluable at the council board, and secured him the favour of his
+sovereign; to such a point that Henry II. had no secrets from him,
+but caused all important despatches to be communicated to him as
+punctually as they were to himself. Nor was his brother Charles
+inferior to him in talent, although their difference of profession
+rendered its display less striking in the cardinal. Both possessed
+of admirable tact and judgement in the conduct of public affairs,
+the one was not more terrible in the battle-field than the other
+was skilful and seductive in diplomatic negotiations, and in the
+graceful intercourse of private life. The cardinal's learning
+and eloquence, his fine countenance, his dignified bearing, his
+richly-stored memory, combined to exercise a powerful fascination
+upon all he met. "Had I the elegance of Monsieur le Cardinal de
+Lorraine," said Theodore de Beze one day, when mounting his horse to
+leave Rheims, where he had had a conference with the accomplished
+prelate, "I should expect to convert half the persons in France to
+the religion I profess."
+
+At the date of the death of Claude of Lorraine, Charles V. was
+the sole survivor of the three remarkable sovereigns who had
+simultaneously filled the three most important European thrones.
+With him the Duke and Cardinal now impelled Henry II. into a
+war, which had for its real object the realisation of a bold and
+extensive scheme greatly to increase the authority of France in
+Europe, and at the same time to establish the omnipotence of the
+Guises in France. One of the most remarkable events of this war was
+the siege of Metz, in which large ill-fortified place the Duke,
+with a small number of men, was exposed to the assaults of an army
+consisting of one hundred thousand infantry, twenty-three thousand
+horse, and one hundred and twenty pieces of artillery. Guise
+displayed extraordinary skill and energy, leading sorties himself,
+and even issuing forth at the head of a mere handful of men to
+skirmish with the enemy. Fortunately he had had time to lay in good
+store of provisions; but his cannon were few in number and for the
+most part unserviceable, and he was fain to defend with falconets
+and other small guns, the breaches which the Imperialists soon made
+in his walls. In an action that occurred during the siege, in the
+neighbourhood of Nancy, Claude de Guise--that brother of the Duke
+who, when a mere youth, had powerfully and valiantly contributed
+to deliver him, in front of Boulogne, from an overwhelming number
+of assailants--was taken prisoner. Thrice wounded, and with his
+horse killed under him, he had no choice but to yield or die. This
+disaster deprived Metz of a gallant defender, and plunged Guise and
+the whole army into deep affliction; the Duke, however, consoling
+himself by the resolution to make the Emperor dearly pay for his
+brother's ransom, and by the reflection that d'Aumale had not
+yielded until he was knocked down and had a cocked pistol at his
+throat. The sorties continued with great vigour, but at the expense
+of many wounded men, of whom so large a proportion died, for want
+of efficient medical assistance, that a rumour gained credit that
+the drugs were poisoned. Guise begged the King to send him Ambrose
+Paré with a stock of fresh medicaments, and, by the connivance of
+an Italian officer in the Imperialist camp, that skilful leech was
+introduced at midnight into the town, with the apothecary Daigue
+and a horse-load of medical stores. Paré was bearer of a letter
+from the King, thanking Guise and the other princes and nobles for
+all they had done and were doing to preserve his town of Metz, and
+assuring them he would remember and reward their services. Thus
+encouraged, and confident in his troops, Guise wrote to the King,
+with whom he found means constantly to correspond in cypher, that
+Metz could hold out six months without succour. On the other hand
+the Imperialists redoubled their efforts for success. The Emperor,
+who lay at Thionville, sick of the gout and expectant of triumph,
+at last judged his presence indispensable for the fortunate
+conclusion of the siege, and made his appearance in the camp,
+mounted on an Arab horse, "his face very pale and wasted, his eyes
+sunken, his head and beard white." His coming was the signal for
+so great a salvo of artillery and small arms, that the besieged
+flew to arms, expecting a general attack. Until the neighbouring
+castle of La Horgne could be prepared for his reception, he took
+up his quarters in a small wooden house, hastily constructed with
+the ruins of an abbey. "A fine palace," he said, "when I shall
+receive in it the keys of Metz." But the keys were long in coming,
+although the fierceness of the attack was redoubled--fourteen
+thousand cannon-shots being fired against the ramparts in one day,
+the noise of which was said to have been heard beyond the Rhine, at
+forty leagues from Metz. The constancy of the besieged was a match
+for the fury of the assailants. Breaches were diligently repaired,
+and sorties continued--the French actually seeking the Imperialists
+under their tents. Suddenly the latter changed the point of attack,
+and directed their cannonade against one of the very strongest parts
+of the rampart, behind which the besieged hastened to construct a
+second wall, also of great strength. The sudden change of plan is
+attributed by Ambrose Paré in his _Voyage à Metz_, to a stratagem
+employed by Guise. The Duke, according to the learned physician and
+chronicler, wrote a letter to Henry II. with the intention of its
+being intercepted by the enemy, in which he said, that if Charles V.
+persisted in his plan of attack, he would be compelled to raise the
+siege, but that a very different result was to be apprehended, if
+unfortunately the enemy directed his attention to a certain point,
+cunningly indicated in the despatch. Sewn, with an affectation of
+mystery, under the doublet of a clumsy peasant, this letter was
+destined for the perusal of the Duke of Alva, one of whose patrols
+did not fail to seize and search the unfortunate messenger, who
+was forthwith hanged. Misled by the information thus obtained, the
+besiegers changed the position of their batteries. In two days a
+breach was effected, the old wall crumbling into the ditch, amidst
+the acclamations of the assailants. But their joy was exchanged
+for rage and disgust when, upon the subsidence of the dust, they
+beheld a second wall in rear of the breach. The French began to
+scoff and abuse them, but Guise commanded silence, under pain of
+death, lest some traitor should take advantage of the tumult to
+convey information to the enemy; whereupon his soldiers fastened
+live cats to the end of their pikes, whose discordant cries mocked
+the enemy. The enthusiasm of the besieged now knew no bounds. Men,
+women, and young girls toiled day and night to strengthen the inner
+wall. Guise's gay and encouraging words gave confidence to all.
+Collecting his soldiers upon the breach, which was ninety feet
+wide: "I rejoice," he said, "that the enemy have at last overthrown
+this barrier, more useful to them than to you. You have so often
+visited them in their camp, that it is only just they should have
+an opportunity of reconnoitring the town upon whose capture they
+so boastfully reckoned." Charles ordered the assault; but when his
+troops saw the French crowning the breach, with Guise at their
+head, they recoiled as if already attacked, and neither entreaties
+nor threats could move them forward. "How is it," the Emperor had
+exclaimed with a great oath, when he saw the gaping breach, "that
+they do not enter? It is so large and level with the ditch; _vertu
+de Dieu!_ what means this?" He had himself conveyed in a litter to
+the foremost ranks, to animate the soldiers by his presence. When he
+beheld their retreat, he mournfully desired to be carried back to
+his quarters. "Formerly," he said, "I was followed to the fight, but
+I see that I have now no men around me; I must bid adieu to empire
+and immure myself in a monastery; before three years are over, I
+will turn Franciscan." Finally, on the 26th December, provisions
+running short, and his army weakened one-third by sickness and
+the sword, Charles, with a sad heart, raised the siege, uttering,
+in the bitterness of his shame and disappointment, the well-known
+words, "I plainly see that Fortune, like a true woman, prefers a
+young king to an old emperor." The imperial camp and artillery
+crossed the Moselle, and in the night the Duke of Alva evacuated his
+position, leaving behind a quantity of stores and tents. Guise, who
+had expressed, that very evening, in a letter to his brother the
+Cardinal, his conviction that the Emperor would never endure the
+shame of abandoning the siege, was greatly astonished in the morning
+to find that the enemy had decamped. His skill and constancy had
+triumphed, and France was saved from invasion. When he reappeared
+at court, the King embraced him with transport, and called him his
+brother. "You have vanquished me as well as the Emperor," said
+Henry, "by the obligations you have laid me under."
+
+The Duke of Guise's humanity after the siege did him as much honour
+as his bravery during it. A large number of sick men remained in
+the Imperialist camp; the rearguard of the retreating army were in
+a pitiable state, and, unable to proceed, yielded themselves ready
+prisoners. The commander of a troop of Spanish cavalry, pursued
+by the Prince of _la Roche-sur-Yon_, who would fain have brought
+him to battle, suddenly faced about, exclaiming, "How should we
+have strength to defend ourselves, when you see we have not enough
+left to fly?" In the hospitals of Metz and Thionville, the sick
+and wounded Imperialists were carefully tended by order of Guise;
+non-combatant prisoners were sent back to the Duke of Alva, with
+the offer of covered boats to transport his exhausted soldiers;
+the bodies of the dead received suitable burial. The magnanimous
+general's courtesy and humanity bore their fruits. In the following
+campaign, when the town of Therouenne, in Picardy, was surprised by
+the Imperialists, the Germans and Flemings were putting inhabitants
+and garrison to the sword, without distinction of age or sex,
+when the Spanish officers, with a lively and grateful remembrance
+of the good treatment received from Guise and the French, united
+their voices and efforts to check the carnage. "_Bonne guerre,
+compagnons,_" they cried; "_souvenez-vous de la courtoisie de Metz!_"
+
+It was during the following campaign (1554) that there occurred the
+first marked manifestations of discord between the Duke of Guise
+and the Admiral de Coligny. In the combat of Renty, near St Omer,
+Coligny commanded the infantry, in his quality of colonel-general
+of that arm. Victory declared itself for the French; already
+many trophies had been taken, and heavy loss inflicted on the
+Imperialists, who were on the brink of a general rout, when Guise
+"feeling" says M. de Bouillé, "that he was not supported by
+the Constable de Montmorency--the retreat also, according to a
+report current at the time, having been sounded _by the breath of
+envy_--was unable to follow up his advantage, and could but maintain
+himself on the field, whilst the Imperialists, although defeated,
+succeeded in entering the besieged fort." The chief merit of this
+imperfect victory was attributed by the Constable to his nephew
+Coligny, who, on his part, was said to have asserted that, during
+the heat of the fight, Guise had not been in his right place. This
+led, upon the evening of the action, to a violent altercation, which
+would have ended with drawn swords but for the intervention of the
+King, in whose tent it occurred. He compelled them to embrace; but
+the reconciliation was only skin-deep, and from that day forwards a
+rancorous dislike was substituted for the close intimacy which had
+existed in their youth between these two great soldiers, and which
+had been carried to such a point that they "could not live without
+each other, wearing the same colours, and dressing in the same
+manner." Henceforward they were constant antagonists, the chiefs
+of two parties under whose banners nobles, soldiers, and courtiers
+ranged themselves, according to the dictates of their sympathies
+or interests. And soon their rivalry for fame and influence was
+inflamed and envenomed by the ardour of religious passions, and of
+combats for their respective creeds.
+
+It is here impossible to trace, even in outline, the events that
+crowded the reign of Henry II., and in which the Duke, the Cardinal,
+and their brother d'Aumale played a most conspicuous part. It was
+a constant succession of battles and intrigues, for the most part
+terminating, in spite of formidable foes both in the field and at
+court, to the advantage of the Guises. And when, a few weeks after
+the battle of St Quintin, so disastrous to the French arms--where
+the Constable de Montmorency, who had boasted beforehand of victory,
+beheld his entire army slain or taken, and himself a prisoner--the
+Duke of Guise returned from Italy, "to save the state," as the
+King himself expressed it, he found himself at the utmost pinnacle
+of power a subject could possibly attain. On the very day of his
+arrival, Henry declared him lieutenant-general of the French armies,
+in and out of the kingdom; a temporary dignity, it is true, but
+one superior to that of Constable, and which usually was bestowed
+only in times of regency and minority. That nothing should be
+wanting to the exorbitant authority thus conferred upon the man
+to whom sovereign and nation alike were wont to turn in the day
+of danger and disaster, the King addressed to all the provincial
+authorities particular injunctions to obey the orders of the Duke
+of Guise as though they emanated from himself; and truly it was
+remarked, says Dauvigny in his _Vies des Hommes Illustres_, that
+never had monarch in France been obeyed more punctually and with
+greater zeal. The whole business of the country now rested upon
+the shoulders of Guise. But even whilst thus exalting him, Henry,
+conscious of his own weakness, and haunted, perhaps, by his father's
+dying injunction, was actually plotting how to lessen the power
+of his great subject, so soon as the period of peril should have
+passed, during which his services were indispensable. With strange
+infatuation, the feeble monarch expected to be able to clip at
+will the wings of that soaring influence, when victory over the
+foreigner and the liberation of the country should have confirmed
+its domination.
+
+Invested with his new dignities, whose importance his sagacity fully
+appreciated, Guise, with the least possible delay, set out for
+Compiègne, which, since the recent disasters of the French arms,
+was a frontier town. Those disasters, he felt, could be effectually
+repaired only by a brilliant feat of arms, at once useful to the
+state, and flattering to the national pride. Upon such a one he
+resolved. Calais, now upwards of two centuries in possession of
+the English, to the great humiliation of France, was the object
+of destined attack. Skilled in the stratagems of war, the Duke
+contrived, by a series of able manoeuvres, to avert suspicion of his
+real design, until, on the 1st January 1558, he suddenly appeared
+before the ramparts of Calais. The siege that ensued has been often
+narrated. It terminated, after an obstinate resistance, in the
+capitulation of the garrison, which had scarcely been executed, when
+an English fleet appeared off the port, bearing succours that came
+too late. The triumph excited indescribable astonishment and joy
+throughout France. It was a splendid revenge for the defeat of St
+Quintin, and produced a marked change in the sentiments of several
+foreign potentates, who believed that reverse to have prostrated the
+French power for some time to come. The Grand Signior offered the
+co-operation of his fleet, and the German princes hastened, with
+redoubled good-will, the levies that had been demanded of them. Pope
+Paul IV., when congratulating the French ambassador, pronounced the
+highest eulogiums on Guise, and declared the conquest of Calais
+preferable to that of half England. At court, the partisans of the
+Constable were in dismay, and tried to lessen the merit of the
+victor by attributing its success to the adoption of a plan sketched
+by Coligny. But even if this were true, the merit of the execution
+was all the Duke's own. Upon the heels of this triumph, quickly
+followed the capture of Guines and the evacuation by the English of
+the castle of Hames, their last possession in the county of Oye. "In
+less than a month," says M. de Bouillé, "Francis of Lorraine had
+accomplished the patriotic but difficult enterprise so often and
+fruitlessly attempted during two centuries, and had cancelled the
+old proverb applied in France, in those days, to generals of slight
+merit, of whom it was derisively said, 'He will never drive the
+English out of France.'"
+
+Henry II., accompanied by the Dauphin, the Cardinals of Lorraine and
+Guise, and several nobles of the court, made a journey to Calais,
+which he entered with great pomp. The object of this expedition was
+to sustain the courage and zeal of the troops, who endured much
+fatigue and hardship, in that inclement season and in the midst
+of the marshes. The King also wished to testify his gratitude to
+his lieutenant-general, showing him great confidence, referring to
+him all who requested audience on business, and presenting him,
+in the most flattering terms, with a house in Calais. The Duke
+returned with Henry to Paris, where great feasts and rejoicings
+were held in his honour, and, on occasion of the Dauphin's marriage
+with Mary Queen of Scots, which shortly followed, Guise filled, in
+the absence of Montmorency, the office of grand-master, which he
+long had coveted. Concurrently, however, with this great apparent
+favour, Henry was secretly uneasy at the power and pretensions of
+the family of Guise, and maintained a constant and confidential
+correspondence with their inveterate enemy the Constable de
+Montmorency. On the other hand the Guises were on their guard,
+labouring to countermine and defeat the intrigues levelled against
+them. Urged on by his brother, and feeling that, in their position,
+if they did not advance they must recede, the Duke directed all
+his efforts to an effectual concentration in his own hands of the
+entire military power of the kingdom. Should he fail in this, he at
+least was resolved to leave none in those of his rivals. By this
+time the progress of the Reformed religion in France had attracted
+great attention. It was an abomination in the eyes of Henry; and of
+this the Duke and Cardinal took advantage to work the downfall of
+d'Andelot, brother of Coligny, and colonel-general of the French
+infantry, the only military commander who at that moment caused
+them any uneasiness. Accused of heresy, and summoned before the
+King, who received him kindly, and, expecting he would so reply as
+to disconcert his enemies, "commanded him to declare, in presence
+of all the court, his belief with respect to the holy sacrifice of
+mass; d'Andelot proudly replied that his gratitude for the King's
+favours doubtless rendered entire devotedness incumbent upon him,
+but that his soul belonged to God alone; that, enlightened by
+the torch of Scripture, he approved the doctrines of Calvin, and
+considered mass a horrible profanation and an abominable invention
+of man." Furious at what he deemed a blasphemy, the King, who
+was at supper, snatched a basin from the table and hurled it at
+d'Andelot; but it struck the Dauphin. He was then tempted, says
+one of his historians, to pierce the offender with his sword, but
+finally contented himself with sending him to prison, and the post
+of colonel-general was bestowed upon Montluc, an ex-page of Guise's
+grandfather, and a devoted partisan of the house of Lorraine. This
+brave Gascon officer at first scrupled to accept it, for he feared
+to incur the hatred of the Colignys and the Constable. Wily and
+wary, like most of his countrymen, he declared himself willing to
+serve as a private soldier under the Duke, but modestly declined the
+command offered him. The King insisting, he alleged a dysentery,
+as rendering him incapable of the needful activity. This and other
+objections being overruled, he took possession of his important
+command, and speedily proved himself worthy to hold it--notably at
+the siege of Thionville on the Moselle. This fortress, one of the
+strongest the Imperialists owned, was defended by Jean de Caderebbe,
+a brave gentleman of Brabant, at the head of three thousand picked
+men. The Dukes of Guise and Nevers, and Marshal Strozzi, were the
+leaders of the besieging army; Montluc joined them on the eve of
+the opening of the batteries, and did excellent service. On the
+fifteenth day of the siege, Guise was in the trenches, talking
+to Strozzi, on whose shoulder his hand rested, when the Marshal
+was struck by an arquebuse ball, a little above the heart. On
+feeling himself hit, "_Ah! tête Dieu, Monsieur_," exclaimed this
+brave and able general, "the King loses to-day a good servant,
+and your Excellency also." He did himself no more than justice.
+Guise was deeply affected, but, repressing his emotion, he tried
+to fix Strozzi's thoughts on religion. The veteran's death was
+less exemplary than his life; he died in profession of unbelief;
+and Guise, much scandalised, but perhaps doubly furious at the
+thought that the soul as well as the body of his old comrade had
+perished by the sudden manner of his death, prosecuted the siege
+with fresh ardour, eager for revenge, and suppressing for the
+moment, as far as he was able, the disastrous news, which could not
+but produce a most unfavourable impression. Valiantly seconded by
+Montluc and Vieilleville, on the 22d June, two days after Strozzi's
+death, he received the capitulation of the garrison. His triumph
+was well earned. Besides the exhibition, throughout the siege, of
+the genius and inventive resource that constitute a general of
+the highest order, he had toiled and exposed himself like a mere
+subaltern, constantly under fire, personally superintending the
+pioneers and artillerymen, and rarely sleeping; so that it was no
+wonder (considering he had not had a single night's rest during the
+operations against Thionville) that on the 1st July, when preparing
+for the siege of the rich little town of Arlon, he complained of
+being very drowsy, and left Montluc to invest the place--himself
+retiring to bed in a cottage, and giving orders to let him sleep
+till he awoke of himself. "It is very quick work," he observed,
+crossing himself, when he was the next day informed, in reply to
+his inquiry whether the batteries had opened fire, that Montluc had
+surprised and taken the place in the night.
+
+Whilst Guise was thus not only rendering great services himself, but
+bringing forward leaders whose exploits honoured the French arms,
+in other quarters affairs went less favourably for France. Near
+Dunkirk, Marshal Thermes was beaten and taken prisoner, and Guise,
+whose frequent lot it was to repair the blunders or misfortunes
+of less capable generals, marched to Picardy; on the frontier of
+which province, at a grand review passed by Henry II., the Duke's
+son and successor, Henry, Prince of Joinville, then but eight years
+old, appeared for the first time in public, with his cousin, the
+Count of St Vallier, son of the Duke d'Aumale. Accompanied by their
+preceptors and some other gentlemen, and mounted on ponies, they
+rode through the ranks, until they reached the troops commanded
+by Montluc. "_Cà, çà_, my little princes," exclaimed that brave
+captain, "dismount; for I was brought up in the house of which you
+are issue, which is the house of Lorraine, where I was page, and
+I will be the first to put arms in your hands." The two cousins
+dismounted, and Montluc, taking off the little silken _robons_
+that covered their shoulders, placed a pike in the hand of each of
+them. "I hope," he said, "that God will give you grace to resemble
+your fathers, and that I shall have brought you good fortune by
+being the first to invest you with arms. To me they have hitherto
+been favourable. May God render you as brave as you are handsome,
+and sons of very good and generous fathers." After this species of
+martial baptism, the two children, conducted by Montluc, passed
+along the front of the troops, objects of the admiration and good
+wishes of men and officers. A few months later, one of them was
+dead; the other, heir to most of the great qualities, whether good
+or bad, that distinguished his race, lived to prosecute, and at one
+time almost to realise, the most ambitious designs his father and
+grandfather had conceived. The fair-haired boy of the review at
+Pierrepont, was the stern _Balafré_ of the wars of the League.
+
+The spring of the year 1559 found the Guises in marked disfavour
+with the King. The great services of the Duke, the capture of
+Calais and Thionville, and the many other feats of arms by which he
+had reduced the power of the enemy, at moments when it was about
+to be fatal to France, were insufficient to counterbalance the
+alarm felt by Henry II. at his and the Cardinal's influence and
+ambition. The star of the Constable was in the ascendant. Chiefly
+by his intervention, a disadvantageous peace was concluded, and,
+at his request, d'Andelot was recalled to court. Montmorency and
+Coligny triumphed. The efforts of the Protestants combined with
+court intrigues to ruin the credit of the house of Lorraine. The
+two brothers were attacked on all sides, and in every manner:
+epigram and satire furiously assailed them, and they were denounced
+as aspiring, one to the tiara, the other to the crown of France.
+However doubtful--or at least remote from maturity--these projects
+were, they were yet sufficiently probable for their denunciation to
+produce the desired effect on the mind of Henry, already writhing
+impatiently under the domination of the Guises, against whom he was
+further prejudiced by his mistress, the Duchess de Valentinois,
+(Diane de Poitiers,) still influential, in spite of her threescore
+winters. Never had circumstances been so menacing to the fortunes of
+the Guises; and perhaps it was only the subtle and temporising line
+of conduct they adopted in this critical conjuncture, that saved
+them from utter disgrace and downfall. Things had been but a short
+time in this state, and already, from the skilful manoeuvres of the
+Cardinal, their side of the balance acquired an upward inclination,
+when the whole aspect of affairs was changed by the death of Henry
+II. With the reign of his feeble successor, there commenced for the
+restless princes of Lorraine a new epoch of power and renown.
+
+
+
+
+MY PENINSULAR MEDAL.
+
+BY AN OLD PENINSULAR.
+
+
+PART VIII.--CHAPTER XIX.
+
+Now for the fight. On the morning of the battle of Toulouse we left
+Grenade. It was known amongst us that the battle was coming off; and
+we started in the expectation of passing the night either in the
+city itself, or in its immediate vicinity. We ascended towards the
+city by the left bank of the Garonne, but reached a pontoon bridge,
+which enabled us to cross to the right bank, where the main body of
+our troops was posted. The fight had commenced. We heard the firing
+as we advanced; and while we approached the scene of action, it
+became gradually louder and more distinct. Immediately in the rear
+of the British lines we halted, not knowing the ground, and withdrew
+from the road into a field which was close at hand, in order that
+our numerous party might not prove an obstacle to passing troops,
+ammunition, or artillery. Our forces held the low ground, and
+closed, in a sort of semicircle, around the heights occupied by the
+French. As it so happened that I was not only at this battle, but
+in it, I here beg leave to relate the circumstances which led to my
+finding myself in a position where, as a civilian, I was so little
+wanted, and so much out of my ordinary sphere of duty.
+
+Sancho did it all. We were sitting upon our nags, speculating upon
+the fight, and seeing all that could be seen, till we began to
+think we knew something of what was going on. At this moment rode
+up from the rear, coming across the fields, an old officer of rank,
+a major-general, well known at headquarters, without aide-de-camp,
+orderly, or any kind of attendant. He inquired eagerly, "Where are
+the troops?--Where are the troops?" We pointed forward; little
+was visible but trees. He looked rather at a loss, but turned his
+horse's head in the direction we had indicated. That villain Sancho,
+seeing another horse go on, snorted, and pulled at the bridle. He
+was tired of standing still. I, ever indulgent to Sancho, followed
+the old general, and soon overtook him. "I believe I know the
+position of the troops, sir. Will you give me leave to show you?"
+
+"Thank you, sir, thank you," said he; "I shall really be much
+obliged."
+
+We rode on till we reached a British regiment, drawn up in line.
+With renewed acknowledgments he then took his leave. The air was
+musical above our heads with whistling and humming missiles. I was
+now fairly upon the ground, and didn't like to go back.
+
+There was a lull in the fight. The spectacle was singular. Some
+firing was kept up on both sides, but not sufficient to obscure
+the view of the French position, which rose immediately in front,
+a bare range of hills, crowned by their redoubts. The atmosphere
+was bright; and though the skirmishers on the declivity were
+discoverable only by small white jets of smoke, as they fired from
+time to time, every movement of the enemy on the summit, with the
+sky for its background, was perfectly visible. I noticed a single
+horseman, probably an aide-de-camp bearing orders, as distinct
+and diminutive as if seen through the wrong end of a telescope.
+You might perceive the very action of his horse, that laborious
+up-and-down gallop of the French manége, which throws away so much
+of the animal's strength, and sacrifices speed without securing
+elegance.
+
+The combat, at this moment, was renewed, and our troops went to
+work in earnest. The Spanish army ascended the hill to assault the
+enemy's redoubts. This movement, at first, had all the regularity
+of a review. But the redoubts opened their fire; as the Spaniards
+moved up, the smoke rolled down; and, when the wind swept it away,
+their broken bands were seen in precipitate retreat, followed by a
+large body of the French, who swarmed out from their intrenchments.
+Instantly, and just in front of me, our artillery opened upon the
+pursuing foe. The round-shot plumped into their columns, knocking
+up clods as high as a house; and the enemy, not relishing this
+salutation, hastily fell back to their former position. Sancho
+now became a dreadful plague. He had for some time been getting
+unquiet, and, with the continual firing, he grew worse and worse. I
+believe this was his first battle, as it was mine. Not content with
+a little extra restiveness at every fresh discharge of artillery,
+he had worked himself into a state of chronic excitement, and, at
+intervals, attempted to bolt. It was clear I must get rid of Sancho,
+or see no more of the fight; so I deposited him in a stable, under
+care of a cottager, in the adjoining village.
+
+Still moving towards the left, along the base of the hill, I reached
+a part of the British position, where a number of our troops were
+waiting to storm the heights, when the flank movement against the
+enemy's right, which was his weakest point, should be sufficiently
+advanced. All at once I plumped upon "Cousin Tom," whom I had not
+met since he embarked, three years before, a raw subaltern, at
+Portsmouth. There he now stood, as large as life, rough and ugly,
+at the head of his regiment, a regular "Old Peninsular;" and on him
+had devolved the duty, as he gave me to understand, of "taking those
+fellows up the hill." This service, I thought, would have fallen
+to some officer of higher rank; but Tom explained. The regiment
+having been reduced, either by losses or detachment, its numbers in
+the field were small, and he, being the senior officer present, of
+course had to "carry them up." "Come," said he, "we are going to
+take a look at those monsieurs above there; you may as well go with
+us."
+
+The proposal was coolly made, so I took it coolly. "With all my
+heart," said I. "You know what is the feeling towards an amateur.
+If he makes an ass of himself, he's laughed at; and if he gets hit,
+they only say, it serves him right. If it's of any use, I'll go with
+pleasure."
+
+"Use?" said Tom; "the greatest use. Why, I want to ask you twenty
+questions about friends in England. Besides, you know, if I am
+knocked over, you can pick me up."
+
+"Very well, then; and you can do the same for me."
+
+"No, no," said cousin Tom; "I don't promise that. Got my men to
+attend to. If I am hit, you must take care of me. If you are hit,
+you must take care of yoursel----Oh, that's the signal. Come along."
+Away we went, up the hill.
+
+Rank and file--double-quick time--a capital pace for opening the
+chest. Tom took it easy, trotting on at a steady pace, and assailing
+me with a running fire of questions; while the row that had already
+commenced above prevented my returning categorical replies. "Is
+your father at sea now?"--Bang! from one of the big guns in the
+French batteries right over our heads. "Got any brandy?"--A shout
+from a thousand throats, in the rush and shock of a charge with
+bayonets. "Had breakfast this morning?"--Pop! pop! pop! a running
+fire of musketry. Pop! pop! pop! "Got any cigars?"--Bang! bang! the
+big guns at it again. "When did you hear from your mother?" A new
+sound, less loud and sudden, but, from its peculiarity, distinct
+amidst the din; a spiteful, whirling, whizzing noise, ten thousand
+skyrockets combined in one; not, though, like the skyrocket, first
+loud, then less audible--quite the contrary. Commencing with a
+faint and distant hiss, it grew louder and louder, came singing on,
+nearer and nearer, till a shell dropped a few yards in front of our
+column! The hiss was now an angry roar, like the blowing off of
+steam. There lay the bottled demon, full in our path, threatening
+instant destruction, and daring us to advance. Our column halted.
+"Hurra! my lads," cried Cousin Tom, waving his sword. "Come along,
+old Five-and-threepennies. Push by it at once, before it _spreads_."
+The game old Five-and-threepennies gave a shout--rushed forward--got
+by in time; each yelping and capering as he passed the fizzing foe.
+Bang went the shell. For a few seconds I was stone deaf. Never felt
+such an odd sensation. Not the deafness, but the return of hearing.
+First, perfect silence in the midst of the turmoil--then the crack!
+crack! bang! bang! as if you had suddenly flung open a door. Not a
+man of us was hurt. "Got an English paper?" said Tom.
+
+"I've got some intelligence for you, old chap, not in this morning's
+_Times_. Just look up there, in front."
+
+The view in front was striking and picturesque. Right above us,
+dimly visible through the smoke, on the verge of the platform or
+table-land which we were mounting to assault, appeared a regiment
+of French infantry, enough of them to eat us up, advancing upon
+us with an irregular fire, and led on by their colonel. He rode a
+showy horse; and, hat in hand, waved them on, while his white hairs
+streamed in the wind, and his whole bearing announced the brave old
+soldier. "We must form line," said Tom. It was done forthwith, with
+steadiness, order, and rapidity. "Make ready--present--fire." Crack!
+went all the muskets together. I saw the gallant old colonel, with
+outspread arms, tumbling from his horse.--"Charge!" We rushed upon
+the foe; but, when the smoke had cleared away, found no foe to fight
+withal. Nothing was visible, save their knapsacks in the distance,
+poppling up and down in the smoke, as they scampered off. We still
+continued advancing in pursuit, and now were fairly in for it, half
+choked with dust and sulphur. If it be asked, how far I personally
+contributed to the triumphs of that glorious day, I beg leave to
+answer:--Unquestionably my arm performed prodigies of valour; of
+that there neither is, nor can be, the shadow of a doubt. But as I
+should have felt it extremely difficult to give a distinct account
+of my exploits if questioned on the day, why, of course you won't
+expect it now, after the lapse of six-and-thirty years. Suffice it
+to say, we made good our footing on the platform, drove the enemy
+from their position, occupied it ourselves, took possession of
+their redoubts, and formed, with the rest of the British forces,
+on the summit of the heights. The day was our own. But there was
+one unfortunate circumstance to damp our exultation; Cousin Tom was
+missing. A sergeant now informed me he was wounded, and had gone to
+the rear.
+
+
+CHAPTER XX. AND LAST.
+
+As victory had crowned our efforts, and my valuable services were
+now no longer required, I determined to look for Cousin Tom, and
+walked down the hill for that purpose. At its base, I entered a long
+thicket or shrubbery. There, amongst the trees, I found several
+wounded men, whom their comrades were removing off the ground.
+No one could give me the information that I sought; no one knew
+anything of Cousin Tom. Saw a sergeant sitting on a bank, who, I
+soon discovered, was also wounded. He knew no such officer; had seen
+no one answering the description. "What's your injury, sergeant?"
+
+"A musket-ball in my ankle, sir."
+
+"Well, but hadn't I better help you to a place of shelter?"
+
+"Much obliged to you, sir; but I couldn't walk, even with your
+support. I'd rather wait till my turn comes to be carried, if you've
+no objections, sir. Much obliged to you, equally all the same, sir."
+
+"As you please. Can I render you any assistance? What can I do for
+you?"
+
+"If you'd have the kindness, sir, perhaps you'd be so good and take
+off my gaiter. I can't take it off myself, sir, though I've tried;
+it does hurt me so when I stoop forward. I'm afraid the bleeding
+will spoil it, sir; and then I shall be forced to take out a new
+pair."
+
+Having performed this office, and administered a little brandy both
+topically and constitutionally, I once more ascended the hill,
+thinking it possible Cousin Tom might be somewhere nearer the scene
+of action. I inquired and looked in every direction, but without
+success. Where are you, Cousin Tom? This time my steps brought me
+into one of the redoubts, which had been carried by our troops.
+When I entered, there were not a dozen men in it. Sunset was near,
+and everything over for the day. Yet just at that moment, for what
+reason I know not, perhaps for a freak, the enemy thought fit to
+open upon this all but unoccupied post, from their own lines nearer
+the city, with a heavy fire of shot and shell. Bang went a shell,
+knocking up bushels of earth and mire. Plump came a round-shot,
+into the mud parapet of the redoubt. It was no use moving; one
+place was as hot as another. So we had nothing to do for it but to
+stand still and exchange grins till the pelting was over. I then
+took my leave for the evening. The day indeed was drawing to a
+close as I descended the hill; and happily I succeeded in reaching
+the village, and finding the cottage where Sancho had been left in
+charge, just after it became pitch-dark. A cheering light streamed
+through the cottage window; and, on entering, I found comfortably
+seated by the blazing hearth a veterinary surgeon, who was there in
+charge of wounded horses. He very civilly informed me there were
+two good beds, so all was right with respect to accommodation;
+and, more civilly still, invited me to partake of his supper,
+which was boiling on the fire. Not having eaten a morsel since my
+early breakfast at Grenade, and having just discovered that I was
+enormously hungry, I accepted the invitation with glee, took my
+seat, and cast many a glance at the boiling, bubbling, and steaming
+kettle. Presently the contents were turned out into a large,
+old-fashioned tureen, and displayed to my eager gaze a compound of
+various materials, the chief of which were a fowl, and--what d'ye
+think?--a pig's heart. Supper excellent. Bed ditto.
+
+Next day early I resumed my search for Cousin Tom, but still,
+alas! without success. Went from village to village, inquired
+from house to house, searched the whole neighbourhood. Lots of
+wounded officers, but not the man I sought. Throughout the day my
+search was unsuccessful. Towards night I was passing through a
+street of scattered houses, a sort of hamlet, and was beginning to
+think of securing a lodging and a dinner. Wolves rouse at sunset;
+and I distinctly felt one gnawing at my stomach. At this painful
+juncture, much to my satisfaction, at the door of a cottage I
+discovered a jolly acquaintance, whom I beg to introduce as my "Fat
+Friend." He was one of the smartest clerks amongst our civilians,
+and probably the youngest; under, rather than over fifteen; in
+short, a chubby boy, who somehow or other had broken away from his
+mother's apron-strings, and obtained a post, which he filled in a
+way that did him credit. In one respect he was precocious; namely,
+that he soon proved himself up to all the waggery and villainy
+of headquarters. Moreover, he had a vast idea of maintaining his
+importance, and could take his own part; was touchy in anything
+that affected his manhood; and, if you offended him, punched your
+head; brushed up to fine women, with a marked preference for a
+bouncer. Yet, after all, he was but an overgrown boy, and often
+afforded us sport by his mannish airs. "Ah, Fatty, is that you? Glad
+to see you. Got any room?"
+
+"Plenty, plenty," said Fatty; "good entertainment for man and horse.
+Glad to see you; and glad to see the pony. Here, Francisco, take
+Sancho, and give him some corn. Come in, old fellow. Sit down, and
+make yourself comfortable. Dreadful dull here--horrid! Left in
+charge of the departmental boxes."
+
+"I say, Fatty; have you dined?"
+
+"Dined? We dined an hour ago." Fatty saw his advantage, and was
+resolved to make the most of it.
+
+"Well, what did you have for dinner? Got any cold beef?"
+
+"Why, where have you been?" said Fatty; "haven't seen you these two
+days. Oh, I suppose you got into Toulouse. Lots of fine gals?"
+
+"Answer my question, and I'll answer yours."
+
+"Come out, old fellow. Let's take a turn through village before it
+gets dark. Dinner? Why, a turkey. Sorry you were not with us to
+partake. Not a morsel left. Picked the old gobbler clean, drumsticks
+and all."
+
+"I wish you'd let me send your fellow for some beef."
+
+"Oh yes," said Fatty, "send him by all means. Sorry to inform you
+it's no use, though. Not a morsel of rations to be had; not a
+biscuit. What, haven't you _dined_?" I saw he meant to have his
+joke, so made no reply.
+
+There was a dodge, though; my remedy was in my pocket. Brought out a
+cigar, one of my choice grenadiers; struck a light, blew a fragrant
+cloud, took it easy. The rich odour diffused itself through the
+apartment.
+
+Fatty, knowing in cigars, soon discovered that mine was no common
+weed. He first drew a sniff; then gave utterance to his emotions in
+a coaxing and admiring "Oh!" I took no notice.
+
+"Come, old fellow," said Fatty; "hand out one of those."
+
+"Lost your cigar-case?"
+
+"No, no; nonsense. Come, give us one; that's a good chap."
+
+Failing in his request, Fatty sat silent and fidgetty. The first
+finished, I lit a second.
+
+Fatty watched his opportunity; made a vicious grab at the case. I
+was too quick for him--knew his ways. Down he sat again; tried all
+the varieties of entreating, threatening, bullying, wheedling, till
+cigar the second was burnt out. When I extracted the third, Fatty
+could stand it no longer; made a rush, and commenced a ferocious
+assault, pitching it in, right and left. The punches came so fierce
+and fast, I was at length compelled, in self-defence, to administer
+a slight persuader, and Fatty found it convenient to resume his
+seat. He sat awhile, sulky and all but blubbering; then hastily
+rose, and stalked out of the room in high dudgeon. I presently found
+him stationed at the front door with his hands in his pocket, very
+pensive and dignified. Shortly after, he slipped into the house;
+Francisco appeared with the tablecloth and a bottle of wine; then
+came half a turkey and the cold beef. After dinner we clubbed our
+resources, and closed the evening with whisky punch and prime cigars.
+
+Next morning early, started afresh in search of Cousin Tom. Near
+Toulouse, fell in with Gingham--told him my difficulties. "Come up
+the hill," said Gingham; "I'll go with you. There, no doubt, we
+shall find your cousin's regiment." On reaching the summit of the
+heights, we found our way in the first instance into the Colombette
+redoubt; the same in which, on the day of the fight, the brave
+Forty-second had been suddenly overwhelmed by a superior force,
+and had lost four-fifths of its numbers. Within the redoubt were
+standing two or three privates; they belonged to the Forty-second.
+The uniform at once reminded me of Corporal Fraser, the trusty
+companion of my march to headquarters. I asked one of the privates,
+did he know the Corporal. "He joined about three weeks ago, sir."
+
+"Hope he's well. Where is he now?"
+
+"He's there, sir," said the man, pointing to the parapet of the
+redoubt. I looked, but saw no one.
+
+"The earth," said Gingham, "seems to have been recently stirred
+there. That mound, I think, is not many days old." Then, addressing
+the soldier, "your regiment suffered a heavy loss. Is that where you
+buried after the action?"
+
+"That's the place, sir." The man then walked away, as if little
+disposed for conversation.
+
+We did not pause to calculate how many bodies would fill a space
+commensurate with the length, breadth, and altitude of the soil
+displaced. There lay the slain of a gallant regiment, in the redoubt
+they had so nobly won. There lay Corporal Fraser, who, in all the
+difficulties of our march, had shown himself trustworthy, fearless,
+intelligent, and energetic. He had longed to join ere the day of
+combat, and had found a soldier's grave.
+
+We discovered at length the sergeant who had informed me of my
+cousin's wound. He now pointed to a large house, near the thicket at
+the bottom of the hill. While searching for Cousin Tom on the day of
+the fight, I was close to that same house, but without seeing it.
+From our present elevated position it was distinctly visible, though
+not from the low ground, amongst trees and underwood.
+
+Our approach to the house led us through the thicket. While making
+our way among the trees, we both, Gingham and I, came to a halt at
+the same instant. The sight which arrested our steps was new to
+Gingham, not to me. I saw, on that spot, an object that I had seen
+two days before. The sergeant whom I had then found wounded was
+still sitting there, on the same bank, in the same attitude! There
+he had sat the whole time, overlooked by the bearers, and unable to
+move. Viewed at the distance of a few paces, his aspect scarcely
+appeared changed. It was the identical figure--I remembered him
+at once. But on a nearer inspection, the alteration was but too
+manifest. His eye was glazed, and half shut. His face was that of a
+corpse. He sat up, like a dead man galvanised. "What, still here,
+sergeant? Has nobody come to remove you yet."
+
+He attempted to speak--paused--at length found utterance. "Sorry I
+didn't accept your offer, sir." His voice was low and husky, but
+distinct.
+
+"Come," said Gingham, "you mustn't refuse this time. We'll soon
+carry you into the house just by."
+
+"Thank you, sir; thank you, gentlemen. Would you have the kindness
+though--I should be sorry to lose my gaiter."
+
+The gaiter secured, we prepared to lift the sufferer from his seat,
+and he on his part made a feeble effort to rise. The attempt brought
+on a gush of pain. For a moment, his features were distorted with
+intolerable anguish; the next, he fainted in our arms.
+
+"Now then," said Gingham, thrusting back into his sidepocket a small
+flask which he had just drawn out. "Now then; away with him at once,
+before he recovers. Come, Mr Y----; you take his shoulders, I'll
+take his legs. It may save him further pain."
+
+We bore the sufferer, still senseless, to the house. Gingham, not
+having a hand to spare, banged at the door with his foot. It was
+opened by Mr Staff-surgeon Pledget, who bowed on recognising us, but
+looked rather perplexed at the unexpected addition to his duties.
+
+Pledget gave instant directions for the accommodation of the wounded
+man, and informed me, in reply to my inquiries for Cousin Tom, that
+he had an officer under his care, answering to my description.
+Pledget appeared bewildered, and stood with us in the passage a few
+moments, without speaking. At length he opened the door of a small
+chamber close by, and begged us to enter. He placed chairs for us,
+and seated himself on the bed. "I'm rather exhausted," said he.
+
+"I fear after such a fight," said Gingham, "your duties must be
+heavy indeed."
+
+"Oh yes," said Pledget, looking distressed and rather wild. "I have
+had much work, and little assistance; a long spell, too."
+
+"Why, you began, I suppose," replied Gingham, "early on the day of
+the fight."
+
+"Yes," said Pledget; "and I've been at it ever since. Let me see:
+two days and two nights, isn't it? Yes, and now going on for the
+third. Here have I been operating, bandaging, taking up arteries,
+taking off arms and legs, night and day, without time to lie down,
+almost without a moment to eat. In fact," said he, looking about the
+room like a man lost, "this is the first time I've sat down these
+eight-and-forty hours."
+
+Pledget's look bore full testimony to his toils. Three weeks'
+illness could hardly have wrought a greater change. Nor was his
+appearance mended by his garb. He wore a sort of operating gown
+similar to that employed in dissecting; a long pinafore with
+sleeves, protecting the whole person from the chin to the feet, tied
+round the middle, and closing with a fold behind. The front was
+spotted in every part with jets of blood from wounded arteries. Some
+of the stains had dried on, and blackened where they dried; others,
+more recent, were still moist and crimson. Blood was on his unshaven
+and haggard face; and on his hands, too, wore marks of blood.
+
+Gingham eyed him with a look of deep concern. "I really fear," said
+Gingham, "you've been quite overdone."
+
+"I did hope, before this," replied Pledget, "to be relieved by other
+gentlemen of my own department. I have but one medical assistant,
+and he, at this moment, can afford me no help, for I have been
+forced to leave him sitting with his finger on a wounded artery; and
+if he takes it off but for a few seconds, the major's a dead man."
+
+Pledget now looked like a man that can't remember what's next. "Oh,"
+said he, in all absent tone, "so peace is really concluded. Come, Mr
+Y----, suppose we go and look for your cousin. His case, I'm happy
+to say, is not serious. The ball will be extracted this evening, and
+then, I hope, he will do well."
+
+Pledget spoke, but did not stir. "By the bye," he added, "you know
+Captain Gabion? I think you do. Oh yes, I recollect; we were all
+three fellow-passengers from Lisbon to Falmouth. No, no, what am
+I saying? From Falmouth to Lisbon. His case is past hope. He can
+hardly live through the night."
+
+Gingham and I rose at once from our seats. For the moment, the
+imminent danger of a man we so highly esteemed, expelled from my
+thoughts even Cousin Tom. Pledget also rose, as if to lead the way,
+but again lapsed into forgetfulness. His mind was evidently worn
+out, as well as his body. "Well," said he, "I'm glad we've got
+Toulouse.--Gentlemen, I beg your pardon. This way, if you please; up
+stairs."
+
+He led the way. Every open door, as we passed through the spacious
+mansion, discovered a room crowded with wounded and dying men, in
+beds, or on the ground. Or, if we saw not into the apartment, sounds
+were heard, which told of anguish and laceration within. We were
+conducted by Pledget into a large room on the first floor, filled,
+like the others, with every form of suffering. Some, slightly
+wounded, sat round the fire, on which cookery was proceeding in
+kettles of every size and shape. One officer, bandaged round the
+head, had become delirious. He alternately laughed and whimpered,
+muttered and sang. Another sat near him, moaning, with his arm in
+a sling. A spent cannon ball had smashed the bones from the elbow
+to the wrist, without inflicting an external wound. Every bed had
+an occupant; and many lay upon the floor, with only a blanket under
+them. My eye glanced round the apartment, and lighted on the pinched
+features and pallid visage of Captain Gabion.
+
+He lay on his back in bed. Death was legible in his aspect. His eyes
+were all but shut; but, from time to time, a convulsive twitching
+of the muscles suddenly expanded them to their full width. To all
+appearance, he was perfectly insensible. His breathing was irregular
+and laborious; but the expression of his countenance, except when
+disfigured by the spasms which occasionally shot through his frame,
+and jerked him from head to foot, was, as in health, calm and
+dignified. Strange indeed were the vicissitudes, strange was the
+contrast, between the rigid tranquillity of one moment, and the
+awful distortion of the next. Now, it was the quivering play of
+features pulled by muscular contraction; now, the monumental repose
+of marble.
+
+"I fear," whispered Gingham to Pledget, "you view the case
+unfavourably." Pledget hopelessly raised his eyes.
+
+"The Captain has been insensible," said Pledget, "ever since he was
+brought in; and probably will continue so till he expires."
+
+We turned from this sad spectacle, without exchanging a syllable.
+A handkerchief was whisked in my face. I looked round; there
+was the man I wanted. In the next bed, tucked in, with smiling
+face, little changed since we parted, a splendid specimen of the
+ugly-handsome--those fellows that make the biggest holes in ladies'
+hearts--lay Cousin Tom. Gingham, my object attained, forthwith
+took a temporary leave--had urgent business in Toulouse--an
+appointment--would return as soon as possible.
+
+"Fine fellow, that" said Cousin Tom, craning round, and nodding at
+Captain Gabion.
+
+"Well, Tom," said I; "what's the matter with YOU? What brought YOU
+here?"
+
+"Oh, not much; nothing," replied Tom, curling out his lips
+contemptuously, like a disappointed man; "only a musket-shot. It
+won't get me a step, I'm afraid; no, nor a pension neither."
+
+"Well, but how was it? When was it? We lost you in a moment."
+
+"I'll tell you just how it happened," said Tom. "You saw the old
+colonel knocked over. Ah! Don't touch the bed; that's a good fellow.
+Well. Directly after, you know, we charged. I was running on; felt
+a smart crack in the small of my leg. Thought it was a stone; took
+no notice. A few paces further, though, found I couldn't walk. The
+sergeant looked at my leg; said 'You're wounded, sir.' Wounded I
+was, sure enough; and disabled, too. Got carried to the rear; placed
+myself in the doctor's--"
+
+Here Tom suddenly knit his brows. His colour changed in an instant
+from florid to livid; his whole face was distorted with pain.
+Clapping his handkerchief to his mouth, he chewed away at it with
+all his might, while big drops of sweat started out on his forehead,
+and he drew in breath till the bedclothes heaved. Next moment he was
+himself again.
+
+Once more Tom nodded at the next bed. "Known him long? The doctor
+knows him."
+
+"We came over from England, all three of us in a ship."
+
+"Doctor was out, though, in one thing," said Cousin Tom. "Told you
+he was insensible ever since he came in. No such thing; this morning
+he revived; for about an hour seemed quite himself. Told me how he
+got hit."
+
+"Then tell me. I must communicate with his friends in England."
+
+"Well," replied Tom, "the Captain wasn't on duty here at
+headquarters; was doing some field-works on the left bank of the
+river, to be ready for Soult in case of his bolting again for the
+south. He heard, though, that the fight was coming off; so rode
+in on the morning. Found out there was to be a flank movement to
+the left; thought he might as well explore the line of march; went
+forward alone. Passed through the thicket on foot; made his way
+from one end to the other. When he reached the further extremity,
+just where our men got such a pounding afterwards from the guns
+on the heights, he looked out for the enemy's skirmishers; saw no
+one; thought he might as well go a little further. Just then our
+batteries at the right opened on the French position; some of our
+shots flew too high, and came clean over the hill into the lane,
+just exactly where he was standing."--Indeed! I thought of Captain
+Gabion's dream.--"Well; he saw one coming; didn't trouble himself;
+it seemed spent. Just when he thought it was going to stop, it
+fetched a pitch; took him in the side. He was found when our troops
+advanced, and brought in here." At this moment the pain returned.
+Tom again made wry faces, took another chew at his handkerchief, and
+soon recovered as before.
+
+"Well, Tom; I'm a leisure man. What can I do for you? Is there
+anything you want?--anything I can get you?"
+
+Cousin Tom looked very much as if there was something he did want,
+yet was backward to speak. "Why," said he, "I suppose by this time
+you can get into Toulouse. I wish you would make inquiries; try
+and find me some--But never mind; it's of no use. The ball will be
+extracted this evening, and to-morrow I shall go in myself."
+
+"Nonsense, nonsense; I'll go this instant."
+
+"Don't be too sure of that, though," said Tom. "Yesterday morning
+I tried it. Told the servant to have my mule ready; got my things
+on while the doctor was sawing away on the other floor; slipped
+down stairs; gave him the go-by. Mounted--rode to the top of the
+hill--was riding down into the city--almost rode into a French
+piquet."
+
+"No fear of that now, Tom; the city is ours. I saw the French troops
+marching out. Come, tell us, old fellow. What is it you fancy?
+Anything the doctor sanctions, you know. A quarter of mutton?--a
+dozen of pigeons?--some prime French sausages?--a bushel or so of
+oysters? What do you say to a brace of biddies?"
+
+"Oh, no!--oh, no!" said Tom, as if the very mention of biddies made
+him sick. "We were always in advance; got fowls and turkeys till we
+hated the sight of them."
+
+"Any dish from a French cuisine, then?"
+
+"Oh, no--oh, no! Nothing French, nothing Frenchified. What I
+want, if it's to be got at all, is not to be got good, except in
+England--or the West Indies."
+
+"Well, but, you know, Bordeaux is open; West India produce has come
+into the country by ship-loads. What is it? Come, just tell us, old
+chap, and I'll go and get it for you at once, if it's to be had in
+Toulouse."
+
+Tom was not so well as he looked; and there was evidently something
+for which, like other sick persons, he was inwardly pining. Now that
+I had held out a prospect of its attainment, his cheek flushed, and
+his eye gleamed with feverish eagerness.
+
+"Well, then," said Tom, "I wish you would try and get me--but it's
+no use; it's a shame to bother you.--I say, though, can you spare
+the time? Have you really nothing to do? Upon your honour?--I've
+been longing for them, day and night, ever since I got here. Oh, if
+you could only get me--some tamarinds!"
+
+His eye, while he spoke, fixed full on mine. He watched my
+countenance with the anxiety of a dying man when he makes his last
+request. "I'll be off and try this instant," said I, though really
+fearing there was little chance of success.
+
+"Oh, thank you--thank you!" cried Cousin Tom. I was going.
+"Here--here! Come back! I want to speak to you!" I returned. "Old
+fellow," said Tom, with a coaxing, eager grin, "make haste now, will
+you? Bring 'em directly--that's a good chap."
+
+"Well, but, you know--if tamarinds can't be had for love or money,
+is there nothing else?"
+
+"No, stupid--no! Tamarinds, I say; get me some tamarinds. What did
+I tell you? Didn't I tell you tamarinds? Now then; what are you
+waiting for? Cut away, and be hanged to you! Be off!--be off!"
+
+I entered the ancient and very interesting city of Toulouse, and
+rushed through streets choked with cars of wounded men, in search
+of tamarinds. The search was tedious, and far from satisfactory.
+I inquired at all the likeliest shops; found only two where
+they professed to sell tamarinds. The samples were similar: a
+made-up, sticky mess; a black, nauseous electuary, with a beastly
+pharmaceutical odour, and barely the flavour of tamarinds.
+
+It was no pleasant thought returning to poor Tom with a big gallipot
+of this filthy compound stowed in each of my coat pockets. Yet,
+though bad thus to baulk him, it was worse to keep him in suspense;
+so I started on my return with all speed, and, in my speed, came
+full butt against a passenger, who hugged me like a wrestler, to
+prevent a mutual capsize.
+
+"Well, Mr Y----! Glad to see you so active. Something of importance,
+no doubt: official duty, I suppose."
+
+It was Gingham! I told him my troubles, my pursuit in behalf of
+Cousin Tom, and my disappointment. Had searched all Toulouse, and
+could find no good tamarinds.
+
+"Shall be happy to supply you," said Gingham, "in any quantity your
+cousin can require. Got a whole kegful--capital. Always take some
+with me when I visit the Continent. Got them on Fish-street Hill."
+We walked off forthwith to Gingham's quarters.
+
+I was speedily on my return to Cousin Tom, with Gingham for
+my companion, and a good jar of prime, sweet, wholesome,
+unsophisticated tamarinds. On approaching Tom's bed, I held up the
+jar in triumph. Tom raised himself without saying a word, tucked his
+handkerchief under his chin, and sat up, poor fellow, like a child,
+with eyes half-closed and mouth half-open, eager to be fed. In went
+a spoonful. The next instant--bolt!--it was gone! What a swallow! He
+sat as before, ready for another. A second allowance vanished with
+equal speed. Down it goes! Why, it's like feeding a young rook!--Tom
+now laid himself down again, exhausted. "Here," said he; and made me
+a present of a handful of tamarind stones. "Now put a good lot in
+that jug, and fill it up with water."
+
+While the drink was mixing, an unusual sound called our attention to
+the adjoining bed. Captain Gabion was fast sinking. His respiration,
+laborious from the first, had now become painfully audible; in
+fact, he did not breathe, he gasped. The convulsive movements had
+ceased. His face retained its natural expression; but there was that
+in his look which told us he was a dying man. I felt at the moment
+an impression,--He is not insensible! His lips moved. Surely he is
+trying to speak! He strove to fix his eyes on us, but could not.
+I stooped down, observing his lips again in motion. Yes, he was
+speaking. I caught only the words--"On the platform."
+
+"The Calvinet platform?" I whispered in reply. "Is that the spot
+where you wish--?"
+
+Feebly, tremulously he pressed my hand, which had just before taken
+his. I had caught his last request, then; a grave on the summit of
+Mount Rave, the key of the French position, where the table-land,
+crowned with redoubts, had been carried by our troops. His breathing
+became gradually feebler and less perceptible. The moment when it
+ceased entirely, no one present could determine. This only was
+evident:--a minute before, he had given signs of life; and now, he
+had passed into another world!
+
+Cousin Tom's bullet was extracted the same afternoon, with immediate
+relief to the patient. During the operation I was present, by Tom's
+request; and friendship, let me tell you, has more pleasing duties
+than that of attending on such emergencies. Tom, however, made it as
+agreeable as he could. Throughout the process he viciously stared
+me full in the face, grinning most horribly from time to time, half
+in agony, half in fun. When the forceps was produced, he caught a
+glimpse of that terrific implement, and twisted his ugly mug into
+such a comical grimace, that mine, spite of the solemnity of the
+occasion, was screwed into a smile. Tom thereupon clenched his fist,
+with a look that said ferociously, "Laugh again, and I'll punch your
+eye."
+
+The bullet, doctor, had lodged between the bones of the leg, a
+little above the ankle, and, I need not inform you, came out
+rather flattened. Tom kept it as a bijou, in a red morocco case
+made express by an artist in Toulouse. Tom called it his pill-box.
+Neither bone was broken; but the strain of this disagreeable
+visitant wedged in between them, and rending them apart, had
+occasioned from time to time those awful twinges, which Tom assuaged
+by taking a chew at his handkerchief. The enemy removed, he not only
+found himself in a state of comparative ease, but was relieved from
+the constitutional irritation which had begun to manifest itself
+by hardness of pulse, dryness of the mouth, parched lips, a dull,
+hectic, brickdust-coloured patch on each cheek, a feverish lustre of
+the eye, and an enormous appetite for tamarinds.
+
+The operation, though, I ought to have said, was not performed
+by Pledget, but by another army surgeon, who had arrived in the
+course of the day, not before he was wanted. Poor Pledget was quite
+done up. His powers, both mental and physical, had evidently been
+over-taxed. He looked haggard and wild. Yet still, though relieved,
+anxious about his cases, he wandered from room to room, and fidgeted
+from one patient to another; standing a while in silence, with his
+hands behind him, first by an amputation, then by a wounded artery,
+then by a contusion, then by a broken head; while his care-worn
+countenance expressed pleasure or pain, according to the symptoms.
+As Cousin Tom was now in a dreadful fuss to be off for Toulouse,
+Gingham and I applied to the newly-arrived surgeon, and consulted
+him as to the removal.
+
+"I think, gentlemen," said he, "if no bad symptoms supervene in the
+night, it may safely be effected to-morrow; that is, of course, with
+proper care and precautions."
+
+"You are not afraid, sir," said Gingham, "that to-morrow may be too
+early a day, then?"
+
+"Why, sir, to say the truth," replied the doctor, "if we had more
+room here, better accommodations, and a less vitiated atmosphere,
+I should say a later day would be better. But, under existing
+circumstances, less evil, I think, is likely to arise from the
+patient's removal, than from his remaining. In his case, what we
+now have most to look to, is the general health. Keep that right,
+and the wound, I hope, will do well. Therefore the sooner he is
+withdrawn from the bad air, and the associations which surround him
+here, the better for him." The doctor paused.--"Pray, sir," said he,
+looking Gingham full in the face, as though intuitively knowing he
+spoke to a real good fellow, "pray, sir, if you will permit me to
+ask the question, is Mr Pledget a friend of yours?"
+
+"There are few men, sir," replied Gingham, "for whom I have a higher
+regard, than for Mr Pledget."
+
+"Well, sir," said the doctor, "I feel rather uneasy about him. It's
+a delicate thing to speak about. But you yourself must have noticed
+how changed he is, by the labours of the last three days. In short,
+to speak plainly, he requires to be looked after; and just at this
+time, with so many wounded upon our hands, I hardly know whether we
+could possibly give him the attention here which his case requires.
+If it is neglected now, it may become serious. Would it be asking
+too much, if I requested you to take charge of him into Toulouse?"
+
+"Take him with us this instant, sir," said Gingham; "or when you
+please. If you approve, I'll have him with me in my own quarters."
+
+"I really, sir, feel obliged to you," said the doctor. And the
+doctor looked as if he spoke from his heart. "Hope you understand,
+though, what it is you are taking on your shoulders. For a few
+days--not longer, I hope--he will require vigilant superintendence,
+and, possibly, slight control. His case demands firmness, and
+indulgence at the same time."
+
+"Yes, sir, I understand," said Gingham. "Shall he go with us now?"
+
+"I would rather have him under my eye," said the doctor, "till
+to-morrow morning. Perhaps a night's rest may effect a favourable
+change. In the interval, too, I shall have time to prepare his mind
+for the removal." So it was settled.
+
+The next morning we returned to the chateau, for the purpose of
+bringing in Pledget and Cousin Tom. Tom's patience, though, had not
+lasted out till our arrival. At sunrise, again giving the doctor
+the go-by, he had got on his things, crept down stairs, mounted his
+mule, and taken himself off. In fact, he had got into Toulouse,
+obtained a billet, and, snugly located in a respectable French
+family, was prattling the vernacular, which he had at his fingers'
+ends, before we arrived at the chateau to fetch him.
+
+It only remained, therefore, to remove Pledget. He, poor man, though
+all the better for a night's rest and a clean shirt, still looked
+very unlike himself. He had rested, indeed, but he had not slept;
+and his medical colleague hinted to Gingham, ere we departed, that
+the case still required vigilance and care. The state of Pledget's
+mind, at this time, was singular; he had all at once become
+excessively ceremonious. When we reached the garden gate he drew up;
+insisted that we should both precede him in going out. Had Gingham
+and I been equally punctilious, we should not have reached Toulouse
+by dinner-time.
+
+Gingham had a matter upon his mind. Captain Gabion having expressed
+a last wish respecting his funeral, Gingham had undertaken the whole
+details, and some arrangements had been necessary at the chateau,
+or our departed friend would speedily have been consigned, on the
+spot, to a ready-made grave. Gingham mentioned the subject as we
+rode along, and began stating what steps he had taken. Pledget, who
+was ambling side by side with us on his mule, suddenly fell behind.
+Coosey, previously admonished by Gingham, kept still further in the
+rear. We waited till Pledget came up.
+
+"Why, Mr Pledget," said Gingham, "I thought we had lost you, sir."
+
+"Excuse me, sir," said Pledget, with gravity; "you are making a
+confidential communication. Part of it I unintentionally overheard.
+For this, an apology is due to both of you. Gentlemen, I most humbly
+beg your pardon."
+
+We rode on. Presently, Pledget edged up alongside of me, as though
+he had something important to communicate.
+
+"Mr Y----," said he, "I consider it the first duty which one
+gentleman owes another, to avoid giving him needless offence." Not
+exactly perceiving to what this observation tended, I could only bow
+my acquiescence.
+
+"But if," continued Pledget, "an offence is actually given, then I
+conceive the next duty is to make reparation by a humble apology."
+Apology, it was evident, was now the uppermost idea in poor
+Pledget's mind.
+
+"Well, sir," said I, seeking to divert his thoughts, "I think, in
+such a case, regard should be had to the feelings of both parties.
+And, judging by my own, I should say that, next to making an
+apology, there are few things one would more wish to avoid than
+receiving one."
+
+"And accordingly," said Gingham, "in the intercourse of gentlemen,
+it rarely, very rarely occurs, that an actual apology is deemed
+requisite. To signify an intention, to express a willingness to
+apologise, is in most cases thought amply satisfactory. Manly
+feeling forbids the rest; and honour itself exacts no more." Pledget
+rode on awhile, absorbed in thought.
+
+"Mr Y----," he said at last, "I appreciate your sentiments, as well
+as Mr Gingham's; and I perceive their drift. Allow me to say it,
+your conduct is most generous. I really feel that you have just
+cause to complain of mine; and, if it would pain you to receive
+the apology, which is your due, allow me at least to express my
+_willingness_, and, believe me, it was my _intention_, to apologise."
+
+"Mr Pledget, my dear sir, what possible need of apology between
+you and me? What offence has been given or received? I know of
+none--never dreamt of any."
+
+"Very handsome of you to say so, Mr Y----," replied Pledget. "But
+what could be more inconsiderate than my conduct yesterday morning?
+You _must_ have felt it; I know you did. You came to me with an
+anxious inquiry respecting your wounded cousin; I spoke to you of
+Captain Gabion. It was wrong, I own. Nay, not merely wrong, it was
+unfeeling. I trust you will bear in mind my peculiar circumstances
+at the time. I was overwhelmed, perplexed, bewildered, I----"
+
+Gingham now saw it was high time to interpose, and with much
+adroitness gave a new turn to the conversation. But ere we were
+housed in Toulouse, Pledget, addressing us alternately, and
+continually discovering fresh grounds of self-accusation, had made
+two or three more apologies.
+
+For a few days, sedulously and most kindly tended by Gingham, who
+managed him admirably, and evinced equal tact and delicacy, Pledget
+continued in a state of alternate depression and excitement, with
+occasional hallucinations. He made apologies to all who came near
+him; and, ere he quitted Gingham's quarters, had begged pardon,
+again and again, of every servant in the household. From my first
+conversation with Gingham on the steps of the hotel at Falmouth, I
+always valued his acquaintance. But when I had seen him in this his
+new character as Pledget's nurse, wise, thoughtful, vigilant, and
+indulgent, I really grew proud of such a friend.
+
+Within a week Pledget was almost himself again; and long before he
+quitted Toulouse, to embark for England at Bordeaux, he was fully
+and permanently restored.
+
+Cousin Tom's, though, was a business of more time. He begged or
+borrowed a formidable sapling, with a knob as big as his fist,
+and was soon able to hobble about Toulouse, very much to his own
+satisfaction. But the bones of his leg had been injured, though not
+broken; and it was long before the wound got well, if it ever did.
+I was with him many months after in London, when the Medical Board
+sat to award gratuities and pensions to the wounded and disabled
+officers of the Peninsular Army. Lucky, then, did the wight esteem
+himself who had lost a limb or an eye. Tom was waiting for his
+turn to go before the Board; I saw him two days previously. His, I
+feared, was only a case for a gratuity; but Tom was determined to go
+for a pension, and made sure of getting it. I ventured to express
+my doubts; Tom whipped off his half-boot, turned down his sock, and
+exclaimed triumphantly, "Look at that!" The wound was clean, but
+looked fresh; much, indeed, as it appeared two days after the fight
+when the bullet was extracted, and still big enough to re-admit
+it. "If the Board don't give me a pension," cried Tom, "for such a
+punch as that, why, all I can say is, they deserve to be punched
+themselves." Saw him again after the inspection. "It's no go," said
+Tom; "I tried hard for it, too. Got up early in the morning--slapped
+twice round the Park at a swinging pace. When I went before them it
+was red all about, a couple of inches. The flinty-hearted villains
+gave me only a gratuity, though it bled while they were looking at
+it."
+
+At an early day after Pledget's and Tom's removal, we assembled
+at the chateau, on an occasion in which we all felt a melancholy
+interest--the funeral of Captain Gabion. The military arrangements,
+of course, did not rest with us; Gingham had made every provision
+which was left to his care with equal liberality and propriety.
+Gingham also, no chaplain being present, officiated at the grave. He
+read the service with great devoutness and solemnity. The procession
+was joined, as we ascended the hill, by a mounted officer, a major
+of the artillery, who, during the whole of the service, seemed lost
+in thought, and stood with his eyes fixed upon the coffin till it
+was lowered into the grave. The whole concluded, he approached and
+shook hands with Gingham and myself, spoke a few hurried words, took
+a hasty leave, mounted, and rode away. Gingham and I waited by the
+grave till all was filled in and made right; we then walked down
+together towards the city, both for some time silent. I spoke first.
+
+"Wouldn't it be right to communicate with the friends? I think
+they ought to know the exact position of the grave, and also the
+particulars which I got from my cousin."
+
+"Why, yes," said Gingham; "it would, I think, be as well to give
+them all the information you can. I have already written to the
+widow."
+
+
+
+
+CHATEAUBRIAND'S MEMOIRS.
+
+_Mémoires d'outre Tombe._ Par M. LE VICOMTE DE CHATEAUBRIAND. Tom.
+v. vi. vii. viii. et ix. Paris: 1849.
+
+
+The great and honourable feature of Chateaubriand's mind, amidst
+some personal weaknesses, is its noble and disinterested character.
+It differs from what we see around us, but it differs chiefly in
+superior elevation. It united, to a degree which perhaps will
+never again be witnessed, the lofty feelings of chivalry, with the
+philanthropic visions of philosophy. In the tribune he was often a
+Liberal of the modern school; but in action he was always a paladin
+of the olden time. His fidelity was not to prosperity, but to
+adversity; his bond was not to the powerful, but to the unfortunate;
+reversing the revolutionary maxim, he brought the actions of public
+men to the test, not of success, but of disaster. He often irritated
+his friends when in power by the independence of his language,
+but he never failed to command the respect of his enemies when in
+adversity, by his constancy to misfortune. "Vive le roi quand-même,"
+ever became his principle when the gales of adversity blew, and the
+hollow-hearted support of the world began to fail. Prosperity often
+saw him intrepid, perhaps imprudent in expression, but misfortune
+never failed to exhibit him generous and faithful in action; and
+his fidelity to the cause of royalty was never so strikingly
+evinced as when that cause in France was most desperate. He was
+the very antipodes of the hideous revolutionary tergiversation of
+Fontainebleau. A pilgrim in this scene of trial, he was ever ready,
+after having attained the summit of worldly grandeur, to descend
+at the call of honour; and, resuming his staff and scrip, to set
+out afresh on the path of duty. He was fitted to be the object of
+jealousy and spite to kings and ministers in power, whose follies
+he disdained to flatter or to overlook their vices, and of eternal
+admiration to the great and the good in every future age, whose
+hearts his deeds not less than his words will cause to throb. Such a
+character might pass for fabulous or imaginary, were it not clearly
+evinced, not only by words, but actions; not only in the thoughts of
+genius, but in the deeds of honour. His life, and the feelings by
+which it was regulated, are well worth examining, although we fear
+he will find but few imitators in these days, and is more likely, in
+a utilitarian and money-seeking age, to be classed with the mammoth
+and mastodon, as a species of existence never again to be seen in
+this world.
+
+A character of this description naturally became enamoured of awful
+or heartstirring events, and was ever ready to find a friend in
+those capable of noble or heroic deeds in the ranks even of his
+enemies. Both qualities are evinced in the following graphic account
+of the appearance of the Grand Army when it arrived at Smolensko
+during the Moscow retreat:--
+
+     "On the 9th November, the troops at length reached Smolensko.
+     An order of Buonaparte forbade any one to enter before the
+     posts had been intrusted to the Imperial Guard. The soldiers
+     on the outside were grouped in great numbers round the foot of
+     the walls: those within were under cover. The air resounded
+     with the imprecations of those who were shut out. Clothed in
+     dirty Cossack cloaks, horse-cloths, and worn-out blankets, with
+     their heads covered with old carpets, broken helmets, ragged
+     shakos, for the most part torn by shot, stained with blood, or
+     hacked in pieces by sabre-cuts--with haggard and yet ferocious
+     countenances, they looked up to the top of the ramparts gnashing
+     their teeth, with the expression of those prisoners who, under
+     Louis the Fat, bore in their right hand their left cut off: you
+     would have taken them for infuriated _masques_, or famished
+     madmen escaped from Bedlam. At length the Old and Young Guard
+     arrived, they were quickly admitted into the place which had
+     been wasted by conflagration on occasion of our first passage.
+     Loud cries of indignation were immediately raised against the
+     privileged corps. 'Is the army to be left nothing but what it
+     leaves?' was heard on all sides. Meanwhile the household troops,
+     who had been admitted, rushed in tumultuous crowds to the
+     magazines like an insurrection of spectres: the guards at the
+     doors repulsed them; they fought in the streets: the dead, the
+     wounded encumbered the pavements, the women, the children, the
+     dying filled the waggons. The air was poisoned by the multitude
+     of dead bodies; even old soldiers were seized with idiocy or
+     madness; some whose hair stood on end with horror, blasphemed,
+     or laughed with a ghastly air and fell dead. Napoleon let his
+     wrath exhale in imprecations against a miserable commissary,
+     none of the orders given to which had been executed.
+
+     "The army, a hundred thousand strong when it left Moscow, now
+     reduced to thirty thousand, was followed by a band of fifty
+     thousand stragglers; there were not eighteen hundred horsemen
+     mounted. Napoleon gave the command of them to M. de Latour
+     Maubourg. That officer, who had led the cuirassiers to the
+     assault of the great redoubt of Borodino, had had his head
+     almost cleft asunder by the stroke of a sabre; he afterwards
+     lost a leg at Dresden. Perceiving his servant in tears when
+     the operation was over, he said to him, 'Why do you weep? you
+     will have only one boot to clean.' That general, who remained
+     faithful to misfortune, became the preceptor of Henry V. in the
+     first years of the exile of that prince. I lift my hat in his
+     presence, as in that of the Incarnation of Honour."--_Memoirs_,
+     vi. p. 116, 118.
+
+As Chateaubriand had declined office, and narrowly escaped death in
+consequence, when Napoleon murdered the Duke d'Enghien, his life,
+from that period to the Restoration of the Bourbons, was one of
+retirement and observation. The important part which he took in
+the Restoration, by the publication of his celebrated pamphlet _De
+Buonaparte et des Bourbons_, restored him to political life. The
+effect produced by that work was immense, and the placing of the
+ancient race of monarchs on the throne was in a great degree owing
+to it; for, at a crisis when the intentions of the Allies were yet
+undecided, and Austria openly supported the strong party in France
+which inclined for a regency with Marie Louise at its head, it
+swelled immensely the numbers of the decided Royalists, and gave a
+definite and tangible object to their hitherto vague and divided
+aspirations. It was written with prodigious rapidity, and bears
+marks of the haste of its composition in the vehemence of its ideas
+and the occasional exaggeration of its assertions; but it was the
+very thing required for a national crisis of unexampled importance,
+when every hour was fraught with lasting consequences, and every
+effort of genius was required for laying the foundation of a new
+order in European society. Of the first conception and subsequent
+completion of this remarkable work he gives the following account:--
+
+     "I had been permitted to return to my solitary valley. The earth
+     trembled under the footsteps of stranger armies: I wrote like
+     the last Roman, amidst the din of barbarian invasion. During
+     the day, I traced lines as agitated as the events which were
+     passing: at night, when the roar of cannon was no longer heard
+     in my solitary woods, I returned to the silence of the years
+     which sleep in the tomb, and to the peace of my earlier life.
+     The agitated pages which I wrote during the day, became, when
+     put together, my pamphlet _On Buonaparte and the Bourbons_. I
+     had so high an idea of the genius of Napoleon, and the valour of
+     our soldiers, that the idea of a foreign invasion, successful
+     in its ultimate results, never entered into my imagination; but
+     I thought that such an invasion, by making the French see the
+     dangers to which the ambition of Napoleon had exposed them,
+     would lead to an interior movement, and that the deliverance of
+     the French would be the work of their own hands. It was under
+     that impression that I wrote my notes, in order that, if our
+     political assemblies should arrest the march of the Allies,
+     and separate themselves from a great man who had become their
+     scourge, they should know to what haven to turn. The harbour
+     of refuge appeared to me to be in the ancient authority, under
+     which our ancestors had lived during eight centuries, but
+     modified according to the changes of time. During a tempest,
+     when one finds himself at the gate of an old edifice, albeit in
+     ruins, he is glad to seek its shelter."--Vol. vi. p. 196, 197.
+
+Madame de Chateaubriand, in a note, has described the circumstances
+under which this memorable pamphlet was written, and the morbid
+anxiety with which she was devoured during its composition:--
+
+     "Had the pages of that pamphlet been seized by the police, the
+     result could not have been a moment doubtful: the sentence
+     was the scaffold. Nevertheless the author was inconceivably
+     negligent about concealing it. Often, when he went out, he left
+     the sheets on the table: at night he only placed them under his
+     pillow, which he did in presence of his valet--an honest youth,
+     it is true, but who might have betrayed him. For my part, I
+     was in mortal agonies: whenever M. de Chateaubriand went out,
+     I seized the manuscript, and concealed it on my person. One
+     day, in crossing the Tuileries, I perceived I had it not upon
+     me, and being sure I had it when I went out, I did not doubt
+     that I had let it fall on the road. Already I beheld that fatal
+     writing in the hands of the police, and M. de Chateaubriand
+     arrested. I fell down in swoon in the garden, and some
+     kind-hearted person carried me to my house, from which I had
+     only got a short distance. What agony I endured when, ascending
+     the stair, I floated between terror, which now amounted almost
+     to a certainty, and a slight hope that I might have forgot the
+     pamphlet. On reaching my husband's apartment, I felt again ready
+     to faint: I approached the bed--I felt under the pillow; there
+     was nothing there: I lifted the mattress, and there was the
+     roll of paper! My heart still beats every time I think of it.
+     Never in my life did I experience such a moment of joy. With
+     truth can I say, my joy would not have been so great if I had
+     been delivered at the foot of the scaffold, for it was one who
+     was more dear to me than life itself whom I saw rescued from
+     destruction."--Vol. vi. p. 206, 207.
+
+On the entrance of Louis XVIII. into Paris, on the 3d May 1814, the
+Allied sovereigns, from a feeling of delicacy to that monarch, gave
+orders that none but French troops should appear in the procession.
+The Old Guard lined the streets next the palace, and Chateaubriand
+gives the following account of the way in which they received him:--
+
+     "A regiment of infantry of the Old Guard kept the ground, from
+     the Pont Neuf to Notre Dame, along the Quai des Orfures. I
+     do not believe that human figures ever expressed anything so
+     menacing and so terrible. These grenadiers, covered with wounds,
+     so long the terror of Europe, who had seen so many thousand
+     bullets fly over their heads, who seemed to smell of fire and
+     powder--these very men, deprived of their leader, were forced
+     to salute an old king, enfeebled by time and not combats,
+     guarded by an army of Russians, Austrians, and Prussians, in the
+     conquered capital of Napoleon! Some, shaking their heads, made
+     their huge bearskins fall down over their eyes, so as not to
+     see what was passing: others lowered the extremities of their
+     mouths, to express their contempt and rage: others, through
+     their mustaches, let their teeth be seen, which they gnashed
+     like tigers. When they presented arms, it was with a gesture
+     of fury, as if they brought them down to the charge. The sound
+     they made with the recover was like thunder. Never, it must be
+     admitted, had men been subjected to such a trial, or suffered
+     such a punishment. If, in that moment, they had been called
+     to vengeance, they would have exterminated the last man, or
+     perished in the attempt.
+
+     "At the extremity of the line was a young hussar on horseback,
+     with his drawn sabre in his hand; his whole body literally
+     quivered with a convulsive movement of wrath. He was deadly
+     pale; his eyes rolled round in the most frightful manner; he
+     opened his mouth alternately and shut it, grinding his teeth,
+     and uttering inarticulate cries of rage. He cast his eyes on a
+     Russian officer: no words can express the look which he gave
+     him. When the carriage of the King passed before him, he made
+     his horse leap forward, it was easy to see that he withstood
+     with difficulty the temptation to precipitate himself on his
+     sovereign.[3]
+
+     "The Restoration, at its very outset, committed an irreparable
+     fault. It should have disbanded the army, preserving only the
+     marshals, generals, military governors, and officers, in their
+     rank, pay, and appointments. The soldiers, in this manner, would
+     have gradually re-entered their ranks, as they have since done
+     into the Royal Guard; but they would have done so isolated from
+     each other. The legitimate monarch would no longer have had
+     arrayed against him the soldiers of the empire in regiments and
+     brigades, as they had been during the days of their glory, for
+     ever talking to each other of times past, and comparing the
+     conquests of Napoleon with their inglorious inactivity under
+     their new master.
+
+     "The miserable attempt to reconstruct the _Maison Rouge_, that
+     mixture of the military men of the old monarchy and the soldiers
+     of the new empire, only augmented the evil. To suppose that
+     veterans famous on a hundred fields of battle should not be
+     shocked at seeing young men--brave without doubt, but for the
+     most part unaccustomed to the use of arms--to see them wear,
+     without having earned or deserved, the marks of high military
+     rank, was to be ignorant of the first principles of human
+     nature."--Vol. vi. p. 311-313.
+
+  [3] Having ourselves seen the Old Guard on this trying occasion,
+  we can vouch for the general fidelity of Chateaubriand's
+  narrative.
+
+These observations of Chateaubriand's are well founded, and the
+last, in particular, is very important; but it may well be doubted
+whether, by any measures that could have been adopted, the support
+of the army could have been secured, or the dynasty of the Bourbons
+established on a secure foundation. It was the fact of their
+having been replaced by the bayonets of the stranger which was the
+insurmountable difficulty; it was national subjugation, the capture
+of Paris, which had for ever stained the white flag. This original
+sin in its birth attended the Restoration through every subsequent
+year of its existence: it was the main cause of the revolution of
+1830, and operated with equal force in bringing about the still more
+fatal one of 1848. Impatience of repose--a desire to precipitate
+themselves on foreign nations--an aversion to the employments and
+interests of peace, were the secret but principal causes of these
+convulsions. If either Louis XVIII. or Louis Philippe had been young
+and warlike princes, and the recollection of Leipsic and Waterloo,
+of the invasions of France, and the double capture of its capital,
+had not prevented them from engaging in the career of foreign
+warfare; if they had been enterprising and _victorious_, they would
+have secured the unanimous suffrages of the nation, and continued
+the honoured possessors of the throne of France. But this dazzling
+though perilous career was denied to Louis XVIII. To him there was
+left only the difficult, perhaps the impossible task, of reconciling
+irrevocable enmities, of closing irremediable wounds, of appeasing
+inextinguishable mortifications. They have been thus set forth in
+the eloquent words of genius:--
+
+     "The house of Bourbon was placed in Paris at the Restoration
+     as a trophy of the European confederation. The return of the
+     ancient princes was inseparably associated, in the public mind,
+     with the cession of extensive provinces, with the payment of an
+     immense tribute, with the occupation of the kingdom by hostile
+     armies, with the emptiness of those niches in which the gods of
+     Athens and Rome had been the objects of a new idolatry, with
+     the nakedness of those walls on which the Transfiguration had
+     shone with a light as glorious as that which overhung Mount
+     Thabor. They came back to a land in which they could recognise
+     nothing. The Seven Sleepers of the legend, who closed their
+     eyes when the Pagans were persecuting the Christians, and woke
+     when the Christians were persecuting the Pagans, did not find
+     themselves in a world more completely new to them. Twenty years
+     had done the work of twenty generations. Events had come thick;
+     men had lived fast. The old institutions and the old feelings
+     had been torn up by the roots. There was a new church founded
+     and endowed by the usurper; a new nobility, whose titles were
+     taken from the fields of battle, disastrous to the ancient line;
+     a new chivalry, whose crosses had been won by exploits which
+     seemed likely to make the banishment of the Emigrants perpetual;
+     a new code, administered by a new magistracy; a new body of
+     proprietors, holding the soil by a new tenure; the most ancient
+     local distinctions effaced, the most familiar names obsolete.
+     There was no longer a Normandy, a Brittany, or a Guienne. The
+     France of Louis XVI. had passed away as completely as one of the
+     Preadamite worlds. Its fossil remains might now and then excite
+     curiosity; but it was as impossible to put life into the old
+     institutions as to animate the skeletons which are imbedded in
+     the depths of primeval strata. The revolution in the laws and
+     the form of government was but an outward sign of that mightier
+     revolution which had taken place in the minds and hearts of men,
+     and which affected every transaction and feeling of life. It was
+     as absurd to think that France could again be placed under the
+     feudal system, as that our globe could be overrun by mammoths.
+     Louis might efface the initials of the Emperor, but he could not
+     turn his eyes without seeing some object which reminded him he
+     was a stranger in the palace of his fathers."[4]
+
+  [4] MACAULAY'S _Essays_, ii. 230.
+
+As a parallel to this splendid passage, though in an entirely
+different style, we gladly give place to a noble burst of
+Chateaubriand, on that most marvellous of marvellous events, the
+return of Napoleon from Elba. It was natural that so memorable
+a revolution should strongly impress his imaginative mind; but
+he seems to have exceeded himself in the reflections to which
+it gives rise. We know not whether to award the prize to the
+Englishman or the Frenchman, in these parallel passages. They are
+both masterpieces in their way. Perhaps the correct view is, that
+Macaulay is superior in graphic force and the accumulation of
+sarcastic images; Chateaubriand in lofty thought and imaginative
+images.
+
+     "On the 1st March, at three o'clock in the morning, Napoleon
+     approached the coast of France in the Gulf of Juan; he
+     disembarked, walked along the shore, gathered a few violets, and
+     bivouacked in an olive wood. The inhabitants withdrew in a state
+     of stupefaction. He left Antibes to his left, and threw himself
+     into the Mountains of Grasse in Dauphiny. At Sisterone the road
+     passes a defile where twenty men might have stopped him; he did
+     not meet a living soul. He advanced without opposition among the
+     inhabitants who the year before had wished to murder him. Into
+     the void which was formed around his gigantic shade, if a few
+     soldiers entered, they straightway yielded to the attraction of
+     his eagles. His fascinated enemies seek him and find him not; he
+     shrowds himself in his glory, as the lion in the Sahara desert
+     conceals himself in the rays of the sun to dazzle the eyes of
+     his pursuers. Enveloped in a burning halo, the bloody phantoms
+     of Arcola, Marengo, Austerlitz, Jena, Friedland, Eylau, the
+     Moskwa, Lützen, and Bautzen, form his cortege amidst a million
+     of the dead. From the midst of that column of smoke and flame,
+     issue at the gates of towns some trumpet-notes mingled with
+     tricolor standards, and the gates fly open. When Napoleon passed
+     the Niemen, at the head of four hundred thousand foot, and a
+     hundred thousand horse, to blow into the air the palace of the
+     Czars at Moscow, he was less wonderful than when, breaking his
+     ban, casting his fetters as a gauntlet in the face of kings,
+     he came alone from Cannes to Paris, to sleep peaceably in the
+     palace of the Tuileries."--Vol. vi. p. 359, 360.
+
+To a mind like that of Chateaubriand, reposing in solitude when
+Napoleon was acting with such marvellous effect in the world, the
+character and qualities of that wonderful man could not fail to
+be a constant object of solicitude and observation. It has been
+already noticed that he braved the Emperor in the plenitude of his
+power, and essentially contributed, in the crisis of his fate, to
+his dethronement, and the re-establishment of the ancient line of
+princes. But, as is not unusual with persons of his highly wrought
+and generous temper of mind, his hostility to the Emperor declined
+with the termination of his authority, and his admiration for his
+genius rose with the base desertion of the revolutionary crowd who
+had fawned upon him when on the throne. The following observations
+on the style of his writings, indicate the growth of this counter
+feeling, and are in themselves equally just and felicitous:--
+
+     "His partisans have sought to make of Buonaparte a perfect
+     being; a model of sentiment, of delicacy, of morality, and of
+     justice--a writer like Cæsar and Thucydides, an orator like
+     Demosthenes, a historian like Tacitus. The public discourses of
+     Napoleon, his sonorous phrases in the tent and at the council
+     board, are the less inspired by the spirit of prophecy, that
+     many of the catastrophes which he announced have not been
+     accomplished, while the warlike Isaiah himself has disappeared.
+     Prophecies of doom which follow without reaching states become
+     ridiculous. It is their accomplishment which renders them
+     sublime. During sixteen years, Napoleon was the incarnation
+     of destiny. Destiny now is mute, and he, too, should be
+     so. Buonaparte was not a Cæsar; his education had neither
+     been learnedly nor carefully conducted: half a stranger, he
+     was ignorant of the first rules of our language, and could
+     hardly spell it; but what did it signify, after all, that his
+     expression was defective?--he gave the law to the universe. His
+     bulletins have the most thrilling of all eloquence--that of
+     victory. Sometimes, during the intoxications of success, they
+     affected to be written on a drum-head: in the midst of the most
+     lugubrious accents, something emerged which excites a smile. I
+     have read all that Napoleon has written--the first manuscripts
+     of his infancy, his love-letters to Josephine, the five volumes
+     of his discourses, bulletins, and orders; but I have found
+     nothing which so truly portrays the character of that great
+     man, when in adversity, as the following autograph note left at
+     Elba:--
+
+     "'My heart refuses to share in ordinary joys as ordinary sorrows.
+
+     "'Not having given myself life, I am not entitled to take it
+     away.
+
+     "'My bad genius appeared to me and announced my end; which I
+     found at Leipsic.
+
+     "'I have conjured up the terrible spirit of innovation, which
+     will overrun the world.'
+
+     "Certes, there is Napoleon to the very life. His bulletins and
+     discourses have often great energy; but it was not his own;
+     it belonged to the age; he only adopted it. It sprang from
+     the revolutionary energy, which he only weakened by moving in
+     opposition to it. Danton said, 'The metal is fused; if you do
+     not watch over the furnace, you will be consumed.' St Just
+     replied, '_Do it if you dare_.' These words contain the whole
+     secret of our Revolution. Those who make revolutions by halves,
+     do nothing but dig their own graves."--Vol. vii. p. 101.
+
+Certes, there is Chateaubriand to the very life.
+
+Chateaubriand, as all the world knows, was Minister for Foreign
+Affairs to Louis XVIII. at Ghent; adhering thus to his ruling
+maxim throughout life, "Fidelity to misfortune." So great were the
+services rendered by him to the cause of European freedom, by the
+energetic series of papers which he poured forth with unwearied
+vigour every week, that there were serious thoughts, after the
+battle of Waterloo, of promoting him to the dignity of Prime
+Minister. Louis XVIII. openly inclined to it; and if his advice had
+prevailed, the catastrophe which fifteen years afterwards befel his
+family, would probably have been prevented. But the insuperable
+difficulty lay here: the pure and honourable mind of Chateaubriand
+revolted from the idea of forming a Ministry in conjunction with
+Talleyrand and Fouché; and yet their influence was such that the
+monarch, in the first instance at least, was compelled to court
+their assistance. Expedience, at least immediate expedience, seemed
+to counsel it; but Chateaubriand, animated by higher principles, and
+gifted with a more prophetic mind, anticipated no lasting advantage,
+but rather the reverse, from an alliance with the arch-regicide
+of Nantes, and the arch-traitor who had sworn allegiance to and
+betrayed _twelve_ Governments in succession. But the chorus of
+"_base unanimities_," as he expresses it, with which the monarch
+was surrounded, proved too strong for any single individual, how
+gifted soever. Fouché and Talleyrand were taken into power, and
+Chateaubriand retired. Of the conversation with Louis XVIII.,
+when this vital change was resolved on, he gives the following
+interesting account, which proves that that sagacious monarch at
+least was well aware of the consequences of the step to which he was
+thus involuntarily impelled:--
+
+"Before quitting St Denis, on our way back to Paris, I had an
+audience of the King, and the following conversation ensued:
+
+     "'Well?' said Louis XVIII., opening the dialogue by that
+     exclamation.
+
+     "'Well, sire, you have taken the Duke of Otranto,' (Fouché.)
+
+     "'I could not avoid it; from my brother to the bailie of
+     Crussol, (and he at least is not suspected,) all said that we
+     could not do otherwise--what think you?'
+
+     "'Sire! the thing is done; I crave permission to remain silent.'
+
+     "'No, no--speak out; you know how I resisted at Ghent.'
+
+     "'In that case, sire, I must obey my orders. Pardon my fidelity:
+     I think it is all over with the monarchy.'
+
+     "The King remained some time silent. I began to tremble at my
+     boldness, when his Majesty rejoined:--
+
+     "'In truth, M. de Chateaubriand, I am of your opinion.'
+
+     "I bowed and withdrew; and thus ended my connection with the
+     Hundred Days."--Vol. vii. 70.
+
+Manzoni has written an ode, known over all Europe, on the double
+fall of Napoleon: "The last poet," says Chateaubriand, "of the
+country of Virgil, sang the last warrior of the country of Cæsar.
+
+    Tutte ei provo, la gloria
+    Maggior dopo il periglio,
+    La fuga e la Vittoria,
+    La reggia e il triste esiglio:
+    Due volte nella polvere,
+    Due volte sugli altar.
+
+    Ei se nomo: due secoli,
+    L'un contro l'altro armato,
+    Sommessi a lui se volsero,
+    Come aspettando il fato:
+    Ei fe silenzio ed arbitro
+    S'assise in mezzo a loro.
+
+     "He proved everything; glory greater after danger, flight, and
+     victory: Royalty and sad exile, twice in the dust, twice on the
+     altar.
+
+     "He announced himself: two ages, armed against each other,
+     turned towards him, as if awaiting their fate; he proclaimed
+     silence, and seated himself as arbiter between them."
+
+Notwithstanding the vehemence of Chateaubriand's dissension with
+Napoleon, it cannot be expected that a man of his romantic and
+generous temperament would continue his hostility after death.
+No one, accordingly, has awarded a more heartfelt or magnanimous
+tribute to his memory.
+
+     "The solitude of the exile and of the tomb of Napoleon has shed
+     an extraordinary interest, a sort of prestige, over his memory.
+     Alexander did not die under the eyes of Greece, he disappeared
+     amidst the distant wonders of Babylon. Buonaparte has not died
+     under the eyes of France: he has been lost in the gloomy edge
+     of the southern horizon. The grandeur of the silence which
+     now surrounds him equals the immensity of the noise which his
+     exploits formerly made. The nations are absent: the crowd of men
+     has retired: the bird of the tropics, 'harnessed,' in Buffon's
+     words, 'to the chariot of the sun,' has precipitated itself from
+     the star of light--where does it now repose? It rests on the
+     ashes of which the weight has all but subverted the globe."
+
+"Imposuerunt omnes sibi diademata post mortem ejus; et multiplicata
+sunt mala in terrâ."[5] "They all assumed diadems after his death,
+and evils were multiplied on the earth." Twenty years have hardly
+elapsed since the death of Napoleon, and already the French and
+Spanish monarchies are no more. The map of the world has undergone a
+change: a new geography is required: severed from their legitimate
+rulers, nations have been thrown against nations: renowned actors on
+the scene have given place to ignoble successors: eagles from the
+summits of the loftiest pines have plunged into the ocean, while
+frail shellfish have attached themselves to the sides of the trunk,
+which still stands erect.
+
+  [5] MACHABIES.
+
+     "As in the last result everything advances to its end, '_the
+     terrible spirit of innovation which overruns the world_', as
+     the Emperor said, and to which he had opposed the barrier of
+     his genius, has resumed its course. The institutions of the
+     conqueror fail: he will be the last of great existences on the
+     earth. Nothing hereafter will overshadow society, parcelled
+     out and levelled: the shadow of Napoleon alone will be seen
+     on the verge of the old world which has been destroyed, like
+     the phantom of the deluge on the edge of its abyss. Distant
+     posterity will discern that spectre through the gloom of passing
+     events still erect above the gulf into which unknown ages
+     have fallen, until the day marked out by Providence for the
+     resurrection of social man."--Vol. vii. 169-171.
+
+Assuredly no one can say that Chateaubriand's genius has declined
+with his advanced years.
+
+To a man viewing Napoleon with the feelings expressed in these
+eloquent words, the translation of his remains from their solitary
+resting-place under the willow at St Helena could not but be an
+object of regret. He thus expresses himself on that memorable event,
+and future ages will probably confirm his opinion:--
+
+     "The removal of the remains of Napoleon from St Helena was a
+     fault against his renown. A place of sepulchre in Paris can
+     never equal the Valley of Slanes. Who would wish to see the
+     Pillar of Pompey elsewhere than above the grave dug for his
+     remains by his poor freedman, aided by the old legionary? What
+     shall we do with those magnificent remains in the midst of
+     our miseries? Can the hardest granite typify the everlasting
+     duration of Napoleon's renown? Even if we possessed a Michael
+     Angelo to design the statue on the grave, how should we fashion
+     the mausoleum? Monuments are for little men, for the great
+     a stone and a name. At least they should have suspended the
+     coffin from the summit of the triumphal arch which records his
+     exploits: nations from afar should have beheld their master
+     borne aloft on the shoulders of his victories. Was not the urn
+     which contained the ashes of Trajan placed at Rome, beneath
+     his column? Napoleon at Paris will be lost amidst the crowd
+     of unknown names. God forbid he should be exposed to the
+     vicissitudes of our political changes, surrounded though he is
+     by Louis XIV., Vauban, and Turenne. Let a certain section of our
+     revolutionists triumph, and the ashes of the conqueror will be
+     sent to join the ashes which our passions have dispersed. The
+     conqueror will be forgotten in the oppressor of our liberties.
+     The bones of Napoleon will not reproduce his genius; they will
+     only teach his despotism to ignoble soldiers."--Vol. vii. 184,
+     185.
+
+The Restoration did not immediately employ Chateaubriand. His
+anticipations were realised. The chorus of baseness and selfishness
+with which the court was surrounded, kept him at a distance. They
+were afraid of his genius: they were jealous of his reputation.
+Above all, they dreaded his independence. He was not sufficiently
+manageable. They were actuated, perhaps not altogether without
+reason, by the same feeling which made Lord North say, when urged
+to bring Dr Johnson into Parliament, whose great powers in the
+political warfare of pamphlets had been so signally evinced on the
+side of Government, "No, sir, he is an elephant, but a wild one,
+as likely to trample under foot his friends as his enemies." The
+veteran statesman, so well versed in the ways of men, was right.
+Genius is the fountain of thought: it ultimately rules the councils
+and destinies of men; but it generally requires to be tempered by
+time before it can be safely introduced into practice.
+
+Chateaubriand enlivens this period of his memoirs, which is neither
+signalised by political event nor remarkable literary effort, by
+a sort of biography of Madame Recamier, with whom he was on terms
+of intimate friendship. This remarkable person, who was beyond all
+question the most beautiful and attractive woman of her age in
+France, or perhaps in Europe, is now no more; and he appears to
+have obtained from her relatives, or perhaps from herself prior to
+her decease, not only many curious and highly interesting details
+concerning her early years and subsequent history, but a great
+variety of original letters from the most eminent men of the age,
+who were successively led captive by her charms, but none of whom
+appear to have impaired her reputation. In this country, where the
+lines of severance between the sexes are much more rigidly drawn,
+it would be impossible for a young and beautiful married woman to
+be in the habit of receiving the most ardent love-letters from a
+great variety of distinguished and fascinating admirers, without
+the jealousy of rivals being excited, and the breath of scandal
+fastening upon her as its natural prey. But it is otherwise on
+the Continent, where, although there is doubtless abundance of
+dissoluteness of manners in certain circles, yet in others such
+intimacies may exist, which are yet kept within due bounds, and cast
+no reflection on the fortunate fair one who sees all the world at
+her feet.
+
+Such, at least, appears to have been the case with Madame
+Recamier, the intimate friend of Madame de Stael, who said "She
+would willingly give all her talents for one half of her beauty;"
+and whose powers of fascination were such, that she not only
+inspired a vehement passion nearly at the same time, in La Harpe,
+Lucien Buonaparte, Murat, Moreau, Bernadotte, Marshal Massena,
+Benjamin Constant, Prince Augustus of Prussia, Prince Metternich,
+Chateaubriand, and a vast many others, but attracted the particular
+notice of Napoleon, and did not escape the vigilant and practised
+eye of the Duke of Wellington. The Prince of Prussia would have
+married her, if he could have effected her divorce from M. Recamier.
+It is one of the worst traits of the Emperor Napoleon's character,
+that he was not only so envious of the celebrity of her beauty that
+he banished her from Paris to extinguish its fame, but was inspired
+with such malignant feelings towards her, from her having rejected
+his advances, that he got a law passed which rendered the wives of
+persons engaged in commerce responsible in their separate estates
+for their husbands' debts; the effect of which was to involve Madame
+Recamier, whose husband, a great banker in Paris, failed, in almost
+total ruin, in the latter years of her life.
+
+Madame Recamier, whose birth, though respectable, gave her none of
+the advantages of rank or opulence, was bred up at the abbey of the
+_Desert_, near the confluence of the Rhone and the Saone at Lyons.
+Her parents, however, resided at Paris; and they having brought
+her home at the age of twelve years, she was at that tender age
+married to M. Recamier, a rich banker, almost four times her own
+age, whose immense transactions, which entirely absorbed his time
+and attention, left him no leisure to attend either to the education
+or occupations of his infantine and beautiful wife. But though thus
+left to herself, surrounded by admirers, and with every luxury which
+wealth could purchase at her command, she was never led astray.
+Benjamin Constant, who knew her well from her earliest years, has
+left the following interesting portrait of what may be called her
+infantine married life:--
+
+     "She whom I paint emerged pure and brilliant from that corrupted
+     atmosphere, which elsewhere withered where it did not actually
+     corrupt. Infancy was at first her safeguard. Libertinism shrunk
+     from approaching the asylum of so much innocence. Removed from
+     the world in a solitude embellished by the arts, she spent her
+     time in the sweet occupation of those charming and poetical
+     studies which usually constitute the delight of a more advanced
+     age.
+
+     "Often, also, surrounded by her young companions, she abandoned
+     herself to the amusements suited to her tender years. 'Swift as
+     Atalanta in the race,' she outran all her companions: often,
+     in playing Hide-and-seek, she bandaged those eyes which were
+     destined one day to fascinate every beholder. Her look, now
+     so expressive and penetrating, and which seems to indicate
+     mysteries of which she herself is unconscious, then shone only
+     with the animated and playful gaiety of childhood. Her beautiful
+     hair, which could not be undone without causing emotion, fell
+     in natural curls on her shoulders. A hearty and prolonged laugh
+     often burst from these infantine circles, but already you
+     could perceive in her that fine and rapid observation which
+     seizes the salient points of ridicule--that sportive raillery
+     which diverted itself without injuring any one: above all,
+     that exquisite sense of elegance and propriety, of purity and
+     taste, that true nobility of mind, which are given only to a few
+     privileged beings.
+
+     "Nevertheless Madame Recamier emerged occasionally from her
+     retreat, to go to the theatre or to the public promenades; and
+     in those places of general resort her rare appearance was quite
+     an event. Every other object in those immense assemblages was
+     forgotten: every one precipitated himself upon her steps. The
+     fortunate cavalier who attended her could scarcely make his way
+     through the crowds which she collected: her steps were at every
+     instant impeded by the spectators who crowded around her. She
+     enjoyed that success with the gaiety of an infant combined with
+     the timidity of a young woman; but the gracious dignity which
+     at home restrained the overflowing gaiety of her companions,
+     inspired respect in public in the admiring crowd with which she
+     was constantly environed. You would say that her air imposed
+     restraint equally on her companions and on the public. Thus
+     passed the first years of the married life of Madame Recamier,
+     between poetical occupation, infantine amusements, and the
+     triumph of beauty in the world.
+
+     "But her expanding mind and capacious genius soon required other
+     aliment. The instinctive love of the beautiful with which she
+     was inspired from her earliest years, made her long for the
+     society of men distinguished for the reputation of their talents
+     or genius. M. de La Harpe was one of the first who appreciated
+     the young woman, around whom were one day to be grouped all
+     the celebrated characters of her age. The conversation of that
+     young woman of fifteen had a thousand attractions for a man of
+     his great acquirements, and whose excessive vanity, with the
+     habit of conversing with the ablest men in France, had rendered
+     exceedingly difficult to please. He delighted in being her
+     guide: he was astonished at the rapidity with which her talent
+     supplied the want of experience, and comprehended everything
+     which he revealed to her of the world and of men. This was at
+     the moment of his celebrated conversion to Christianity. The
+     Revolution having rendered infidelity all-powerful, scepticism
+     had lost the merit of being opposed to authority, and those whom
+     vanity alone had rendered such could in good faith, and without
+     compromising their reputation, avow their secret belief."--Vol.
+     ix. 118, 121.
+
+Of the unbounded devotion which Madame Recamier in a few years came
+to inspire in the breasts of the most distinguished men of her day,
+abundant proof is furnished in Chateaubriand's Memoirs. To give only
+a few examples, among a host of others which might be cited, Marshal
+Massena--a roturier by birth, and certainly not inheriting by
+descent any of the feelings of chivalry--yet even he asked a ribbon
+from Madame Recamier before he set out for the army of Italy, to
+take the command in Genoa, in the siege since so celebrated; and,
+having obtained it, he wrote to her the following note some weeks
+after:--
+
+     "The charming ribbon given by Madame Recamier has been borne by
+     General Massena in the battles and the blockades of Genoa: it
+     has never left him, and been, in every instance, the harbinger
+     of victory."--Vol. viii. 167.
+
+     "There," as Chateaubriand justly observes "the ancient manners
+     reappeared athwart the modern manners of which they formed the
+     base. The gallantry of the noble chevalier shone forth in the
+     plebeian soldier; the memory of the tournaments and of the
+     crusades was concealed amidst the blaze of glory with which
+     modern France has crowned its old victories."
+
+Lucien Buonaparte, one of her first adorers, addressed her early in
+life in these terms:--
+
+     "Till within these few days, I knew you only by renown. I had
+     seen you sometimes at church and in the theatres. I knew you
+     were the most beautiful: a thousand voices repeated it; and
+     your charms had struck without dazzling me. Why has the peace
+     rendered me captive? it reigns in our families, but sorrow is in
+     my heart.
+
+     "I have seen you since: Jove seemed to smile on your steps.
+     Seated on the edge of a fountain, motionless and dreamy, you
+     gathered a rose. I addressed you alone: I thought I heard
+     a sigh. Vain illusion! I soon saw the tranquil front of
+     indifference seated between us. The passion which devoured me
+     expressed itself in my words; while yours bore the cruel yet
+     amiable stamp of infancy and sport.
+
+     "Be severe, I implore you, for pity's sake. Banish me from your
+     presence. Desire me to withdraw from your enchanting society:
+     and if I can obey the order, remember only that my heart is for
+     ever your own; that no one ever reigned over it as Juliette;
+     and that he will ever live with her, at least in memory."--Vol.
+     viii. 130.
+
+"For a man of _sangfroid_," says Chateaubriand, "all that is a
+little ridiculous." He is right: it is gallantry without passion
+which always appears _fade_ and contemptible. It is vehemence
+and sincerity which makes sentiment interesting. The Buonapartes
+had nothing chivalrous in their breasts: Lucien's letter is very
+different from Massena wearing Madame Recamier's ribbon next his
+heart amidst the fire of the Austrian cannon. But Chateaubriand
+himself had the true spirit of chivalry in his bosom. He thus
+recounts one of the last moments which he spent in 1832, late in
+life, with Madame Recamier on the banks of the Lake of Constance:--
+
+     "We wandered as chance guided our steps, and sat down beside
+     the lake. From a pavilion in the woods arose a concert of the
+     harp and the German horns, which ceased as we began to listen
+     to them. It was a scene in a fairy tale. As the music did not
+     recommence, I read to Madame Recamier my description of the St
+     Gothard. She asked me to write something in her pocket-book.
+     Immediately below the last words of Rousseau, which were there
+     inscribed, 'Open the windows, that I may again see the light
+     of the sun,' I wrote, 'What I felt the want of on the Lake of
+     Lucerne I have found on the Lake of Constance--the charm and the
+     intelligence of beauty. I no longer wish to die like Rousseau; I
+     wish, on the contrary, to live long, and behold the sun, if it
+     is near you that I am to finish my life. May my days expire at
+     your feet, as the waves of which you hear the murmur.' The azure
+     light of the setting sun coloured the lake; on the horizon, to
+     the south, the snowy alps of the Grisons reflected the ruddy
+     glow; the breeze which swept the waves harmonised with their
+     ceaseless murmur. We knew not where we were."--Vol. x. 246, 247.
+
+With the accession of a more Liberal Administration under M. de
+Martignac, Chateaubriand was taken into power. In 1822 he was sent
+as ambassador to London; in 1823 he was made minister of foreign
+affairs, and directed the expedition into Spain in that year, which
+had so successful a result; and in 1824 he represented France at the
+Congress of Verona. He was again, however, chased from the helm by
+the jealousy of the Royalists, whose imbecility was rebuked by his
+genius; and it was not till 1828 that he was again taken into power,
+and appointed to the embassy at Rome. He was there when the Polignac
+Administration was appointed.
+
+We must hasten to the most brilliant and honourable period of
+Chateaubriand's life, that in which he stood almost alone amidst a
+nation's defection, and singly opposed the revolutionary torrent
+by which nearly all others had been swept away. The spectacle is
+at once animating and mournful: animating as evincing of what high
+resolves, of what heroic constancy, noble minds are capable even
+in the extremity of disaster: mournful, as exhibiting so bright a
+contrast to the tergiversation of later times, and suggesting the
+mournful reflection that, in these days of economists and material
+enjoyment, the days of chivalry are gone for ever.
+
+It is well known that Chateaubriand was esteemed not only a Liberal,
+but an ultra-Liberal, by the extreme Royalist party whom Charles
+X. summoned to his councils on his accession to the throne; and
+that, in consequence of his disagreement with Polignac and the
+leaders of that party, he retired from the ministry, and resigned
+his appointment as ambassador at Rome. His consternation was great
+on perceiving the extreme measures which the Polignac party were
+preparing to carry into execution, and the feeble preparations made
+for supporting them by military force, in the midst of a warlike and
+excited people. Of his first intelligence of the appointment of the
+Polignac Administration by the sovereign whom they were destined so
+soon to overthrow, he gives the following account:--
+
+     "Rumours of a change of Administration had already reached us
+     at Rome. Well-informed persons had even gone so far as to speak
+     of Prince Polignac, but I could not credit the reports. At
+     length the journals arrive; I open them, and my eyes rest on
+     the official ordinance calling him to the head of the ministry.
+     I had experienced many vicissitudes of fortune in my journey
+     through life, but never had I fallen from such an elevation.
+     My evil destiny had again blown over my chimeras: that breath
+     of fate had not only destroyed my illusions, but it had swept
+     away the monarchy. The blow was fearful: for a moment I was in
+     despair, but my part was soon taken. I felt that I must retire
+     from power. The post brought me a multitude of letters; all
+     recommended me to send in my resignation. Even persons to whom I
+     was almost a stranger thought themselves obliged to counsel me
+     to retire. I was in secret mortified at the officious interest
+     thus evinced in my reputation. Thank God, I have never needed
+     nor waited for counsels when the paths of honour and of interest
+     lay before me. Falls from station have ever been to me ruin,
+     for I possessed through life nothing but debts; so that when I
+     resigned my appointments, I was reduced to live by my wits. In a
+     word, I resigned a situation of 200,000 francs (£8000) a-year,
+     and was reduced to nothing; but my choice was not doubtful. Cast
+     to the winds, said I to myself, 200,000 francs (£8000) a-year
+     of income, an appointment entirely suited to your taste, a high
+     and magnificent office, the empire of the fine arts at Rome, the
+     felicity, in fine, of having at length received the recompense
+     for your long and laborious struggles. Honour is to be won,
+     esteem preserved, at no other price."--Vol. ix. 141, 142.
+
+On arriving at Paris after he had resigned his appointment as
+ambassador at Rome, Chateaubriand found that many of the kind
+and officious friends who had so strongly urged _him_ to resign,
+had themselves quietly accepted appointments under the Polignac
+Administration! He withdrew, however, in pursuance of his
+resolution, into private life; and in order to avoid the expenses
+of Paris, which exceeded what his reduced income could bear, he
+retired to Dieppe in June 1830. When there he received the stunning
+intelligence of the Ordinances of July. His part was immediately
+taken. He returned with the utmost expedition to Paris, resolved
+to share the fate of his country whatever it might be, and to
+exert himself to the utmost to mitigate the calamities which he
+foresaw awaited it. His first step on arriving in the capital was
+to write a letter to the King, making a tender of his services to
+negotiate with the popular leaders who had got the command in the
+capital. The only answer he received was a verbal one, that M. de
+Montemart had been appointed to the head of the Ministry, and a
+reference to him. But M. de Montemart could not be found; and even
+if he had been, affairs had gone too far to admit of any remedy
+by individual efforts, how powerful soever. The nation would have
+a Revolution with its consequences, and it was doomed to have a
+Revolution with its consequences. But although Louis Philippe was
+successful, Chateaubriand foresaw that his throne was established
+on a rotten foundation: that the _juste milieu_, resting neither on
+the attachment of a loyal, nor the passions of a conquering people,
+could not be of lasting endurance; and that, in default of all
+principles of honour whereon to rest a Government, those of interest
+alone remained. He has left the following memorable prophecy of
+the fate awaiting a monarchy cradled in treason and fostered by
+selfishness:--
+
+     "Louis Philippe, his Government, the whole of that impossible
+     and contradictory combination, _will perish in a time more
+     or less retarded by fortuitous events_, by complications of
+     interests interior and exterior, by the apathy or corruption of
+     individuals, by the levity of disposition, the indifference and
+     want of nerve in characters. But be its duration long or short,
+     the present dynasty will not exist long enough for the House of
+     Orleans to strike its roots in the soil of France."--Vol. ix.
+     333.[6]
+
+  [6] M. de Chateaubriand died in 1847, before the Revolution of 1848.
+
+It is not in public documents and actions that the real opinions of
+the actors on the stage of public events are to be discerned. It is
+their private conversation or correspondence that reveals their real
+sentiments; it is there that the mental struggles which preceded
+the most decisive steps, and the secret views by which they were
+actuated in adopting or rejecting them, are in truth disclosed. In
+this view, the following conversation between Chateaubriand and the
+Duchess of Orleans, immediately after the triumph of the Barricades,
+is peculiarly interesting--
+
+     "M. Arago spoke to me in the warmest terms of the intellectual
+     superiority of Madame Adelaide; and the Count Analde de
+     Montesquieu, having met me one morning at Madame Recamier's,
+     informed me that the Duke and Duchess of Orleans would be
+     charmed to see me. I went, accordingly, to the Palais Royal with
+     the Chevalier d'Honneur of the future queen. I found the Duchess
+     of Orleans and Madame Adelaide in their private boudoirs. I had
+     previously had the honour of being presented to the duchess. She
+     made me sit down near her, and immediately said--
+
+     "'Ah! M. de Chateaubriand, we are very unfortunate. If all
+     parties would unite we might perhaps be saved, what think you of
+     that?'
+
+     "'Madame,' I replied, 'nothing is so easy. Charles X. and the
+     Dauphin have both abdicated; Henry V. is now king; the Duke
+     of Orleans is now Lieutenant-general of the kingdom; let him
+     be Regent during the whole minority of Henry V., and all is
+     accomplished.'
+
+     "'But, M. de Chateaubriand, the people are extremely agitated;
+     we should fall into anarchy.'
+
+     "'Madame, may I venture to ask you what is the intention of the
+     Duke of Orleans? will he accept the throne if it is offered to
+     him?'
+
+     "The two princesses hesitated to answer. After a short pause the
+     Duchess of Orleans replied,--
+
+     "'Consider, M. de Chateaubriand, the disasters which may
+     ensue--you and all other men of honour require to unite to save
+     us from a republic. At Rome, M. de Chateaubriand, you might
+     render us essential service--or even here, if you did not wish
+     to quit France.'
+
+     "'Madame is not ignorant of my devotion to the young king and to
+     his mother.'
+
+     "'Ah! M. de Chateaubriand, how well they have rewarded your
+     fidelity.'
+
+     "'Your Royal Highness would not wish me to give the lie to my
+     whole life.'
+
+     "'M. de Chateaubriand, you do not know my niece; she is so
+     inconsiderate, poor Caroline. I will send for the Duke of
+     Orleans; I hope he may succeed in persuading you better than me.'
+
+     "The princess gave her orders, and in a quarter of an hour
+     Louis Philippe arrived. He was dressed in disorder, and
+     looked extremely fatigued. I rose as he entered, and the
+     Lieutenant-general of the kingdom said,--
+
+     "'The duchess has doubtless informed you how unfortunate we
+     are.' And upon that he began a speech on the felicity which
+     he enjoyed in the country, and the life, in the midst of his
+     children, which was entirely according to his taste. I seized
+     the opportunity of a momentary pause to repeat what I had said
+     to the princess.
+
+     "'Ah!' he exclaimed, 'that is just what I desire. How happy
+     should I be to become the tutor and support of that infant! I
+     think exactly as you do, M. de Chateaubriand: to take the Duke
+     of Bordeaux would unquestionably be the wisest course that could
+     be adopted. I only fear events are too strong for us.'
+
+     "'Stronger than us, my Lord Duke! Are you not invested with all
+     powers? Let us hasten to join Henry V. Summon the Chambers and
+     the army to meet you out of Paris. At the first intelligence of
+     your departure all that effervescence will subside, and all the
+     world will seek shelter under your enlightened and protecting
+     government.'
+
+     "While I yet spoke, I kept my eyes fixed on Louis Philippe. I
+     saw that my counsels gave him annoyance: I saw written on his
+     forehead the desire to be king. 'M. de Chateaubriand,' said he,
+     _without looking me in the face_, 'the thing is not so easy as
+     you imagine: things do not go as you imagine. A furious mob may
+     assail the Chambers, and we have, as yet, no military force on
+     which we can rely for its defence.'
+
+     "The last expression gave me pleasure, because it enabled me
+     to bring forward a decisive reply. 'I feel the difficulty you
+     mention, my Lord Duke; but there is a sure mode of obviating
+     it. If you cannot rejoin Henry V., as I have just proposed,
+     you may embrace another course. The session is about to open:
+     on the first proposition made by the deputies, declare that
+     the Chamber of Deputies has not the power to determine the
+     form of government for France; that the _whole nation must be
+     consulted_. Your Royal Highness will thus place yourself at the
+     head of the popular party: the Republicans, who now constitute
+     your danger, will laud you to the skies. In the two months which
+     must elapse before the new legislature can assemble, you can
+     organise a national guard; all your friends, and the friends
+     of the young king, will exert themselves in the provinces. Let
+     the deputies assemble, and let the cause I espouse be publicly
+     pleaded before them. That cause, favoured in heart by you,
+     supported by the great majority of the country electors, will
+     be certain of success. The moment of anarchy being past, you
+     will have nothing to fear from the violence of the Republicans.
+     I even think you might win over, by such a course, General
+     Lafayette and M. Lafitte to your side. What a part for you to
+     play, my Lord Duke! You will reign fifteen years in the name of
+     your young pupil; at the expiration of that time, repose will
+     be a blessing to us all. You will earn the glory, unique in
+     history, of having had the power to ascend the throne, and of
+     having left it to the lawful heir. At the same time, you will
+     have enjoyed the means of educating that heir abreast of the
+     ideas of his age: you will have rendered him capable of reigning
+     over France. One of your daughters may aid him to bear the
+     weight of the crown.'
+
+     "Louis Philippe looked around with a wandering eye and an absent
+     air. 'I beg your pardon, M. de Chateaubriand,' said he; 'I left
+     a deputation to converse with you, and I must return to it.'
+     With these words, he bowed and withdrew.
+
+The advice thus given at the decisive moment by Chateaubriand
+was that of honour and loyalty; it dictated by the spirit of the
+chevalier _sans peur et sans reproche_. But it was not that of
+immediate or apparent interest; and therefore it was not adopted.
+The event has now proved, however, that in this, as in so many
+other instances in this world, the path of honour and duty would
+have been that of expedience. What Chateaubriand recommended to
+Louis Philippe was substantially what Louis Napoleon _did_; and
+the result proved that the great majority of the nation, differing
+widely from the revolutionary rabble of Paris, was not only
+Conservative, but Royalist in its dispositions. Had Louis Philippe
+followed this course, and taken only the regency till the majority
+of the Duke of Bordeaux, the two branches of the house of Bourbon
+would have been cordially united: no discord or jealousies would
+have weakened the Royalist party; the national will would have
+been decidedly pronounced for the monarchy before it had been
+rendered an object of contempt; the Revolution of 1848, with all
+its disastrous consequences, would probably have been prevented;
+and as the Duke de Bordeaux has no family, the Orleans dynasty, as
+the next heirs, would have ascended the throne in the natural order
+of succession--and not only without the bar sinister of treason on
+their escutcheon, but with a deed of unexampled magnanimity and
+honour to illustrate their accession!
+
+Louis Philippe, bent on the immediate possession of the throne, made
+another attempt to gain M. de Chateaubriand; and for this purpose
+the Duchess of Orleans and Madame Adelaide again sent for him.
+
+     "Madame Adelaide was present as on the former occasion; and
+     the duchess now described more specifically the favours with
+     which the Duke of Orleans proposed to honour me. She dwelt on
+     what she called my sway over public opinion; the sacrifices I
+     had made, and the aversion which Charles X. and his family had
+     always shown to me in spite of my services. She said to me, that
+     if I would accept the portfolio of foreign affairs, his Royal
+     Highness would be too happy to replace me in that situation; but
+     that possibly I would prefer returning to Rome, and that she
+     would greatly rejoice at that appointment, for the interests of
+     our holy religion.
+
+     "'Madam,' I answered with some degree of vivacity, 'I see that
+     his Royal Highness has taken his line; that he has weighed the
+     consequences; that he is prepared to meet the years of misery
+     and perils he will have to traverse. I have therefore nothing
+     to say on that head--I come not here to fail in respect to the
+     blood of the Bourbons; I owe besides nothing but gratitude
+     and respect to _Madame_. Leaving apart, then, those great
+     objections, founded on reason and principle, I pray her Royal
+     Highness to allow me to explain what personally concerns myself.
+
+     "'She has had the condescension to speak of what she calls
+     my power over general opinion. Well, if that power is well
+     founded, on what is it founded? Is it on anything else but the
+     public esteem: and should I not lose it the moment I changed my
+     colours? The Duke of Orleans supposes he would in me acquire a
+     support: instead of that he would gain only a miserable maker
+     of phrases, whose voice would no longer be listened to--a
+     renegade, on whom every one would have a right to throw dust
+     and to spit in his face. To the hesitating words which he could
+     pronounce in favour of Louis Philippe, they would oppose the
+     entire volumes he had written in favour of the fallen family. Is
+     it not I, Madam, who have written the pamphlet of _Buonaparte
+     and the Bourbons_; the articles on the arrival of Louis XVIII.
+     at Compiègne; the relation of the Royal Council at Ghent, and
+     the _History of the Life and Death of the Duke de Berri_? I
+     know not that I have written a single page where the name of
+     our ancient kings is not either mentioned or alluded to, and
+     where they are not environed by the protestations of my love and
+     fidelity--a thing which marks strength of principle the more
+     strongly, as _Madame_ knows that, as an individual, I put no
+     faith in princes. At the thought even of desertion, the colour
+     mounts to my cheeks. The day after my treachery, I should go to
+     throw myself into the Seine. I implore _Madame_ to forgive the
+     vehemence of my language: I am penetrated with her goodness: I
+     shall ever preserve a profound and grateful remembrance of it;
+     but she would not wish me to be dishonoured. Pity me, madam,
+     pity me.'"
+
+     "I was still standing; and bowing, I retired. Mademoiselle de
+     Orleans, (the Princess Adelaide,) had not yet said anything.
+     She rose up, and retiring said, '_I do not pity you, M. de
+     Chateaubriand; I do not pity you_.' I was forcibly struck
+     with the mournful accent with which she pronounced these
+     words."--Vol. ix. 361, 362.
+
+"Pity not me," said the dying Chevalier Bayard to the traitor
+Constable de Bourbon; "pity those who fight against their king,
+their country, and their oath." The feelings of honour are the same
+in all ages.
+
+We shall close this long line of honourable acts with an extract
+from Chateaubriand's noble speech in favour of Henry V., in the
+Chamber of Peers, on July 7, 1830.
+
+     "'Charles X. and his sons are dethroned or have abdicated; it
+     signifies not which. The throne is _not vacant_--after them
+     comes an infant; will you condemn the innocent?
+
+     "'What blood now cries out against him? Can you say it is
+     that of his father? That orphan educated in the school of his
+     country, in attachment to a constitutional throne, and in
+     the ideas of his age, will become a king in harmony with the
+     cravings of the future. It is to the guardian of his infancy
+     that you would first tender the oath to be faithful to it.
+     Arrived at mature years, he would himself renew it. The king
+     at this moment, the real king for a time, would be the Duke of
+     Orleans, the regent of the kingdom; a prince who has lived near
+     the people, and who knows that the monarchy now can only be a
+     monarchy of concession and reason. That combination, so natural,
+     so obvious, appears a main element in reconciliation, and would
+     save France from the convulsions which are the consequence of
+     violent changes in a state.
+
+     "'To say that this infant, separated from his masters, would not
+     have leisure to forget their precepts before becoming a man: to
+     say that he would remain infatuated by certain dogmas of his
+     birth, after a long popular education, after the terrible lesson
+     which has discrowned two kings in two nights: is that reasonable?
+
+     "'It is neither from a sentimental devotion, nor the affection
+     of a nurse for the cradle of Henry IV., that I plead a cause
+     where all would turn against me if it triumphed. I am neither
+     influenced by the ideas of romance nor of chivalry: I do not
+     desire the crown of martyrdom. I do not believe in the divine
+     right of kings: I am alive to the power of revolutions, and the
+     evidence of facts. I do not even invoke the charter: I ascend
+     to a higher source. I draw my principles from the philosophic
+     ideas of the age in which my life expires: I propose the Duke of
+     Bordeaux simply as a necessity preferable to the Duke of Orleans.
+
+     "'You proclaim the sovereignty of force. It is well. _Look
+     carefully after it: guard it well; for, if it escapes you,
+     who will pity your lot?_ Such is human nature. The most
+     enlightened minds are not always raised above the temptations
+     of success. The _esprits forts_ were the first to invoke the
+     right of violence; they supported it by all the force of their
+     talents; and at the moment when the truth of what they said is
+     demonstrated by the abuse of that force, and its overthrow,
+     the conquerors seize the weapon they have broken! Dangerous
+     trophies, which may wound the hand which seized them.
+
+     "'A useless Cassandra, I have fatigued the throne and the
+     country sufficiently with my disdained predictions: it remains
+     for me only to seat myself on the remains of the wreck which I
+     have so often predicted. I recognise in misfortune every power
+     except that of absolving us from our oaths. I must render my
+     life uniform: after all I have written, said, and done for the
+     Bourbons, I should be the basest of the base if I deserted them
+     when for the third time they bend their steps into exile.
+
+     "'Far from me be the thought of casting the seeds of division
+     into France: thence it is that I have avoided in my discourse
+     the language of the passions. If I had the firm conviction that
+     an infant should be left in the obscure and tranquil ranks of
+     life, to secure the repose of thirty-three millions of men, I
+     should have regarded any opinion expressed against the declared
+     wishes of the age as a crime. I have no such conviction. If I
+     was entitled to dispose of the crown, I should willingly lay it
+     at the feet of the Duke of Orleans. But I have no such right. I
+     see no place vacant but a tomb at St Denis, and not a throne.
+
+     "'Whatever destinies may attend the lieutenant-general of the
+     kingdom, I shall never be his enemy, if he acts for the good of
+     his country. I only ask to be allowed to preserve the freedom of
+     my conscience, and to go and leave my bones where I shall find
+     independence and repose. I vote against the motion.'"--Vol. ix.
+     386-388.
+
+Chateaubriand was as good as his word. He resigned all his
+appointments, even his pension of £600 a-year as Peer of France: he
+sold off all his effects, which scarcely paid his debts: he refused
+the offer of Charles X. to restore that pension out of the wreck
+of that Prince's own fortune: he set out again penniless on the
+pilgrimage of life: and till his death, in 1848, supported himself
+entirely by his literary talents.
+
+Such was honour in the olden time. We do not say that it would not
+find imitators, on a similar crisis, on this side of the Channel: we
+believe it would find many. But this we do say, that it would find
+them only among those who are imbued with the ancient ideas, among
+whom, whether patrician or plebeian, the spirit of chivalry is not
+extinct. It will not be found among the worshippers of mammon, or
+the slaves of interest. Woe to the nation by whom such feelings are
+classed with the age of the mammoth and the mastodon! It has entered
+the gulf of destruction, for it deserves to be destroyed.
+
+
+
+
+THE GREEN HAND.
+
+A "SHORT" YARN.
+
+PART XI.
+
+
+"Well, ma'am," continued our narrator, addressing himself, as usual,
+to his matronly relative in the chair, and with the accustomed
+catch-word, which was like the knotting together of his interrupted
+yarn: "well--it was between a fortnight and three weeks after losing
+sight of St Helena, that, being at last fairly in the latitude of
+the Cape, the frigate and schooner tacked in company, and stood
+close-hauled on a wind to the eastward. By the middle watch that
+night, when the moon set, we could make out the long flat top of
+Table Mountain heaving in sight off the horizon over against her.
+Next day, in fact, we were both of us quietly at anchor outside of
+the shipping in Table Bay; Cape Town glittering along on the green
+flat amongst the trees to southward, with the hills on each side
+of it like some big African lion lying on guard close by; while
+Table Mountain hove up, square-shouldered, blue to the left, four
+thousand feet high, as bare and steep as a wall, with the rocks and
+trees creeping up from the foot, and the wreaths of light cloud
+resting halfway, like nothing else but the very breakwater of the
+world's end. The sea stretched broad off to north and west, and
+a whole fleet of craft lay betwixt us and the land--half of them
+Indiamen--amongst which, you may be sure, I kept a pretty sharp
+look-out with the glass, to see if the Seringapatam were there still.
+
+I was soon saved further pains on this head, however, when shortly
+afterwards the frigate was beset by a whole squadron of bumboats,
+shoving against each other, and squabbling, in all sorts of Nigger
+tongues, who should be first: the chief of them being in evident
+command of a fat old Dutch Frouw, with an immense blue umbrella
+over her, two greasy-looking Hottentot rowers in blankets, and a
+round-faced Dutch boy, the picture of herself, steering the boat; as
+the old lady made a clear berth for herself, by laying about with
+her blue umbrella, till she was close under our quarter, sitting all
+the while with the broad round stern of her bright-coloured gown
+spread over a couple of beer-barrels, like a peacock's train. In
+two minutes more the little fellow was up the side, flourishing a
+bundle of papers under the first lieutenant's very nose, and asking
+the ship's custom, even whilst the sentries were ordering them all
+off. A midshipman took this youth by the cuff of the neck, and
+was handing him rather roughly along to the care of the purser's
+steward, when I stepped betwixt them; and a bumboat being the best
+directory on the point, of course, I soon found the old lady had
+had dealings with the Seringapatam, which her bluff-built little
+progeny described as a very good ship indeed, all having paid their
+bills, except one young officer, who had left a balance standing,
+for which he had given a letter to his brother in a ship that was
+to come after. As for the Indiaman herself, the Dutch boy said she
+had sailed about a week before our arrival, along with two others;
+and he was anxious to know if we were the vessel in question. I
+accordingly unfolded the open letter, which was addressed,--"Thomas
+Spoonbill Simm, Esquire, of His Britannic Majesty's ship Nincompoop,
+(or otherwise;") and it ran somehow thus:--"_Hon. East India
+Company's ship Seringapatam, Table Bay, September 1, 1816._--My
+dear Brother, This is to certify, that I have eaten four dozen and
+a half of eggs, supplied by the worthy Vrouw Dulcken, the bearer
+of this, whom I can recommend as an old screw, and am due her for
+the same the sum of nine shillings and sixpence sterling, which you
+will kindly pay her, taking her receipt or mark, unless you are
+willing to forfeit our family watch, herewith deposited by me in
+the hands of said Mother Dulcken. I may add that, in justice to the
+worthy Vrouw, three of the above-mentioned eggs ought to be charged
+as _fowls_, which, by the way, I did not consume; and, with love
+to all at home, remain your affectionate brother, JOHN SIMM, H.
+E. I. C. S.--_P. S._ The watch I have discovered to be pinchbeck,
+and it does not go; so that a sad trick must have been originally
+played upon our venerated Uncle, from whom it descended. J. S." This
+precious epistle was, without doubt, a joke of the fat mid. Simm,
+who used to come such rigs over Ford the cadet, and that jumped
+overboard one night by mistake out of the Indiaman's quarter-boat,
+during the voyage. As for the existence of his brother Thomas,
+or the chance of his touching at that port, I set them down with
+the coming home of Vanderdecken; though the thought of this young
+scamp of a sea-lawyer breakfasting for a fortnight so comfortably,
+only a few feet distant from my charmer's state-room, sent me all
+abroad again, and right into the Indiaman's decks, by this time far
+out of sight of land. Piece of impudent roguery though it was, I
+was actually loath to part with the scrawl, which the reefer had
+fisted, no doubt, on the lid of his chest--probably with a pipe
+in his mouth at the time, it smelt so of tobacco--only seven days
+before. I could even see the grin on his fat face as he wrote it
+below in the steerage, with his chin up, and his eyes looking down
+past his pipe; while the little Dutch boy's round flat frontispiece
+glistened as he peered up at me, in the evident notion of my being
+the brother expected. In fact, ma'am, I was so soft as to intend
+paying the nine-and-sixpence myself, and keeping the letter, when
+I was startled to see the old lady herself had contrived to be
+hoisted on board amongst her cabbages; and having got wind of the
+thing, seemingly, she came waddling towards me to hand over Simm's
+watch to boot. In another half minute the letter was being read
+aloud in the midst of the whole gun-room officers, amongst roars
+of laughter; the honest old Dutchwoman holding aloft the precious
+article, and floundering through to find out the rightful owner, as
+every one claimed it and offered the nine-and-sixpence; while for my
+part I tried first to get down one hatchway, then another, and Lord
+Frederick himself came up on the starboard side of the quarterdeck
+in the height of the scene. Indeed, I believe it was a joke for
+months after in the Hebe, of a night, to say it was "the second
+lieutenant's watch;" the sole revenge I had being to leave Mother
+Dulcken and her boy to expect the "ship that was coming after."
+
+A Government boat came aboard in the afternoon, and as soon as it
+left us, Lord Frederick took his gig, and steered for a frigate
+lying some distance off, which had the harbour flag hoisted at her
+main, being the only man-o'-war besides ourselves, and commanded
+by a senior captain. Till it got dark I could see the crews of the
+nearest merchantmen looking over their bulwarks at us and our prize,
+apparently comparing the schooner with the frigate, and speculating
+on her character, as she lay a few fathoms off the Hebe's quarter,
+both of us rising and falling in turn on the long heave of the
+Cape swell from seaward. 'Twas hard to say, in fact, so far as
+their hulls went, which was the most beautiful sample of its kind;
+though the schooner's French-fashioned sticks and off-hand sort
+of rigging, showed rather like jury-gear beside the tall regular
+sticks aloft of the Hebe's decks, with all her hamper perfect to
+a tee. The Hebe's men very naturally considered their own ship a
+model for everything that floated, a sort of a Solomon's temple, in
+short; and to hear the merciless way they ran down the Indiamen all
+round, would have raised the whole homeward-bound fleet against us;
+whereas the schooner was our own, at any rate, and she was spoken of
+much in the manner one mentions an unfortunate orphan, as good as
+already christened by the name of "the Young Hebe." This our learned
+chaplain said was quite improper, and he gave another name in place
+of it--the "Aniceta"--which meant, as he observed, the Hebe's
+youngest daughter; so the Aniceta she was called, happening to be a
+title that went, according to the boatswain, full as sweetly through
+the sheave-hole.
+
+Next day the schooner had landed not only her passengers from St
+Helena, but the prisoners also, as we still understood the French
+and their Kroomen to be. Not long after that Lord Frederick came
+back from Cape Town, looking grave, and went straight down to his
+cabin, or "cabins," as his lordship preferred to have it said. The
+first lieutenant dined that day with the captain; but they could
+scarcely have finished when the "young gentlemen" who had been
+as usual from the reefer's mess, came up with a message from the
+captain, that his lordship would be glad if I would join the first
+lieutenant and himself in a glass of wine. I found them sitting at
+the side of the table nearest the open port, with the decanters
+between them, and the broad bright bay in full sight to the shore
+and the foot of Table Mountain, which rose up blocking the port with
+the top of it beyond view; the sounds of the merchantmen clicking at
+their heavy windlasses, and hoisting in water-casks, floated slowly
+in from every side, while the schooner had hauled on her cable more
+abreast of the frigate, leaving the sight clear over the eddy round
+her low counter.
+
+"A lovely piece of workmanship, certainly!" observed Lord Frederick
+thoughtfully, as he leant back swinging his eyeglass round his
+finger, with the other hand in the breast of his waistcoat, and
+looking out at what was seen of the schooner. "And how one might
+have improved her spars, too!" said Mr Hall, wistfully. "I should
+have recommended longer lower-masts altogether, Lord Frederick, and
+a thorough overhaul, I may say, from the combings upwards!" "I would
+not have her hull touched for the world, Mr Hall!" said the captain;
+"'tis too--excessively provoking, at least! But pass the bottles to
+Mr Collins, if you please." I had taken a chair and quietly filled
+my glass, wondering what could be the matter, when his lordship
+turned to me and said, "Do you know, Mr Collins, this schooner of
+ours is likely to be laid up in Chancery, heaven knows how long. The
+Admiralty court ashore are doubtful of condemning her, apparently,
+and she must either be sent home or to Monte Video or somewhere,
+where the master of her claims to belong!" "Indeed, my lord," said
+I, setting down my glass, "that is curious." "Curious indeed, sir!"
+replied he, biting his lips, "though, after all, we really can
+scarce say what she is to be condemned for--only in the meantime I
+sail to-morrow for India." "She's French to the backbone, that I'll
+swear, Lord Frederick!" I said; "and what's more, she was"----"Ah,"
+broke in the captain, "I know, I know; but the less we say of
+that, in present circumstances, the better! Once get her entangled
+with politics, and we may give her up altogether." Lord Frederick
+twisted his eyeglass round his forefinger faster than before, still
+watching the schooner; the first lieutenant held up his claret
+betwixt himself and the light, and I sipped mine. "I tell you what,
+gentlemen," exclaimed his lordship suddenly, "I _must_ have that
+schooner at any cost!--What is to be done, Mr Hall?" "She'd be of
+great service in the China seas, my lord, certainly," said the first
+lieutenant, looking thoughtfully into his empty glass; "a perfect
+treasure for light service, especially if new sparred and--" I
+noticed Lord Frederick glancing sideways at me, as I thought, with a
+slight gleam in his eye; and accordingly I suggested that he might
+buy her from the Frenchman himself; a very poor idea, no doubt, as
+both the captain and first luff seemed to think, and we all three
+kept eyeing her doubtfully through the port, without a word.
+
+At this time the schooner's counter had been slowly sheering toward
+the frigate's beam, owing to the ebb-tide, and her holding only by a
+single cable, till her stern began to show right opposite the cabin,
+I should say not twenty feet off. Lord Frederick put his glass to
+his eye, and was peering through it, when he remarked that they had
+brought up rather too near, leaving scarce room for the schooner to
+swing as she did, earlier than we, so that she would be in danger
+of getting foul of the frigate's cables. "The worst of it is, Lord
+Frederick," said I, "that in case of a gale from seaward here, she
+might have to slip and run upon very short warning, whereas the Hebe
+has plenty of ground-tackle to let her ride it out. Considering it
+was Table Bay, at this season, he ought to have kept her a clearer
+berth for herself, or else have gone well outside!"--"Ah!" said
+Lord Frederick quickly, meeting my eye for half a minute, till the
+gleam came into his again; and somehow or other mine must have
+caught it, though I must say the notion that struck me then all at
+once wasn't in my head before. "Do you know, that's well thought
+of, Collins!" said his lordship. "You've weathered the Cape before,
+by the bye?"--"A dozen times, Lord Frederick," said I; when a
+regularly jovial roar of laughter broke fair through the port into
+the cabin, from over the schooner's taffrail, as she sheered end-on
+to the frigate's quarter, and Lord Frederick leant forward with the
+glass screwed into his right eye to see along their decks, which
+were covered aft with an awning like the open gable of a tent at a
+fair. "Singular!" said he; "by the lord Harry, who or what can that
+be Mr Hammond has got there?" Dangling over the French schooner's
+taffrail were to be seen the soles of two immense boots, with calves
+and knees to match, and a pair of tightish striped trousers worked
+up more than half way, 'till you saw the tops of the stockings;
+just beyond the knees was the face leaning back in the shade of
+the awning and a straw hat together, out of which a huge green
+cabbage-leaf hung like a flap over one eye, while the other kept
+gazing in a half-closed sleepy sort of way at the sky, and the red
+end of a cigar winked and glowed in the midst of the puffs of smoke
+lower down. The first lieutenant started up shocked at the sight,
+the noble captain of the Hebe sat with his eyeglass fixed, between
+amusement and wonder; for my own part, when the voice of this same
+prodigy broke all of a sudden on us out of the awning, in a mixture
+of stuttering, hiccuping, Yankee drawling, and puffs at the cigar,
+'twas all I could do to hold on, with the knowledge of where I was.
+"W_a_ll now, general," said the American, as if he were talking
+to some one aloft or in the sky, "ye-you're qui-quite wrong--I
+ki-kick-calc'late I've fit a deal more be-be-battles than you
+have--I re-respect you, Ge-Ge-General Washington; but I ho-ho-hope
+you know who--hic--whom I am!" Here Mr Daniel Snout, who was in a
+state of beastly intoxication, swayed himself up bodily into the
+schooner's taffrail, and sat with his arms folded, his long legs
+swinging over the stern, and his head trying to keep steady, as he
+scowled solemnly aloft over the frigate's mizen-royal-masthead;
+while the third lieutenant, Mr Hammond, and the master's mate he had
+aboard with him, could be heard laughing at his back, as if they had
+gone mad--Hammond being a wild sprig of an Irishman, who would go
+any length for a piece of fun.
+
+Just then the American's one eye lighted on the side of the frigate,
+till it settled lazily on the port of the captain's cabin: first he
+seemed to notice Lord Frederick Bury, and then myself, the first
+lieutenant having just recovered himself enough to rush toward
+the door to get on deck. Daniel himself surveyed me scornfully
+for a moment, then with a sort of doubtful frown, and a gravity
+that passes me to describe, unless by the look of an old cock
+a-drinking--evidently trying to recollect me. "Hallo, mister!"
+shouted he suddenly, "you haven't touched those _notions_ of mine,
+I hope." With that he made a spring off where he sat, as if to come
+towards us--no doubt thinking of the Seringapatam, and the valuables
+he had left aboard, without seeing the water between; and a pretty
+deep dive Mr Snout would have made of it, into an ebb-tide that
+would have swept him under the frigate's bottom, if Mr Hammond and
+the midshipman hadn't both sprung forward in time to catch him by
+the neck of the coat. There, accordingly, was the Yankee hanging
+like a spread eagle over the schooner's taffrail, yelling and
+turning round at the same time like a fowl on a spit--the third
+lieutenant's and the mate's faces, two pictures of dismay, as they
+held on, at finding for the first time where the schooner had shied
+them round to, with their two pairs of eyes fair in front of the
+captain's eyeglass,--while Mr Hall was singing out like thunder from
+the deck above us, "The schooner ahoy--d'ye see where you've got
+to, sir; haul ahead on that cable, d'ye hear, you lubbers, and keep
+clear of the ship!"
+
+"Mr Collins," said his lordship quietly to me, as soon as he could
+keep his countenance, and looking the sterner for the trouble he
+was put to in doing it, "you will get your things and go aboard the
+schooner directly--take her in charge, sir, and send Mr Hammond
+back here."--"Very well, my lord," said I, waiting in the doorway
+for something more, which, from something in Lord Frederick's
+look, I had reason to expect, knowing it of old. "I can only spare
+you a dozen of the men she has," added he; "but if you choose you
+can send ashore at once to pick up a few makeshifts, or anything
+you find!"--"Ay, ay, my lord," said I; "the best hand for that
+would be Mr Snelling, if I may take him, Lord Frederick?" "Oh,
+certainly," was the answer; "and harkye, Collins, you had better
+shift your berth a few cable-lengths farther off, or more, if you
+please."--"One thing, my lord," said I, stooping down to see through
+the port, "I don't much like the heavy ground-swell that begins
+to meet the ebb, Lord Frederick; and I fancy it won't be long ere
+Table Mountain spread its supper-cloth--in which case I'd consider
+it necessary to slip cable and run out at once, though I mightn't
+get in again so easily. Am I to find the frigate here again, Lord
+Frederick?"--"Deuce take it, man--no!" said his lordship. He turned
+his back to hide the evident twinkle of his eye. "Should we part
+company, of course you make for the Bay of Bengal! You can't be
+sure of the Hebe, short of the Sandheads--and if not there, then
+opposite Fort William, at Calcutta."--"Very good, my lord," said I,
+and had made my bow to go on deck, when Lord Frederick called me
+back. "By the bye," said he hastily, "about that Indiaman of yours,
+Collins--she is here, no doubt?" "No, Lord Frederick," answered I,
+"I believe she sailed a week ago." "Dear me, the deuce!" exclaimed
+he, "why I meant to have sent to-morrow to have your friend Westwood
+arrested and brought aboard!" I started at this, on which his
+lordship explained that if Westwood got to Bombay, whither the
+Seringapatam was bound, the authorities there would have news of the
+thing by this time, and could send him overland at once to England,
+which would be far worse for him than being carried to Calcutta,
+where his uncle the Councillor's interest might do something for
+him. "The best thing you can do, Collins," added Lord Frederick,
+"if you _are_ obliged to run out to sea, is to look after that
+Indiaman! With such a neat thing of a sea-boat under you, you might
+do anything you please; so cruise to windward or leeward in chase,
+find her out, and take out Westwood bodily--lose him afterwards in
+the Hoogley, if you like--carry away those old spars of hers, and
+send up new ones--only don't lose the schooner, I beg; so good bye
+to you, my dear fellow, lest we should not meet on this side the
+Line again!"--"Good bye, my lord!" said I cheerfully, and hurried on
+deck, understanding all he wanted as well as if I'd been ordered to
+set her jib that moment and heave up anchor. In ten minutes I was
+over the frigate's side, and in ten more Hammond was back in her,
+with the men who were to leave; while I sent my baggage below, set
+the hands to work shifting the schooner's berth, and by sun-down we
+were lying beyond hail of the ship, opposite the custom-house, and
+a long line of a main street in Cape Town, where we could see the
+people, the carriages, and the Dutch bullock-carts passing up and
+down; while Table Mountain hove away up off the steep Devil's Hill
+and the Lion's Rump, to the long level line a-top, as blue and bare
+as an iron monument, and throwing a shadow to the right over the
+peaks near at hand.
+
+Our friend from the United States being by this time in quite an
+oblivious condition, the first thing I did was to have him put
+quietly into the boat with which Mr Snelling was to go ashore for
+fresh hands, and I instructed the reefer to get clear of him anyhow
+he liked, if it was only above tide-mark. When they were gone I
+walked the schooner's little quarterdeck in the dusk by myself,
+till the half moon rose with a ghostly copper-like glare over the
+hollow in the Lion's Rump, streaking across the high face of Table
+Mountain, and bringing out all its rifts and wrinkles again. The
+land-breeze began to blow steadily with a long sighing sweep from
+the north-east, meeting the heavy swell that set into the broad
+bay; and the schooner, being a light crank little craft, got rather
+uneasy; whereas you could see the lights of the frigate heaving and
+settling leisurely, less than half a mile off. I had only six or
+seven good hands aboard altogether at the time, which, with those
+the midshipman had, were barely sufficient to work her in such seas;
+so with all I had to do, with the difficulty of getting men in the
+circumstances, a long voyage before us, and things that might turn
+up, as I hoped, to require a touch of the regular service, why the
+very pleasure of having a command made me a good deal anxious. Even
+of that I didn't feel sure; and I kept watching Table Mountain,
+eager for the least bit of haze to come across the top of it, as
+well as sorry I had sent Snelling ashore. "I'd give a hundred pounds
+at this moment," thought I, "to have had Bob Jacobs here!"
+
+As the moon got higher, I could see the swell washing up between the
+different merchantmen in sight, into their shadows, and heavy enough
+some of them seemed to roll round their cables, betwixt a breeze
+and a swell running the contrary ways; first one let go a second
+anchor, and then another, to help their heads shoreward; but still
+there was no danger, as things went. It wasn't long before I made
+out two boats coming from toward the town, round the stern of one of
+the ships, the frigate lying betwixt her and us, so that they took
+her by the way, and a good deal of hailing seemed to pass between
+them. I could even see epaulets glisten over the Hebe's quarter, as
+if there was a stir made aboard; after which the boats were plainly
+pulling for the schooner. What all this might mean, I couldn't very
+well conceive, unless it were either Snelling come back already, or
+else some hands Lord Frederick himself had provided before this, as
+I saw both boats were full of people. "Forward there!" I sung out,
+"hail those boats!"--"Ay, ay, the schooner ahoy!" was the answer,
+in a sharp voice from the headmost of them, "from the shore--all
+right! Stand by to heave us a line, will ye?" Next came a hail from
+Snelling, in our own gig; so I at once gave orders to heave them
+a rope and have both boats brought under the gangway, naturally
+supposing the sharp little fellow had come some marvellous good
+speed in shipping hands. As soon as he jumped on deck, I accordingly
+inquired how many men he had brought, when to my great surprise he
+informed me there was only one, "a scuffy sort of a swab," as he
+expressed it, "who would do for cook!"--"The devil he will, you
+young rascal," I broke out. "Hush, sir, for heaven's sake," said he,
+making some extraordinary sign which I didn't understand; "it'll all
+be right in the end, Mr Collins. Now then, sir," to some one in the
+boat alongside, as he carefully handed him the accommodation-ropes,
+"here you are--hold on, sir--so-o!" This was a rather youngish
+fellow in a huge pilot coat and a glazed cap, with some kind of
+uniform inside, and a large breastpin in his shirt, who handed
+me a paper the moment he stood firm on deck, without speaking a
+word; though, by the light of the deck-lantern, I didn't much like
+the look of his foxy sort of face, with the whiskers on it coming
+forward from both cheeks to his mouth, nor the glance he gave round
+the schooner with his pair of quick sharp little eyes. "Much more
+like a custom-house officer than a cook!" thought I, "unless we mean
+to have a French one;" but what was my astonishment, on opening
+the paper, to find him called "Gilbert Webb, harbour-master's
+assistant, hereby authorised by the Admiralty Court, sitting in
+Cape Town, to take charge of the doubtful vessel described in her
+papers as the 'Ludovico,' belonging to Monte Video--from the officer
+commanding the prize crew of his Britannic Majesty's ship Hebe."
+My first thought was to have Mr Gilbert Webb pitched over into his
+boat again, when Lord Frederick's own signature met my eye at the
+bottom of the paper, addressed below to "Lieutenant Collins, of his
+Majesty's schooner Aniceta, _at sea_." A wonderfully mysterious
+squint from Snelling, behind the officer, was sufficient to clinch
+the matter in my own mind, showing that the reefer was as sharp as
+a needle: and I handed back the document to the harbour gentleman,
+with a "Very well, sir, that will do." "I suppose I'd better have
+my men up, Lieutenant Collins?" said he, with a quick pert kind of
+accent, which made me set him down at once for a Londoner, while
+at the same time he seemed impatient, as I thought, to get the
+management. "Why, sir," said I, "I suppose you had."
+
+Hereupon up mounted four or five decent enough looking
+_stevedores_[7]--one or two of whom had rather the air of sailors,
+the rest being broad-beamed, short-legged Dutchmen, with trousers
+like pillow-slips--followed by a whole string of fourteen or fifteen
+Indian Lascars, their bundles in their hands, and an ugly old
+_serdug_ at their head; while the lame, broken-down, debauched-like
+fellow of a man-o'-warsman, that Snelling had found sitting on
+a timberhead ashore, got aboard with our own boat's crew. Our
+gangway was chokeful, to my fresh dismay, for to get rid of such a
+tagrag-and-bobtail, in case of running to sea, was impossible; even
+if they weren't odds against us, here was it likely to get a thick
+night, the swell growing under the schooner till she began to yerk
+at her anchor, head to wind, like a young filly at a manger; so that
+dropping them back into their boat when needful, as I intended at
+first, was out of the question for the present. I found from the
+harbour officer that the number of hands would all be required with
+the morning tide, when his orders were to have the schooner towed
+in opposite the Battery Dock, especially as there was much chance
+of the wind blowing strong from seaward next day. The swell on the
+water, he said, was such that, after putting off, he thought of
+going back again till the tide began to turn; if he had not been
+encouraged to stick to it and keep on by the midshipman, whom he
+fell in with near the quay. This piece of news was the finish to the
+rage I felt brewing in me, vexed as I naturally was to give up the
+notion of a free cruise, in command of a craft like the schooner;
+and, as soon as Mr Webb was comfortable in the cabin, over a tumbler
+of stiff grog and some cold beef, I sent for Snelling to my own
+cupboard of a state-room.
+
+  [7] Men employed in the stowing of ships' cargoes.
+
+"You cursed unlucky little imp you!" I burst out, the moment he made
+his appearance, "What's the meaning of this, sirrah? eh?"--"What
+is it, if you please, sir?" said Snelling, pretending to hold down
+his shock-head like a frightened schoolboy, and looking up all
+the time both at me and the lamp at once, while he swayed with
+the uneasy heave of the deck in such a way as made me grip him by
+the arm in a perfect fury, fancying he had got drunk ashore. "You
+young blackguard you!" said I, shaking him, "didn't I tell you to
+get hands--didn't you know I meant to--to--" "Oh yes, Mr Collins,"
+gasped the reefer, "I did indeed--you meant to cut and run--I saw
+it by your eye, sir, and--don't shake me any more, sir, or you'll
+spoil my hair--and I don't deserve it--it's--all right!" And on my
+letting him go, the ugly little scamp sunk down on a chair with
+his eyes starting from his head, and a leer like a perfect demon
+incarnate; but so perfectly laughable it was, not to mention the
+air of complete confidence between us that he threw into it, that
+I sat down myself, ready to grin at my bad luck. "Well, Mister
+Snelling," said I, quietly, "you _are_ a touch beyond me! Let's
+have the joke, at least--out with it, man, else another shake may
+be--" The reefer pointed with his thumb over his shoulder to the
+cabin, shoved his chin forward, and whispered, "Why, sir, I'm only
+doubtful whether you could make him third officer--but at any rate,
+he'll always be useful at a rope, Mr Collins--won't he, sir?" I gave
+Snelling one look, meant to be as grave as an Old Bailey chaplain's,
+but it wouldn't do--my conscience wouldn't stand it--in fact the
+very self-same notion seemed to me to have been creeping into my
+mind. "You--young--rascal!" was all I could manage to say, before
+making bolt to go on deck. "By the by, Mister Snelling," said I,
+turning and looking down from the hatchway, "you must want a glass
+of grog--tell the boy to let you have some--and go and keep the
+officer company, sir."
+
+By this time it was raining hard, the half-moon coming out at
+moments and shining through it with a sudden sharp gleam, in some
+gust of the wind off the land--showing the swell in as far as the
+wet white custom-house and the bare quays, the ships with their
+hazy lights all hither and thither, while Table Mountain was to be
+seen now and then peering half over the mist, first one corner and
+then another, of a colour like dead ashes. One time I looked down
+toward the dusky little cabin, where the midshipman, quite in his
+element, was sitting with the harbour officer, the lamp jerking and
+making wild swings betwixt them, while Snelling evidently egged on
+his companion to drink; then I gave a glance seaward, where there
+was nothing but a glimmer of rain and spray along the dark hollows
+of the water. I couldn't make up my mind, all I could do--it was
+too barefaced a thing to slip from the roadstead with a breeze
+blowing off-shore; but the worst of it was that I didn't feel easy
+at the idea of parting with an anchor in the circumstances, not
+to say carrying off the Government people, unless forced to it. I
+accordingly went below to mix myself a stiffener, and found the
+officer a cool head, for, in spite of all Snelling could do, the
+reefer himself had got provoked, whereas the sharp Mr Webb was
+only a little brisker than before. "A rough sort of night," said
+I, nodding to him, as I knocked the water out of my cap. "Well,
+it seems," said he, free and easy. "S'pose I go on deck then,
+gentlemen--I've refreshed, I assure you, so you needn't trouble
+about this 'ere schooner no farther--glad to get quit of it and turn
+in, I desay, lieutenant?"--"No trouble in the world, Mr Webb," said
+I, going on with my mixture, "far from it; but sit down a minute,
+pray sir,--Mr Snelling here will take charge of the deck for us in
+the meantime;" and Snelling vanished at once, Mr Webb apparently
+flattered at my wishing his company. "Will that cable of yours
+hold, think ye, Lieutenant Collins?" asked he, filling up another
+glass. "Why," said I, almost laughing, "to tell you the truth,
+I begin to feel devilish doubtful of it." "What!" broke out the
+harbour officer, starting up, "then I must 'ave another put down
+immediately: why, what's the effect, sir--we'll be carried out to
+sea!" "You said it exactly, Mr Webb," I said "'twould have been much
+worse, I suppose, if we were driven ashore, though! Now look you,
+if I were to let go a second anchor at present, I couldn't light
+upon a better plan either to break her back, or lose both anchors in
+the end--from the difference of strain on the two cables, with this
+ground-swell. The fact is, my good fellow, you're evidently not fit
+to take charge at present." "D--n me, lieutenant!" said he, looking
+fierce and foolish at the same time, "here's strange lang'age to a
+Gov'ment officer, sir--I hask the meanin' off it _at_ once, mister!"
+"But I depend a good deal on your knowledge of Table Bay weather,"
+I continued, leaning back with my weather eye screwed to bear upon
+him. "D'ye think this wind likely to moderate soon, sir? come
+now."--"No," replied he sulkily: "I'm sure it won't--and to-morrow
+it's certain to blow back ten times worse." "Then, Mr Webb," said
+I, rising, "you oughtn't to have come aboard to-night; as the short
+and the long of it is, I shall get the schooner an offing the first
+possible moment!" The officer stared at me in a bewildered manner;
+and as for the schooner, she seemed to be bolting and pitching in
+a way worse than before, with now and then a plunge of the swell
+on her broadside as if she had been under weigh. Suddenly Snelling
+lifted the skylight frame and screamed down into the cabin, "Mr
+Collins, Mr Collins! she's been dragging her anchor for the last ten
+minutes, sir!"
+
+I sprang on deck at two bounds--the schooner had somehow or other
+got her anchor out of hold at the time, the cable as taut as a
+fiddle-string. It was quite dark aloft, and not a vestige of Table
+Mountain to be seen, though the moonshine, low down to westward,
+brought out two or three tracks of light along the stretch of water,
+and you saw the lights in the ships slowly sweeping past. Where we
+happened to be, it blew two ways at once, as is often the case in
+Table Bay, round the bluffs of the mountain, and as soon as she
+brought up again with a surge at the windlass, the heave of a long
+swell took her right on the quarter, lifting her in to her anchor
+again with a slack of the hawser, at which every second man sung out
+to "hold on!" Over she went to port, a sea washing up the starboard
+side, and throwing a few dozen bucketfuls at once fair into the
+companion, where our friend the harbour officer was sticking at the
+time; so down plumped Mr Webb along with it, and the booby hatch
+was shoved close after him, while the poor devils of Lascars were
+huddled together as wet as swabs in the lee of the caboose forward.
+"A hand to the wheel!" shouted I, as soon as I recovered myself;
+when to my great surprise I saw Snelling's new hand, poor creature
+as I'd thought him, standing with a spoke in each fist, as cool and
+steady as possible, and his eye fixed on me in the true knowing way
+which I felt could be trusted to. "Jib there!" I sung out, "see all
+clear to run up a few hanks of the jib--stand by to cut the cable at
+the bitts!"--"Ay, ay, sir," answered Snelling, who was working away
+with the harbour men, his bare head soaked, and altogether more like
+an imp than a young gentleman of the navy--"All's clear, sir."
+
+Five minutes I dare say we stood, every one in the same position,
+while I waited for a good moment in the run of the swell, looking
+into the binnacle: till she hung slack, as it were, in a wide
+seething trough of the sea, when I signed to the man behind me to
+put the helm gradually to starboard. I glanced at the fellow again,
+caught his sharp weatherly eye once more--then putting both hands to
+my mouth I sung out to bowse on the jib halliards. "Now--cut--the
+cable!" shouted I, springing forward in my anxiety. The schooner
+rose away from her anchor on the heavy roll of the sea; I saw two
+quick strokes of the axe on the instant, and she was spinning head
+off from the wind, heeling over betwixt the force of it and the
+ground-swell together, while the mass of black water was washing
+bodily away with us; the new helmsman showing down below me as he
+leant to the wheel, like somebody at the foot of a slide. If he
+hadn't helped her at the moment with a back turn of the spokes to
+port, t'would have been all up with us. As it was, the schooner fell
+off gallantly in his hands, with a sliding surge into the lee of
+the next swell, that buried her sharp bows in the green sea, till
+it foamed about our very shoulders as we hung on like grim death
+to the weather bulwark. She was just shaking herself free, and
+rising like a buoy over the broad tops of the waves, when Snelling,
+myself, and two or three of the men, staggered down to her mainmast
+to swig up the throat halliards, letting her feel a little of the
+boom mainsail; and we had scarce belayed, as the last glimpse of the
+frigate's lights was caught astern of us, heaving and setting, as
+she rode with her two bower anchors down; we had driven past close
+enough to have heard the creak of her hamper aloft. After that, I
+had the fore-stay-sail set on her, then the reefed mainsail, and the
+lively schooner yielded to the long rolling seas so well, as very
+soon to make her own weather of it--especially since, clear of the
+high land about Table Bay, it was blowing only a strong breeze, and
+the more I began to feel master of her, the more inclined I was to
+let her show her good qualities. Such a craft I never had had the
+full management of before in my life; and you may easily fancy how
+I felt at dividing the hands into the two watches, giving little
+Snelling command of one, as first mate, and picking out our men in
+turn. I looked round amongst mine, rather at a loss for one to make
+second mate for the cruise, though there were three prime enough
+man-o'-warsmen, and I had chosen one of the Government officer's
+gang for his activity. As for the Lascars, we slumped in half of
+the number to each of us, for make-weights--when Snelling's fresh
+hand, who had fallen to my share, caught my eye again as he stood
+at the wheel. Every half spoke he gave the schooner told; she was
+topping the heavy seas as they rose, and taking them just where they
+melted one to the other, with a long floating cleave, that carried
+her counter fairly free of the after-run, though nearly right before
+the wind: the main-boom had been guyed over to the lee-quarter, till
+a third of the sail hung clear of her hull, and the breeze swept
+into the hollow of it, thick with spray. The light from the little
+binnacle shone up distinctly on the man's face, and with all the
+desperate, used-up, marbled sort of look of it, like one getting
+the better of a long spree ashore, I thought there was something
+uncommonly promising about him, not to say greatly above the run of
+foremast men. The wet, the wind, and the work he was at, took off
+the seediness of his clothes; even the old rag of a handkerchief
+round his hairy neck had got a gloss to it, and he stood handling
+the wheel with a strange mixture of recklessness and care, as he
+glanced from the compass to the gaff of the mainsail against the
+scud, and down again. The very contrast between the man's manner
+and his outward rig was sufficient to strike one, though plenty of
+seamen are to be found in the like state ashore: but what fixed me
+to him above all, was the expression in those two keen, searching,
+_living_ eyes of his, when they once or twice met mine on their
+way from aloft to the compass-boxes. 'Twas as if they'd woke up
+since he came aboard out of a sleepy, maudlin condition, with the
+"blue-devils" or scarce fully out of 'em; like a sick man's in the
+lull of a fever, suddenly seen watching you out of the dusk of the
+bed, when one happens to glance up from the nurse's seat.
+
+"What's your name, my man?" asked I, stepping aft to the binnacle.
+"My name is Jones, sir," said he readily. "And your first name?"
+I said. "Jack," was the answer, in an off-hand way, with a hitch
+of one shoulder, and a weather-spoke to the wheel; spoken in an
+accent you'd have expected more in a West End drawing-room than
+from a common sailor. "Ah," said I, sharply, "Jack Jones? I wonder
+how many Jack Joneses there are afloat! An able seaman, I think,
+Jones?"--"Why sir," replied the man, "I never rate myself, sir--'tis
+all one to me, able, ordinary, landsman, or boy--I carry no papers,
+and leave my betters to rate me." "Where were you last, my man?"
+I asked; whereupon I met such a cool, steady, deep look out of
+the fellow's strange light-coloured eyes, bloodshot as they were
+with drinking, that I felt almost our very two souls jostle in it:
+as much as to say, To all eternity fathom me if ye can! "Well, I
+forget where, sir," said he, lowering his look to the compass-box
+again: "always the way with me, after a trip, a cruise, a voyage, or
+whatever it may be. I've got--ha!" and he yielded his body coolly
+to a jerk of the schooner's wheel. "A sweet craft this, sir, but
+a little ticklish!" "You've got what?" said I, not unwilling to
+wear out the time. "I've got--no memory!" Still there was somewhat
+so gloomy and mournful in the next glance aloft, I don't know how
+it was, but I felt inclined to offer him a mate's place on trial,
+and so I hinted, if he knew half as well how to handle a craft as
+he did of steering her. To my own surprise, Jones's wonder didn't
+seem to be roused at the notion, except that he gave me another
+quick glance from head to foot, with a queer smile that struck me
+as if I were being questioned, instead of _him_; then he looked
+down over his own outfit, judging by which you'd have said he'd
+been shipwrecked. "Well," said I, "I daresay you've been hard put
+to it, somehow, Jones,--so as soon as you leave the wheel, you can
+go below to the steward, and get a seagoing suit of my own, till we
+see Calcutta, when your mate's wages will set you all right again."
+The man touched his battered old straw hat; but I noticed his eyes
+gleam for a moment by the binnacle light, and a strange twitch run
+round his mouth at the mention of the mate's wages: the only way I
+could account for it at the time being his late hard-up condition;
+and nothing to my mind was more deucedly pitiable, than to see the
+thought of a few paltry additional rupees light up a head like that,
+with the glistening sort of expression of a miser, as I fancied.
+The man had a head on him, in fact, when you eyed him, fit for a
+gentleman's shoulders, or more--his hair and his whiskers curly and
+dark, draggled though they were with the rain, not to say Cape Town
+mud--while the wearing away of the hair about the temples, and the
+red grog-streaks in the veins of his face, made him no doubt a dozen
+years older to appearance than he was. For my part I was quite
+convinced already, this same Jack Jones hadn't been sent out a cabin
+boy; there was not only a touch of high blood in him at bottom, but
+I'd have sworn he had been some time or other in the place of a
+gentleman, afloat or ashore, though plainly now "going to the devil."
+
+Meanwhile the breaking look of the clouds away on our larboard bow
+showed it wasn't far off dawn; so, sending another hand to the
+wheel, and finding a snug spot under a stern-grating for a snooze
+on deck, I told Jones to begin with taking charge of the deck for
+me. "One thing, sir," said he, touching his hat again, as I lay
+down, "I've only shipped for the outward voyage, and leave at the
+first port."--"Why, what the deuce!" said I, lifting my head; "what
+do you mean to do there, eh?" "I--I want to go ashore," answered
+he, eagerly; "ay, if we're years on the cruise, so much the better,
+sir,--but so soon as she drops anchor off Calcutta, I'm my own
+master?"--"Have your own way, then," said I; "at any rate I'll try
+you in the meantime,--so Mister Jones, let's see how you mind the
+schooner till eight bells!" Whereupon I turned myself over to sleep,
+and it was as broad daylight as we had any likelihood of about the
+Cape, when I woke.
+
+It still blew a stiff breeze, but the waves rose with a length and
+a breadth in them you find in no other sea; deep-blue sparkling
+hills of water, with green gleams about the crests, of which every
+single wave had a hundred or so; and a long seething, simmering,
+glassy hollow of a still valley between, where the flecks of foam
+slid away glittering out of the shadow. But, Lord! it was glorious
+to feel the schooner rising quietly in the trough, with the mount
+of a wave, to the very ridge of it; then with a creak of all her
+timbers and bulk-heads below, a slight shake to windward, and a
+yerk at her bows, lean over to leeward again and go hissing through
+the breast of a huge sea, till you thought she'd go down into it;
+while there she was, however, lifting head up, with a swift flash
+of her cutwater, on the cross half wave that joined every first and
+third one--"billow" and "sea," as you may say. The breeze having
+drawn more easterly toward morning, Jones had braced her more upon
+a wind, with reefed main and foresails, and fore-staysail set,
+which brought out the Aniceta's weatherly qualities to a marvel;
+as notwithstanding almost a head-wind and a swelling sea, she went
+nearly as fast as the frigate would have done before the breeze, and
+not a sign of the land was to be seen from her crosstrees.
+
+It was not till the afternoon, when the midshipman and I had both
+been busy together seeing various things done about the rigging,
+as well as having preventer-braces and guys clapped on the booms
+and gaffs, that we had time to look about us; the schooner still
+driving along with the breeze strong abeam, and a floating plunge
+from one wide dark-blue sea to another, as if they handed her
+onward. Jones had got himself made decent below, as I told him,
+till what with different clothes and a shave together, besides
+refreshment from sea weather, he was quite a different man to look
+at. Even Snelling owned to his sailor-like appearance, though
+rather surprised at my notion of making him a mate; while as for
+the men, they didn't know but he had come aboard as such, and to
+tell the truth, he was having the mainstaysail got up and ready to
+bend at the time, like one accustomed to give orders. By this time
+I remembered the harbour officer, Webb, whom we'd carried off so
+unceremoniously, and found he was still in his "bunk" below, half
+sulky and half sick, consoling himself with brandy and water till
+we should get into Table Bay again, as he said. "Only put him into
+my watch, Mr Collins," said Snelling gravely, "and I'll work him
+up, sir." The reefer himself, in fact, had all of a sudden turned
+out in a laughably dignified style, to meet his new post--in full
+midshipman's rig, dirk and all, with his cocked hat, which I sent
+him down immediately to change; but he had brushed up his mop of
+hair, and begun to cultivate the down on his upper lip; while
+being a deep-shouldered, square-built, short-armed little fellow,
+as muscular as a monkey, you'd have thought from the back of his
+coat he was a man cut shorter, and for his face, he had contrived
+to put such a sour effect into it--meant for great experience, no
+doubt--that it was only by his eyes one saw he was a boy of sixteen
+or so; and _they_ were brimful of wild glee, as he jumped about
+wherever he was needed, doing the work of a couple of ordinary men,
+and actually delighted when a spray came over the weather bulwarks
+on top of him, seeing that, instead of the frigate, she was "our
+schooner" that did it.
+
+"I think she walks, Mr Collins!" observed Snelling, holding up
+his head stiffly, and looking aloft as we went aft, after shaking
+ourselves from one of these same sprays. "No denying that, Mr
+Snelling," said I as gravely; "I only wish your fond parents
+could see you just now, first mate of such a smart craft, Mister
+Snelling!" His father was a country baronet, who had sent him off to
+sea with an allowance--I daresay because his looks were no ornament,
+and there were plenty more coming; though Snelling always pretended
+his worthy progenitor was an old man. "Fond be blowed!" said he,
+starting; "I just see him at this moment at the foot of that blessed
+old mahogany, proposing my health before the ladies go, and--" Here
+the schooner rose on a sharp, short wave, making a plunge through it
+that sent the helmsman swinging to the lee-side of the wheel, while
+a sea washed up over her forecastle, and away aft with the tubs,
+buckets, and spars, knocking everybody right and left. Snelling
+and I held on by the weather main-rigging with our feet in a bath,
+till she lifted bodily through it, careering to her lee-gunnel. "By
+George, though!" broke out the reefer, smacking his lips as we drew
+breath, "I wish he _did_ see me--wouldn't it cheer his declining
+years, when I'd got to hand the governor carefully below! And
+such a rough night as we're going to have of it, too, sir!" "You
+unfilial young dog!" said I; "but so I'm afraid we shall--and no
+joke either!" Jones was standing near us, watching the looks of the
+weather with evident uneasiness, and I asked him what he thought of
+it. "In my opinion, sir," said he, "you'll have some pretty sudden
+shift of wind ere long, of a kind I have seen more than once off the
+Cape before--and that as furious as a south-easter ordinarily is
+hereabouts. Look away yonder, sir!"
+
+It had got to a clear, dry, north-easterly gale, that shook our
+canvass every time she lifted, singing through the ropes, and bitter
+cold. Long and heavy as the roll of the sea was, the sky was as
+keen and clear as glass all round about and aloft, save the mist
+kicked up by the spray off a wave here and there. If a rag of white
+cloud appeared, it was blown away, and you saw the black wrinkled
+side of one wave at a time, a mile wide, you'd have said, freckled
+all over with spots of foam, and its ridge heaving against the eye
+of the blast. The waves had begun to break shorter. The schooner,
+buoyant as she was, and sharp as a dolphin, pitched and rolled at
+times like mad, and the men forward were standing by to let go the
+fore-halliards, throat and peak, to ease her a little: when Jones
+pointed out the bank of gray cloud ahead of us, scarce to be seen
+through the troughs of the water, except when she lifted well upon
+a swell of sea. The sun going down in a wild red glare to leeward
+of us, threw a terrible glitter across the huge slant of one single
+wave that rose stretching away far and wide from her very bow, then
+brought out the sulky wrinkled blue in it; the hissing green crests
+curled over to the very sunset, as it were, while we sunk slowly
+into the long dark lulling trough, and saw the broken shaft of a
+rainbow stand glimmering for a moment or two into a black hollow
+right ahead, when the gale drove it back upon us like an arrow, as
+the schooner urged through the breast of the next wave. I looked
+from Snelling to the new mate, who still held on by a belaying-pin
+and watched the clouds, giving me back a glance that showed he
+thought the matter more serious than ordinary. "The sooner we strip
+her to the storm-staysails," said I quickly, as we fell into the
+trough again, "the better, I think. If it blows harder, we must
+lie-to with her at once." My eye was anxiously fixed on Jones, for
+large as the schooner was, between two and three hundred tons, yet
+no craft in the world is so nice to bring to the wind in a gale,
+with a heavy sea running. Scudding before it might have done for
+the frigate, with her full bows, and spars high enough to keep her
+main-topsail full in spite of the troughs; but even that would have
+taken us out of our course after the Indiaman. Besides that, to tell
+the truth, I didn't sufficiently understand fore-and-aft rigged
+craft in all weathers yet, to be quite sure of what I did at a pinch
+like the present. "Yes, yes, sir," answered he; "but if you'll take
+an older man's advice, before that you'll wear her round on the
+other tack to it. We've the worst to come, or else I'm mistaken,
+sir."--"You're accustomed to schooners?" asked I firmly, and gazing
+him in the face. I saw his lips open in the sweep of the wind
+through our after-rigging, and he made a sign with his hand, while a
+gnawing sort of spasm, as it were, shot through the muscles of his
+jaw, and for a moment he gave me a devilishly fierce, keen glance,
+almost a glare, from under his strong straight eyebrows--then turned
+away. "Take the trumpet then, Mr Jones," said I, singing out into
+his ear; "I'll leave her to you, sir. Mr Snelling, let's see the
+hatches all fast!" And we scrambled along by the belaying-pins.
+
+"Are you all ready fore and aft?" came Jones's voice like thunder
+in the next dip she made, and he leapt up bareheaded on the breech
+of one of the small carronades aft, holding on with one hand by the
+weather main-shrouds, and watching the run of the waves as they
+glimmered off our lee-beam into the dusk, for full five minutes.
+I had hold of a rope near him, and his eye was as steady as if he
+were picking out hills in a view. I had full confidence in the
+man; but I must say it was a nervous moment to me, when I saw him
+lift the trumpet to his mouth--and furiously as the wind shook
+the schooner, you heard his hoarse cry, "Put your helm up--slack
+off the mainsheet--brail up the mainsail--ease down the weather
+boom-guy--main-staysail sheet--" And the rest was lost in the
+wild shriek of the north-east gale. We were hard at it, however,
+staggering as we hauled and held on, even to the poor half-drowned,
+terrified Lascars, whom the midshipman had roused out of the caboose
+and long-boat, shoving the ropes into their leathery hands. But I
+knew little else till I saw the schooner had payed off before the
+wind, shearing with a hiss like red-hot iron right through the
+ridge, betwixt two tremendous combing waves. It swelled green over
+her larboard bulwark as she heeled over, and she gave a heavy dead
+lurch with it, as if she would let the next sea break aboard. "Now!
+now!" shouted Jones, at a pitch of voice like no earthly sound; "aft
+the mainsheet, for your lives!" He jumped to the wheel himself, at
+a single bound. We were in two floundering heaps, as we dragged at
+the mainboom aft, and the head-sheets on the forecastle, while she
+came trembling up in the long bight of the sea, and took the gale
+steadily before her other beam. It was blowing harder than ever; and
+the awful "scud" of the sea rolled her bodily away, as she met it
+with her weather-bow, washing white over the headrail, with spray
+from cathead to bowsprit; the gale heaving her down on the lee-beam,
+till she plunged to the brim on that side, at every forward pitch,
+so that all hands on deck had to keep crowded together aft. Still
+it was keen starlight overhead, the gale dry, though it was bitter
+cold, and the seas long and pretty regular. The schooner behaved
+wonderfully, being as tight as a bottle; and at the same time we
+were not only lying our course either for the Mozambique or Indian
+Ocean, but instead of running farther into the gale, as before,
+and getting more into the wild Cape latitudes, why, at present she
+tended to clear out of them. I accordingly agreed with Jones to hold
+on with everything as long as possible, in spite of the way she was
+sometimes flung off with the crest of a wave, as it were, making a
+clear dive with her nose under water through a white seething sea
+that seemed to swell round the whole horizon: the black bank of
+cloud off our weather-beam towered like icebergs against the cold
+green sky to south-east, the stars glittering and twinkling over it,
+with little hazy rings round them, after a fashion that one of us
+liked no more than the other.
+
+About midnight, we had got everything off her to the two small
+storm-staysails, main and fore, the wind blowing great guns, and
+the half moon shining right over the long bank, as if the back of
+it were dead-white; while betwixt it and the washing glimmer of
+moonlight half-way, you'd have thought the black heave of the ridges
+vanished into a bulk of shadow ten times blacker, save for the heads
+of spray tossing dimly over in it here and there. All at once, in
+the very height of the gale, as the black floating clouds from the
+bank began to cross over the gray scud flying fast aloft, a blue
+flash of lightning shot zig-zag into the very comb of a wave ahead
+of us, then came the clap of thunder, loud enough to be heard above
+the wind, and in half a minute there was a sudden lull. You saw
+the fleecy rags of scud actually settling together under the dark
+vapour moving above them, and heard nothing but the vast washing
+welter of the billows rising and seething for miles round, as if
+the world were water, while the schooner rolled helplessly away,
+with her storm-staysails flapping, into the trough. The midshipman
+almost gasped as he looked to me--not from fear, but as much as to
+say, "What next?" Our strange mate stood against the fife-rail of
+the mainmast, apparently too intent on the sky and sea for speaking.
+For my own part, I let go of my belaying pin, and half tumbled to
+the wheel, almost knocking the sailor down in my haste to put the
+helm hard up--for I saw how the blast was to come, fairly before the
+beam, upon us. "Hard a-starboard with it!" shouted I; "haul down
+the main-staysail there--let her fall off as she rises!" The last
+words were never heard, for next moment there was another flash of
+lightning, this time a blaze all round into the troughs of the sea;
+I saw a body of mist coming down upon us from south-east, through
+which the gale struck her on the starboard beam, having suddenly
+shifted eight points or so. The heavy rolling swell from north-east
+was close aboard, and as soon as I knew what I was about, here she
+was leaning over to the full tremendous force of the storm, without
+power to surge ahead, though struggling to rise like a cart-horse
+down on his knees with a load uphill of him. 'Twas by instinct,
+as they say, I found myself scrambling along to her weather
+main-channels, where I managed to get out on the side, slippery as
+it was, and drenched with the blinding showers of spray. I had got
+my knife at work, cutting the lanyards of the shrouds to let the
+mainmast go, when I saw Snelling creep after me, like a fearless
+little fellow as he was, dirk in hand; although what was come of
+Jones I couldn't see, unless he had lost heart and skulked. All at
+once, to my great joy, the main-staysail blew inway to leeward out
+of the bolt-ropes, like a scrap of paper, the main-topmast crashed
+at the cap and went alongside, when the schooner righted to her
+keel, with a wild bolt forward through the whole width of an immense
+wave--one of the "third waves" it was, commonly the last and the
+hugest in a single roll of the sea of the Cape, before you sink into
+a long gliding valley, with a sort of a lull in it. The scene was
+so terrible at the moment, though we bore up for full half a minute
+to the fair steady stroke of the awful gale, nothing but a yeast
+of mist, scud, and darkness ahead, the spray torn off the ridge of
+the wave and flying with us, while the triple run of the heavy seas
+astern was in danger of sweeping her decks from over the poop--that
+I felt we must try lying-to with her at once. Indeed, Snelling and
+I hardly knew whether we were holding on or not, as we were half
+washed inboard and half crawled round the rigging; but Jones had
+already seized the exact point, when she sank in the hollow, to have
+the helm eased down to leeward. Meanwhile he had got the reefed
+foresail balanced and set, with the sheet hauled aft beforehand--a
+tackle hooked on to the clue, and bowsed amidships--everything else
+was off her; and with this sail she came slowly up close to the
+wind on the slant of the next wave, lying-to nearly head toward the
+force of the sea, as her helm was kept fast, two or three points
+to leeward. I never had seen a craft of the kind hove-to in a gale
+before, and a very nice matter it is, too. We drew breath, scarce
+able to credit our eyes, while the schooner rode apparently safe on
+a sea rolling mountain-high; rising and falling off from the breasts
+to the sides of the waves, so far as leeway went, and forging ahead
+a little at the same time through the fierce spray that showered out
+of the dark over her weather-bow.
+
+Cape weather as bad I had seen before, but always in good-sized
+ships; and I owned to Snelling I would rather have handled any one
+of them, even with a lee-shore near, ten times over, than this
+schooner of ours in the present case. However, none of us were in
+any mood for speaking at the time, let alone the waste of breath it
+was. The best thing we had to do, after getting somewhat satisfied
+of her weathering it this way, was to have the grog served out
+to the men, swig off a stiff pannikin one's self, and make one's
+self as comfortable as possible with his pea-coat in the lee of
+something. The sight of the sea ridging up with a dim glimmer
+against the dark, kept your eye fixed to it: first you thought
+it would burst right aboard, crash down upon the decks; then she
+lifted with it, swelling broad under her, while the long steady
+sweep of the gale drove just over the bulwarks with a deep moan:
+for half a minute, perhaps, a shivering lull, when you heard the
+bulkheads and timbers creak and strain below from stem to stern,
+and the bilge-water yearning, as it were, to the water outside.
+Then, again, it was a howl and a shriek, a wide plunge of sea bore
+up her weather-bow, and the moment ere she came fairly to, one
+felt as if the schooner were going to pitch God knows where. Her
+whole bulwarks shook and shivered, the wind found out every chink
+in them, whistling round every different rope it split upon, while
+all the time, the loose wet dreary spars behind the long-boat kept
+slatting and clattering against each other in the lashings, like
+planks in a woodyard of a November night. This was the way we stuck
+till the morning watch showed it all in a drizzling, struggling
+sort of half light, blowing as hard as ever, the Cape seas rolling
+and heaving mountain-high, of a pale yesty hue, far and wide to the
+scud; the spray drifting from the crests, and washing over her bare
+forecastle, with now and then the white wings of a huge albatross to
+be seen aslant to windward, riding on the breast of a long wave down
+into the trough.
+
+Well, the whole blessed day did this sort of thing continue,
+only varied by now and then a huger sea than ordinary lifting
+close aboard of us, and we being hove up to get a glimpse of the
+long glaring streak of horizon through the troughs of the waves:
+sometimes an unluckier splash than usual over the bow and through
+the forechains, that made us look sharp lest the canvass of the
+foresail should go, or the schooner broach end-on to the sea.
+Otherwise, all we had to do was to watch the binnacle, hold on with
+one hand to a rope, and with the other to our caps; or turn out and
+in with each other down the booby-hatch for a snatch of sleep, and
+a bit of biscuit and cold beef, with a glass of grog. Mr Webb, the
+harbour officer, was to be seen below in his berth all this time,
+lying as peaceable as a child--whether he was dead sick, or only
+confoundedly afraid, I didn't know; but I must say I felt for the
+poor fellow when I heard him ask Snelling, in a weak voice, if he
+would get somebody to stand off the bull's-eye in the deck over
+his berth, as it always made him think there was a new hurricane
+coming on. "D--n it, you low skulking hound!" said the reefer, who
+had wonderfully little pity in his make, "it can't be worse--what
+d'ye want light for, eh?" "Only to see the opposite wall," said
+Webb, meekly; "do, sir--oh now!" "Oh, you lubber ye!" said Snelling,
+"don't you know a bulkhead from a wall yet? If you'd come on deck to
+bear a hand like others, you wouldn't need light; and _I_ thought
+you might do for a mate aboard, too--pah, you scum!" "Mr Snelling,"
+said I sharply, as he came through the cabin, "a worm will turn when
+it's trod upon, and so you may find yet, sir!" "Well, Mr Collins,"
+said he, as confidentially as if I hadn't meant to give him a set
+down, "I don't like the fellow's eye. I'll look after him, sir!"
+Not to mention the young rogue's power of face, which was beyond
+brass, he had a way of seeing you in two places at once with that
+upward squint of his, as if his eyes were the points of a pair of
+compasses, that made the officers of the Hebe always send him to the
+masthead directly, for fear it should take the frown out of them. In
+fact, when Snelling's twinkling weather-eye lighted on one's neck,
+without the other, you almost felt it tickle you, and as usual I
+turned away with a "pshaw!"
+
+On the second morning, the gale at last began to break, shifting
+southward; on which, as soon as the sea ran a little easier, I
+had the helm cautiously put up at a favourable moment, the reefed
+mainsail, fore-topmast-staysail, and square fore-topsail set as
+she got before the wind, and away the schooner went; rising on the
+wide deep-blue swells with a long roll in them, then shearing ahead
+through their breasts, wrinkled and seething pale-green, till she
+sank with the fall of the wave--the stump of her aftermast standing,
+and the fore one shortened by the to'gallant-mast. You may easily
+believe there was no one aboard more eager to get clear of this
+weather than myself; as in ordinary circumstances, with a craft like
+this, in two or three days more we might have been in a high enough
+latitude to begin looking out for the Indiaman. For my part, I can't
+deny that the wish for having Tom Westwood safe out of harm's way,
+and with me in the schooner, strong as it was, played second to
+the notion of seeing sweet Violet Hyde in any way again, if it was
+only the last time before she went out of reach altogether; for her
+getting amongst East India ways of doing, high-flying civilians and
+soldiers, shows, and sights, either in Calcutta or up-country, was
+equal to anything else, in my mind. Still, we had six or seven days
+longer of the heavy seas and hard gales, before north-easting enough
+could be made to take us beyond the Cape winter, just then coming
+on, and which the Seringapatam had very likely escaped by two or
+three days, so that she would have a considerable start of us.
+
+By this time we were standing well up for the Mozambique Channel,
+which I had heard the Indiamen intended to take in company; a
+piece of information that made me the more anxious to overtake
+the Seringapatam, at latest, by the time they reached open water
+again, where, being the only ship from Bombay, she would no doubt
+part from her consorts. We had a cruiser that year, as I knew, in
+the Mozambique, where there were some rumours of pirates after the
+war, so that in case of her happening to speak the Seringapatam
+close, and having got any word of Westwood's affair, he ran a chance
+of being picked off. However, that wasn't by any means the thing
+that troubled me most: somehow or other, whenever the picture of
+Violet's face brought the Indiaman's decks clear into my mind, with
+all about her, I couldn't get rid of the notion that some ill-luck
+would come across that ship before she got into port. If any pirate
+craft were to dodge the whole bevy of Indiamen up the head of the
+channel, as was pretty sure to be the case, he would probably wait
+for some signs of separating, and be down upon a single one not long
+after she cleared the Leychelles islands, where a lonely enough
+stretch of the Indian Ocean spreads in. The more I entered upon the
+thought of it, the more unsufferable it got; especially one day in
+the mouth of the Mozambique, when it fell a dead calm with a heavy
+up-and-down swell, fit to roll the sticks out of her; the high blue
+land of Madagascar being in sight, sometimes to starboard, sometimes
+to port, then astern, and the clear horizon lying away north-west,
+dark with a breeze from round the coast. As the hot sun blazed out
+above us, and the blue water came plunge up over the rail, blazing
+and flashing, first one side dipped, then the other, I could fancy
+the passengers on the Indiaman's poop in a light breeze with a
+suspicious lateen-rigged sail creeping up on her quarter. I thought
+I saw Violet Hyde's eyes sparkle against the glare of light, and
+her lips parting to speak--till I actually stamped on the deck, my
+fists clenched, and I made three strides to the very taffrail of the
+schooner. All at once I met my second mate's eye coolly fixed on
+me, which brought me to my senses in a moment, the more so as there
+was something about this man Jones I couldn't make out, and I had
+made up my mind to keep a sharp eye on him; though the fact was, it
+annoyed me most to feel him seeing into _me_, as it were, without
+troubling himself. "We shall have the breeze before long, sir, round
+Cape Mary yonder," said he, stepping forward. "So I expect, myself,
+Mr Jones," said I, "though you evidently know the coast better
+than I do." With that I gave him a careless side-look, but to all
+appearance there was nothing particular in his, as he told me he had
+seen it two or three times before.
+
+With the evening we were once more running sharp on a wind up
+channel; and when she did get her own way in a good breeze, the
+schooner's qualities came out. 'Twas a perfect luxury to look over
+the side and see the bubbles pass, her sharp bows sliding through it
+like a knife, she eating into the wind all the time in a way none
+but a fore-and-aft clipper could hope to do, with a glassy blue
+ripple sent back from her weather-bow as far as the forechains: then
+to wake of a morning and feel her bounding under you with a roll
+up to windward, while the water gushed through and through below
+the keel, and ran yearning and toppling away back along the outer
+timbers into her boiling wake, working with the moving rudder. And
+our man-o'-warsmen were quite delighted with the Young Hebe, as
+they still called her. Snelling was in his element while we were
+having the new spars sent up aloft--a set of longer sticks than
+before--till she had twice the air, as well as a knowing rake aft.
+Next thing was to get the long-brass nine-pounder amidships from
+under the boat, where the Frenchmen had kept it, besides which we
+found another in her hold; so that, added to six small carronades
+already on deck, we made a pretty show. Meanwhile, for my own
+part, I kept cracking on with every stitch of canvass that could
+be clapped upon the spars, including studding-sails. Jones himself
+didn't know better than I did by this time how to handle the craft,
+schooner though she was, in the way of making her use what weather
+we had to the best purpose. Variable as it proved, too, I was aware
+the Indiamen would have pretty much the same now as we had; so that,
+on going aloft with the glass, as I did every watch in the day, I
+soon began each time expecting one or other of them to heave in
+sight.
+
+As for the five hands from Cape Town, they seemed to have fallen
+in cheerfully enough with our own; and as soon as the fine weather
+came, the gang of Lascars were set to duty like the rest. Snelling
+would have them even trained to work the guns; although, if it blew
+at all hard, not one could be got to go aloft except their old
+_serang_, and the _tindal_, his mate. What surprised me most was
+the harbour officer himself at last asking, as Mr Snelling told
+me, to be put in a watch; but as the midshipman said there was no
+doubt Webb had made a voyage or two before, somewhere or other, I
+agreed to it at once. "I'm not sure, sir," added the midshipman,
+with one of his doubtful double looks, "but the gentleman may have
+seen blue-water the first time at Government expense, and not in
+the service either--he don't look fore and aft enough, Mr Collins,
+harbour officer though he be; but never mind, sir, I'll see after
+him!"--"Pooh," said I, laughing; "if he does turn to, Mr Snelling,
+it shan't be in the watch _you_ have to do with! Hand him over to Mr
+Jones." By this time I had changed the mid into my own watch, and
+given Jones charge of the other--so to him the harbour officer went.
+
+The main character aboard of us, to me at any rate, was this Jones
+himself. The fact was, at first I had my doubts of him altogether,
+partly owing to the queer way we got hold of him, partly on account
+of his getting the upper hand so much through chance, in the
+tremendous weather we had at the outset, till I wasn't sure but it
+might come into the fellow's head of itself, to be upon some drift
+or other that might cost me trouble, as things stood. However, I no
+sooner felt where I was, and got the craft under my own spoke, than
+I came to set him down for nothing but one of those strange hands
+you fall in with at sea sometimes, always sailing with a "purser's
+name," a regular wonder of a shipmate, and serving to quote every
+voyage after, by way of a clincher on all hard points, not to say
+an oracle one can't get beyond, and can't flow sky-high enough. To
+tell the truth, though, Jones was as thorough a seaman as ever I met
+with--never at a loss, never wanting on any hand; whether it was
+the little niceties we stood in need of for setting the schooner's
+rigging all right again, which none but a blue-water long-voyage
+sailor can touch, or, what comes to be still better in tropical
+latitudes, a cool head and a quick hold, with full experience for
+all sorts of weather, 'twas much the same to him. He was all over
+like iron, too, never seeming to stand in need of sleep, and seeing
+like a hawk. At any hour I came on deck in his watch, there was
+Jones, all awake and ready, till hearing him walk the planks over my
+head of a fine night made me at times keep my eyes open, listening
+to it and the wash of the water together. I fancied there was
+something restless in it, like the sea, with now and then an uneven
+sort of a start; and at last it would come to full stop, that gave
+me the notion of how he was standing quiet in the same spot; whether
+he was looking aloft, or thinking, or leaning over the side, or what
+he was going to do, troubled me wonderfully. The only want in his
+seamanship I noticed, he evidently wasn't used to handle a large
+ship; but craft of some kind I was pretty sure he had commanded in
+the course of his life. As for taking observations, he could do it
+better than I could then; while the knowledge he had on different
+heads, that came out by chance, made you think more of a Cambridge
+graduate than a common sailor, such as he had shipped for with us.
+The strangest part of all about him, though, was what I couldn't
+well name, not to this day: 'twas more grained in his manner, and
+the ring of his voice at particular moments, as well as his walk,
+though these were the smart seaman's no less; but one couldn't help
+thinking of a man that had known the world ashore some time or
+other, in a different enough station from now--ay, and in a way to
+bring out softer lines in his face than reefing topsails or seeing
+the main-tack ridden down would do. The nearest I could come to
+calling it, far apart as the two men stood, was to fancy he reminded
+me of Lord Frederick Bury himself; especially when he looked all
+of a sudden to the horizon in that wide, vacant kind of fashion,
+as if he expected it farther off than it was: only Jones's face
+was twice the age, like a man's that had had double the passions
+in it at the outset, and given them full swing since then; with a
+sleeping devil in his eye yet, besides, as I thought, which only
+wanted somewhat to rouse it. Only for that, I had a sort of leaning
+to Jones myself; but, as it was, I caught myself wishing, over and
+over, for something to make us fall regularly foul of each other,
+and get rid of this confounded doubtful state. One hitch of a word
+to take hold of, and, by Jove! I felt all the blood in my body would
+boil out in me to find how we stood, and show it; but nothing of the
+kind did Jones let pass--and as close as the sea itself he was in
+regard to his past life. As for the men from the frigate, at least,
+they seemingly looked on him with no great fondness, and a good deal
+of respect, in spite of themselves, for his seamanship; whereas,
+if he had been left in the forepeak in place of the cabin, I've no
+doubt in a short time it would have been no man but Jones. You light
+now and then upon a man afloat, indeed, that his shipmates hold off
+from, as healthy dogs do from a mad one; and you saw they had some
+sort of an inkling of the gloomy close nature Jones had in him, by
+the way they obeyed his orders. Webb's three Cape Dutchmen seemed
+to have a notion he was some being with mysterious powers, while
+the Lascars ran crouching at his very word--some of them being, as
+I found, Malays, and the rest Mussulmen from Chittagong; but Jones
+could send them about in their own language, Dutchmen and all--a
+part of the matter which did not tend to keep me less careful over
+him. Still I observed, since his coming aboard, that Jones never
+once touched liquor, which had plainly enough been his ruin ashore;
+whether on account of meaning to pull up once for all and mend, or
+only to have a wilder bout at next port, or else to keep himself
+steady for aught that might turn up, I couldn't settle in my own
+mind. Though deucedly doubtful of its being the first, the very idea
+of it made one feel for the man; and, in case of his doing well, I
+had no small hopes of something in the upshot to save a real sailor
+like him from going to the devil altogether, as he seemed doing.
+
+Now, after our getting clear of the rough Cape weather, and the
+dead-lights being taken out of the stern-windows, I had given a
+look, for the first time, into the schooner's after-cabins, which
+were pretty much as the people she belonged to before had left
+them, except for the rough work the gale had played. There were
+two of them, one opening into the other; and I must say it was a
+melancholy sight to meet the bright sunlight streaming into them
+from off the water astern, with all the little matters either just
+as if the owners were still inside, or else tumbled about at sixes
+and sevens. One drawer, in particular, had come out of a table,
+scattering what was in it on the deck: there was a half open letter
+in a woman's hand, all French, and showing a lock of hair, with
+a broken diamond cross of the French Legion of Honour, besides a
+sort of paper-book full of writing, and two printed ones bound in
+morocco. I picked up the letter and the cross, put them in again,
+and shoved the drawer back to its place, though I brought the books
+away with me to have a glance over. What struck me most, though, was
+a plaster figure of the French emperor himself, standing fastened on
+a shelf, with one hand in the breast of his great coat, and looking
+calmly out of the white sightless eyes; while right opposite hung
+a sort of curtain which you'd have thought they were fixed upon.
+When I hauled it aside, I started--there, on a shelf to match the
+other, was a beautiful smiling child's head to the shoulders, of
+pure white marble, as if it leant off the bulkhead like a cherub
+out of the clouds. Spite of all, however, the touch of likeness it
+had to the head I got such a glimpse of at Longwood, even when the
+hot sunlight showed it in my spy-glass so pale and terrible, was
+sufficient to tell me what _this_ was,--Napoleon's own little son,
+in fact, who was made king of Rome, as I remembered hearing at the
+time. The thought of the schooner's strange French captain, and his
+desperate scheme, came back on me so strong, joined to what I saw he
+had an eye to in fitting out his cabins, that, for my own part, I
+hadn't the heart to use them myself, and at first sight ordered the
+dead-lights to be shipped again, and the door locked.
+
+'Twas a good many days after this, of course, and we had made a
+pretty fast run up the Mozambique, in spite of the sharp navigation
+required, sighting nothing larger than the native and Arab craft to
+be seen thereabouts; we were beginning to clear out from amongst
+the clusters of islands and shoals at the channel head, when two
+large sail were made in open water to nor'-eastward. Next morning
+by daybreak we were to windward of the weathermost,--a fine large
+Indiaman she was, crowding a perfect tower of canvass. Shortly
+after, however, the schooner was within hail, slipping easily down
+upon her quarter, which seemed to give them a little uneasiness,
+plenty of troops as she seemed to have on board, and looming like a
+frigate. After some showing of keeping on, and apparently putting
+faith in the man-o'-war pennant I hoisted, she hove into the wind,
+when we found she was the Company's ship Warringford, and the other
+the something Castle, I forget which, both for Calcutta. The next
+thing, as soon as they found we were tender to his Majesty's frigate
+Hebe, was to ask after the Seringapatam; on which I was told she was
+three or four days sail ahead with the Mandarin, bound to China,
+neither of them having put in at Johanna Island to refresh. I was
+just ready to put our helm up again and bid good-bye, when the
+tiffin gong could be heard sounding on the Indiaman's quarterdeck,
+and the old white-haired captain politely asked me if I wouldn't
+come aboard with one or two of my officers to lunch. Mr Snelling
+gave me a wistful glance--there were a dozen pretty faces admiring
+our schooner out of the long white awnings: but even if the notion
+of bringing up Snelling himself as my first officer hadn't been
+too much for me, not to speak of either Jones or Webb, why the
+very thoughts that everything I saw recalled to me, made me the
+more eager to get in sight of the Seringapatam. "Thank you, sir,"
+answered I. "No--I must be off after the Bombay ship."--"Ah," hailed
+the old captain, "some of your Admiral's post-bags, I suppose. Well,
+keep as much northing as you can, sir, and I daresay you'll find her
+parted company. She's got a jury fore topmast up, for one she lost
+a week ago; so you can't mistake her for the Mandarin, with a good
+glass."--"Have you noticed any suspicious craft lately, sir?" asked
+I. "Why, to tell you the truth, lieutenant," sang out he, looking
+down off the high bulwarks at our long nine-pounders and the knot of
+Lascars, "none more so than we thought _you_, at first, sir!" The
+cadets on the poop roared with laughter, and an old lady with two
+daughters seemed to eye Snelling doubtfully through an opera-glass,
+as the reefer ogled both of them at once. "By the bye," sang out the
+captain of the Indiaman to me again, "I fancy the passengers in that
+ship must have got somehow uncomfortable--one of our Bengal grandees
+aboard of her wanted a berth to Calcutta with us, 'tother day in the
+Mozambique; but we're too full already!"--"Indeed, sir?" said I; but
+the schooner's mainboom was jibbing over, and with two or three more
+hails, wishing them a good voyage, and so on, away we slipped past
+their weather-bow. The Warringford got under weigh at her leisure,
+and in an hour or two her topsails were down to leeward of us. On
+I cracked with square and studding-sails to the quartering breeze,
+till the schooner's light hull jumped to it, and aloft she was all
+hung out of a side, like a dairyman's daughter carrying milk; with
+the pace she went at I could almost say to an hour when we should
+overhaul the chase.
+
+Still, after two or three days of the trade-wind, well out in the
+Indian Ocean, and not a spot to be seen, we had got so far up the
+Line as to make me sure we had overrun her. Accordingly the schooner
+was hauled sharp on a wind to cruise slowly down across what must
+be the Indiaman's track, judging as we could to a nicety, with a
+knowledge of the weather we had had. For my part I was so certain
+of sighting her soon, that I ordered the after-cabins to be set to
+rights, seeing a notion had taken hold of me of actually offering
+them to Sir Charles Hyde for the voyage to Calcutta--Fancy the
+thought! 'Twas too good to be likely; but Violet herself actually
+being in that little after-cabin and sleeping in it--the lively
+schooner heading away alone for India, and they and Westwood the
+sole passengers aboard--why, the idea of it was fit to drive me
+crazy with impatience.
+
+Well, one fine night, after being on deck all day, and the whole
+night before, almost, I had turned in to my cot to sleep. From
+where I lay I could see the moonshine off the water through the
+stern-light in that after-cabin, by the half-open door. I felt
+the schooner going easily through the water, with a rise and
+fall from the heave of the long Line-swell; so close my eyes I
+couldn't, especially as the midshipman could be heard snoring on
+the other side like the very deuce. Accordingly I turned out into
+the after-cabin, and got hold of one of the Frenchman's volumes to
+read, when, lo and behold, I found it was neither more nor less
+than Greek, all I knew being the sight of it. Next I commenced
+overhauling the bundle of handwriting, which I took at first for
+a French log of the schooner's voyage, and sat down on the locker
+to have a spell at it. So much as I could make out, in spite of
+the queer outlandish turn the letters had, and the quirks of the
+unnatural sort of language, it was curious enough--a regular story,
+in fact, about his own life, the war, and Buonaparte himself. At
+another time I'd have given a good deal to go through with it at odd
+hours--and a strange affair I found it was some time afterwards;
+but meanwhile I had only seen at the beginning that his name was
+_Le Compte Victor l'Allemand, Capitaine de la Marine Française_,
+and made out at the end how there was some scheme of his beyond
+what I knew before, to be carried out in India,--when it struck me
+there was no one on the quarterdeck above. I listened for a minute
+through the stern-window, and thought I heard some one speaking over
+the schooner's lee-quarter, as she surged along; so slipping on a
+jacket and cap, I went on deck at once.
+
+It was middle watch at the time; but as soon as I came up I saw all
+was quiet--Webb near the gangway talking to the old Lascar serang,
+and breaking the English wonderfully betwixt them; while the Lascars
+of the watch were sitting like tailors in a ring on the forecastle
+planks, each waiting for his turn of one cocoa-nut hookah, that kept
+hubble-bubbling away gravely under the smoker's nose, as he took a
+long suck at it, while the red cinder in the bowl lighted up his
+leathery Hindoo face and mustache like a firefly in the root of a
+banian, till he handed it, without even a wipe, to his neighbour.
+These fellows had begun to get much livelier as we made the tropics;
+and this same serang of theirs had put out his horns once or twice
+to Snelling lately, though he drew them in again the moment he saw
+me--a sulky old knotty-faced, yellow-eyed devil I thought him at any
+rate, while his dish-cloth of a turban, his long blue gown and red
+trousers, reminded you at sea in a gale of a dancing dervish. The
+day we spoke the Indiaman, in fact, I noticed there was something in
+the wind for a minute or two with him and his gang, which put it in
+my head at first to offer them to the captain for a couple of good
+English hands; and as I passed him and Webb this time, the serang
+stopped his talk, and sidled off.
+
+However, a beautiful night it was, as ever eye looked upon even in
+the blue Indian Ocean: the heavens cloudless, the full round moon
+shining high off our weather-beam again, the stars drawn up into her
+bright light, as it were, trembling through the films of it like
+dew-drops in gossamer of a summer morning: you saw the sea meet the
+sky on every hand, without a speck on the clear line of horizon,
+through the squares of our ratlins and betwixt the schooner's two
+long fore-and-aft booms. A pretty strongish breeze we had, too,
+blowing from east to west with a sweep through the emptiness aloft,
+and a wrinkling ripple over the long gentle swells, as deep in the
+hue as if fresh dye came from the bottom, and crisping into a small
+sparkle of foam wherever they caught it full. Something pleasant,
+one couldn't say what, was in the air; and every sheet being hauled
+taut to hold wind, the slant gush of it before her beam drove her
+slipping ahead toward the quarter it came from, with a dip down
+and a saucy lift of her jibs again, as if she were half balanced
+amidships, but little noise about it. I took a squint aloft and an
+overhaul all round, and nothing was to be seen. The size of the sky
+through the moonlight looked awful, as it were, and the strength
+of the breeze seemed to send a heavenly blue deep into the western
+quarter, till you saw a star in it. The night was so lovely, in
+fact, it somehow made one think of one's mother, and old times,
+when you used to say your prayers. Still I couldn't see the mate of
+the watch on the weather quarterdeck, which surprised the more in
+Jones's case, since he was always ready for me when I came up; and,
+to tell the truth, I shouldn't have been sorry to catch him napping
+for once, only to show he was like men in common. I walked aft by
+the weather side of the large mainsail, accordingly, till I saw him
+leaning with his head over the lee-bulwark, and heard him again, as
+I thought, apparently speaking to some one down the schooner's side;
+upon which I stepped across. Jones's back was to me as I looked over
+too; but owing to what he was busy with, I suppose, and the wash
+of the water, which was louder there than inboard, while you heard
+the plash from her bows every time she forged, he evidently didn't
+hear me. You may fancy my wonder to find he was reading loud out
+to himself from the other of the Frenchman's volumes, which I had
+no doubt left in the dining-cabin--the book open in both hands--he
+giving it forth in long staves, with a break between--and regular
+Greek it was, too: you'd have thought he timed them to the plash
+alongside; and I must say, as every string of long-tailed words
+flowed together like one, in Jones's deep voice, and the swell rose
+once or twice with its foam-bells near his very hands, I almost
+fancied I made a meaning of them--each like a wave, as it were,
+sweeping to a crest, and breaking. The gusto the man showed in it
+you can't conceive; and, what was more, I had no doubt he understood
+the sense of it, for all of a sudden, after twenty staves or so of
+the kind, he stopped.[8] "There!" said he, "there, old Homer--women,
+wine, and adventure--what could the devil ask more, blind old
+prater, with a sound in you like the sea? Ay, wash, wash, wash
+away, lying old blue-water, you cant wash _it_ out--and wine--no,
+not the strongest rum in Cape Town--can wash _you_ out!" With that
+Jones laid his head on his arms, with the book still in one hand,
+muttering to himself, and I listened in spite of me. "Still it
+rouses the old times in me!" said he. "Here comes this book across
+me, too. Ay, ay, and the Rector fancied, sitting teaching me Greek
+out of old wild Homer all week day--and--and his girl slipping out
+and in--'twould do to don the cassock of a Sunday and preach out of
+the pulpit against the world, the devil, and the flesh--then warn me
+against the sea--ha!" The laugh that came from him at that moment
+was more like a dog than a human being; but on he went muttering
+"Women, wine, and adventure, said ye, old Greek, and a goddess
+too; still he _was_ a good old man the Rector--no guile nor evil
+in him, with his books in the cases yonder, and the church-spire
+seen through the window over the garden, and his wife with--ah,
+the less of that. 'Twas in me, though, and all the blood--and in
+_her_ dark eyes, too, Mary, though she was! Damnation!" he broke
+out again, after a bit, as if he'd been arguing it with something
+under the side, "I didn't take her the first time I came home--nor
+the second--but--but--ay, I came _back_! Oh that parting-stile, in
+sight of the sea--and that packet-ship--but oh God! that night, that
+night with the schooner forging ahead through the blue--blue--" And
+he stopped with a groan that shook him as he leant over. "Hellish,
+hellish by God!" he said, suddenly standing upright and looking
+straight aloft, with his bare head and face to the wide empty sky,
+and the moonlight tipping the hair on his forehead, from over the
+high shadow on the lee-side of the mainsail, where it glistened
+along the gaff. "She was pure to the last!" I heard him say, though
+I had walked to the other side of the boom; "ay, though I rot to
+perdition for it!--Down, old fiend!" as he lifted his one hand with
+the book, and drove it alongside, seemingly watching it settle away
+astern.
+
+  [8] Looking into Homer's _Iliad_ here for a passage to correspond
+  with the account given by the naval man, one is somewhat at a loss;
+  but at the end of the second book of the _Odyssey_ there occur lines
+  which might not improbably have been those recited. They are such
+  as might well, in the original, excite longings after sea-life, and
+  revive feelings of the kind most natural to the seafaring character,
+  apparently known to Captain Collins only as "Jones." Will the
+  readers of Maga accept, illustratively, of a rough translation?--
+
+     Then to Telemachus glided on board divinest Athenè,
+     Where on the poop she sat, and near her Telemachus rested.
+     Then were the moorings loosed by the mariners coming aboard her,
+     Joyous coming on board, and seated apart on the benches.
+     A fair westerly breeze by the blue-eyed goddess was wafted,
+     Cheerfully rippling along, and over the deep-coloured ocean.
+     Now to his shipmates shouted Telemachus, while to the oar-blades
+     Leapt the impatient surge, till each at his order obeying,
+     Stepped they the pine-mast then in the mast-hole ready amidships,
+     Firmly staying it both ways down; and next by the well-twisted
+     hide-thongs, Snowily spreading abroad, the sails drew fluttering
+     downward. And in the sail-breast blew the bellying wind with a
+     murmur, The purple wave hissed from the prow of the bark in its
+     motion; Into the riotous wave she plunged, pursuing her voyage.
+     But when their oars they drew back to the galley securely,-- The
+     swift, dark-sided bark, as she full on her journey exulted--
+     Then to her foaming beak they brought the o'er-bubbling goblet
+     Of red-hued wine, and poured out on her head a libation To the
+     immortal gods, that dwell in the sky and in ocean, But to the
+     blue-eyed daughter of Jupiter mostly, Athené. All night then
+     they sailed, till the morning rose on their voyage.
+
+Now I had heard nothing from Jones that I couldn't have fancied
+before, and there was even a humour to my mind in the notion of
+clapping it all on old Homer, if Homer it was, and heaving him
+overboard with such a confoundedly complimentary burial-service. But
+some of the words that dropped from him shot through one's veins
+like icicles: and now there was something fearful in the sight of
+him standing straight again, with a look right into the heavens,
+as if he'd have searched them up and up--in that lovely night too,
+spread far and wide--the very rays of the moonlight sparkled down
+the weather side of the sail I was on, trembling on the leech-ropes
+and brails as they swayed, and into the hollows they made in the
+belly of the taut canvass: the long shining spot of it wavered
+and settled on the same two planks of the quarterdeck, beyond the
+shadow of the bulwark from the moon's eye, fast as the schooner
+moved through the water, and it was like a hand laid upon her,
+with the air and wind stretching between. Of a sudden I saw Jones
+wheel slowly round where he stood, like a man turned about by main
+strength, with his eyes fixed aloft, and his one arm raising from
+the shoulder till his forefinger pointed to something, as I thought,
+about the fore-to'gallant sail. His face was like ashes, his eye
+glaring, and I sprang across to him under the main-boom. "See!" said
+he, never turning his head, and the words hissed betwixt his teeth,
+"look at that!"
+
+"For heaven's sake, _what_, Mr Jones?" said I. "_Her--her_," was
+his answer, "coming against the wind--dead fore-and-aft in the
+shade of the sails!" On the lee-sides of them the high boom-sails
+made a sort of a thin shadow against the moonshine off the other
+beam, which came glimpsing through between them out of a world of
+air to the south-east, with a double of it flickering alongside
+on the water as it heaved past to leeward; and whether it was
+fancy, or whether it was but the reflection aloft from below, I
+thought, as I followed Jones's finger, I saw something like the
+shape of a woman's dress floating close in with the bonnet of the
+foretopmast-staysail, from the dusk it made to the breast of the
+fore-topsail, and even across the gush of white light under the
+yard--long and straight, as it were, like a thing lifted dripping
+out of water, and going, as he said, right against the schooner's
+course. "Now in the foresail!" whispered Jones, his eye moving as
+on a pivot, and a thrill ran through me at the notion, for I made
+out one single moment what I thought a face against the sky at the
+gaff-end, white as death, shooting aft toward the mainsail,--though
+next instant I saw it was but a block silvered by the moon as the
+schooner lifted. "Now the mainsail!" said he huskily, "and now--now,
+by the heavens--rising--rising to the gaff-topsail--away! Oh Christ!
+_Mary!_"
+
+He was leaning aft toward the width of the sky, with both hands
+clutched together before him, shuddering all over. For the first
+minute my own blood crept, I must say; but directly after I touched
+him on the shoulder. "This is strange, Mr Jones," said I, "what's
+the matter?" "Once in the Bermudas!" said he, still wildly, "once
+in the Pacific--and now! Does the sea give up its dead, though,
+think ye?"--"You've a strong fancy, Mr Jones, that's all," I said,
+sternly. "Fancy!" said he, though beginning to get the better of
+himself; "did ye ever fancy a face looking down--down at you in the
+utterest scorn--down sideways off the shoulder of the garment, as
+it sticks wet into every outline like life? All the time gliding on
+the other way, too, and the eyes like two stars a thousand miles
+away beyond, as kind as angels'--neither wind nor sea can stop it,
+till suddenly it rises to the very cope of heaven--still looking
+scornfully down at you!--No, sir, fancy it _you_ couldn't!" The
+glance he gave me was somehow or other such as I couldn't altogether
+stomach from the fellow, and he was turning to the side when I said
+quietly, "No, nor Homer either, I daresay!" Jones started and made a
+step towards me. "You heard me a little ago!" rapped out he, eyeing
+me. "Yes," I said; "by Jove! who could help being curious to hear a
+sailor spout Greek as you were doing, Mr Jones?"
+
+"The fact is, Mr Collins," answered he, changing his tone, "I
+was well brought up--the more shame to me for bringing myself to
+what you saw me. I had a sister drowned, too, on her passage to
+America one voyage, when I was mate of the ship myself. No wonder
+it keeps my nerves shaking sometimes, when I've had too long
+about shore."--"Well, well, Jones," said I, rather softening,
+"you've proved yourself a first-rate seaman, and I've got nothing
+to complain of--but I tell You fairly I had my doubts of you! So
+you'll remember you're under the Articles of War aboard here, sir,"
+added I, "which as long as I have this schooner under hand, I'll
+be hanged if I don't carry out!" All at once the thought struck me
+a little inconveniently, of my carrying off Webb and his people,
+and I fancied Jones's quick eye wandered to the Lascars forward.
+"I know it, sir," said he, looking me steadily in the face; "and
+what's more, Mr Collins, at any rate I couldn't forget you picked me
+out, confounded low as I looked, to come aft here! 'Tis not every
+captain afloat that has such a good eye for a seaman, as _I_ know!"
+"Oh well, no more about it," I said, walking forward on the weather
+side, and leaving him on the lee one as distinctly as Lord Frederick
+Bury could have done to myself in the frigate. Jones no doubt
+thought I didn't notice the slight wrinkle that gathered round his
+lee-eye when he gave me this touch of butter at the end; but I put
+it down for nothing more, gammon though it was.
+
+It was near the end of the watch, the moon beginning to set, while
+it still wanted three hours of daybreak in those latitudes, when
+the look-out on the top-gallant-yard, who was stationed there in
+man-o'-war cruising fashion, reported a sail to windward. Just then
+the midshipman came on deck to his watch, wonderfully early for him
+indeed: and on my remarking it was probably the Indiaman at last,
+Jones himself went aloft with the night-glass to make her out. "Mr
+Snelling," said I, "see the hands on deck ready for going about."
+Next minute I saw him rousing up the rest of the Lascars, who slept
+watch and watch on the forecastle. Only five or six of the Hebe's
+men were up; and all of them, save the man at the wheel, ran aloft
+to rig out stunsail-booms to windward, as soon as the schooner was
+fairly on the starboard tack, standing to nor'-eastward. Suddenly
+I saw a scuffle between the midshipman, and the tindal,[9] a stout
+dark-faced young Bengalee, with a jaunty scull-cap and frock, whom
+Snelling had probably helped along with a touch of a rope's end;
+and in a moment two or three more of them were upon him; while the
+reefer drew his dirk, and sung out to me, scarce before I was with
+him, the Lascars rolling into the lee-scuppers at two kicks of my
+foot. Webb and three of the men from Cape Town were hoisting a
+stunsail at the time, the smart man-o'-war'smen aloft singing out to
+them to bear a hand. What with the noise of the sail flapping, and
+its being betwixt my own men and the deck, they could know nothing
+of the matter; and the Lascars let go the halliards in a body,
+making a rush at Snelling and myself with everything they could pick
+up in the shape of a spar.
+
+  [9] Lascar boatswain's mate.
+
+This would have been nothing, as in two or three minutes more the
+men would have been down, and the cocoa-faced rascals dodged every
+way from the handspike I got hold of; but I just caught a glimpse
+on one side of the sly old serang shoving on the fire-scuttle to
+keep down the watch below; and on the other, of Webb looking round
+him, evidently to see how matters stood. Two Dutchmen seized the
+first sailor that came down the rigging, by the legs, and I saw
+the affair must be finished at once, it had so much the look of a
+regular plot on Webb's part, if Jones wasn't concerned in it too.
+I made one spring upon my Cape Town gentleman, and took him by the
+throat with one hand, while I hit the biggest Dutchman full behind
+the ear, felling him to the deck; on which the man-o'-war's man
+grappled his watchmate, and Webb was struggling with me sufficiently
+to keep both my hands full, when I had a pleasant inkling of a Malay
+Lascar slipping toward my back with a bare kreese in his fist. I
+just looked over my shoulder at his black eyes twinkling devilishly
+before he sprang, when some one came sliding fair down from the
+fore-top-mast-head by a backstay, and pitched in a twinkling on
+top of his head--a thing enough to break the neck of a monument.
+Directly after, I saw Jones himself hitting right and left with
+his night-glass, from the moonlight to the shadow of the foresail,
+while Snelling tumbled over a Lascar at every slap, standing up
+in boxer style. By the time the rest of the men came down all was
+settled--the Dutchmen sulking against the bulwarks, and Webb gasping
+after I let him go. "Boatswain," said I to one of the sailors, "clap
+that man in irons below. Mr Snelling, see the watch called, sir." "I
+'ad the law with me," said Webb gloomily. "You plotted it then, Mr
+Webb?" I said. "Didn't you carry us off illegally?" said he. "I only
+meant to recover the vessel--upon my honour, nothing more, sir; and
+if you're 'ard with me, you'll have to answer for it, I assure you!"
+Here he looked round to Jones in a strange way, as I fancied for a
+moment; but Jones turned on his heel with a sneer. "Why, Mr Webb,"
+answered I, "you lost that tack by offering yourself in a watch,
+which makes the thing neither more nor less than mutiny--so take him
+below, do ye hear, bo'sun!" And down he went.
+
+"Now, Mr Jones," said I, as soon as all hands were on deck, "you'll
+be so good as have half of these Lascars seized to the rigging here,
+one after the other, and see a good dozen given to each of their
+backs; then these two Dutchmen, each three dozen--then pipe down
+the watch, sir." Jones glanced at me, then at the fellows, then
+at me again. I thought he hung aback for an instant; but do it I
+was determined he should, for a reason I had; and I gave him back
+the look steady as stone. "Ay, ay, sir," said he at last, touching
+his hat. I walked aft to the capstan, and stood there till every
+mother's son of them had got his share, the Lascars wriggling and
+howling on the deck after it, and the Dutchmen twisting their backs
+as they walked off. 'Twas the first time I did that part of duty in
+command; and I felt, in the circumstances, I was in for carrying it
+out with a taut hand.
+
+By this time the moon was setting, and in the dusk we lost sight
+of the sail to windward; but as we were heading well up to weather
+upon her, and going at least ten knots, I turned in below for a
+little, leaving the midshipman. Accordingly, it wasn't very long
+before Snelling called me in broad daylight. "She's a large ship,
+Mr Collins," said he, "standing under all sail on a wind. I hope to
+goodness, sir, it's that confounded Indiaman at last!" I hurried on
+deck, took the glass aloft, and soon made out the jury-foretop-mast
+shorter than the main, as the old captain mentioned. Accordingly it
+was with somewhat of a flutter in me I came down again, watching the
+schooner's trim below and aloft, to see if I couldn't take an hour
+or so off the time betwixt that and once more setting eyes on the
+Judge's daughter.
+
+
+
+
+THE JEW BILL.
+
+
+The period at which this obnoxious measure has been brought forward,
+limits our present remarks to a few paragraphs. But we have so long
+fought for the Constitution, that We cannot suffer the month to
+pass without reprobating an intrigue, which we cannot but regard
+as most dangerous to the Empire. We are no bigots,--we demand
+no surrender of the rights of opinion,--we force no man to our
+altars,--we forbid no man's access to his own; but to avert public
+evil is a duty of every subject,--to strip hypocrisy is clearly an
+act of justice,--and to protect religion is only an act of supreme
+necessity. We solemnly believe, that to bring the Jew into the
+Parliament of England, would be at once injury to the Constitution,
+a peril to public principle, and an insult to Christianity.
+
+The attempt was made last year, and was defeated. It is now to
+be renewed, without the slightest additional ground, and the
+battle will have to be fought over again. Must we not ask, is this
+experiment to be again made on public patience? Is it meant to
+tell the people of England, that what common sense rejects, is to
+be forced on general weariness; that what manly principle repels,
+is to be gained by vulgar perseverance; and that which public
+judgement denounces, is to be made law by the united effect of
+disgust and disdain producing indifference? We trust that the common
+sense of England will speak such a language to the Legislature,
+as to extinguish the _prestige_ that obstinacy in the wrong is
+more effective than honesty in the right; that to be sickened of a
+struggle, is a legitimate reason for abandoning the contest; and
+that a great nation can be yawned out of the greatest interests in
+the world.
+
+The first question of all is, Can this admission of the Jew into
+a Christian legislature be compatible with the character of a
+Christian constitution? If we live in bad times, with the evidence
+of bad practices in important positions, and with a powerful
+propensity among influential classes to sacrifice everything to
+the moment, this consciousness should only be a stronger claim on
+the vigilance of honest men. However strangely it may sound in
+some ears, England is still a Christian country: however some may
+doubt, the country still demands a Christian legislature; and,
+notwithstanding all opinions on the subject, we believe that to
+worship God and Mammon is still as impossible as it was pronounced
+to be eighteen hundred years ago. We believe that it is only by
+national virtue that nations can retain the divine protection; that
+zeal for the divine honour is the supreme source of virtue; and
+that to sacrifice the honour of God to any earthly purpose, is only
+to bring divine desertion on a people. Must we not ask, is there
+any national demand, national necessity, or religious principle,
+connected with giving legislative power, at this time, to the Jew?
+
+Where is the national demand? If the Jew, in some instances, is
+rich, is mere money to be the qualification for giving legislative
+power? In the simplest point of view, must we not demand ability,
+personal honour, a personal interest in the country, and a personal
+evidence that the trustee will never betray or abandon his trust?
+But what is the Jew? He has _no_ country. By being equally a
+member of all countries, he is equally an alien in all; beyond the
+casual connexion of trade, he has no connexion with any kingdom
+of earth: his only country is his counting-house,--his only city
+is the Exchange. His world consists in his traffic; and if any
+calamity should fall on one of those kingdoms where he keeps his
+counting-house, he transfers himself, like a Bill of Exchange, to
+the next; and in whatever land is equally at home. The Jew gives
+no pledge to any country; he is no possessor of land, no leader of
+science, no professor of the liberal pursuits, no manufacturer, no
+merchant, no sailor, no soldier; as if some irresistible destination
+prohibited him from ever finally settling in any land, his property
+is always ready to take wing. Must we not ask, Is this fugitive the
+man who has a right to share the privileges of the Englishman,
+bound, as we are, to the soil by nature, and bound to its defence
+and prosperity by the indissoluble obligation of nature?
+
+In a political point of view, what security could we have for
+confiding in the Jew,--for intrusting our finances, our liberties,
+our councils, the guardianship of our country, to the Jew? The
+especial and perpetual object of his existence is money. Now,
+while every man knows that money is the great corrupter of the
+human mind, that, except in minds fully fortified by principle, it
+overwhelms all other objects, and that, in all the convulsions of
+the greatest war of Europe--the war of the French Revolution--the
+secrets of every Continental cabinet were at the mercy of the purse;
+do we desire to see this supremacy extended? Do we desire to see
+the principles of fraud and falsehood made a regular material in
+the market of public transactions, and lucre exalted into the sole
+object of existence?
+
+As to the practical effect of bringing the tribe of the money-dealer
+into Parliament, would any man, in the exercise of his experience,
+wish to see the finances of England in the hands of any Jew in
+existence? And let no man pretend that this conception is imaginary.
+Place a Jew in Parliament, giving him the power of making a party;
+give him the opportunity of working on the impulses, habits, or
+necessities of men; and in twelve months you may see him anything
+he desires,--even Chancellor of the Exchequer. But he is a man of
+honour; he will not sell the secrets of Council; he will not copy a
+despatch for the benefit of his partners; he will not raise or sink
+the stocks, though every movement may add a million to the coffers
+of his partnership. We hope not; but can we run the risk? But the
+fact is, that he is a man not to be judged of by the feelings of
+any other in the world; he differs from all other men. What is
+patriotism to the Jew? He knows nothing of it. Who ever heard of the
+Jew taking any part in those noble struggles which have saved the
+honour or secured the rights of any nation on earth? His business
+is gain, and it is the only business that he ever follows; from the
+man with ten firms and five hundred clerks, with a counting-house in
+every village from the Rhine to the Neva, down to the seller of old
+clothes, and the pedlar in dilapidated slippers, who ever heard of a
+Jew thinking of anything but to make money?
+
+But the view which must supersede all others, is the aspect of the
+measure as it relates to religion. Great Britain is certainly,
+on the whole, a religious country: it perhaps contains more true
+religion than all the earth besides; but its fault is, that, though
+reverent in the church, it does not sufficiently carry its reverence
+into the course of common life. If this were done, there would be
+no difficulties in public opinion. It is in no superstition that
+we say, the only question to be asked on any doubtful course of
+action is, "Will it please God? Is it for the honour of God?" This
+is what the Scripture calls "walking with God," and describes as
+the essential character of virtue. But the majority of mankind add
+to those questions, Will it benefit myself? The statesman asks,
+Shall I lose power by it?--the merchant, Shall I lose profit?--the
+tradesman, Shall I lose custom? And this question is the master-key
+to the diversities of opinion on points which, to the unbiassed
+mind, are as clear as the sun.
+
+Let us put the matter in a more every-day point of view. Let us
+suppose the question asked, Would you take for your friend a man
+who denied your God, who scoffed at your religion, and who declared
+yourself a dupe or a deceiver? Yet all this the Jew does openly
+by the profession of his own creed. Can you conceive it for the
+honour of your Redeemer, to give this man your confidence in the
+highest form in which it can be given by a subject? Or can you
+bring yourself to believe that you are doing your duty to Christ
+in declaring by your conduct, that to be hostile to Him makes no
+imaginable difference in your estimate of the character of any man?
+
+On those points it is wholly impossible that there can be any doubt
+whatever. The enemy of Christ cannot, without a crime, be favoured,
+still less patronised and promoted, by the friend of Christ. Now,
+this feeling is neither prejudice nor persecution: it merely takes
+the words of the Jew himself; and it would not force him, by the
+slightest personal injury, to change the slightest of his opinions.
+It is merely the conduct which all who were unbiassed by gain, or
+unperverted by personal objects, would follow in any common act of
+life. To give power to the Jew, from the motives of pelf, or party,
+or through indifference, is criminal; and it is against this crime
+that we protest, and that we desire to guard our fellow Christian.
+
+We must now rapidly pass through the leading points of the question.
+The Jew is a "condemned man." More than three thousand years ago,
+Moses, in pronouncing the future history of the people, declared
+that a teacher should finally be sent to their nation, like himself,
+a man; and mingling as such among men, to give them a law, not in
+clouds and thunders as at Sinai, nor written in tables of stone, nor
+fixed in stern ordinances, but written in the heart, and acting by
+the understanding: and that, if they rejected him, they should be
+made nationally to answer the national crime to the Almighty. Him
+they rejected, and the rejection has been answered by national ruin.
+The prophecy is before the eye of the world; the fulfilment is also
+before the eye of the world.
+
+The Jew is an undone being, if there be truth in the words of
+inspiration. "He that believeth in the Son hath everlasting life;
+and he that believeth not the Son, _shall not see life_; but the
+_wrath of God_ abideth on him." (John iii. 35, 36.) What right have
+we to dispense with such words? The declaration is unequivocal;
+and if there be a compassionate allowance for the barbarian, who
+has no Bible and whom the gospel has never reached, what allowance
+can there be for the Jew, possessing the Bible and living in the
+sound of the gospel? But this language is not alone. We have the
+declaration of ruin constantly expressed or implied, "Who is a liar,
+but he that _denieth that Jesus is the Christ_? Whosoever _denieth
+the Son_, the same _hath not the Father_." (1 John ii. 22)
+
+Are those deniers the men whom the Christian is to take into
+the very centre of his political favouritism? Are the brands of
+Scripture on the national forehead to be scorned by a people
+professing obedience to the Divine will? Can human conception supply
+a stronger proof of the reality of those brands than the condition
+of the Jews ever since their first fulfilment, in the fall of
+Jerusalem--the terrible reply to their own anathema, "His blood be
+on us, and on our children."
+
+What is the state of the Jew himself with respect to sacred things?
+Nothing but ignorance can speak of the _religion_ of the Jew. So far
+as belongs to worship, he has _none_. Sacrifice, the solemnisation
+of the three great festivals, the whole ceremonial of the temple,
+were _essential_ to Judaism. The Jew cannot perform a single public
+ceremonial of his religion. Sacrifice was supremely essential for
+nearly the atonement of every fault of man; but it could be offered
+only in the Temple. The Temple is gone. What now becomes of his
+atonement?
+
+A weak attempt is made to answer this tremendous question, by
+referring to the condition of the Jews in Babylon. But what
+comparison can exist between a captivity prophetically limited to
+years not exceeding a single life, passed under the protection of
+kings, and under the guardianship of the most illustrious man of
+Asia, the prophet Daniel, cheered by prophecy and miracle, and
+certain of return, and the eighteen hundred years' banishment of
+the Jew? What comparison between the temporary suspension of the
+national worship, and the undefined and hopeless duration which
+seems to lie before the Jewish exile; and which, when it shall close
+at last, will extinguish his Judiasm, will show him his folly only
+by stripping the superstition of the Rabbi and the Talmud from his
+eyes, and will awake him at once to the extent of his error, to the
+exercise of his understanding, and to the worship of Christianity?
+
+After considerations of this order, all others must be almost
+trivial. But the common declamation on the _natural right_ of the
+Jew to be represented in Parliament is verbiage. But the Jew is
+actually represented, as much as a multitude of other interests of
+superior importance are represented. Are the fifteen thousand clergy
+of the Church of England (a body worth all the Jews on the globe)
+personally represented? Are the millions of England under twenty-one
+represented? One might thus go through the great industrious classes
+of England, and find that, out of twenty millions, there are not
+one million electors. And what claim have a class--who come to this
+country only to make money, and who make nothing but money, and who,
+if they could make more money anywhere else on the earth, would go
+there to-morrow--to an equality of right with the manly, honest, and
+attached son of England, every day of whose life adds something to
+the comfort or the credit of the community?
+
+The whole and sole claim of the Jew is, that some of his party are
+rich. How they have made their riches, or how they spend them,
+is beneath us to inquire. But what are their national evidences,
+even of wealth, it might be difficult to discover. They exhibit no
+fruits here, nor anywhere. It has been often asked, with genuine
+astonishment, what signs of national liberality have ever been
+given by Jewish wealth in the world? What contribution does it
+make, or has it ever made, to the arts that decorate life, to the
+literature that enlightens it, or to those bold and commanding
+services by which nations are raised or restored? Where are the
+picture galleries, or the great libraries, the great institutions,
+erected by the wealth of the Jew? As to the genius which endows
+mankind, for generations to come, with noble inventions, or leaves
+its name behind in a track of glory to posterity, who ever heard of
+it among the Jews? Shopkeepers of London have planted its vicinity
+with great establishments, castles of charity, magnificent monuments
+of practical religion, to which all the works of Jewish bounty are
+molehills. The Jews have an hospital and a few schools,--and there
+the efflux of liberality stops, the stream stagnates, the river
+becomes a pond, and the pond dries away.
+
+It is remarkable, and may be a punitive consequence, that there
+is nothing so fugitive as the wealth of the Jew. There is perhaps
+no hereditary example of Jewish wealth in the world. In England
+we have seen opulent firms, but they have never had the principle
+of permanency. Supposed to be boundlessly wealthy, a blight came,
+and every leaf dropt off. One powerful firm now lords it over the
+loan-market of Europe. We have no desire to anticipate the future;
+but what has become of all its predecessors in this country? or what
+memorial have they all left, to make us regret their vanishing, or
+remember their existence?
+
+Of the sudden passion with which Ministers have snatched the
+Israelite to their bosom, we shall leave the explanation until
+their day of penitence. As poverty makes man submit to strange
+companionship, political necessity may make a Whig Cabinet stoop to
+the embrace of the Jew. The resource is desperate, but the exigency
+must be equally so. We hail the omen,--the grasp at straws shows
+nothing but the exhaustion of the swimmer.
+
+On one point more alone we shall touch. It is of a graver kind.
+It has been the source of a kind of ignorant consideration for
+the Jews, that prophecy speaks of their future restoration. But,
+as _Jews_ they will _never_ be restored. In the last days some
+powerful influence of the Holy Spirit will impel the surviving Jews
+to solicit an admission into Christianity. How many or how few will
+survive the predicted universal convulsion of these days, is not for
+man to tell; the terrible, or the splendid, catastrophes of those
+times are still hidden; but no Jew well ever dwell in the presence
+of the patriarchs, but as a "new creature"--a being cleared from the
+prejudices of his exiled fathers, and by supernatural interposition
+purified from the unbelief, to be rescued from the ruin, of his
+stiff-necked people.
+
+The measure must be thrown out by the awakened power of public
+opinion. We must not indulge our indolence in relying on the House
+of Lords. They _may_ do their duty, but _we must do ours_. The Jew
+_must not_ enter the Christian Legislature.
+
+
+
+
+THE PICTURES OF THE SEASON.
+
+
+The taste for pictorial art, if its progress may be measured by
+the opportunity afforded for its gratification, is decidedly upon
+the increase in this country. In London, especially, pictures of
+one class or other form, each successive year, a larger and more
+important item in the sum of public amusements. During the present
+season of 1850 there have been open, at one time, four exhibitions
+consisting chiefly of oil paintings, two numerous collections of
+water-colour drawings, and panoramas and dioramas in unprecedented
+number and of unusual excellence. These last, although pertaining
+to a lower walk of art, have strong claims on consideration for
+their scenic truthfulness and artistic skill, and are fairly to
+be included in an estimate of the state of public feeling for the
+pictorial. The four first exhibitions alone comprise upwards of
+three thousand works of art, now for the first time submitted to
+public inspection. As usual, the exhibition of the Royal Academy
+is the most important and deserving of attention. Numerically, the
+Society of British Artists claims the next place; but in point of
+interest it must yield precedence to the British Institution, now
+for some weeks closed, and also to the exhibition of an association
+of artists which has installed itself, upon a novel principle,
+and under the title of the National Institution, in a building
+constructed for its accommodation, and known as the Portland
+Gallery. It were for some reasons desirable--it certainly would
+be favourable to the comparative appreciation of merit--that, as
+at Paris, the whole of the annual harvest of pictures should be
+collected in one edifice, subject, of course, to such previous
+examination by a competent and impartial council, as should exclude
+those works unworthy of exhibition. But such a system, however
+pleasant it might be found by the public, could hardly be made
+agreeable to the artists. The most indulgent censorship, excluding
+none but the veriest daubs--nay, even the plan of open doors to
+all comers, which has lately clothed a portion of the walls of the
+Republican Louvre with canvass spoiled by ignorance and presumption,
+would fail to satisfy artists and their friends. In London, as in
+Paris under the old system, it is less the question of admission
+than the placing of the pictures that is the source of discontent.
+The excluded conceal their discomfiture; the misplaced grumble
+loudly, and not always without reason, especially as regards the
+Academy exhibition. The fault may be more in the rooms that contain,
+than in the men who place the pictures. Of course everybody whose
+work gets into the Octagon Room feels aggrieved, although it is
+evident that, as long as that ridiculous nook is used to contain
+pictures, some unlucky artists must fill it. The good places in
+the other rooms--limited as is the extent of these compared to
+the large number of pictures annually exhibited in them--cannot
+be very numerous, although they may be multiplied by the exercise
+of judgment, and by impartial attention to the requirements of
+each picture as regards light and elevation. The best possible
+arrangement, however, will fail to please everybody, and the
+persons to whom falls the difficult task of distributing a thousand
+or fifteen hundred pictures over the walls of a suite of rooms
+inadequate to their proper accommodation, must be prepared to endure
+some obloquy, and esteem themselves fortunate if the public acquit
+them of flagrant partiality or negligence. It is not our purpose
+to dilate on this oft-mooted and still vexed question. We have no
+polemical intention in the present paper, in which we shall not have
+too much space to note down a few of the thoughts that suggested
+themselves to us during our morning wanderings amongst the throng of
+pictures in four exhibitions.
+
+The great event of the artist's year, the opening of the Exhibition
+of the Royal Academy, is of course the signal for a Babel of
+opinions. The question which on all sides is heard: What sort of
+Exhibition is this? obtains the most conflicting replies. People
+are too apt to trust to their first impressions, and to indulge in
+sweeping censure or excessive encomium. We have heard this year's
+exhibition set down by some as first-rate, by others as exceedingly
+poor. Our own opinion, after careful examination and consideration,
+is, that it has rather less than the average amount of merit.
+This we believe to be also the opinion of the majority of those
+most competent to judge. There is certainly an unusually small
+number of pictures of striking excellence; nor is this atoned for
+by any marked improvement in those artists whose works can claim
+but a second rank. One circumstance unfavourable to the interest
+of the exhibition is the uncommonly large number of portraits,
+the majority of which are not very admirable either in subject or
+execution. The impression, as one walks through the rooms, is,
+that an extraordinary number of ugly or uninteresting persons have
+got themselves painted by careless or indifferent artists. Of
+landscapes there seem to be fewer than usual--certainly fewer good
+ones. Some of the best of this class of painters have contributed
+to other exhibitions. On the other hand, historical, scriptural,
+and dramatic subjects are numerous, but not in many cases have they
+been treated with very great success. One of the foremost pictures
+in the Exhibition--certainly the one about which most curiosity
+has been excited--is Edwin Landseer's _Dialogue at Waterloo_. We
+are unfeigned admirers of Mr Landseer's genius, but we do not
+think this one of his happiest efforts. There is much fashion in
+these matters; people are very apt to be led away by a name, and
+to fall into ecstasies before a picture simply because it is by a
+great painter. We believe it impossible for Edwin Landseer to paint
+anything that shall not have great merit, but he is certainly most
+felicitous when confining himself to what is strictly speaking his
+own style. We do not think him successful as a portrait painter.
+His Marchioness of Douro does less than justice to the beautiful
+original. As to the Duke of Wellington, it is a failure; especially
+if, as we are assured, it is intended to be his portrait as he
+now is. We certainly cannot admire the burly figure and swarthy
+complexion of Mr Landseer's Duke, which gives us the idea of a
+younger and more robust man than him it is intended to represent.
+We should be disposed to object to the strained appearance of the
+downward-pointing hand; but the gesture is said to be one habitual
+to the original, and of course the painter was right to preserve
+character, even at the cost of grace. The less prominent portion of
+the picture is the most to our taste--the peasants and child, the
+dogs and game, and the plough horses with their old driver. We are
+not quite clear as to what it all means; some of the objects seeming
+rather to have been dragged in than naturally to have come thither;
+the tablecloth spread in the ploughed field appearing rather out
+of character, and the left-hand corner of the picture having
+altogether somewhat of a crowded aspect: but these are trifles not
+worth dwelling upon. The painting is evidently unfinished. The
+subject of Mr Landseer's second picture, a shepherd digging the
+stragglers from his flock out of a snow-drift, is of less interest
+than that of his larger work; but, in an artistic point of view, it
+claims higher praise. His snow is admirable, the tender gray tints
+are full of light, and distributed with surpassing skill; and the
+earnest laborious face of the delving peasant is very vigorous and
+characteristic. Mr Landseer is so accurate an observer of brute
+nature that it is with extreme caution we venture to criticise his
+animals, but we must say that the wool of his sheep in this painting
+has a hard and cork-like look. Upon the whole it is a question with
+us, when we revert to some of this artist's former productions,
+whether he is painting as carefully as he used to do. Looking at
+his Waterloo Dialogue, we say no; but an affirmative starts to our
+lips when we examine his last and smallest picture in this year's
+Exhibition, Lady Murchison's dog. With this the most fastidious
+would be troubled to find fault. It is a gem of admirable finish.
+If Mr Landseer's power of drawing, in the grander contours of his
+designs, were equal to the skill he displays in the details, he
+would leave nothing to desire.
+
+Mr Maclise has two pictures in this exhibition. There is scarcely
+an English artist living concerning whom we are more embarrassed
+to make up our minds, than concerning the painter of _The Spirit
+of Justice_ and _The Gross of Green Spectacles_. His merits and
+defects are alike very great, and unfortunately he delays to amend
+the latter--if indeed it be in his power so to do. His first-named
+and larger picture, whilst it contains much to admire, leaves a
+great deal to be desired. To us it is a vexatious performance.
+We cannot look at it without admitting it to be the work of no
+ordinary artist, and we feel the more annoyed at the mannerism that
+detracts from its merit. Mr Maclise has fertility of invention
+and power of design, but there is a deficiency of true artistical
+feeling in his execution. We cannot coincide, besides, with the
+notion which he, in common with many others, seems to entertain,
+that fresco painting precludes chiaroscuro. In _The Spirit of
+Justice_ there are some good faces; but there are more that are
+unnecessarily ugly, and several of faulty expression. Justice has
+a fine countenance and altogether pleases us well. The widow's
+face is hard and unflesh-like; the accuser, who drags the murderer
+before the tribunal, and displays a bloody dagger as evidence of
+guilt, and the free citizen who unrolls the charter of liberty, are
+anything but admirable. The accuser looks more like an informer
+than an avenger. Nothing can be more unfavourable to the face than
+the sort of scrubby, colourless, thinly-sown stubble with which his
+chin is provided, as a contrast, we presume, with the dark hirsute
+countenance of the criminal, who, deducting the beard, might pass
+for a portrait of Mr Macready, of one of whose favourite attitudes
+the position of the head and shoulders particularly reminds us. With
+all its defects, however, this is by far the best of Mr Maclise's
+two pieces. _The Gross of Spectacles_ we consider a failure. It is
+a gross of spectacles, and little besides. The first thing that
+catches the eye is Moses' unlucky bargain. There they are, the
+twelve dozen, in green cases and with plated rims. We submit that
+the first thing which _should_ attract the eye is the countenances
+of the actors in the scene. Owing to their tameness of expression,
+these, which should be prominent, are almost subordinate to the
+inanimate details of the apartment. Unimportant as it is, we are
+inclined to prefer the recess, and the peep through the window, to
+any other part of the picture. There is an airiness and transparency
+in that corner of the canvass, which we in vain seek elsewhere. The
+general effect is very hard. The hair of Moses and the little boy is
+as unlike hair as it well can be: we remember to have seen something
+very like it upon a tea-tray. These are technical objections. But Mr
+Maclise may rely upon it that he lacks the keen perception of humour
+indispensable to the artist who would illustrate Goldsmith.
+
+Amongst the scriptural and mythological paintings, those of Mr
+Patten and Mr F. R. Pickersgill attract at least as much notice as
+they deserve. Besides portraits, Mr Patten has contributed three
+pictures. His _Susannah and the Elders_ is remarkable as being the
+most decidedly indecent picture exhibited this year. The subject
+is not a very pleasing one, and, to our thinking, has been painted
+quite often enough. But this is not the question. Mr Patten has
+put his version of it out of the pale of propriety by his mode of
+handling it. There is nothing classical in his treatment, nothing
+to redeem or elevate the nudity and associations of the subject.
+His Susannah is simply a naked English girl, with a pretty face, an
+immaculate cuticle, and something exceedingly voluptuous in the form
+and arrangement of her limbs. There is no novelty of conception in
+the picture, nor any particular merit except the colouring, which
+is good, but not equal to that in No. 446, _Bacchus discovering the
+Use of the Grape_. This is a pleasanter subject, cleverly treated,
+displaying more originality and much better taste. The flesh-tints
+are capital, and the picture altogether does credit to the painter.
+_Venus and Cupid_, by the same artist, is chiefly remarkable for
+a plaster-of-Paris dove of an extraordinarily brilliant and very
+unnatural effect. As to Mr F. R. Pickersgill, we should like his
+pictures better if he would not imitate poor Etty, whose memory,
+be it parenthetically observed, has been little regarded by those
+who have exhibited that most coarse and unpleasant picture, _The
+Toilet_, No. 276, a specimen of the deceased artist's worst manner.
+Mr Pickersgill's _Samson Betrayed_ is, there is no denying it, a
+very unsatisfactory composition. His red-haired Dalilah is graceless
+and characterless. Samson, recumbent in an attitude in which no man
+ever slept soundly, seems prevented only by a miracle from slipping
+off her knees. Two girls, instead of getting to a safe distance, are
+hugging each other in terror within reach of the giant's arm. There
+is scarcely an attitude in the picture that is not strained. In the
+conception there is an utter want of novelty of circumstance. The
+whole picture is deficient in originality. The eye wanders over it,
+seeking some feature of special interest or striking beauty whereon
+to dwell, and finds none. Mr Pickersgill has good qualities, but
+the spark of fancy and genius which alone can complete the great
+painter, is, we fear, wanting in his composition.
+
+We turn with pleasure to Leslie's pictures. Were we disposed to find
+fault with this very agreeable artist, our objections could only
+be technical. With want of imagination, and feeling for beauty,
+none can tax him. Two of his three pictures contain the sweetest
+female faces in this exhibition. How admirably has he interpreted
+Shakspeare's description of Beatrice stealing to the woodbine bower,
+to play the eavesdropper on Hero and Ursula.
+
+    "Look where Beatrice, like a lapwing, runs
+     Close by the ground."
+
+The painter has exactly rendered the poet's graceful idea. As she
+glides along, we seem to detect the slight flutter and palpitation
+attendant on the clandestine movement. Expression and attitude are
+alike charming. Sophia Western deserves even higher praise. She
+is indeed a lovely creature. Tom Jones bids her behold herself in
+the mirror, and say whether such a face and form do not guarantee
+his fidelity. It is altogether a most agreeable composition; and
+if we have any fault to find, it is with the face of the enamoured
+foundling, which wants refinement, and has a sort of overgrown
+schoolboy's ruddy fulness. Katherine of Arragon beseeching Capucius
+to convey to Henry VIII. her last recommendation of her daughter
+and servants to his goodness, is the most important of Mr Leslie's
+pictures; and although by many it will not be deemed the most
+attractive, none can deny it great merit and interest. The suffering
+countenance of Katherine, and the tearful faces of her attendants,
+are full of expression. The ambassador is rather tame, and one
+scarcely recognises in his face or bearing the energy with which he
+vows to do the bidding of the unhappy queen.
+
+Mr Eastlake has one scriptural and one historical picture in this
+year's exhibition. A passage from Sismondi, telling the escape of
+an Italian noble and his wife from the persecution of the Duke of
+Milan, has suggested the latter, which is painted for the Vernon
+Gallery. There is some good expression in the faces in this picture,
+which has more interest and novelty than its companion _The Good
+Samaritan_, and also greater vigour. Both show the hand of the
+experienced and skilful artist, although perhaps neither can be
+classed amongst the best things he has produced. We should gladly
+see a little more nerve in Mr Eastlake's style, and this we think
+might be advantageously combined with his beautiful transparency of
+colouring, and other excellent qualities as a painter. There is no
+diminution in the purity of style and thought which has always been
+one of his finest characteristics.
+
+Mr Frith is an improving artist. There is humour and progress in
+No. 543, a scene from Goldsmith's _Good-natured Man_. _Mr Honeywood
+introduces the bailiffs to Miss Richland as his friends._ He must
+beware, however, of running into caricature in subjects of this
+kind. The bailiffs are perhaps a little overdone. Miss Richland
+has a very pretty face, but she looks more like a _soubrette_ or
+smart actress than a woman of fashion. Mr Frith's other picture,
+Sancho proving to the duchess that Don Quixote is at the bottom
+of the table, is well painted, and, in a technical point of
+view, it must be spoken of with respect. He has not been quite so
+successful as we should have expected in the expression of the
+faces,--that of the duke excepted, which is a good and thoroughly
+Spanish countenance, with its habitual gravity disturbed by Sancho's
+quaint humour and his master's manifest distress. But painting
+ladies is not Mr Frith's forte. His duchess is pretty, but there
+is a want of aristocratic distinction in her face and bearing; and
+as to the ladies grouped behind her chair, they are cookmaids in
+masquerade. Very few living artists, besides Leslie, should venture
+upon Sancho. We will not say that Mr Frith is not one of those few,
+but his delineation of the shrewd esquire, although very humorous,
+is rather coarse, and he has made him ragged and filthy to an
+unnecessary degree. The vexation and embarrassment of Don Quixote
+are ludicrously portrayed.
+
+Four very small, very unpretending pictures by Thomas Webster, R.A.,
+must be sought for, but, when found, cannot fail to be admired. They
+are a feature, and a very charming one, of this year's Exhibition.
+High finish and truth to nature are their chief characteristics.
+Mr Webster is getting quite into the Ostade manner. His colouring,
+too, is admirable. No. 54 is a boy in a chimney corner, supping
+pottage, with an old woman knitting opposite to him. Both faces are
+excellent, and full of character. _A Cherry Seller_ is a perfect
+_bijou_--the woman weighing out the fruit; the boys, looking on with
+eager eyes and watering mouths; the fruit itself, with its Dutch
+nicety of finish:--altogether it is a most desirable picture, such
+as one can hardly pass, even for the twentieth time, without pausing
+for another view. _A Peasant's Home_ is upon the whole too gray,
+and perhaps the least attractive of the four; but in the _Farmhouse
+Kitchen_ are a couple of figures, a farmer and his dame, than which
+nothing can be better, either in colour or expression. Mr Webster
+shows great taste and judgment in adhering to a pleasing simplicity,
+without ever falling into quaintness or affectation. And it is a
+study for a young artist to observe the skill with which he throws
+his lights, and the transparency and absence of _paintyness_ (to
+borrow a term from the studio) which characterise his pictures.
+
+Mr Solomon Hart's _Kitchen Interior at Mayfield_ will not do after
+Webster. This, however, is one of the least important of his six
+pictures, which comprise two other interiors, two heads, and a
+Jewish festival. This last is perhaps the best picture he has
+painted. The MSS. of the Pentateuch are being carried round the
+synagogue at Leghorn, amidst chanting of hymns. There is a strong
+devotional character in many of the faces; and, as a work of art,
+the picture is more than respectable. The interest of the subject is
+a question of taste. For us, we confess, it possesses very little
+attraction; and the Jewish physiognomy, so strongly marked as it
+is in all the occupants of the synagogue, is, to our thinking,
+incompatible with beauty. We do not much admire either _A Virtuoso
+or Arnolfo di Lapo_. The latter is the best of the two: the former,
+carefully painted, is merely an ordinary-looking Jew.
+
+What can we say of Mr Turner? Perhaps we had better content
+ourselves with mentioning that he has four pictures in the
+Exhibition, all in his latest manner, all illustrative of that
+far-famed, but, unfortunately, unpublished poem, _The Fallacies of
+Hope_, and all proving the fallacy of the hope we annually cherish
+that he will abjure his eccentricities, and revert to the style
+which justly gained him his high reputation. It were absurd of us
+to attempt to criticise his present productions, for to us they are
+unintelligible; and, judging from the extremely puzzled looks we see
+fixed upon them, we suspect that not many of those who pause for
+their examination are more successful than ourselves in deciphering
+their meaning, and in appreciating the beauties which a few stanch
+adherents pretend to discover in those strange compounds of red,
+white, and yellow. What if Mr Turner were to seek his inspirations
+elsewhere than in the aforesaid MS.? Can it be that the poet's
+halting verse influences the painter's vagaries? From the specimens
+afforded us, we are not inclined to think highly of _The Fallacies_
+_of Hope_. Take the following, _exempli gratiâ_:--
+
+    "Beneath the morning mist
+     Mercury waited to tell him of his neglected fleet."
+
+And this--
+
+    "Fallacious Hope beneath the moon's pale crescent shone,
+     Dido listened to Troy being lost and won."
+
+Enough of such poetry, and enough, as far as we are concerned, of a
+great painter's unfortunate aberrations.
+
+Apropos of aberrations, we have a word to say, which may as well be
+said here as elsewhere. Affectation, however, is a more suitable
+word for the mountebank proceedings of a small number of artists,
+who, stimulated by their own conceit, and by the applause of a few
+foolish persons, are endeavouring to set up a school of their own.
+We allude, to the pre-Raphaelites. Let not Messrs Millais, Hunt,
+Rosetti, & Co. suppose, because we give them an early place in this
+imperfect review of the exhibitions, that we concede to them an
+undue importance. As to admiration, we shall presently make them
+aware how far we entertain that feeling towards them. Meanwhile,
+let them not plume themselves on a place amongst men of genius.
+Just as well might they experience an exaltation of their horns,
+because their absurd and pretentious productions get casually
+hung next to pictures by Landseer or Webster. It appears they
+have got into their wise heads certain notions that the ideal of
+expression is to be found in the works of the artists who flourished
+previously to Raphael. And they have accordingly set to work to
+imitate those early masters, not only in the earnestness of purpose
+visible in their productions, but in their errors, crudities, and
+imperfections--renouncing, in fact, the progress that since then
+has been made; rejecting the experience of centuries, to revert for
+models, not to art in its prime, but to art in its uncultivated
+infancy. And a nice business they make of it. Regardless of anatomy
+and drawing, they delight in ugliness and revel in diseased aspects.
+Mr Dante Rosetti, one of the high-priests of this retrograde school,
+exhibits at the Portland Gallery. Messrs Millais and Hunt favour the
+saloons of the Academy. Ricketty children, emaciation and deformity
+constitute their chief stock in trade. They apparently select bad
+models, and then exaggerate their badness till it is out of all
+nature. We can hardly imagine anything more ugly, graceless, and
+unpleasant than Mr Millais' picture of Christ in the carpenter's
+shop. Such a collection of splay feet, puffed joints, and misshapen
+limbs was assuredly never before made within so small a compass. We
+have great difficulty in believing a report that this unpleasing and
+atrociously affected picture has found a purchaser at a high price.
+Another specimen, from the same brush, inspires rather laughter than
+disgust. A Ferdinand of most ignoble physiognomy is being lured by a
+pea-green monster intended for Ariel; whilst a row of sprites, such
+as it takes a Millais to devise, watch the operation with turquoise
+eyes. It would occupy more room than the thing is worth to expose
+all the absurdity and impertinence of this work. Mr Hunt's picture
+of a Christian Missionary sheltered from Druid pursuit is in as
+ridiculous taste as any of the group.
+
+From such monstrosities it is a relief to turn to Mr Frank
+Stone's graceful creations. He also has taken a subject from the
+second scene in the _Tempest_, No. 342, Miranda's first sight of
+Ferdinand. Compared with Mr Millais' Ferdinand, that of Mr Stone
+is a demigod. Estimated by its intrinsic merits, it strikes us
+as a little theatrical--rather too much of the stage-player in
+the air and attitude. Miranda has a sweet and youthful face;
+Prospero is too young, and does not look his part. This is not
+one of Mr Stone's happiest efforts, but it is a nice picture, and
+we prefer it to his other in the same exhibition, _The Gardener's
+Daughter_, a young lady attitudinising under a rose-tree, with a
+pair of admiring swains in the distance. This artist is too apt
+to give his male lovers a sickly look, as if their love disagreed
+with them. The best picture he has shown this year is one in the
+British Institution--_Sympathy_--two very pretty maidens, with an
+expression of pleasing sentiment in their faces. Barring a little
+occasional mannerism, Mr Stone is a very delightful painter; and in
+our opinion, if he had had his deserts, he would some time since
+have been a member of the Academy. Were it not invidious, we could
+cite a few, who write _Associate_ after their names, who have less
+claim than he has to that honorary distinction. Mr Stone has a great
+deal of fancy, a fine feeling for the beautiful, and we are indebted
+to him for many charming compositions and lovely female faces. And
+certainly if popularity be a test of merit, which we admit is not
+always the case, he ought years ago to have figured in the list of
+Academicians.
+
+That very conscientious and careful artist, Mr Charles Landseer,
+has a pretty and well-painted _Girl in a Hop-garden_, and a larger
+and still better picture--perhaps the best he has for some years
+produced--of _Æsop_, surrounded by several of the animals celebrated
+in his fables. There is a great deal of quiet humour and nice
+finish in this picture: the figure and face of the hump-backed
+fabulist, and those of a girl, who seems admiringly to listen to
+his allegorical wisdom, are exceedingly good. Mr Dyce has only one
+picture, and really that had been as well away. An ugly Jacob is
+protruding his lips to kiss a vulgar Rachel. The colouring is hard
+and bad, and there is a pervading gray tint which is not natural.
+We hope Mr Dyce, R.A., can do better things than this. We prefer
+Mr Cope's _King Lear_, which has considerable merit. There is fine
+expression in the old monarch's head. Cordelia pleases us less;
+and perhaps, upon the whole, the best figures in the picture are
+those of the musicians and singers. There is a something in this
+painting that reminds us of Maclise. Of Mr Cope's other pictures,
+_Milton's Dream_ has a nice tone of colour; and the two sketches
+for fresco of Prince Henry's submission to Judge Gascoigne, and
+the Black Prince receiving the order of the Garter, are spirited
+and good. Mr Redgrave's principal picture is No. 233. _The Marquis
+having chosen patient Griselda for his wife, causes the court ladies
+to dress her in her father's cottage._ Griselda has a pretty face,
+and sits in an easy, graceful attitude: the ladies are coarse,
+and the expression of scorn upon their countenances is theatrical
+and affected. The heads of some of them are too big, and out of
+proportion with their bodies. _The Child's Prayer_, by the same
+artist, is a pleasing picture; well painted, particularly the
+woman's head and hand, which latter has a look of Rubens. Mr E. M.
+Ward has two pictures of very different subjects. _Isaac Walton
+Angling_ hardly claims any particular notice; _James II. receiving
+the News of the Landing of the Prince of Orange in 1688_, has more
+pretension and greater merit. It certainly contains good painting:
+the grouping of the figures and the expression of some of the faces
+are also praiseworthy; but yet it hardly satisfies us. The queen's
+face and attitude, as she advances, already sympathising with the
+agitation visible on his countenance, to her husband's side, are
+very charming. James's physiognomy is almost too much discomposed
+to accord with the passage from Dalrymple quoted by Mr Ward. And
+it strikes us, although this may seem hypercritical, that there
+is something ludicrous in the eternal suspension in the air of
+the letter that he has just allowed to escape from his fingers.
+Upon the whole, however, this is a clever picture, and, as far as
+we had opportunity of observing, it attracts a very full share of
+public attention; although that is no criterion of merit, so large
+a proportion of the loungers through an exhibition being more
+readily attracted by a piquant subject than by artistical skill. And
+probably no subjects are more generally popular than those that may
+be styled the homely-historical; scenes in the private apartments of
+royalty; the personal adventures and perils of princes, whether in
+the palace or the prison--on the steps of the throne or the verge
+of the scaffold. There is a fair sprinkling of such pictures in the
+four exhibitions now under notice; and as we have no pretension
+to be otherwise than exceedingly desultory in this article, whose
+limits, and the heterogeneous subject, preclude our being otherwise,
+we will at once dispose of such of them as deserve notice, and have
+not already received it, commencing, in order of catalogue, with
+Delaroche's picture of _Cromwell looking at the dead body of
+Charles I._ This is a picture concerning which the most conflicting
+opinions have been uttered. It has received fulsome praise and
+unwarranted abuse. Some have lauded it as perfection merely because
+it is by Paul Delaroche; others have decried it with a virulence
+and injustice warranting the suspicion that some envious brother
+of the brush had temporarily abandoned the palette for the pen,
+and applied himself to slander merit he himself was hopeless of
+equalling. We are aware but of two valid objections that can fairly
+be made to the picture. The subject is certainly ghastly and horrid;
+but, on the other hand, it has been rendered as little so as
+possible by the consummate skill and good taste of its treatment.
+And none, we think, but the very fastidious, will dwell upon this
+point. The other objection (technical only) is to the coppery tone
+of colouring of certain parts of the picture, particularly of the
+flesh. This premised, we are aware of little else that can fairly be
+alleged against this very fine picture. The countenance of Cromwell
+certainly does not agree with the most authentic portraits that
+have been handed down to us, or with the written and traditional
+accounts of his features. The artist has idealised his hero--has
+abridged his nose, increased his under jaw, and thrown nearly the
+whole expression of the face into and around the mouth. M. Delaroche
+having taken such liberties, we ought to be particularly grateful to
+him that he has not gone farther, and, in aiming at a great effect,
+fallen into exaggeration. Out of twenty French artists, nineteen,
+we suspect, would have given us, with the strong and dangerous
+temptation of so striking a subject, an unpleasant caricature.
+It has been objected that the face is deficient in character
+and expression, and would perfectly suit any one of Cromwell's
+Ironsides, who through curiosity should have lifted the lid of the
+deceased monarch's coffin. It is, to our thinking, an evidence of
+skill on the part of the painter thus to have left the expression
+doubtful--a matter of speculation to the beholder. We interpret it
+as merely meditative. Any emotion it includes is one of exultation
+at the great and important step the Usurper has made in his upward
+progress. Of pity or remorse there is no trace.
+
+The next picture in the Exhibition of the Academy, of the class
+at present under notice, that particularly caught our eye, is No.
+491, _The Burial of the two sons of Edward IV. in the Tower_, by
+Mr Cross, whose painting of Richard Coeur-de-Lion, exhibited at
+Westminster Hall, will be remembered by many of our readers. The
+present picture does not redeem the promise of its predecessor.
+It has a washy, fresco-like look, and a great want of light and
+shade, which is the more striking because the subject is one
+particularly favourable to the display of a Rembrandt-like vigour
+in that respect. The arrangement of the dead bodies is very bad,
+and they have an emaciated look which was quite uncalled for. On
+the other hand, the faces of two of the murderers, (one sustains
+the stone beneath which the grave is dug, and the other grasps the
+arm of one of the children,) and that of the turnkey, are very
+expressive. The chief of the gang and the grave-digger are rather
+strained and theatrical. Upon the whole, the picture disappoints us
+much. A report, however, has reached us, that it was painted under
+the disadvantage of ill health, so we will hope that Mr Cross may
+yet do better things. No. 569, _The Abdication of Mary Queen of
+Scots at Lochleven Castle_, by J. Severn, is a very tame affair.
+And we do not greatly admire Mr Lucy's _Parting of Charles I. with
+his Children_. The subject has been better treated before. But
+we delight in Mr Joy's conception of Cromwell coveting, and yet
+daring not to grasp, the crown of England. A bilious misanthrope,
+with flabby cheeks and lacklustre eye, is seated beside a table on
+which stands the crown, whose covering he has partly withdrawn.
+The notion is amusingly matter-of-fact. Does Mr Joy really suppose
+that such a man as Cromwell could find enjoyment in the deliberate
+physical contemplation of the jewelled bauble--the substantial
+crown--the mere emblem of the dignity and sway for which he
+thirsted? We cannot compliment this artist on either the conceit or
+the execution. We prefer his picture in the British Institution,
+although that is not very remarkable. The subject is the interview
+between James IV. of Scotland and the outlaw Murray on the banks
+of Yarrow. In this Exhibition we find another Cromwell, of a very
+different cast from the one just referred to. The Lord Protector
+of England dictates to John Milton his celebrated despatch in
+favour of the persecuted Piedmontese Protestants. Here there
+is a fire and energy mingled with the coarseness of Cromwell's
+physiognomy, which gives the character of the man as we read of
+him and believe him to have been. Milton's face wears a look of
+gentle enthusiasm and approval, as he admiringly weighs the words
+that fall from the lips of his great patron. In his eyes there is
+a sort of haziness that seems to foreshadow the darkness which
+later is to come over him. The picture does great credit to a very
+rising artist, Mr F. Newenham, who also exhibits a painting at the
+Portland Gallery, which we like quite as well as his Cromwell.
+The subject, _The Princes in the Tower_, is not a very new one,
+but there is imagination and novelty in its treatment. It is just
+the same point of time that Delaroche has chosen in his painting
+of this subject, but there is nothing like an imitation of the
+great Frenchman. Here the younger child still sleeps, whilst the
+elder, a princely-looking lad, roused by the noise at the door,
+gazes anxiously, rather than fearfully, at the shadow cast upon the
+wall by a hand bearing a lantern. The picture is suggestive and
+interesting, and in an artistic point of view, also, it merits high
+praise. In this Portland Gallery (which we may observe, by the way,
+is most excellently constructed and lighted for the advantageous
+exhibition of works of art) is a painting by Mr Claxton, _Marie
+Antoinette with her Children, escaping by the Secret Door from her
+apartment in Versailles, when the palace was attached by the mob_,
+which we mention rather on account of the interest of the subject
+than of its merits as a work of art, these being but of a negative
+description. Marie Antoinette, dressed rather like a fashionable of
+the year 1850, is accompanied by a terrified lady, who looks back
+at the door, half-masked by smoke, through whose broken pannel the
+bayonets of the rebels cross with those of the loyal grenadiers.
+Another picture from French history, but selected from a much
+remoter period, is that of _The Excommunication of Robert, King of
+France, and his Queen Bertha_, (No. 159 in the Portland Gallery.)
+which Mr Desanges has executed with some skill. The king, having
+married his cousin in defiance of the Pope, but with the sanction of
+three prelates of his kingdom, incurs the pontifical anathema, in
+common with the prelates and royal family. In the picture, the fiat
+has just been pronounced, and the extinction of their torches by the
+officiating priests symbolically completes their mission.
+
+This is not one of Mr Clarkson Stanfield's best years. We prefer
+this careful and able artist on a grander scale than that of the
+comparatively small pictures he this year exhibits. Nor do we
+think he has been particularly happy in his choice of subjects.
+His scene from Macbeth, viewed as a landscape--for we do not take
+into account the figures, which are insignificant, and might as
+well have been left out--is a good picture, but not in his happiest
+taste. We prefer his _Scene on the Maas_, and his _Bay of Baiæ_,
+which are both excellent. No. 288, _Near Foria_, is not a very good
+subject. But Mr Stanfield is a pleasant, natural painter, quite
+free from affectation, and a most excellent representative of the
+English school. Mr Roberts is another favourite of ours. Belgium and
+the East, Egyptian temples and Catholic shrines, furnish subjects
+for his seven pictures. What we particularly like in him is the
+strong impression of correctness and fidelity conveyed by his
+representations of distant scenes. Without having seen the places,
+one feels convinced of the accuracy of his delineations, and that he
+gives the real effect of the objects depicted--just as, in certain
+portraits, one feels certain of the resemblance without knowing the
+original. The subjects of his pictures this year do not demand
+any detailed criticism, and his good qualities are so universally
+appreciated as to render general commendation superfluous.
+
+Before passing on to landscapes and portraits we will glance at a
+few pictures of various classes, which happen to have attracted
+our attention, and which deserve better or worse than to be left
+unnoticed. Diving into the gloom of the Octagon, we are struck by
+the very remarkable merit of two pictures, which ought never to
+have been placed there. Only by kneeling or sitting upon the ground
+is it possible to examine Mr Van Schendel's poacher detected,
+No. 633, _Un Braconnier au moment qu'on vient le prendre_. Of
+ordinary visitors to the Exhibition, not one in five will notice
+the existence of the picture--not one in twenty, probably, will go
+through the painful contortions requisite to get even a bad view of
+it. Very few, if any, critics will have sought it out or written a
+comment on it. Yet this is a picture on which greater talent and
+labour have been expended than on dozens that hang in conspicuous
+places and good lights. A dark picture, too--a night scene--it
+required a strong light; and it was most unjust to put it thus in
+the very darkest nook, and in the lowest range of the whole Academy.
+For hospitality's sake to a foreigner, this excellent painting
+should have been differently placed. The only other picture which
+we noticed in the Octagon--there may be others of great merit, but
+we never have patience to linger long in the gloomy closet--is No.
+586, _Flowers and Fruit_, by T. Groenland--an artist far superior to
+Lance, who seems to us to fall off instead of improving. Fruit and
+flower pieces are things that few people care much to look at--and,
+for our part, we confess that we seldom afford them more than a
+very cursory glance; but our attention was seriously and pleasingly
+arrested by both of those exhibited this year by Mr Groenland,
+remarkable, as they are, not only for the accuracy with which he
+imitates the texture of the different fruits--whether pulpiness,
+bloom, or transparency be their chief characteristic--and for the
+admirable delicacy of his flower-painting, but also for his skill
+in elevating and giving interest to the walk of art he has chosen.
+This is strikingly the case in No. 1254, apropos of which we have
+another piece of injustice or carelessness--let them call it which
+they like--to notice on the part of the Hanging Committee. Of all
+the seven rooms of the Academy, not one is so little visited as that
+which, in the catalogue, is headed Architecture. Accordingly, the
+hangmen have placed at one end of it five as pleasing pictures--each
+in its own style--as any in the Exhibition. Here we have the _Vierge
+Route du Simplon_, a charming airy landscape by Harding; _Esther_,
+by O'Neil, one of the best, perhaps, he ever did; _The Port of
+Marseilles_, by E. W. Cooke, very like and very well painted, with
+excellent water; _A Winter Evening_, by H. Horsley, a most clever
+piece of snow scenery, with a cold look that makes one shiver, and
+a capital effect of setting sun through an archway; and, last in
+our enumeration, but not in merit, Mr Groenland's second fruit and
+flower piece, with a landscape background, a gorgeous and life-like
+peacock, a flush of rhododendrons, and painstaking and talent in
+every leaf and flower. Another picture in the same vicinity, by W.
+Fisher, _The Coulin_, a subject taken from Moore's melodies, is
+rather affected, but by no means destitute of merit.
+
+Mr Martin's picture, _The Last Man_, is far from one of his
+best. The subject is unpleasing, and there is a decided fault of
+perspective; the human corpses and carcasses of strange beasts, in
+the foreground, being much too small in proportion with the figure
+of the man, who stands on an elevation which is doubtless intended
+to be much in advance of, but which in reality is almost on a line
+with, the spot where they are spread pellmell in grisly confusion.
+Mr Hannah's _Lady Northumberland and Lady Percy dissuading the Earl
+from joining the wars against Henry IV._ is oddly coloured, and
+acquires a cold, insipid look from the profusion of blue and gray;
+but it is a good and clever picture. A similar class of subject has
+been selected by Mr T. J. Barker, from Professor Aytoun's ballad
+of _Edinburgh after Flodden_. Randolph Murray, bearing news of the
+defeat, is the centre of a throng anxious even to agony.
+
+    "Why art thou alone, unfollowed?
+       Is it weal, or is it woe?"
+
+Perched up as this picture is above the door in the West Room, it
+is difficult to arrive at a correct appreciation of it. As far as
+we could distinguish, it is not without merit, and the expression
+of exhaustion in the figure of Murray is pretty well rendered; but
+altogether it is hardly worthy of the nervous and admirable verse
+it is intended to illustrate. Mr Armitage's _Aholibah_ has a good
+deal of pretension, but we cannot compliment him on it in any one
+respect. In the first place the subject is disgusting, and shows
+wretched taste in the artist who would select it. Then the face of
+Aholibah is ugly and repulsive, and the expression coarse in the
+extreme: the drawing of the limbs under the drapery is faulty, and
+the gazelles are out of place and out of perspective. Mr Armitage
+can do better than this. We prefer his picture in the Portland
+Gallery, of Samson tying firebrands to the foxes' tails for the
+destruction of the Philistine crops; although the face is a great
+deal too black, and we cannot understand why Samson should allow a
+fox to bite into the muscle of his thigh, as one of those in his
+grasp appears to do. Why does Mr Armitage persist in his French
+style of painting? It is quite a mistake. Let him be natural, and
+rely upon his own taste and judgment, and we think he may do better
+things.
+
+Mr Hook's _Dream of Venice_, a clever imitation of Paul Veronese,
+is a very pleasant picture. Mr F. Williams' _Holy Maiden_ is a
+pretty head, full of sentiment. We are glad to see such good promise
+given by Mr Leslie, junior, in a very humorous picture entitled _A
+Sailor's Yarn_. A thoroughbred and unmistakeable Cockney greedily
+listens to some astounding narrative, whilst, behind the credulous
+landsman, a second sailor grins admiration of his messmate, and
+contempt for the "green hand." _The Young Student_, by W. Gush, is
+a very nice picture of a youthful painter, with an artist's eye and
+a pleasing Vandykish contour of face, and with carefully painted
+hands. One of the most comical pictures in the Exhibition is a wild
+boar by Wolf. The bristly forest-ranger is making its way through
+the deep snow, leaving a long furrow behind it, along which it has
+apparently been nuzzling for provender, for its snout is garnished
+with the snow, which, combined with the sudden fore-shortening of
+the body, produces a ludicrous effect. No. 121, _Autumn--Wounded
+Woodcock_, from the same hand, has mellow and natural tints.
+
+We have kept back, almost to the last, one of our chief favourites
+in the Exhibition of the Royal Academy. Mr Sidney Cooper is in
+great force this year. He has six pictures; four of them all his
+own, two painted in conjunction with Mr F. R. Lee, R.A. With all
+respect for this artist, to whose landscapes we shall refer in
+their place, we prefer Cooper alone to Cooper in partnership. The
+two styles do not blend well, nor does Lee put his best landscapes
+into Cooper's cattle-pieces. Take the first of their pictures--No.
+23--_Cattle crossing a Ford_. As a whole it is agreeable--and
+the cattle, we need hardly say, are worthy of the best English
+cattle-painter of the day; but the landscape is feeble. In No. 298,
+_The Watering-place_, the rather heavy paint of the foliage gives a
+thin washy look to the foreground. We advise Messrs Lee and Cooper
+to hang their pictures side by side, if they will, as excellent
+specimens of their respective walks of art, but not to associate
+themselves on the same canvass. People find fault with the landscape
+part of Cooper's pictures; but it is in good keeping with the rest,
+and moreover he improves in that respect, as in others. We will
+instance No. 278, _A Mountain Group--Evening_, some charming goats,
+where the background, bathed in soft light, harmonises admirably
+with the more prominent parts of the picture. No. 454, _A Group on
+the Welsh Mountains_, is most delicately finished, quite a gem;
+and _Fordwick Meadows--Sunset_, in a somewhat broader style, is
+equally excellent. Mr Cooper's is a class of art which strongly
+appeals to the domestic and rural tastes of Englishmen. He excels
+in it, and need fear no competitors, although several artists this
+year exhibit cattle-landscapes of some merit. And here we should
+perhaps say a word about Mr Ansdell, who has put some Brobdignagian
+sheep into a landscape by Mr Creswick, (British Institution, No.
+123, _Southdowns_,) and who has rather a pretty thing in the same
+exhibition--No. 40, _The Regretted Companion_--an old hawker
+perplexed and mournful beside the body of his dead ass. We would
+gladly see this artist cease to imitate Landseer. He sacrifices his
+originality without succeeding in catching the best points of his
+model.
+
+Nos. 80, 405, 407 in the catalogue of the Academy, are Mr Lee's
+landscapes--uncombined with Cooper's cattle. The second, _A Calm
+Morning_, is the one we prefer; and a very charming picture of
+repose it is. Mr Creswick is the next upon our list. His cold
+unnatural grayness of colouring greatly detracts from the merit of
+his pictures. We are quite aware that the same reproach has been
+repeatedly addressed to him, and we should hardly have referred
+to a fault which hitherto he has either obstinately clung to, or
+been unable to correct, did not one of his pictures in the Academy
+this year give us hopes that he is on the verge of a change. No.
+542, _A Forest Farm_, is the best picture of Creswick's, in point
+of colouring, that we remember to have seen. The _slaty_ look is
+replaced by an agreeable transparency. No. 289, _In the Forest_,
+is also warmer than usual. The others are in the old style. Mr
+Linnell is more to our taste, although we cannot approve his _Christ
+and the Woman of Samaria at Jacob's Well_. In the first place the
+colour seems unnatural, altogether too brown; at the same time it
+is just possible nature may assume that extraordinarily russet
+tint in Samaria--a country to which our travels have not extended.
+But we can more confidently object to the figure of the Saviour as
+altogether unpleasant, with a harsh darkly-bearded face, devoid
+alike of resemblance to the received type, and of any divine
+expression whatever. Mr Linnell is a landscape-painter, and should
+not attempt sacred subjects or portraits, things which are quite
+out of his line. No. 395, _Crossing the Brook_, is of a better tone
+of colour; and the same artist has two other pictures, of about
+his usual average of merit, in the British Institution. The chief
+fault with which we tax Mr Linnell, (whilst freely admitting his
+great talent,) and one which may also be imputed to Mr Creswick,
+and to other clever landscape-painters of the present day, is
+the undeviating smallness of their touch, which gives, to use a
+colloquialism, a niggled look to their pictures. Hobbima, and
+Ruysdael, and others of that class--in whose footsteps we presume
+no living landscape-painter is too proud to tread--avoided this
+fault, and proportioned the fulness of their touch to the size of
+their picture. We may select an example of what we mean from the
+works of an able and industrious artist, who figures advantageously
+this year in all four exhibitions, and who, in most instances, is
+very free from the defect we refer to. Mr Sidney Percy's _Woodland
+River_, No. 207, in the Portland Gallery, is a good picture, but to
+our thinking the touch is too small for the size. Mr Percy, however,
+is a man of talent and a rising painter. In the same gallery we call
+attention, as to one of the best landscapes exhibited this year,
+to his No. 277, _Welsh Mountains_. There is an effect of aërial
+perspective in this picture, especially in the grass valley, on
+the spectator's left hand, which deserves the very highest praise.
+Several others of his eighteen pictures for 1850 deserve much
+commendation; but we can only point out No. 576, in the Academy, _A
+Limpid Pool_, and 394, _A Quiet Vale_, in the British Artists'. The
+water in the last is very good,--otherwise it is hardly one of his
+best. We would have Mr Percy to beware of hardness of treatment,
+the fault to which he is most prone. His lines are apt to be too
+sharply defined, especially his distant outlines. He should guard
+himself against this defect, and with care he may expect to attain
+great eminence as a landscape-painter. If we mistake not, he is
+one of a talented family, which also comprises Messrs Boddington
+and Gilbert, and several artists of the name of Williams, all of
+whom, we believe, devote themselves chiefly, if not exclusively,
+to landscape-painting, and either by identity of name or affinity
+of style, form a most puzzling group for conscientious critics,
+desirous, like ourselves, to sort their works and fairly distribute
+praise. We can mention but a few of their pictures, taken, nearly
+at random, from amongst a number we have marked as of merit or
+promise. In the Academy, 344, _A Valley Lane_, by A. W. Williams, is
+a charming subject, excellently treated. In the Portland Gallery,
+where many good landscapes are to be found, most of them by this
+family, we were particularly attracted by No. 41, _Noon_, also by
+A. W. Williams, and by No. 65, _Medmenham Abbey--Evening_, by G. A.
+Williams. No. 161, _A Showery Afternoon in Sussex_, by A. Gilbert,
+is remarkable as an example of the admirable effect he knows how
+to produce by the judicious and little-understood application of
+the various gradations between opacity and perfect transparency of
+colour. Mr Boddington has two nice pictures in the Academy.
+
+We cannot compliment Mr F. Danby on either of the two specimens
+of his art that he this year displays. We find it impossible to
+comprehend his colouring. That of _A Golden Moment_ (British
+Institution) is surely unnatural. Certainly it is a very rare effect
+of sunset; and the background is too bright to be consistent with
+the sombre foreground. If we turn to his picture in the Academy,
+_Spring_, we are no better pleased. That sort of dusky glow is quite
+an exaggeration of nature. Of Mr Witherington's four pictures, we
+prefer _Coniston Lake_ and _The Mountain Road_. Mr Hering's _Porto
+Fesano_ (British Institution) is a pleasing picture, and improves
+on examination; and there is a great deal of light and some pretty
+colour in the same artist's _Ruins of Rome_ in the Academy. Mr J.
+Peel has rather a pretty _Canal view_ in the Portland Gallery, in
+which, oddly enough, he has thrown the shadow of a tree the wrong
+way; and in the same exhibition Mrs Oliver has a bit of Welsh
+scenery which is pretty in spite of its finical touch. Of Mr Linton,
+who has pictures both in the Academy and British Institution, we
+cannot but speak with respect, recognising the ability of his works,
+the study they evince, and his close observation of the aspect of
+places. But they are quite for distant effect; on near approach they
+look rough and granitic, and are not a very pleasing or popular
+class of pictures.
+
+We beg Mr Boxall not to think we have forgotten him. We were
+desirous to commence the brief paragraph we can afford to portraits,
+by praising his _Geraldine_, an undraped fancy portrait, which shows
+a capital feeling for colour, and is perhaps the best specimen of
+flesh-painting in the Exhibition. It wants finish; but even without
+that it is nearly the first thing that attracts the eye when we
+glance at that side of the Middle Room. There is good colour also in
+the same artist's portrait of Mr Cubitt.
+
+Proceeding, with this exception, in numerical rotation, we notice
+No. 6, _The Hon. Caroline Dawson_, by Dubufe. The arms are rather
+flat, but it is a nice portrait, well painted, and infinitely
+superior to the same artist's picture in the British Institution--a
+French grisette with a Jewish face and an ugly mouth, holding a
+rose; the motto "Wither one rose and let the other flourish,"--a
+poor conceit and very indifferently executed. No. 52 is Mr Francis
+Grant's, the first, but not the best, of seven which he exhibits. Mr
+Grant is getting very careless. Such hands and clothes as he gives
+his sitters are really not allowable. The only carefully finished
+portrait he exhibits this year is that of Lady Elizabeth Wells,
+after which that of Miss Grant is perhaps the best. The Countess
+Bruce has an odd sort of resemblance, in the attitude or something,
+to the same painter's picture of Mr Sidney Herbert. The Duke of
+Devonshire looks vulgar. Viscount Hardinge is feeble, for Grant,
+who can do so much better. We urge this artist to take a little
+more pains, or his high reputation will dwindle. His portrait of
+Sir George Grey, now on view at Colnaghi's, is another example of
+carelessness. The face is the only finished part. Mr Watson Gordon
+understands the portrait-painter's vocation after a different
+fashion, and is most conscientious in his practice. Apart from their
+striking resemblance, his portraits are admirable as carefully
+finished works of art. His sitters this year have been, upon the
+whole, less suited to make interesting or pleasing pictures than
+several of the persons who have sat to Mr Grant; but Watson Gordon
+has done his work far more carefully. Perhaps the best of his three
+portraits is that of a lady, No. 137. The child in the same picture
+pleases us rather less. No. 175, Daniel Vere, Esq. of Stonebyres, is
+a striking likeness of that gentleman; and nothing can be better,
+in all respects, than the portrait of the Lord Justice-General of
+Scotland. Mr Buckner is, we are sorry to say, retrograding sadly.
+He rose very suddenly into public favour, and if he does not take
+care, he will rapidly decline. His portrait of Miss Lane Fox is
+perhaps his best this year. Rachel is flattered. Lady Alfred Paget
+is badly coloured, and looks in an incipient stage of blue cholera.
+We do not like Mr Pickersgill's portraits this year. For those who
+do, there are seven in the Exhibition, besides an ugly thing called
+Nourmahal. Mr G. F. Watts has painted Miss Virginia Pattle. It is
+one of the most affected pictures in the whole Exhibition. The young
+lady is perched on a platform, her figure standing out against the
+blue sky, and her feet completely hidden under her dress, which
+latter circumstance gives her an unsteady appearance, and inspires
+dread lest she should be blown from her elevation. The flesh is very
+pasty, and the general effect of the picture jejune in the extreme.
+No. 282, _The Duke of Aumale_, is by V. Mottez, and presents a
+singular combination or monotony of colour, the artist having
+seemingly carefully avoided all tints that would give warmth to his
+picture. With the exception of the insipidly fair countenance of
+the Duke, the painting is nearly all blue. It is not a disagreeable
+picture, and it perhaps gains on repeated examination; but one
+cannot get rid of an unpleasant impression of coldness. Placed next
+to Boxall's Geraldine, the flesh looks like chalk. That coarse
+but clever painter Knight has eight portraits, including several
+celebrities of one kind or other--Buckstone the comedian, Keate
+the surgeon, Sir J. Duke the mayor, Cooper the cattle-painter, and
+Mrs Fitzwilliam the actress. The picture of Sir J. Duke (who is
+represented in all the glory of civic office) is well put together;
+Cooper is laughably like; Mrs Fitzwilliam is perhaps as delicate a
+female portrait as Knight ever painted--which is not saying much
+for the others. Mr Say's portrait of Guizot is softened down and
+idealised till the character of the man is lost. In the Portland
+Gallery, No. 1 and No. 70 are by an artist whose historical pictures
+we have already commended, Mr Newenham. The first is a full length,
+size of life, of Mr Ross, the engineer; the other, Mrs Gall, is
+a sweet female countenance. Both are very good; but Mr Newenham
+is always particularly successful--indeed we can call to mind no
+living painter who is more so--in his portraits of ladies. Whilst
+avoiding flattery, he still invariably paints pleasing as well as
+correct likenesses. Such at least is the case with all those of
+his lady-portraits we have had opportunities of comparing with the
+models. Middleton has some nice portraits in this exhibition, and Mr
+J. Lucas shows a pleasing one of a young lad. And one of the most
+lifelike and speaking portraits exhibited this year is No. 286,
+by R. S. Lauder, the likeness of our old friend and much-esteemed
+contributor, the Rev. James White. A more exact resemblance we never
+saw.
+
+We have not counted them, but we are informed, and have no
+difficulty in believing, that there are 450 portraits (or
+thereabouts) in this the eighty-second exhibition of the Royal
+Academy. A very large number, out of 1456 works of art. Adding
+the portraits in the three other exhibitions, we attain a total
+of which, even after deducting drawings and miniatures, it
+is impossible for us to notice one fourth-part. And we must
+particularly remark, with respect to portraits and landscapes, what
+also applies in a less degree to the less numerous classes of
+pictures, that we have unavoidably--on account of our limited space
+to deal with so compendious a subject, and also because we would
+not reduce this article to a mere catalogue--omitted notice of many
+artists and pictures whose claims are undoubted to mention more or
+less honourable; as we have also forborne, for the same reason, and
+much more willingly, certain censures which we should have been
+justified in inflicting. Concerning portraits, however, we would
+gladly have been rather more diffuse, had we not still to take some
+notice, within the compass of a very few pages, of those exhibitions
+to which as yet we have done little more than incidentally refer.
+
+The restoration to the galleries of purchasers and studios of
+painters, of the five hundred pictures exhibited this year by the
+British Institution, diminishes the interest now attaching to that
+exhibition, and induces us to be tolerably brief in our notice of
+some of its leading features. No. 52, _The Post Office_, by F.
+Goodall, is a pretty picture enough, but displays no genius, and the
+subject suggests a comparison with Wilkie, which is not favourable.
+Mr Bullock's _Venus and Cupid_, No. 124, is about as sickly a piece
+of blue and pink as we remember to have seen. Mr Sant's _Rivals_
+gives the impression of a copy from the lid of a French plum-box. We
+have surely seen the Frenchified group in some engraving of Louis
+XV's times. Mr Woolmer's _Syrens_ displays some imagination, but the
+colouring is very bad. The sky is exaggerated, and the water seems
+to have flowed from a cesspool, suggesting unsavoury ideas of the
+extent of its contamination by the dead bodies that float upon it.
+It is a picture, nevertheless, that one is apt to look at twice. T.
+Clark's _The Horses of Rhesus captured by Ulysses and Diomed_, has
+plenty of faults, certainly, but it has also boldness and spirit,
+and makes us think the painter may hereafter do better things. No.
+205, _Lance reproving his Dog_--left unfinished by the late Sir
+A. W. Callcott, and completed by J. Callcott Horsley--includes a
+pretty bit of landscape, and the dog is not bad; but, as a whole,
+the picture does not strike us as remarkable. No. 231, _A French
+Fishing Girl_, by T. K. Fairless, is a nice bit of colouring, very
+fresh and judicious; and R. M'Innes's _Detaining a Customer_, tells
+its story well, and is of careful finish, but insipid colouring.
+Lady Macbeth, by T. F. Dicksee, is repulsive and unnatural; not the
+murderess Shakspeare conceived and Siddons acted, but a saucer-eyed
+maniac standing under a gas-lamp. No. 290, _Our Saviour after the
+Temptation_, is by Sir George Hayter, who has bestowed great pains
+without producing, as a whole, a very satisfactory result. The
+picture has certainly good points, but it speaks against its general
+excellence that we are driven to praise details. All the hands
+are particularly well done--Sir George's experience as a portrait
+painter having here availed him. The colouring of Christ's dress is
+good, but generally there is an abuse of yellow in the picture. The
+angels have no backs to their heads, but this phrenological defect
+is perhaps intentional, to convey the artist's notion of an angel by
+indicating the absence of gross passions. G. Cole's _Don Quixote and
+Sancho Panza in Pedro's hut_ is humorous, but quite a caricature.
+The painter seems to have studied to establish a resemblance
+between the men and their respective beasts. Another laughable
+picture is Mrs C. Smith's _Irish Piper_, whose companion _The
+Irish Card-cutter_ is No. 206 in the British Artists'. As works of
+art, they have little merit, but one cannot help acknowledging and
+laughing at the vulgar humour and truth to nature they both contain.
+Mr Selous' _The First Impression_, Gutemberg showing to his wife
+his first experiment in printing from movable types, is perhaps the
+best picture in the South Room. There is an air of nature about Mr
+W. Wyld's _Smugglers' halt in the Sierra Morena_; but the figures,
+although well grouped, are on too small a scale for much interest,
+and the landscape lacks attraction. Our old friend George Cruikshank
+gives full scope to his rich humour in No. 100, _Sancho's surprise
+on seeing the Squire of the Wood's Nose_; and 455, _Disturbing the
+Congregation_. This last is inimitable--brimful of fun. A charity
+boy has let his peg-top fall during service, and the awful clatter
+upon the church pavement draws all eyes in the direction of the
+delinquent. This is a picture that must be seen, not described;
+but our readers will imagine all the fun Cruikshank would make of
+such a subject--the terrified face of the culprit, in vain affecting
+unconsciousness, and the awful countenance of the beadle. We must
+say a word of Mr J. F. Herring's _A Farmyard_, which contains some
+good horses; but he has huddled his objects too much together, his
+colouring is very opaque, and there is a want of air and perspective
+in the picture. There is the same defect of thick colour in Mr H.
+Jutsum's pretty composition, _Evening--coming home to the Farm_.
+
+We have already mentioned several pictures in the Portland Gallery,
+including a portrait by Mr R. S. Lauder, (the president of this
+new society,) which is perhaps the best, although one of the most
+unpretending, of the seven pictures he exhibits. We do not discern
+any very great merit in two carefully painted illustrations of
+Quentin Durward. We should like to know on what authority Mr Lauder
+makes a tall, large-limbed man of Louis XI., and how he intends to
+get him and the raw-boned Scot through the door in No. 166, without
+a most unkingly deviation from the perpendicular. There is here a
+fault of perspective. And Mr Lauder should beware of repetition.
+We remember the lady behind the tapestry in No. 45, in at least
+a dozen of his pictures. This, however, is the best of the pair,
+and there is good painting in it. His most important picture this
+year is that of _Christ appearing to two of his Disciples on the
+way to Emmaus_. This is certainly a fine work, although there is
+much opposition of opinion respecting it. There is undoubtedly a
+fine sentiment in the colouring, which is peculiarly applicable to
+the subject. Mr M'Ian is in great force here, with no less than
+ten pictures. We like this artist for the character and energy he
+infuses into his productions. His most attractive picture this
+year is No. 55, _Here's his health in Water!_ thus explained--"A
+Highland gentleman of 1715, in Carlisle prison, the day previous to
+his execution, receiving the last visit of his mother, wife, and
+children, and instilling into his son--the future Highland gentleman
+of 1745--the principles of loyalty." The face of the condemned
+Highlander is full of vigour and determination, as is also that of
+his mother, a resolute old lady, who seems to confirm his precepts
+to her grandchild. The countenances of the sorrowing wife and of
+the little girl, whose attention is distracted by the opening of
+the prison door, are natural and pleasing. The boy, a sturdy scion
+of the old stock, drinks King James's health out of the prison-mug
+of water. We will not omit to praise Mrs M'Ian's very well-painted
+picture of _Captivity and Liberty_--gipsies in prison, with swallows
+twittering in the loophole that affords them light. There is a
+nice feeling about this picture, which includes a handsome gipsy
+face; it is careful in its details, and very effective in point of
+chiaroscuro. No. 251, _A Jealous Man, disguised as a Priest, hears
+the confession of his Wife_, is a subject (from the _Decameron_)
+of which more might have been made than there has been by Mr D. W.
+Deane. The countenances lack decided expression. Several artists
+have this year painted scenes from the _Tempest_, and Mr A. Fussell
+is one of the number. It were to be wished he had abstained. His
+picture of _Caliban, Ariel, and his fellows_, is very bad indeed.
+He should be less ambitious in his subjects, or at least less
+fantastical in their treatment. It is unintelligible to us how
+this picture illustrates the passage quoted. Nos. 264-5 are Mr H.
+Barraud's pictures:--_Lord have mercy upon us_, and _We praise
+thee, O God!_ the engravings of which have for some time past been
+in every shop-window. We are really at a loss to comprehend the
+_engouement_ for these pictures, which seem to us as deficient in
+real sentiment as they are feeble in execution. They are pretty
+enough, certainly, but that is all the praise we are disposed to
+accord them. There is no great beauty in the faces; and one of the
+boys (on the spectator's right hand) is a mere lout, without any
+expression whatever. The Messrs Barraud have a great many pictures
+in this exhibition--amongst others, No. 199, _The Curfew_, their
+joint production, which is pretty, but in respect to which it
+strikes us that they have read Gray's poem wrong, for the light
+in their picture is not that of parting day, but of approaching
+sunset. Mr Rayner's _Beauchamp Chapel, Warwick_, is a good picture;
+Mr Niemann's _Kenilworth from the Tilt-yard_, and _Landscape_, No.
+72, also deserve praise; Mr Dighton is very effective in some of
+his landscapes and studies. Upon the whole, this young exhibition
+promises well.
+
+Driven to our utmost limits, we must conclude, without further
+mention than we have already here and there made of the Society of
+British Artists in Suffolk Street; and we do so with the less regret
+because that gallery contains but a small proportion of pictures
+of merit. Mr Anthony contributes a very large number of his odd
+paintings, some of which are rather effective at a distance; but it
+is not a style we admire. Finally, we have with pleasure noticed,
+during our many rambles through the different galleries, that the
+public not only visit but buy; and we trust that the year 1850 will
+prove profitable and satisfactory to British artists, in the same
+proportion that it undoubtedly is creditable to their industry,
+and, upon the whole, highly honourable to their talents. One word
+more we will say at parting. In this article we have written down
+opinions, formed neither hastily nor partially, of whose soundness,
+although critics will always differ, we venture to feel pretty
+confident. We have applied ourselves to point out merits rather
+than defects, and to distribute praise in preference to blame; but
+we should have failed in our duty to ourselves and the public, had
+we altogether abstained from the latter. We well know, however, the
+many difficulties and discouragements that beset the path of the
+painter. And it would be matter for sincere regret to us, if, in the
+freedom of our remarks, we had unwittingly hurt the feelings of any
+man who is honestly and earnestly striving in the pursuit of a very
+difficult art--although his success may as yet be incommensurate
+with his industry and zeal.
+
+
+
+
+THE YEAR OF SORROW.--IRELAND--1849.
+
+SPRING SONG.
+
+
+    Once more, through God's high will and grace,
+      Of Hours that each its task fulfils,
+    Heart-healing Spring resumes its place;--
+      The valley throngs and scales the hills,
+
+    In vain. From earth's deep heart o'ercharged,
+      The exulting life runs o'er in flowers;--
+    The slave unfed is unenlarged:
+      In darkness sleep a nation's powers.
+
+    Who knows not Spring? Who doubts, when blows
+      Her breath, that Spring is come indeed?
+    The swallow doubts not; nor the rose
+      That stirs, but wakes not, nor the weed.
+
+    I feel her near, but see her not,
+      For those with pain-uplifted eyes
+    Fall back repulsed; and vapours blot
+      The vision of the earth and skies.
+
+    I see her not; I feel her near,
+      As, charioted in mildest airs,
+    She sails through yon empyreal sphere,
+      And in her arms and bosom bears
+
+    That urn of flowers and lustral dews,
+      Whose sacred balm, o'er all things shed,
+    Revives the weak, the old renews,
+      And crowns with votive wreaths the dead.
+
+    Once more the cuckoo's call I hear;
+      I know, in many a glen profound,
+    The earliest violets of the year
+      Rise up like water from the ground.
+
+    The thorn I know once more is white;
+      And, far down many a forest dale,
+    The anemones in dubious light
+      Are trembling like a bridal veil.
+
+    By streams released that singing flow
+      From craggy shelf through sylvan glades,
+    The pale narcissus, well I know,
+      Smiles hour by hour on greener shades.
+
+    The honeyed cowslip tufts once more
+      The golden slopes;--with gradual ray
+    The primrose stars the rock, and o'er
+      The wood-path strews its milky way.
+
+    --From ruined huts and holes come forth
+      Old men, and look upon the sky!
+    The Power Divine is on the earth:--
+      Give thanks to God before ye die!
+
+    And ye, O children worn and weak,
+      Who care no more with flowers to play,
+    Lean on the grass your cold, thin cheek,
+      And those slight hands, and whispering, say,
+
+    "Stern Mother of a race unblest--
+      In promise kindly, cold in deed;
+    Take back, O Earth, into thy breast,
+      The children whom thou wilt not feed."
+
+
+
+
+IRELAND--1849.
+
+AUTUMNAL DIRGE.
+
+
+    Then die, thou Year--thy work is done:
+      The work ill done is done at last.
+    Far off, beyond that sinking sun,
+      Which sets in blood, I hear the blast
+
+    That sings thy dirge, and says--"Ascend,
+      And answer make amid thy peers,
+    (Since all things here must have an end,)
+      Thou latest of the famine years!"
+
+    I join that voice. No joy have I
+      In all thy purple and thy gold,
+    Nor in the nine-fold harmony
+      From forest on to forest rolled:
+
+    Nor in that stormy western fire,
+      Which burns on ocean's gloomy bed,
+    And hurls, as from a funeral pyre,
+      A glare that strikes the mountain's head;
+
+    And writes on low-hung clouds its lines
+      Of cyphered flame, with hurrying hand;
+    And flings amid the topmost pines
+      That crown the steep, a burning brand.
+
+    Make answer, Year, for all they dead,
+      Who found not rest in hallowed earth,
+    The widowed wife, the father fled,
+      The babe age-stricken from his birth.
+
+    Make answer, Year, for virtue lost;
+      For Faith, that vanquished fraud and force,
+    Now waning like a noontide ghost;
+      Affections poisoned at their source:
+
+    The labourer spurned his lying spade;
+      The yeoman spurned his useless plough;
+    The pauper spurned the unwholesome aid,
+      Obtruded once, exhausted now.
+
+    The weaver wove till all was dark,
+      And, long ere morning, bent and bowed
+    Above his work with fingers stark;
+      And made, nor knew he made, a shroud.
+
+    The roof-trees fall of hut and hall,
+      I hear them fall, and falling cry--
+    "One fate for each, one fate for all;
+      So wills the Law that willed a lie."
+
+    Dread power of Man! what spread the waste
+      In circles, hour by hour more wide,
+    And would not let the past be past?--
+      The Law that promised much, and lied.
+
+    Dread power of God! whom mortal years
+      Nor touch, nor tempt; who sitt'st sublime
+    In night of night,--O bid thy spheres
+      Resound at last a funeral chime.
+
+    Call up, at last, the afflicted Race
+      Whom Man not God abolished. Sore,
+    For centuries, their strife: the place
+      That knew them once shall know no more.
+
+
+
+
+IRELAND--1849.
+
+WINTER DIRGE.
+
+
+    Fall, Snow, and cease not! Flake by flake
+      The decent winding-sheet compose:
+    Thy task is just and pious; make
+      An end of blasphemies and woes.
+
+    Fall flake by flake: by thee alone,
+      Last friend, the sleeping draught is given:
+    Kind nurse, by thee the couch is strewn,
+      The couch whose covering is from heaven.
+
+    Descend and clasp the mountain's crest;
+      Possess wide plain and valley deep:--
+    This night, in thy maternal breast
+      Forsaken myriads die in sleep.
+
+    Lo! from the starry Temple gates
+      Death rides, and bears the flag of peace:
+    The combatants he separates;
+      He bids the wrath of ages cease.
+
+    Descend, benignant Power! But O,
+      Ye torrents, shake no more the vale;
+    Dark streams, in silence seaward flow;
+      Thou rising storm, remit thy wail.
+
+    Shake not, to-night, the cliffs of Moher,
+      Or Brandon's base, rough sea! Thou Isle,
+    The Rite proceeds:--from shore to shore
+      Hold in thy gathered breath the while.
+
+    Fall, snow! in stillness fall, like dew
+      On temple roof, and cedar's fan;
+    And mould thyself on pine and yew,
+      And on the awful face of man.
+
+    Without a sound, without a stir,
+      In streets and wolds, on rock and mound,
+    O omnipresent comforter,
+      By thee, this night, the lost are found.
+
+    On quaking moor, and mountain moss,
+      With eyes upstaring at the sky,
+    And arms extended like a cross,
+      The long-expectant sufferers lie.
+
+    Bend o'er them, white-robed Acolyte!
+      Put forth thine hand from cloud and mist,
+    And minister the last sad rite,
+      Where altar there is none, nor priest.
+
+    Touch thou the gates of soul and sense:
+      Touch darkening eyes and dying ears;
+    Touch stiffening hand and feet, and thence
+      Remove the trace of sin and tears.
+
+    And ere thou seal those filmed eyes,
+      Into God's urn thy fingers dip,
+    And lay, 'mid eucharistic sighs,
+      The sacred wafer on the lip.
+
+    This night the Absolver issues forth:
+      This night the Eternal Victim bleeds--
+    O winds and woods--O heaven and earth!
+      Be still this night. The Rite proceeds.
+
+
+
+
+LONDON AND EDINBURGH CHESS MATCH.
+
+
+If we pique ourselves on anything, it is on our invincible
+good-nature. We are as slow to be roused as a brown bear in the
+midst of its winter sleep; and, if we were let alone, we very much
+doubt whether, by any conceivable exertion, we could work ourselves
+into a downright passion. But, somehow or other, it constantly
+happens that people of a less tranquil mood step in to deprive
+us of the enjoyment of our untroubled repose. At one time some
+worthy fellow entreats us to take up the public cudgel and belabour
+a blatant Economist. At another, we are pathetically besought
+to administer due castigation to some literary sinner who has
+transgressed the first principles of decency, morality, and taste.
+One friend implores us, with tears in his eyes, to take up the case
+of the oppressed and injured washerwomen: a second puts a tomahawk
+into our hand, and benevolently suggests the severment of the skull
+of a charlatan: a third writes to us regarding a rowing match, in
+which he opines gross injustice has been done by the umpire to
+the Buffs, and he fervently prays for our powerful assistance in
+vindicating the honour of the Blues.
+
+In all national questions, it seems to be expected that we are to
+act with the devotion of a knight-errant. Whenever Scotland is
+assailed, the general impression is that we are bound to stand
+forth, and incontinently give battle to the enemy: and we believe
+it will be admitted that we have done so before now with no
+inconsiderable effect. It so happens that, at the present juncture,
+several of our most esteemed compatriots, feeling themselves deeply
+aggrieved by the _outrecuidance_ of the Southron, have laid the
+story of their wrongs before us; and, after a deliberate review of
+the whole circumstances of the case, we feel ourselves compelled to
+come forward in behalf of our countrymen. Let no man venture to say
+that Chess is an ignoble subject. It is, if properly considered, as
+recondite a science as mathematics. Kings, conquerors, and sages
+have not thought it beneath them to ponder over the chequered board;
+and it may be that the noble game has contributed in no light degree
+to the success of their most triumphant efforts. We know of no
+absorption more complete than that which possesses the mind of a
+true votary of chess. Watch him as he is contemplating his moves,
+and his countenance is a perfect study for the physiognomist. He
+may not perhaps be the most agreeable of companions, but we cannot
+expect loquacity from men of high intellect whilst engaged in
+deepest rumination.
+
+Let us, however, dispense as much as possible with preface, and
+come to the actual offence which has induced us to take up our
+pen in vindication of the national honour. Our attention has been
+called to what is undoubtedly a departure from the fair and liberal
+spirit which ought to actuate antagonists--in short, by an attempt
+to deprive the Edinburgh Chess Club of laurels which were fairly
+and honourably won. It is all very well for men who have been
+beaten to apply salves to their wounded vanity, and to persuade
+themselves that they have failed rather through misfortune than
+from any deficiency of skill. Napoleon used to amuse himself at
+St Helena by demonstrating that he _ought_ to have won the battle
+of Waterloo--a position in which, we doubt not, Count Montholon
+and General Bertrand entirely concurred, though, after a certain
+time, they must have been tolerably sick of the subject. But these
+affirmations of the Emperor did not serve the purpose of reinstating
+him on the throne of France; and, in like manner, opine that the
+writers who, at this time of day, are, applying themselves to the
+task of persuading the public that the great match at chess between
+Edinburgh and London, which was won by Edinburgh in 1828, ought to
+have terminated otherwise, are losing their labour, and, moreover,
+placing themselves in a very ridiculous position.
+
+We like to see a man take a beating in good part. The Southron
+may come here and vanquish us at cricket, and we shall submit to
+be bowled or caught out with the utmost equanimity--no member of
+the Grange Club will retire to the cloister in consequence. He may
+extinguish our renown at rackets, or even soar considerably above
+our mark in the altitude of the flying-leap. We shall not cavil at
+the result, should some Southron Robin Hood defeat the Queen's Body
+Guard in the toxophilite competition which is about to take place in
+this city. We shall not be jealous if the stranger beats us; and if,
+in return, we should extinguish him utterly at golf or throwing the
+hammer, we promise to crow as mildly as the plenitude of our lungs
+will permit. But we have no idea of pushing complaisance to such an
+extraordinary point, as to permit our real victories to be perverted
+and annulled at the hands of a defeated adversary. Hector _might_
+have beaten Achilles, but he did not; and the mere fact of a remote
+possibility having once existed, will not justify us in giving the
+lie to Homer. We make every allowance for testiness; still we cannot
+help thinking it extraordinary that those feelings of mortification,
+which might perhaps have been excusable in the defeated party at
+the moment of the antagonist's triumph, should manifest themselves
+as strongly as ever nearly a quarter of a century after the
+contest--and that, too, in persons who took no actual share in it,
+and are comparatively strangers to the views and opinions of those
+really concerned.
+
+English chess-players have the command of all the chess-periodicals,
+which emanate chiefly, if not exclusively, from the London press;
+and which have, for many years back, been made the vehicles of
+repeated observations intended to depreciate the triumph of
+Scotland. Of late these have been even more than usually frequent.
+And within the last year, the _Quarterly Review_, which, like the
+trunk of an elephant, is as ready to pick up a pin as to uproot a
+tree, has opened its pages for remarks on the chess match, conceived
+in no very handsome spirit towards the Scotch champions. This we
+do not consider to be justifiable conduct on the part of our bulky
+contemporary. In the accomplished editor--himself a Scot--it is
+in direct antagonism to the principles of Richie, the servitor of
+Nigel, who made so vigorous a stand for the credit of the Water of
+Leith; and we regret to observe so palpable a falling off from the
+fervid patriotism of the Moniplies. The uniform burden of the song
+is, that the event of the match was determined by an accident,--or
+by what they reckon as nearly equivalent to an accident--an
+oversight upon the part of the London Club, to which the best of
+players are liable, and which in this instance is said to have been
+rather ungenerously taken advantage of by Edinburgh. The Scottish
+players have hitherto said very little upon the subject, contenting
+themselves with a short but perfectly satisfactory answer, made
+immediately after the termination of the match, to some observations
+of Mr Lewis, in which, while they conclusively disposed of his views
+and inferences, they at the same time stated, that they were "far
+from begrudging to the London Club the usual consolation of a beaten
+adversary--of going back upon a game, and showing that, if they had
+played otherwise at a particular point, they could have won the
+game." The constant reiteration of the English statement, however,
+is calculated to produce an erroneous impression in the minds of
+those not acquainted with the merits of the question.
+
+The London and Edinburgh chess match, which was played by
+correspondence, was begun in the year 1824. It was the result of a
+challenge given by the Edinburgh Club, which was then only in its
+infancy. The terms agreed on were, that the match should consist
+of three won games; and that, in case of any game being drawn, a
+new one, begun by the same opener, should take its place. The match
+commenced on 23d April 1824. Two games were opened simultaneously.
+The first game was opened by the Edinburgh Club; and in sending
+their first answering move, the London Club also sent the first move
+of the second game. The first game, which consisted of 35 moves,
+was, on 14th December 1824, declared to be drawn. The second, which
+consisted of 52 moves, was resigned by the London Club on 23d
+February 1825. The third game--opened by the Edinburgh Club in place
+of the first game, which had been drawn--was begun on 20th December
+1824; it consisted of 99 moves, and was drawn on 18th March 1828.
+The fourth game, begun by the Edinburgh Club, on 26th February 1825,
+was resigned by them on 15th September 1826, at the 55th move. The
+fifth game, begun by the Edinburgh Club, on 6th October 1826, was
+resigned by the London Club on 31st July 1828, at the 60th move--and
+this determined the match in favour of Edinburgh.
+
+The simple statement of these details is sufficient altogether to
+exclude the idea that the result of the match was a mere accident,
+where manifestly inferior players profited by the unfortunate
+blunder of their superior antagonists. Though the Edinburgh Club
+had lost, instead of gaining, two out of the three games, it would
+still have been in vain to maintain that the play in the match
+showed them to be unquestionably inferior. The contest was a long
+and severe one. When the fifth and deciding game was proceeding,
+each party had gained one game, and there had been two drawn games,
+both of which were keenly disputed, without the least advantage in
+favour of London at any point of either; while, on the other hand,
+in the third game, Edinburgh had obtained an advantage, though
+not sufficient to enable them to checkmate their adversaries. It
+has never been pretended, by the most unscrupulous partisan of
+England, that the winning of the fifth game was ascribable to an
+oversight. On the contrary, their chess writers have, with most
+becoming fairness and candour, always referred to it as an instance
+of admirable play on the part of Edinburgh; and members of the
+London committee, who shortly after happened to visit Edinburgh,
+acknowledged that their committee were quite unable to discover the
+object of particular moves, the effect of which had been previously
+calculated, and reduced to demonstration by the Edinburgh players.
+Is there, in all this, such evidence of overwhelming superiority on
+the part of the English players, that their losing the match _must_
+have been an accident?
+
+But it is time to inquire a little more minutely into the so-called
+blunder, which the Englishmen say was the cause of their defeat. And
+here it is but fair to give their statement in their own words. The
+_Quarterly_ reviewer says--
+
+     "Perhaps the most remarkable instance on record of a strict
+     enforcement of the tenor of chess law occurred in the celebrated
+     match, by correspondence, between the London and Edinburgh
+     Clubs. At the 27th move of the second game, the London Club
+     threw a rook away. How they did so, Mr Lewis explains in the
+     following words:--'The 26th, 27th, and 28th moves were sent on
+     the same day to the Edinburgh Club. This was done to save time.
+     It so happened that the secretary, whose duty it was to write
+     the letters, had an engagement which compelled him to leave the
+     Club two hours earlier than usual--the letter was therefore
+     posted at three instead of five o'clock. In the mean time, one
+     of the members discovered that the 2d move (the 27th) had not
+     been sufficiently examined.[10] An application was immediately
+     made at the Post-office for the letter, which was refused. In
+     consequence, a second letter was transmitted by the same post to
+     the Edinburgh Club, retracting the 2d and 3d moves, and abiding
+     only by the first. The Edinburgh Club, in answer, gave it as
+     their decided opinion that the London Club were bound by their
+     letter, and that no move could be retracted: they therefore
+     insisted on the moves being played. The London Club conceded the
+     point, though they differed in opinion.'
+
+     "We cannot but think, under all the circumstances, the Edinburgh
+     Club were to blame. What rendered the mishap more vexatious to
+     the Londoners was, that whereas they had a won game before, they
+     now barely lost it, and thereby the match, which the winning
+     of this game would have decided in their favour. There can be
+     little doubt that the London Club (then comprising Messrs Lewis,
+     Fraser, and Cochrane) was the strongest of the two. On the part
+     of Edinburgh, we believe the lion's share of the work fell to
+     the late Mr Donaldson."
+
+
+  [10] It is of importance to keep in view that it never was asserted
+  that the _first_ move, the 26th, had not been sufficiently examined;
+  and it will be immediately seen that that move was adhered to, no
+  attempt being made to recall it. The truth is, that the London Club
+  could not have played a better move than their 27th. Their mistake,
+  as was first discovered by the Edinburgh Club, was in the 26th move,
+  the one adhered to _after examination_.
+
+In the remarks on the London and Amsterdam match, in Mr Staunton's
+periodical, (the _Chess-Player's Chronicle_,) for February 1850,
+there is the following passage:--
+
+     "If the relative skill of the competitors engaged on each side
+     were to be the gauge by which to estimate the probable result of
+     a contest like this, it would have been easy to predict to which
+     party victory would incline; and we should have wondered at the
+     daring gallantry that prompted the little band of Hollanders to
+     challenge the leviathans of London. Experience, however, has
+     shown that, in a match of chess by correspondence, the battle
+     is not always to the strong, and that foresight and profound
+     calculation are of infinitely less account, when the men may be
+     moved experimentally, than they are in ordinary chess, where
+     conclusions must be tried by the head, and not by the hand. Of
+     this, indeed, the archives of the London Club afford a memorable
+     instance. In March 1824, a proposal was made to this Club by the
+     Club at Edinburgh, to play a match at chess by correspondence
+     for a silver cup; the match to consist of three games,
+     (irrespective of drawn games;) two games to be played together,
+     and the winner of the first game to have the move in the third.
+     The London Club at this period was in the pride and plenitude
+     of its strength, and the committee appointed to conduct the
+     match comprised every name of note among the chess-players of
+     the metropolis. The Edinburgh Chess-Club, on the other hand, was
+     composed of amateurs comparatively unknown and inexperienced,
+     and possessed one player only--the late Mr Donaldson--capable of
+     making anything like a stand 'over the board' with any of the
+     London chiefs. In an ordinary contest, indeed, over the board,
+     it was the old odds of Lombard Street to a China orange! Maugre
+     all the advantages of superior skill and practice, however,
+     the Londoners lost the battle, and lost it by a blunder as
+     ridiculous as it was vexatious, at the very moment, too, when
+     the game was in their hands."
+
+The general remarks on playing by correspondence in this last
+passage are evidently made to furnish a pretence for introducing the
+notice of the London and Edinburgh match; and they share the fate of
+all such forced work. They are absolute nonsense. The probability
+that a decidedly superior will overcome an inferior player, is not
+at all diminished by the circumstance that the match is played by
+correspondence. On the contrary, we should rather be inclined to
+say that the chance of an inferior player's escape in a single
+game or so is almost extinguished where the match is played by
+correspondence; because the time given for deliberation increases
+the improbability of his antagonist's erring from carelessness, or
+not taking in the whole position of the game, which sometimes occurs
+in playing over the board. But there is an inconsequence in the
+whole argument which surprises us to find in anything sanctioned
+by a person of Mr Staunton's unquestionable powers of mind. The
+loss of the match by London is not to be wondered at, it is said,
+because it was a match by correspondence; and the immediate cause
+of their losing it was the commission of a ridiculous and vexatious
+blunder! To make this anything like logic, it would be necessary to
+hold that ridiculous and vexatious blunders are more likely to be
+committed when the player has time and opportunity to consider his
+moves, and to make experiments upon their effect, than where he is
+under the necessity of moving at once in presence of an adversary,
+and possibly of spectators, apt to get impatient at long delay. It
+is plain that the game's being played by correspondence was the
+very circumstance calculated to render the London Club's particular
+excuse for losing all the more untenable.
+
+It is quite true, however, that at a particular stage of the game
+opened by the London Club, (being one of the two games with which
+the match commenced,) the London Club might have won the game, by
+playing other moves than they did. This may be said of every game;
+but it is as unusual as it is unhandsome for the unsuccessful party,
+merely because he has missed such an opportunity of winning, to
+refuse all credit to his adversary for afterwards defeating him. In
+the third game, which was drawn, the Edinburgh Club would have won
+if they had played a different 51st move from that which they did.
+But this did not lead them to make depreciatory remarks about their
+antagonists: all that their report bears on this point is, that the
+London Club "conducted a difficult defence with great skill and
+dexterity, and finally succeeded in drawing the game."
+
+Further, the remarks above quoted are calculated to produce an
+erroneous idea respecting the situation and conduct of the two
+clubs in the second game. The sophistry consists in mixing up two
+entirely separate and unconnected things. In this same game in which
+the London Club failed to observe that they had a winning position,
+they applied to have two of their moves recalled after they were
+despatched, and the Edinburgh committee refused their request. Now
+the obvious tendency of all that the English writers say upon the
+subject is to create the impression that if the London Club had been
+allowed to recall these two moves, they would have retained their
+winning position. This is plainly the only construction that the
+passage in the _Quarterly Review_ is capable of bearing. It is the
+only construction which would justify his remarks, or make them at
+all intelligible. But it is quite incorrect. The only moves which
+the London committee wished to recall were the 27th and 28th; but
+they have never attempted to show that if they had been allowed to
+do so, they could have won the game. It has been demonstrated, over
+and over again, that they could not. In fact, the moves they wished
+to recall were as good as any others then in their power. They might
+have drawn the game if these moves had been played; and they could
+have done no more had they been allowed to recall them. This matter
+was set at rest while the match was still pending, by a proposal
+which emanated from the Edinburgh Club. When the Londoners lost the
+game, Mr Lewis insinuated, though he did not expressly state, that
+if they had not been held to the 27th and 28th moves, they would
+have won the game. A member of the Edinburgh Club then offered to
+play a back-game with any one or more of the London Club, in which
+the London players were to be allowed a new 27th move instead of
+the one they had made, and wished to recall; and also another
+back-game in which the Edinburgh player was to take the London side
+_at an earlier stage of the game_, with the view of showing that,
+by playing differently, the London Club might have won it. This
+proposal was under consideration of the London Club _for several
+weeks_, during which they satisfied themselves that the recall of
+the 27th and 28th moves would be of no use, and, accordingly, it was
+declined. It is surely not very uncharitable to surmise that it was
+during this period, and on the suggestion of their opponents, that
+they discovered that the error was not in the 27th move which they
+had proposed to recall, but in the 26th, which they had examined and
+adhered to. In his first publication of the games, Mr Lewis gives
+no back-game on this 26th move; and it is believed that no member
+of the London Club was aware, till the game was finished, that by
+playing differently at the 26th move they might have won it. But Mr
+Lewis admits that the game could not be won by a mere alteration
+of the 27th or 28th move; and any one who says that it could, is
+either speaking in ignorance of the subject, or is making a wilful
+misrepresentation. The likelihood of the remarks of the English
+writers producing an erroneous impression arises from their mixing
+up these two separate and distinct things: 1st, that at a previous
+stage of the game, the London Club had a winning position which they
+did not discover, and failed to avail themselves of; and, 2d, that
+the Edinburgh Club would not allow them to retract the 27th and
+28th moves. These two facts have no longer any possible connection
+with each other when it is known that, at the 27th move, the London
+Club had ceased to have a winning position, and that the recall
+of that move would have been of no use to them. The failure, at a
+previous stage of the game, to maintain the winning position which
+they had, is simply one among several illustrations which occurred
+in the match, of the truth that the London Club, "in the pride and
+plenitude of its strength," did not always play as well as it was
+possible to have done. How such things show that superiority on
+the part of London, which they are brought forward to establish, we
+confess ourselves unable to understand, unless we were to adopt the
+principle of the _Chess-Players' Chronicle_, that it is the best
+players who are most likely to commit errors in conducting a match
+by correspondence!!
+
+It seems to be a source of melancholy consolation to the English
+players, that their Club committed a "ridiculous and vexatious
+blunder." We are sorry that, in our strict regard for truth, we must
+deprive them even of that comfort. The losing of the disputed game
+was not a ridiculous blunder, however vexatious. On the contrary,
+the series of moves by which they lost the chance of winning, was
+at first a very promising attack, and had the additional temptation
+of appearing brilliant and enterprising. If any chess-player will
+set up the men at the 27th move of the London Club, or glance at
+the diagram given in Mr Staunton's periodical for May 1850, he will
+see that nothing but the utmost skill and caution on the part of
+Edinburgh could have successfully warded off the attack. The London
+Club had not contemplated the defence which they met with; and if,
+in these circumstances, they were seduced into an ingenious but
+unsound attack, it may be conceded that they manifested want of
+circumspection, an important qualification in a chess-player; but
+they cannot be accused of committing a ridiculous blunder. They
+talk of having "thrown away" a rook. They did no such thing. The
+rook was played not by mistake, but for the very purpose of being
+taken in the course of their dashing but unsuccessful attack. And in
+Mr Lewis's analyses, it will be found that many of his methods of
+winning, at previous stages of the game, involve this very sacrifice
+of the rook.
+
+The refusal of the Edinburgh Club to allow the recall of the 27th
+and 28th moves loses all its importance when it is known that it did
+not affect the fate of the game. But we should in any circumstances
+be sorry to believe that, in so refusing, they had done what
+deserved the censure bestowed on them by the _Quarterly_ reviewer.
+In considering the propriety of their conduct, there are only two
+lights in which the request may be viewed. They were either asked
+to do what the London Club had a right to demand, or they were
+asked to grant a favour to the London Club. We do not know that the
+former view is supported by any of the English writers. Even the
+_Quarterly_ reviewer does not say that the London Club had a _right_
+to recall the moves; and on this question of right it appears to
+us that there cannot be the least shadow of a doubt. The letter
+containing the moves was despatched to the Post-office. It was held
+by the Post-office for the party to whom it was addressed, and was
+entirely beyond the control of the party sending it. The piece,
+in every sense, was therefore "let go" by the player; and the 8th
+Article of Sarratt's laws of chess, by which it was agreed that the
+games should be played, provides that "as long as a player holds
+a piece, he is at liberty to play it where he chooses; but when
+he has _let it go_, he cannot recall his move." Accordingly, the
+London Club never attempted to contest the question of right. They
+stated that they had "no hesitation in acceding to the Edinburgh
+Committee's construction," and adhering to the moves. In fact, the
+construction put on the point by the Edinburgh Club was not only
+assented to by the London players at the time, but several members
+of the committee admitted afterwards, that it was unquestionably the
+right way of dealing with the case, and no member of the London Club
+ever hinted a complaint on the subject, except what was insinuated
+by Mr Lewis in the publication referred to.
+
+Were the Edinburgh Club "_to blame_" for not granting the favour
+which was asked of them? On this question we think there is quite
+as little doubt as the other. We have a strong and decided opinion
+as to the necessity of strict play in _all_ games. It is the only
+fair and rational system; for once allow indulgence, and it is
+impossible to fix the limit at which it should stop. But we think
+that the remark applies with peculiar force to the game of chess,
+in which rigour is absolutely essential to the acquisition of the
+habits fitted for the proper playing of the game. Above all, in an
+important match at chess, anything but the strict game is entirely
+out of the question. A high-spirited antagonist will scorn to ask
+a favour, or even to grumble about the commission of a blunder.
+He submits in silence, and plays on in the hope of retrieving his
+fault by redoubled care and attention. If, on the other hand, he
+were to be expected to grant favours to his blundering antagonist,
+it is plain that his very good qualities would be turned to his
+disadvantage in the match. The Edinburgh Club played in the belief
+that the rules of the game were to apply with equal strictness to
+both parties; and though there was more than one instance in which
+they would have been glad to recall a move, they never proposed
+this, or even spoke of the occasions for it, except in answer to Mr
+Lewis's observations on the proposed recall of the 27th move. In
+the very game in which this move was made, the Edinburgh committee
+had at a _previous_ point in the game made a move which they
+discovered to be unsound, or at least doubtful. Their report bears
+that "application was made to the Post-office to have the letter
+containing it restored, but without effect. Finding this to be the
+case, the letter was looked upon as delivered, the Post-office being
+regarded as holding it, not on behalf of the Club from which it had
+been sent, but on behalf of the Club to which it was addressed;
+and therefore no attempt was made to countermand the move, by
+transmitting another letter by the same post. The 8th article of
+the laws was considered to be too clear and explicit to warrant a
+recall." This conduct of the Edinburgh Club appears to us the manly
+and proper way of dealing with such a circumstance, and infinitely
+better than trying to make it the foundation of a complaint of
+rigorous procedure on the part of their opponents.
+
+The same thing happened again to the Edinburgh Club in the fourth
+game. In consequence of having put up the game erroneously, they
+sent an impossible move--that is to say, they directed a Knight to
+be moved to a square already occupied by their King. They discovered
+the mistake before the letter had left Edinburgh, but considered
+themselves as having incurred the penalty of playing an impossible
+move, which was, in the option of their adversary, either to move
+the Knight to some other square, or to move their King. Of these
+two, the move of the _King_ was infinitely the better play, and
+therefore, in order to save time, a note was written on the outside
+of the letter explaining the mistake, and stating that the Edinburgh
+committee held themselves bound to move the _Knight_, which it was
+presumed the London Club would enforce, as the more severe penalty.
+The London Club did so; and yet Mr Lewis, in his notes to this
+game, rather disingenuously, as it appears to us, represented the
+London Club as having yielded an advantage to their antagonists, in
+accepting the move of the Knight. This merely accidental blunder, on
+the part of the Edinburgh Club, was one cause of their loss of the
+fourth game.
+
+Seeing that the Edinburgh Club thus on all occasions subjected
+themselves to the most rigorous interpretation of the rules of the
+game, we cannot hold the _Quarterly Review_ as justified in saying
+that they were "to blame" in not allowing the London Club to retract
+a move. But we appeal from the _Quarterly_ reviewer as a partisan of
+England, to the _Quarterly_ reviewer, as an impartial enunciator of
+general propositions respecting the game of chess. Hear what he says
+about the absurdity of giving back moves:--
+
+     "Another advantage has arisen from the multiplication of clubs,
+     and consequent publication of accurate rules--viz., that the
+     strict game is now played, instead of those courteous surrenders
+     of advantages offered by a heedless adversary, which used often
+     to make winners of those who had received back two or three
+     leading pieces in the course of the game. These were a source
+     of endless unpleasant discussions, besides being in themselves
+     an absurdity. We confess we have no notion of rewarding an
+     opponent for his oversights. We would show him as little mercy
+     as Mr Smith O'Brien would to Lord Clarendon. Nay, we should be
+     moved hereto by a consideration of his benefit as well as our
+     own--for why should we teach him vacillation and heedlessness?"
+
+Again, among a portentous list of narrow-minded delusions, he gives
+as "Delusion the Fifth--
+
+     "'That it is illiberal to play the strict game.' To this we can
+     only reply, that other methods are but a miserable imitation.
+     People talk of the hardship of 'losing a game by an oversight,'
+     and so on. It is much harder to arrive at nothing but
+     'conclusions inconclusive,' and to have the game terminate in
+     an Irish discussion which of the two parties made the greatest
+     blunders."
+
+We agree in every word of this; and we only wonder that so sound a
+reasoner should himself fall under the delusion which he exposes--so
+severe a censor should commit the very offence which he condemns.
+
+On the whole, as regards the proposed recall of the 27th and 28th
+moves of the second game, we think these three propositions are
+conclusively established, 1. That neither according to the rules
+of the game, nor upon any other principle which does or ought to
+regulate the playing of matches, were the London Club entitled to
+have their proposal acceded to. 2. That though it had been acceded
+to, and these moves had been allowed to be recalled, the London
+Club could not have bettered their situation, as the opportunity of
+winning was already irretrievably lost in consequence of the 26th
+move, which was not asked to be recalled, but, on the contrary,
+was expressly adhered to. 3. That the impression which English
+chess-players have so industriously attempted to create, that the
+refusal on the part of Edinburgh to allow the 27th and 28th moves
+to be recalled was what prevented the London Club from winning the
+game, can only exist through a confusion between these moves and the
+previous one, which the London Club had adhered to after a renewed
+examination, not having even then discovered that it was unsound.
+
+Before leaving the second game, we have this last additional remark
+to make about it, that it is one of the erroneous assumptions and
+inferences of the English writers, that the winning of that game
+would have decided the match in their favour. It was the first won
+game; and though it is true that the London Club _subsequently_
+won the fourth game, which was the successor of the second, it
+is also the fact that the fourth game, which was opened by the
+Edinburgh Club, would not have been played if the second had
+been won by London, who in that case would have had the opening
+of the fourth. We do not mean to say that having to open was a
+disadvantage. All we assert is, that, in point of fact, the game,
+which the Edinburgh Club lost partly through a mistake in setting
+up the men, and through another blunder, not very different in its
+character, would not have been played at all if London had won the
+second game. Besides, the fourth game would, in other respects, have
+been played under very different circumstances. The opening of the
+second game by the London Club was one which none of the Edinburgh
+players had ever seen before, though, from this match, it now goes
+by the name of the Scotch opening. They believed, however, from
+their consideration of the second game, that the London Club had
+not availed themselves of all the capabilities of the opening, and
+they thought it would be a spirited thing to return it upon their
+antagonists. This they did in the _third_ game. The event rewarded
+their enterprising conduct. They gained a decided advantage; and
+during the greater part of the _fourth_ game they believed that it
+would never require to be finished, as they thought that by winning
+the _third_ game they would gain the match. This accounts for the
+carelessness with which they played the fourth game, though we
+think nothing can excuse carelessness in playing chess. They were
+ultimately disappointed in their expectation of gaining the third
+game, as the London Club succeeded in drawing it; and this rendered
+a fifth game necessary.
+
+Down to the fifth game it appears plain enough, from the above
+examination, that the Edinburgh Club had maintained, at the very
+least, an equal position to their antagonists. The first game had
+been drawn, with no advantage at any stage of it, in favour of
+either party. The second had been won by Edinburgh, but was subject
+to the observation that, at one point, London might have won had
+they played as well as they _afterwards_ discovered they might
+have done. The third game was drawn: but the advantage throughout
+had been in favour of Edinburgh, though not sufficiently so for
+winning; and, as was the case with London in the previous game,
+Edinburgh failed to perceive that by moving differently at a certain
+point, they would have been victorious. The fourth game was lost by
+Edinburgh, partly through an accidental and what may be called a
+mechanical blunder, and partly through another piece of carelessness
+of a similar character. After a contest thus maintained down to the
+commencement of the fifth game, it is beyond all question that the
+palm of superiority, in point of play, must rest with the victor
+in that game. And it was a game worthy to determine that question
+as well as the match. The Edinburgh Club had again returned upon
+their antagonists their own opening. In order to secure scope for
+the action of their pieces, they showed considerable intrepidity
+in disregarding the ordinary rules against doubled and isolated
+pawns; and so admirably had they analysed the game, that for a
+great many moves they knew that victory was certain, though all the
+while the London Club, according to the confession of some of their
+own members, were blind to the fate that was awaiting them; and
+believed, on the contrary, that the game was in their own hands.
+This fifth game will long be remembered by chess players as one
+of the most remarkable in the annals of chess; and appears to us
+conclusive, so far as regards the internal evidence derived from the
+games themselves, that the superiority, in point of play, lay with
+the Edinburgh Club, and that their winning the match was not a mere
+accident.
+
+It may be that there are other data for determining the relative
+superiority of the two Clubs; but we cannot admit the correctness
+of any of those mentioned by the _Quarterly_ reviewer or Mr
+Staunton. It is true, as these gentlemen say, that the Edinburgh
+Club was comparatively inexperienced. It had only been instituted
+in 1822, and the match was begun in 1824. It comprehended, almost
+exclusively, professional gentlemen actively engaged in business,
+who had not, generally speaking, much leisure or opportunity for
+seeking antagonists out of their own little circle of chess-players
+at home. On the other hand, it cannot be disputed that there is
+to be found in the metropolis of England, in greater abundance
+than anywhere else, that combination of leisure with intellectual
+power, which gives the promise of good chess-playing. But these
+circumstances do not lead our minds to the conclusion to which Mr
+Staunton and the _Quarterly_ reviewer have come, that the winning of
+the match by the Edinburgh Club was an accident. We should rather
+be inclined to hold, considering the character of the contest as
+explained by us above, that they are a proof of the greater natural
+chess-playing capacity of the members of the Club which won the
+match under such disadvantages. Again, Mr Staunton asks where are
+the previous exploits to which the Edinburgh players could point,
+such as those that the members of the London Club had performed? The
+answer is, None. They never had, and never sought the opportunity
+of performing any great chess exploit, except beating the London
+Club. But in so doing they made their own all the previous victories
+of the London Club. The event showed that they might, without
+presumption, have expressed the sentiment of Prince Henry--
+
+    "Percy is but my factor, good, my lord,
+    To engross up glorious deeds on my behalf;
+    And I will call him to so strict account,
+    That he shall render every glory up.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    And all the budding honours on his crest
+    I'd crop to make a garland for my head."
+
+With which valorous quotation we draw our remarks to a close,
+submitting that the members of the Edinburgh Club are bound to
+invite us to a special sitting at a board, which shall be garnished
+with some other material more soft and digestible than chessmen.
+
+
+
+
+THE INDUSTRY OF THE PEOPLE.
+
+
+The dismal efforts of the Free-trading party to maintain the credit
+of their unnatural and mischievous scheme, afford the surest
+indication of their own consciousness that they have committed a
+grievous error. In their attempts to make head against the symptoms
+of reaction which are everywhere apparent in the public mind, they
+exhibit no unity of purpose; they are not agreed even as to the
+facts from which their arguments should be drawn. A few months ago,
+we were told that the whole country was in a state of the greatest
+prosperity. The existence of agricultural distress was denied; the
+shipping interest was said to be in the most healthy and flourishing
+condition; the manufacturers had so many orders that their ability
+to execute was impeded; wages were rising--pauperism decreasing--in
+short, no one could recall to memory times of more general
+happiness and content. Such was the picture drawn by Ministerial
+limners, no further back than the opening of the present session
+of Parliament, and it is very much to be regretted that it should
+so soon have vanished like a dissolving view. Down to the present
+moment, we have been unable to discover the motive for so monstrous
+a fiction. Nobody believed it: nobody could believe it, for it
+ran counter to every man's knowledge of his own affairs, and his
+opinion as to those of his neighbour. The agriculturists declared
+it to be a falsehood in so far as they were concerned--so did the
+ship-owners--so did the shopkeepers--so did the manufacturers, whose
+circulars acknowledged depression for the present, and held out
+little hope for the future. The Ministerial averment answered no
+purpose, save to excite a general burst of disapprobation. Conceived
+in fraud, it was abandoned with cowardice. A lower tone was assumed.
+Distress was admitted--but only to a certain extent; and we may
+remark that such admissions are peculiarly convenient and innocuous
+to those who make them, inasmuch as the actual degree or prevalence
+of the suffering must still remain matter of debate. Indeed, no
+statistics, however ingenious or elaborated, can furnish data for
+determining so delicate a point. But to account for the existence
+of distress, even in a mitigated form, was no easy task for those
+who were resolved, at all hazards, to exclude the operation of free
+trade. Their prosperity balance-sheet stood awkwardly in the way.
+Pluming themselves upon increased exports, and a larger foreign
+trade than had been driven for some years, they were compelled to
+assign some reason for the remarkable depression at home. The old
+shift of railway calls would no longer suit their purpose. Sir
+Robert Peel, regardless of a certain personal passage of his life
+connected with the opening of the Trent Valley, was exceedingly fond
+of turning out that scape-goat into the wilderness; but the time
+had gone by; the calls were paid up or suspended; and it was no
+longer possible for effrontery to maintain that the great mass of
+the consumers of these kingdoms had been materially injured by their
+imprudent dalliance with scrip. There was no tightness in the money
+market; no external cause to interfere with the successful operation
+of industry, capital, or enterprise. Yet still there was distress;
+and, what was more remarkable, the complaint was universal. The
+value of produce had fallen, effecting thereby a corresponding
+decline in rents, and every kind of uncertain profit. Employment
+grew scarcer every day, whilst the number of applicants increased.
+The burden of taxation, however, still remained undiminished. The
+creditor could still exact the stipulated amount of money from his
+debtor, without deduction, although the labour of the debtor was
+reduced in point of value by at least a third. Such were, and are,
+the leading phenomena, to account for which the ingenuity of the
+Free-traders has been exercised.
+
+They have, we are bound to say, cut an exceedingly sorry figure
+in explanation. They have got in their mouths a few cant phrases,
+which, when assailed, they repeat over and over again, without the
+slightest reference to their meaning. One of these, and perhaps the
+most favourite, refers to the "transition state"--a peculiar phase
+of suffering, which they maintain to be the necessary consequence of
+every considerable change in the fiscal regulations of the empire.
+This "transition state," in politics, would appear to correspond to
+that which, in medicine, was favoured by Mr St John Long. In order
+to become better, it is necessary to make the patient, in the first
+instance, materially worse--to inflict artificial wounds and promote
+suppuration, in the hope that these may afterwards be healed. It is
+rather remarkable that none of our political doctors have as yet
+ventured to specify the nature of the curatory process. They leave
+us woefully in the dark as to the means which are to be adopted for
+remedying the evil; and they obstinately refuse to predict what
+kind of state is to follow upon this of transition. In truth, they
+are utterly at sea. They cannot shut their eyes to the extent of
+the mischief which they have wrought; they cannot find or invent an
+extraneous excuse, which will avail them, in the opinion even of the
+loosest thinker, to maintain the delusion that the present distress
+and stagnation are attributable to any other cause than that of low
+prices, occasioned by foreign competition; and they are attempting
+to conceal their chagrin and disappointment at the disastrous issue
+of their experiment under the cover of general terms and vague
+ambiguous phrases--a rhetorical expedient which is not likely to
+have much weight with those who have been made the victims of their
+rashness or vacillation.
+
+Latterly, indeed, some portions of the public press have shown
+symptoms of being more specific, and very glad should we be if
+Ministers would follow that example. We are told that present
+prices are merely exceptional, and that they must shortly improve.
+The mere adoption of this argument shows that such writers dissent
+from the doctrine that cheapness is an unqualified blessing--that
+they still believe in their hearts that it is impossible altogether
+to separate the interests of the producer and the consumer--and
+that they are still alive to the fundamental political axiom,
+that the wealth of a country depends mainly upon the value of its
+produce. Were it otherwise, they would be supporters of the most
+astounding paradox that was ever advanced. The price of the loaf
+must rise correspondingly with that of the quarter of wheat: beef
+and mutton are sold by the stone or by the pound, in proportion to
+the market value of the living animal. If wheat were to rise to
+56s., which is said to be the average cost of its production in
+this country, bread would become so much dearer, and, in that case,
+the working-man could be no better off than he was before the corn
+laws were repealed. We have heard it said, and we firmly believe
+it to be the case, that many of the public men, of both parties,
+who voted with Sir Robert Peel, did so under the full conviction
+that there could be no material decline--that they were misled by
+the onesided, imperfect, and fallacious reports as to the state,
+quality, and extent of the Continental harvests, which were laid
+before Parliament--and that they never would have consented to such
+a measure, had they foreseen the results which are now unhappily
+before us. We gather this, not merely from rumour, but from the
+tenor of the speeches delivered in the House of Commons in 1846. Sir
+James Graham and Lord John Russell both treated as visionary the
+notion of any material decline--Lord Palmerston went further; and
+we think it useful to lay before our readers the following excerpt
+from his speech, delivered on the occasion of the second reading
+of the Corn Importation Bill. Referring to the surplus quantity of
+Continental grain, he said--
+
+     "The surplus quantity now, or from time to time in existence,
+     is merely the superfluity of abundant seasons held for a
+     time in store to meet the alternate deficiency of bad years.
+     Till the bad years come, that corn is cheap, because it is a
+     supply exceeding the demand; but the moment we go into the
+     foreign market as buyers, to purchase up this surplus, _prices
+     abroad will rise_. Not only will the British demand, as a
+     new competition with foreign demand, naturally cause a rise
+     of prices, but our own merchants will compete against each
+     other, until, by a rise of prices abroad, the profit of their
+     importations shall have been brought down to the usual rate of
+     mercantile profit upon capital employed in other ways. There
+     is, therefore, very little probability that the importation of
+     the existing surplus quantity of corn in foreign markets will
+     materially lower prices in this country."
+
+We have nothing to say to the arguments of the noble
+Viscount--however singular these may appear to persons of ordinary
+understanding--we merely refer to his conclusion, which we think
+is plain enough, to the effect that free importations could not
+materially lower prices. Nay, we could extract from the speeches of
+Sir Robert Peel himself, passages which would go far to show that he
+entertained the same opinion, notwithstanding the extreme wariness
+which he exhibited when challenged by Lord George Bentinck to state
+his views as to the probable effects of the change on the value of
+agricultural produce. Well, then, if this be the case--if there was
+actually a strong conviction in the minds of the leading men who
+supported the repeal of the corn laws that the expressed fears of
+the agricultural party were unfounded--are we not entitled now to
+require that the question should be brought to a very narrow issue
+indeed? So far as experience has gone, our calculations have proved
+right--theirs entirely wrong. We maintained that, in consequence of
+the removal of protective duties, the price of grain in this country
+would decline to a point far below the cost of production; they
+averred that nothing of the kind would happen. Nearly a year and
+a half has elapsed since the new system came into full operation,
+and the general averages of wheat throughout the country have
+fallen, and have remained for many months below 40s. per quarter. In
+spite of the accurate and veracious information of writers in the
+_Economist_ and other Ministerial prints, who have been assuring
+us, for a long period of time, that the whole available supplies of
+grain have been pumped out of the Continent, importations continue
+undiminished. In May 1850 we receive from abroad the equivalent
+of a million quarters of grain; France pours in her flour, to the
+panic even of our millers; and, instead of diminution, there are
+unmistakeable symptoms of a greater deluge than before. Now, if the
+Free-traders, in or out of Parliament, are honest in their views--as
+many of them, we believe, undoubtedly are--they are bound to tell us
+how far and how long they intend this experiment to last? Of course,
+if it is no experiment at all, but an absolute rigorous finality,
+there is no need of entering into discussion. If everything is to be
+sacrificed for cheapness, let cheapness be the rule; only do not let
+us behold the anomaly of the advocates of that system prophesying
+a rise of prices as a general boon to the country. If otherwise,
+surely some tangible period should be assigned for the endurance
+of this _experimentum crucis_. We entirely coincide with Lord John
+Russell in his dislike to vacillating legislation, and we have no
+wish whatever to precipitate matters. We think it preferable, in
+every way, that the eyes of the country should be opened to a sense
+of its true condition by a process which, to be effectual, cannot
+be otherwise than painful. But we are greatly apprehensive of the
+consequences which may arise ere long, from the obstinate refusal
+of Ministers to give the slightest indication of their intentions,
+supposing that the present prices shall continue; or to indicate
+what relief, if any, can be given to the industry of the nation.
+
+As to the permanent nature of the fall under the operation of
+the present law, we entertain not the slightest doubt. There is
+no one symptom visible of its abatement; on the contrary, the
+experience of each succeeding month tends to fortify our previous
+impressions. The decline in the value of cattle is as great as in
+that of cereal produce. We have already, in a former paper, had
+occasion to state the extent of that fall down to the commencement
+of the present year: the accounts received of the state of the
+Dumbarton market, held in the beginning of June, are still more
+disastrous than before. Throughout a large portion of the Scottish
+Highlands--we do not know, indeed, whether we are entitled to make
+any exception--black cattle, the staple of the country, will not
+pay the expense of rearing. The enormous importation of provisions
+from America is annihilating this branch of produce, with what
+compensating benefit to the nation at large, it would be difficult
+for an economist to explain.
+
+This is a state of matters which cannot continue long without
+manifest danger even to the tranquillity of the country. It is quite
+plain that, at present rates, agriculture cannot be carried on as
+heretofore in Great Britain. The farmer has been the first sufferer;
+the turn of the landowner is approaching. Let us illustrate this
+shortly. There must be, on an average of ordinary years, a certain
+price at which wheat can be grown remuneratively in this country.
+Sir Robert Peel, no mean authority on the subject, has indicated his
+opinion that such price may be stated at or about 56s. per quarter.
+Mr James Wilson, rating it somewhat lower, fixes it at 52s. 2d. Let
+us suppose, that wheat for the future shall average over England
+39s. per quarter, and that the produce of the acre is twenty-four
+bushels, the loss on each acre of wheat hereafter raised will be,
+according to Sir Robert Peel, £2, 11s.--according to Mr Wilson, £1,
+19s. 6d. What deduction of rent can meet such a depreciation as
+this? Excluding Middlesex, which is clearly exceptional, the highest
+rented county of England, Leicester, is estimated at £1, 14s. 10d.
+per acre; Warwickshire, at £1, 11s. 6d.; and Lincolnshire at £1, 8s.
+Haddington and Fife, the highest rented counties of Scotland, are
+estimated at £1, 5s. 6d. per acre. This of course includes much land
+of an inferior description; but we believe that, for the best arable
+land, an average rent of 40s. per acre may be assumed. In that case,
+supposing the whole rent to be given up, the farmer would still be a
+loser by cultivation, if Sir Robert Peel is correct in his figures.
+
+Without presuming to offer an opinion as to the accuracy of
+either of the calculations submitted by these two Free-trading
+authorities, we think it is plain that the more favourable of them,
+taken in connection with present prices, is appalling enough to
+the agriculturist, whether he be landlord or tenant. We shall see,
+probably in a month or two, whether it is likely that even these
+prices can be maintained. We are clearly of opinion that the price
+of corn in this country must fall to the level of the cheapest
+market from which we can derive any considerable supplies; and in
+that case it is quite as likely that we may see wheat quoted at 32s.
+or 33s., as at 39s. or 40s. But the matter for our consideration is,
+that, ever since the repeal of the corn laws, the market price of
+grain has been greatly below the cost of its production; and that
+there are no symptoms of any amendment, but obviously the reverse.
+
+The inevitable result of the continuance of such a state of
+matters is too clear to admit of argument. The land must go out
+of cultivation. The process may be slow, but it will be sure. It
+may, doubtless, be retarded by remissions of rent not sufficient
+to cover the farmer's losses, but great enough to induce him to
+renew his efforts for another year with the like miserable result;
+until at length the tiller of the soil is made bankrupt, and the
+landowner occupies his place. We can hardly trust ourselves to
+depict the effect of such a social revolution. All the misery which
+has been already felt--and that is far greater than our rulers will
+permit themselves to believe--would be as nothing compared with the
+calamitous consummation of Free Trade.
+
+Yet it is towards that point that we are rapidly tending. Some
+of the fierce and more plain-spoken Radical journals are so far
+from contradicting our views, that they openly rejoice in the
+havoc which has been already made, and in the wider ruin which is
+impending. They say plainly, looking to the funds, that they see
+no method of escaping from the domination of the moneyed interest,
+except through the prostration of the landlords. Their meaning
+is quite distinct and undisguised. They want to get rid of the
+national debt, by reducing the value of produce so low, that the
+usual amount of taxation cannot possibly be levied; and their
+scheme, however nefarious, is by no means devoid of plausibility.
+There can be no doubt that the Currency Act of 1819 has operated
+most injuriously upon the industry of the nation, by enhancing the
+value of the claims of the creditor; and that these claims, along
+with the necessary expenses of government, must be paid, _ante
+omnia_, from the industrial produce of the year. The cheapening
+process, therefore, is one directly antagonistic to the maintenance
+of taxation. The anomaly in legislation of forcibly reducing the
+value of produce, and yet maintaining stringently an artificial
+standard of taxation, has been reserved for our times; yet, strange
+to say, though its effects are visible and confessed, few persons
+have courage or patience enough to grapple with the difficulty.
+Free Trade and a Fettered Currency are things that cannot possibly
+co-exist for any length of time; and our sole surprise is, that any
+statesman could be shortsighted enough to attempt to reconcile them.
+Taken singly, either of them is a great evil to a country situated
+like ours--taken together, they become absolutely intolerable. But
+we have no wish, at the present time, to depart from the point
+before us. We are merely taking the evidence of adversaries, to
+show that our views as to the position and prospects of the great
+productive classes of Britain are so far from exaggerated that they
+are acknowledged by the most strenuous advocates of Free Trade. The
+fundholder, nevertheless, may derive a useful lesson from these
+financial hints, which indicate an ulterior purpose.
+
+Such is the state of the agricultural interest throughout the
+three Kingdoms at this moment, and such are the prospects before
+us. The evidence, albeit not taken before a committee of either
+House of Parliament, is too unanimous to admit of a doubt; county
+after county, district after district, parish after parish
+throughout England, have testified to their melancholy condition.
+The _Times_ may talk of mendicity, and the _Economist_ may trump
+up figures to show that the farmers ought to be making a profit
+even at present prices; but neither irony nor fiction can avail to
+discredit or pervert facts so well authenticated as these. Of these
+facts parliament is fully cognisant--not only from the individual
+knowledge of members as to what is passing abroad--not only from the
+sentiments expressed at many hundred meetings, independent of the
+great demonstrations lately made at London and Liverpool--but from
+the petitions which have been presented to both Houses, praying for
+a reversal of that policy which has proved so detrimental to the
+interests of a large section of her Majesty's subjects. Yet still
+Parliament is silent, and the first Minister of the Crown refuses to
+sanction that appeal to the country, which the exigency of the case
+would seem to require, and which has been resorted to on occasions
+far less peremptory and pressing than this.
+
+Let us not be misunderstood. Our wish simply is to record the fact
+of such silence and refusal,--not to be rash in censure. We cannot,
+and do not forget the peculiar circumstances connected with the
+last general election--the political tergiversation which preceded
+it, the hopes and expectations which were then entertained by
+many, as to the working of the new system,--or the disorganisation
+of parties. Even the most strenuous opponents of the Free-Trade
+measures, since these had passed into a law, however iniquitously
+carried, were desirous that the experiment should have a fair trial,
+and that it should not be impeded in its progress, so long as, by
+the most liberal construction, it could be held to justify the
+anticipations of its authors. Many names of great weight, influence,
+and authority were found among the roll of those who consented to
+the new measures; and it was most natural that, throughout the
+country, a number of persons should be found willing to surrender
+their own judgment upon a matter yet untried, which had received
+so creditable a sanction. Therefore it was that the majority of
+members returned to the present House of Commons were Free-traders,
+bound to the system by the double ties of previous conviction and of
+pledge; and though recent elections, as well as the alarming posture
+of affairs, have contributed materially to alter the position of
+the two great parties in the House, it would be unreasonable as yet
+to look for a change, in a body so constituted, at least to that
+extent which a reversal of the adopted policy must imply.
+
+Neither can we rationally expect, that Lord John Russell will be
+forward to recognise a failure, where he confidently anticipated a
+triumph. We believe him to have been, far more than Sir Robert Peel,
+the dupe of those random assertions and presumptuous calculations
+which were thrust forward by men utterly unfit, from their previous
+habits and education, to pronounce an opinion upon subjects of such
+magnitude and intricacy. We should not be surprised if, even now,
+his Lordship had some lingering kind of faith in the prophecies of
+the member for Westbury. Men are slow to believe that the ground
+is crumbling from below their feet; that the political scaffolding
+which they assisted to rear has been pitched in a marshy quagmire.
+Self love, and that kind of pride which is so nearly allied to
+conceit that it often assumes the form of obstinacy, stand woefully
+in the way of recantation; and moreover in the present instance
+to recant is equivalent to resign. We remember well the profound
+and sagacious remark of Sir Walter Scott, that "the miscarriage
+of his experiment no more converts the political speculator, than
+the explosion of a retort undeceives an alchymist." Lord John
+Russell in all probability is not yet prepared, from conviction,
+to revise his opinions on a question in which he is so deeply
+committed. He has a majority in the House of Commons, and, according
+to the forms of the constitution, so long as he can command that
+majority, he is entitled to persevere. It is well that our friends,
+whatever pressing cause they may have for their impatience, should
+remember these things; and not be too forward in pressing wholesale
+accusations, either against a Parliament chosen under such peculiar
+circumstances, or a Minister who is simply adhering to the course
+long since avowed by himself, and acted on by his immediate
+predecessor. We may regret, and many of us do unquestionably most
+bitterly feel, the anomalous position in which we are placed. A
+more cruel, a more galling thought can hardly be imagined than the
+conviction which is very general abroad, and which is also ours,
+that the present Parliament does not represent the feelings or the
+desires of the people; that it is not consulting their welfare or
+protecting their interests; and that the duration of that Parliament
+alone prevents a vigorous and successful effort in the cause of
+British industry. Yet still, while we feel all this, let us not
+be unjust to others. We cannot coerce opinion. We cannot force
+honourable members at once to retrace their steps, or to give the
+lie to their acknowledged pledges. We cannot complain of open wrong
+if Ministers decline to accept our voices, in lieu of the voices
+of those whom we formerly sent as representatives. Their answer
+and vindication lies in the fact of their Parliamentary majority.
+Why Parliament should thus be placed in direct antagonism to the
+country, is a very different question. We need not go far in search
+of the reason. It is the direct consequence of that policy which Sir
+Robert Peel thought fit to adopt, not with regard to the abstract
+measures of Free Trade, but for the carrying of these measures
+into effect, without an appeal to the country, and by means which
+proved how closely deceit is allied to tyranny. Upon his head,
+if not the whole, at least the primary responsibility rests. He
+has accepted it, and let it abide with him. And let no man affirm
+that, in saying this, we are prolonging any rancorous feeling, or
+seeking to rub a sore which by this time should be wellnigh healed.
+The time for indignation and anger, if injury coupled with perfidy
+can ever provoke such sentiments, is not yet past; it is now in
+its fullest force. Had Sir Robert Peel acted as he ought to have
+done--had he played the part of a British statesman, sincerely
+desirous that in a matter of such magnitude the will of the country
+should be respected--the present Parliament, whatever might have
+been its decision as to Free Trade or Protection, would at least
+have represented the wishes of the electoral body; and if subsequent
+events had shown that these wishes were more sanguine than wise, the
+error would have been a national one, and no weight of individual
+responsibility would have been incurred. As it is, we are not only
+justified, but we are performing our duty, in indicating the real
+and sole originator of our present difficulties; and without wishing
+in any degree to trench upon his secret sources of consolation,
+we can hardly imagine that he will derive much comfort from the
+knowledge, that his tortuous policy has deprived the people in the
+hour of need of their best constitutional privilege and shield--the
+sympathy and co-operation of that House which is emphatically their
+own, and which, to the great detriment of the state, must lose its
+moral power the moment that it ceases to represent the will, and to
+protect the interests of the Commons.
+
+We are well aware that such reflections as these can bring but sorry
+comfort to the farmers. Their situation is one of unparalleled
+hardship, unrelieved by any consideration which can make the case of
+other sufferers more tolerable. We fully admit the vast extent of
+the powers which, since the Great Revolution, are held to be vested
+in Parliaments. We cannot gainsay the doctrine that these powers
+may, on occasion, be exerted to the uttermost; but we say, after
+the most careful and thoughtful deliberation, that the proceedings
+of the legislature with regard to the farmers of Great Britain are
+irreconcilable with the principles of justice, with the sacred
+laws of morality, which no legislative resolutions can abrogate
+or annul. The farmers are entitled to maintain that, in so far as
+regards them, the public faith has been broken. Such of them as
+hold leases had a distinct and unqualified guarantee given to them
+by the protective laws; and the allegation that the substitution
+of the sliding-scale for a fixed duty acted as a release for all
+former Parliamentary engagements, is a quibble so mean and wretched
+that the basest attorney would be ashamed to use it as a plea. The
+whole of the farmers' fixed and floating capital, estimated at
+the enormous sum of five hundred millions sterling, has been laid
+out on the faith of Protection; and yet when that Protection was
+furtively and treacherously withdrawn, no measure was introduced for
+the purpose of relieving them from engagements contracted under the
+older system, which were obviously incompatible with the lowered
+prices established by the formidable change. The public, we are
+afraid, are not aware of the extent of that depreciation which is
+still going on, _and which already exceeds the whole annual value
+of the manufacturing productions of Great Britain_. We borrow the
+following table from a late pamphlet by Mr Macqueen entitled,
+"Statistics of Agriculture, Manufactures, and Commerce, drawn up
+from Official and Authentic Documents;" and having tested it by
+every means in our power, we have no hesitation in adopting it. It
+is, in truth, a fearful commentary on the rashness and folly of our
+rulers.
+
+
+COMPARATIVE VALUES OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE.
+
+                              Protective     Depreciation.    Value 1850.
+                                value.
+  Grains, potatoes, &c.,     £237,543,750     £80,764,875    £156,778,875
+  Straw,                      100,700,000      30,210,000      70,490,000
+  Green crops, pasture, &c.,  222,404,786      66,721,435     155,683,351
+  Sundries,                     8,500,000       2,125,000       6,375,000
+  Wool, British,               15,400,000       1,540,000      13,860,000
+                             ------------    ------------    ------------
+                             £584,518,536    £181,361,310    £403,187,226
+
+But this is not all. We have still to deal with the depreciation or
+diminished value of the farmers' fixed capital, invested in live
+stock, &c., which at the rate of 25 per cent, (a most moderate
+calculation, and below the mark in so far as Scotland is concerned,)
+shows a loss on £504,833,730 of £126,208,432 _additional_!
+
+We put forward the case of the farmers thus prominently, because,
+in addition to the great public wrong which has been done to them,
+they have serious reason to complain of the general apathy of the
+landlords. We do not allude to the part which the landowners took in
+1846. We believe that the majority of them were sincerely disgusted
+by the conduct of the men who had climbed into office on their
+shoulders; and that they loathed and despised in their hearts the
+treachery of which they were made the tools. We know, moreover, that
+a great many of them abstained from taking part in the election of
+1847, not being able to see their way through the political chaos
+in which we were then involved, and having, naturally enough, lost
+confidence in the probity of public men, and despairing of the
+remodelment of a strong constitutional party. Such things were,
+perhaps, inevitable; and it may be argued with much show of reason,
+that no better line of conduct was open to the landlords, and that
+they did wisely in reserving themselves for a more favourable
+opportunity, when experience, that stern and unfailing monitor,
+should have exposed to the Free-traders the falsity of their wild
+expectations. But it is impossible for them now to plead that the
+opportunity has not arrived. The experiment has been made, and has
+failed--failed utterly and entirely, if the practical refutation of
+the views advanced by all its leading advocates is to be considered
+as equivalent to failure. The current of reaction has set in
+strong and steady, not only in the counties, but in the towns; not
+only among those who, from their position, must be the earliest
+sufferers, but among those who are connected with the trade and
+general commerce of Britain. The disorganised party has rallied
+and is reformed under leaders of great talent, tried skill, and
+most assured loyalty and honour. How is it that, in this posture
+of affairs, any considerable section of the landlords is still
+hanging back? Why is it that they do not place themselves, as is
+their duty, at the head of their tenantry, and enforce and encourage
+those appeals to public justice, and to public policy, which are
+now making themselves heard in every quarter of the kingdom? We
+confess that we are at a loss to know why any apathy should be
+shown. The conduct of the tenantry towards the landlords has been
+generous and considerate in the extreme. They were invited, in no
+equivocal terms, to join their cause with that of the Free-traders
+and financial reformers; and they were promised, in that event,
+the cordial assistance of the latter towards the adjustment of
+their rents, and the equalisation of their public burdens. We
+venture not an opinion whether such promise was ever intended to
+be kept. Still it was made; and no effort was left untried to
+convince the farmers that their cause was separate and apart from
+that of the owners of the land. Their refusal to enter into that
+unholy alliance was most honourable to the body of the tenantry,
+and entitles them, at the hands of the proprietors, to look not
+only for consideration and sympathy, but for the most active and
+energetic support. Very ill indeed shall we augur of the spirit and
+patriotism of the gentlemen of England, if they longer abstain from
+identifying themselves universally with a movement which is not
+only a national one, in the strictest sense of the word, but upon
+which depends the maintenance of their own interests and order.
+Surely they cannot have been so dull or so deaf to what is passing
+around them, as not to be aware that they were especially marked out
+as the victims of the Manchester confederacy! These are not times
+in which any man can afford to be apathetic, nor will any trivial
+excuse for languor or indifference be accepted. Exalted position,
+high character, the reputation for princely generosity, and the
+best of private reputations, will be no apology for inactivity in a
+crisis so momentous as this. Organisation, union, and energy are at
+all times the chief means for insuring success; and we trust that,
+henceforward, there may be less timidity shown by those who ought
+to take the foremost rank in a contest of such importance, and who
+cannot abstain longer from doing so without forfeiting their claim
+to that regard which has hitherto been readily accorded them.
+
+It will be observed that, as yet, we have put the case for
+Protection upon very narrow grounds. We have shown that, so far
+as the agricultural body is concerned, Free Trade has proved most
+injurious, and that it cannot be persisted in without bringing
+downright ruin to that section of the community. If we had nothing
+more to advance than this, still we should be entitled to maintain
+that enough has been adduced to show the necessity of retracing
+our steps. The annihilation of such an important body as the
+agriculturists of Britain, implies of itself a revolution as great
+as ever was effected in the world; and to that, assuredly, if the
+agriculturists stood alone, they would not tamely submit. When Mr
+Cobden or his satellites addressed the people of Manchester, through
+their League circulars, to the following effect, "If the Americans
+will only put down their monopolising manufacturers, and we put down
+our monopolising landowners here, when our election time comes, we
+will lay the Mississippi valley alongside of Manchester, and we
+will have a glorious trade then!"--and again, "Our doctrine is, let
+the working man ply his hammer, or his spindle, or his shuttle, and
+let the Kentucky or the Illinois farmer, by driving his plough in
+the richest land on the surface of the earth, feed this mechanic
+or this weaver, and let him send home his produce in exchange for
+the products of our operatives and artisans"--they seem to have
+forgotten the temper and mould of the men with whom they proposed
+to deal so summarily. It is not quite so easy to expatriate three
+millions of able-bodied men; nor do we opine that a power morally
+or physically adequate to the task of such removal exists in the
+manufacturing districts. But, in reality, of all idle talk that ever
+issued from the lips or the pen of an inflated demagogue, this is
+the silliest and the worst. It presupposes an amount of ignorance
+on the part of his audience anything but flattering to the calibre
+of the Manchester intellect: indeed we hardly know which is most
+to be admired--its intense and transparent folly or its astounding
+audacity. The home trade is a thing altogether kept out of account
+in the foregoing splendid vision of a calico millennium. Mr Cobden,
+it will be seen, contemplates no home consumption, except in so far
+as the operative may provide himself with his own shirtings. The
+whole production of Britain is to be limited to manufactures; the
+whole supplies are to be derived from the hands of the reciprocating
+foreigner!
+
+There does not exist in this great and populous country any one
+class the labour of which can be restricted, or the profits
+curtailed, without an injurious result to the interests of the whole
+community. This is not simply a maxim of political economy; it is
+a distinct physical fact, which no ingenuity can controvert. Yet,
+strange to say, our rulers have acted, and are acting, with regard
+to by far the most important class of the country, as if no such
+fact were known; and they now profess to be amazed at its speedy
+and inevitable consequence. That agricultural distress must react
+upon the manufacturer, the trader, shopkeeper, and artisan, is as
+necessary a consequence as is a failure in the supply of water
+after a long-continued drought. If our taxation is artificial, and
+our national establishments costly, it must not be forgotten that
+our private expenditure is generally on the same scale. We consume
+within the country a far greater amount of manufactures than we can
+ever hope to export, and the only limit to that consumption is the
+power of purchase. The profits of the landowner, which depend upon
+the value of produce, do not constitute a fund which is removed
+from public circulation. On the contrary, these profits furnish
+the means of labour and employment to the greater portion of the
+industrious classes, who otherwise would have no resource; and if
+they are violently curtailed, it must needs follow that a large
+amount of employment is withdrawn. That is precisely our case at the
+present moment. By the admission of foreign produce, which is in
+fact foreign labour, the value of agricultural production in this
+country has fallen very nearly thirty per cent, and the consequence
+is a greatly diminished expenditure, and a slackening of employment
+grievously felt by those who are supported by manual labour. How,
+indeed, is it possible that it can be otherwise? A very little
+thought must convince every one that all incomes in Britain must
+depend upon the amount and value of the national production, and
+that, by reducing and lowering that, a direct attack is made upon
+the profits of every kind of labour. It is singular that consequence
+so plain should ever have been overlooked; still more singular that
+statesmen should have been found to maintain an opposite theory. The
+only explanation we can suggest as to this singular departure from
+the leading principles of economical science is, that of late years
+Ministers have habitually consulted the interests of the capitalists
+rather than those of the people. Sir Robert Peel has invariably
+shown himself a capitalist legislator. At the outset of his career,
+and while under the Israelitish guidance of Ricardo, he succeeded
+in carrying those Currency measures which increased by nearly
+one-third the weight of the national obligations. Later in life we
+find him engaged in measures of arbitrary bank restriction, thereby
+occasioning commercial panics, and securing another rich harvest
+for the moneyed class. His tariffs and Free-trade measures exhibit
+precisely the same tendency. They are all constructed with a view
+to cheapness, or, what is the same thing, to the diminution of the
+value of labour, so that the fortune of the capitalist or fundholder
+is now virtually doubled: while the industrious classes, with a
+lowered rate of wage, are compelled to undergo the additional evil
+of unrestricted foreign competition.
+
+Let us now, for a brief space, proceed to consider the internal
+adjustment of the strength and industry of Britain. It is a
+subject well worthy of study, especially at the present moment,
+when a general feeling of perplexity prevails, and when those who
+unfortunately gave ear to the specious representations of the
+Free-traders are convinced of their error, but are yet in doubt
+whether it be possible to retrace our steps. It is a subject,
+moreover, upon which we are bound to enter, seeing that official
+cunning has been used to conceal the real posture of affairs in this
+country, and, by undervaluing the magnitude of some interests, to
+give a factitious and altogether imaginary importance to others.
+We trust that we shall be able to show, to the satisfaction of
+our readers, the gross extent to which this kind of delusion and
+imposture has been carried.
+
+Upon no subject whatever are more erroneous impressions entertained,
+than upon the relative importance and strength of the two great
+classes of the country. Of late it has been quietly assumed that
+the manufacturers are infinitely superior to the agriculturists,
+not only in point of numbers, but in respect of capital employed or
+available; and many people have been puzzled to understand why, if
+this should be the case, such vehement opposition should be made to
+any proposal for readjusting the direct and local taxation, which
+confessedly weighs most heavily upon the proprietors and occupiers
+of the land. We have been told, in as many words, that henceforward
+the voice of the towns is to dictate the policy of Britain--that the
+agriculturists are a worn-out class, scarce worth preserving--and
+the most influential of the Free-trade journals has not hesitated to
+recommend a wholesale emigration to the Antipodes, or any portion of
+the surface of the globe where corn can be cultivated cheaper than
+in England. We have been not only taunted, but threatened, whenever
+we presumed to expostulate. Reference was made to certain "masses,"
+who were ready to rise in defence of perennial cheapness; and Mr
+Cobden has warned us not to provoke the exercise of that power
+which is vested in himself, as dictator of the democracy. In short,
+we have been given to understand that, if protection to native
+industry, in any shape, should be re-introduced--which only can be
+done by the will and legitimate sanction of Parliament--physical
+force shall not be wanting on the other side.
+
+The use of such language argues great ignorance of the national
+temper. We have heard a good deal lately of what is termed the
+dogged Anglo-Saxon spirit, the main characteristic of which we
+take to be its decided antagonism to bullying, and its inveterate
+hatred of coercion. It is too much to expect that a controversy
+such as this should be conducted without some asperity of
+language, and therefore we make no clamorous complaint when Mr
+Cobden, or his friends, think proper to designate the British
+agriculturists as "ignorant clodpoles" and "horse-shoe idiots," or
+the landed proprietors as "a selfish and degraded faction," or the
+Protectionist press as the "hireling tools of oppression." These
+are very old and very harmless terms of rhetoric, and we are not
+sure that we can claim entire vindication from the charge of having
+retorted with tolerable energy. The real danger begins when men
+step beyond constitutional limits, and advocate resistance to the
+legislature by appealing to the passions, as they have pandered to
+the prejudices, of the mob.
+
+Having premised so much, we think no one can misinterpret our
+motives, if we set ourselves seriously to the task of refuting
+a great fallacy which has been hatched and propagated by the
+Free-traders. It is one so monstrous in itself that we hardly could
+have supposed that any man, who had reflected for a moment on the
+subject, could have yielded to the delusion: nevertheless, we
+believe it to be most common, and it has been over and over again
+repeated at public meetings, until it has lost its quality as an
+assertion, and been treated as a recognised fact. It is within the
+recollection of all of us, that, both within the walls of Parliament
+and at the great outward gatherings of the League, the superiority
+of the manufacturing over the agricultural interest of Great Britain
+was broadly asserted, and assumed as the basis of the leading
+argument of the Free-traders. Sir Robert Peel expressly adopted
+this view in 1846, while advocating the repeal of the policy, which
+he had hitherto professed to support; we say, _professed_, because
+no man now doubts--indeed, it is fairly admitted by himself, with
+something like a sneer of triumph--that for many years he had
+been practising a deliberate imposture on the public. This view
+necessarily must have had some foundation on authority, if not on
+fact; and we can trace that authority to a statistical writer, Mr
+Porter, on whose accuracy, and method of dealing with figures, far
+too much reliance has been placed by statesmen high in office.
+
+In dealing with the census of 1841, and compiling his tables with
+a view to show the relative occupations of the people, Mr Porter
+has adopted the ingenious plan of massing commerce, trade, and
+manufactures together, and exhibiting the aggregate of these in
+contradistinction to the purely agricultural interest! At page 55
+of the last edition of his _Progress of the Nation_ we find this
+statement--"The following more elaborate table of the occupations of
+the population of Great Britain, as ascertained in 1841, his been
+compiled from the Reports of the Census Commissioners. _It affords
+the best abstract_ that has hitherto been attainable upon this
+important branch of political arithmetic."
+
+We turn to the table indicated in this modest passage, and we find
+the following results for Great Britain alone:--
+
+  Persons engaged in commerce,}
+    trade, and manufacture,   }      3,092,787
+
+  Agriculture,                       1,490,785
+
+  Labour not agricultural,             758,495
+
+This, of course, is exclusive of the army, navy, learned
+professions, domestic servants, and various other employments,
+besides women and children. In another table, Mr Porter, estimating
+the male population of Great Britain, (excluding Ireland,) who were
+then upwards of twenty years of age, at 4,761,091, divides them
+thus:--
+
+  Agriculture,                   1,198,156
+  Trade, manufactures, &c.,      2,125,496
+  Other classes,                 1,437,439
+                                 ---------
+                                 4,761,091
+
+If, as Mr Spackman most properly observes in his excellent work,
+the _Analysis of the Occupations of the People_, one of the
+principal objects of taking the census is to trace the relative
+degree of dependence of one class upon another, how can this be
+done if all the trade and commerce of the country is to be mixed up
+with manufactures? "Mr Porter would have us to consider trade and
+commerce, _and manufactures_ as synonymous terms, and that together
+they only form one class; and he seems to be so thoroughly haunted
+with the numerical weakness of the manufacturing interest, that
+his fear of its being discovered peeps out in every paragraph; and,
+by mixing them up in every table in which they are mentioned in his
+book, with those engaged in trade and commerce, he has effectually
+succeeded in his object."
+
+As we propose to lay before our readers the results of Mr Spackman,
+it may be proper shortly to state the principles which have guided
+him in his classification of the official returns. He recognises
+but two great classes of the community engaged in the production
+of wealth, and upon these he justly considers the whole of the
+remainder to be dependent. The following extract from his preface
+will sufficiently explain his view:--
+
+     "Of the number of persons actually employed by the
+     agriculturists and manufacturers, no difference of opinion can
+     exist, as we have adopted the Government classification in
+     every instance, and copied the figures given in the returns. We
+     believe this classification to be correct in principle, and but
+     slightly erroneous in details.
+
+     "Political economists may exercise their ingenuity by calling in
+     question this classification, but we believe it is the only one
+     that accurately traces the dependence of an individual on the
+     one or the other interest; and, as this is the primary object
+     of all such matters, if it attains this end, it is sufficient
+     for all purposes. By the landed interest we mean not only
+     the proprietors of the soil, but all that are engaged in its
+     cultivation, and all the interests that are dependent on and
+     supported by both landlord and tenant. An agriculturist is one
+     who grows the raw material. The manufacturer changes the fabric
+     from cotton into calico, flax into linen, wool into cloth, raw
+     into manufactured silk, mineral ores into various combinations
+     of metals, and the skin of an animal into leather.
+
+     "All besides the agriculturists and the manufacturers are
+     auxiliaries, not principals. Thus the handicraftsman alters the
+     form, but not the substance, and adapts the article to the use
+     of the consumer,--so the miller, baker, and butcher; the tailor,
+     milliner, and shoemaker.
+
+     "There is also a very numerous class, who neither produce,
+     manufacture, nor alter the shape or substance of an article,
+     and these are called merchants, if they buy and sell in a
+     wholesale manner, or shopkeepers and retail dealers if they sell
+     by retail. The business of these is to distribute all articles
+     imported from abroad or produced at home, through every city,
+     town, and village, in the United Kingdom; and the Government
+     definition of all these auxiliaries is 'engaged in trade and
+     commerce.'
+
+     "The dependence of any particular class engaged in trade and
+     commerce, or in handicraft, is not upon the party who produces,
+     alters, or supplies the article, but on the individual who
+     consumes it; and if there is any tax whatever on the raw
+     material, or on anything used in its manufacture, adaptation, or
+     distribution, it is on him that all and every item of such tax,
+     together with all profits and charges, must ultimately fall.
+
+     "Inasmuch, however, as there is no wealth in this country of any
+     amount, but what has been derived either from agriculture or
+     manufactures, nor any of which the value is not determined by
+     the success of these, so again this consumer, whatever his rank
+     or position in society may be, is mainly dependent on them. The
+     rental of land, the income from houses, or investments in the
+     public funds, are merely the representatives of so much labour;
+     and the means necessary to pay them are principally drawn from
+     either agriculture or manufactures.
+
+     "Our annual creation of wealth may be thus stated:--
+
+  Agriculture,                       £250,000,000
+
+  Manufactures, deducting the  }
+    value of the raw material, }      127,000,000
+
+  Money interest,                      37,000,000
+
+  Colonial interest,                   18,000,000
+
+  Foreign commerce, (including }
+    shipping interest,) 10 per }       15,000,000
+    cent on amount of exports  }
+    and imports,}
+
+  Fisheries,                            3,000,000
+                                     ------------
+                                     £450,000,000"
+                                     ------------
+
+_And from one or other of these does every individual in the land
+derive his income or means of support._ The Peer of the realm,
+the landed proprietor, the Government annuitant, the clergyman,
+the medical and the legal adviser, with the banker, merchant,
+dealer, and handicraftsman of every class and kind,--derive what
+is necessary to support their state and condition, and their daily
+sustenance, from these spring-heads of national wealth. This is the
+substance of the nation, and what we call money consists merely
+of the counters we use to denote and measure the value of this
+substance as it passes from one to another.
+
+     "To do equal justice to all classes, the legislation of a
+     country ought, therefore, to keep steadily in view their
+     relative importance, not only as regards numbers, but also their
+     powers of production, and the proportion which they severally
+     bear of the national burdens. Unless this is the governing
+     principle, it strikes at the root of their prosperity, and the
+     injury inflicted on a class is evinced in the gradual decay of
+     the whole community."
+
+Acting upon these distinct, and, we submit, perfectly sound
+principles, Mr Spackman has compiled his tables in the following
+manner. The Government returns are quite explicit as to the number
+of those engaged directly in agriculture and in manufactures. Mr
+Spackman takes each county separately; and having set down the
+relative numbers of each class, he divides the remainder of the
+population between these according to their proportion. For example,
+let us instance his table of the county of Lanark, which is the
+great seat of Scottish manufactures. We find, from the official
+returns, that the following numbers are directly engaged:--
+
+  In Agriculture,                       13,169
+  In Manufactures of all kinds,         61,378
+
+The residue of the population being 352,425, he divides in the same
+proportion, and thus gives us as a result:--
+
+  Engaged in Agriculture,     13,169
+  Dependent on,               62,257
+                              ------    75,426
+  Engaged in Manufactures,    61,378
+  Dependent on,              290,168
+                             -------   351,546
+                                       -------
+                    Total of county,   426,972
+
+In the same way, by estimating the population of Perthshire directly
+employed in agriculture and manufactures, Mr Spackman forms his
+table thus,--
+
+  Engaged in Agriculture,     16,302
+  Dependent on,               64,233
+                              ------    80,535
+  Engaged in Manufactures,    11,509
+  Dependent on,               45,346
+                              ------    56,855
+                                        ------
+                    Total of County,   137,390
+
+The grand result for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
+is as follows:--
+
+  Engaged in, and dependent on
+    agriculture,                    18,734,468
+  Engaged in, and dependent on
+    manufactures,                    8,091,621
+                                    ----------
+  Population, exclusive of those
+    travelling on night of census,  26,826,089
+
+Lest it should be said that Mr Spackman has acted upon any wrong
+principle in framing these tables--for we know by experience that
+a certain class of political economists can see no virtue in any
+figures which are not of their own construction--let us turn to
+the Government reports, and extract from them the number of males
+_directly_ employed in the two great branches of production.
+
+
+AGRICULTURE.
+
+  Farmers and Graziers,                737,206
+  Agricultural Labourers,            2,312,388
+  Gardeners, Nurserymen, &c.            60,767
+  All others,                            9,196
+                                     ---------
+                    Total Males,     3,118,557
+
+
+MANUFACTURES.
+
+  Above 20,                            717,780
+  Under 20,                            168,964
+                                      --------
+                    Total Males,       886,744
+
+"It will thus be seen," says Mr Spackman, "that the farmers and
+graziers alone, as a body, are more in number than all the males
+above twenty years of age employed in manufactures, and only 150,000
+short of the whole number of males of all ages so employed. If we
+add the two and a quarter millions of labourers which these farmers
+and graziers give employment to, the _male_ population employed in
+agriculture are nearly as four to one compared with those employed
+in manufactures. The same remark will also apply as to age: those
+above twenty are four to one; those under twenty are nearly two to
+one."
+
+We put forward these statements with no other view than to exhibit
+to our readers the national importance of that agricultural interest
+which has been so bitterly assailed, and which is threatened still
+by a heavier accession of calamity. If the bastard system of Free
+Trade is to be considered according to its influence on the welfare
+of the majority of the people of Britain, there can be no doubt to
+which side the vast preponderance belongs. The "horse-shoe idiots,"
+though dull in intellect, are numerous in the flesh to an extent of
+which, perhaps, even Mr Cobden was little aware. It is quite true
+that the extended area over which they are disposed does not afford
+them the same means of combination which are within the reach of the
+inhabitants of the factories. The agriculturalists have no wish to
+interfere with their neighbours' livelihood, and little inclination
+to move at the bidding of mercenary demagogues. They seldom speak
+until suffering or a sense of injustice compels them to appeal
+to the legislature: and their unwillingness to join in agitation
+has, ere now, been made subject of taunt against them. Were it
+otherwise, we should not attach one half the importance which we do
+to the movement which is visible all over the face of agricultural
+England--a movement which the advocates of Free Trade may affect to
+despise, but which, in reality, has struck them with consternation.
+And no wonder that the movement should have been made. Let us pass
+from the mere numerical consideration, and look to the extent of
+property which is embarked on the one side and on the other.
+
+We have already stated the annual value of the agricultural
+production of these kingdoms to be £250,000,000, whilst that of
+manufactures is little more than £127,000,000. To this latter sum
+we must add about £50,000,000, being the estimated cost of the raw
+material, if we wish to calculate from the exports the importance
+of the home market compared with that which is to be found abroad.
+For example, if the declared value of the exports shall amount to
+69 millions, we are entitled to assume that about 117 millions are
+consumed at home in a year of ordinary prosperity. This, of course,
+is no more than an approximation to the truth, but it is the nearest
+which can be made from such documents, reports, and returns, as are
+accessible to the statist. Let us take Mr Spackman's estimate of
+the capital employed, referring our readers for the details to his
+exceedingly interesting work.
+
+
+AGRICULTURAL CAPITAL.
+
+  Value of the Land, at 25 years' purchase of the annual rental of
+    Great Britain and Ireland, amounting, to £58,753,615  £1,500,000,000
+
+  Farmers' capital, employed in the cultivation of the soil, independent
+    of the stock on hand, at all times, of cattle, grain, &c., £5 to
+    £6 per acre on 46,522,970 acres, about                   250,000,000
+
+  Stock in hand--
+    About  7,500,000 head of cattle,                   }
+      "   31,000,000 sheep and lambs,                  }
+      "    1,500,000 horses,                           }     250,000,000
+      "  £50,000,000 value of timber,                  }
+                                                       }
+  On an average, three months stock of grain, seeds,
+    hay, and other produce always on hand,             }
+                                                           -------------
+                    Estimated agricultural capital        £2,000,000,000
+                                                           -------------
+
+MANUFACTURING CAPITAL.
+
+  In Cotton,                              £24,500,000
+  " Woollen,                               16,500,000
+  " Linen,                                  7,000,000
+  " Silk,                                   4,000,000
+  " Lace,                                   2,000,000
+  " Hose,                                   1,000,000
+  All others,                              23,000,000
+                                          -----------
+    Estimated manufacturing capital,      £78,000,000
+                                          -----------
+
+The first reflection which must come home to the mind of every one
+who considers these tables, is the astounding audacity of those who
+have characterised the landlords as a grasping and rapacious class.
+Singular, nay, almost incredible as it may appear, the annual value
+of the production of manufactures is nearly double the amount of the
+whole capital invested. This fact sufficiently explains the manner
+in which so many colossal fortunes have been realised, while it
+also suggests very painful reflections as to the condition of the
+operatives who are the creators of all this wealth. But what are
+we to think of the conduct of the men who, not content with such
+enormous returns, have leagued together to swell them to a greater
+amount, by demanding the free importation of foreign produce, under
+the pretext that the people were oppressed by the continuance of a
+system which gave remunerative prices, continuous employment, and
+the means of livelihood to two-thirds of their aggregate number?
+We acquit many of the leading and most respectable manufacturers
+from being participators in any such scheme. Those connected with
+the home trade have very generally been opposed to the application
+of the Free-trade doctrines, the leading advocates of which were
+comprised of men who manufactured solely for exportation, and whose
+goods were neither intended nor adapted for British consumption.
+It was for the exclusive benefit, as at the instigation of the
+latter, that the Corn Laws were repealed. Few can be sorry--we
+confess we are not--that even they have been disappointed in their
+expectations. No tariffs have been relaxed in consequence of the
+ill-omened surrender; on the contrary, the Continental states,
+as well as the Americans, are protecting their own manufactures
+with increased vigilance; whilst, on the other hand, they are
+availing themselves of our folly, by deluging our market with their
+agricultural produce, securing by these means the double advantage
+of promoting both branches of industry. Never was there a vainer
+notion than the chimera that other states would abandon their rising
+manufactures to reciprocate with Great Britain, when that haughty
+power had deliberately deprived herself of the means of enforcing
+reciprocity. _The countries from which we import the largest amount
+of grain are not the countries which take the largest amount of our
+manufactures._ Even if the case were otherwise, we maintain that we
+should be heavy losers, and in no way gainers, by the transaction.
+Nationally, this is so clear that we need not waste words by arguing
+the point; but we go further and say that, even had other states
+reciprocated, the manufacturers, as a body, could not have been
+gainers by Free Trade, unless the relative proportions between the
+amount of home and foreign consumption had been entirely changed.
+For, so long as two-thirds of our whole manufactures are annually
+consumed in Britain, the condition of the consumers there, and their
+power of purchase, must be a matter of greater importance to the
+manufacturer than that of consumers abroad. The interest of the
+shopkeepers and of the artisans is almost entirely bound up with the
+home trade; and nothing can be more suicidal to the traders than
+to give any countenance to a system which strikes at the amount of
+their profits, by crippling the means of their customers.
+
+Were our object merely to show the glaring injustice which has
+been done to the landed interest, we could proceed much further in
+disentangling details from the confusion into which they have been
+purposely thrown, by such statistical writers as Mr Porter. But we
+apprehend that, in the present temper of the nation, there is little
+occasion for this. Men of all classes have had that opportunity
+which experience can alone give, of testing in their own individual
+case the advantages which were so confidently predicted by those
+who advocated the commercial change. Those who have benefited by it
+will, of course, remain Free traders. We are not unreasonable enough
+to expect that they will abandon that policy which is profitable to
+themselves, even though they should be convinced that it has proved
+the reverse of profitable to others. But we can conscientiously say,
+that we are acquainted with very few such persons. In the country
+they do not exist: in the towns, we hear of nothing except continued
+and weary depression. Almost every day fresh complaints of want of
+employment are thrust upon us. Establishments are reduced, because
+those who were considered wealthy, and those whose wealth depended
+upon produce, have no longer the means to support them as before:
+even professional incomes are declining: and no one ventures now
+to indulge in that expenditure which, four or five years ago, gave
+an impulse to the industry of the people. All this we believe to
+be acknowledged, and we have heard it from the lips of many whose
+political creed is quite at variance with our own.
+
+Most important testimony to the same effect was borne, at the
+recent meeting in Liverpool, by gentlemen who, from profession and
+connection, belong to the mercantile and trading classes of the
+community. It is no vague apprehension of coming evil, no slight
+or ephemeral touch of distress, which has elicited declarations of
+opinion so strong as were there expressed. The urgency of the case
+is felt and acknowledged; and ere long we have not the slightest
+doubt that demonstrations of similar magnitude and importance will
+take place in other of the English towns.
+
+From what we have already said, it will be gathered that we
+recommend no hasty or precipitate movement. Our strength lies
+in the justice of our cause, and in the palpable failure of the
+measures against which we have emphatically protested. This is not
+a question of mere sentiment, regarding which men can long continue
+to maintain divided opinions. It is a practical question, affecting
+not only the general welfare of the kingdom, but the property and
+means of every man who lives and thrives through his industry. It is
+essentially a labour question, and, as such, it cannot long remain
+without receiving a distinct solution. In the mean time, however,
+it is our duty to make preparation for the change which may arrive
+at no distant period. The various Protection societies which are
+everywhere organised, offer to those who condemn the present line of
+policy the best opportunity of concentrating their efforts, and of
+contributing to the ultimate triumph of the cause. These societies
+must be supported, for, under existing circumstances, they are
+of the utmost value. They present a ready channel through which
+the wishes and situation of the people can be communicated to the
+legislature or the throne; they establish and preserve communication
+between neighbouring districts; and they supply useful information,
+and disseminate sound principles, in quarters where good political
+knowledge is most especially required. We trust that no one who
+entertains opinions similar to our own, and who is deeply impressed
+with the necessity of a return to the just system of Protection,
+will be backward in lending his aid to these institutions. From the
+peculiar position of the agricultural party, such combinations are
+absolutely necessary, in order to arrive at a just estimate of our
+strength, and the true sentiments of the nation. Private efforts,
+however energetically made, are ineffectual in compassion with this
+system of union and of order; and although we know that agitation
+is in itself a thing distasteful to many, the emergency of the case
+is such that we are imperatively bound to adopt all legitimate
+means for the furtherance of our object. It may be that under no
+circumstances whatever can redress be obtained from the present
+Parliament. We have already adverted to the peculiar causes which
+would seem to render such an expectation at best a forlorn hope;
+yet still that furnishes no reason for relaxing in our efforts. The
+Whig Ministry--by the confession of men of all parties--has a most
+precarious tenure of office. Already the House of Peers has passed
+its gravest censure upon the course of foreign policy which has been
+pursued--a course of which it is difficult to say whether its most
+prominent feature is culpable recklessness or glaring dishonesty. We
+do not know what may be the decision of the House of Commons upon
+a point of such importance, or whether unscrupulous influence, and
+the dread of a dissolution, may not overcome the dictates of honour
+and the force of private judgement in the more popular assembly.
+But, whatever may be the fiat of the Commons, this at least is
+clear, that a severe blow has been given to the stability of the
+Whig Government. Beyond the walls of Parliament they have hardly
+any support upon a question which threatens to involve us in direct
+hostility with France; and nothing could have more effectually
+damaged them, even in this wretched business, than the acerbity of
+the tone assumed by Lord John Russell with regard to the European
+powers, who are most justly incensed at the paltering and bad faith
+of the political incendiary who, to the misfortune of this country,
+has been intrusted with the management of foreign affairs. Neither
+the honour nor the interests of Britain are safe in such hands.
+Therefore we say to the men of the Country Party--Be prepared to
+act, for no one can tell how soon the moment for action may arrive.
+Ours is a great cause, and it must not be imperilled by slothfulness
+or inactivity at a crisis which requires the exertion of all our
+energies, and the combination of all our powers. Let us but be true
+to ourselves, and ultimate success is certain. Delusions may for a
+time have taken hold of the public mind; but the endurance of all
+delusions is short, and the mist is rapidly dissipating. Let any man
+compare the state of public feeling as it exists now, with what it
+was but twelve months ago, and he cannot fail to be impressed with
+the amazing rapidity of the change. And yet, why should he wonder at
+it? The industry of the nation is at stake, and what marvel that the
+people should demand their own?
+
+That cheapness of itself is no blessing, even our opponents admit
+in the arguments which they try to direct against us. Read their
+accounts of the squalidness and poverty which prevail in the
+larger towns--the testimony which has been laboriously collected
+as to the lamentable fall of wages, and the diminished profits of
+thousands employed in the lower kinds of handicraft. Undoubtedly
+competition among themselves has contributed to this state of
+matters; but in no degree at all commensurate to the great decline
+which has taken place since we commenced the ruinous system of
+reducing customs duties. Mr Joseph Hume once ventured to maintain,
+in the House of Commons, "that England might exist and prosper as
+a purely manufacturing and commercial country, if it did not grow
+a single bushel of corn,--if, in exchange for its manufactures and
+minerals, it imported from the cheap corn-producing countries every
+quarter of wheat required in this country!" How far that statement
+is compatible with the ascertained sources of the national wealth,
+we leave our readers to decide. This much, however, we shall say,
+that England, so situated, would be a very different country from
+that which we have known; and that the wildernesses of the West
+would offer a place of abode infinitely preferable to that which we
+could enjoy here under the gentle sway of the Millocrats, and the
+enlightened legislation of the Economists.
+
+
+_Printed by William Blackwood & 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.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume
+68, No. 417, July, 1850, by Various
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44338 ***
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+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 68, No. 417, July, 1850 by Various.
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+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44338 ***</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+<h1>
+BLACKWOOD'S<br />
+
+<span class="oldenglish">Edinburgh</span><br />
+
+MAGAZINE.</h1>
+
+<p class="center">VOL. LXVIII.</p>
+
+<p class="center">JULY-DECEMBER, 1850.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 125px;">
+<img src="images/buchanan.jpg" width="125" height="142" alt="Buchanan" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="center">WILLIAM BLACKWOOD &amp; SONS, EDINBURGH;<br />
+<span class="s05">AND</span><br />
+37 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.<br />
+&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;<br />
+1850.
+</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p class="center b15"><small>BLACKWOOD'S</small><br />
+EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+<span class="smcap">No. CCCCXVII.</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;JULY, 1850.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="smcap">Vol. LXVIII.</span><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 House of Guise</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">My Peninsular Medal. By an Old Peninsular. Conclusion</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_20">20</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Chateaubriand's Memoirs</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Green Hand&mdash;A "Short" Yarn. Part XI.</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_48">48</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Jew Bill</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_73">73</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Pictures of the Season</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Year of Sorrow.&mdash;Ireland&mdash;1849</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">London and Edinburgh Chess Match</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Industry of the People</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_106">106</a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+<p class="center">EDINBURGH:</p>
+
+<p class="center">WILLIAM BLACKWOOD &amp; SONS, 45 GEORGE STREET;<br />
+AND 37 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.<br />
+
+<em>To whom all communications (post paid) must be addressed.</em><br />
+
+<small>SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM</small>.<br />
+
+&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;<br />
+<small>PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH.</small></p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+
+<h2>BLACKWOOD'S</h2>
+
+<h3>EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.</h3>
+
+<p class="center">
+<span class="smcap">No. CCCCXVII.</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;JULY, 1850.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="smcap">Vol. LXVIII.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">&nbsp;</a></span></p>
+<h2><br />THE HOUSE OF GUISE.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></h2>
+
+
+<p>Upon the page of history are inscribed
+the names of many great
+men, uncrowned, but more illustrious
+than most kings, whose biography
+essentially involves the records of
+their country and times. The cases
+are very rare in which this occurs of
+an entire lineage; when through
+several successive generations the
+same extraordinary qualities are
+transmitted, and the hero or statesman
+who perished yesterday, to-day
+and to-morrow seems to start again
+to life in the persons of descendants
+who rival and even eclipse his fame.
+These remarkable and most unfrequent
+instances are exemplified in
+the house of Guise, those puissant
+nobles of Lorraine, immigrant into
+and naturalised in France, who for
+eighty years led the armies and directed
+the councils of their adopted
+country. Great warriors, bold and
+profound politicians, unscrupulous and
+interested champions of Rome, alternately
+defenders of and competitors
+for thrones, they upheld their power
+and pretensions by the double lever of
+religious enthusiasm, and of skilful
+appeals to the sympathy of the people.
+Rich in glory, in wealth, in
+popularity, they were alternately indispensable
+and formidable to their
+sovereigns, and were virtually the
+last representatives of that energetic,
+able, and arrogant aristocracy, whose
+services to the state were often limited
+by the jealousy their power inspired,
+and whose patriotism was not unfrequently
+tarnished by their factious
+temper and unbounded ambition.
+From an early period of the sixteenth
+century, the influence of Guise was
+felt in France, for the most part
+paramount to that of royalty itself;
+until the might and glory of the house
+sank and disappeared beneath the daggers
+of assassins, and before the conquering
+sword of the Fourth Henry.</p>
+
+<p>The history of France during the
+sixteenth century necessarily comprises
+the public acts of the family
+of Guise, and the memoirs of the time
+abound in personal details of the
+members of that renowned house;
+but a work especially devoted to
+them was still a desideratum, until
+the appearance of that which M.
+Réné de Bouillé has just produced.
+One of the chief difficulties of his
+task must have been to avoid including
+the history of the century
+in that of the extraordinary men so
+intimately connected with its chief
+events. Whilst confining himself as
+much as possible to his immediate
+subject, he has yet, as he himself
+says, found his horizon of necessity
+extensive. And in order to assemble
+in one frame the various members of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span>
+that celebrated family, he has been
+compelled to admit with them a host
+of other personages, who in their turn
+have brought a retinue, and have insisted
+on at least a corner of the
+canvass being allotted to their deeds.
+The manner in which M. de Bouillé
+has treated this great historical
+picture, whose magnitude and difficulty
+must have deterred a less
+zealous and persevering artist, is
+most judicious. "I have been as
+sparing as possible of discussion," he
+says, "prodigal perhaps, on the
+other hand, of cotemporary evidence,
+of faithful quotations, of such details
+as bring facts into a stronger light,
+exhibit the actors on the stage in a
+more animated manner, and display
+and make known, of and by themselves,
+the personages, parties, manners
+and spirit of the times, and the
+character of the situations." M. de
+Bouillé claims, as a matter of justice,
+credit for conscientious application,
+and declares his whole aim will have
+been attained if his work be admitted
+to possess historical interest and
+utility. No impartial critic will
+refuse it these qualities. It is at
+once substantial and agreeable;
+valuable to the student, and attractive
+to those who consider histories
+of the Middle Ages as fascinating
+collections of strange adventures and
+romantic enterprises.</p>
+
+<p>Réné the Second, reigning duke of
+Lorraine&mdash;the same who fought and
+conquered with the Swiss at Morat,
+and defeated Charles the Bold at
+Nancy&mdash;desired to see one of his sons
+settled in France. He selected the
+fifth, Claude, to whom he left by will
+his various lordships in Normandy,
+Picardy, and other French provinces,
+causing him to be naturalised a
+Frenchman, and sending him at a
+very early age to the court of France,
+where he was presented as Count de
+Guise, a title derived from one of his
+domains. The young count found
+immediate favour with Louis XII.,
+to the hand of whose daughter Renée
+he was considered a likely aspirant.
+But he fell in love with Antoinette
+de Bourbon, daughter of Count de
+Vendôme, (the great-grandfather of
+Henry IV.,) asked and obtained her
+in marriage, and celebrated his wedding,
+when he was but sixteen years
+of age, in 1513, at Paris, in presence
+of the whole French court. The
+following year another wedding occurred,
+but this time youth was on
+one side only. In his infirm and
+declining age, Louis XII. took to
+wife the blooming sister of Harry
+VIII. of England, and honoured
+Guise by selecting him to go, in company
+with the Duke of Angoulême
+and other princes of the blood, to
+receive his bride at Boulogne. The
+wedding was quickly followed by a
+funeral, and Francis I. sat upon the
+throne. This chivalrous and warlike
+monarch at once took his young
+cousin of Guise into high favour, to
+which he had a fair claim, not only
+by reason of his birth, and of his
+alliance with the house of Bourbon,
+but on account of his eminent capacity,
+and of the martial qualities
+whose future utility Francis doubtless
+foresaw. To his triumphs in the
+field, Guise preluded by others less
+sanguinary, but in their kind as brilliant,
+in the lists and in the drawing
+room. His grace and magnificence
+were celebrated even at a court of
+which those were the distinguishing
+characteristics, thronged as it was
+with princes and nobles, most of
+them, like the king himself, in the first
+flush of youth, and with keen appetites
+for those enjoyments which their
+wealth gave them ample means to
+command. He gained great credit
+by his prowess at the jousts and
+tournament held at Paris on occasion
+of the coronation, and his conduct
+in another circumstance secured
+him the favour of the ladies of that
+gallant and voluptuous court. "One
+night," says his historian, "he accompanied
+Francis I. to the queen's circle,
+composed of those ladies most distinguished
+by their charms and
+amiability. Struck by the brilliancy
+and fascination of the scene, unusual
+at a time when custom, by assigning
+to women a sort of inferior position,
+or at least of reserve, interdicted their
+mingling in the conversation, and to
+a certain extent in the society of
+men, Guise communicated his impression
+to the king, who received it
+favourably, and at once decided that,
+throughout the whole kingdom,
+women should be freed from this
+unjust and undesirable constraint."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span>
+It will easily be conceived that such
+an emancipation insured Guise the
+suffrages of the fair and influential
+class who benefited by it. From his
+first arrival at the French court he
+seems to have made it his study to
+win universal favour; and he was so
+promptly successful that, at the end
+of a very few months, he had conquered
+the goodwill of both nobility
+and army. He took pains to study
+and adapt his conduct to the character
+of all with whom he came in
+contact, thus laying the foundation
+of the long popularity which he and
+his successors enjoyed in France.</p>
+
+<p>But courtly pleasures and diversions
+were quickly to be succeeded by the
+sterner business of war. At his death,
+Louis XII. had left all things prepared
+for an Italian campaign; and
+Francis, eager to signalise his accession
+by the recovery of the Milanese,
+moved southwards in the month of
+August 1515, at the head of the finest
+troops that had yet crossed the boundary
+line between France and Italy.
+His army consisted of fifteen thousand
+excellent cavalry, twenty-two thousand
+lansquenets, fourteen thousand
+French and Gascon infantry, besides
+pioneers and a numerous artillery.
+The Constable of Bourbon led the van,
+the Duke of Alençon commanded the
+rear; Francis himself headed the
+main body, accompanied by Duke
+Anthony of Lorraine, (eldest brother
+of Guise,) with Bayard for his lieutenant,
+and by the Duke of Gueldres,
+captain-general of the lansquenets,
+whose lieutenant was the Count de
+Guise. If the army was good, none,
+assuredly, ever reckoned greater warriors
+amongst its leaders. Guise, during
+the passage of the Alps&mdash;accomplished
+by extraordinary labour, and
+which completely surprised the enemy&mdash;made
+himself remarkable by his
+constancy and activity, by the wisdom
+of his counsels, and by his generosity
+to the soldiers, thus further augmenting
+the affection they already bore
+him. Bayard and other illustrious
+officers formed his habitual society;
+and in him they found the most cordial
+and affable of comrades, as well
+as the most zealous advocate of their
+interests with the king. Devoted to
+his sovereign, Guise, when Francis
+somewhat over-hastily promised the
+Swiss an exorbitant sum of money as
+the price of the Milanese, nobly offered
+to contribute to it to the extent of all
+he possessed. The treaty, however,
+was broken by the Swiss. Steel, not
+gold, was to settle the dispute; and
+the plains of Marignano already trembled
+at the approach of the hostile armies.
+At the age of eighteen, Guise
+found himself general-in-chief of
+twenty thousand men. The Duke of
+Gueldres, having been recalled to his
+dominions by an invasion of the Brabanters,
+transferred his command to
+his young lieutenant, at the unanimous
+entreaty of the lansquenets, and
+in preference to all the French princes
+there present. In the quickly ensuing
+battle, Guise showed himself worthy
+of his high post. In the course of the
+combat, when the Swiss, with lowered
+pikes and in stern silence, made one of
+those deadly charges which in the
+wars of the previous century had more
+than once disordered the array of Burgundy's
+chivalry, the lansquenets, who
+covered the French artillery, gave
+way. Claude of Lorraine, immovable
+in the front rank, shamed them by his
+example; they rallied; the guns, already
+nearly captured, were saved;
+the battle continued with greater
+fierceness than before, and ceased
+only with darkness. Daybreak was
+the signal for its resumption, and at
+last the Swiss were defeated. After
+breaking their battalions, Guise, over
+eager in pursuit, and already twice
+wounded, had his horse killed under
+him, was surrounded, overmatched,
+and left for dead, with twenty-two
+wounds. Nor would these have been
+all, but for the devotedness of an
+esquire, whose name Brantôme has
+handed down as a model of fidelity.
+Adam Fouvert of Nuremberg threw
+himself on his master's body, and was
+slain, serving as his shield. After the
+action, Guise was dragged out from
+amongst the dead, and conveyed by a
+Scottish gentleman to the tent of the
+Duke of Lorraine. He was scarcely
+recognisable, by reason of his wounds;
+he gave no sign of life, and his recovery
+was deemed hopeless. He did
+recover, however, thanks to great
+care, and still more to the vigorous
+constitution and energetic vitality
+which distinguished all of his house,
+and without which the career of most<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span>
+of them would have been very short.
+Scarcely one of the prominent members
+of that family but received, in the
+martial ardour of his youth, wounds
+whose severity made their cure resemble
+a miracle. A month after the
+battle of Marignano, Guise, although
+still suffering, was able to accompany
+Francis I. on his triumphant entry
+into Milan, "as captain-general of
+the lansquenets, with four lieutenants,
+all dressed in cloth of gold and white
+velvet." One of his arms was in a
+scarf, one of his thighs had to be supported
+by an esquire, but still, by his
+manly beauty and martial fame, he
+attracted the admiring gaze of both
+army and people. Francis, in his report
+to his mother of the battle, named
+Guise amongst the bravest, as well he
+might; and thenceforward his great
+esteem for the young hero was testified
+in various ways&mdash;amongst others,
+by intrusting to him several important
+and delicate diplomatic missions.
+At Bologna, on occasion of the interview
+between Francis and Leo X., the
+Pope addressed to Guise the most
+flattering eulogiums. "Your holiness,"
+replied the ardent soldier, in a
+prophetic spirit, "shall see that I am
+of Lorraine, if ever I have the happiness
+to draw sword in the Church's
+quarrel."</p>
+
+<p>Master of the Milanese, Francis I.
+returned to France and beheld his alliance
+courted by all the powers of
+Europe, when suddenly the death of
+the Emperor Maximilian (15th January
+1519) proved a brand of discord.
+Francis and Charles were the only
+serious candidates for the vacant dignity.
+Guise, with a secret view, perhaps,
+to the crown of Jerusalem for
+himself, strained every nerve, exerted
+all his influence, on behalf of
+the French King. But Charles, the
+more skilful intriguer, prevailed; and
+Francis, deeply wounded and humiliated
+by his failure, revolved in his
+mind projects of war. In these the
+king did not lose sight of the great
+assistance he might expect from
+Guise, brave, skilful, and prudent as
+he was; and the esteem in which the
+young chief was held at court increased
+so greatly, that the French
+nobles came to consider him almost
+the equal of the members of the royal
+family. Guise, on the other hand,
+by reason of his enormous fortune and
+high birth, and in his quality of a foreign
+prince, spared no effort to place
+himself on the footing of an ally rather
+than of a subject of the King of France.</p>
+
+<p>Pretexts for hostilities were not
+wanting; and soon we find Guise, at
+the head of his lansquenets, fighting
+victoriously over the very same ground
+upon which, in our day, French armies
+contended with very different
+results. Maya, Fontarabia, and the
+banks of the Bidassoa witnessed his
+prowess; he himself, a half-pike in
+his hand, led his men through the
+river, with water to his armpits, dislodging
+the enemy by the mere terror
+his audacity inspired. When he returned
+to Compiègne, where the court
+then was, the King hurried forth from
+his chamber to meet him, embraced
+him warmly, and gaily said, "that it
+was but fair he should go out to meet
+his old friend, who, on his part, always
+made such haste to meet and
+revenge him on his enemies." His
+summer triumphs in the Pyrenees
+were followed by a winter campaign
+in Picardy, where he succeeded in
+preventing the junction of the English
+and Imperialists, besides obtaining
+some advantages over the former, and
+harassing their retreat to the coast.
+He thus added to his popularity with
+the army, and acquired strong claims
+to the gratitude of the Parisians,
+deeply alarmed by the proximity of
+the enemy to the capital, and who
+viewed him as their saviour.</p>
+
+<p>The year 1523 opened under menacing
+auspices. Germany, Italy,
+England, were leagued against France,
+whose sole allies were Scotland, the
+Swiss, (the adhesion of these depending
+entirely on regular subsidies,) and
+the Duke of Savoy, whose chief merit
+was that he could facilitate the passage
+of the Alps. Undeterred, almost
+foolhardy, Francis, instead of prudently
+standing on the defensive, beheld,
+in each new opponent, only a
+fresh source of glory. Unhappily for
+him, at the very moment he had
+greatest need of skilful captains, the
+Constable of Bourbon, irritated and
+persecuted in France, courted and
+seduced by the astute Charles V.,
+entered into a treasonable combination
+with the Imperialists. It was discovered;
+he fled, and effected his escape.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span>
+Out of France, he was but one man
+the less, but that man was such a
+leader as could hardly be replaced,
+and Charles gave him command of his
+troops in the Milanese. The Constable's
+misconduct brought disfavour
+on the princes of the house of Bourbon,
+(of that of Valois none remained,)
+and this further increased the credit
+and importance of the Count of Guise.
+He was already governor of Champagne
+and Burgundy, provinces the
+Emperor was likely to attack. This
+command, however, was not the object
+of his desires; he would rather
+have gone to Italy, and applied to do
+so; but the King, rendered suspicious
+by the Constable's defection, began to
+consider, with some slight uneasiness,
+the position acquired by the Count of
+Guise; and it was probably on this
+account only that he would not confer
+on the Lorraine prince the direction
+of the Italian war. The glory of
+Guise lost nothing by the refusal,
+although that of France grievously
+suffered by the army of Italy being
+confided to the less capable hands of
+Admiral Bonnivet. Fortune soon
+afforded the younger general one of
+those opportunities of high distinction,
+of which no leader ever was more
+covetous or better knew how to take
+advantage. A large body of Imperialist
+infantry having made an irruption into
+Burgundy, he assembled the nobility of
+the province and about nine hundred
+men-at-arms, with which force he
+deemed himself able to keep the field
+against the twelve thousand lansquenets
+that Count Furstemberg led to
+meet him. By an odd accident, he had
+no infantry, his adversary no cavalry.
+By dividing his horsemen into small
+parties, and maintaining an incessant
+harassing warfare, Guise prevented the
+Germans from foraging; and at last,
+compelled by famine, they prepared
+to recross the Meuse, abandoning two
+forts they had captured, and carrying
+off a large amount of spoil. Thus encumbered,
+and vigorously pursued,
+their rearguard was cut to pieces, and
+their retreat converted into a rout.
+"With a feeling of chivalrous gallantry,"
+says M. de Bouillé, "Guise
+desired to procure the duchess his
+sister-in-law, Antoinette de Bourbon,
+and the ladies of the court of Lorraine,
+then assembled at Neufchâteau,
+the enjoyment of this spectacle, (the
+battle), to them so new. Warned by
+him, and stationed at windows, out of
+reach of danger, whence they looked
+out upon the plain, they had the pastime,
+and were able to recompense, by
+their applause and cries of joy, the
+courage of the troops whom their
+presence animated."</p>
+
+<p>But such partial successes, however
+glorious to him by whom they
+were achieved, were all insufficient to
+turn the tide of disaster that had set
+in against the French arms. The
+defeat of Bonnivet, the invasion of
+Provence by the Constable, were
+succeeded by that terrible day before
+the walls of Pavia, when Francis I.,
+vanquished, wounded, made prisoner
+by a rebellious subject, beheld his army
+destroyed, and the battle-field strewn
+with the bodies of his best generals,
+whilst, bleeding at his feet, slain in
+his defence, lay Francis of Lorraine,
+a younger brother of the Count of
+Guise, the second of that brave
+brotherhood who had fallen in arms
+under the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">fleur-de-lis</i>.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> When the
+brave but most imprudent monarch
+was carried into captivity, his mother,
+regent in his absence, placed her
+chief trust and dependence in Guise.
+Of these he proved himself worthy.
+He checked the ambition of the Duke
+of Vendôme, who, as first prince of
+the blood, showed a disposition to
+seize upon the regency; he advised
+the ransoming of the French prisoners
+taken at Pavia, and exercised altogether
+a most salutary influence upon
+the circumstances of that critical time.
+His good sword, as well as his precocious
+wisdom, was soon in request.
+A large body of German fanatics,
+proclaiming the doctrine of absolute
+equality, and the abolition of all
+human superiority, had swept over
+Suabia, Wurtemberg, and Franconia,
+burning churches and slaying priests,
+and threatened to carry the like
+excesses into Lorraine and Burgundy.
+By aid of his brothers, at much
+expense and with great difficulty,
+Guise got together ten thousand men,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span>
+four thousand of whom were cavalry.
+The double cross was the rallying
+sign of this little army. The time
+was come for Guise to perform his
+promise to Pope Leo, to fight stoutly
+in defence of the Church. And truly
+his hand was heavy upon the unfortunate
+and half frantic Lutherans,
+although to a certain extent he
+tempered its weight with mercy.
+Besieged in Saverne, the fanatics
+put to death the herald who summoned
+them to surrender. Learning
+that reinforcements from Germany
+were at hand, Guise hurried to meet
+them with three thousand men, and
+encountered them at the village of
+Lupstein, into which the Germans
+retreated, after a terrible conflict
+outside the place, and threw up a
+barricade as best they could, of carts,
+casks, and gabions. From the cover
+of these, and of the adjacent hedges,
+they kept up so obstinate a defence,
+that Guise, whose men fell fast,
+caused fire to be applied to the
+houses. But hardly had the flames
+begun their ravages, when the Count,
+seized with compassion, threw himself
+from his horse to assist in extinguishing
+them, and succeeded, at
+imminent risk to his own life, in
+saving upwards of four thousand
+persons of all ages. Nearly double
+that number perished; as many more
+at Saverne and in the mountains, to
+which the unfortunate Germans fled;
+and about fifteen thousand in a final
+engagement at Chenouville, which
+broke the strength of the fanatic host,
+and finally closed the campaign.
+During one of these battles, the
+soldiers of Guise beheld in the air
+the image of the Saviour attached to
+the cross, a phenomenon in which
+they saw assurance of victory.</p>
+
+<p>"Once more," says M. de Bouillé,
+"Guise had rendered a most important
+service to the kingdom; he
+had also assumed a peculiar and
+marked position, and had fixed a
+point of departure for himself and his
+descendants, by striking, of his own
+accord, and without instructions from
+the Government, the first blows that
+Protestantism received in France:
+a circumstance often recalled, with
+more or less exultation, by the panegyrists
+of that family, and which
+procured Claude de Lorraine the
+nickname of the <em>Great Butcher</em>, given
+him by the heretics, who were exasperated
+by the loss of nearly forty
+thousand men, caused them by his
+arms in that fatal expedition."</p>
+
+<p>Determined foes to the Reformed
+faith as both of them were, a distinction
+must yet be made between the
+Count of Guise assailing and slaughtering,
+with far inferior forces, a formidable
+body of armed and aggressive
+foreigners, and the fierce <em>Balafré</em>,
+wielding a murderous sword against
+his defenceless and inoffensive Huguenot
+countrymen, on the terrible night
+of St Bartholomew. If the amount
+of bloodshed at Saverne and Chenouville
+appears excessive, and implies
+that little quarter was given, it must yet
+be remembered that greater clemency
+to the vanquished might have had
+the most disastrous consequences to
+the handful of conquerors. The
+Council of Regency disapproved of
+Guise's conduct in the affair; taxing
+him with rashness in risking the
+whole of the small number of regular
+troops disposable for the defence of
+the kingdom. But there could hardly
+have been more pressing occasion to
+expose them; and Francis I., on
+returning from exile, recognised and
+rewarded that and other good services
+by elevating the county of Guise into
+a duchy and peerage&mdash;further enriching
+the newly-made duke with a
+portion of the crown domains. Such
+honours and advantages had previously
+been almost exclusively reserved
+for persons of the blood-royal.
+The Parliament remonstrated in vain;
+but Francis himself, before very long,
+repented what he had done. He took
+umbrage at the increasing popularity
+of the Duke of Guise, and gave ear
+to the calumnies and insinuations of
+the French nobles, who were irritated
+by the haughty bearing, great prosperity,
+and ambitious views of the
+house of Lorraine. The manner in
+which Francis testified his jealousy
+and distrust was unworthy of a
+monarch who has left a great name
+in history. He showed himself indulgent
+to those of his courtiers and
+officers who organised resistance to
+the influence and pretensions of the
+Guises. "One time, amongst others,"
+says M. de Bouillé, "the Duke of
+Guise, governor of Burgundy, wishing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span>
+to visit the castle of Auxonne,
+whose governorship was a charge
+distinct from that of the province,
+the titulary, Rouvray, a French
+gentleman, refused him admittance,
+which he would not have dared to do
+had Guise been recognised as prince.
+When the Duke complained of this
+treatment, the King, delighted, whilst
+taking advantage of his services, to
+see his pride and ambition thwarted,
+lauded the conduct of Rouvray, and
+laughed at him who had wished to play
+the prince of royal blood." For annoyances
+of this kind Guise sought compensation
+in popularity, thus tracing
+out for his descendants the line they
+should most advantageously follow.</p>
+
+<p>The partial disfavour into which
+the Guises had fallen, during an interval
+of peace when their services were
+not indispensable, was dissipated by
+the zeal and talents exhibited by the
+Duke's brother, John Cardinal of
+Lorraine, in a most difficult and
+delicate negotiation with Charles V.,
+and by the prompt good-will with
+which, when negotiation failed and
+war broke out, the Duke hurried to
+the relief of Peronne, accompanied by
+his eldest son, the Count of Aumale,
+then scarcely nineteen years old.
+Peronne la Pucelle was hard beset
+by the Count of Nassau, who pounded
+its ramparts with seventy-two
+pieces of cannon, and was defended
+with equal valour by Fleuranges,
+Marshal de la Marck, who repulsed
+an assault made simultaneously by
+two breaches, and destroyed a mine
+on which the enemy reckoned for
+his discomfiture. Want of supplies,
+and especially of powder, must soon,
+however, have compelled him to
+yield, but for a stratagem practised
+by Guise. That able commander
+selected four hundred resolute soldiers,
+loaded each of them with a
+bag containing ten pounds of powder,
+and set out, at six in the evening,
+from his headquarters at Ham, with
+the Count of Aumale, whose first
+experience of war this was, and to
+whom Guise, as he wrote to the
+King, "intended soon to give up his
+sword, as capable of doing better
+service in his young hands than in
+his own." Two hundred horsemen
+escorted them as far as the edge of
+the marshes of Peronne, and at
+midnight Guise, who had brought
+with him a large number of drummers
+and trumpeters, distributed these at
+different points around the besiegers'
+camp. Whilst they sounded and beat
+the charge, and the Imperialist generals,
+believing themselves attacked on
+all sides, hastily formed their troops
+for the combat, the powder-bearers,
+guided by a soldier of the garrison
+who had borne news of its distress
+from Fleuranges to Guise, crossed the
+marshes by means of a number of
+little roads and bridges, which the
+enemy himself had made to maintain
+his communications, and reached the
+moat, whence by means of ropes and
+ladders they entered the fortress. The
+last of them were just getting in when
+day broke, and the Count of Nassau
+discovered the trick that had been
+played him, and detached a body of
+cavalry to pursue Guise, then retreating
+with his drums and trumpets, and
+whose steady array discouraged attack.
+A few days later the Imperialists
+raised the siege, and Paris, which
+had been in consternation at the
+danger of Peronne, its last bulwark
+against the advancing foe, knew no
+bounds in its gratitude to the man to
+whom it thus, for the second time,
+was indebted for its salvation.
+Guise's great services in this and
+the following campaign rendered
+Francis I. indulgent to his still-recurring
+pretensions; to the arrogance
+which led him frequently to
+refuse obeying orders that did not
+emanate directly from the King, and
+to assume a sort of independence and
+irresponsibility in the exercise of his
+government. Looking back, through
+the clarifying medium of history, upon
+the character and conduct of Claude
+of Lorraine, we are disinclined to
+think that Francis had ever serious
+cause for mistrusting the loyalty of
+his powerful subject; whose encroachments,
+however, it cannot be denied,
+were sufficient grounds for jealousy
+and uneasiness. And on more than
+one occasion we find the royal anger&mdash;perhaps
+complete disgrace&mdash;averted
+from him only by the interest of his
+brother the Cardinal, to whom Francis
+could refuse nothing.</p>
+
+<p>As a diplomatist and patron of the
+arts, Cardinal John of Lorraine occupies
+almost as elevated a pedestal in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>
+the gallery of distinguished Frenchmen
+of the sixteenth century, as does
+his brother Claude in his more active
+capacity of general of armies and
+administrator of provinces. His
+courtly qualities, and a congeniality
+of tastes&mdash;some of which, although
+they might be held excusable in a
+king, were scarcely to be palliated in
+a prelate, even in that age of lax morality&mdash;endeared
+him to Francis, who
+associated with him on a footing of
+great familiarity. His generosity and
+charity were on such a scale as at
+times to resemble prodigality and
+ostentation; his love of pleasure and
+addiction to gallantry were in like
+manner excessive. "He was," says
+M. de Bouillé, "a very lettered prince,
+a splendid patron of learned men,
+whom he treated as friends, and in
+whose labours he associated himself.
+A writer named Bertrand de Vaux,
+having presented and read to him a
+critical work, containing low personality,
+awaited, notwithstanding its
+base character, the recompense which
+the Cardinal always granted to those
+authors with whose productions he
+was satisfied. The prelate accordingly
+handed him a golden etui. 'Take
+this, friend Bertrand,' he said; 'it is
+to pay the fatigue and salary of the
+reader. The writer must seek payment
+from some more malignant man
+than myself.'" The celebrated Erasmus,
+Clement Marot the poet, and
+Rabelais the satirist, all benefited by
+the patronage or enjoyed the intimacy
+of the Cardinal, who, conjointly with
+his nephew the Cardinal Charles of
+Lorraine, is believed by some to have
+been indicated by the witty priest of
+Meudon in the character of Panurge.
+Passionately fond of art, the prelate-prince
+gathered around him the men
+of genius whom the largesses and magnificence
+of Francis I. seduced from
+Italy to France. He showed particular
+favour to Benvenuto Cellini, who
+presented him with some of his works
+and received from him costly gifts.
+"When in full blaze of fortune and
+favour, he caused to be built and
+decorated, with blind prodigality,
+after the designs of Primaticcio and
+by the pupils of that famous artist,
+the superb chateau of Meudon, in
+whose park was constructed, amongst
+other costly ornaments, a grotto,
+'excellently fine and pleasant to save
+oneself from being wetted by the rain.'
+He had musicians in his service, and
+Arcadelt, a distinguished composer,
+some of whose works are still preserved
+and esteemed, was his <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maître de
+chapelle</i>." His charity, although often
+too indiscriminate, sprang from real
+kindness of heart. Numerous children,
+belonging to poor families, were educated
+at his expense in the Paris
+schools. And his good grace in conferring
+favours doubled their value.
+The farmer of his abbey of Fécamp,
+having made the same receipt serve
+for three separate payments, and endeavouring
+to make it pass a fourth
+time, the Cardinal's receivers refused
+to admit it, and the case was referred
+to the prelate himself, who, having
+examined and recognised his signature,
+merely said, "Since John is
+there, John shall be believed," and
+ordered it to be definitively admitted.
+When he went abroad, "he usually,"
+says Brantôme, "carried a great
+pouch, which his <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">valet-de-chambre</i>,
+who had charge of the money for his
+petty expenses, failed not to fill each
+morning with three or four hundred
+crowns: and as many poor as he met
+he put his hand into the pouch and
+gave, without stint or consideration,
+whatever he drew forth." The story
+is well known of the blind mendicant,
+who, having implored an alms of him
+in the streets of Rome, exclaimed, on
+receiving a handful of gold: "<i lang="it" xml:lang="it">O tu
+sei Christo, o veramente il cardinal di
+Loriena</i>." By the light which these
+details throw upon his character, it is
+not difficult to discern that the magnificent
+cardinal must have been a
+welcome courtier to the sumptuous
+Francis, who, during the period of his
+favour, made him his constant companion
+and delighted to do him honour.
+He sat upon the King's left hand on
+occasion of the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">lit de justice</i> held at
+Paris on New Year's day 1537, at
+which Francis declared Charles of
+Austria attainted of rebellion and
+felony, and deprived of Artois, Flanders,
+and all the domains that he held
+<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">en mouvance</i> of the crown of France&mdash;a
+sentence more easily pronounced
+than enforced, and which of course
+entailed a war. Peace again concluded,
+in great measure by the diplomacy
+of the Cardinal, he it was,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>
+according to Du Bellay, who alone
+accompanied the King and Queen at
+dinner, on the day of Charles V.'s
+entrance into Paris. The friendship
+borne him by Francis, was the cause
+of his being charged to break to that
+monarch the death of his son, the
+Dauphin of France. Of the familiarity
+with which the King treated him, M.
+de Bouillé gives a specimen in a
+curious anecdote: "One day, at mass,
+the Cardinal did not perceive that a
+thief, who had managed to enter the
+chapel, had picked his pocket. The
+rogue, observing that the King had
+his eyes fixed upon him, with extraordinary
+coolness and audacity put
+his finger on his lips, looking at the
+same time significantly at Francis I.,
+who took the hint and said nothing,
+in order not to spoil what he imagined
+to be an adroit practical joke. Service
+over, however, he made an observation
+which induced the Cardinal to put
+his hand in his pocket, when he discovered
+his loss. When the King had
+amused himself at his surprise, he
+ordered that what had been stolen
+should be restored; but the thief, who
+was perfectly serious in his intentions,
+had made his escape, which greatly
+increased the mirth of the monarch,
+thus cleverly duped. 'On the word
+of a gentleman,' he exclaimed, 'the
+rogue has made me his accomplice!'"</p>
+
+<p>Powerfully supported at court by
+his brother, Claude of Lorraine was
+no less ably seconded in the field by
+his son Francis, Count of Aumale, a
+young hero destined ultimately to
+surpass even him in glory, and to raise
+the name of Guise to its apogee of
+splendour. The constantly-recurring
+wars with the Emperor yielded him
+abundant opportunities to display
+his prowess. In the campaign of
+1543 he did good service, until, at
+the siege of Luxemburg, he was
+dangerously wounded above the ankle
+by an arquebuse ball. "Carried,
+almost without hopes&mdash;on account of
+the fracture of the bones and the injury
+to the nerves&mdash;first to his tent
+and then to Longwy, five leagues in
+rear, he owed his recovery to the
+attention of the King, who sent him
+his own physicians, and to the care
+bestowed upon him by his father.
+And nevertheless, when he suffered
+signs of pain to escape him during the
+dressing, the Duke of Guise addressed
+to him reproaches by which it will be
+seen that he subsequently profited,
+saying to him&mdash;a noble and stoical
+maxim&mdash;'That persons of his rank
+ought not to feel their wounds, but, on
+the contrary, to take pleasure in building
+up their reputation on the ruin of
+their bodies.'" It was in no feather-bed
+school that the Guises were educated.
+Nearly at the same time that the Count
+d'Aumale was hit before Luxemburg,
+Gaspard de Coligny-Châtillon, then
+his rival in valour, and at a subsequent
+day his deadly foe, was severely
+wounded in the throat at the siege of
+Binche.</p>
+
+<p>In the war in which these incidents
+occurred, England was allied with the
+Emperor against France. Personal
+motives combined with political irritation
+to dispose the violent and
+uxorious Henry VIII. to a rupture
+with Francis I. Mary of Lorraine,
+daughter of the Duke of Guise, and
+widow of Louis of Orleans, duke of
+Longueville, had been given in marriage
+to James V. of Scotland, in
+preference to Henry, who, inflamed
+by the report of her beauty, had
+solicited her hand as a pledge of perpetual
+alliance with France. Dazzling
+as was the offer of so powerful a
+sovereign, his anti-catholic acts, and
+his evil reputation as a husband, deterred
+the Guises from entertaining it;
+and Francis I., obeying the dictates
+of feeling rather than those of prudence,
+extricated them from a dilemma
+by alleging a previous promise to the
+Scottish king. It is said that Henry
+would then gladly have espoused
+Louisa, second daughter of the Duke,
+and that, means being found to elude
+his pursuit, this second disappointment
+further augmented his rancorous feelings
+towards Francis and the house of
+Guise. However this may have been,
+the war with England continued subsequently
+to the conclusion of peace
+between Francis and Charles&mdash;chiefly
+in Picardy, around Boulogne, which
+Henry held, and in whose neighbourhood
+his army was encamped. Some
+severe skirmishes and partial engagements
+occurred, and in one of these
+the Count of Aumale received a
+wound, probably the severest ever
+survived by mortal man, from the
+lance of an English officer. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>
+weapon, according to the description
+of Ambrose Paré, entered "above the
+right eye, declining towards the nose,
+and piercing through on the other
+side, between the nape and the ear."
+So violent was the blow that the
+weapon broke in the head, into which
+it had penetrated more than half a
+foot, the entire lance-iron and two
+fingers' breadth of the staff remaining
+in the wound. Paré explains the
+possibility of such a wound, in an age
+when helmets and visors were in use,
+by mentioning that the Count always
+went into action with his face bare.</p>
+
+<p>"Terrible as was the shock," says
+M. de Bouillé, "it did not unhorse
+d'Aumale. He still made head against
+his foes, succeeded in forcing a passage
+through them, aided by his young and
+valiant brother Claude, and by de
+Vieilleville&mdash;who, alone of all, had
+not abandoned him&mdash;and rode gloriously
+into camp. His appearance
+was frightful; his face, armour, and
+clothes were deluged with blood. The
+surgeons, stupified by the depth and
+gravity of the wound, despaired of
+cure, and refused to inflict useless
+sufferings upon the patient. But
+Ambrose Paré, the King's surgeon,
+sent by Francis with orders to try
+every means of saving the hero's life,
+was not discouraged. Confiding in
+his skill, and in the firmness of the
+wounded man, he resolved to attempt
+an operation, terrible indeed, but
+admirable for those days, and worthy
+alone to insure celebrity to him who
+imagined it. The lance-head was
+broken off so short, that it was impossible
+to grasp it with the hand. Taking
+then a blacksmith's pincers, to
+draw it out with great force, and
+assisted, amongst others, by Master
+Nicolle Lavernan, a very experienced
+surgeon, he asked the Lorraine prince,
+in presence of a crowd of officers shuddering
+with horror, if he would submit
+to the employment of such means,
+and would suffer him to place his foot
+upon his face. 'I consent to everything;
+proceed,' replied d'Aumale.
+Nor did his fortitude abandon him for
+an instant during this cruel operation,
+which was not effected without fracture
+of bones, nerves, veins, and
+arteries, and other parts, and which
+he endured as if they had only pulled
+out a hair. The agony extorted from
+him but the single exclamation&mdash;'Ah!
+my God!' Transported afterwards in
+a litter to Pecquigny, he remained for
+three days in a hopeless state: early
+on the fifth day more favourable
+symptoms declared themselves, and
+nature made such powerful efforts,
+that the cure was completed without
+leaving the Count d'Aumale any trace
+of this astonishing wound, except a
+scar, equally glorious for him and for
+Ambrose Paré. That skilful surgeon
+was wont modestly to say, when
+speaking of the marvellous cure of
+Francis of Lorraine&mdash;'I dressed it,
+and God healed it.' As soon as he
+began to get better, the Count d'Aumale
+hastened to write to the King,
+with a hand still unsteady, the following
+note, characterised by a calmness
+remarkable in such circumstances:&mdash;'Sire,
+I take the liberty to inform you
+that I find myself well, hoping not to
+lose an eye. Your very humble
+servant, <span class="smcap">Le Guizard</span>.'" Admiring
+his energy, and in recompense of his
+services, Francis I. made him governor
+of Dauphiny; whilst the numerous
+partisans of the house of Guise
+attributed his cure to a miracle
+wrought by the prayers of his pious
+mother, Antoinette of Bourbon. This
+princess carefully preserved till her
+death the lance-point which had penetrated
+her son's head. The extent of
+the wound, as described by Paré,
+would be scarcely credible, but for the
+testimony of that learned and excellent
+man, and of other cotemporary
+writers quoted by M. de Bouillé. In
+a short time the heroic Count had forgotten
+his hurt, and was again in arms
+against the English, with whom, however,
+peace was shortly afterwards
+concluded.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding the frequent uneasiness
+occasioned him by the power
+and ambition of the family of Guise,
+Francis I. continued, almost to the
+close of his reign, to enrich and aggrandise
+them. The magnitude of
+their services, and their many great
+qualities, at intervals elicited his gratitude
+and generosity, to the oblivion
+of mistrust and apprehension. Thus,
+only three years prior to his death,
+he erected into a marquisate certain
+lands and lordships of the Duke
+of Guise, and immediately afterwards
+elevated the marquisate to a duchy,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>
+in consideration, said the letters
+patent, of the great, virtuous, and
+commendable services that the Duke
+of Guise had long rendered to king
+and country, without sparing his own
+person, his children, or goods; "and
+also that our said cousin Duke of
+Guise is of the house of Lorraine,
+descended by wife and alliance from
+the house of Anjou, and from our predecessors,
+kings of France." Thus
+was the title of Duke of Mayenne provided
+for a younger son of Claude of
+Lorraine. Such laudatory declarations
+as the one above cited were
+concurrent, however, with the systematic
+restriction of the Guises' direct
+influence on state affairs. And on his
+deathbed, when dividing his last
+hours upon earth between religious
+duties and sage counsels to his son,
+Francis enjoined this prince not to
+recall the Constable of Montmorency,
+or to admit to a share of government
+the princes of the house of Guise.
+Montmorency had incurred disgrace
+and banishment by exciting the King's
+conjugal jealousy. Henry II. showed
+slight regard to his father's dying
+injunctions. Scarcely had the earth
+closed over the deceased monarch,
+when those he had recommended to
+his son's favour were removed from
+their posts; Montmorency was recalled,
+and the Guises were taken into
+favour; the Count of Aumale, and
+Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine, dividing
+between them Henry's whole confidence.
+It must be admitted, that the
+means to which they resorted to
+secure and preserve this favour, were
+not of the most delicate description,
+although, doubtless, they would be
+very differently estimated then and
+now. They sustained their credit
+with Henry II. by their attentions to
+Diana of Poitiers, his all-powerful
+mistress, whose eldest daughter one
+of the brothers, Claude, Marquis of
+Mayenne, had just married. From
+this discreditable alliance Châtillon,
+afterwards the Admiral de Coligny,
+had tried to dissuade them, by pointing
+out, says Brantôme, in his Life of
+the Admiral, "that it was not very
+honourable for them, and that an inch
+of authority and favour with honour
+was better than an armful without."
+The Count of Aumale, up to that
+time the inseparable companion of
+Coligny, was but ill-pleased by the
+freedom of this advice, which, he
+said, was less that of a friend than of
+one envious of the good fortune such
+an alliance insured to his family. This
+difference, however, cast but a slight
+cloud over the intimacy which thereafter
+was exchanged for so bitter an
+enmity. Meanwhile the royal favour,
+lavished on the young Guises,
+was not extended to their father, who
+was excluded from the government
+which his sons freely exercised, and
+who, immediately after the coronation
+of Henry, left the court, to live in
+retirement in his castle of Joinville.
+The prudence and moderation of the
+elder Guise were probably less welcome
+to the young king than the
+bolder and more impetuous counsels
+of his sons. There were six of these,
+all pretty well provided for when
+Claude of Lorraine retired into private
+life: Francis, Count of Aumale;
+Claude, Marquis of Mayenne; Charles,
+Archbishop of Rheims; Louis, Bishop
+of Troyes, and Francis, Chevalier of
+Lorraine, afterwards grand-prior and
+general of the galleys of France.
+"During his stay at Paris, after the
+campaign of 1544, the Duke of Guise
+frequently went, accompanied by his
+six young sons, to pay his devoirs to
+the King, who always graciously received
+and congratulated him, saying
+'that he was six times fortunate in
+seeing himself live again, before his
+death, in a posterity of such great
+promise.' One day Charles, the
+second brother, who was intended for
+the church, presented to Francis I.
+some moral and theological theses,
+accompanying them with an eloquent
+and tasteful harangue. His promotion
+to the archbishopric of Rheims,
+the richest benefice in France, was,
+it is said, the munificent reward of
+this precocious ability." Henry II.
+received his crown from the hands
+of this youthful archbishop, upon
+whom the Pope, five days after the
+ceremony, conferred a cardinal's hat.
+Charles of Lorraine can have been
+but thirty or thirty-one years old,
+when he thus attained to the highest
+dignities of the church.</p>
+
+<p>A few days before the coronation,
+Henry II. sanctioned by his presence
+the celebrated judicial duel&mdash;which
+gave rise to a proverb still current in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>
+France&mdash;between Guy Chabot de
+Jarnac, and François de Vivonne.
+It took place in lists erected near the
+chateau of St Germains. Vivonne's
+second (or godfather, as it was then
+called) was the Count of Aumale,
+who attracted universal attention by
+the grandeur of his air and the lustre
+of his renown. "Towards half-past
+seven in the morning," says M. de
+Bouillé, "d'Aumale pronounced it
+time to bring the arms, and the combatants
+appeared in the lists, Vivonne
+conducted by d'Aumale; and, after
+the customary salutations and injunctions,
+the king-at-arms, Normandy,
+having thrice exclaimed&mdash;<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Laissez aller
+les bons combattants!</i> the combat
+commenced with skill and fury. In
+a few moments, however, by a blow,
+since proverbial, dealt and repeated
+on the left ham, Vivonne was prostrated
+by his adversary. The Count
+d'Aumale sprang to the assistance of
+the vanquished man, and to calm the
+rage which made him tear open his
+own wounds. But Vivonne survived
+only three days, and, after his death,
+d'Aumale had the following inscription
+engraved upon his tomb: 'A
+great prince <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lorrain et François</i>, much
+grieved and afflicted by so unexpected
+an event, has dedicated this to the
+manes of a brave knight of Poitou.'
+In these few words was revealed a
+pretension constantly entertained by
+the house of Guise, and which then
+appeared surprising, but which received
+a sort of consecration from its
+silent toleration by the King." It was
+doubtless this toleration, combined
+with the sentiment of growing power
+and influence, which raised the arrogance
+of the Guises to such a pitch
+that, on occasion of Henry II.'s solemn
+entrance into Chambery, during
+a visit of inspection to his frontier
+fortresses, we find the Count of Aumale
+placing himself on the same
+line with the Duke of Vendôme,
+first prince of the blood, and afterwards
+King of Navarre. The angry
+dispute to which this gave rise was
+terminated by the King, who maintained
+Guise in the place he had
+audaciously assumed. Like his father,
+Henry was nurturing a pride which
+was afterwards to give him umbrage.
+Already d'Aumale's influence and
+popularity were so great as to make
+him courted by all classes, even to
+the highest, not excluding persons of
+blood-royal; and only a few months
+after the dispute at Chambery, we
+find the same King of Navarre thanking
+him, conjointly with the Cardinal
+of Bourbon, for services he had rendered
+to friends of theirs. The first
+nobles of the land had recourse to
+his protection and support, and strove
+to propitiate him by presents and
+flattering letters. From all quarters
+he received offerings of "wine, fruit,
+confections, ortolans, horses, dogs,
+hawks, and gerfalcons, the letters
+accompanying these very often containing
+a second paragraph, petitioning
+for pensions or grants from the
+King, or for places, even down to
+that of apothecary, or of barber to
+the Dauphin, &amp;c." The memoirs and
+manuscripts of the time furnish many
+curious particulars of this kind, especially
+the MSS. Gaignières, often
+referred to by M. de Bouillé. And
+they further show that d'Aumale,
+amidst his countless occupations,
+found leisure to listen to all petitioners,
+and means to content many.
+There exist the most flattering letters
+written to him by the hand of kings;
+the humblest supplications addressed
+to him by great state corporations, such
+as the parliaments of Paris, Bordeaux,
+and other cities; testimony of the
+profoundest deference from the nobles
+of the court&mdash;names such as Brézé
+and Brissac being affixed to fulsome
+protestations of service and
+thanks for favour shown. Such was
+the immense position of the Duke
+d'Aumale, (that county also had
+become a duchy,) who now openly
+affected the state and quality of
+prince of the blood. Then, as afterwards,
+(when he was duke of Guise,)
+he always received the title of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">monseigneur</i>,
+(except from the princes of
+the blood, who called him <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">monsieur</i>,)
+and that of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">vostre excellence or vostre
+seigneurie</i>. And in 1548 the nuns of
+Bonneuil addressed him a supplication
+as <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">vostre haulte et puissante
+majesté et seigneurie</i>. So great was
+his reputation for magnanimity, so
+popular his rule, that those provinces
+rejoiced over which he was appointed
+governor. And the affection borne
+him by the French people became at
+last so great "that it may be said it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>
+was carried to an excess, even to the
+point of making them forget their
+fidelity to the King." For a time the
+favour and confidence of the King
+kept pace with the love of the nation;
+and it was augmented by the ability
+with which d'Aumale pacified several
+revolted provinces, where his presence
+alone sufficed, for the most part, to
+calm angry passions and revive the
+loyalty of the population. Soon after
+this expedition, occurred his marriage
+with Anne d'Est, daughter of the
+Duke of Ferrara, a beautiful, virtuous,
+and well-dowered princess who
+had been sought in marriage by
+Sigismund, King of Poland, but
+whom an innate sympathy for France,
+combined with the able management
+of Cardinal de Guise, induced to give
+the preference to the Duke d'Aumale.</p>
+
+<p>In his castle of Joinville, on the
+12th April 1550, Claude, first duke of
+Guise, piously and resignedly terminated
+his illustrious and honourable
+career. His duchess, Antoinette de
+Bourbon, one of the most virtuous
+and amiable princesses of her time,
+his eldest son and the Marquis of
+Elbeuf, were beside his dying bed;
+and during his illness the King sent
+frequent expresses to inquire his
+state. His premature death, at the
+age of fifty-three, after a short but
+violent illness,&mdash;combined with some
+solemn and generous expressions he
+used a few minutes before breathing
+his last, to the effect that he heartily
+forgave the person, whosoever it
+might be, who had given him "<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">le
+morceau pour mourir</i>,"&mdash;gave rise to a
+belief, further accredited by his funeral
+oration and by the inscription on his
+tomb, that he had perished by poison.
+History has difficulty in confirming
+this popular notion, in support of
+which no evidence was ever produced,
+nor anything beyond a vague supposition
+that the author of the Duke's
+death was a Genoese, an agent of the
+Emperor, then in France to watch the
+measures taken by that republic to
+obtain from Henry II. means of
+resistance to the party of Ferdinand,
+in opposition to whom there was
+little doubt that Guise would advise
+the King to give his support to Genoa.
+Considering, however, that Claude
+of Lorraine lived away from court,
+where his son had succeeded to his
+influence, this is rather a far-fetched
+story; and the probability is that the
+Duke died of some unusual malady,
+misunderstood by, perhaps wholly
+unknown to, the imperfect medical
+science of those days. But natural
+deaths were rare in the house of
+Guise; and in the sixteenth century
+poison had no unimportant share in
+the bills of mortality. Some indeed
+have hinted its possible agency in the
+death of John, Cardinal of Lorraine,
+which occurred within forty days of
+that of his brother Claude. This
+prelate was on his way back from
+Rome, where he had been an unsuccessful
+aspirant to the papal tiara,
+when he was suddenly informed, on
+his passage through Lyons, of the
+Duke's decease. It was possibly the
+shock of this intelligence that brought
+on an attack of apoplexy under which
+he sank and shortly expired. "Providence,"
+says M. de Bouillé, "had
+perhaps resolved to consecrate, by an
+almost simultaneous death, the union
+which had so constantly and advantageously
+existed between him and
+his brother, and which the cotemporary
+writers characterise, in their
+mythological style, by comparing the
+two princes to Castor and Pollux.
+Their place was not to remain vacant,
+but was about to be even more than
+filled by two brothers, also 'the
+happiest pair of brothers that ever
+were seen;' one an accomplished
+warrior and magnanimous hero, the
+other a skilful and enterprising prelate,
+who, by renewing the example
+of a constant agreement of views, by
+putting in practice that useful and
+remarkable combination of the churchman
+and the man of the sword, peculiar
+to their family, and efficaciously
+applied by them to politics and ambition,
+realised an immense amount of
+favour and authority. The first generation
+of this dynasty&mdash;if not sovereign,
+at least so brilliantly episodical&mdash;had
+passed away, already almost surpassed
+in grandeur by its successor, destined
+to elevate itself in the inverse ratio of
+the wearer of that crown which gradually
+became almost illusory."</p>
+
+<p>Certain it is that the figure of
+Francis, second Duke of Guise, surnamed
+the Great, occupies, upon the
+canvass of French history, a far more
+remarkable and important place than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>
+that of any one of the three kings
+whose reigns were cotemporary with
+his power. Early distinguished in
+arms, his generosity, urbanity, and
+irresistible valour made him the idol
+of the army, whilst the prudence and
+precocious wisdom he inherited from
+his father, rendered him invaluable
+at the council board, and secured him
+the favour of his sovereign; to such
+a point that Henry II. had no secrets
+from him, but caused all important
+despatches to be communicated to
+him as punctually as they were to
+himself. Nor was his brother Charles
+inferior to him in talent, although
+their difference of profession rendered
+its display less striking in the cardinal.
+Both possessed of admirable tact and
+judgement in the conduct of public
+affairs, the one was not more terrible
+in the battle-field than the other was
+skilful and seductive in diplomatic
+negotiations, and in the graceful intercourse
+of private life. The cardinal's
+learning and eloquence, his fine countenance,
+his dignified bearing, his
+richly-stored memory, combined to
+exercise a powerful fascination upon
+all he met. "Had I the elegance of
+Monsieur le Cardinal de Lorraine,"
+said Theodore de Beze one day, when
+mounting his horse to leave Rheims,
+where he had had a conference with
+the accomplished prelate, "I should
+expect to convert half the persons in
+France to the religion I profess."</p>
+
+<p>At the date of the death of Claude
+of Lorraine, Charles V. was the sole
+survivor of the three remarkable
+sovereigns who had simultaneously
+filled the three most important European
+thrones. With him the Duke
+and Cardinal now impelled Henry II.
+into a war, which had for its real
+object the realisation of a bold and
+extensive scheme greatly to increase
+the authority of France in Europe,
+and at the same time to establish the
+omnipotence of the Guises in France.
+One of the most remarkable events
+of this war was the siege of Metz, in
+which large ill-fortified place the
+Duke, with a small number of men,
+was exposed to the assaults of an
+army consisting of one hundred thousand
+infantry, twenty-three thousand
+horse, and one hundred and twenty
+pieces of artillery. Guise displayed
+extraordinary skill and energy, leading
+sorties himself, and even issuing
+forth at the head of a mere handful of
+men to skirmish with the enemy.
+Fortunately he had had time to lay
+in good store of provisions; but his
+cannon were few in number and for
+the most part unserviceable, and he
+was fain to defend with falconets and
+other small guns, the breaches which
+the Imperialists soon made in his
+walls. In an action that occurred
+during the siege, in the neighbourhood
+of Nancy, Claude de Guise&mdash;that
+brother of the Duke who, when a mere
+youth, had powerfully and valiantly
+contributed to deliver him, in front of
+Boulogne, from an overwhelming
+number of assailants&mdash;was taken
+prisoner. Thrice wounded, and with
+his horse killed under him, he had no
+choice but to yield or die. This disaster
+deprived Metz of a gallant
+defender, and plunged Guise and the
+whole army into deep affliction; the
+Duke, however, consoling himself by
+the resolution to make the Emperor
+dearly pay for his brother's ransom,
+and by the reflection that d'Aumale
+had not yielded until he was knocked
+down and had a cocked pistol at his
+throat. The sorties continued with great
+vigour, but at the expense of many
+wounded men, of whom so large a
+proportion died, for want of efficient
+medical assistance, that a rumour
+gained credit that the drugs were
+poisoned. Guise begged the King to
+send him Ambrose Paré with a stock
+of fresh medicaments, and, by the
+connivance of an Italian officer in the
+Imperialist camp, that skilful leech
+was introduced at midnight into the
+town, with the apothecary Daigue
+and a horse-load of medical stores.
+Paré was bearer of a letter from the
+King, thanking Guise and the other
+princes and nobles for all they had
+done and were doing to preserve his
+town of Metz, and assuring them he
+would remember and reward their
+services. Thus encouraged, and confident
+in his troops, Guise wrote to
+the King, with whom he found means
+constantly to correspond in cypher,
+that Metz could hold out six months
+without succour. On the other hand
+the Imperialists redoubled their efforts
+for success. The Emperor, who lay
+at Thionville, sick of the gout and
+expectant of triumph, at last judged<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>
+his presence indispensable for the
+fortunate conclusion of the siege, and
+made his appearance in the camp,
+mounted on an Arab horse, "his face
+very pale and wasted, his eyes sunken,
+his head and beard white." His
+coming was the signal for so great a
+salvo of artillery and small arms, that
+the besieged flew to arms, expecting
+a general attack. Until the neighbouring
+castle of La Horgne could be
+prepared for his reception, he took up
+his quarters in a small wooden house,
+hastily constructed with the ruins of
+an abbey. "A fine palace," he said,
+"when I shall receive in it the keys
+of Metz." But the keys were long in
+coming, although the fierceness of the
+attack was redoubled&mdash;fourteen thousand
+cannon-shots being fired against
+the ramparts in one day, the noise of
+which was said to have been heard
+beyond the Rhine, at forty leagues
+from Metz. The constancy of the
+besieged was a match for the fury of
+the assailants. Breaches were diligently
+repaired, and sorties continued&mdash;the
+French actually seeking the
+Imperialists under their tents. Suddenly
+the latter changed the point of
+attack, and directed their cannonade
+against one of the very strongest parts
+of the rampart, behind which the
+besieged hastened to construct a
+second wall, also of great strength.
+The sudden change of plan is attributed
+by Ambrose Paré in his <cite>Voyage
+à Metz</cite>, to a stratagem employed by
+Guise. The Duke, according to
+the learned physician and chronicler,
+wrote a letter to Henry II. with the
+intention of its being intercepted by
+the enemy, in which he said, that if
+Charles V. persisted in his plan of
+attack, he would be compelled to
+raise the siege, but that a very different
+result was to be apprehended, if
+unfortunately the enemy directed his
+attention to a certain point, cunningly
+indicated in the despatch. Sewn,
+with an affectation of mystery, under
+the doublet of a clumsy peasant, this
+letter was destined for the perusal of
+the Duke of Alva, one of whose
+patrols did not fail to seize and search
+the unfortunate messenger, who was
+forthwith hanged. Misled by the information
+thus obtained, the besiegers
+changed the position of their batteries.
+In two days a breach was effected,
+the old wall crumbling into the ditch,
+amidst the acclamations of the assailants.
+But their joy was exchanged
+for rage and disgust when, upon the
+subsidence of the dust, they beheld a
+second wall in rear of the breach. The
+French began to scoff and abuse them,
+but Guise commanded silence, under
+pain of death, lest some traitor should
+take advantage of the tumult to convey
+information to the enemy; whereupon
+his soldiers fastened live cats to the
+end of their pikes, whose discordant
+cries mocked the enemy. The enthusiasm
+of the besieged now knew no
+bounds. Men, women, and young
+girls toiled day and night to strengthen
+the inner wall. Guise's gay and encouraging
+words gave confidence to
+all. Collecting his soldiers upon the
+breach, which was ninety feet wide:
+"I rejoice," he said, "that the enemy
+have at last overthrown this barrier,
+more useful to them than to you. You
+have so often visited them in their
+camp, that it is only just they should
+have an opportunity of reconnoitring
+the town upon whose capture they so
+boastfully reckoned." Charles ordered
+the assault; but when his troops
+saw the French crowning the breach,
+with Guise at their head, they recoiled
+as if already attacked, and neither
+entreaties nor threats could move
+them forward. "How is it," the
+Emperor had exclaimed with a great
+oath, when he saw the gaping breach,
+"that they do not enter? It is so
+large and level with the ditch; <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">vertu
+de Dieu!</i> what means this?" He
+had himself conveyed in a litter to
+the foremost ranks, to animate the
+soldiers by his presence. When he
+beheld their retreat, he mournfully
+desired to be carried back to his quarters.
+"Formerly," he said, "I was
+followed to the fight, but I see that I
+have now no men around me; I must
+bid adieu to empire and immure myself
+in a monastery; before three
+years are over, I will turn Franciscan."
+Finally, on the 26th December,
+provisions running short, and
+his army weakened one-third by sickness
+and the sword, Charles, with a
+sad heart, raised the siege, uttering,
+in the bitterness of his shame and disappointment,
+the well-known words,
+"I plainly see that Fortune, like a
+true woman, prefers a young king to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>
+an old emperor." The imperial
+camp and artillery crossed the
+Moselle, and in the night the Duke of
+Alva evacuated his position, leaving
+behind a quantity of stores and tents.
+Guise, who had expressed, that very
+evening, in a letter to his brother the
+Cardinal, his conviction that the Emperor
+would never endure the shame
+of abandoning the siege, was greatly
+astonished in the morning to find that
+the enemy had decamped. His skill
+and constancy had triumphed, and
+France was saved from invasion.
+When he reappeared at court, the
+King embraced him with transport,
+and called him his brother. "You
+have vanquished me as well as the
+Emperor," said Henry, "by the
+obligations you have laid me under."</p>
+
+<p>The Duke of Guise's humanity after
+the siege did him as much honour
+as his bravery during it. A large
+number of sick men remained in the
+Imperialist camp; the rearguard of
+the retreating army were in a pitiable
+state, and, unable to proceed, yielded
+themselves ready prisoners. The
+commander of a troop of Spanish
+cavalry, pursued by the Prince of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">la
+Roche-sur-Yon</i>, who would fain have
+brought him to battle, suddenly faced
+about, exclaiming, "How should we
+have strength to defend ourselves,
+when you see we have not enough
+left to fly?" In the hospitals of
+Metz and Thionville, the sick and
+wounded Imperialists were carefully
+tended by order of Guise; non-combatant
+prisoners were sent back to
+the Duke of Alva, with the offer of
+covered boats to transport his exhausted
+soldiers; the bodies of the
+dead received suitable burial. The
+magnanimous general's courtesy and
+humanity bore their fruits. In the
+following campaign, when the town
+of Therouenne, in Picardy, was surprised
+by the Imperialists, the Germans
+and Flemings were putting inhabitants
+and garrison to the sword,
+without distinction of age or sex,
+when the Spanish officers, with a
+lively and grateful remembrance of
+the good treatment received from
+Guise and the French, united their
+voices and efforts to check the carnage.
+"<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Bonne guerre, compagnons,</i>"
+they cried; "<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">souvenez-vous de la courtoisie
+de Metz!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>It was during the following campaign
+(1554) that there occurred the
+first marked manifestations of discord
+between the Duke of Guise and the
+Admiral de Coligny. In the combat
+of Renty, near St Omer, Coligny
+commanded the infantry, in his quality
+of colonel-general of that arm. Victory
+declared itself for the French;
+already many trophies had been taken,
+and heavy loss inflicted on the Imperialists,
+who were on the brink of a
+general rout, when Guise "feeling"
+says M. de Bouillé, "that he was
+not supported by the Constable de
+Montmorency&mdash;the retreat also, according
+to a report current at the
+time, having been sounded <em>by the
+breath of envy</em>&mdash;was unable to follow
+up his advantage, and could but
+maintain himself on the field, whilst
+the Imperialists, although defeated,
+succeeded in entering the besieged
+fort." The chief merit of this imperfect
+victory was attributed by the
+Constable to his nephew Coligny, who,
+on his part, was said to have asserted
+that, during the heat of the fight, Guise
+had not been in his right place. This
+led, upon the evening of the action,
+to a violent altercation, which would
+have ended with drawn swords but
+for the intervention of the King, in
+whose tent it occurred. He compelled
+them to embrace; but the reconciliation
+was only skin-deep, and from
+that day forwards a rancorous dislike
+was substituted for the close intimacy
+which had existed in their youth between
+these two great soldiers, and
+which had been carried to such a
+point that they "could not live without
+each other, wearing the same
+colours, and dressing in the same
+manner." Henceforward they were
+constant antagonists, the chiefs of two
+parties under whose banners nobles,
+soldiers, and courtiers ranged themselves,
+according to the dictates of
+their sympathies or interests. And
+soon their rivalry for fame and influence
+was inflamed and envenomed
+by the ardour of religious passions,
+and of combats for their respective
+creeds.</p>
+
+<p>It is here impossible to trace, even
+in outline, the events that crowded
+the reign of Henry II., and in which
+the Duke, the Cardinal, and their brother
+d'Aumale played a most conspicuous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>
+part. It was a constant succession
+of battles and intrigues, for
+the most part terminating, in spite of
+formidable foes both in the field and
+at court, to the advantage of the
+Guises. And when, a few weeks
+after the battle of St Quintin, so disastrous
+to the French arms&mdash;where
+the Constable de Montmorency, who
+had boasted beforehand of victory,
+beheld his entire army slain or taken,
+and himself a prisoner&mdash;the Duke of
+Guise returned from Italy, "to save
+the state," as the King himself expressed
+it, he found himself at the
+utmost pinnacle of power a subject
+could possibly attain. On the very
+day of his arrival, Henry declared
+him lieutenant-general of the French
+armies, in and out of the kingdom;
+a temporary dignity, it is true, but
+one superior to that of Constable, and
+which usually was bestowed only in
+times of regency and minority. That
+nothing should be wanting to the
+exorbitant authority thus conferred
+upon the man to whom sovereign and
+nation alike were wont to turn in the
+day of danger and disaster, the King
+addressed to all the provincial authorities
+particular injunctions to obey
+the orders of the Duke of Guise as
+though they emanated from himself;
+and truly it was remarked, says
+Dauvigny in his <cite>Vies des Hommes
+Illustres</cite>, that never had monarch in
+France been obeyed more punctually
+and with greater zeal. The whole
+business of the country now rested
+upon the shoulders of Guise. But
+even whilst thus exalting him, Henry,
+conscious of his own weakness, and
+haunted, perhaps, by his father's
+dying injunction, was actually plotting
+how to lessen the power of his great
+subject, so soon as the period of peril
+should have passed, during which his
+services were indispensable. With
+strange infatuation, the feeble monarch
+expected to be able to clip at
+will the wings of that soaring influence,
+when victory over the foreigner
+and the liberation of the country
+should have confirmed its domination.</p>
+
+<p>Invested with his new dignities,
+whose importance his sagacity fully
+appreciated, Guise, with the least
+possible delay, set out for Compiègne,
+which, since the recent disasters of
+the French arms, was a frontier town.
+Those disasters, he felt, could be
+effectually repaired only by a brilliant
+feat of arms, at once useful to the
+state, and flattering to the national
+pride. Upon such a one he resolved.
+Calais, now upwards of two centuries
+in possession of the English, to the
+great humiliation of France, was the
+object of destined attack. Skilled in
+the stratagems of war, the Duke contrived,
+by a series of able man&oelig;uvres,
+to avert suspicion of his real design,
+until, on the 1st January 1558, he
+suddenly appeared before the ramparts
+of Calais. The siege that ensued has
+been often narrated. It terminated,
+after an obstinate resistance, in the
+capitulation of the garrison, which
+had scarcely been executed, when an
+English fleet appeared off the port,
+bearing succours that came too late.
+The triumph excited indescribable
+astonishment and joy throughout
+France. It was a splendid revenge
+for the defeat of St Quintin, and produced
+a marked change in the sentiments
+of several foreign potentates,
+who believed that reverse to have
+prostrated the French power for some
+time to come. The Grand Signior
+offered the co-operation of his fleet,
+and the German princes hastened,
+with redoubled good-will, the levies
+that had been demanded of them.
+Pope Paul IV., when congratulating
+the French ambassador, pronounced
+the highest eulogiums on Guise, and
+declared the conquest of Calais preferable
+to that of half England. At
+court, the partisans of the Constable
+were in dismay, and tried to lessen
+the merit of the victor by attributing
+its success to the adoption of a plan
+sketched by Coligny. But even if
+this were true, the merit of the execution
+was all the Duke's own. Upon
+the heels of this triumph, quickly followed
+the capture of Guines and the
+evacuation by the English of the
+castle of Hames, their last possession
+in the county of Oye. "In less
+than a month," says M. de Bouillé,
+"Francis of Lorraine had accomplished
+the patriotic but difficult
+enterprise so often and fruitlessly
+attempted during two centuries, and
+had cancelled the old proverb applied
+in France, in those days, to generals
+of slight merit, of whom it was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>
+derisively said, 'He will never drive
+the English out of France.'"</p>
+
+<p>Henry II., accompanied by the
+Dauphin, the Cardinals of Lorraine
+and Guise, and several nobles of the
+court, made a journey to Calais,
+which he entered with great pomp.
+The object of this expedition was to
+sustain the courage and zeal of the
+troops, who endured much fatigue
+and hardship, in that inclement
+season and in the midst of the
+marshes. The King also wished to
+testify his gratitude to his lieutenant-general,
+showing him great confidence,
+referring to him all who requested
+audience on business, and presenting
+him, in the most flattering terms,
+with a house in Calais. The Duke
+returned with Henry to Paris, where
+great feasts and rejoicings were held
+in his honour, and, on occasion of the
+Dauphin's marriage with Mary Queen
+of Scots, which shortly followed,
+Guise filled, in the absence of Montmorency,
+the office of grand-master,
+which he long had coveted. Concurrently,
+however, with this great
+apparent favour, Henry was secretly
+uneasy at the power and pretensions
+of the family of Guise, and
+maintained a constant and confidential
+correspondence with their inveterate
+enemy the Constable de Montmorency.
+On the other hand the
+Guises were on their guard, labouring
+to countermine and defeat
+the intrigues levelled against them.
+Urged on by his brother, and feeling
+that, in their position, if they did not
+advance they must recede, the Duke
+directed all his efforts to an effectual
+concentration in his own hands of the
+entire military power of the kingdom.
+Should he fail in this, he at least was
+resolved to leave none in those of his
+rivals. By this time the progress of
+the Reformed religion in France had
+attracted great attention. It was an
+abomination in the eyes of Henry;
+and of this the Duke and Cardinal
+took advantage to work the downfall
+of d'Andelot, brother of Coligny, and
+colonel-general of the French infantry,
+the only military commander who at
+that moment caused them any uneasiness.
+Accused of heresy, and summoned
+before the King, who received
+him kindly, and, expecting he would so
+reply as to disconcert his enemies,
+"commanded him to declare, in presence
+of all the court, his belief with
+respect to the holy sacrifice of mass;
+d'Andelot proudly replied that his
+gratitude for the King's favours doubtless
+rendered entire devotedness incumbent
+upon him, but that his soul
+belonged to God alone; that, enlightened
+by the torch of Scripture, he
+approved the doctrines of Calvin, and
+considered mass a horrible profanation
+and an abominable invention of
+man." Furious at what he deemed a
+blasphemy, the King, who was at
+supper, snatched a basin from the
+table and hurled it at d'Andelot; but
+it struck the Dauphin. He was then
+tempted, says one of his historians, to
+pierce the offender with his sword, but
+finally contented himself with sending
+him to prison, and the post of colonel-general
+was bestowed upon Montluc,
+an ex-page of Guise's grandfather,
+and a devoted partisan of the house
+of Lorraine. This brave Gascon
+officer at first scrupled to accept it, for
+he feared to incur the hatred of the
+Colignys and the Constable. Wily
+and wary, like most of his countrymen,
+he declared himself willing to
+serve as a private soldier under the
+Duke, but modestly declined the command
+offered him. The King insisting,
+he alleged a dysentery, as rendering
+him incapable of the needful
+activity. This and other objections
+being overruled, he took possession of
+his important command, and speedily
+proved himself worthy to hold it&mdash;notably
+at the siege of Thionville on
+the Moselle. This fortress, one of the
+strongest the Imperialists owned, was
+defended by Jean de Caderebbe, a
+brave gentleman of Brabant, at the
+head of three thousand picked men.
+The Dukes of Guise and Nevers, and
+Marshal Strozzi, were the leaders of the
+besieging army; Montluc joined them
+on the eve of the opening of the batteries,
+and did excellent service. On
+the fifteenth day of the siege, Guise
+was in the trenches, talking to Strozzi,
+on whose shoulder his hand rested,
+when the Marshal was struck by an
+arquebuse ball, a little above the
+heart. On feeling himself hit, "<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Ah!
+tête Dieu, Monsieur</i>," exclaimed this
+brave and able general, "the King
+loses to-day a good servant, and your
+Excellency also." He did himself no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>
+more than justice. Guise was deeply
+affected, but, repressing his emotion,
+he tried to fix Strozzi's thoughts on
+religion. The veteran's death was
+less exemplary than his life; he died
+in profession of unbelief; and Guise,
+much scandalised, but perhaps doubly
+furious at the thought that the soul as
+well as the body of his old comrade had
+perished by the sudden manner of his
+death, prosecuted the siege with fresh
+ardour, eager for revenge, and suppressing
+for the moment, as far as
+he was able, the disastrous news,
+which could not but produce a most
+unfavourable impression. Valiantly
+seconded by Montluc and Vieilleville,
+on the 22d June, two days after
+Strozzi's death, he received the capitulation
+of the garrison. His triumph
+was well earned. Besides the exhibition,
+throughout the siege, of the
+genius and inventive resource that
+constitute a general of the highest
+order, he had toiled and exposed himself
+like a mere subaltern, constantly
+under fire, personally superintending
+the pioneers and artillerymen, and
+rarely sleeping; so that it was no
+wonder (considering he had not had
+a single night's rest during the operations
+against Thionville) that on the
+1st July, when preparing for the siege
+of the rich little town of Arlon, he
+complained of being very drowsy, and
+left Montluc to invest the place&mdash;himself
+retiring to bed in a cottage, and
+giving orders to let him sleep till he
+awoke of himself. "It is very quick
+work," he observed, crossing himself,
+when he was the next day informed,
+in reply to his inquiry whether the
+batteries had opened fire, that Montluc
+had surprised and taken the place
+in the night.</p>
+
+<p>Whilst Guise was thus not only rendering
+great services himself, but
+bringing forward leaders whose exploits
+honoured the French arms, in
+other quarters affairs went less
+favourably for France. Near Dunkirk,
+Marshal Thermes was beaten and
+taken prisoner, and Guise, whose frequent
+lot it was to repair the blunders
+or misfortunes of less capable generals,
+marched to Picardy; on the
+frontier of which province, at a grand
+review passed by Henry II., the
+Duke's son and successor, Henry,
+Prince of Joinville, then but eight
+years old, appeared for the first time
+in public, with his cousin, the Count
+of St Vallier, son of the Duke
+d'Aumale. Accompanied by their
+preceptors and some other gentlemen,
+and mounted on ponies, they rode
+through the ranks, until they reached
+the troops commanded by Montluc.
+"<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Cà, çà</i>, my little princes," exclaimed
+that brave captain, "dismount;
+for I was brought up in
+the house of which you are issue,
+which is the house of Lorraine, where
+I was page, and I will be the first
+to put arms in your hands." The
+two cousins dismounted, and Montluc,
+taking off the little silken <em>robons</em>
+that covered their shoulders, placed
+a pike in the hand of each of them.
+"I hope," he said, "that God will
+give you grace to resemble your
+fathers, and that I shall have brought
+you good fortune by being the first
+to invest you with arms. To me
+they have hitherto been favourable.
+May God render you as brave as you
+are handsome, and sons of very good
+and generous fathers." After this
+species of martial baptism, the two
+children, conducted by Montluc,
+passed along the front of the troops,
+objects of the admiration and good
+wishes of men and officers. A few
+months later, one of them was dead;
+the other, heir to most of the great
+qualities, whether good or bad, that
+distinguished his race, lived to prosecute,
+and at one time almost to
+realise, the most ambitious designs
+his father and grandfather had conceived.
+The fair-haired boy of the
+review at Pierrepont, was the stern
+<em>Balafré</em> of the wars of the League.</p>
+
+<p>The spring of the year 1559 found
+the Guises in marked disfavour with
+the King. The great services of the
+Duke, the capture of Calais and Thionville,
+and the many other feats of
+arms by which he had reduced the
+power of the enemy, at moments when
+it was about to be fatal to France,
+were insufficient to counterbalance
+the alarm felt by Henry II. at his
+and the Cardinal's influence and ambition.
+The star of the Constable
+was in the ascendant. Chiefly by
+his intervention, a disadvantageous
+peace was concluded, and, at his request,
+d'Andelot was recalled to
+court. Montmorency and Coligny<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>
+triumphed. The efforts of the Protestants
+combined with court intrigues
+to ruin the credit of the house
+of Lorraine. The two brothers were
+attacked on all sides, and in every
+manner: epigram and satire furiously
+assailed them, and they were denounced
+as aspiring, one to the tiara,
+the other to the crown of France.
+However doubtful&mdash;or at least remote
+from maturity&mdash;these projects were,
+they were yet sufficiently probable for
+their denunciation to produce the
+desired effect on the mind of Henry,
+already writhing impatiently under
+the domination of the Guises, against
+whom he was further prejudiced by
+his mistress, the Duchess de Valentinois,
+(Diane de Poitiers,) still influential,
+in spite of her threescore winters.
+Never had circumstances been
+so menacing to the fortunes of the
+Guises; and perhaps it was only the
+subtle and temporising line of conduct
+they adopted in this critical conjuncture,
+that saved them from utter disgrace
+and downfall. Things had
+been but a short time in this state,
+and already, from the skilful man&oelig;uvres
+of the Cardinal, their side of
+the balance acquired an upward inclination,
+when the whole aspect of
+affairs was changed by the death of
+Henry II. With the reign of his
+feeble successor, there commenced for
+the restless princes of Lorraine a new
+epoch of power and renown.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2>MY PENINSULAR MEDAL.</h2>
+
+<h3>BY AN OLD PENINSULAR.</h3>
+
+
+<h4>PART VIII.&mdash;CHAPTER XIX.</h4>
+
+<p>Now for the fight. On the morning
+of the battle of Toulouse we left
+Grenade. It was known amongst us
+that the battle was coming off; and
+we started in the expectation of passing
+the night either in the city itself,
+or in its immediate vicinity. We
+ascended towards the city by the left
+bank of the Garonne, but reached a
+pontoon bridge, which enabled us to
+cross to the right bank, where the
+main body of our troops was posted.
+The fight had commenced. We heard
+the firing as we advanced; and while
+we approached the scene of action, it
+became gradually louder and more
+distinct. Immediately in the rear of
+the British lines we halted, not knowing
+the ground, and withdrew from the
+road into a field which was close at
+hand, in order that our numerous
+party might not prove an obstacle to
+passing troops, ammunition, or artillery.
+Our forces held the low ground,
+and closed, in a sort of semicircle,
+around the heights occupied by the
+French. As it so happened that I
+was not only at this battle, but in it,
+I here beg leave to relate the circumstances
+which led to my finding myself
+in a position where, as a civilian,
+I was so little wanted, and so much
+out of my ordinary sphere of duty.</p>
+
+<p>Sancho did it all. We were sitting
+upon our nags, speculating upon the
+fight, and seeing all that could be
+seen, till we began to think we knew
+something of what was going on. At
+this moment rode up from the rear,
+coming across the fields, an old officer
+of rank, a major-general, well known
+at headquarters, without aide-de-camp,
+orderly, or any kind of attendant.
+He inquired eagerly, "Where
+are the troops?&mdash;Where are the
+troops?" We pointed forward; little
+was visible but trees. He looked
+rather at a loss, but turned his horse's
+head in the direction we had indicated.
+That villain Sancho, seeing
+another horse go on, snorted, and
+pulled at the bridle. He was tired of
+standing still. I, ever indulgent to
+Sancho, followed the old general, and
+soon overtook him. "I believe I
+know the position of the troops, sir.
+Will you give me leave to show
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, sir, thank you," said
+he; "I shall really be much obliged."</p>
+
+<p>We rode on till we reached a British
+regiment, drawn up in line. With<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>
+renewed acknowledgments he then
+took his leave. The air was musical
+above our heads with whistling and
+humming missiles. I was now fairly
+upon the ground, and didn't like to go
+back.</p>
+
+<p>There was a lull in the fight. The
+spectacle was singular. Some firing
+was kept up on both sides, but not
+sufficient to obscure the view of the
+French position, which rose immediately
+in front, a bare range of hills,
+crowned by their redoubts. The
+atmosphere was bright; and though
+the skirmishers on the declivity were
+discoverable only by small white jets
+of smoke, as they fired from time to
+time, every movement of the enemy
+on the summit, with the sky for its
+background, was perfectly visible. I
+noticed a single horseman, probably
+an aide-de-camp bearing orders, as
+distinct and diminutive as if seen
+through the wrong end of a telescope.
+You might perceive the very action of
+his horse, that laborious up-and-down
+gallop of the French manége, which
+throws away so much of the animal's
+strength, and sacrifices speed without
+securing elegance.</p>
+
+<p>The combat, at this moment, was
+renewed, and our troops went to work
+in earnest. The Spanish army
+ascended the hill to assault the
+enemy's redoubts. This movement,
+at first, had all the regularity of a
+review. But the redoubts opened
+their fire; as the Spaniards moved
+up, the smoke rolled down; and,
+when the wind swept it away, their
+broken bands were seen in precipitate
+retreat, followed by a large body of
+the French, who swarmed out from
+their intrenchments. Instantly, and
+just in front of me, our artillery
+opened upon the pursuing foe. The
+round-shot plumped into their columns,
+knocking up clods as high as a
+house; and the enemy, not relishing
+this salutation, hastily fell back to
+their former position. Sancho now
+became a dreadful plague. He had
+for some time been getting unquiet,
+and, with the continual firing, he
+grew worse and worse. I believe
+this was his first battle, as it was
+mine. Not content with a little extra
+restiveness at every fresh discharge of
+artillery, he had worked himself into
+a state of chronic excitement, and,
+at intervals, attempted to bolt. It
+was clear I must get rid of Sancho,
+or see no more of the fight; so I
+deposited him in a stable, under care
+of a cottager, in the adjoining village.</p>
+
+<p>Still moving towards the left, along
+the base of the hill, I reached a part
+of the British position, where a number
+of our troops were waiting to
+storm the heights, when the flank
+movement against the enemy's right,
+which was his weakest point, should
+be sufficiently advanced. All at once
+I plumped upon "Cousin Tom," whom
+I had not met since he embarked, three
+years before, a raw subaltern, at Portsmouth.
+There he now stood, as large
+as life, rough and ugly, at the head of
+his regiment, a regular "Old Peninsular;"
+and on him had devolved the
+duty, as he gave me to understand,
+of "taking those fellows up the hill."
+This service, I thought, would have
+fallen to some officer of higher rank;
+but Tom explained. The regiment
+having been reduced, either by losses
+or detachment, its numbers in the field
+were small, and he, being the senior
+officer present, of course had to
+"carry them up." "Come," said he,
+"we are going to take a look at those
+monsieurs above there; you may as
+well go with us."</p>
+
+<p>The proposal was coolly made, so
+I took it coolly. "With all my
+heart," said I. "You know what is
+the feeling towards an amateur. If
+he makes an ass of himself, he's
+laughed at; and if he gets hit, they
+only say, it serves him right. If it's
+of any use, I'll go with pleasure."</p>
+
+<p>"Use?" said Tom; "the greatest
+use. Why, I want to ask you twenty
+questions about friends in England.
+Besides, you know, if I am knocked
+over, you can pick me up."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, then; and you can
+do the same for me."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no," said cousin Tom; "I
+don't promise that. Got my men to
+attend to. If I am hit, you must
+take care of me. If you are hit, you
+must take care of yoursel&mdash;&mdash;Oh,
+that's the signal. Come along." Away
+we went, up the hill.</p>
+
+<p>Rank and file&mdash;double-quick time&mdash;a
+capital pace for opening the
+chest. Tom took it easy, trotting on
+at a steady pace, and assailing me
+with a running fire of questions;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>
+while the row that had already commenced
+above prevented my returning
+categorical replies. "Is your
+father at sea now?"&mdash;Bang! from
+one of the big guns in the French
+batteries right over our heads. "Got
+any brandy?"&mdash;A shout from a thousand
+throats, in the rush and shock
+of a charge with bayonets. "Had
+breakfast this morning?"&mdash;Pop!
+pop! pop! a running fire of musketry.
+Pop! pop! pop! "Got any
+cigars?"&mdash;Bang! bang! the big guns
+at it again. "When did you hear
+from your mother?" A new sound,
+less loud and sudden, but, from its
+peculiarity, distinct amidst the din;
+a spiteful, whirling, whizzing noise,
+ten thousand skyrockets combined in
+one; not, though, like the skyrocket,
+first loud, then less audible&mdash;quite
+the contrary. Commencing with a
+faint and distant hiss, it grew louder
+and louder, came singing on, nearer
+and nearer, till a shell dropped a
+few yards in front of our column!
+The hiss was now an angry roar, like
+the blowing off of steam. There lay
+the bottled demon, full in our path,
+threatening instant destruction, and
+daring us to advance. Our column
+halted. "Hurra! my lads," cried
+Cousin Tom, waving his sword.
+"Come along, old Five-and-threepennies.
+Push by it at once, before
+it <em>spreads</em>." The game old Five-and-threepennies
+gave a shout&mdash;rushed
+forward&mdash;got by in time; each yelping
+and capering as he passed the
+fizzing foe. Bang went the shell.
+For a few seconds I was stone deaf.
+Never felt such an odd sensation.
+Not the deafness, but the return of
+hearing. First, perfect silence in the
+midst of the turmoil&mdash;then the crack!
+crack! bang! bang! as if you had
+suddenly flung open a door. Not a
+man of us was hurt. "Got an English
+paper?" said Tom.</p>
+
+<p>"I've got some intelligence for
+you, old chap, not in this morning's
+<cite>Times</cite>. Just look up there, in front."</p>
+
+<p>The view in front was striking and
+picturesque. Right above us, dimly
+visible through the smoke, on the
+verge of the platform or table-land
+which we were mounting to assault,
+appeared a regiment of French infantry,
+enough of them to eat us up,
+advancing upon us with an irregular
+fire, and led on by their colonel. He
+rode a showy horse; and, hat in
+hand, waved them on, while his
+white hairs streamed in the wind,
+and his whole bearing announced the
+brave old soldier. "We must form
+line," said Tom. It was done forthwith,
+with steadiness, order, and
+rapidity. "Make ready&mdash;present&mdash;fire."
+Crack! went all the muskets
+together. I saw the gallant old
+colonel, with outspread arms, tumbling
+from his horse.&mdash;"Charge!"
+We rushed upon the foe; but, when
+the smoke had cleared away, found
+no foe to fight withal. Nothing was
+visible, save their knapsacks in the
+distance, poppling up and down in
+the smoke, as they scampered off.
+We still continued advancing in pursuit,
+and now were fairly in for it,
+half choked with dust and sulphur.
+If it be asked, how far I personally
+contributed to the triumphs of that
+glorious day, I beg leave to answer:&mdash;Unquestionably
+my arm performed
+prodigies of valour; of that there
+neither is, nor can be, the shadow of
+a doubt. But as I should have felt
+it extremely difficult to give a distinct
+account of my exploits if questioned
+on the day, why, of course you
+won't expect it now, after the lapse
+of six-and-thirty years. Suffice it to
+say, we made good our footing on
+the platform, drove the enemy from
+their position, occupied it ourselves,
+took possession of their redoubts, and
+formed, with the rest of the British
+forces, on the summit of the heights.
+The day was our own. But there
+was one unfortunate circumstance to
+damp our exultation; Cousin Tom
+was missing. A sergeant now informed
+me he was wounded, and had
+gone to the rear.</p>
+
+
+<h4>CHAPTER XX. AND LAST.</h4>
+
+<p>As victory had crowned our efforts,
+and my valuable services were now
+no longer required, I determined to
+look for Cousin Tom, and walked
+down the hill for that purpose. At
+its base, I entered a long thicket or
+shrubbery. There, amongst the trees,
+I found several wounded men, whom<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>
+their comrades were removing off the
+ground. No one could give me the
+information that I sought; no one
+knew anything of Cousin Tom. Saw
+a sergeant sitting on a bank, who, I
+soon discovered, was also wounded.
+He knew no such officer; had seen
+no one answering the description.
+"What's your injury, sergeant?"</p>
+
+<p>"A musket-ball in my ankle, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, but hadn't I better help
+you to a place of shelter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Much obliged to you, sir; but I
+couldn't walk, even with your support.
+I'd rather wait till my turn
+comes to be carried, if you've no
+objections, sir. Much obliged to you,
+equally all the same, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"As you please. Can I render
+you any assistance? What can I do
+for you?"</p>
+
+<p>"If you'd have the kindness, sir,
+perhaps you'd be so good and take off
+my gaiter. I can't take it off myself,
+sir, though I've tried; it does hurt
+me so when I stoop forward. I'm
+afraid the bleeding will spoil it, sir;
+and then I shall be forced to take out
+a new pair."</p>
+
+<p>Having performed this office, and
+administered a little brandy both topically
+and constitutionally, I once
+more ascended the hill, thinking it
+possible Cousin Tom might be somewhere
+nearer the scene of action. I
+inquired and looked in every direction,
+but without success. Where
+are you, Cousin Tom? This time
+my steps brought me into one of the
+redoubts, which had been carried by
+our troops. When I entered, there
+were not a dozen men in it. Sunset
+was near, and everything over for
+the day. Yet just at that moment,
+for what reason I know not, perhaps
+for a freak, the enemy thought fit to
+open upon this all but unoccupied
+post, from their own lines nearer the
+city, with a heavy fire of shot and
+shell. Bang went a shell, knocking
+up bushels of earth and mire. Plump
+came a round-shot, into the mud
+parapet of the redoubt. It was no
+use moving; one place was as hot as
+another. So we had nothing to do
+for it but to stand still and exchange
+grins till the pelting was over. I
+then took my leave for the evening.
+The day indeed was drawing to a
+close as I descended the hill; and
+happily I succeeded in reaching the
+village, and finding the cottage where
+Sancho had been left in charge, just
+after it became pitch-dark. A cheering
+light streamed through the cottage
+window; and, on entering, I
+found comfortably seated by the
+blazing hearth a veterinary surgeon,
+who was there in charge of wounded
+horses. He very civilly informed me
+there were two good beds, so all was
+right with respect to accommodation;
+and, more civilly still, invited me to
+partake of his supper, which was
+boiling on the fire. Not having eaten
+a morsel since my early breakfast at
+Grenade, and having just discovered
+that I was enormously hungry, I
+accepted the invitation with glee,
+took my seat, and cast many a glance
+at the boiling, bubbling, and steaming
+kettle. Presently the contents were
+turned out into a large, old-fashioned
+tureen, and displayed to my eager
+gaze a compound of various materials,
+the chief of which were a fowl, and&mdash;what
+d'ye think?&mdash;a pig's heart.
+Supper excellent. Bed ditto.</p>
+
+<p>Next day early I resumed my
+search for Cousin Tom, but still, alas!
+without success. Went from village
+to village, inquired from house to
+house, searched the whole neighbourhood.
+Lots of wounded officers, but
+not the man I sought. Throughout
+the day my search was unsuccessful.
+Towards night I was passing through
+a street of scattered houses, a sort of
+hamlet, and was beginning to think
+of securing a lodging and a dinner.
+Wolves rouse at sunset; and I distinctly
+felt one gnawing at my
+stomach. At this painful juncture,
+much to my satisfaction, at the door
+of a cottage I discovered a jolly
+acquaintance, whom I beg to introduce
+as my "Fat Friend." He was
+one of the smartest clerks amongst
+our civilians, and probably the youngest;
+under, rather than over fifteen;
+in short, a chubby boy, who somehow
+or other had broken away from his
+mother's apron-strings, and obtained
+a post, which he filled in a way that
+did him credit. In one respect he
+was precocious; namely, that he soon
+proved himself up to all the waggery
+and villainy of headquarters. Moreover,
+he had a vast idea of maintaining
+his importance, and could take<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>
+his own part; was touchy in anything
+that affected his manhood; and,
+if you offended him, punched your
+head; brushed up to fine women,
+with a marked preference for a
+bouncer. Yet, after all, he was but
+an overgrown boy, and often afforded
+us sport by his mannish airs. "Ah,
+Fatty, is that you? Glad to see you.
+Got any room?"</p>
+
+<p>"Plenty, plenty," said Fatty;
+"good entertainment for man and
+horse. Glad to see you; and glad to
+see the pony. Here, Francisco, take
+Sancho, and give him some corn.
+Come in, old fellow. Sit down, and
+make yourself comfortable. Dreadful
+dull here&mdash;horrid! Left in charge
+of the departmental boxes."</p>
+
+<p>"I say, Fatty; have you dined?"</p>
+
+<p>"Dined? We dined an hour ago."
+Fatty saw his advantage, and was
+resolved to make the most of it.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what did you have for
+dinner? Got any cold beef?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, where have you been?"
+said Fatty; "haven't seen you these
+two days. Oh, I suppose you got
+into Toulouse. Lots of fine gals?"</p>
+
+<p>"Answer my question, and I'll answer
+yours."</p>
+
+<p>"Come out, old fellow. Let's take
+a turn through village before it gets
+dark. Dinner? Why, a turkey. Sorry
+you were not with us to partake.
+Not a morsel left. Picked the old
+gobbler clean, drumsticks and all."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you'd let me send your
+fellow for some beef."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes," said Fatty, "send him
+by all means. Sorry to inform you
+it's no use, though. Not a morsel of
+rations to be had; not a biscuit.
+What, haven't you <cite>dined</cite>?" I saw
+he meant to have his joke, so made no
+reply.</p>
+
+<p>There was a dodge, though; my
+remedy was in my pocket. Brought
+out a cigar, one of my choice grenadiers;
+struck a light, blew a fragrant
+cloud, took it easy. The rich odour
+diffused itself through the apartment.</p>
+
+<p>Fatty, knowing in cigars, soon discovered
+that mine was no common
+weed. He first drew a sniff; then
+gave utterance to his emotions in a
+coaxing and admiring "Oh!" I took
+no notice.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, old fellow," said Fatty;
+"hand out one of those."</p>
+
+<p>"Lost your cigar-case?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no; nonsense. Come, give
+us one; that's a good chap."</p>
+
+<p>Failing in his request, Fatty sat
+silent and fidgetty. The first finished,
+I lit a second.</p>
+
+<p>Fatty watched his opportunity;
+made a vicious grab at the case. I
+was too quick for him&mdash;knew his
+ways. Down he sat again; tried all
+the varieties of entreating, threatening,
+bullying, wheedling, till cigar the
+second was burnt out. When I extracted
+the third, Fatty could stand it
+no longer; made a rush, and commenced
+a ferocious assault, pitching it
+in, right and left. The punches came
+so fierce and fast, I was at length
+compelled, in self-defence, to administer
+a slight persuader, and Fatty found
+it convenient to resume his seat. He
+sat awhile, sulky and all but blubbering;
+then hastily rose, and stalked
+out of the room in high dudgeon. I
+presently found him stationed at the
+front door with his hands in his pocket,
+very pensive and dignified. Shortly
+after, he slipped into the house; Francisco
+appeared with the tablecloth and
+a bottle of wine; then came half a
+turkey and the cold beef. After dinner
+we clubbed our resources, and closed
+the evening with whisky punch and
+prime cigars.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning early, started afresh
+in search of Cousin Tom. Near Toulouse,
+fell in with Gingham&mdash;told him
+my difficulties. "Come up the hill,"
+said Gingham; "I'll go with you.
+There, no doubt, we shall find your
+cousin's regiment." On reaching the
+summit of the heights, we found our
+way in the first instance into the
+Colombette redoubt; the same in
+which, on the day of the fight, the
+brave Forty-second had been suddenly
+overwhelmed by a superior force, and
+had lost four-fifths of its numbers.
+Within the redoubt were standing two
+or three privates; they belonged to
+the Forty-second. The uniform at
+once reminded me of Corporal Fraser,
+the trusty companion of my march to
+headquarters. I asked one of the
+privates, did he know the Corporal.
+"He joined about three weeks ago,
+sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Hope he's well. Where is he
+now?"</p>
+
+<p>"He's there, sir," said the man,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>
+pointing to the parapet of the redoubt.
+I looked, but saw no one.</p>
+
+<p>"The earth," said Gingham,
+"seems to have been recently stirred
+there. That mound, I think, is not
+many days old." Then, addressing
+the soldier, "your regiment suffered a
+heavy loss. Is that where you buried
+after the action?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's the place, sir." The man
+then walked away, as if little disposed
+for conversation.</p>
+
+<p>We did not pause to calculate how
+many bodies would fill a space commensurate
+with the length, breadth,
+and altitude of the soil displaced.
+There lay the slain of a gallant regiment,
+in the redoubt they had so nobly
+won. There lay Corporal Fraser,
+who, in all the difficulties of our
+march, had shown himself trustworthy,
+fearless, intelligent, and energetic.
+He had longed to join ere the day of
+combat, and had found a soldier's
+grave.</p>
+
+<p>We discovered at length the sergeant
+who had informed me of my
+cousin's wound. He now pointed to
+a large house, near the thicket at the
+bottom of the hill. While searching
+for Cousin Tom on the day of the
+fight, I was close to that same house,
+but without seeing it. From our present
+elevated position it was distinctly
+visible, though not from the low
+ground, amongst trees and underwood.</p>
+
+<p>Our approach to the house led us
+through the thicket. While making
+our way among the trees, we both,
+Gingham and I, came to a halt at the
+same instant. The sight which arrested
+our steps was new to Gingham,
+not to me. I saw, on that spot, an
+object that I had seen two days before.
+The sergeant whom I had then
+found wounded was still sitting there,
+on the same bank, in the same attitude!
+There he had sat the whole
+time, overlooked by the bearers, and
+unable to move. Viewed at the distance
+of a few paces, his aspect
+scarcely appeared changed. It was
+the identical figure&mdash;I remembered
+him at once. But on a nearer inspection,
+the alteration was but too manifest.
+His eye was glazed, and half
+shut. His face was that of a corpse.
+He sat up, like a dead man galvanised.
+"What, still here, sergeant? Has
+nobody come to remove you yet."</p>
+
+<p>He attempted to speak&mdash;paused&mdash;at
+length found utterance. "Sorry I
+didn't accept your offer, sir." His
+voice was low and husky, but distinct.</p>
+
+<p>"Come," said Gingham, "you
+mustn't refuse this time. We'll soon
+carry you into the house just by."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, sir; thank you, gentlemen.
+Would you have the kindness
+though&mdash;I should be sorry to lose my
+gaiter."</p>
+
+<p>The gaiter secured, we prepared to
+lift the sufferer from his seat, and he
+on his part made a feeble effort to rise.
+The attempt brought on a gush of
+pain. For a moment, his features
+were distorted with intolerable anguish;
+the next, he fainted in our
+arms.</p>
+
+<p>"Now then," said Gingham, thrusting
+back into his sidepocket a small
+flask which he had just drawn out.
+"Now then; away with him at once,
+before he recovers. Come, Mr Y&mdash;&mdash;;
+you take his shoulders, I'll take his
+legs. It may save him further pain."</p>
+
+<p>We bore the sufferer, still senseless,
+to the house. Gingham, not having
+a hand to spare, banged at the door
+with his foot. It was opened by Mr
+Staff-surgeon Pledget, who bowed on
+recognising us, but looked rather perplexed
+at the unexpected addition to
+his duties.</p>
+
+<p>Pledget gave instant directions for
+the accommodation of the wounded
+man, and informed me, in reply to
+my inquiries for Cousin Tom, that he
+had an officer under his care, answering
+to my description. Pledget appeared
+bewildered, and stood with us
+in the passage a few moments, without
+speaking. At length he opened the
+door of a small chamber close by, and
+begged us to enter. He placed chairs
+for us, and seated himself on the bed.
+"I'm rather exhausted," said he.</p>
+
+<p>"I fear after such a fight," said
+Gingham, "your duties must be heavy
+indeed."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes," said Pledget, looking
+distressed and rather wild. "I have
+had much work, and little assistance;
+a long spell, too."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you began, I suppose," replied
+Gingham, "early on the day of
+the fight."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Pledget; "and I've
+been at it ever since. Let me see:
+two days and two nights, isn't it?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>
+Yes, and now going on for the third.
+Here have I been operating, bandaging,
+taking up arteries, taking off
+arms and legs, night and day, without
+time to lie down, almost without a
+moment to eat. In fact," said he,
+looking about the room like a man
+lost, "this is the first time I've sat
+down these eight-and-forty hours."</p>
+
+<p>Pledget's look bore full testimony
+to his toils. Three weeks' illness could
+hardly have wrought a greater change.
+Nor was his appearance mended by
+his garb. He wore a sort of operating
+gown similar to that employed
+in dissecting; a long pinafore with
+sleeves, protecting the whole person
+from the chin to the feet, tied round
+the middle, and closing with a fold
+behind. The front was spotted in
+every part with jets of blood from
+wounded arteries. Some of the stains
+had dried on, and blackened where
+they dried; others, more recent, were
+still moist and crimson. Blood was
+on his unshaven and haggard face;
+and on his hands, too, wore marks of
+blood.</p>
+
+<p>Gingham eyed him with a look of
+deep concern. "I really fear," said
+Gingham, "you've been quite overdone."</p>
+
+<p>"I did hope, before this," replied
+Pledget, "to be relieved by other
+gentlemen of my own department. I
+have but one medical assistant, and
+he, at this moment, can afford me no
+help, for I have been forced to leave
+him sitting with his finger on a
+wounded artery; and if he takes it
+off but for a few seconds, the major's
+a dead man."</p>
+
+<p>Pledget now looked like a man that
+can't remember what's next. "Oh,"
+said he, in all absent tone, "so peace
+is really concluded. Come, Mr Y&mdash;&mdash;,
+suppose we go and look for your
+cousin. His case, I'm happy to say,
+is not serious. The ball will be extracted
+this evening, and then, I hope,
+he will do well."</p>
+
+<p>Pledget spoke, but did not stir.
+"By the bye," he added, "you know
+Captain Gabion? I think you do.
+Oh yes, I recollect; we were all three
+fellow-passengers from Lisbon to Falmouth.
+No, no, what am I saying?
+From Falmouth to Lisbon. His case
+is past hope. He can hardly live
+through the night."</p>
+
+<p>Gingham and I rose at once from
+our seats. For the moment, the imminent
+danger of a man we so highly
+esteemed, expelled from my thoughts
+even Cousin Tom. Pledget also
+rose, as if to lead the way, but again
+lapsed into forgetfulness. His mind
+was evidently worn out, as well as
+his body. "Well," said he, "I'm
+glad we've got Toulouse.&mdash;Gentlemen,
+I beg your pardon. This way,
+if you please; up stairs."</p>
+
+<p>He led the way. Every open
+door, as we passed through the spacious
+mansion, discovered a room
+crowded with wounded and dying
+men, in beds, or on the ground. Or,
+if we saw not into the apartment,
+sounds were heard, which told of
+anguish and laceration within. We
+were conducted by Pledget into a
+large room on the first floor, filled,
+like the others, with every form of
+suffering. Some, slightly wounded,
+sat round the fire, on which cookery
+was proceeding in kettles of every
+size and shape. One officer, bandaged
+round the head, had become
+delirious. He alternately laughed
+and whimpered, muttered and sang.
+Another sat near him, moaning, with
+his arm in a sling. A spent cannon
+ball had smashed the bones from the
+elbow to the wrist, without inflicting
+an external wound. Every bed had
+an occupant; and many lay upon the
+floor, with only a blanket under
+them. My eye glanced round the
+apartment, and lighted on the pinched
+features and pallid visage of Captain
+Gabion.</p>
+
+<p>He lay on his back in bed. Death
+was legible in his aspect. His eyes
+were all but shut; but, from time to
+time, a convulsive twitching of the
+muscles suddenly expanded them to
+their full width. To all appearance,
+he was perfectly insensible. His
+breathing was irregular and laborious;
+but the expression of his countenance,
+except when disfigured by the spasms
+which occasionally shot through his
+frame, and jerked him from head to
+foot, was, as in health, calm and
+dignified. Strange indeed were the
+vicissitudes, strange was the contrast,
+between the rigid tranquillity of one
+moment, and the awful distortion of
+the next. Now, it was the quivering
+play of features pulled by muscular<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>
+contraction; now, the monumental
+repose of marble.</p>
+
+<p>"I fear," whispered Gingham
+to Pledget, "you view the case
+unfavourably." Pledget hopelessly
+raised his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"The Captain has been insensible,"
+said Pledget, "ever since he was
+brought in; and probably will continue
+so till he expires."</p>
+
+<p>We turned from this sad spectacle,
+without exchanging a syllable. A
+handkerchief was whisked in my
+face. I looked round; there was the
+man I wanted. In the next bed,
+tucked in, with smiling face, little
+changed since we parted, a splendid
+specimen of the ugly-handsome&mdash;those
+fellows that make the biggest
+holes in ladies' hearts&mdash;lay Cousin
+Tom. Gingham, my object attained,
+forthwith took a temporary leave&mdash;had
+urgent business in Toulouse&mdash;an
+appointment&mdash;would return as soon
+as possible.</p>
+
+<p>"Fine fellow, that" said Cousin
+Tom, craning round, and nodding at
+Captain Gabion.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Tom," said I; "what's the
+matter with <small>YOU</small>? What brought <small>YOU</small>
+here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, not much; nothing," replied
+Tom, curling out his lips contemptuously,
+like a disappointed man;
+"only a musket-shot. It won't get
+me a step, I'm afraid; no, nor a
+pension neither."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, but how was it? When
+was it? We lost you in a moment."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell you just how it happened,"
+said Tom. "You saw the
+old colonel knocked over. Ah!
+Don't touch the bed; that's a good
+fellow. Well. Directly after, you
+know, we charged. I was running
+on; felt a smart crack in the small
+of my leg. Thought it was a stone;
+took no notice. A few paces further,
+though, found I couldn't walk. The
+sergeant looked at my leg; said
+'You're wounded, sir.' Wounded I
+was, sure enough; and disabled, too.
+Got carried to the rear; placed myself
+in the doctor's&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Here Tom suddenly knit his brows.
+His colour changed in an instant
+from florid to livid; his whole face
+was distorted with pain. Clapping
+his handkerchief to his mouth, he
+chewed away at it with all his might,
+while big drops of sweat started out
+on his forehead, and he drew in
+breath till the bedclothes heaved.
+Next moment he was himself again.</p>
+
+<p>Once more Tom nodded at the
+next bed. "Known him long? The
+doctor knows him."</p>
+
+<p>"We came over from England, all
+three of us in a ship."</p>
+
+<p>"Doctor was out, though, in one
+thing," said Cousin Tom. "Told
+you he was insensible ever since he
+came in. No such thing; this morning
+he revived; for about an hour
+seemed quite himself. Told me how
+he got hit."</p>
+
+<p>"Then tell me. I must communicate
+with his friends in England."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," replied Tom, "the Captain
+wasn't on duty here at headquarters;
+was doing some field-works
+on the left bank of the river, to be
+ready for Soult in case of his bolting
+again for the south. He heard,
+though, that the fight was coming
+off; so rode in on the morning.
+Found out there was to be a flank
+movement to the left; thought he
+might as well explore the line of
+march; went forward alone. Passed
+through the thicket on foot; made his
+way from one end to the other.
+When he reached the further extremity,
+just where our men got such
+a pounding afterwards from the guns
+on the heights, he looked out for the
+enemy's skirmishers; saw no one;
+thought he might as well go a little
+further. Just then our batteries at
+the right opened on the French position;
+some of our shots flew too
+high, and came clean over the hill
+into the lane, just exactly where he
+was standing."&mdash;Indeed! I thought
+of Captain Gabion's dream.&mdash;"Well;
+he saw one coming; didn't trouble
+himself; it seemed spent. Just when
+he thought it was going to stop, it
+fetched a pitch; took him in the side.
+He was found when our troops advanced,
+and brought in here." At
+this moment the pain returned. Tom
+again made wry faces, took another
+chew at his handkerchief, and soon
+recovered as before.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Tom; I'm a leisure man.
+What can I do for you? Is there
+anything you want?&mdash;anything I can
+get you?"</p>
+
+<p>Cousin Tom looked very much as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>
+if there was something he did want,
+yet was backward to speak. "Why,"
+said he, "I suppose by this time you
+can get into Toulouse. I wish you
+would make inquiries; try and find
+me some&mdash;But never mind; it's of no
+use. The ball will be extracted this
+evening, and to-morrow I shall go in
+myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense, nonsense; I'll go this
+instant."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be too sure of that, though,"
+said Tom. "Yesterday morning I
+tried it. Told the servant to have my
+mule ready; got my things on while
+the doctor was sawing away on the
+other floor; slipped down stairs; gave
+him the go-by. Mounted&mdash;rode to
+the top of the hill&mdash;was riding down
+into the city&mdash;almost rode into a
+French piquet."</p>
+
+<p>"No fear of that now, Tom; the
+city is ours. I saw the French troops
+marching out. Come, tell us, old
+fellow. What is it you fancy? Anything
+the doctor sanctions, you know.
+A quarter of mutton?&mdash;a dozen of
+pigeons?&mdash;some prime French sausages?&mdash;a
+bushel or so of oysters?
+What do you say to a brace of
+biddies?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no!&mdash;oh, no!" said Tom, as
+if the very mention of biddies made
+him sick. "We were always in advance;
+got fowls and turkeys till we
+hated the sight of them."</p>
+
+<p>"Any dish from a French cuisine,
+then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no&mdash;oh, no! Nothing French,
+nothing Frenchified. What I want,
+if it's to be got at all, is not to be got
+good, except in England&mdash;or the West
+Indies."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, but, you know, Bordeaux
+is open; West India produce has come
+into the country by ship-loads. What
+is it? Come, just tell us, old chap,
+and I'll go and get it for you at once,
+if it's to be had in Toulouse."</p>
+
+<p>Tom was not so well as he looked;
+and there was evidently something
+for which, like other sick persons,
+he was inwardly pining. Now that
+I had held out a prospect of its
+attainment, his cheek flushed, and his
+eye gleamed with feverish eagerness.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then," said Tom, "I wish
+you would try and get me&mdash;but it's no
+use; it's a shame to bother you.&mdash;I
+say, though, can you spare the time?
+Have you really nothing to do? Upon
+your honour?&mdash;I've been longing for
+them, day and night, ever since I got
+here. Oh, if you could only get me&mdash;some
+tamarinds!"</p>
+
+<p>His eye, while he spoke, fixed full
+on mine. He watched my countenance
+with the anxiety of a dying man when
+he makes his last request. "I'll be
+off and try this instant," said I, though
+really fearing there was little chance
+of success.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, thank you&mdash;thank you!"
+cried Cousin Tom. I was going.
+"Here&mdash;here! Come back! I want
+to speak to you!" I returned. "Old
+fellow," said Tom, with a coaxing,
+eager grin, "make haste now, will
+you? Bring 'em directly&mdash;that's a
+good chap."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, but, you know&mdash;if tamarinds
+can't be had for love or money,
+is there nothing else?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, stupid&mdash;no! Tamarinds, I
+say; get me some tamarinds. What
+did I tell you? Didn't I tell you
+tamarinds? Now then; what are
+you waiting for? Cut away, and be
+hanged to you! Be off!&mdash;be off!"</p>
+
+<p>I entered the ancient and very interesting
+city of Toulouse, and rushed
+through streets choked with cars of
+wounded men, in search of tamarinds.
+The search was tedious, and far from
+satisfactory. I inquired at all the
+likeliest shops; found only two where
+they professed to sell tamarinds. The
+samples were similar: a made-up,
+sticky mess; a black, nauseous electuary,
+with a beastly pharmaceutical
+odour, and barely the flavour of
+tamarinds.</p>
+
+<p>It was no pleasant thought returning
+to poor Tom with a big gallipot of
+this filthy compound stowed in each
+of my coat pockets. Yet, though bad
+thus to baulk him, it was worse to
+keep him in suspense; so I started on
+my return with all speed, and, in my
+speed, came full butt against a passenger,
+who hugged me like a wrestler,
+to prevent a mutual capsize.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Mr Y&mdash;&mdash;! Glad to see you
+so active. Something of importance,
+no doubt: official duty, I suppose."</p>
+
+<p>It was Gingham! I told him my
+troubles, my pursuit in behalf of
+Cousin Tom, and my disappointment.
+Had searched all Toulouse, and could
+find no good tamarinds.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Shall be happy to supply you,"
+said Gingham, "in any quantity your
+cousin can require. Got a whole
+kegful&mdash;capital. Always take some
+with me when I visit the Continent.
+Got them on Fish-street Hill." We
+walked off forthwith to Gingham's
+quarters.</p>
+
+<p>I was speedily on my return to
+Cousin Tom, with Gingham for my
+companion, and a good jar of prime,
+sweet, wholesome, unsophisticated
+tamarinds. On approaching Tom's
+bed, I held up the jar in triumph.
+Tom raised himself without saying a
+word, tucked his handkerchief under
+his chin, and sat up, poor fellow, like
+a child, with eyes half-closed and
+mouth half-open, eager to be fed. In
+went a spoonful. The next instant&mdash;bolt!&mdash;it
+was gone! What a swallow!
+He sat as before, ready for another.
+A second allowance vanished with
+equal speed. Down it goes! Why,
+it's like feeding a young rook!&mdash;Tom
+now laid himself down again,
+exhausted. "Here," said he; and
+made me a present of a handful of
+tamarind stones. "Now put a good
+lot in that jug, and fill it up with
+water."</p>
+
+<p>While the drink was mixing, an
+unusual sound called our attention to
+the adjoining bed. Captain Gabion
+was fast sinking. His respiration,
+laborious from the first, had now
+become painfully audible; in fact, he
+did not breathe, he gasped. The
+convulsive movements had ceased.
+His face retained its natural expression;
+but there was that in his look
+which told us he was a dying man.
+I felt at the moment an impression,&mdash;He
+is not insensible! His lips moved.
+Surely he is trying to speak! He
+strove to fix his eyes on us, but could
+not. I stooped down, observing his
+lips again in motion. Yes, he was
+speaking. I caught only the words&mdash;"On
+the platform."</p>
+
+<p>"The Calvinet platform?" I whispered
+in reply. "Is that the spot
+where you wish&mdash;?"</p>
+
+<p>Feebly, tremulously he pressed my
+hand, which had just before taken his.
+I had caught his last request, then; a
+grave on the summit of Mount Rave,
+the key of the French position, where
+the table-land, crowned with redoubts,
+had been carried by our troops. His
+breathing became gradually feebler
+and less perceptible. The moment
+when it ceased entirely, no one present
+could determine. This only was
+evident:&mdash;a minute before, he had
+given signs of life; and now, he had
+passed into another world!</p>
+
+<p>Cousin Tom's bullet was extracted
+the same afternoon, with immediate
+relief to the patient. During the operation
+I was present, by Tom's request;
+and friendship, let me tell you,
+has more pleasing duties than that
+of attending on such emergencies.
+Tom, however, made it as agreeable
+as he could. Throughout the process
+he viciously stared me full in the face,
+grinning most horribly from time to
+time, half in agony, half in fun.
+When the forceps was produced, he
+caught a glimpse of that terrific implement,
+and twisted his ugly mug
+into such a comical grimace, that
+mine, spite of the solemnity of the
+occasion, was screwed into a smile.
+Tom thereupon clenched his fist, with
+a look that said ferociously, "Laugh
+again, and I'll punch your eye."</p>
+
+<p>The bullet, doctor, had lodged between
+the bones of the leg, a little
+above the ankle, and, I need not inform
+you, came out rather flattened.
+Tom kept it as a bijou, in a red morocco
+case made express by an artist
+in Toulouse. Tom called it his pill-box.
+Neither bone was broken; but
+the strain of this disagreeable visitant
+wedged in between them, and rending
+them apart, had occasioned from
+time to time those awful twinges,
+which Tom assuaged by taking a
+chew at his handkerchief. The
+enemy removed, he not only found
+himself in a state of comparative
+ease, but was relieved from the constitutional
+irritation which had begun
+to manifest itself by hardness of
+pulse, dryness of the mouth, parched
+lips, a dull, hectic, brickdust-coloured
+patch on each cheek, a feverish lustre
+of the eye, and an enormous appetite
+for tamarinds.</p>
+
+<p>The operation, though, I ought to
+have said, was not performed by
+Pledget, but by another army surgeon,
+who had arrived in the course
+of the day, not before he was wanted.
+Poor Pledget was quite done up.
+His powers, both mental and physical,
+had evidently been over-taxed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>
+He looked haggard and wild. Yet
+still, though relieved, anxious about
+his cases, he wandered from room to
+room, and fidgeted from one patient
+to another; standing a while in
+silence, with his hands behind him,
+first by an amputation, then by a
+wounded artery, then by a contusion,
+then by a broken head; while his
+care-worn countenance expressed
+pleasure or pain, according to the
+symptoms. As Cousin Tom was now
+in a dreadful fuss to be off for Toulouse,
+Gingham and I applied to the
+newly-arrived surgeon, and consulted
+him as to the removal.</p>
+
+<p>"I think, gentlemen," said he, "if
+no bad symptoms supervene in the
+night, it may safely be effected to-morrow;
+that is, of course, with
+proper care and precautions."</p>
+
+<p>"You are not afraid, sir," said
+Gingham, "that to-morrow may be
+too early a day, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, sir, to say the truth," replied
+the doctor, "if we had more
+room here, better accommodations,
+and a less vitiated atmosphere, I should
+say a later day would be better. But,
+under existing circumstances, less
+evil, I think, is likely to arise from
+the patient's removal, than from his
+remaining. In his case, what we now
+have most to look to, is the general
+health. Keep that right, and the
+wound, I hope, will do well. Therefore
+the sooner he is withdrawn from
+the bad air, and the associations
+which surround him here, the better
+for him." The doctor paused.&mdash;"Pray,
+sir," said he, looking Gingham
+full in the face, as though intuitively
+knowing he spoke to a real good
+fellow, "pray, sir, if you will permit
+me to ask the question, is Mr Pledget
+a friend of yours?"</p>
+
+<p>"There are few men, sir," replied
+Gingham, "for whom I have a higher
+regard, than for Mr Pledget."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, sir," said the doctor, "I
+feel rather uneasy about him. It's a
+delicate thing to speak about. But
+you yourself must have noticed how
+changed he is, by the labours of the
+last three days. In short, to speak
+plainly, he requires to be looked after;
+and just at this time, with so many
+wounded upon our hands, I hardly
+know whether we could possibly give
+him the attention here which his
+case requires. If it is neglected now,
+it may become serious. Would it be
+asking too much, if I requested you to
+take charge of him into Toulouse?"</p>
+
+<p>"Take him with us this instant,
+sir," said Gingham; "or when you
+please. If you approve, I'll have him
+with me in my own quarters."</p>
+
+<p>"I really, sir, feel obliged to you,"
+said the doctor. And the doctor
+looked as if he spoke from his heart.
+"Hope you understand, though, what
+it is you are taking on your shoulders.
+For a few days&mdash;not longer, I hope&mdash;he
+will require vigilant superintendence,
+and, possibly, slight control.
+His case demands firmness, and indulgence
+at the same time."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir, I understand," said
+Gingham. "Shall he go with us
+now?"</p>
+
+<p>"I would rather have him under
+my eye," said the doctor, "till to-morrow
+morning. Perhaps a night's
+rest may effect a favourable change.
+In the interval, too, I shall have time
+to prepare his mind for the removal."
+So it was settled.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning we returned to
+the chateau, for the purpose of bringing
+in Pledget and Cousin Tom.
+Tom's patience, though, had not lasted
+out till our arrival. At sunrise, again
+giving the doctor the go-by, he had
+got on his things, crept down stairs,
+mounted his mule, and taken himself
+off. In fact, he had got into Toulouse,
+obtained a billet, and, snugly located
+in a respectable French family, was
+prattling the vernacular, which he
+had at his fingers' ends, before we
+arrived at the chateau to fetch him.</p>
+
+<p>It only remained, therefore, to remove
+Pledget. He, poor man, though
+all the better for a night's rest and a
+clean shirt, still looked very unlike
+himself. He had rested, indeed, but
+he had not slept; and his medical
+colleague hinted to Gingham, ere we
+departed, that the case still required
+vigilance and care. The state of
+Pledget's mind, at this time, was singular;
+he had all at once become excessively
+ceremonious. When we
+reached the garden gate he drew up;
+insisted that we should both precede
+him in going out. Had Gingham and
+I been equally punctilious, we should
+not have reached Toulouse by dinner-time.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Gingham had a matter upon his
+mind. Captain Gabion having expressed
+a last wish respecting his
+funeral, Gingham had undertaken the
+whole details, and some arrangements
+had been necessary at the chateau, or
+our departed friend would speedily
+have been consigned, on the spot, to
+a ready-made grave. Gingham mentioned
+the subject as we rode along,
+and began stating what steps he had
+taken. Pledget, who was ambling
+side by side with us on his mule, suddenly
+fell behind. Coosey, previously
+admonished by Gingham, kept still
+further in the rear. We waited till
+Pledget came up.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Mr Pledget," said Gingham,
+"I thought we had lost you,
+sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse me, sir," said Pledget,
+with gravity; "you are making a
+confidential communication. Part of
+it I unintentionally overheard. For
+this, an apology is due to both of
+you. Gentlemen, I most humbly beg
+your pardon."</p>
+
+<p>We rode on. Presently, Pledget
+edged up alongside of me, as though
+he had something important to communicate.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr Y&mdash;&mdash;," said he, "I consider it
+the first duty which one gentleman
+owes another, to avoid giving him
+needless offence." Not exactly perceiving
+to what this observation tended,
+I could only bow my acquiescence.</p>
+
+<p>"But if," continued Pledget, "an
+offence is actually given, then I conceive
+the next duty is to make reparation
+by a humble apology." Apology,
+it was evident, was now the
+uppermost idea in poor Pledget's
+mind.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, sir," said I, seeking to
+divert his thoughts, "I think, in such
+a case, regard should be had to the
+feelings of both parties. And, judging
+by my own, I should say that, next
+to making an apology, there are few
+things one would more wish to avoid
+than receiving one."</p>
+
+<p>"And accordingly," said Gingham,
+"in the intercourse of gentlemen, it
+rarely, very rarely occurs, that an
+actual apology is deemed requisite. To
+signify an intention, to express a willingness
+to apologise, is in most cases
+thought amply satisfactory. Manly
+feeling forbids the rest; and honour
+itself exacts no more." Pledget rode
+on awhile, absorbed in thought.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr Y&mdash;&mdash;," he said at last, "I appreciate
+your sentiments, as well as
+Mr Gingham's; and I perceive their
+drift. Allow me to say it, your conduct
+is most generous. I really feel
+that you have just cause to complain
+of mine; and, if it would pain you to
+receive the apology, which is your
+due, allow me at least to express my
+<em>willingness</em>, and, believe me, it was
+my <em>intention</em>, to apologise."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr Pledget, my dear sir, what
+possible need of apology between you
+and me? What offence has been
+given or received? I know of none&mdash;never
+dreamt of any."</p>
+
+<p>"Very handsome of you to say so,
+Mr Y&mdash;&mdash;," replied Pledget. "But
+what could be more inconsiderate than
+my conduct yesterday morning? You
+<em>must</em> have felt it; I know you did.
+You came to me with an anxious
+inquiry respecting your wounded
+cousin; I spoke to you of Captain
+Gabion. It was wrong, I own. Nay,
+not merely wrong, it was unfeeling.
+I trust you will bear in mind my peculiar
+circumstances at the time. I was
+overwhelmed, perplexed, bewildered,
+I&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Gingham now saw it was high time
+to interpose, and with much adroitness
+gave a new turn to the conversation.
+But ere we were housed in
+Toulouse, Pledget, addressing us alternately,
+and continually discovering
+fresh grounds of self-accusation, had
+made two or three more apologies.</p>
+
+<p>For a few days, sedulously and most
+kindly tended by Gingham, who managed
+him admirably, and evinced
+equal tact and delicacy, Pledget continued
+in a state of alternate depression
+and excitement, with occasional
+hallucinations. He made apologies to
+all who came near him; and, ere he
+quitted Gingham's quarters, had
+begged pardon, again and again, of
+every servant in the household. From
+my first conversation with Gingham
+on the steps of the hotel at Falmouth,
+I always valued his acquaintance.
+But when I had seen him in this his
+new character as Pledget's nurse,
+wise, thoughtful, vigilant, and indulgent,
+I really grew proud of such a
+friend.</p>
+
+<p>Within a week Pledget was almost<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>
+himself again; and long before he
+quitted Toulouse, to embark for England
+at Bordeaux, he was fully and
+permanently restored.</p>
+
+<p>Cousin Tom's, though, was a business
+of more time. He begged or
+borrowed a formidable sapling, with a
+knob as big as his fist, and was soon able
+to hobble about Toulouse, very much
+to his own satisfaction. But the
+bones of his leg had been injured,
+though not broken; and it was long
+before the wound got well, if it ever
+did. I was with him many months
+after in London, when the Medical
+Board sat to award gratuities and
+pensions to the wounded and disabled
+officers of the Peninsular Army.
+Lucky, then, did the wight esteem
+himself who had lost a limb or an
+eye. Tom was waiting for his turn
+to go before the Board; I saw him
+two days previously. His, I feared,
+was only a case for a gratuity; but
+Tom was determined to go for a pension,
+and made sure of getting it. I
+ventured to express my doubts; Tom
+whipped off his half-boot, turned down
+his sock, and exclaimed triumphantly,
+"Look at that!" The wound was
+clean, but looked fresh; much, indeed,
+as it appeared two days after
+the fight when the bullet was extracted,
+and still big enough to re-admit it.
+"If the Board don't give me a pension,"
+cried Tom, "for such a punch
+as that, why, all I can say is, they
+deserve to be punched themselves."
+Saw him again after the inspection.
+"It's no go," said Tom; "I tried
+hard for it, too. Got up early in the
+morning&mdash;slapped twice round the
+Park at a swinging pace. When I
+went before them it was red all
+about, a couple of inches. The flinty-hearted
+villains gave me only a gratuity,
+though it bled while they were
+looking at it."</p>
+
+<p>At an early day after Pledget's and
+Tom's removal, we assembled at the
+chateau, on an occasion in which we
+all felt a melancholy interest&mdash;the
+funeral of Captain Gabion. The military
+arrangements, of course, did not
+rest with us; Gingham had made every
+provision which was left to his care
+with equal liberality and propriety.
+Gingham also, no chaplain being present,
+officiated at the grave. He read
+the service with great devoutness and
+solemnity. The procession was joined,
+as we ascended the hill, by a
+mounted officer, a major of the artillery,
+who, during the whole of the
+service, seemed lost in thought, and
+stood with his eyes fixed upon the
+coffin till it was lowered into the
+grave. The whole concluded, he
+approached and shook hands with
+Gingham and myself, spoke a few
+hurried words, took a hasty leave,
+mounted, and rode away. Gingham
+and I waited by the grave till all was
+filled in and made right; we then
+walked down together towards the
+city, both for some time silent. I
+spoke first.</p>
+
+<p>"Wouldn't it be right to communicate
+with the friends? I think they
+ought to know the exact position of
+the grave, and also the particulars
+which I got from my cousin."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes," said Gingham; "it
+would, I think, be as well to give
+them all the information you can. I
+have already written to the widow."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHATEAUBRIAND'S MEMOIRS.</h2>
+
+<p><cite>Mémoires d'outre Tombe.</cite> Par M. <span class="smcap">Le Vicomte de Chateaubriand</span>. Tom. v. vi.
+vii. viii. et ix. Paris: 1849.</p>
+
+
+<p>The great and honourable feature
+of Chateaubriand's mind, amidst some
+personal weaknesses, is its noble
+and disinterested character. It differs
+from what we see around us, but it
+differs chiefly in superior elevation.
+It united, to a degree which perhaps
+will never again be witnessed, the
+lofty feelings of chivalry, with the
+philanthropic visions of philosophy.
+In the tribune he was often a Liberal
+of the modern school; but in action
+he was always a paladin of the olden
+time. His fidelity was not to prosperity,
+but to adversity; his bond
+was not to the powerful, but to the unfortunate;
+reversing the revolutionary
+maxim, he brought the actions of public
+men to the test, not of success, but of
+disaster. He often irritated his friends
+when in power by the independence
+of his language, but he never failed to
+command the respect of his enemies
+when in adversity, by his constancy
+to misfortune. "Vive le roi quand-même,"
+ever became his principle
+when the gales of adversity blew, and
+the hollow-hearted support of the
+world began to fail. Prosperity often
+saw him intrepid, perhaps imprudent
+in expression, but misfortune never
+failed to exhibit him generous and
+faithful in action; and his fidelity to
+the cause of royalty was never so
+strikingly evinced as when that cause
+in France was most desperate. He
+was the very antipodes of the hideous
+revolutionary tergiversation of Fontainebleau.
+A pilgrim in this scene
+of trial, he was ever ready, after
+having attained the summit of worldly
+grandeur, to descend at the call of
+honour; and, resuming his staff and
+scrip, to set out afresh on the path of
+duty. He was fitted to be the object
+of jealousy and spite to kings and
+ministers in power, whose follies he
+disdained to flatter or to overlook their
+vices, and of eternal admiration to the
+great and the good in every future age,
+whose hearts his deeds not less than
+his words will cause to throb. Such
+a character might pass for fabulous or
+imaginary, were it not clearly evinced,
+not only by words, but actions; not
+only in the thoughts of genius, but in
+the deeds of honour. His life, and the
+feelings by which it was regulated, are
+well worth examining, although we fear
+he will find but few imitators in these
+days, and is more likely, in a utilitarian
+and money-seeking age, to be classed
+with the mammoth and mastodon,
+as a species of existence never again
+to be seen in this world.</p>
+
+<p>A character of this description
+naturally became enamoured of awful
+or heartstirring events, and was ever
+ready to find a friend in those capable
+of noble or heroic deeds in the ranks
+even of his enemies. Both qualities
+are evinced in the following graphic
+account of the appearance of the Grand
+Army when it arrived at Smolensko
+during the Moscow retreat:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"On the 9th November, the troops at
+length reached Smolensko. An order of
+Buonaparte forbade any one to enter
+before the posts had been intrusted to
+the Imperial Guard. The soldiers on the
+outside were grouped in great numbers
+round the foot of the walls: those within
+were under cover. The air resounded
+with the imprecations of those who were
+shut out. Clothed in dirty Cossack cloaks,
+horse-cloths, and worn-out blankets, with
+their heads covered with old carpets,
+broken helmets, ragged shakos, for the most
+part torn by shot, stained with blood, or
+hacked in pieces by sabre-cuts&mdash;with
+haggard and yet ferocious countenances,
+they looked up to the top of the ramparts
+gnashing their teeth, with the expression
+of those prisoners who, under Louis the
+Fat, bore in their right hand their left
+cut off: you would have taken them for
+infuriated <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">masques</i>, or famished madmen
+escaped from Bedlam. At length the
+Old and Young Guard arrived, they
+were quickly admitted into the place
+which had been wasted by conflagration
+on occasion of our first passage. Loud
+cries of indignation were immediately
+raised against the privileged corps. 'Is
+the army to be left nothing but what it
+leaves?' was heard on all sides. Meanwhile
+the household troops, who had been
+admitted, rushed in tumultuous crowds<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>
+to the magazines like an insurrection of
+spectres: the guards at the doors repulsed
+them; they fought in the streets:
+the dead, the wounded encumbered the
+pavements, the women, the children, the
+dying filled the waggons. The air was
+poisoned by the multitude of dead bodies;
+even old soldiers were seized with idiocy
+or madness; some whose hair stood on
+end with horror, blasphemed, or laughed
+with a ghastly air and fell dead. Napoleon
+let his wrath exhale in imprecations
+against a miserable commissary,
+none of the orders given to which had
+been executed.</p>
+
+<p>"The army, a hundred thousand strong
+when it left Moscow, now reduced to
+thirty thousand, was followed by a band
+of fifty thousand stragglers; there were
+not eighteen hundred horsemen mounted.
+Napoleon gave the command of them to
+M. de Latour Maubourg. That officer,
+who had led the cuirassiers to the assault
+of the great redoubt of Borodino, had
+had his head almost cleft asunder by
+the stroke of a sabre; he afterwards lost
+a leg at Dresden. Perceiving his servant
+in tears when the operation was over, he
+said to him, 'Why do you weep? you
+will have only one boot to clean.' That
+general, who remained faithful to misfortune,
+became the preceptor of Henry V.
+in the first years of the exile of that
+prince. I lift my hat in his presence, as
+in that of the Incarnation of Honour."&mdash;<cite>Memoirs</cite>,
+vi. p. 116, 118.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>As Chateaubriand had declined
+office, and narrowly escaped death in
+consequence, when Napoleon murdered
+the Duke d'Enghien, his life,
+from that period to the Restoration
+of the Bourbons, was one of retirement
+and observation. The important part
+which he took in the Restoration, by
+the publication of his celebrated pamphlet
+<cite>De Buonaparte et des Bourbons</cite>,
+restored him to political life. The
+effect produced by that work was
+immense, and the placing of the
+ancient race of monarchs on the
+throne was in a great degree owing
+to it; for, at a crisis when the
+intentions of the Allies were yet undecided,
+and Austria openly supported
+the strong party in France which
+inclined for a regency with Marie
+Louise at its head, it swelled immensely
+the numbers of the decided
+Royalists, and gave a definite and
+tangible object to their hitherto vague
+and divided aspirations. It was
+written with prodigious rapidity, and
+bears marks of the haste of its composition
+in the vehemence of its ideas
+and the occasional exaggeration of its
+assertions; but it was the very thing
+required for a national crisis of unexampled
+importance, when every hour
+was fraught with lasting consequences,
+and every effort of genius was required
+for laying the foundation of a new
+order in European society. Of the
+first conception and subsequent completion
+of this remarkable work he
+gives the following account:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"I had been permitted to return to my
+solitary valley. The earth trembled
+under the footsteps of stranger armies: I
+wrote like the last Roman, amidst the
+din of barbarian invasion. During the
+day, I traced lines as agitated as the
+events which were passing: at night,
+when the roar of cannon was no longer
+heard in my solitary woods, I returned to
+the silence of the years which sleep in
+the tomb, and to the peace of my earlier
+life. The agitated pages which I wrote
+during the day, became, when put together,
+my pamphlet <cite>On Buonaparte and
+the Bourbons</cite>. I had so high an idea of
+the genius of Napoleon, and the valour of
+our soldiers, that the idea of a foreign
+invasion, successful in its ultimate results,
+never entered into my imagination; but
+I thought that such an invasion, by making
+the French see the dangers to which
+the ambition of Napoleon had exposed
+them, would lead to an interior movement,
+and that the deliverance of the
+French would be the work of their own
+hands. It was under that impression that
+I wrote my notes, in order that, if our
+political assemblies should arrest the
+march of the Allies, and separate themselves
+from a great man who had become
+their scourge, they should know to what
+haven to turn. The harbour of refuge
+appeared to me to be in the ancient authority,
+under which our ancestors had
+lived during eight centuries, but modified
+according to the changes of time. During
+a tempest, when one finds himself at
+the gate of an old edifice, albeit in ruins,
+he is glad to seek its shelter."&mdash;Vol. vi.
+p. 196, 197.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Madame de Chateaubriand, in a
+note, has described the circumstances
+under which this memorable pamphlet
+was written, and the morbid anxiety
+with which she was devoured during
+its composition:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Had the pages of that pamphlet been
+seized by the police, the result could not
+have been a moment doubtful: the sentence
+was the scaffold. Nevertheless the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>
+author was inconceivably negligent about
+concealing it. Often, when he went out,
+he left the sheets on the table: at night
+he only placed them under his pillow,
+which he did in presence of his valet&mdash;an
+honest youth, it is true, but who
+might have betrayed him. For my part,
+I was in mortal agonies: whenever M. de
+Chateaubriand went out, I seized the manuscript,
+and concealed it on my person.
+One day, in crossing the Tuileries, I perceived
+I had it not upon me, and being
+sure I had it when I went out, I did not
+doubt that I had let it fall on the road.
+Already I beheld that fatal writing in
+the hands of the police, and M. de
+Chateaubriand arrested. I fell down in
+swoon in the garden, and some kind-hearted
+person carried me to my house,
+from which I had only got a short distance.
+What agony I endured when,
+ascending the stair, I floated between
+terror, which now amounted almost to a
+certainty, and a slight hope that I might
+have forgot the pamphlet. On reaching
+my husband's apartment, I felt again
+ready to faint: I approached the bed&mdash;I
+felt under the pillow; there was nothing
+there: I lifted the mattress, and there
+was the roll of paper! My heart still
+beats every time I think of it. Never in
+my life did I experience such a moment
+of joy. With truth can I say, my joy
+would not have been so great if I had
+been delivered at the foot of the scaffold,
+for it was one who was more dear to me
+than life itself whom I saw rescued from
+destruction."&mdash;Vol. vi. p. 206, 207.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>On the entrance of Louis XVIII.
+into Paris, on the 3d May 1814, the
+Allied sovereigns, from a feeling of
+delicacy to that monarch, gave orders
+that none but French troops should
+appear in the procession. The Old
+Guard lined the streets next the palace,
+and Chateaubriand gives the
+following account of the way in which
+they received him:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"A regiment of infantry of the Old
+Guard kept the ground, from the Pont
+Neuf to Notre Dame, along the Quai des
+Orfures. I do not believe that human
+figures ever expressed anything so menacing
+and so terrible. These grenadiers,
+covered with wounds, so long the terror
+of Europe, who had seen so many thousand
+bullets fly over their heads, who
+seemed to smell of fire and powder&mdash;these
+very men, deprived of their leader, were
+forced to salute an old king, enfeebled by
+time and not combats, guarded by an
+army of Russians, Austrians, and Prussians,
+in the conquered capital of Napoleon!
+Some, shaking their heads, made
+their huge bearskins fall down over their
+eyes, so as not to see what was passing:
+others lowered the extremities of their
+mouths, to express their contempt and
+rage: others, through their mustaches,
+let their teeth be seen, which they
+gnashed like tigers. When they presented
+arms, it was with a gesture of
+fury, as if they brought them down to the
+charge. The sound they made with the
+recover was like thunder. Never, it
+must be admitted, had men been subjected
+to such a trial, or suffered such a
+punishment. If, in that moment, they
+had been called to vengeance, they would
+have exterminated the last man, or
+perished in the attempt.</p>
+
+<p>"At the extremity of the line was a
+young hussar on horseback, with his
+drawn sabre in his hand; his whole body
+literally quivered with a convulsive
+movement of wrath. He was deadly
+pale; his eyes rolled round in the most
+frightful manner; he opened his mouth
+alternately and shut it, grinding his
+teeth, and uttering inarticulate cries of
+rage. He cast his eyes on a Russian
+officer: no words can express the look
+which he gave him. When the carriage
+of the King passed before him, he made
+his horse leap forward, it was easy to
+see that he withstood with difficulty the
+temptation to precipitate himself on his
+sovereign.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p>
+
+<p>"The Restoration, at its very outset,
+committed an irreparable fault. It
+should have disbanded the army, preserving
+only the marshals, generals, military
+governors, and officers, in their rank,
+pay, and appointments. The soldiers, in
+this manner, would have gradually re-entered
+their ranks, as they have since
+done into the Royal Guard; but they
+would have done so isolated from each
+other. The legitimate monarch would no
+longer have had arrayed against him the
+soldiers of the empire in regiments and
+brigades, as they had been during the
+days of their glory, for ever talking to
+each other of times past, and comparing
+the conquests of Napoleon with their inglorious
+inactivity under their new
+master.</p>
+
+<p>"The miserable attempt to reconstruct
+the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Maison Rouge</i>, that mixture of
+the military men of the old monarchy and
+the soldiers of the new empire, only augmented
+the evil. To suppose that veterans<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>
+famous on a hundred fields of
+battle should not be shocked at seeing
+young men&mdash;brave without doubt, but
+for the most part unaccustomed to the
+use of arms&mdash;to see them wear, without
+having earned or deserved, the marks of
+high military rank, was to be ignorant of
+the first principles of human nature."&mdash;Vol.
+vi. p. 311-313.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>These observations of Chateaubriand's
+are well founded, and the last, in
+particular, is very important; but it
+may well be doubted whether, by any
+measures that could have been adopted,
+the support of the army could have
+been secured, or the dynasty of the
+Bourbons established on a secure foundation.
+It was the fact of their having
+been replaced by the bayonets of the
+stranger which was the insurmountable
+difficulty; it was national subjugation,
+the capture of Paris, which
+had for ever stained the white flag.
+This original sin in its birth attended
+the Restoration through every subsequent
+year of its existence: it was the
+main cause of the revolution of 1830,
+and operated with equal force in
+bringing about the still more fatal one
+of 1848. Impatience of repose&mdash;a
+desire to precipitate themselves on
+foreign nations&mdash;an aversion to the
+employments and interests of peace,
+were the secret but principal causes of
+these convulsions. If either Louis
+XVIII. or Louis Philippe had been
+young and warlike princes, and the
+recollection of Leipsic and Waterloo,
+of the invasions of France, and the
+double capture of its capital, had not
+prevented them from engaging in the
+career of foreign warfare; if they
+had been enterprising and <em>victorious</em>,
+they would have secured the unanimous
+suffrages of the nation, and
+continued the honoured possessors
+of the throne of France. But this
+dazzling though perilous career was
+denied to Louis XVIII. To him
+there was left only the difficult, perhaps
+the impossible task, of reconciling
+irrevocable enmities, of closing
+irremediable wounds, of appeasing
+inextinguishable mortifications. They
+have been thus set forth in the eloquent
+words of genius:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"The house of Bourbon was placed in
+Paris at the Restoration as a trophy of
+the European confederation. The return
+of the ancient princes was inseparably
+associated, in the public mind, with
+the cession of extensive provinces, with
+the payment of an immense tribute, with
+the occupation of the kingdom by hostile
+armies, with the emptiness of those
+niches in which the gods of Athens and
+Rome had been the objects of a new
+idolatry, with the nakedness of those
+walls on which the Transfiguration had
+shone with a light as glorious as that
+which overhung Mount Thabor. They
+came back to a land in which they could
+recognise nothing. The Seven Sleepers
+of the legend, who closed their eyes when
+the Pagans were persecuting the Christians,
+and woke when the Christians
+were persecuting the Pagans, did not
+find themselves in a world more completely
+new to them. Twenty years had
+done the work of twenty generations.
+Events had come thick; men had lived
+fast. The old institutions and the old
+feelings had been torn up by the roots.
+There was a new church founded and
+endowed by the usurper; a new nobility,
+whose titles were taken from the fields
+of battle, disastrous to the ancient line;
+a new chivalry, whose crosses had been
+won by exploits which seemed likely to
+make the banishment of the Emigrants
+perpetual; a new code, administered by
+a new magistracy; a new body of proprietors,
+holding the soil by a new tenure;
+the most ancient local distinctions effaced,
+the most familiar names obsolete. There
+was no longer a Normandy, a Brittany,
+or a Guienne. The France of Louis XVI.
+had passed away as completely as one of
+the Preadamite worlds. Its fossil
+remains might now and then excite curiosity;
+but it was as impossible to put
+life into the old institutions as to animate
+the skeletons which are imbedded in the
+depths of primeval strata. The revolution
+in the laws and the form of government
+was but an outward sign of that
+mightier revolution which had taken
+place in the minds and hearts of men, and
+which affected every transaction and
+feeling of life. It was as absurd to think
+that France could again be placed under
+the feudal system, as that our globe could
+be overrun by mammoths. Louis might
+efface the initials of the Emperor, but he
+could not turn his eyes without seeing
+some object which reminded him he was
+a stranger in the palace of his fathers."<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<p>As a parallel to this splendid passage,
+though in an entirely different
+style, we gladly give place to a noble<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>
+burst of Chateaubriand, on that most
+marvellous of marvellous events, the
+return of Napoleon from Elba. It
+was natural that so memorable a
+revolution should strongly impress
+his imaginative mind; but he seems
+to have exceeded himself in the
+reflections to which it gives rise.
+We know not whether to award the
+prize to the Englishman or the
+Frenchman, in these parallel passages.
+They are both masterpieces in their
+way. Perhaps the correct view is,
+that Macaulay is superior in graphic
+force and the accumulation of sarcastic
+images; Chateaubriand in lofty
+thought and imaginative images.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"On the 1st March, at three o'clock
+in the morning, Napoleon approached the
+coast of France in the Gulf of Juan; he
+disembarked, walked along the shore,
+gathered a few violets, and bivouacked
+in an olive wood. The inhabitants withdrew
+in a state of stupefaction. He left
+Antibes to his left, and threw himself
+into the Mountains of Grasse in Dauphiny.
+At Sisterone the road passes
+a defile where twenty men might have
+stopped him; he did not meet a living
+soul. He advanced without opposition
+among the inhabitants who the year
+before had wished to murder him. Into
+the void which was formed around his
+gigantic shade, if a few soldiers entered,
+they straightway yielded to the attraction
+of his eagles. His fascinated enemies
+seek him and find him not; he
+shrowds himself in his glory, as the lion
+in the Sahara desert conceals himself in
+the rays of the sun to dazzle the eyes of
+his pursuers. Enveloped in a burning
+halo, the bloody phantoms of Arcola,
+Marengo, Austerlitz, Jena, Friedland,
+Eylau, the Moskwa, Lützen, and Bautzen,
+form his cortege amidst a million of the
+dead. From the midst of that column of
+smoke and flame, issue at the gates of
+towns some trumpet-notes mingled with
+tricolor standards, and the gates fly open.
+When Napoleon passed the Niemen, at
+the head of four hundred thousand foot,
+and a hundred thousand horse, to blow
+into the air the palace of the Czars at
+Moscow, he was less wonderful than
+when, breaking his ban, casting his fetters
+as a gauntlet in the face of kings, he
+came alone from Cannes to Paris, to sleep
+peaceably in the palace of the Tuileries."&mdash;Vol.
+vi. p. 359, 360.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>To a mind like that of Chateaubriand,
+reposing in solitude when
+Napoleon was acting with such marvellous
+effect in the world, the character
+and qualities of that wonderful
+man could not fail to be a constant
+object of solicitude and observation.
+It has been already noticed that he
+braved the Emperor in the plenitude
+of his power, and essentially contributed,
+in the crisis of his fate, to his
+dethronement, and the re-establishment
+of the ancient line of princes.
+But, as is not unusual with persons
+of his highly wrought and generous
+temper of mind, his hostility to the
+Emperor declined with the termination
+of his authority, and his admiration
+for his genius rose with the base
+desertion of the revolutionary crowd
+who had fawned upon him when on
+the throne. The following observations
+on the style of his writings,
+indicate the growth of this counter
+feeling, and are in themselves equally
+just and felicitous:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"His partisans have sought to make
+of Buonaparte a perfect being; a model
+of sentiment, of delicacy, of morality,
+and of justice&mdash;a writer like Cæsar and
+Thucydides, an orator like Demosthenes,
+a historian like Tacitus. The public
+discourses of Napoleon, his sonorous
+phrases in the tent and at the council
+board, are the less inspired by the spirit
+of prophecy, that many of the catastrophes
+which he announced have not
+been accomplished, while the warlike
+Isaiah himself has disappeared. Prophecies
+of doom which follow without
+reaching states become ridiculous. It is
+their accomplishment which renders them
+sublime. During sixteen years, Napoleon
+was the incarnation of destiny. Destiny
+now is mute, and he, too, should be so.
+Buonaparte was not a Cæsar; his education
+had neither been learnedly nor carefully
+conducted: half a stranger, he was
+ignorant of the first rules of our language,
+and could hardly spell it; but
+what did it signify, after all, that his
+expression was defective?&mdash;he gave the
+law to the universe. His bulletins have
+the most thrilling of all eloquence&mdash;that
+of victory. Sometimes, during the intoxications
+of success, they affected to be
+written on a drum-head: in the midst of
+the most lugubrious accents, something
+emerged which excites a smile. I have
+read all that Napoleon has written&mdash;the
+first manuscripts of his infancy, his love-letters
+to Josephine, the five volumes of
+his discourses, bulletins, and orders; but
+I have found nothing which so truly
+portrays the character of that great
+man, when in adversity, as the following
+autograph note left at Elba:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"'My heart refuses to share in ordinary
+joys as ordinary sorrows.</p>
+
+<p>"'Not having given myself life, I am
+not entitled to take it away.</p>
+
+<p>"'My bad genius appeared to me and
+announced my end; which I found at
+Leipsic.</p>
+
+<p>"'I have conjured up the terrible
+spirit of innovation, which will overrun
+the world.'</p>
+
+<p>"Certes, there is Napoleon to the very
+life. His bulletins and discourses have
+often great energy; but it was not his
+own; it belonged to the age; he only
+adopted it. It sprang from the revolutionary
+energy, which he only weakened
+by moving in opposition to it. Danton
+said, 'The metal is fused; if you do not
+watch over the furnace, you will be consumed.'
+St Just replied, '<em>Do it if you
+dare</em>.' These words contain the whole
+secret of our Revolution. Those who
+make revolutions by halves, do nothing
+but dig their own graves."&mdash;Vol. vii.
+p. 101.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Certes, there is Chateaubriand to
+the very life.</p>
+
+<p>Chateaubriand, as all the world
+knows, was Minister for Foreign
+Affairs to Louis XVIII. at Ghent;
+adhering thus to his ruling maxim
+throughout life, "Fidelity to misfortune."
+So great were the services
+rendered by him to the cause of
+European freedom, by the energetic
+series of papers which he poured
+forth with unwearied vigour every
+week, that there were serious thoughts,
+after the battle of Waterloo, of promoting
+him to the dignity of Prime
+Minister. Louis XVIII. openly inclined
+to it; and if his advice had
+prevailed, the catastrophe which
+fifteen years afterwards befel his
+family, would probably have been
+prevented. But the insuperable difficulty
+lay here: the pure and honourable
+mind of Chateaubriand revolted
+from the idea of forming a Ministry
+in conjunction with Talleyrand and
+Fouché; and yet their influence was
+such that the monarch, in the first
+instance at least, was compelled to
+court their assistance. Expedience,
+at least immediate expedience, seemed
+to counsel it; but Chateaubriand,
+animated by higher principles, and
+gifted with a more prophetic mind,
+anticipated no lasting advantage, but
+rather the reverse, from an alliance
+with the arch-regicide of Nantes, and
+the arch-traitor who had sworn allegiance
+to and betrayed <em>twelve</em> Governments
+in succession. But the chorus
+of "<em>base unanimities</em>," as he expresses
+it, with which the monarch was surrounded,
+proved too strong for any
+single individual, how gifted soever.
+Fouché and Talleyrand were taken
+into power, and Chateaubriand retired.
+Of the conversation with
+Louis XVIII., when this vital change
+was resolved on, he gives the following
+interesting account, which proves
+that that sagacious monarch at least
+was well aware of the consequences
+of the step to which he was thus involuntarily
+impelled:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Before quitting St Denis, on our
+way back to Paris, I had an audience of
+the King, and the following conversation
+ensued:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"'Well?' said Louis XVIII., opening
+the dialogue by that exclamation.</p>
+
+<p>"'Well, sire, you have taken the Duke
+of Otranto,' (Fouché.)</p>
+
+<p>"'I could not avoid it; from my
+brother to the bailie of Crussol, (and he
+at least is not suspected,) all said that
+we could not do otherwise&mdash;what think
+you?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Sire! the thing is done; I crave
+permission to remain silent.'</p>
+
+<p>"'No, no&mdash;speak out; you know how
+I resisted at Ghent.'</p>
+
+<p>"'In that case, sire, I must obey my
+orders. Pardon my fidelity: I think it
+is all over with the monarchy.'</p>
+
+<p>"The King remained some time silent.
+I began to tremble at my boldness, when
+his Majesty rejoined:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"'In truth, M. de Chateaubriand, I
+am of your opinion.'</p>
+
+<p>"I bowed and withdrew; and thus
+ended my connection with the Hundred
+Days."&mdash;Vol. vii. 70.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Manzoni has written an ode, known
+over all Europe, on the double fall of
+Napoleon: "The last poet," says
+Chateaubriand, "of the country of
+Virgil, sang the last warrior of the
+country of Cæsar.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Tutte ei provo, la gloria<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Maggior dopo il periglio,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">La fuga e la Vittoria,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">La reggia e il triste esiglio:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Due volte nella polvere,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Due volte sugli altar.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Ei se nomo: due secoli,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">L'un contro l'altro armato,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Sommessi a lui se volsero,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Come aspettando il fato:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Ei fe silenzio ed arbitro<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">S'assise in mezzo a loro.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span></p>
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"He proved everything; glory greater
+after danger, flight, and victory: Royalty
+and sad exile, twice in the dust, twice on
+the altar.</p>
+
+<p>"He announced himself: two ages,
+armed against each other, turned towards
+him, as if awaiting their fate; he proclaimed
+silence, and seated himself as
+arbiter between them."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding the vehemence of
+Chateaubriand's dissension with Napoleon,
+it cannot be expected that a
+man of his romantic and generous
+temperament would continue his hostility
+after death. No one, accordingly,
+has awarded a more heartfelt or
+magnanimous tribute to his memory.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"The solitude of the exile and of the
+tomb of Napoleon has shed an extraordinary
+interest, a sort of prestige, over
+his memory. Alexander did not die
+under the eyes of Greece, he disappeared
+amidst the distant wonders of Babylon.
+Buonaparte has not died under the eyes
+of France: he has been lost in the gloomy
+edge of the southern horizon. The grandeur
+of the silence which now surrounds
+him equals the immensity of the noise
+which his exploits formerly made. The
+nations are absent: the crowd of men
+has retired: the bird of the tropics,
+"harnessed," in Buffon's words, "to the
+chariot of the sun," has precipitated itself
+from the star of light&mdash;where does it now
+repose? It rests on the ashes of which
+the weight has all but subverted the
+globe."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>"Imposuerunt omnes sibi diademata
+post mortem ejus; et multiplicata
+sunt mala in terrâ."<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> "They all
+assumed diadems after his death, and
+evils were multiplied on the earth."
+Twenty years have hardly elapsed
+since the death of Napoleon, and
+already the French and Spanish
+monarchies are no more. The map of
+the world has undergone a change: a
+new geography is required: severed
+from their legitimate rulers, nations
+have been thrown against nations:
+renowned actors on the scene have
+given place to ignoble successors:
+eagles from the summits of the loftiest
+pines have plunged into the ocean,
+while frail shellfish have attached
+themselves to the sides of the trunk,
+which still stands erect.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"As in the last result everything advances
+to its end, '<em>the terrible spirit of
+innovation which overruns the world</em>', as
+the Emperor said, and to which he had
+opposed the barrier of his genius, has resumed
+its course. The institutions of the
+conqueror fail: he will be the last of
+great existences on the earth. Nothing
+hereafter will overshadow society, parcelled
+out and levelled: the shadow of
+Napoleon alone will be seen on the verge
+of the old world which has been destroyed,
+like the phantom of the deluge on the
+edge of its abyss. Distant posterity will
+discern that spectre through the gloom
+of passing events still erect above the
+gulf into which unknown ages have fallen,
+until the day marked out by Providence
+for the resurrection of social man."&mdash;Vol.
+vii. 169-171.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Assuredly no one can say that
+Chateaubriand's genius has declined
+with his advanced years.</p>
+
+<p>To a man viewing Napoleon with
+the feelings expressed in these eloquent
+words, the translation of his
+remains from their solitary resting-place
+under the willow at St Helena
+could not but be an object of regret.
+He thus expresses himself on that
+memorable event, and future ages will
+probably confirm his opinion:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"The removal of the remains of Napoleon
+from St Helena was a fault against
+his renown. A place of sepulchre in
+Paris can never equal the Valley of Slanes.
+Who would wish to see the Pillar of Pompey
+elsewhere than above the grave dug
+for his remains by his poor freedman,
+aided by the old legionary? What shall
+we do with those magnificent remains in
+the midst of our miseries? Can the
+hardest granite typify the everlasting
+duration of Napoleon's renown? Even
+if we possessed a Michael Angelo to design
+the statue on the grave, how should
+we fashion the mausoleum? Monuments
+are for little men, for the great a stone
+and a name. At least they should have
+suspended the coffin from the summit of
+the triumphal arch which records his exploits:
+nations from afar should have
+beheld their master borne aloft on the
+shoulders of his victories. Was not the
+urn which contained the ashes of
+Trajan placed at Rome, beneath his
+column? Napoleon at Paris will be
+lost amidst the crowd of unknown names.
+God forbid he should be exposed to
+the vicissitudes of our political changes,
+surrounded though he is by Louis XIV.,
+Vauban, and Turenne. Let a certain
+section of our revolutionists triumph, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>
+the ashes of the conqueror will be sent to
+join the ashes which our passions have
+dispersed. The conqueror will be forgotten
+in the oppressor of our liberties.
+The bones of Napoleon will not reproduce
+his genius; they will only teach his despotism
+to ignoble soldiers."&mdash;Vol. vii.
+184, 185.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>The Restoration did not immediately
+employ Chateaubriand. His
+anticipations were realised. The chorus
+of baseness and selfishness with which
+the court was surrounded, kept him
+at a distance. They were afraid of
+his genius: they were jealous of his
+reputation. Above all, they dreaded
+his independence. He was not sufficiently
+manageable. They were actuated,
+perhaps not altogether without
+reason, by the same feeling which
+made Lord North say, when urged to
+bring Dr Johnson into Parliament,
+whose great powers in the political
+warfare of pamphlets had been so signally
+evinced on the side of Government,
+"No, sir, he is an elephant, but
+a wild one, as likely to trample under
+foot his friends as his enemies." The
+veteran statesman, so well versed in
+the ways of men, was right. Genius
+is the fountain of thought: it ultimately
+rules the councils and destinies
+of men; but it generally requires
+to be tempered by time before it can
+be safely introduced into practice.</p>
+
+<p>Chateaubriand enlivens this period
+of his memoirs, which is neither signalised
+by political event nor remarkable
+literary effort, by a sort of biography
+of Madame Recamier, with whom he
+was on terms of intimate friendship.
+This remarkable person, who was
+beyond all question the most beautiful
+and attractive woman of her
+age in France, or perhaps in Europe,
+is now no more; and he appears to
+have obtained from her relatives, or
+perhaps from herself prior to her
+decease, not only many curious and
+highly interesting details concerning
+her early years and subsequent history,
+but a great variety of original
+letters from the most eminent men of
+the age, who were successively led captive
+by her charms, but none of whom
+appear to have impaired her reputation.
+In this country, where the lines
+of severance between the sexes are
+much more rigidly drawn, it would
+be impossible for a young and beautiful
+married woman to be in the habit of
+receiving the most ardent love-letters
+from a great variety of distinguished
+and fascinating admirers, without the
+jealousy of rivals being excited, and
+the breath of scandal fastening upon
+her as its natural prey. But it is
+otherwise on the Continent, where,
+although there is doubtless abundance
+of dissoluteness of manners in certain
+circles, yet in others such intimacies
+may exist, which are yet kept within
+due bounds, and cast no reflection on
+the fortunate fair one who sees all the
+world at her feet.</p>
+
+<p>Such, at least, appears to have
+been the case with Madame Recamier,
+the intimate friend of Madame de
+Stael, who said "She would willingly
+give all her talents for one half of her
+beauty;" and whose powers of fascination
+were such, that she not only inspired
+a vehement passion nearly at the
+same time, in La Harpe, Lucien Buonaparte,
+Murat, Moreau, Bernadotte,
+Marshal Massena, Benjamin Constant,
+Prince Augustus of Prussia, Prince
+Metternich, Chateaubriand, and a
+vast many others, but attracted the
+particular notice of Napoleon, and did
+not escape the vigilant and practised
+eye of the Duke of Wellington. The
+Prince of Prussia would have married
+her, if he could have effected her divorce
+from M. Recamier. It is one of the
+worst traits of the Emperor Napoleon's
+character, that he was not only
+so envious of the celebrity of her
+beauty that he banished her from
+Paris to extinguish its fame, but was
+inspired with such malignant feelings
+towards her, from her having rejected
+his advances, that he got a law passed
+which rendered the wives of persons
+engaged in commerce responsible in
+their separate estates for their husbands'
+debts; the effect of which was
+to involve Madame Recamier, whose
+husband, a great banker in Paris,
+failed, in almost total ruin, in the
+latter years of her life.</p>
+
+<p>Madame Recamier, whose birth,
+though respectable, gave her none of
+the advantages of rank or opulence,
+was bred up at the abbey of the
+<em>Desert</em>, near the confluence of the
+Rhone and the Saone at Lyons. Her
+parents, however, resided at Paris;
+and they having brought her home at
+the age of twelve years, she was at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>
+that tender age married to M. Recamier,
+a rich banker, almost four times
+her own age, whose immense transactions,
+which entirely absorbed his
+time and attention, left him no leisure
+to attend either to the education or
+occupations of his infantine and beautiful
+wife. But though thus left to
+herself, surrounded by admirers, and
+with every luxury which wealth could
+purchase at her command, she was
+never led astray. Benjamin Constant,
+who knew her well from her
+earliest years, has left the following
+interesting portrait of what may be
+called her infantine married life:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"She whom I paint emerged pure and
+brilliant from that corrupted atmosphere,
+which elsewhere withered where it did not
+actually corrupt. Infancy was at first her
+safeguard. Libertinism shrunk from approaching
+the asylum of so much innocence.
+Removed from the world in a solitude embellished
+by the arts, she spent her time in
+the sweet occupation of those charming
+and poetical studies which usually constitute
+the delight of a more advanced age.</p>
+
+<p>"Often, also, surrounded by her young
+companions, she abandoned herself to
+the amusements suited to her tender
+years. 'Swift as Atalanta in the race,'
+she outran all her companions: often, in
+playing Hide-and-seek, she bandaged
+those eyes which were destined one day
+to fascinate every beholder. Her look,
+now so expressive and penetrating, and
+which seems to indicate mysteries of
+which she herself is unconscious, then
+shone only with the animated and playful
+gaiety of childhood. Her beautiful
+hair, which could not be undone without
+causing emotion, fell in natural curls on
+her shoulders. A hearty and prolonged
+laugh often burst from these infantine
+circles, but already you could perceive in
+her that fine and rapid observation which
+seizes the salient points of ridicule&mdash;that
+sportive raillery which diverted itself
+without injuring any one: above all, that
+exquisite sense of elegance and propriety,
+of purity and taste, that true nobility
+of mind, which are given only to a
+few privileged beings.</p>
+
+<p>"Nevertheless Madame Recamier
+emerged occasionally from her retreat, to
+go to the theatre or to the public promenades;
+and in those places of general
+resort her rare appearance was quite an
+event. Every other object in those immense
+assemblages was forgotten: every
+one precipitated himself upon her steps.
+The fortunate cavalier who attended her
+could scarcely make his way through the
+crowds which she collected: her steps
+were at every instant impeded by the
+spectators who crowded around her. She
+enjoyed that success with the gaiety of
+an infant combined with the timidity of
+a young woman; but the gracious dignity
+which at home restrained the overflowing
+gaiety of her companions, inspired
+respect in public in the admiring crowd
+with which she was constantly environed.
+You would say that her air imposed restraint
+equally on her companions and on
+the public. Thus passed the first years
+of the married life of Madame Recamier,
+between poetical occupation, infantine
+amusements, and the triumph of beauty
+in the world.</p>
+
+<p>"But her expanding mind and capacious
+genius soon required other aliment.
+The instinctive love of the beautiful with
+which she was inspired from her earliest
+years, made her long for the society of
+men distinguished for the reputation of
+their talents or genius. M. de La
+Harpe was one of the first who appreciated
+the young woman, around whom
+were one day to be grouped all the celebrated
+characters of her age. The conversation
+of that young woman of fifteen
+had a thousand attractions for a man of
+his great acquirements, and whose excessive
+vanity, with the habit of conversing
+with the ablest men in France, had rendered
+exceedingly difficult to please.
+He delighted in being her guide: he was
+astonished at the rapidity with which
+her talent supplied the want of experience,
+and comprehended everything
+which he revealed to her of the world
+and of men. This was at the moment of
+his celebrated conversion to Christianity.
+The Revolution having rendered infidelity
+all-powerful, scepticism had lost the
+merit of being opposed to authority, and
+those whom vanity alone had rendered
+such could in good faith, and without compromising
+their reputation, avow their
+secret belief."&mdash;Vol. ix. 118, 121.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Of the unbounded devotion which
+Madame Recamier in a few years
+came to inspire in the breasts of the
+most distinguished men of her day,
+abundant proof is furnished in Chateaubriand's
+Memoirs. To give only
+a few examples, among a host of
+others which might be cited, Marshal
+Massena&mdash;a roturier by birth, and
+certainly not inheriting by descent
+any of the feelings of chivalry&mdash;yet
+even he asked a ribbon from Madame
+Recamier before he set out for
+the army of Italy, to take the command
+in Genoa, in the siege since so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>
+celebrated; and, having obtained it,
+he wrote to her the following note
+some weeks after:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"The charming ribbon given by Madame
+Recamier has been borne by General
+Massena in the battles and the
+blockades of Genoa: it has never left
+him, and been, in every instance, the harbinger
+of victory."&mdash;Vol. viii. 167.</p>
+
+<p>"There," as Chateaubriand justly
+observes "the ancient manners reappeared
+athwart the modern manners of which
+they formed the base. The gallantry of
+the noble chevalier shone forth in the plebeian
+soldier; the memory of the tournaments
+and of the crusades was concealed
+amidst the blaze of glory with
+which modern France has crowned its
+old victories."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Lucien Buonaparte, one of her
+first adorers, addressed her early in
+life in these terms:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Till within these few days, I knew
+you only by renown. I had seen you
+sometimes at church and in the theatres.
+I knew you were the most beautiful: a
+thousand voices repeated it; and your
+charms had struck without dazzling me.
+Why has the peace rendered me captive?
+it reigns in our families, but sorrow is in
+my heart.</p>
+
+<p>"I have seen you since: Jove seemed
+to smile on your steps. Seated on the
+edge of a fountain, motionless and
+dreamy, you gathered a rose. I addressed
+you alone: I thought I heard a sigh.
+Vain illusion! I soon saw the tranquil
+front of indifference seated between us.
+The passion which devoured me expressed
+itself in my words; while yours bore
+the cruel yet amiable stamp of infancy
+and sport.</p>
+
+<p>"Be severe, I implore you, for pity's
+sake. Banish me from your presence.
+Desire me to withdraw from your enchanting
+society: and if I can obey the
+order, remember only that my heart is
+for ever your own; that no one ever
+reigned over it as Juliette; and that he
+will ever live with her, at least in
+memory."&mdash;Vol. viii. 130.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>"For a man of <em>sangfroid</em>," says
+Chateaubriand, "all that is a little
+ridiculous." He is right: it is gallantry
+without passion which always
+appears <em>fade</em> and contemptible. It
+is vehemence and sincerity which
+makes sentiment interesting. The
+Buonapartes had nothing chivalrous in
+their breasts: Lucien's letter is very
+different from Massena wearing Madame
+Recamier's ribbon next his heart
+amidst the fire of the Austrian cannon.
+But Chateaubriand himself had the
+true spirit of chivalry in his bosom.
+He thus recounts one of the last moments
+which he spent in 1832, late in
+life, with Madame Recamier on the
+banks of the Lake of Constance:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"We wandered as chance guided our
+steps, and sat down beside the lake.
+From a pavilion in the woods arose a
+concert of the harp and the German
+horns, which ceased as we began to
+listen to them. It was a scene in a fairy
+tale. As the music did not recommence,
+I read to Madame Recamier my description
+of the St Gothard. She asked me
+to write something in her pocket-book.
+Immediately below the last words of
+Rousseau, which were there inscribed,
+'Open the windows, that I may again
+see the light of the sun,' I wrote, 'What
+I felt the want of on the Lake of Lucerne
+I have found on the Lake of Constance&mdash;the
+charm and the intelligence of beauty.
+I no longer wish to die like Rousseau;
+I wish, on the contrary, to live long, and
+behold the sun, if it is near you that I
+am to finish my life. May my days
+expire at your feet, as the waves of which
+you hear the murmur.' The azure light
+of the setting sun coloured the lake; on
+the horizon, to the south, the snowy alps
+of the Grisons reflected the ruddy glow;
+the breeze which swept the waves harmonised
+with their ceaseless murmur.
+We knew not where we were."&mdash;Vol. x.
+246, 247.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>With the accession of a more Liberal
+Administration under M. de Martignac,
+Chateaubriand was taken
+into power. In 1822 he was sent as
+ambassador to London; in 1823 he
+was made minister of foreign affairs,
+and directed the expedition into
+Spain in that year, which had so successful
+a result; and in 1824 he represented
+France at the Congress of
+Verona. He was again, however,
+chased from the helm by the jealousy
+of the Royalists, whose imbecility was
+rebuked by his genius; and it was
+not till 1828 that he was again taken
+into power, and appointed to the
+embassy at Rome. He was there
+when the Polignac Administration
+was appointed.</p>
+
+<p>We must hasten to the most
+brilliant and honourable period of
+Chateaubriand's life, that in which he
+stood almost alone amidst a nation's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>
+defection, and singly opposed the revolutionary
+torrent by which nearly
+all others had been swept away. The
+spectacle is at once animating and
+mournful: animating as evincing of
+what high resolves, of what heroic
+constancy, noble minds are capable
+even in the extremity of disaster:
+mournful, as exhibiting so bright a
+contrast to the tergiversation of later
+times, and suggesting the mournful
+reflection that, in these days of economists
+and material enjoyment, the
+days of chivalry are gone for ever.</p>
+
+<p>It is well known that Chateaubriand
+was esteemed not only a
+Liberal, but an ultra-Liberal, by the
+extreme Royalist party whom
+Charles X. summoned to his councils
+on his accession to the throne; and
+that, in consequence of his disagreement
+with Polignac and the leaders
+of that party, he retired from the
+ministry, and resigned his appointment
+as ambassador at Rome. His
+consternation was great on perceiving
+the extreme measures which the
+Polignac party were preparing to
+carry into execution, and the feeble
+preparations made for supporting
+them by military force, in the midst of
+a warlike and excited people. Of
+his first intelligence of the appointment
+of the Polignac Administration
+by the sovereign whom they were destined
+so soon to overthrow, he gives
+the following account:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Rumours of a change of Administration
+had already reached us at Rome.
+Well-informed persons had even gone so
+far as to speak of Prince Polignac, but I
+could not credit the reports. At length
+the journals arrive; I open them, and
+my eyes rest on the official ordinance
+calling him to the head of the ministry.
+I had experienced many vicissitudes of
+fortune in my journey through life, but
+never had I fallen from such an elevation.
+My evil destiny had again blown
+over my chimeras: that breath of fate
+had not only destroyed my illusions, but
+it had swept away the monarchy. The
+blow was fearful: for a moment I was
+in despair, but my part was soon taken.
+I felt that I must retire from power.
+The post brought me a multitude of
+letters; all recommended me to send in
+my resignation. Even persons to whom
+I was almost a stranger thought themselves
+obliged to counsel me to retire. I
+was in secret mortified at the officious
+interest thus evinced in my reputation.
+Thank God, I have never needed nor
+waited for counsels when the paths of
+honour and of interest lay before me.
+Falls from station have ever been to me
+ruin, for I possessed through life nothing
+but debts; so that when I resigned my
+appointments, I was reduced to live by
+my wits. In a word, I resigned a situation
+of 200,000 francs (£8000) a-year,
+and was reduced to nothing; but my
+choice was not doubtful. Cast to the
+winds, said I to myself, 200,000 francs
+(£8000) a-year of income, an appointment
+entirely suited to your taste, a
+high and magnificent office, the empire of
+the fine arts at Rome, the felicity, in fine,
+of having at length received the recompense
+for your long and laborious
+struggles. Honour is to be won, esteem
+preserved, at no other price."&mdash;Vol. ix.
+141, 142.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>On arriving at Paris after he had
+resigned his appointment as ambassador
+at Rome, Chateaubriand found
+that many of the kind and officious
+friends who had so strongly urged
+<em>him</em> to resign, had themselves quietly
+accepted appointments under the
+Polignac Administration! He withdrew,
+however, in pursuance of his
+resolution, into private life; and in
+order to avoid the expenses of Paris,
+which exceeded what his reduced
+income could bear, he retired to
+Dieppe in June 1830. When there
+he received the stunning intelligence
+of the Ordinances of July. His part
+was immediately taken. He returned
+with the utmost expedition to Paris,
+resolved to share the fate of his
+country whatever it might be, and to
+exert himself to the utmost to mitigate
+the calamities which he foresaw
+awaited it. His first step on arriving
+in the capital was to write a letter to
+the King, making a tender of his services
+to negotiate with the popular
+leaders who had got the command in
+the capital. The only answer he
+received was a verbal one, that M.
+de Montemart had been appointed to
+the head of the Ministry, and a reference
+to him. But M. de Montemart
+could not be found; and even if he had
+been, affairs had gone too far to admit
+of any remedy by individual efforts,
+how powerful soever. The nation
+would have a Revolution with its
+consequences, and it was doomed to
+have a Revolution with its consequences.
+But although Louis Philippe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>
+was successful, Chateaubriand foresaw
+that his throne was established on a
+rotten foundation: that the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">juste
+milieu</i>, resting neither on the attachment
+of a loyal, nor the passions of a
+conquering people, could not be of
+lasting endurance; and that, in default
+of all principles of honour whereon to
+rest a Government, those of interest
+alone remained. He has left the following
+memorable prophecy of the
+fate awaiting a monarchy cradled in
+treason and fostered by selfishness:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Louis Philippe, his Government, the
+whole of that impossible and contradictory
+combination, <em>will perish in a time
+more or less retarded by fortuitous events</em>,
+by complications of interests interior
+and exterior, by the apathy or corruption
+of individuals, by the levity of disposition,
+the indifference and want of nerve in
+characters. But be its duration long or
+short, the present dynasty will not exist
+long enough for the House of Orleans to
+strike its roots in the soil of France."&mdash;Vol.
+ix. 333.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<p>It is not in public documents and
+actions that the real opinions of the
+actors on the stage of public events
+are to be discerned. It is their private
+conversation or correspondence
+that reveals their real sentiments; it
+is there that the mental struggles
+which preceded the most decisive
+steps, and the secret views by which
+they were actuated in adopting or
+rejecting them, are in truth disclosed.
+In this view, the following conversation
+between Chateaubriand and the
+Duchess of Orleans, immediately after
+the triumph of the Barricades, is peculiarly
+interesting&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"M. Arago spoke to me in the warmest
+terms of the intellectual superiority of
+Madame Adelaide; and the Count Analde
+de Montesquieu, having met me one
+morning at Madame Recamier's, informed
+me that the Duke and Duchess of Orleans
+would be charmed to see me. I went,
+accordingly, to the Palais Royal with the
+Chevalier d'Honneur of the future queen.
+I found the Duchess of Orleans and
+Madame Adelaide in their private boudoirs.
+I had previously had the honour
+of being presented to the duchess. She
+made me sit down near her, and immediately
+said&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"'Ah! M. de Chateaubriand, we are
+very unfortunate. If all parties would
+unite we might perhaps be saved, what
+think you of that?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Madame,' I replied, 'nothing is so
+easy. Charles X. and the Dauphin have
+both abdicated; Henry V. is now king;
+the Duke of Orleans is now Lieutenant-general
+of the kingdom; let him be Regent
+during the whole minority of Henry
+V., and all is accomplished.'</p>
+
+<p>"'But, M. de Chateaubriand, the people
+are extremely agitated; we should fall
+into anarchy.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Madame, may I venture to ask you
+what is the intention of the Duke of
+Orleans? will he accept the throne if it
+is offered to him?'</p>
+
+<p>"The two princesses hesitated to answer.
+After a short pause the Duchess
+of Orleans replied,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"'Consider, M. de Chateaubriand, the
+disasters which may ensue&mdash;you and all
+other men of honour require to unite to
+save us from a republic. At Rome, M.
+de Chateaubriand, you might render us
+essential service&mdash;or even here, if you did
+not wish to quit France.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Madame is not ignorant of my devotion
+to the young king and to his mother.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Ah! M. de Chateaubriand, how well
+they have rewarded your fidelity.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Your Royal Highness would not
+wish me to give the lie to my whole life.'</p>
+
+<p>"'M. de Chateaubriand, you do not
+know my niece; she is so inconsiderate,
+poor Caroline. I will send for the Duke
+of Orleans; I hope he may succeed in
+persuading you better than me.'</p>
+
+<p>"The princess gave her orders, and in
+a quarter of an hour Louis Philippe
+arrived. He was dressed in disorder,
+and looked extremely fatigued. I rose
+as he entered, and the Lieutenant-general
+of the kingdom said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"'The duchess has doubtless informed
+you how unfortunate we are.' And
+upon that he began a speech on the
+felicity which he enjoyed in the country,
+and the life, in the midst of his children,
+which was entirely according to his
+taste. I seized the opportunity of a
+momentary pause to repeat what I had
+said to the princess.</p>
+
+<p>"'Ah!' he exclaimed, 'that is just
+what I desire. How happy should I be to
+become the tutor and support of that infant!
+I think exactly as you do, M. de
+Chateaubriand: to take the Duke of
+Bordeaux would unquestionably be the
+wisest course that could be adopted. I
+only fear events are too strong for us.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Stronger than us, my Lord Duke!
+Are you not invested with all powers?
+Let us hasten to join Henry V. Summon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>
+the Chambers and the army to meet
+you out of Paris. At the first intelligence
+of your departure all that effervescence
+will subside, and all the world
+will seek shelter under your enlightened
+and protecting government.'</p>
+
+<p>"While I yet spoke, I kept my eyes
+fixed on Louis Philippe. I saw that my
+counsels gave him annoyance: I saw
+written on his forehead the desire to be
+king. 'M. de Chateaubriand,' said he,
+<em>without looking me in the face</em>, 'the thing
+is not so easy as you imagine: things do
+not go as you imagine. A furious mob
+may assail the Chambers, and we have,
+as yet, no military force on which we can
+rely for its defence.'</p>
+
+<p>"The last expression gave me pleasure,
+because it enabled me to bring forward
+a decisive reply. 'I feel the difficulty
+you mention, my Lord Duke; but
+there is a sure mode of obviating it. If
+you cannot rejoin Henry V., as I have
+just proposed, you may embrace another
+course. The session is about to open:
+on the first proposition made by the deputies,
+declare that the Chamber of Deputies
+has not the power to determine the
+form of government for France; that the
+<em>whole nation must be consulted</em>. Your
+Royal Highness will thus place yourself
+at the head of the popular party: the
+Republicans, who now constitute your
+danger, will laud you to the skies. In
+the two months which must elapse before
+the new legislature can assemble, you can
+organise a national guard; all your
+friends, and the friends of the young king,
+will exert themselves in the provinces.
+Let the deputies assemble, and let the
+cause I espouse be publicly pleaded before
+them. That cause, favoured in heart
+by you, supported by the great majority
+of the country electors, will be certain of
+success. The moment of anarchy being
+past, you will have nothing to fear from
+the violence of the Republicans. I even
+think you might win over, by such a
+course, General Lafayette and M. Lafitte
+to your side. What a part for you to
+play, my Lord Duke! You will reign fifteen
+years in the name of your young
+pupil; at the expiration of that time,
+repose will be a blessing to us all. You
+will earn the glory, unique in history, of
+having had the power to ascend the
+throne, and of having left it to the lawful
+heir. At the same time, you will have
+enjoyed the means of educating that heir
+abreast of the ideas of his age: you will
+have rendered him capable of reigning
+over France. One of your daughters
+may aid him to bear the weight of the
+crown.'</p>
+
+<p>"Louis Philippe looked around with a
+wandering eye and an absent air. 'I beg
+your pardon, M. de Chateaubriand,' said
+he; 'I left a deputation to converse with
+you, and I must return to it.' With
+these words, he bowed and withdrew."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>The advice thus given at the decisive
+moment by Chateaubriand was
+that of honour and loyalty; it
+dictated by the spirit of the chevalier
+<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">sans peur et sans reproche</i>. But it was
+not that of immediate or apparent
+interest; and therefore it was not
+adopted. The event has now proved,
+however, that in this, as in so many
+other instances in this world, the path
+of honour and duty would have been
+that of expedience. What Chateaubriand
+recommended to Louis Philippe
+was substantially what Louis
+Napoleon <em>did</em>; and the result proved
+that the great majority of the nation,
+differing widely from the revolutionary
+rabble of Paris, was not only Conservative,
+but Royalist in its dispositions.
+Had Louis Philippe followed
+this course, and taken only the regency
+till the majority of the Duke of
+Bordeaux, the two branches of the
+house of Bourbon would have been
+cordially united: no discord or jealousies
+would have weakened the
+Royalist party; the national will
+would have been decidedly pronounced
+for the monarchy before
+it had been rendered an object of
+contempt; the Revolution of 1848,
+with all its disastrous consequences,
+would probably have been prevented;
+and as the Duke de Bordeaux has no
+family, the Orleans dynasty, as the
+next heirs, would have ascended the
+throne in the natural order of succession&mdash;and
+not only without the bar
+sinister of treason on their escutcheon,
+but with a deed of unexampled magnanimity
+and honour to illustrate their
+accession!</p>
+
+<p>Louis Philippe, bent on the immediate
+possession of the throne, made
+another attempt to gain M. de Chateaubriand;
+and for this purpose the
+Duchess of Orleans and Madame Adelaide
+again sent for him.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Madame Adelaide was present as on
+the former occasion; and the duchess now
+described more specifically the favours
+with which the Duke of Orleans proposed
+to honour me. She dwelt on what
+she called my sway over public opinion;
+the sacrifices I had made, and the aversion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>
+which Charles X. and his family had
+always shown to me in spite of my services.
+She said to me, that if I would
+accept the portfolio of foreign affairs, his
+Royal Highness would be too happy to
+replace me in that situation; but that possibly
+I would prefer returning to Rome,
+and that she would greatly rejoice at that
+appointment, for the interests of our holy
+religion.</p>
+
+<p>"'Madam,' I answered with some degree
+of vivacity, 'I see that his Royal
+Highness has taken his line; that he has
+weighed the consequences; that he is prepared
+to meet the years of misery and
+perils he will have to traverse. I have
+therefore nothing to say on that head&mdash;I
+come not here to fail in respect to the
+blood of the Bourbons; I owe besides nothing
+but gratitude and respect to <em>Madame</em>.
+Leaving apart, then, those great
+objections, founded on reason and principle,
+I pray her Royal Highness to allow
+me to explain what personally concerns
+myself.</p>
+
+<p>"'She has had the condescension to
+speak of what she calls my power over
+general opinion. Well, if that power is
+well founded, on what is it founded? Is it
+on anything else but the public esteem:
+and should I not lose it the moment I
+changed my colours? The Duke of
+Orleans supposes he would in me acquire
+a support: instead of that he would gain
+only a miserable maker of phrases, whose
+voice would no longer be listened to&mdash;a
+renegade, on whom every one would have
+a right to throw dust and to spit in his
+face. To the hesitating words which he
+could pronounce in favour of Louis
+Philippe, they would oppose the entire
+volumes he had written in favour of the
+fallen family. Is it not I, Madam, who
+have written the pamphlet of <cite>Buonaparte
+and the Bourbons</cite>; the articles on the
+arrival of Louis XVIII. at Compiègne;
+the relation of the Royal Council at Ghent,
+and the <cite>History of the Life and Death of
+the Duke de Berri</cite>? I know not that I
+have written a single page where the
+name of our ancient kings is not either
+mentioned or alluded to, and where they
+are not environed by the protestations of
+my love and fidelity&mdash;a thing which
+marks strength of principle the more
+strongly, as<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Madame</i> knows that, as an
+individual, I put no faith in princes. At
+the thought even of desertion, the colour
+mounts to my cheeks. The day after my
+treachery, I should go to throw myself
+into the Seine. I implore <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Madame</i> to
+forgive the vehemence of my language:
+I am penetrated with her goodness: I
+shall ever preserve a profound and grateful
+remembrance of it; but she would
+not wish me to be dishonoured. Pity me,
+madam, pity me.'"</p>
+
+<p>"I was still standing; and bowing, I retired.
+Mademoiselle de Orleans, (the
+Princess Adelaide,) had not yet said anything.
+She rose up, and retiring said,
+'<em>I do not pity you, M. de Chateaubriand;
+I do not pity you</em>.' I was forcibly struck
+with the mournful accent with which she
+pronounced these words."&mdash;Vol. ix. 361,
+362.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>"Pity not me," said the dying
+Chevalier Bayard to the traitor Constable
+de Bourbon; "pity those who
+fight against their king, their country,
+and their oath." The feelings of
+honour are the same in all ages.</p>
+
+<p>We shall close this long line of
+honourable acts with an extract from
+Chateaubriand's noble speech in favour
+of Henry V., in the Chamber of Peers,
+on July 7, 1830.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"'Charles X. and his sons are dethroned
+or have abdicated; it signifies not which.
+The throne is <em>not vacant</em>&mdash;after them
+comes an infant; will you condemn the
+innocent?</p>
+
+<p>"'What blood now cries out against
+him? Can you say it is that of his father?
+That orphan educated in the school of
+his country, in attachment to a constitutional
+throne, and in the ideas of his age,
+will become a king in harmony with the
+cravings of the future. It is to the
+guardian of his infancy that you would
+first tender the oath to be faithful to it.
+Arrived at mature years, he would himself
+renew it. The king at this moment,
+the real king for a time, would be the
+Duke of Orleans, the regent of the kingdom;
+a prince who has lived near the
+people, and who knows that the monarchy
+now can only be a monarchy of concession
+and reason. That combination, so natural,
+so obvious, appears a main element in
+reconciliation, and would save France
+from the convulsions which are the consequence
+of violent changes in a state.</p>
+
+<p>"'To say that this infant, separated
+from his masters, would not have leisure
+to forget their precepts before becoming
+a man: to say that he would remain infatuated
+by certain dogmas of his birth,
+after a long popular education, after the
+terrible lesson which has discrowned two
+kings in two nights: is that reasonable?</p>
+
+<p>"'It is neither from a sentimental devotion,
+nor the affection of a nurse for the
+cradle of Henry IV., that I plead a cause
+where all would turn against me if it
+triumphed. I am neither influenced by
+the ideas of romance nor of chivalry: I
+do not desire the crown of martyrdom. I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>
+do not believe in the divine right of kings:
+I am alive to the power of revolutions,
+and the evidence of facts. I do not even
+invoke the charter: I ascend to a higher
+source. I draw my principles from the
+philosophic ideas of the age in which my
+life expires: I propose the Duke of Bordeaux
+simply as a necessity preferable to
+the Duke of Orleans.</p>
+
+<p>"'You proclaim the sovereignty of force.
+It is well. <em>Look carefully after it: guard
+it well; for, if it escapes you, who will
+pity your lot?</em> Such is human nature.
+The most enlightened minds are not always
+raised above the temptations of success.
+The <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">esprits forts</i> were the first to invoke
+the right of violence; they supported
+it by all the force of their talents; and at
+the moment when the truth of what they
+said is demonstrated by the abuse of that
+force, and its overthrow, the conquerors
+seize the weapon they have broken! Dangerous
+trophies, which may wound the
+hand which seized them.</p>
+
+<p>"'A useless Cassandra, I have fatigued
+the throne and the country sufficiently
+with my disdained predictions: it remains
+for me only to seat myself on the
+remains of the wreck which I have so
+often predicted. I recognise in misfortune
+every power except that of absolving
+us from our oaths. I must render my life
+uniform: after all I have written, said,
+and done for the Bourbons, I should be
+the basest of the base if I deserted them
+when for the third time they bend their
+steps into exile.</p>
+
+<p>"'Far from me be the thought of casting
+the seeds of division into France:
+thence it is that I have avoided in my discourse
+the language of the passions. If
+I had the firm conviction that an infant
+should be left in the obscure and tranquil
+ranks of life, to secure the repose of
+thirty-three millions of men, I should have
+regarded any opinion expressed against
+the declared wishes of the age as a crime.
+I have no such conviction. If I was entitled
+to dispose of the crown, I should
+willingly lay it at the feet of the Duke of
+Orleans. But I have no such right. I
+see no place vacant but a tomb at St Denis,
+and not a throne.</p>
+
+<p>"'Whatever destinies may attend the
+lieutenant-general of the kingdom, I shall
+never be his enemy, if he acts for the good
+of his country. I only ask to be allowed
+to preserve the freedom of my conscience,
+and to go and leave my bones where I
+shall find independence and repose. I
+vote against the motion.'"&mdash;Vol. ix. 386-388.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Chateaubriand was as good as his
+word. He resigned all his appointments,
+even his pension of £600 a-year
+as Peer of France: he sold off
+all his effects, which scarcely paid his
+debts: he refused the offer of Charles
+X. to restore that pension out of the
+wreck of that Prince's own fortune: he
+set out again penniless on the pilgrimage
+of life: and till his death, in
+1848, supported himself entirely by
+his literary talents.</p>
+
+<p>Such was honour in the olden time.
+We do not say that it would not find
+imitators, on a similar crisis, on this
+side of the Channel: we believe it
+would find many. But this we do say,
+that it would find them only among
+those who are imbued with the ancient
+ideas, among whom, whether
+patrician or plebeian, the spirit of chivalry
+is not extinct. It will not be
+found among the worshippers of mammon,
+or the slaves of interest. Woe
+to the nation by whom such feelings
+are classed with the age of the mammoth
+and the mastodon! It has
+entered the gulf of destruction, for it
+deserves to be destroyed.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>THE GREEN HAND.</h2>
+
+<h3>A "SHORT" YARN.</h3>
+
+<h4>PART XI.</h4>
+
+
+<p>"Well, ma'am," continued our
+narrator, addressing himself, as usual,
+to his matronly relative in the chair,
+and with the accustomed catch-word,
+which was like the knotting together
+of his interrupted yarn: "well&mdash;it
+was between a fortnight and three
+weeks after losing sight of St Helena,
+that, being at last fairly in the latitude
+of the Cape, the frigate and schooner
+tacked in company, and stood close-hauled
+on a wind to the eastward. By
+the middle watch that night, when the
+moon set, we could make out the long
+flat top of Table Mountain heaving in
+sight off the horizon over against her.
+Next day, in fact, we were both of us
+quietly at anchor outside of the shipping
+in Table Bay; Cape Town glittering
+along on the green flat amongst
+the trees to southward, with the hills
+on each side of it like some big African
+lion lying on guard close by; while
+Table Mountain hove up, square-shouldered,
+blue to the left, four thousand
+feet high, as bare and steep as a
+wall, with the rocks and trees creeping
+up from the foot, and the wreaths of
+light cloud resting halfway, like nothing
+else but the very breakwater of
+the world's end. The sea stretched
+broad off to north and west, and a
+whole fleet of craft lay betwixt us and
+the land&mdash;half of them Indiamen&mdash;amongst
+which, you may be sure, I
+kept a pretty sharp look-out with the
+glass, to see if the Seringapatam were
+there still.</p>
+
+<p>I was soon saved further pains on
+this head, however, when shortly
+afterwards the frigate was beset by a
+whole squadron of bumboats, shoving
+against each other, and squabbling, in
+all sorts of Nigger tongues, who should
+be first: the chief of them being in
+evident command of a fat old Dutch
+Frouw, with an immense blue umbrella
+over her, two greasy-looking
+Hottentot rowers in blankets, and a
+round-faced Dutch boy, the picture of
+herself, steering the boat; as the old
+lady made a clear berth for herself,
+by laying about with her blue umbrella,
+till she was close under our
+quarter, sitting all the while with the
+broad round stern of her bright-coloured
+gown spread over a couple of beer-barrels,
+like a peacock's train. In two
+minutes more the little fellow was up
+the side, flourishing a bundle of papers
+under the first lieutenant's very nose,
+and asking the ship's custom, even
+whilst the sentries were ordering them
+all off. A midshipman took this youth
+by the cuff of the neck, and was handing
+him rather roughly along to the
+care of the purser's steward, when I
+stepped betwixt them; and a bumboat
+being the best directory on the point,
+of course, I soon found the old lady
+had had dealings with the Seringapatam,
+which her bluff-built little progeny
+described as a very good ship
+indeed, all having paid their bills,
+except one young officer, who had left
+a balance standing, for which he had
+given a letter to his brother in a ship
+that was to come after. As for the
+Indiaman herself, the Dutch boy said
+she had sailed about a week before
+our arrival, along with two others;
+and he was anxious to know if we
+were the vessel in question. I accordingly
+unfolded the open letter,
+which was addressed,&mdash;"Thomas
+Spoonbill Simm, Esquire, of His Britannic
+Majesty's ship Nincompoop,
+(or otherwise;") and it ran somehow
+thus:&mdash;"<em>Hon. East India Company's
+ship Seringapatam, Table Bay, September
+1, 1816.</em>&mdash;My dear Brother,
+This is to certify, that I have eaten
+four dozen and a half of eggs, supplied
+by the worthy Vrouw Dulcken, the
+bearer of this, whom I can recommend
+as an old screw, and am due her for
+the same the sum of nine shillings and
+sixpence sterling, which you will
+kindly pay her, taking her receipt or
+mark, unless you are willing to forfeit
+our family watch, herewith deposited
+by me in the hands of said Mother
+Dulcken. I may add that, in justice
+to the worthy Vrouw, three of the
+above-mentioned eggs ought to be
+charged as <em>fowls</em>, which, by the way,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>
+I did not consume; and, with love to
+all at home, remain your affectionate
+brother, <span class="smcap">John Simm</span>, H. E. I. C. S.&mdash;<em>P. S.</em>
+The watch I have discovered to
+be pinchbeck, and it does not go; so
+that a sad trick must have been originally
+played upon our venerated
+Uncle, from whom it descended. J. S."
+This precious epistle was, without
+doubt, a joke of the fat mid. Simm,
+who used to come such rigs over Ford
+the cadet, and that jumped overboard
+one night by mistake out of the Indiaman's
+quarter-boat, during the voyage.
+As for the existence of his brother
+Thomas, or the chance of his
+touching at that port, I set them down
+with the coming home of Vanderdecken;
+though the thought of this
+young scamp of a sea-lawyer breakfasting
+for a fortnight so comfortably,
+only a few feet distant from my charmer's
+state-room, sent me all abroad
+again, and right into the Indiaman's
+decks, by this time far out of sight of
+land. Piece of impudent roguery
+though it was, I was actually loath to
+part with the scrawl, which the reefer
+had fisted, no doubt, on the lid of his
+chest&mdash;probably with a pipe in his
+mouth at the time, it smelt so of tobacco&mdash;only
+seven days before. I could
+even see the grin on his fat face as he
+wrote it below in the steerage, with
+his chin up, and his eyes looking down
+past his pipe; while the little Dutch
+boy's round flat frontispiece glistened
+as he peered up at me, in the evident
+notion of my being the brother expected.
+In fact, ma'am, I was so
+soft as to intend paying the nine-and-sixpence
+myself, and keeping the
+letter, when I was startled to see
+the old lady herself had contrived to
+be hoisted on board amongst her cabbages;
+and having got wind of the
+thing, seemingly, she came waddling
+towards me to hand over Simm's
+watch to boot. In another half
+minute the letter was being read
+aloud in the midst of the whole
+gun-room officers, amongst roars of
+laughter; the honest old Dutchwoman
+holding aloft the precious article, and
+floundering through to find out the
+rightful owner, as every one claimed
+it and offered the nine-and-sixpence;
+while for my part I tried first to get
+down one hatchway, then another,
+and Lord Frederick himself came up
+on the starboard side of the quarterdeck
+in the height of the scene. Indeed,
+I believe it was a joke for
+months after in the Hebe, of a night,
+to say it was "the second lieutenant's
+watch;" the sole revenge I had being
+to leave Mother Dulcken and her boy
+to expect the "ship that was coming
+after."</p>
+
+<p>A Government boat came aboard
+in the afternoon, and as soon as it
+left us, Lord Frederick took his gig,
+and steered for a frigate lying some
+distance off, which had the harbour
+flag hoisted at her main, being the
+only man-o'-war besides ourselves,
+and commanded by a senior captain.
+Till it got dark I could see the crews
+of the nearest merchantmen looking
+over their bulwarks at us and our
+prize, apparently comparing the
+schooner with the frigate, and speculating
+on her character, as she lay a
+few fathoms off the Hebe's quarter,
+both of us rising and falling in turn
+on the long heave of the Cape swell
+from seaward. 'Twas hard to say, in
+fact, so far as their hulls went, which
+was the most beautiful sample of its
+kind; though the schooner's French-fashioned
+sticks and off-hand sort of
+rigging, showed rather like jury-gear
+beside the tall regular sticks aloft of
+the Hebe's decks, with all her hamper
+perfect to a tee. The Hebe's men
+very naturally considered their own
+ship a model for everything that
+floated, a sort of a Solomon's temple, in
+short; and to hear the merciless way
+they ran down the Indiamen all round,
+would have raised the whole homeward-bound
+fleet against us; whereas
+the schooner was our own, at any
+rate, and she was spoken of much in
+the manner one mentions an unfortunate
+orphan, as good as already christened
+by the name of "the Young
+Hebe." This our learned chaplain
+said was quite improper, and he gave
+another name in place of it&mdash;the
+"Aniceta"&mdash;which meant, as he observed,
+the Hebe's youngest daughter;
+so the Aniceta she was called, happening
+to be a title that went, according
+to the boatswain, full as sweetly
+through the sheave-hole.</p>
+
+<p>Next day the schooner had landed
+not only her passengers from St
+Helena, but the prisoners also, as we
+still understood the French and their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>
+Kroomen to be. Not long after that
+Lord Frederick came back from Cape
+Town, looking grave, and went
+straight down to his cabin, or "cabins,"
+as his lordship preferred to have it
+said. The first lieutenant dined that
+day with the captain; but they could
+scarcely have finished when the
+"young gentlemen" who had been as
+usual from the reefer's mess, came up
+with a message from the captain, that
+his lordship would be glad if I would
+join the first lieutenant and himself in
+a glass of wine. I found them sitting
+at the side of the table nearest the
+open port, with the decanters between
+them, and the broad bright bay in
+full sight to the shore and the foot of
+Table Mountain, which rose up blocking
+the port with the top of it beyond
+view; the sounds of the merchantmen
+clicking at their heavy windlasses,
+and hoisting in water-casks, floated
+slowly in from every side, while the
+schooner had hauled on her cable
+more abreast of the frigate, leaving
+the sight clear over the eddy round
+her low counter.</p>
+
+<p>"A lovely piece of workmanship,
+certainly!" observed Lord Frederick
+thoughtfully, as he leant back swinging
+his eyeglass round his finger, with
+the other hand in the breast of his
+waistcoat, and looking out at what
+was seen of the schooner. "And how
+one might have improved her spars,
+too!" said Mr Hall, wistfully. "I
+should have recommended longer
+lower-masts altogether, Lord Frederick,
+and a thorough overhaul, I may
+say, from the combings upwards!"
+"I would not have her hull touched
+for the world, Mr Hall!" said the
+captain; "'tis too&mdash;excessively provoking,
+at least! But pass the bottles
+to Mr Collins, if you please." I had
+taken a chair and quietly filled my
+glass, wondering what could be the
+matter, when his lordship turned to
+me and said, "Do you know, Mr Collins,
+this schooner of ours is likely to
+be laid up in Chancery, heaven knows
+how long. The Admiralty court ashore
+are doubtful of condemning her, apparently,
+and she must either be sent
+home or to Monte Video or somewhere,
+where the master of her claims
+to belong!" "Indeed, my lord," said
+I, setting down my glass, "that
+is curious." "Curious indeed, sir!"
+replied he, biting his lips, "though,
+after all, we really can scarce say
+what she is to be condemned for&mdash;only
+in the meantime I sail to-morrow
+for India." "She's French to
+the backbone, that I'll swear, Lord
+Frederick!" I said; "and what's
+more, she was"&mdash;&mdash;"Ah," broke in the
+captain, "I know, I know; but the
+less we say of that, in present circumstances,
+the better! Once get her
+entangled with politics, and we may
+give her up altogether." Lord Frederick
+twisted his eyeglass round his
+forefinger faster than before, still
+watching the schooner; the first lieutenant
+held up his claret betwixt himself
+and the light, and I sipped mine.
+"I tell you what, gentlemen," exclaimed
+his lordship suddenly, "I
+<em>must</em> have that schooner at any cost!&mdash;What
+is to be done, Mr Hall?"
+"She'd be of great service in the
+China seas, my lord, certainly," said
+the first lieutenant, looking thoughtfully
+into his empty glass; "a perfect
+treasure for light service, especially if
+new sparred and&mdash;" I noticed Lord
+Frederick glancing sideways at me, as
+I thought, with a slight gleam in his
+eye; and accordingly I suggested that
+he might buy her from the Frenchman
+himself; a very poor idea, no
+doubt, as both the captain and first
+luff seemed to think, and we all three
+kept eyeing her doubtfully through
+the port, without a word.</p>
+
+<p>At this time the schooner's counter
+had been slowly sheering toward the
+frigate's beam, owing to the ebb-tide,
+and her holding only by a single cable,
+till her stern began to show right
+opposite the cabin, I should say not
+twenty feet off. Lord Frederick put
+his glass to his eye, and was peering
+through it, when he remarked that
+they had brought up rather too near,
+leaving scarce room for the schooner
+to swing as she did, earlier than we,
+so that she would be in danger of getting
+foul of the frigate's cables. "The
+worst of it is, Lord Frederick," said I,
+"that in case of a gale from seaward
+here, she might have to slip and run
+upon very short warning, whereas the
+Hebe has plenty of ground-tackle to
+let her ride it out. Considering it
+was Table Bay, at this season, he
+ought to have kept her a clearer
+berth for herself, or else have gone<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>
+well outside!"&mdash;"Ah!" said Lord
+Frederick quickly, meeting my eye
+for half a minute, till the gleam came
+into his again; and somehow or other
+mine must have caught it, though I
+must say the notion that struck me
+then all at once wasn't in my head
+before. "Do you know, that's well
+thought of, Collins!" said his lordship.
+"You've weathered the Cape
+before, by the bye?"&mdash;"A dozen times,
+Lord Frederick," said I; when a
+regularly jovial roar of laughter broke
+fair through the port into the cabin,
+from over the schooner's taffrail, as
+she sheered end-on to the frigate's
+quarter, and Lord Frederick leant
+forward with the glass screwed into
+his right eye to see along their decks,
+which were covered aft with an awning
+like the open gable of a tent at a
+fair. "Singular!" said he; "by the
+lord Harry, who or what can that be
+Mr Hammond has got there?" Dangling
+over the French schooner's taffrail
+were to be seen the soles of two
+immense boots, with calves and knees
+to match, and a pair of tightish striped
+trousers worked up more than half
+way, 'till you saw the tops of the stockings;
+just beyond the knees was the
+face leaning back in the shade of the
+awning and a straw hat together, out
+of which a huge green cabbage-leaf
+hung like a flap over one eye, while
+the other kept gazing in a half-closed
+sleepy sort of way at the sky, and
+the red end of a cigar winked and
+glowed in the midst of the puffs of
+smoke lower down. The first lieutenant
+started up shocked at the sight,
+the noble captain of the Hebe sat with
+his eyeglass fixed, between amusement
+and wonder; for my own part,
+when the voice of this same prodigy
+broke all of a sudden on us out of the
+awning, in a mixture of stuttering,
+hiccuping, Yankee drawling, and puffs
+at the cigar, 'twas all I could do to
+hold on, with the knowledge of where
+I was. "W<em>a</em>ll now, general," said
+the American, as if he were talking to
+some one aloft or in the sky, "ye-you're
+qui-quite wrong&mdash;I ki-kick-calc'late
+I've fit a deal more be-be-battles
+than you have&mdash;I re-respect
+you, Ge-Ge-General Washington; but
+I ho-ho-hope you know who&mdash;hic&mdash;whom
+I am!" Here Mr Daniel Snout,
+who was in a state of beastly intoxication,
+swayed himself up bodily into
+the schooner's taffrail, and sat with
+his arms folded, his long legs swinging
+over the stern, and his head trying to
+keep steady, as he scowled solemnly
+aloft over the frigate's mizen-royal-masthead;
+while the third lieutenant,
+Mr Hammond, and the master's mate
+he had aboard with him, could be
+heard laughing at his back, as if they
+had gone mad&mdash;Hammond being a
+wild sprig of an Irishman, who would
+go any length for a piece of fun.</p>
+
+<p>Just then the American's one eye
+lighted on the side of the frigate, till
+it settled lazily on the port of the captain's
+cabin: first he seemed to notice
+Lord Frederick Bury, and then myself,
+the first lieutenant having just
+recovered himself enough to rush toward
+the door to get on deck. Daniel
+himself surveyed me scornfully for a
+moment, then with a sort of doubtful
+frown, and a gravity that passes me
+to describe, unless by the look of an
+old cock a-drinking&mdash;evidently trying
+to recollect me. "Hallo, mister!"
+shouted he suddenly, "you haven't
+touched those <em>notions</em> of mine, I hope."
+With that he made a spring off
+where he sat, as if to come towards
+us&mdash;no doubt thinking of the Seringapatam,
+and the valuables he had left
+aboard, without seeing the water between;
+and a pretty deep dive Mr
+Snout would have made of it, into an
+ebb-tide that would have swept him
+under the frigate's bottom, if Mr Hammond
+and the midshipman hadn't both
+sprung forward in time to catch him
+by the neck of the coat. There, accordingly,
+was the Yankee hanging
+like a spread eagle over the schooner's
+taffrail, yelling and turning round at
+the same time like a fowl on a spit&mdash;the
+third lieutenant's and the mate's
+faces, two pictures of dismay, as they
+held on, at finding for the first time
+where the schooner had shied them
+round to, with their two pairs of eyes
+fair in front of the captain's eyeglass,&mdash;while
+Mr Hall was singing out like
+thunder from the deck above us,
+"The schooner ahoy&mdash;d'ye see where
+you've got to, sir; haul ahead on
+that cable, d'ye hear, you lubbers,
+and keep clear of the ship!"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr Collins," said his lordship
+quietly to me, as soon as he could keep
+his countenance, and looking the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>
+sterner for the trouble he was put to in
+doing it, "you will get your things and
+go aboard the schooner directly&mdash;take
+her in charge, sir, and send Mr Hammond
+back here."&mdash;"Very well, my
+lord," said I, waiting in the doorway for
+something more, which, from something
+in Lord Frederick's look, I had reason
+to expect, knowing it of old. "I can
+only spare you a dozen of the men
+she has," added he; "but if you choose
+you can send ashore at once to pick
+up a few makeshifts, or anything you
+find!"&mdash;"Ay, ay, my lord," said I;
+"the best hand for that would be Mr
+Snelling, if I may take him, Lord
+Frederick?" "Oh, certainly," was
+the answer; "and harkye, Collins,
+you had better shift your berth a few
+cable-lengths farther off, or more, if
+you please."&mdash;"One thing, my lord,"
+said I, stooping down to see through
+the port, "I don't much like the heavy
+ground-swell that begins to meet the
+ebb, Lord Frederick; and I fancy it
+won't be long ere Table Mountain
+spread its supper-cloth&mdash;in which case
+I'd consider it necessary to slip cable
+and run out at once, though I mightn't
+get in again so easily. Am I to find
+the frigate here again, Lord Frederick?"&mdash;"Deuce
+take it, man&mdash;no!"
+said his lordship. He turned his back
+to hide the evident twinkle of his eye.
+"Should we part company, of course
+you make for the Bay of Bengal!
+You can't be sure of the Hebe, short
+of the Sandheads&mdash;and if not there,
+then opposite Fort William, at Calcutta."&mdash;"Very
+good, my lord," said
+I, and had made my bow to go on
+deck, when Lord Frederick called me
+back. "By the bye," said he hastily,
+"about that Indiaman of yours, Collins&mdash;she
+is here, no doubt?" "No,
+Lord Frederick," answered I, "I believe
+she sailed a week ago." "Dear
+me, the deuce!" exclaimed he, "why I
+meant to have sent to-morrow to have
+your friend Westwood arrested and
+brought aboard!" I started at this, on
+which his lordship explained that if
+Westwood got to Bombay, whither the
+Seringapatam was bound, the authorities
+there would have news of the thing
+by this time, and could send him overland
+at once to England, which would be
+far worse for him than being carried to
+Calcutta, where his uncle the Councillor's
+interest might do something for
+him. "The best thing you can do,
+Collins," added Lord Frederick, "if
+you <em>are</em> obliged to run out to sea, is to
+look after that Indiaman! With such
+a neat thing of a sea-boat under you,
+you might do anything you please;
+so cruise to windward or leeward in
+chase, find her out, and take out
+Westwood bodily&mdash;lose him afterwards
+in the Hoogley, if you like&mdash;carry
+away those old spars of hers,
+and send up new ones&mdash;only don't lose
+the schooner, I beg; so good bye to
+you, my dear fellow, lest we should
+not meet on this side the Line again!"&mdash;"Good
+bye, my lord!" said I cheerfully,
+and hurried on deck, understanding
+all he wanted as well as if I'd
+been ordered to set her jib that
+moment and heave up anchor. In
+ten minutes I was over the frigate's
+side, and in ten more Hammond was
+back in her, with the men who were
+to leave; while I sent my baggage
+below, set the hands to work shifting
+the schooner's berth, and by sun-down
+we were lying beyond hail of the ship,
+opposite the custom-house, and a long
+line of a main street in Cape Town,
+where we could see the people, the
+carriages, and the Dutch bullock-carts
+passing up and down; while Table
+Mountain hove away up off the steep
+Devil's Hill and the Lion's Rump, to
+the long level line a-top, as blue and
+bare as an iron monument, and throwing
+a shadow to the right over the
+peaks near at hand.</p>
+
+<p>Our friend from the United States
+being by this time in quite an oblivious
+condition, the first thing I did was to
+have him put quietly into the boat
+with which Mr Snelling was to go
+ashore for fresh hands, and I instructed
+the reefer to get clear of him anyhow
+he liked, if it was only above
+tide-mark. When they were gone I
+walked the schooner's little quarterdeck
+in the dusk by myself, till the
+half moon rose with a ghostly copper-like
+glare over the hollow in the Lion's
+Rump, streaking across the high face
+of Table Mountain, and bringing out
+all its rifts and wrinkles again. The
+land-breeze began to blow steadily
+with a long sighing sweep from the
+north-east, meeting the heavy swell
+that set into the broad bay; and the
+schooner, being a light crank little
+craft, got rather uneasy; whereas you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>
+could see the lights of the frigate
+heaving and settling leisurely, less
+than half a mile off. I had only six
+or seven good hands aboard altogether
+at the time, which, with those the
+midshipman had, were barely sufficient
+to work her in such seas; so
+with all I had to do, with the difficulty
+of getting men in the circumstances,
+a long voyage before us, and
+things that might turn up, as I hoped,
+to require a touch of the regular service,
+why the very pleasure of having
+a command made me a good deal
+anxious. Even of that I didn't feel
+sure; and I kept watching Table
+Mountain, eager for the least bit of
+haze to come across the top of it, as
+well as sorry I had sent Snelling
+ashore. "I'd give a hundred pounds
+at this moment," thought I, "to have
+had Bob Jacobs here!"</p>
+
+<p>As the moon got higher, I could see
+the swell washing up between the different
+merchantmen in sight, into
+their shadows, and heavy enough
+some of them seemed to roll round
+their cables, betwixt a breeze and a
+swell running the contrary ways;
+first one let go a second anchor, and
+then another, to help their heads
+shoreward; but still there was no
+danger, as things went. It wasn't
+long before I made out two boats
+coming from toward the town, round
+the stern of one of the ships, the frigate
+lying betwixt her and us, so that
+they took her by the way, and a good
+deal of hailing seemed to pass between
+them. I could even see epaulets
+glisten over the Hebe's quarter, as
+if there was a stir made aboard;
+after which the boats were plainly
+pulling for the schooner. What
+all this might mean, I couldn't very
+well conceive, unless it were either
+Snelling come back already, or
+else some hands Lord Frederick
+himself had provided before this, as
+I saw both boats were full of people.
+"Forward there!" I sung out, "hail
+those boats!"&mdash;"Ay, ay, the schooner
+ahoy!" was the answer, in a sharp
+voice from the headmost of them,
+"from the shore&mdash;all right! Stand
+by to heave us a line, will ye?"
+Next came a hail from Snelling, in
+our own gig; so I at once gave orders
+to heave them a rope and have both
+boats brought under the gangway,
+naturally supposing the sharp little
+fellow had come some marvellous
+good speed in shipping hands. As
+soon as he jumped on deck, I accordingly
+inquired how many men he had
+brought, when to my great surprise
+he informed me there was only one,
+"a scuffy sort of a swab," as he
+expressed it, "who would do for
+cook!"&mdash;"The devil he will, you
+young rascal," I broke out. "Hush,
+sir, for heaven's sake," said he, making
+some extraordinary sign which I
+didn't understand; "it'll all be right
+in the end, Mr Collins. Now then,
+sir," to some one in the boat alongside,
+as he carefully handed him the
+accommodation-ropes, "here you are&mdash;hold
+on, sir&mdash;so-o!" This was a
+rather youngish fellow in a huge pilot
+coat and a glazed cap, with some
+kind of uniform inside, and a large
+breastpin in his shirt, who handed me
+a paper the moment he stood firm on
+deck, without speaking a word;
+though, by the light of the deck-lantern,
+I didn't much like the look
+of his foxy sort of face, with the
+whiskers on it coming forward from
+both cheeks to his mouth, nor the
+glance he gave round the schooner
+with his pair of quick sharp little
+eyes. "Much more like a custom-house
+officer than a cook!" thought
+I, "unless we mean to have a French
+one;" but what was my astonishment,
+on opening the paper, to find
+him called "Gilbert Webb, harbour-master's
+assistant, hereby authorised
+by the Admiralty Court, sitting in Cape
+Town, to take charge of the doubtful
+vessel described in her papers as the
+'Ludovico,' belonging to Monte
+Video&mdash;from the officer commanding
+the prize crew of his Britannic
+Majesty's ship Hebe." My first
+thought was to have Mr Gilbert
+Webb pitched over into his boat
+again, when Lord Frederick's own
+signature met my eye at the bottom
+of the paper, addressed below to
+"Lieutenant Collins, of his Majesty's
+schooner Aniceta, <em>at sea</em>." A wonderfully
+mysterious squint from Snelling,
+behind the officer, was sufficient
+to clinch the matter in my own mind,
+showing that the reefer was as sharp
+as a needle: and I handed back the
+document to the harbour gentleman,
+with a "Very well, sir, that will do."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>
+"I suppose I'd better have my men
+up, Lieutenant Collins?" said he,
+with a quick pert kind of accent,
+which made me set him down at once
+for a Londoner, while at the same
+time he seemed impatient, as I
+thought, to get the management.
+"Why, sir," said I, "I suppose you
+had."</p>
+
+<p>Hereupon up mounted four or five
+decent enough looking <em>stevedores</em><a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a>&mdash;one
+or two of whom had rather the
+air of sailors, the rest being broad-beamed,
+short-legged Dutchmen,
+with trousers like pillow-slips&mdash;followed
+by a whole string of fourteen
+or fifteen Indian Lascars, their bundles
+in their hands, and an ugly old <em>serdug</em>
+at their head; while the lame, broken-down,
+debauched-like fellow of a
+man-o'-warsman, that Snelling had
+found sitting on a timberhead ashore,
+got aboard with our own boat's crew.
+Our gangway was chokeful, to my
+fresh dismay, for to get rid of such a
+tagrag-and-bobtail, in case of running
+to sea, was impossible; even if
+they weren't odds against us, here
+was it likely to get a thick night, the
+swell growing under the schooner till
+she began to yerk at her anchor, head
+to wind, like a young filly at a
+manger; so that dropping them back
+into their boat when needful, as I
+intended at first, was out of the question
+for the present. I found from
+the harbour officer that the number
+of hands would all be required with
+the morning tide, when his orders
+were to have the schooner towed in
+opposite the Battery Dock, especially
+as there was much chance of the
+wind blowing strong from seaward
+next day. The swell on the water,
+he said, was such that, after putting
+off, he thought of going back again
+till the tide began to turn; if he had
+not been encouraged to stick to it
+and keep on by the midshipman,
+whom he fell in with near the quay.
+This piece of news was the finish to
+the rage I felt brewing in me, vexed
+as I naturally was to give up the
+notion of a free cruise, in command
+of a craft like the schooner; and, as
+soon as Mr Webb was comfortable
+in the cabin, over a tumbler of stiff
+grog and some cold beef, I sent for
+Snelling to my own cupboard of a
+state-room.</p>
+
+<p>"You cursed unlucky little imp
+you!" I burst out, the moment he
+made his appearance, "What's the
+meaning of this, sirrah? eh?"&mdash;"What
+is it, if you please, sir?"
+said Snelling, pretending to hold
+down his shock-head like a frightened
+schoolboy, and looking up all the
+time both at me and the lamp at
+once, while he swayed with the
+uneasy heave of the deck in such a
+way as made me grip him by the
+arm in a perfect fury, fancying he
+had got drunk ashore. "You young
+blackguard you!" said I, shaking
+him, "didn't I tell you to get hands&mdash;didn't
+you know I meant to&mdash;to&mdash;"
+"Oh yes, Mr Collins," gasped the
+reefer, "I did indeed&mdash;you meant to
+cut and run&mdash;I saw it by your eye,
+sir, and&mdash;don't shake me any more,
+sir, or you'll spoil my hair&mdash;and I
+don't deserve it&mdash;it's&mdash;all right!"
+And on my letting him go, the ugly
+little scamp sunk down on a chair
+with his eyes starting from his head,
+and a leer like a perfect demon incarnate;
+but so perfectly laughable it
+was, not to mention the air of complete
+confidence between us that he
+threw into it, that I sat down myself,
+ready to grin at my bad luck. "Well,
+Mister Snelling," said I, quietly,
+"you <em>are</em> a touch beyond me! Let's
+have the joke, at least&mdash;out with it,
+man, else another shake may be&mdash;"
+The reefer pointed with his thumb
+over his shoulder to the cabin, shoved
+his chin forward, and whispered,
+"Why, sir, I'm only doubtful whether
+you could make him third officer&mdash;but
+at any rate, he'll always be useful
+at a rope, Mr Collins&mdash;won't he,
+sir?" I gave Snelling one look,
+meant to be as grave as an Old
+Bailey chaplain's, but it wouldn't do&mdash;my
+conscience wouldn't stand it&mdash;in
+fact the very self-same notion seemed
+to me to have been creeping into my
+mind. "You&mdash;young&mdash;rascal!" was
+all I could manage to say, before
+making bolt to go on deck. "By the
+by, Mister Snelling," said I, turning
+and looking down from the hatchway,
+"you must want a glass of grog&mdash;tell
+the boy to let you have some&mdash;and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>
+go and keep the officer company,
+sir."</p>
+
+<p>By this time it was raining hard, the
+half-moon coming out at moments and
+shining through it with a sudden
+sharp gleam, in some gust of the wind
+off the land&mdash;showing the swell in as
+far as the wet white custom-house and
+the bare quays, the ships with their
+hazy lights all hither and thither,
+while Table Mountain was to be seen
+now and then peering half over the
+mist, first one corner and then another,
+of a colour like dead ashes. One time
+I looked down toward the dusky little
+cabin, where the midshipman, quite
+in his element, was sitting with the
+harbour officer, the lamp jerking and
+making wild swings betwixt them,
+while Snelling evidently egged on his
+companion to drink; then I gave a
+glance seaward, where there was
+nothing but a glimmer of rain and
+spray along the dark hollows of the
+water. I couldn't make up my mind,
+all I could do&mdash;it was too barefaced a
+thing to slip from the roadstead with
+a breeze blowing off-shore; but the
+worst of it was that I didn't feel easy
+at the idea of parting with an anchor
+in the circumstances, not to say carrying
+off the Government people, unless
+forced to it. I accordingly went below
+to mix myself a stiffener, and found
+the officer a cool head, for, in spite of
+all Snelling could do, the reefer himself
+had got provoked, whereas the sharp
+Mr Webb was only a little brisker
+than before. "A rough sort of night,"
+said I, nodding to him, as I knocked
+the water out of my cap. "Well, it
+seems," said he, free and easy.
+"S'pose I go on deck then, gentlemen&mdash;I've
+refreshed, I assure you, so you
+needn't trouble about this 'ere schooner
+no farther&mdash;glad to get quit of it and
+turn in, I desay, lieutenant?"&mdash;"No
+trouble in the world, Mr Webb," said
+I, going on with my mixture, "far
+from it; but sit down a minute, pray
+sir,&mdash;Mr Snelling here will take charge
+of the deck for us in the meantime;"
+and Snelling vanished at once, Mr
+Webb apparently flattered at my wishing
+his company. "Will that cable
+of yours hold, think ye, Lieutenant
+Collins?" asked he, filling up another
+glass. "Why," said I, almost laughing,
+"to tell you the truth, I begin to
+feel devilish doubtful of it." "What!"
+broke out the harbour officer, starting
+up, "then I must 'ave another put
+down immediately: why, what's the
+effect, sir&mdash;we'll be carried out to
+sea!" "You said it exactly, Mr
+Webb," I said "'twould have been
+much worse, I suppose, if we were
+driven ashore, though! Now look
+you, if I were to let go a second anchor
+at present, I couldn't light upon
+a better plan either to break her back,
+or lose both anchors in the end&mdash;from
+the difference of strain on the two
+cables, with this ground-swell. The
+fact is, my good fellow, you're evidently
+not fit to take charge at
+present." "D&mdash;n me, lieutenant!"
+said he, looking fierce and foolish at
+the same time, "here's strange lang'age
+to a Gov'ment officer, sir&mdash;I
+hask the meanin' off it <em>at</em> once, mister!"
+"But I depend a good deal on your
+knowledge of Table Bay weather," I
+continued, leaning back with my
+weather eye screwed to bear upon him.
+"D'ye think this wind likely to moderate
+soon, sir? come now."&mdash;"No,"
+replied he sulkily: "I'm sure it won't&mdash;and
+to-morrow it's certain to blow
+back ten times worse." "Then, Mr
+Webb," said I, rising, "you oughtn't
+to have come aboard to-night; as the
+short and the long of it is, I shall get
+the schooner an offing the first possible
+moment!" The officer stared at
+me in a bewildered manner; and as
+for the schooner, she seemed to be
+bolting and pitching in a way worse
+than before, with now and then a
+plunge of the swell on her broadside
+as if she had been under weigh. Suddenly
+Snelling lifted the skylight frame
+and screamed down into the cabin,
+"Mr Collins, Mr Collins! she's been
+dragging her anchor for the last ten
+minutes, sir!"</p>
+
+<p>I sprang on deck at two bounds&mdash;the
+schooner had somehow or other
+got her anchor out of hold at the time,
+the cable as taut as a fiddle-string.
+It was quite dark aloft, and
+not a vestige of Table Mountain to
+be seen, though the moonshine, low
+down to westward, brought out two or
+three tracks of light along the stretch
+of water, and you saw the lights in
+the ships slowly sweeping past.
+Where we happened to be, it blew
+two ways at once, as is often the case
+in Table Bay, round the bluffs of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>
+mountain, and as soon as she brought
+up again with a surge at the windlass,
+the heave of a long swell took her
+right on the quarter, lifting her in to
+her anchor again with a slack of the
+hawser, at which every second man
+sung out to "hold on!" Over she
+went to port, a sea washing up the starboard
+side, and throwing a few dozen
+bucketfuls at once fair into the companion,
+where our friend the harbour
+officer was sticking at the time; so
+down plumped Mr Webb along with
+it, and the booby hatch was shoved
+close after him, while the poor devils
+of Lascars were huddled together as
+wet as swabs in the lee of the caboose
+forward. "A hand to the wheel!"
+shouted I, as soon as I recovered myself;
+when to my great surprise I saw
+Snelling's new hand, poor creature as
+I'd thought him, standing with a
+spoke in each fist, as cool and steady
+as possible, and his eye fixed on me
+in the true knowing way which I felt
+could be trusted to. "Jib there!" I
+sung out, "see all clear to run up a
+few hanks of the jib&mdash;stand by to cut
+the cable at the bitts!"&mdash;"Ay, ay,
+sir," answered Snelling, who was
+working away with the harbour men,
+his bare head soaked, and altogether
+more like an imp than a young gentleman
+of the navy&mdash;"All's clear, sir."</p>
+
+<p>Five minutes I dare say we stood,
+every one in the same position, while
+I waited for a good moment in the
+run of the swell, looking into the
+binnacle: till she hung slack, as it
+were, in a wide seething trough of the
+sea, when I signed to the man behind
+me to put the helm gradually to starboard.
+I glanced at the fellow again,
+caught his sharp weatherly eye once
+more&mdash;then putting both hands to my
+mouth I sung out to bowse on the jib
+halliards. "Now&mdash;cut&mdash;the cable!"
+shouted I, springing forward in my
+anxiety. The schooner rose away
+from her anchor on the heavy roll of
+the sea; I saw two quick strokes of
+the axe on the instant, and she was
+spinning head off from the wind, heeling
+over betwixt the force of it and
+the ground-swell together, while the
+mass of black water was washing
+bodily away with us; the new helmsman
+showing down below me as he
+leant to the wheel, like somebody at
+the foot of a slide. If he hadn't
+helped her at the moment with a back
+turn of the spokes to port, t'would
+have been all up with us. As it was,
+the schooner fell off gallantly in his
+hands, with a sliding surge into the
+lee of the next swell, that buried her
+sharp bows in the green sea, till it
+foamed about our very shoulders as
+we hung on like grim death to the
+weather bulwark. She was just
+shaking herself free, and rising like a
+buoy over the broad tops of the waves,
+when Snelling, myself, and two or
+three of the men, staggered down to
+her mainmast to swig up the throat
+halliards, letting her feel a little of the
+boom mainsail; and we had scarce
+belayed, as the last glimpse of the
+frigate's lights was caught astern of
+us, heaving and setting, as she rode
+with her two bower anchors down;
+we had driven past close enough to
+have heard the creak of her hamper
+aloft. After that, I had the fore-stay-sail
+set on her, then the reefed mainsail,
+and the lively schooner yielded
+to the long rolling seas so well, as
+very soon to make her own weather
+of it&mdash;especially since, clear of the
+high land about Table Bay, it was
+blowing only a strong breeze, and the
+more I began to feel master of her,
+the more inclined I was to let her
+show her good qualities. Such a craft
+I never had had the full management
+of before in my life; and you may
+easily fancy how I felt at dividing the
+hands into the two watches, giving
+little Snelling command of one, as first
+mate, and picking out our men in
+turn. I looked round amongst mine,
+rather at a loss for one to make second
+mate for the cruise, though there were
+three prime enough man-o'-warsmen,
+and I had chosen one of the Government
+officer's gang for his activity.
+As for the Lascars, we slumped in
+half of the number to each of us, for
+make-weights&mdash;when Snelling's fresh
+hand, who had fallen to my share,
+caught my eye again as he stood at
+the wheel. Every half spoke he gave
+the schooner told; she was topping
+the heavy seas as they rose, and taking
+them just where they melted one to the
+other, with a long floating cleave, that
+carried her counter fairly free of the
+after-run, though nearly right before
+the wind: the main-boom had been
+guyed over to the lee-quarter, till a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>
+third of the sail hung clear of her hull,
+and the breeze swept into the hollow
+of it, thick with spray. The light from
+the little binnacle shone up distinctly
+on the man's face, and with all the
+desperate, used-up, marbled sort of
+look of it, like one getting the better
+of a long spree ashore, I thought there
+was something uncommonly promising
+about him, not to say greatly above
+the run of foremast men. The wet,
+the wind, and the work he was at, took
+off the seediness of his clothes; even
+the old rag of a handkerchief round
+his hairy neck had got a gloss to it,
+and he stood handling the wheel with
+a strange mixture of recklessness and
+care, as he glanced from the compass
+to the gaff of the mainsail against the
+scud, and down again. The very
+contrast between the man's manner
+and his outward rig was sufficient to
+strike one, though plenty of seamen
+are to be found in the like state
+ashore: but what fixed me to him
+above all, was the expression in those
+two keen, searching, <em>living</em> eyes of his,
+when they once or twice met mine on
+their way from aloft to the compass-boxes.
+'Twas as if they'd woke up
+since he came aboard out of a sleepy,
+maudlin condition, with the "blue-devils"
+or scarce fully out of 'em; like a
+sick man's in the lull of a fever, suddenly
+seen watching you out of the
+dusk of the bed, when one happens to
+glance up from the nurse's seat.</p>
+
+<p>"What's your name, my man?"
+asked I, stepping aft to the binnacle.
+"My name is Jones, sir," said he
+readily. "And your first name?"
+I said. "Jack," was the answer, in
+an off-hand way, with a hitch of one
+shoulder, and a weather-spoke to the
+wheel; spoken in an accent you'd
+have expected more in a West End
+drawing-room than from a common
+sailor. "Ah," said I, sharply, "Jack
+Jones? I wonder how many Jack
+Joneses there are afloat! An able
+seaman, I think, Jones?"&mdash;"Why
+sir," replied the man, "I never rate
+myself, sir&mdash;'tis all one to me, able,
+ordinary, landsman, or boy&mdash;I carry
+no papers, and leave my betters to
+rate me." "Where were you last,
+my man?" I asked; whereupon I met
+such a cool, steady, deep look out of
+the fellow's strange light-coloured
+eyes, bloodshot as they were with
+drinking, that I felt almost our very
+two souls jostle in it: as much as to
+say, To all eternity fathom me if ye
+can! "Well, I forget where, sir," said
+he, lowering his look to the compass-box
+again: "always the way with me,
+after a trip, a cruise, a voyage, or
+whatever it may be. I've got&mdash;ha!"
+and he yielded his body coolly to a
+jerk of the schooner's wheel. "A sweet
+craft this, sir, but a little ticklish!"
+"You've got what?" said I, not unwilling
+to wear out the time. "I've
+got&mdash;no memory!" Still there
+was somewhat so gloomy and mournful
+in the next glance aloft, I
+don't know how it was, but I
+felt inclined to offer him a mate's
+place on trial, and so I hinted, if he
+knew half as well how to handle a
+craft as he did of steering her. To my
+own surprise, Jones's wonder didn't
+seem to be roused at the notion, except
+that he gave me another quick
+glance from head to foot, with a queer
+smile that struck me as if I were
+being questioned, instead of <em>him</em>; then
+he looked down over his own outfit,
+judging by which you'd have said
+he'd been shipwrecked. "Well,"
+said I, "I daresay you've been hard
+put to it, somehow, Jones,&mdash;so as
+soon as you leave the wheel, you can
+go below to the steward, and get a
+seagoing suit of my own, till we see
+Calcutta, when your mate's wages
+will set you all right again." The
+man touched his battered old straw
+hat; but I noticed his eyes gleam for
+a moment by the binnacle light, and
+a strange twitch run round his mouth
+at the mention of the mate's wages:
+the only way I could account for it at
+the time being his late hard-up condition;
+and nothing to my mind was
+more deucedly pitiable, than to see
+the thought of a few paltry additional
+rupees light up a head like that, with
+the glistening sort of expression of a
+miser, as I fancied. The man had a
+head on him, in fact, when you eyed
+him, fit for a gentleman's shoulders,
+or more&mdash;his hair and his whiskers
+curly and dark, draggled though they
+were with the rain, not to say Cape
+Town mud&mdash;while the wearing away
+of the hair about the temples, and the
+red grog-streaks in the veins of his
+face, made him no doubt a dozen
+years older to appearance than he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>
+was. For my part I was quite convinced
+already, this same Jack Jones
+hadn't been sent out a cabin boy; there
+was not only a touch of high blood in
+him at bottom, but I'd have sworn he
+had been some time or other in the place
+of a gentleman, afloat or ashore, though
+plainly now "going to the devil."</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the breaking look of the
+clouds away on our larboard bow
+showed it wasn't far off dawn; so,
+sending another hand to the wheel,
+and finding a snug spot under a stern-grating
+for a snooze on deck, I told
+Jones to begin with taking charge of
+the deck for me. "One thing, sir,"
+said he, touching his hat again, as I
+lay down, "I've only shipped for the
+outward voyage, and leave at the
+first port."&mdash;"Why, what the deuce!"
+said I, lifting my head; "what do
+you mean to do there, eh?" "I&mdash;I
+want to go ashore," answered he,
+eagerly; "ay, if we're years on the
+cruise, so much the better, sir,&mdash;but
+so soon as she drops anchor off Calcutta,
+I'm my own master?"&mdash;"Have
+your own way, then," said I; "at
+any rate I'll try you in the meantime,&mdash;so
+Mister Jones, let's see how you
+mind the schooner till eight bells!"
+Whereupon I turned myself over to
+sleep, and it was as broad daylight
+as we had any likelihood of about the
+Cape, when I woke.</p>
+
+<p>It still blew a stiff breeze, but the
+waves rose with a length and a
+breadth in them you find in no other
+sea; deep-blue sparkling hills of
+water, with green gleams about the
+crests, of which every single wave had
+a hundred or so; and a long seething,
+simmering, glassy hollow of a still
+valley between, where the flecks of
+foam slid away glittering out of the
+shadow. But, Lord! it was glorious
+to feel the schooner rising quietly in
+the trough, with the mount of a
+wave, to the very ridge of it; then
+with a creak of all her timbers and
+bulk-heads below, a slight shake to
+windward, and a yerk at her bows,
+lean over to leeward again and go
+hissing through the breast of a huge
+sea, till you thought she'd go down
+into it; while there she was, however,
+lifting head up, with a swift
+flash of her cutwater, on the cross
+half wave that joined every first and
+third one&mdash;"billow" and "sea," as
+you may say. The breeze having
+drawn more easterly toward morning,
+Jones had braced her more upon a
+wind, with reefed main and foresails,
+and fore-staysail set, which brought
+out the Aniceta's weatherly qualities
+to a marvel; as notwithstanding
+almost a head-wind and a swelling
+sea, she went nearly as fast as the
+frigate would have done before the
+breeze, and not a sign of the land
+was to be seen from her crosstrees.</p>
+
+<p>It was not till the afternoon, when
+the midshipman and I had both been
+busy together seeing various things
+done about the rigging, as well as
+having preventer-braces and guys
+clapped on the booms and gaffs, that
+we had time to look about us; the
+schooner still driving along with the
+breeze strong abeam, and a floating
+plunge from one wide dark-blue sea
+to another, as if they handed her
+onward. Jones had got himself made
+decent below, as I told him, till what
+with different clothes and a shave
+together, besides refreshment from
+sea weather, he was quite a different
+man to look at. Even Snelling owned
+to his sailor-like appearance, though
+rather surprised at my notion of making
+him a mate; while as for the men,
+they didn't know but he had come
+aboard as such, and to tell the truth,
+he was having the mainstaysail got
+up and ready to bend at the time,
+like one accustomed to give orders.
+By this time I remembered the harbour
+officer, Webb, whom we'd
+carried off so unceremoniously, and
+found he was still in his "bunk"
+below, half sulky and half sick, consoling
+himself with brandy and water
+till we should get into Table Bay
+again, as he said. "Only put him
+into my watch, Mr Collins," said
+Snelling gravely, "and I'll work him
+up, sir." The reefer himself, in fact,
+had all of a sudden turned out in a
+laughably dignified style, to meet his
+new post&mdash;in full midshipman's rig,
+dirk and all, with his cocked hat,
+which I sent him down immediately
+to change; but he had brushed up his
+mop of hair, and begun to cultivate
+the down on his upper lip; while being
+a deep-shouldered, square-built, short-armed
+little fellow, as muscular as a
+monkey, you'd have thought from the
+back of his coat he was a man cut<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>
+shorter, and for his face, he had contrived
+to put such a sour effect into it&mdash;meant
+for great experience, no doubt&mdash;that
+it was only by his eyes one saw
+he was a boy of sixteen or so; and
+<em>they</em> were brimful of wild glee, as he
+jumped about wherever he was needed,
+doing the work of a couple of ordinary
+men, and actually delighted when a
+spray came over the weather bulwarks
+on top of him, seeing that,
+instead of the frigate, she was "our
+schooner" that did it.</p>
+
+<p>"I think she walks, Mr Collins!"
+observed Snelling, holding up his
+head stiffly, and looking aloft as we
+went aft, after shaking ourselves from
+one of these same sprays. "No
+denying that, Mr Snelling," said I as
+gravely; "I only wish your fond
+parents could see you just now, first
+mate of such a smart craft, Mister
+Snelling!" His father was a country
+baronet, who had sent him off to sea
+with an allowance&mdash;I daresay because
+his looks were no ornament, and there
+were plenty more coming; though
+Snelling always pretended his worthy
+progenitor was an old man. "Fond
+be blowed!" said he, starting; "I
+just see him at this moment at the
+foot of that blessed old mahogany,
+proposing my health before the ladies
+go, and&mdash;" Here the schooner rose
+on a sharp, short wave, making a
+plunge through it that sent the helmsman
+swinging to the lee-side of the
+wheel, while a sea washed up over
+her forecastle, and away aft with the
+tubs, buckets, and spars, knocking
+everybody right and left. Snelling
+and I held on by the weather main-rigging
+with our feet in a bath, till
+she lifted bodily through it, careering
+to her lee-gunnel. "By George,
+though!" broke out the reefer, smacking
+his lips as we drew breath, "I
+wish he <em>did</em> see me&mdash;wouldn't it
+cheer his declining years, when I'd
+got to hand the governor carefully
+below! And such a rough night as
+we're going to have of it, too, sir!"
+"You unfilial young dog!" said I;
+"but so I'm afraid we shall&mdash;and no
+joke either!" Jones was standing
+near us, watching the looks of the
+weather with evident uneasiness, and
+I asked him what he thought of it.
+"In my opinion, sir," said he,
+"you'll have some pretty sudden
+shift of wind ere long, of a kind I
+have seen more than once off the
+Cape before&mdash;and that as furious as
+a south-easter ordinarily is hereabouts.
+Look away yonder, sir!"</p>
+
+<p>It had got to a clear, dry, north-easterly
+gale, that shook our canvass
+every time she lifted, singing through
+the ropes, and bitter cold. Long and
+heavy as the roll of the sea was, the
+sky was as keen and clear as glass all
+round about and aloft, save the mist
+kicked up by the spray off a wave
+here and there. If a rag of white
+cloud appeared, it was blown away,
+and you saw the black wrinkled side
+of one wave at a time, a mile wide,
+you'd have said, freckled all over
+with spots of foam, and its ridge
+heaving against the eye of the blast.
+The waves had begun to break shorter.
+The schooner, buoyant as she was,
+and sharp as a dolphin, pitched and
+rolled at times like mad, and the men
+forward were standing by to let go
+the fore-halliards, throat and peak, to
+ease her a little: when Jones pointed
+out the bank of gray cloud ahead of
+us, scarce to be seen through the
+troughs of the water, except when
+she lifted well upon a swell of sea.
+The sun going down in a wild red
+glare to leeward of us, threw a terrible
+glitter across the huge slant of
+one single wave that rose stretching
+away far and wide from her very
+bow, then brought out the sulky
+wrinkled blue in it; the hissing green
+crests curled over to the very sunset,
+as it were, while we sunk slowly into
+the long dark lulling trough, and saw
+the broken shaft of a rainbow stand
+glimmering for a moment or two into
+a black hollow right ahead, when
+the gale drove it back upon us like an
+arrow, as the schooner urged through
+the breast of the next wave. I looked
+from Snelling to the new mate, who
+still held on by a belaying-pin and
+watched the clouds, giving me back a
+glance that showed he thought the
+matter more serious than ordinary.
+"The sooner we strip her to the
+storm-staysails," said I quickly, as we
+fell into the trough again, "the better,
+I think. If it blows harder, we
+must lie-to with her at once." My
+eye was anxiously fixed on Jones,
+for large as the schooner was, between
+two and three hundred tons, yet no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>
+craft in the world is so nice to bring
+to the wind in a gale, with a heavy
+sea running. Scudding before it might
+have done for the frigate, with her
+full bows, and spars high enough to
+keep her main-topsail full in spite of
+the troughs; but even that would
+have taken us out of our course after
+the Indiaman. Besides that, to tell
+the truth, I didn't sufficiently understand
+fore-and-aft rigged craft in all
+weathers yet, to be quite sure of what
+I did at a pinch like the present.
+"Yes, yes, sir," answered he; "but if you'll
+take an older man's advice,
+before that you'll wear her round on
+the other tack to it. We've the
+worst to come, or else I'm mistaken,
+sir."&mdash;"You're accustomed to
+schooners?" asked I firmly, and
+gazing him in the face. I saw his
+lips open in the sweep of the wind
+through our after-rigging, and he
+made a sign with his hand, while a
+gnawing sort of spasm, as it were,
+shot through the muscles of his jaw,
+and for a moment he gave me a
+devilishly fierce, keen glance, almost
+a glare, from under his strong straight
+eyebrows&mdash;then turned away. "Take
+the trumpet then, Mr Jones," said I,
+singing out into his ear; "I'll leave
+her to you, sir. Mr Snelling, let's
+see the hatches all fast!" And we
+scrambled along by the belaying-pins.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you all ready fore and aft?"
+came Jones's voice like thunder in
+the next dip she made, and he leapt
+up bareheaded on the breech of one
+of the small carronades aft, holding on
+with one hand by the weather main-shrouds,
+and watching the run of the
+waves as they glimmered off our lee-beam
+into the dusk, for full five
+minutes. I had hold of a rope near
+him, and his eye was as steady as if
+he were picking out hills in a view.
+I had full confidence in the man; but
+I must say it was a nervous moment
+to me, when I saw him lift the trumpet
+to his mouth&mdash;and furiously as
+the wind shook the schooner, you
+heard his hoarse cry, "Put your
+helm up&mdash;slack off the mainsheet&mdash;brail
+up the mainsail&mdash;ease down the
+weather boom-guy&mdash;main-staysail
+sheet&mdash;" And the rest was lost in
+the wild shriek of the north-east gale.
+We were hard at it, however, staggering
+as we hauled and held on,
+even to the poor half-drowned, terrified
+Lascars, whom the midshipman
+had roused out of the caboose
+and long-boat, shoving the ropes into
+their leathery hands. But I knew little
+else till I saw the schooner had payed
+off before the wind, shearing with a
+hiss like red-hot iron right through
+the ridge, betwixt two tremendous
+combing waves. It swelled green over
+her larboard bulwark as she heeled
+over, and she gave a heavy dead lurch
+with it, as if she would let the next
+sea break aboard. "Now! now!"
+shouted Jones, at a pitch of voice like
+no earthly sound; "aft the mainsheet,
+for your lives!" He jumped to the
+wheel himself, at a single bound. We
+were in two floundering heaps, as we
+dragged at the mainboom aft, and the
+head-sheets on the forecastle, while
+she came trembling up in the long
+bight of the sea, and took the gale
+steadily before her other beam. It
+was blowing harder than ever; and
+the awful "scud" of the sea rolled
+her bodily away, as she met it with
+her weather-bow, washing white over
+the headrail, with spray from cathead
+to bowsprit; the gale heaving her
+down on the lee-beam, till she plunged
+to the brim on that side, at every forward
+pitch, so that all hands on deck
+had to keep crowded together aft.
+Still it was keen starlight overhead,
+the gale dry, though it was bitter cold,
+and the seas long and pretty regular.
+The schooner behaved wonderfully,
+being as tight as a bottle; and at the
+same time we were not only lying our
+course either for the Mozambique or
+Indian Ocean, but instead of running
+farther into the gale, as before, and
+getting more into the wild Cape latitudes,
+why, at present she tended to
+clear out of them. I accordingly
+agreed with Jones to hold on with
+everything as long as possible, in spite
+of the way she was sometimes flung
+off with the crest of a wave, as it were,
+making a clear dive with her nose
+under water through a white seething
+sea that seemed to swell round the
+whole horizon: the black bank of
+cloud off our weather-beam towered
+like icebergs against the cold green
+sky to south-east, the stars glittering
+and twinkling over it, with little hazy
+rings round them, after a fashion that
+one of us liked no more than the other.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>About midnight, we had got everything
+off her to the two small storm-staysails,
+main and fore, the wind
+blowing great guns, and the half moon
+shining right over the long bank, as if
+the back of it were dead-white; while
+betwixt it and the washing glimmer
+of moonlight half-way, you'd have
+thought the black heave of the ridges
+vanished into a bulk of shadow ten
+times blacker, save for the heads of
+spray tossing dimly over in it here
+and there. All at once, in the very
+height of the gale, as the black floating
+clouds from the bank began to
+cross over the gray scud flying fast
+aloft, a blue flash of lightning shot
+zig-zag into the very comb of a wave
+ahead of us, then came the clap of
+thunder, loud enough to be heard
+above the wind, and in half a minute
+there was a sudden lull. You saw the
+fleecy rags of scud actually settling
+together under the dark vapour moving
+above them, and heard nothing
+but the vast washing welter of the billows
+rising and seething for miles
+round, as if the world were water,
+while the schooner rolled helplessly
+away, with her storm-staysails flapping,
+into the trough. The midshipman
+almost gasped as he looked to
+me&mdash;not from fear, but as much as to
+say, "What next?" Our strange
+mate stood against the fife-rail of the
+mainmast, apparently too intent on
+the sky and sea for speaking. For my
+own part, I let go of my belaying pin,
+and half tumbled to the wheel, almost
+knocking the sailor down in my haste
+to put the helm hard up&mdash;for I saw
+how the blast was to come, fairly before
+the beam, upon us. "Hard a-starboard
+with it!" shouted I; "haul
+down the main-staysail there&mdash;let her
+fall off as she rises!" The last words
+were never heard, for next moment
+there was another flash of lightning,
+this time a blaze all round into the
+troughs of the sea; I saw a body of
+mist coming down upon us from
+south-east, through which the gale
+struck her on the starboard beam,
+having suddenly shifted eight points or
+so. The heavy rolling swell from
+north-east was close aboard, and as
+soon as I knew what I was about,
+here she was leaning over to the full
+tremendous force of the storm, without
+power to surge ahead, though
+struggling to rise like a cart-horse down
+on his knees with a load uphill of him.
+'Twas by instinct, as they say, I found
+myself scrambling along to her weather
+main-channels, where I managed
+to get out on the side, slippery as it
+was, and drenched with the blinding
+showers of spray. I had got my knife
+at work, cutting the lanyards of the
+shrouds to let the mainmast go, when
+I saw Snelling creep after me, like a
+fearless little fellow as he was, dirk in
+hand; although what was come of
+Jones I couldn't see, unless he had
+lost heart and skulked. All at once,
+to my great joy, the main-staysail
+blew inway to leeward out of the bolt-ropes,
+like a scrap of paper, the main-topmast
+crashed at the cap and went
+alongside, when the schooner righted
+to her keel, with a wild bolt forward
+through the whole width of an immense
+wave&mdash;one of the "third waves" it
+was, commonly the last and the hugest
+in a single roll of the sea of the Cape,
+before you sink into a long gliding
+valley, with a sort of a lull in it. The
+scene was so terrible at the moment,
+though we bore up for full half a
+minute to the fair steady stroke of the
+awful gale, nothing but a yeast of
+mist, scud, and darkness ahead, the
+spray torn off the ridge of the wave
+and flying with us, while the triple
+run of the heavy seas astern was in
+danger of sweeping her decks from
+over the poop&mdash;that I felt we must
+try lying-to with her at once. Indeed,
+Snelling and I hardly knew whether
+we were holding on or not, as we were
+half washed inboard and half crawled
+round the rigging; but Jones had
+already seized the exact point, when
+she sank in the hollow, to have the
+helm eased down to leeward. Meanwhile
+he had got the reefed foresail
+balanced and set, with the sheet hauled
+aft beforehand&mdash;a tackle hooked on to
+the clue, and bowsed amidships&mdash;everything
+else was off her; and with
+this sail she came slowly up close to
+the wind on the slant of the next
+wave, lying-to nearly head toward the
+force of the sea, as her helm was kept
+fast, two or three points to leeward.
+I never had seen a craft of the kind
+hove-to in a gale before, and a very
+nice matter it is, too. We drew
+breath, scarce able to credit our eyes,
+while the schooner rode apparently<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>
+safe on a sea rolling mountain-high;
+rising and falling off from the breasts
+to the sides of the waves, so far as
+leeway went, and forging ahead a
+little at the same time through the
+fierce spray that showered out of the
+dark over her weather-bow.</p>
+
+<p>Cape weather as bad I had seen
+before, but always in good-sized
+ships; and I owned to Snelling I
+would rather have handled any one of
+them, even with a lee-shore near, ten
+times over, than this schooner of ours
+in the present case. However, none
+of us were in any mood for speaking
+at the time, let alone the waste of
+breath it was. The best thing we had
+to do, after getting somewhat satisfied
+of her weathering it this way,
+was to have the grog served out to
+the men, swig off a stiff pannikin one's
+self, and make one's self as comfortable
+as possible with his pea-coat in
+the lee of something. The sight of
+the sea ridging up with a dim glimmer
+against the dark, kept your eye
+fixed to it: first you thought it would
+burst right aboard, crash down upon
+the decks; then she lifted with it,
+swelling broad under her, while the
+long steady sweep of the gale drove
+just over the bulwarks with a deep
+moan: for half a minute, perhaps, a
+shivering lull, when you heard the
+bulkheads and timbers creak and
+strain below from stem to stern, and
+the bilge-water yearning, as it were,
+to the water outside. Then, again, it
+was a howl and a shriek, a wide
+plunge of sea bore up her weather-bow,
+and the moment ere she came
+fairly to, one felt as if the schooner
+were going to pitch God knows
+where. Her whole bulwarks shook
+and shivered, the wind found out
+every chink in them, whistling round
+every different rope it split upon,
+while all the time, the loose wet
+dreary spars behind the long-boat
+kept slatting and clattering against
+each other in the lashings, like planks
+in a woodyard of a November night.
+This was the way we stuck till the
+morning watch showed it all in a
+drizzling, struggling sort of half
+light, blowing as hard as ever, the
+Cape seas rolling and heaving mountain-high,
+of a pale yesty hue, far and
+wide to the scud; the spray drifting
+from the crests, and washing over her
+bare forecastle, with now and then
+the white wings of a huge albatross
+to be seen aslant to windward, riding
+on the breast of a long wave down
+into the trough.</p>
+
+<p>Well, the whole blessed day did
+this sort of thing continue, only varied
+by now and then a huger sea than
+ordinary lifting close aboard of us,
+and we being hove up to get a glimpse
+of the long glaring streak of horizon
+through the troughs of the waves:
+sometimes an unluckier splash than
+usual over the bow and through the
+forechains, that made us look sharp
+lest the canvass of the foresail should
+go, or the schooner broach end-on to
+the sea. Otherwise, all we had to
+do was to watch the binnacle, hold
+on with one hand to a rope, and with
+the other to our caps; or turn out and
+in with each other down the booby-hatch
+for a snatch of sleep, and a bit
+of biscuit and cold beef, with a glass
+of grog. Mr Webb, the harbour
+officer, was to be seen below in his
+berth all this time, lying as peaceable
+as a child&mdash;whether he was dead sick,
+or only confoundedly afraid, I didn't
+know; but I must say I felt for the
+poor fellow when I heard him ask
+Snelling, in a weak voice, if he would
+get somebody to stand off the bull's-eye
+in the deck over his berth, as it
+always made him think there was a
+new hurricane coming on. "D&mdash;n
+it, you low skulking hound!" said
+the reefer, who had wonderfully little
+pity in his make, "it can't be worse&mdash;what
+d'ye want light for, eh?"
+"Only to see the opposite wall,"
+said Webb, meekly; "do, sir&mdash;oh
+now!" "Oh, you lubber ye!" said
+Snelling, "don't you know a bulkhead
+from a wall yet? If you'd come on
+deck to bear a hand like others, you
+wouldn't need light; and <em>I</em> thought
+you might do for a mate aboard, too&mdash;pah,
+you scum!" "Mr Snelling,"
+said I sharply, as he came through the
+cabin, "a worm will turn when it's
+trod upon, and so you may find yet,
+sir!" "Well, Mr Collins," said he,
+as confidentially as if I hadn't meant to
+give him a set down, "I don't like the
+fellow's eye. I'll look after him,
+sir!" Not to mention the young
+rogue's power of face, which was
+beyond brass, he had a way of seeing
+you in two places at once with that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>
+upward squint of his, as if his eyes
+were the points of a pair of compasses,
+that made the officers of the
+Hebe always send him to the masthead
+directly, for fear it should take
+the frown out of them. In fact, when
+Snelling's twinkling weather-eye
+lighted on one's neck, without the
+other, you almost felt it tickle you,
+and as usual I turned away with a
+"pshaw!"</p>
+
+<p>On the second morning, the gale at
+last began to break, shifting southward;
+on which, as soon as the sea
+ran a little easier, I had the helm
+cautiously put up at a favourable
+moment, the reefed mainsail, fore-topmast-staysail,
+and square fore-topsail
+set as she got before the
+wind, and away the schooner went;
+rising on the wide deep-blue swells
+with a long roll in them, then shearing
+ahead through their breasts,
+wrinkled and seething pale-green, till
+she sank with the fall of the wave&mdash;the
+stump of her aftermast standing,
+and the fore one shortened by the
+to'gallant-mast. You may easily believe
+there was no one aboard more
+eager to get clear of this weather than
+myself; as in ordinary circumstances,
+with a craft like this, in two or
+three days more we might have been
+in a high enough latitude to begin
+looking out for the Indiaman. For
+my part, I can't deny that the wish
+for having Tom Westwood safe out of
+harm's way, and with me in the
+schooner, strong as it was, played
+second to the notion of seeing sweet
+Violet Hyde in any way again, if it
+was only the last time before she
+went out of reach altogether; for her
+getting amongst East India ways of
+doing, high-flying civilians and soldiers,
+shows, and sights, either in
+Calcutta or up-country, was equal to
+anything else, in my mind. Still, we
+had six or seven days longer of the
+heavy seas and hard gales, before
+north-easting enough could be made
+to take us beyond the Cape winter,
+just then coming on, and which the
+Seringapatam had very likely escaped
+by two or three days, so that she
+would have a considerable start of us.</p>
+
+<p>By this time we were standing well
+up for the Mozambique Channel,
+which I had heard the Indiamen
+intended to take in company; a piece
+of information that made me the more
+anxious to overtake the Seringapatam,
+at latest, by the time they
+reached open water again, where,
+being the only ship from Bombay, she
+would no doubt part from her consorts.
+We had a cruiser that year, as I knew,
+in the Mozambique, where there were
+some rumours of pirates after the war,
+so that in case of her happening to
+speak the Seringapatam close, and
+having got any word of Westwood's
+affair, he ran a chance of being picked
+off. However, that wasn't by any
+means the thing that troubled me
+most: somehow or other, whenever
+the picture of Violet's face brought the
+Indiaman's decks clear into my mind,
+with all about her, I couldn't get
+rid of the notion that some ill-luck
+would come across that ship before
+she got into port. If any pirate craft
+were to dodge the whole bevy of
+Indiamen up the head of the channel,
+as was pretty sure to be the case, he
+would probably wait for some signs
+of separating, and be down upon a
+single one not long after she cleared
+the Leychelles islands, where a lonely
+enough stretch of the Indian Ocean
+spreads in. The more I entered
+upon the thought of it, the more
+unsufferable it got; especially one
+day in the mouth of the Mozambique,
+when it fell a dead calm with a heavy
+up-and-down swell, fit to roll the
+sticks out of her; the high blue land
+of Madagascar being in sight, sometimes
+to starboard, sometimes to port,
+then astern, and the clear horizon
+lying away north-west, dark with a
+breeze from round the coast. As the
+hot sun blazed out above us, and the
+blue water came plunge up over the
+rail, blazing and flashing, first one
+side dipped, then the other, I could
+fancy the passengers on the Indiaman's
+poop in a light breeze with a
+suspicious lateen-rigged sail creeping
+up on her quarter. I thought I saw
+Violet Hyde's eyes sparkle against
+the glare of light, and her lips parting
+to speak&mdash;till I actually stamped on
+the deck, my fists clenched, and I
+made three strides to the very taffrail
+of the schooner. All at once I met
+my second mate's eye coolly fixed on
+me, which brought me to my senses
+in a moment, the more so as there
+was something about this man Jones<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>
+I couldn't make out, and I had made
+up my mind to keep a sharp eye on
+him; though the fact was, it annoyed
+me most to feel him seeing into <em>me</em>,
+as it were, without troubling himself.
+"We shall have the breeze before long,
+sir, round Cape Mary yonder," said
+he, stepping forward. "So I expect,
+myself, Mr Jones," said I, "though
+you evidently know the coast better
+than I do." With that I gave him a
+careless side-look, but to all appearance
+there was nothing particular in
+his, as he told me he had seen it two
+or three times before.</p>
+
+<p>With the evening we were once
+more running sharp on a wind up
+channel; and when she did get her
+own way in a good breeze, the
+schooner's qualities came out. 'Twas a
+perfect luxury to look over the side
+and see the bubbles pass, her sharp
+bows sliding through it like a knife,
+she eating into the wind all the time
+in a way none but a fore-and-aft
+clipper could hope to do, with a
+glassy blue ripple sent back from her
+weather-bow as far as the forechains:
+then to wake of a morning
+and feel her bounding under you with
+a roll up to windward, while the
+water gushed through and through
+below the keel, and ran yearning and
+toppling away back along the outer
+timbers into her boiling wake, working
+with the moving rudder. And
+our man-o'-warsmen were quite delighted
+with the Young Hebe, as they
+still called her. Snelling was in his
+element while we were having the
+new spars sent up aloft&mdash;a set of
+longer sticks than before&mdash;till she
+had twice the air, as well as a knowing
+rake aft. Next thing was to get the
+long-brass nine-pounder amidships
+from under the boat, where the
+Frenchmen had kept it, besides which
+we found another in her hold; so
+that, added to six small carronades
+already on deck, we made a pretty
+show. Meanwhile, for my own part,
+I kept cracking on with every stitch
+of canvass that could be clapped upon
+the spars, including studding-sails.
+Jones himself didn't know better than
+I did by this time how to handle the
+craft, schooner though she was, in the
+way of making her use what weather
+we had to the best purpose. Variable
+as it proved, too, I was aware the
+Indiamen would have pretty much
+the same now as we had; so that, on
+going aloft with the glass, as I did
+every watch in the day, I soon began
+each time expecting one or other of
+them to heave in sight.</p>
+
+<p>As for the five hands from Cape
+Town, they seemed to have fallen
+in cheerfully enough with our own;
+and as soon as the fine weather came,
+the gang of Lascars were set to duty
+like the rest. Snelling would have
+them even trained to work the guns;
+although, if it blew at all hard, not
+one could be got to go aloft except
+their old <em>serang</em>, and the <em>tindal</em>, his
+mate. What surprised me most was
+the harbour officer himself at last
+asking, as Mr Snelling told me, to be
+put in a watch; but as the midshipman
+said there was no doubt Webb
+had made a voyage or two before,
+somewhere or other, I agreed to it at
+once. "I'm not sure, sir," added the
+midshipman, with one of his doubtful
+double looks, "but the gentleman may
+have seen blue-water the first time at
+Government expense, and not in the
+service either&mdash;he don't look fore
+and aft enough, Mr Collins, harbour
+officer though he be; but never mind,
+sir, I'll see after him!"&mdash;"Pooh,"
+said I, laughing; "if he does turn to,
+Mr Snelling, it shan't be in the watch
+<em>you</em> have to do with! Hand him over
+to Mr Jones." By this time I had
+changed the mid into my own watch,
+and given Jones charge of the other&mdash;so
+to him the harbour officer went.</p>
+
+<p>The main character aboard of us,
+to me at any rate, was this Jones
+himself. The fact was, at first I had
+my doubts of him altogether, partly
+owing to the queer way we got hold
+of him, partly on account of his
+getting the upper hand so much
+through chance, in the tremendous
+weather we had at the outset, till I
+wasn't sure but it might come into the
+fellow's head of itself, to be upon
+some drift or other that might cost
+me trouble, as things stood. However,
+I no sooner felt where I was,
+and got the craft under my own spoke,
+than I came to set him down for nothing
+but one of those strange hands
+you fall in with at sea sometimes, always
+sailing with a "purser's name,"
+a regular wonder of a shipmate, and
+serving to quote every voyage after,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>
+by way of a clincher on all hard
+points, not to say an oracle one can't
+get beyond, and can't flow sky-high
+enough. To tell the truth, though,
+Jones was as thorough a seaman as
+ever I met with&mdash;never at a loss,
+never wanting on any hand; whether
+it was the little niceties we stood in
+need of for setting the schooner's rigging
+all right again, which none but a
+blue-water long-voyage sailor can
+touch, or, what comes to be still better
+in tropical latitudes, a cool head and
+a quick hold, with full experience for
+all sorts of weather, 'twas much the
+same to him. He was all over like
+iron, too, never seeming to stand in
+need of sleep, and seeing like a hawk.
+At any hour I came on deck in his
+watch, there was Jones, all awake
+and ready, till hearing him walk the
+planks over my head of a fine night
+made me at times keep my eyes open,
+listening to it and the wash of the
+water together. I fancied there was
+something restless in it, like the sea,
+with now and then an uneven sort of
+a start; and at last it would come to
+full stop, that gave me the notion of
+how he was standing quiet in the
+same spot; whether he was looking
+aloft, or thinking, or leaning over the
+side, or what he was going to do,
+troubled me wonderfully. The only
+want in his seamanship I noticed, he
+evidently wasn't used to handle a
+large ship; but craft of some kind I
+was pretty sure he had commanded
+in the course of his life. As for taking
+observations, he could do it better
+than I could then; while the knowledge
+he had on different heads, that
+came out by chance, made you think
+more of a Cambridge graduate than a
+common sailor, such as he had shipped
+for with us. The strangest part of
+all about him, though, was what I
+couldn't well name, not to this day:
+'twas more grained in his manner,
+and the ring of his voice at particular
+moments, as well as his walk,
+though these were the smart seaman's
+no less; but one couldn't help thinking
+of a man that had known the
+world ashore some time or other, in
+a different enough station from now&mdash;ay,
+and in a way to bring out softer
+lines in his face than reefing topsails
+or seeing the main-tack ridden down
+would do. The nearest I could come
+to calling it, far apart as the two men
+stood, was to fancy he reminded me of
+Lord Frederick Bury himself; especially
+when he looked all of a sudden
+to the horizon in that wide, vacant
+kind of fashion, as if he expected it
+farther off than it was: only Jones's
+face was twice the age, like a man's
+that had had double the passions in it
+at the outset, and given them full
+swing since then; with a sleeping
+devil in his eye yet, besides, as I
+thought, which only wanted somewhat
+to rouse it. Only for that, I had a
+sort of leaning to Jones myself; but,
+as it was, I caught myself wishing,
+over and over, for something to make
+us fall regularly foul of each other,
+and get rid of this confounded doubtful
+state. One hitch of a word to
+take hold of, and, by Jove! I felt all
+the blood in my body would boil out
+in me to find how we stood, and show
+it; but nothing of the kind did Jones
+let pass&mdash;and as close as the sea itself
+he was in regard to his past life. As
+for the men from the frigate, at least,
+they seemingly looked on him with no
+great fondness, and a good deal of respect,
+in spite of themselves, for his
+seamanship; whereas, if he had been
+left in the forepeak in place of the
+cabin, I've no doubt in a short time
+it would have been no man but Jones.
+You light now and then upon a man
+afloat, indeed, that his shipmates hold
+off from, as healthy dogs do from a
+mad one; and you saw they had
+some sort of an inkling of the gloomy
+close nature Jones had in him, by the
+way they obeyed his orders. Webb's
+three Cape Dutchmen seemed to have
+a notion he was some being with mysterious
+powers, while the Lascars ran
+crouching at his very word&mdash;some of
+them being, as I found, Malays, and
+the rest Mussulmen from Chittagong;
+but Jones could send them about in
+their own language, Dutchmen and
+all&mdash;a part of the matter which did
+not tend to keep me less careful over
+him. Still I observed, since his coming
+aboard, that Jones never once
+touched liquor, which had plainly
+enough been his ruin ashore; whether
+on account of meaning to pull up once
+for all and mend, or only to have a
+wilder bout at next port, or else to
+keep himself steady for aught that
+might turn up, I couldn't settle in my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>
+own mind. Though deucedly doubtful
+of its being the first, the very idea
+of it made one feel for the man; and,
+in case of his doing well, I had no
+small hopes of something in the upshot
+to save a real sailor like him from
+going to the devil altogether, as he
+seemed doing.</p>
+
+<p>Now, after our getting clear of the
+rough Cape weather, and the dead-lights
+being taken out of the stern-windows,
+I had given a look, for the
+first time, into the schooner's after-cabins,
+which were pretty much as the
+people she belonged to before had left
+them, except for the rough work the
+gale had played. There were two of
+them, one opening into the other; and
+I must say it was a melancholy sight
+to meet the bright sunlight streaming
+into them from off the water astern,
+with all the little matters either just
+as if the owners were still inside, or
+else tumbled about at sixes and sevens.
+One drawer, in particular, had come
+out of a table, scattering what was in
+it on the deck: there was a half open
+letter in a woman's hand, all French,
+and showing a lock of hair, with a
+broken diamond cross of the French
+Legion of Honour, besides a sort of
+paper-book full of writing, and two
+printed ones bound in morocco. I
+picked up the letter and the cross,
+put them in again, and shoved the
+drawer back to its place, though I
+brought the books away with me to
+have a glance over. What struck me
+most, though, was a plaster figure of
+the French emperor himself, standing
+fastened on a shelf, with one hand in
+the breast of his great coat, and looking
+calmly out of the white sightless
+eyes; while right opposite hung a
+sort of curtain which you'd have
+thought they were fixed upon. When
+I hauled it aside, I started&mdash;there, on
+a shelf to match the other, was a
+beautiful smiling child's head to the
+shoulders, of pure white marble, as
+if it leant off the bulkhead like a cherub
+out of the clouds. Spite of all, however,
+the touch of likeness it had to
+the head I got such a glimpse of at
+Longwood, even when the hot sunlight
+showed it in my spy-glass so pale
+and terrible, was sufficient to tell me
+what <em>this</em> was,&mdash;Napoleon's own little
+son, in fact, who was made king of
+Rome, as I remembered hearing at
+the time. The thought of the
+schooner's strange French captain,
+and his desperate scheme, came back
+on me so strong, joined to what I
+saw he had an eye to in fitting out his
+cabins, that, for my own part, I
+hadn't the heart to use them myself,
+and at first sight ordered the dead-lights
+to be shipped again, and the
+door locked.</p>
+
+<p>'Twas a good many days after this,
+of course, and we had made a pretty
+fast run up the Mozambique, in spite
+of the sharp navigation required,
+sighting nothing larger than the native
+and Arab craft to be seen thereabouts;
+we were beginning to clear out from
+amongst the clusters of islands and
+shoals at the channel head, when two
+large sail were made in open water to
+nor'-eastward. Next morning by daybreak
+we were to windward of the
+weathermost,&mdash;a fine large Indiaman
+she was, crowding a perfect tower of
+canvass. Shortly after, however, the
+schooner was within hail, slipping
+easily down upon her quarter, which
+seemed to give them a little uneasiness,
+plenty of troops as she seemed
+to have on board, and looming like a
+frigate. After some showing of keeping
+on, and apparently putting faith in
+the man-o'-war pennant I hoisted,
+she hove into the wind, when we
+found she was the Company's ship
+Warringford, and the other the something
+Castle, I forget which, both for
+Calcutta. The next thing, as soon
+as they found we were tender to his
+Majesty's frigate Hebe, was to ask
+after the Seringapatam; on which I
+was told she was three or four days
+sail ahead with the Mandarin, bound
+to China, neither of them having put
+in at Johanna Island to refresh. I
+was just ready to put our helm up
+again and bid good-bye, when the
+tiffin gong could be heard sounding on
+the Indiaman's quarterdeck, and the
+old white-haired captain politely
+asked me if I wouldn't come aboard
+with one or two of my officers to
+lunch. Mr Snelling gave me a wistful
+glance&mdash;there were a dozen pretty
+faces admiring our schooner out of the
+long white awnings: but even if the
+notion of bringing up Snelling himself
+as my first officer hadn't been
+too much for me, not to speak of
+either Jones or Webb, why the very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>
+thoughts that everything I saw recalled
+to me, made me the more
+eager to get in sight of the Seringapatam.
+"Thank you, sir," answered
+I. "No&mdash;I must be off after the Bombay
+ship."&mdash;"Ah," hailed the old
+captain, "some of your Admiral's
+post-bags, I suppose. Well, keep as
+much northing as you can, sir, and I
+daresay you'll find her parted company.
+She's got a jury fore topmast
+up, for one she lost a week ago;
+so you can't mistake her for the Mandarin,
+with a good glass."&mdash;"Have you
+noticed any suspicious craft lately,
+sir?" asked I. "Why, to tell you
+the truth, lieutenant," sang out he,
+looking down off the high bulwarks
+at our long nine-pounders and the
+knot of Lascars, "none more so
+than we thought <em>you</em>, at first, sir!"
+The cadets on the poop roared with
+laughter, and an old lady with two
+daughters seemed to eye Snelling
+doubtfully through an opera-glass, as
+the reefer ogled both of them at once.
+"By the bye," sang out the captain of
+the Indiaman to me again, "I fancy
+the passengers in that ship must have
+got somehow uncomfortable&mdash;one of
+our Bengal grandees aboard of her
+wanted a berth to Calcutta with us,
+'tother day in the Mozambique;
+but we're too full already!"&mdash;"Indeed,
+sir?" said I; but the schooner's mainboom
+was jibbing over, and with two
+or three more hails, wishing them a
+good voyage, and so on, away we
+slipped past their weather-bow. The
+Warringford got under weigh at her
+leisure, and in an hour or two her
+topsails were down to leeward of us.
+On I cracked with square and studding-sails
+to the quartering breeze,
+till the schooner's light hull jumped to
+it, and aloft she was all hung out of a
+side, like a dairyman's daughter
+carrying milk; with the pace she
+went at I could almost say to an hour
+when we should overhaul the chase.</p>
+
+<p>Still, after two or three days of the
+trade-wind, well out in the Indian
+Ocean, and not a spot to be seen, we
+had got so far up the Line as to make
+me sure we had overrun her.
+Accordingly the schooner was hauled
+sharp on a wind to cruise slowly down
+across what must be the Indiaman's
+track, judging as we could to a nicety,
+with a knowledge of the weather we had
+had. For my part I was so certain of
+sighting her soon, that I ordered the
+after-cabins to be set to rights, seeing
+a notion had taken hold of me of
+actually offering them to Sir Charles
+Hyde for the voyage to Calcutta&mdash;Fancy
+the thought! 'Twas too good to
+be likely; but Violet herself actually
+being in that little after-cabin and
+sleeping in it&mdash;the lively schooner
+heading away alone for India, and
+they and Westwood the sole passengers
+aboard&mdash;why, the idea of it was fit to
+drive me crazy with impatience.</p>
+
+<p>Well, one fine night, after being on
+deck all day, and the whole night
+before, almost, I had turned in to my
+cot to sleep. From where I lay I could
+see the moonshine off the water
+through the stern-light in that after-cabin,
+by the half-open door. I felt the
+schooner going easily through the
+water, with a rise and fall from the
+heave of the long Line-swell; so close
+my eyes I couldn't, especially as the
+midshipman could be heard snoring on
+the other side like the very deuce. Accordingly
+I turned out into the after-cabin,
+and got hold of one of the
+Frenchman's volumes to read, when,
+lo and behold, I found it was neither
+more nor less than Greek, all I knew
+being the sight of it. Next I commenced
+overhauling the bundle of
+handwriting, which I took at first for
+a French log of the schooner's voyage,
+and sat down on the locker to have a
+spell at it. So much as I could make
+out, in spite of the queer outlandish
+turn the letters had, and the quirks of
+the unnatural sort of language, it was
+curious enough&mdash;a regular story, in
+fact, about his own life, the war, and
+Buonaparte himself. At another time
+I'd have given a good deal to go
+through with it at odd hours&mdash;and a
+strange affair I found it was some time
+afterwards; but meanwhile I had
+only seen at the beginning that his
+name was <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Le Compte Victor l'Allemand,
+Capitaine de la Marine Française</i>,
+and made out at the end how
+there was some scheme of his beyond
+what I knew before, to be carried out
+in India,&mdash;when it struck me there
+was no one on the quarterdeck above.
+I listened for a minute through the
+stern-window, and thought I heard
+some one speaking over the schooner's
+lee-quarter, as she surged along; so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>
+slipping on a jacket and cap, I went
+on deck at once.</p>
+
+<p>It was middle watch at the time;
+but as soon as I came up I saw all
+was quiet&mdash;Webb near the gangway
+talking to the old Lascar serang, and
+breaking the English wonderfully
+betwixt them; while the Lascars of
+the watch were sitting like tailors in a
+ring on the forecastle planks, each
+waiting for his turn of one cocoa-nut
+hookah, that kept hubble-bubbling
+away gravely under the smoker's nose,
+as he took a long suck at it, while the
+red cinder in the bowl lighted up his
+leathery Hindoo face and mustache
+like a firefly in the root of a banian, till
+he handed it, without even a wipe, to his
+neighbour. These fellows had begun
+to get much livelier as we made the
+tropics; and this same serang of theirs
+had put out his horns once or twice
+to Snelling lately, though he drew
+them in again the moment he saw me&mdash;a
+sulky old knotty-faced, yellow-eyed
+devil I thought him at any rate, while
+his dish-cloth of a turban, his long
+blue gown and red trousers, reminded
+you at sea in a gale of a dancing
+dervish. The day we spoke the
+Indiaman, in fact, I noticed there was
+something in the wind for a minute
+or two with him and his gang, which
+put it in my head at first to offer
+them to the captain for a couple of
+good English hands; and as I passed
+him and Webb this time, the serang
+stopped his talk, and sidled off.</p>
+
+<p>However, a beautiful night it was,
+as ever eye looked upon even in the
+blue Indian Ocean: the heavens
+cloudless, the full round moon shining
+high off our weather-beam again, the
+stars drawn up into her bright light,
+as it were, trembling through the films
+of it like dew-drops in gossamer of a
+summer morning: you saw the sea
+meet the sky on every hand, without
+a speck on the clear line of horizon,
+through the squares of our ratlins and
+betwixt the schooner's two long fore-and-aft
+booms. A pretty strongish
+breeze we had, too, blowing from east
+to west with a sweep through the
+emptiness aloft, and a wrinkling ripple
+over the long gentle swells, as deep in
+the hue as if fresh dye came from the
+bottom, and crisping into a small
+sparkle of foam wherever they caught
+it full. Something pleasant, one
+couldn't say what, was in the air; and
+every sheet being hauled taut to hold
+wind, the slant gush of it before her
+beam drove her slipping ahead toward
+the quarter it came from, with a dip
+down and a saucy lift of her jibs
+again, as if she were half balanced
+amidships, but little noise about it.
+I took a squint aloft and an overhaul
+all round, and nothing was to be seen.
+The size of the sky through the moonlight
+looked awful, as it were, and the
+strength of the breeze seemed to send
+a heavenly blue deep into the western
+quarter, till you saw a star in it. The
+night was so lovely, in fact, it somehow
+made one think of one's mother,
+and old times, when you used to say
+your prayers. Still I couldn't see the
+mate of the watch on the weather quarterdeck,
+which surprised the more in
+Jones's case, since he was always ready
+for me when I came up; and, to tell
+the truth, I shouldn't have been sorry
+to catch him napping for once, only to
+show he was like men in common. I
+walked aft by the weather side of the
+large mainsail, accordingly, till I saw
+him leaning with his head over the lee-bulwark,
+and heard him again, as I
+thought, apparently speaking to some
+one down the schooner's side; upon
+which I stepped across. Jones's back
+was to me as I looked over too; but
+owing to what he was busy with, I
+suppose, and the wash of the water,
+which was louder there than inboard,
+while you heard the plash from her
+bows every time she forged, he evidently
+didn't hear me. You may
+fancy my wonder to find he was reading
+loud out to himself from the other
+of the Frenchman's volumes, which I
+had no doubt left in the dining-cabin&mdash;the
+book open in both hands&mdash;he giving
+it forth in long staves, with a break
+between&mdash;and regular Greek it was,
+too: you'd have thought he timed
+them to the plash alongside; and I
+must say, as every string of long-tailed
+words flowed together like one,
+in Jones's deep voice, and the swell
+rose once or twice with its foam-bells
+near his very hands, I almost fancied
+I made a meaning of them&mdash;each like
+a wave, as it were, sweeping to a
+crest, and breaking. The gusto the
+man showed in it you can't conceive;
+and, what was more, I had no doubt
+he understood the sense of it, for all of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>
+a sudden, after twenty staves or so of
+the kind, he stopped.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> "There!"
+said he, "there, old Homer&mdash;women,
+wine, and adventure&mdash;what could the
+devil ask more, blind old prater, with
+a sound in you like the sea? Ay,
+wash, wash, wash away, lying old
+blue-water, you cant wash <em>it</em> out&mdash;and
+wine&mdash;no, not the strongest rum in
+Cape Town&mdash;can wash <em>you</em> out!"
+With that Jones laid his head on his
+arms, with the book still in one hand,
+muttering to himself, and I listened in
+spite of me. "Still it rouses the old
+times in me!" said he. "Here comes
+this book across me, too. Ay, ay, and
+the Rector fancied, sitting teaching me
+Greek out of old wild Homer all week
+day&mdash;and&mdash;and his girl slipping out
+and in&mdash;'twould do to don the cassock of
+a Sunday and preach out of the pulpit
+against the world, the devil, and the
+flesh&mdash;then warn me against the sea&mdash;ha!"
+The laugh that came from him
+at that moment was more like a dog
+than a human being; but on he went
+muttering "Women, wine, and adventure,
+said ye, old Greek, and a goddess
+too; still he <em>was</em> a good old man the
+Rector&mdash;no guile nor evil in him, with
+his books in the cases yonder, and the
+church-spire seen through the window
+over the garden, and his wife with&mdash;ah,
+the less of that. 'Twas in me,
+though, and all the blood&mdash;and in <i>her</i>
+dark eyes, too, Mary, though she
+was! Damnation!" he broke out
+again, after a bit, as if he'd been
+arguing it with something under the
+side, "I didn't take her the first time
+I came home&mdash;nor the second&mdash;but&mdash;but&mdash;ay,
+I came <em>back</em>! Oh that parting-stile,
+in sight of the sea&mdash;and that
+packet-ship&mdash;but oh God! that night,
+that night with the schooner forging
+ahead through the blue&mdash;blue&mdash;" And
+he stopped with a groan that shook
+him as he leant over. "Hellish, hellish
+by God!" he said, suddenly
+standing upright and looking straight
+aloft, with his bare head and face to
+the wide empty sky, and the moonlight
+tipping the hair on his forehead,
+from over the high shadow on the lee-side
+of the mainsail, where it glistened
+along the gaff. "She was pure to the
+last!" I heard him say, though I had
+walked to the other side of the boom;
+"ay, though I rot to perdition for it!&mdash;Down,
+old fiend!" as he lifted his
+one hand with the book, and drove it
+alongside, seemingly watching it settle
+away astern.</p>
+
+<p>Now I had heard nothing from
+Jones that I couldn't have fancied
+before, and there was even a humour<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>
+to my mind in the notion of clapping
+it all on old Homer, if Homer it was,
+and heaving him overboard with such
+a confoundedly complimentary burial-service.
+But some of the words that
+dropped from him shot through one's
+veins like icicles: and now there was
+something fearful in the sight of him
+standing straight again, with a look
+right into the heavens, as if he'd have
+searched them up and up&mdash;in that
+lovely night too, spread far and wide&mdash;the
+very rays of the moonlight
+sparkled down the weather side of the
+sail I was on, trembling on the leech-ropes
+and brails as they swayed, and
+into the hollows they made in the belly
+of the taut canvass: the long shining
+spot of it wavered and settled on the
+same two planks of the quarterdeck,
+beyond the shadow of the bulwark
+from the moon's eye, fast as the
+schooner moved through the water,
+and it was like a hand laid upon her,
+with the air and wind stretching
+between. Of a sudden I saw Jones
+wheel slowly round where he stood,
+like a man turned about by main
+strength, with his eyes fixed aloft,
+and his one arm raising from the shoulder
+till his forefinger pointed to something,
+as I thought, about the fore-to'gallant
+sail. His face was like
+ashes, his eye glaring, and I sprang
+across to him under the main-boom.
+"See!" said he, never turning his
+head, and the words hissed betwixt
+his teeth, "look at that!"</p>
+
+<p>"For heaven's sake, <em>what</em>, Mr
+Jones?" said I. "<em>Her&mdash;her</em>," was
+his answer, "coming against the wind&mdash;dead
+fore-and-aft in the shade of
+the sails!" On the lee-sides of them
+the high boom-sails made a sort of a
+thin shadow against the moonshine off
+the other beam, which came glimpsing
+through between them out of a world
+of air to the south-east, with a double
+of it flickering alongside on the water
+as it heaved past to leeward; and
+whether it was fancy, or whether it
+was but the reflection aloft from below,
+I thought, as I followed Jones's finger,
+I saw something like the shape of a
+woman's dress floating close in with
+the bonnet of the foretopmast-staysail,
+from the dusk it made to the
+breast of the fore-topsail, and even
+across the gush of white light under
+the yard&mdash;long and straight, as it were,
+like a thing lifted dripping out of
+water, and going, as he said, right
+against the schooner's course. "Now
+in the foresail!" whispered Jones, his
+eye moving as on a pivot, and a thrill
+ran through me at the notion, for I
+made out one single moment what I
+thought a face against the sky at the
+gaff-end, white as death, shooting aft
+toward the mainsail,&mdash;though next
+instant I saw it was but a block
+silvered by the moon as the schooner
+lifted. "Now the mainsail!" said he
+huskily, "and now&mdash;now, by the
+heavens&mdash;rising&mdash;rising to the gaff-topsail&mdash;away!
+Oh Christ! <em>Mary!</em>"</p>
+
+<p>He was leaning aft toward the
+width of the sky, with both hands
+clutched together before him, shuddering
+all over. For the first minute my
+own blood crept, I must say; but
+directly after I touched him on the
+shoulder. "This is strange, Mr
+Jones," said I, "what's the matter?"
+"Once in the Bermudas!" said he,
+still wildly, "once in the Pacific&mdash;and
+now! Does the sea give up its dead,
+though, think ye?"&mdash;"You've a
+strong fancy, Mr Jones, that's all," I
+said, sternly. "Fancy!" said he,
+though beginning to get the better of
+himself; "did ye ever fancy a face
+looking down&mdash;down at you in the
+utterest scorn&mdash;down sideways off the
+shoulder of the garment, as it sticks
+wet into every outline like life? All
+the time gliding on the other way, too,
+and the eyes like two stars a thousand
+miles away beyond, as kind as angels'&mdash;neither
+wind nor sea can stop it,
+till suddenly it rises to the very cope
+of heaven&mdash;still looking scornfully
+down at you!&mdash;No, sir, fancy it <em>you</em>
+couldn't!" The glance he gave me
+was somehow or other such as I
+couldn't altogether stomach from the
+fellow, and he was turning to the side
+when I said quietly, "No, nor Homer
+either, I daresay!" Jones started
+and made a step towards me. "You
+heard me a little ago!" rapped out he,
+eyeing me. "Yes," I said; "by Jove!
+who could help being curious to hear
+a sailor spout Greek as you were
+doing, Mr Jones?"</p>
+
+<p>"The fact is, Mr Collins," answered
+he, changing his tone, "I was well
+brought up&mdash;the more shame to me
+for bringing myself to what you saw
+me. I had a sister drowned, too, on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>
+her passage to America one voyage,
+when I was mate of the ship myself.
+No wonder it keeps my nerves shaking
+sometimes, when I've had too long
+about shore."&mdash;"Well, well, Jones,"
+said I, rather softening, "you've
+proved yourself a first-rate seaman,
+and I've got nothing to complain of&mdash;but
+I tell You fairly I had my doubts
+of you! So you'll remember you're
+under the Articles of War aboard here,
+sir," added I, "which as long as I
+have this schooner under hand, I'll be
+hanged if I don't carry out!" All at
+once the thought struck me a little
+inconveniently, of my carrying off
+Webb and his people, and I fancied
+Jones's quick eye wandered to the
+Lascars forward. "I know it, sir,"
+said he, looking me steadily in the
+face; "and what's more, Mr Collins,
+at any rate I couldn't forget you
+picked me out, confounded low as I
+looked, to come aft here! 'Tis not
+every captain afloat that has such a
+good eye for a seaman, as <em>I</em> know!"
+"Oh well, no more about it," I said,
+walking forward on the weather side,
+and leaving him on the lee one as distinctly
+as Lord Frederick Bury could
+have done to myself in the frigate.
+Jones no doubt thought I didn't notice
+the slight wrinkle that gathered round
+his lee-eye when he gave me this touch
+of butter at the end; but I put it down
+for nothing more, gammon though it
+was.</p>
+
+<p>It was near the end of the watch,
+the moon beginning to set, while it
+still wanted three hours of daybreak
+in those latitudes, when the look-out
+on the top-gallant-yard, who was
+stationed there in man-o'-war cruising
+fashion, reported a sail to windward.
+Just then the midshipman came on
+deck to his watch, wonderfully early
+for him indeed: and on my remarking
+it was probably the Indiaman at
+last, Jones himself went aloft with
+the night-glass to make her out.
+"Mr Snelling," said I, "see the
+hands on deck ready for going about."
+Next minute I saw him rousing up
+the rest of the Lascars, who slept
+watch and watch on the forecastle.
+Only five or six of the Hebe's men
+were up; and all of them, save the
+man at the wheel, ran aloft to rig out
+stunsail-booms to windward, as soon
+as the schooner was fairly on the
+starboard tack, standing to nor'-eastward.
+Suddenly I saw a scuffle
+between the midshipman, and the
+tindal,<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> a stout dark-faced young
+Bengalee, with a jaunty scull-cap and
+frock, whom Snelling had probably
+helped along with a touch of a rope's
+end; and in a moment two or three
+more of them were upon him; while the
+reefer drew his dirk, and sung out to
+me, scarce before I was with him, the
+Lascars rolling into the lee-scuppers at
+two kicks of my foot. Webb and
+three of the men from Cape Town
+were hoisting a stunsail at the time,
+the smart man-o'-war'smen aloft singing
+out to them to bear a hand. What
+with the noise of the sail flapping, and
+its being betwixt my own men and
+the deck, they could know nothing of
+the matter; and the Lascars let go the
+halliards in a body, making a rush at
+Snelling and myself with everything
+they could pick up in the shape of a
+spar.</p>
+
+<p>This would have been nothing, as
+in two or three minutes more the men
+would have been down, and the cocoa-faced
+rascals dodged every way from
+the handspike I got hold of; but I
+just caught a glimpse on one side of
+the sly old serang shoving on the fire-scuttle
+to keep down the watch below;
+and on the other, of Webb looking
+round him, evidently to see how
+matters stood. Two Dutchmen seized
+the first sailor that came down the
+rigging, by the legs, and I saw the
+affair must be finished at once, it had
+so much the look of a regular plot on
+Webb's part, if Jones wasn't concerned
+in it too. I made one spring
+upon my Cape Town gentleman, and
+took him by the throat with one
+hand, while I hit the biggest Dutchman
+full behind the ear, felling him
+to the deck; on which the man-o'-war's
+man grappled his watchmate,
+and Webb was struggling with me
+sufficiently to keep both my hands
+full, when I had a pleasant inkling of
+a Malay Lascar slipping toward my
+back with a bare kreese in his fist.
+I just looked over my shoulder at his
+black eyes twinkling devilishly before
+he sprang, when some one came<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>
+sliding fair down from the fore-top-mast-head
+by a backstay, and pitched
+in a twinkling on top of his head&mdash;a
+thing enough to break the neck of a
+monument. Directly after, I saw
+Jones himself hitting right and left
+with his night-glass, from the moonlight
+to the shadow of the foresail,
+while Snelling tumbled over a Lascar
+at every slap, standing up in boxer
+style. By the time the rest of the
+men came down all was settled&mdash;the
+Dutchmen sulking against the bulwarks,
+and Webb gasping after I let
+him go. "Boatswain," said I to one
+of the sailors, "clap that man in irons
+below. Mr Snelling, see the watch
+called, sir." "I 'ad the law with
+me," said Webb gloomily. "You
+plotted it then, Mr Webb?" I said.
+"Didn't you carry us off illegally?"
+said he. "I only meant to recover the
+vessel&mdash;upon my honour, nothing
+more, sir; and if you're 'ard with me,
+you'll have to answer for it, I assure
+you!" Here he looked round to Jones
+in a strange way, as I fancied for a
+moment; but Jones turned on his heel
+with a sneer. "Why, Mr Webb,"
+answered I, "you lost that tack by
+offering yourself in a watch, which
+makes the thing neither more nor less
+than mutiny&mdash;so take him below, do ye
+hear, bo'sun!" And down he went.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Mr Jones," said I, as soon
+as all hands were on deck, "you'll be
+so good as have half of these Lascars
+seized to the rigging here, one after
+the other, and see a good dozen given
+to each of their backs; then these
+two Dutchmen, each three dozen&mdash;then
+pipe down the watch, sir."
+Jones glanced at me, then at the
+fellows, then at me again. I thought
+he hung aback for an instant; but do
+it I was determined he should, for a
+reason I had; and I gave him back
+the look steady as stone. "Ay, ay,
+sir," said he at last, touching his hat.
+I walked aft to the capstan, and stood
+there till every mother's son of them
+had got his share, the Lascars wriggling
+and howling on the deck after
+it, and the Dutchmen twisting their
+backs as they walked off. 'Twas the
+first time I did that part of duty in
+command; and I felt, in the circumstances,
+I was in for carrying it out
+with a taut hand.</p>
+
+<p>By this time the moon was setting,
+and in the dusk we lost sight of the
+sail to windward; but as we were
+heading well up to weather upon her,
+and going at least ten knots, I turned
+in below for a little, leaving the midshipman.
+Accordingly, it wasn't very
+long before Snelling called me in broad
+daylight. "She's a large ship, Mr
+Collins," said he, "standing under all
+sail on a wind. I hope to goodness, sir,
+it's that confounded Indiaman at last!"
+I hurried on deck, took the glass aloft,
+and soon made out the jury-foretop-mast
+shorter than the main, as the
+old captain mentioned. Accordingly
+it was with somewhat of a flutter in
+me I came down again, watching the
+schooner's trim below and aloft, to
+see if I couldn't take an hour or so off
+the time betwixt that and once
+more setting eyes on the Judge's
+daughter.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>THE JEW BILL.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The period at which this obnoxious
+measure has been brought forward,
+limits our present remarks to a
+few paragraphs. But we have so
+long fought for the Constitution, that
+We cannot suffer the month to pass
+without reprobating an intrigue,
+which we cannot but regard as most
+dangerous to the Empire. We are no
+bigots,&mdash;we demand no surrender of
+the rights of opinion,&mdash;we force no man
+to our altars,&mdash;we forbid no man's
+access to his own; but to avert public
+evil is a duty of every subject,&mdash;to strip
+hypocrisy is clearly an act of justice,&mdash;and
+to protect religion is only an act
+of supreme necessity. We solemnly
+believe, that to bring the Jew into
+the Parliament of England, would be
+at once injury to the Constitution, a
+peril to public principle, and an insult
+to Christianity.</p>
+
+<p>The attempt was made last year,
+and was defeated. It is now to be
+renewed, without the slightest additional
+ground, and the battle will
+have to be fought over again. Must
+we not ask, is this experiment to
+be again made on public patience?
+Is it meant to tell the people of England,
+that what common sense rejects,
+is to be forced on general weariness;
+that what manly principle repels, is to
+be gained by vulgar perseverance; and
+that which public judgement denounces,
+is to be made law by the united effect
+of disgust and disdain producing indifference?
+We trust that the common
+sense of England will speak such a language
+to the Legislature, as to extinguish
+the <em>prestige</em> that obstinacy in the
+wrong is more effective than honesty
+in the right; that to be sickened of a
+struggle, is a legitimate reason for
+abandoning the contest; and that a
+great nation can be yawned out of the
+greatest interests in the world.</p>
+
+<p>The first question of all is, Can this
+admission of the Jew into a Christian
+legislature be compatible with the
+character of a Christian constitution?
+If we live in bad times, with the evidence
+of bad practices in important
+positions, and with a powerful propensity
+among influential classes to
+sacrifice everything to the moment,
+this consciousness should only be a
+stronger claim on the vigilance of
+honest men. However strangely it
+may sound in some ears, England is
+still a Christian country: however
+some may doubt, the country still
+demands a Christian legislature; and,
+notwithstanding all opinions on the
+subject, we believe that to worship
+God and Mammon is still as impossible
+as it was pronounced to be eighteen
+hundred years ago. We believe that it
+is only by national virtue that nations
+can retain the divine protection; that
+zeal for the divine honour is the supreme
+source of virtue; and that to
+sacrifice the honour of God to any
+earthly purpose, is only to bring divine
+desertion on a people. Must we not
+ask, is there any national demand,
+national necessity, or religious principle,
+connected with giving legislative
+power, at this time, to the Jew?</p>
+
+<p>Where is the national demand? If
+the Jew, in some instances, is rich,
+is mere money to be the qualification
+for giving legislative power? In the
+simplest point of view, must we not
+demand ability, personal honour, a
+personal interest in the country, and
+a personal evidence that the trustee
+will never betray or abandon his
+trust? But what is the Jew? He has
+<em>no</em> country. By being equally a member
+of all countries, he is equally an
+alien in all; beyond the casual connexion
+of trade, he has no connexion
+with any kingdom of earth: his only
+country is his counting-house,&mdash;his
+only city is the Exchange. His world
+consists in his traffic; and if any
+calamity should fall on one of those
+kingdoms where he keeps his counting-house,
+he transfers himself, like a Bill
+of Exchange, to the next; and in
+whatever land is equally at home. The
+Jew gives no pledge to any country;
+he is no possessor of land, no leader of
+science, no professor of the liberal pursuits,
+no manufacturer, no merchant,
+no sailor, no soldier; as if some irresistible
+destination prohibited him from
+ever finally settling in any land, his
+property is always ready to take
+wing. Must we not ask, Is this fugitive
+the man who has a right to share<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>
+the privileges of the Englishman,
+bound, as we are, to the soil by nature,
+and bound to its defence and prosperity
+by the indissoluble obligation
+of nature?</p>
+
+<p>In a political point of view, what
+security could we have for confiding
+in the Jew,&mdash;for intrusting our finances,
+our liberties, our councils, the
+guardianship of our country, to the
+Jew? The especial and perpetual
+object of his existence is money. Now,
+while every man knows that money is
+the great corrupter of the human
+mind, that, except in minds fully fortified
+by principle, it overwhelms all
+other objects, and that, in all the
+convulsions of the greatest war of
+Europe&mdash;the war of the French
+Revolution&mdash;the secrets of every Continental
+cabinet were at the mercy of
+the purse; do we desire to see this
+supremacy extended? Do we desire
+to see the principles of fraud and falsehood
+made a regular material in the
+market of public transactions, and
+lucre exalted into the sole object of
+existence?</p>
+
+<p>As to the practical effect of bringing
+the tribe of the money-dealer into
+Parliament, would any man, in the
+exercise of his experience, wish to see
+the finances of England in the hands of
+any Jew in existence? And let no
+man pretend that this conception is
+imaginary. Place a Jew in Parliament,
+giving him the power of making
+a party; give him the opportunity of
+working on the impulses, habits, or
+necessities of men; and in twelve
+months you may see him anything he
+desires,&mdash;even Chancellor of the Exchequer.
+But he is a man of honour;
+he will not sell the secrets of Council;
+he will not copy a despatch for the
+benefit of his partners; he will not
+raise or sink the stocks, though every
+movement may add a million to the
+coffers of his partnership. We hope
+not; but can we run the risk? But
+the fact is, that he is a man not to be
+judged of by the feelings of any other
+in the world; he differs from all other
+men. What is patriotism to the Jew?
+He knows nothing of it. Who ever
+heard of the Jew taking any part in
+those noble struggles which have saved
+the honour or secured the rights of
+any nation on earth? His business is
+gain, and it is the only business that
+he ever follows; from the man with
+ten firms and five hundred clerks, with
+a counting-house in every village from
+the Rhine to the Neva, down to the
+seller of old clothes, and the pedlar in
+dilapidated slippers, who ever heard
+of a Jew thinking of anything but to
+make money?</p>
+
+<p>But the view which must supersede
+all others, is the aspect of the measure
+as it relates to religion. Great Britain
+is certainly, on the whole, a religious
+country: it perhaps contains
+more true religion than all the earth
+besides; but its fault is, that, though
+reverent in the church, it does not
+sufficiently carry its reverence into the
+course of common life. If this were
+done, there would be no difficulties in
+public opinion. It is in no superstition
+that we say, the only question
+to be asked on any doubtful course of
+action is, "Will it please God? Is it
+for the honour of God?" This is what
+the Scripture calls "walking with
+God," and describes as the essential
+character of virtue. But the majority
+of mankind add to those questions,
+Will it benefit myself? The statesman
+asks, Shall I lose power by it?&mdash;the
+merchant, Shall I lose profit?&mdash;the
+tradesman, Shall I lose custom? And
+this question is the master-key to the
+diversities of opinion on points which,
+to the unbiassed mind, are as clear as
+the sun.</p>
+
+<p>Let us put the matter in a more
+every-day point of view. Let us suppose
+the question asked, Would you
+take for your friend a man who denied
+your God, who scoffed at your religion,
+and who declared yourself a dupe or a
+deceiver? Yet all this the Jew does
+openly by the profession of his own
+creed. Can you conceive it for the
+honour of your Redeemer, to give this
+man your confidence in the highest
+form in which it can be given by a
+subject? Or can you bring yourself to
+believe that you are doing your duty
+to Christ in declaring by your conduct,
+that to be hostile to Him makes
+no imaginable difference in your estimate
+of the character of any man?</p>
+
+<p>On those points it is wholly impossible
+that there can be any doubt
+whatever. The enemy of Christ cannot,
+without a crime, be favoured, still
+less patronised and promoted, by the
+friend of Christ. Now, this feeling is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>
+neither prejudice nor persecution: it
+merely takes the words of the Jew
+himself; and it would not force him,
+by the slightest personal injury, to
+change the slightest of his opinions.
+It is merely the conduct which all
+who were unbiassed by gain, or unperverted
+by personal objects, would
+follow in any common act of life. To
+give power to the Jew, from the motives
+of pelf, or party, or through
+indifference, is criminal; and it is
+against this crime that we protest,
+and that we desire to guard our fellow
+Christian.</p>
+
+<p>We must now rapidly pass through
+the leading points of the question.
+The Jew is a "condemned man."
+More than three thousand years ago,
+Moses, in pronouncing the future history
+of the people, declared that a
+teacher should finally be sent to their
+nation, like himself, a man; and
+mingling as such among men, to give
+them a law, not in clouds and thunders
+as at Sinai, nor written in tables of
+stone, nor fixed in stern ordinances, but
+written in the heart, and acting by the
+understanding: and that, if they rejected
+him, they should be made
+nationally to answer the national
+crime to the Almighty. Him they
+rejected, and the rejection has been
+answered by national ruin. The prophecy
+is before the eye of the world;
+the fulfilment is also before the eye
+of the world.</p>
+
+<p>The Jew is an undone being, if there
+be truth in the words of inspiration.
+"He that believeth in the Son hath
+everlasting life; and he that believeth
+not the Son, <em>shall not see life</em>; but the
+<em>wrath of God</em> abideth on him." (John
+iii. 35, 36.) What right have we to
+dispense with such words? The
+declaration is unequivocal; and if
+there be a compassionate allowance
+for the barbarian, who has no
+Bible and whom the gospel has
+never reached, what allowance can
+there be for the Jew, possessing the
+Bible and living in the sound of the
+gospel? But this language is not
+alone. We have the declaration of
+ruin constantly expressed or implied,
+"Who is a liar, but he that <em>denieth
+that Jesus is the Christ</em>? Whosoever
+<em>denieth the Son</em>, the same <em>hath not the
+Father</em>." (1 John ii. 22)</p>
+
+<p>Are those deniers the men whom
+the Christian is to take into the
+very centre of his political favouritism?
+Are the brands of Scripture on
+the national forehead to be scorned by
+a people professing obedience to the
+Divine will? Can human conception
+supply a stronger proof of the reality
+of those brands than the condition of
+the Jews ever since their first fulfilment,
+in the fall of Jerusalem&mdash;the
+terrible reply to their own anathema,
+"His blood be on us, and on our
+children."</p>
+
+<p>What is the state of the Jew himself
+with respect to sacred things?
+Nothing but ignorance can speak of
+the <em>religion</em> of the Jew. So far as
+belongs to worship, he has <em>none</em>.
+Sacrifice, the solemnisation of the
+three great festivals, the whole ceremonial
+of the temple, were <em>essential</em> to
+Judaism. The Jew cannot perform
+a single public ceremonial of his religion.
+Sacrifice was supremely essential
+for nearly the atonement of every
+fault of man; but it could be offered
+only in the Temple. The Temple is
+gone. What now becomes of his
+atonement?</p>
+
+<p>A weak attempt is made to answer
+this tremendous question, by referring
+to the condition of the Jews in Babylon.
+But what comparison can exist
+between a captivity prophetically
+limited to years not exceeding a single
+life, passed under the protection of
+kings, and under the guardianship of
+the most illustrious man of Asia, the
+prophet Daniel, cheered by prophecy
+and miracle, and certain of return, and
+the eighteen hundred years' banishment
+of the Jew? What comparison
+between the temporary suspension of
+the national worship, and the undefined
+and hopeless duration which
+seems to lie before the Jewish exile;
+and which, when it shall close at last,
+will extinguish his Judiasm, will show
+him his folly only by stripping the
+superstition of the Rabbi and the Talmud
+from his eyes, and will awake
+him at once to the extent of his
+error, to the exercise of his understanding,
+and to the worship of Christianity?</p>
+
+<p>After considerations of this order,
+all others must be almost trivial.
+But the common declamation on the
+<em>natural right</em> of the Jew to be represented
+in Parliament is verbiage.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>
+But the Jew is actually represented,
+as much as a multitude of
+other interests of superior importance
+are represented. Are the fifteen
+thousand clergy of the Church of
+England (a body worth all the Jews
+on the globe) personally represented?
+Are the millions of England under
+twenty-one represented? One might
+thus go through the great industrious
+classes of England, and find that, out
+of twenty millions, there are not one
+million electors. And what claim
+have a class&mdash;who come to this country
+only to make money, and who
+make nothing but money, and who,
+if they could make more money anywhere
+else on the earth, would go
+there to-morrow&mdash;to an equality of
+right with the manly, honest, and
+attached son of England, every day
+of whose life adds something to the
+comfort or the credit of the community?</p>
+
+<p>The whole and sole claim of the
+Jew is, that some of his party are
+rich. How they have made their
+riches, or how they spend them, is
+beneath us to inquire. But what
+are their national evidences, even of
+wealth, it might be difficult to discover.
+They exhibit no fruits here,
+nor anywhere. It has been often
+asked, with genuine astonishment,
+what signs of national liberality have
+ever been given by Jewish wealth in
+the world? What contribution does
+it make, or has it ever made, to the
+arts that decorate life, to the literature
+that enlightens it, or to those
+bold and commanding services by
+which nations are raised or restored?
+Where are the picture galleries, or the
+great libraries, the great institutions,
+erected by the wealth of the Jew?
+As to the genius which endows mankind,
+for generations to come, with
+noble inventions, or leaves its name
+behind in a track of glory to posterity,
+who ever heard of it among the Jews?
+Shopkeepers of London have planted
+its vicinity with great establishments,
+castles of charity, magnificent monuments
+of practical religion, to which
+all the works of Jewish bounty are
+molehills. The Jews have an hospital
+and a few schools,&mdash;and there the
+efflux of liberality stops, the stream
+stagnates, the river becomes a pond,
+and the pond dries away.</p>
+
+<p>It is remarkable, and may be a
+punitive consequence, that there is
+nothing so fugitive as the wealth of the
+Jew. There is perhaps no hereditary
+example of Jewish wealth in the
+world. In England we have seen
+opulent firms, but they have never
+had the principle of permanency.
+Supposed to be boundlessly wealthy, a
+blight came, and every leaf dropt off.
+One powerful firm now lords it over
+the loan-market of Europe. We have
+no desire to anticipate the future; but
+what has become of all its predecessors
+in this country? or what memorial
+have they all left, to make us regret
+their vanishing, or remember their
+existence?</p>
+
+<p>Of the sudden passion with which
+Ministers have snatched the Israelite
+to their bosom, we shall leave the explanation
+until their day of penitence.
+As poverty makes man submit to
+strange companionship, political necessity
+may make a Whig Cabinet stoop
+to the embrace of the Jew. The resource
+is desperate, but the exigency
+must be equally so. We hail the
+omen,&mdash;the grasp at straws shows
+nothing but the exhaustion of the
+swimmer.</p>
+
+<p>On one point more alone we shall
+touch. It is of a graver kind. It has
+been the source of a kind of ignorant
+consideration for the Jews, that prophecy
+speaks of their future restoration.
+But, as <em>Jews</em> they will <em>never</em> be
+restored. In the last days some
+powerful influence of the Holy Spirit
+will impel the surviving Jews to solicit
+an admission into Christianity.
+How many or how few will survive
+the predicted universal convulsion of
+these days, is not for man to tell; the
+terrible, or the splendid, catastrophes
+of those times are still hidden; but no
+Jew well ever dwell in the presence
+of the patriarchs, but as a "new
+creature"&mdash;a being cleared from the
+prejudices of his exiled fathers, and
+by supernatural interposition purified
+from the unbelief, to be rescued from
+the ruin, of his stiff-necked people.</p>
+
+<p>The measure must be thrown out
+by the awakened power of public
+opinion. We must not indulge our
+indolence in relying on the House of
+Lords. They <em>may</em> do their duty, but
+<em>we must do ours</em>. The Jew <em>must not</em>
+enter the Christian Legislature.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>THE PICTURES OF THE SEASON.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The taste for pictorial art, if its
+progress may be measured by the opportunity
+afforded for its gratification,
+is decidedly upon the increase in this
+country. In London, especially, pictures
+of one class or other form, each
+successive year, a larger and more
+important item in the sum of public
+amusements. During the present
+season of 1850 there have been open,
+at one time, four exhibitions consisting
+chiefly of oil paintings, two numerous
+collections of water-colour drawings,
+and panoramas and dioramas in
+unprecedented number and of unusual
+excellence. These last, although pertaining
+to a lower walk of art, have
+strong claims on consideration for
+their scenic truthfulness and artistic
+skill, and are fairly to be included in
+an estimate of the state of public
+feeling for the pictorial. The four
+first exhibitions alone comprise upwards
+of three thousand works of art,
+now for the first time submitted to
+public inspection. As usual, the exhibition
+of the Royal Academy is the
+most important and deserving of attention.
+Numerically, the Society of
+British Artists claims the next place;
+but in point of interest it must yield
+precedence to the British Institution,
+now for some weeks closed, and also
+to the exhibition of an association of
+artists which has installed itself, upon
+a novel principle, and under the title
+of the National Institution, in a building
+constructed for its accommodation,
+and known as the Portland Gallery.
+It were for some reasons desirable&mdash;it
+certainly would be favourable to the
+comparative appreciation of merit&mdash;that,
+as at Paris, the whole of the
+annual harvest of pictures should be
+collected in one edifice, subject, of
+course, to such previous examination
+by a competent and impartial council,
+as should exclude those works unworthy
+of exhibition. But such a
+system, however pleasant it might be
+found by the public, could hardly be
+made agreeable to the artists. The
+most indulgent censorship, excluding
+none but the veriest daubs&mdash;nay, even
+the plan of open doors to all comers,
+which has lately clothed a portion of
+the walls of the Republican Louvre with
+canvass spoiled by ignorance and presumption,
+would fail to satisfy artists
+and their friends. In London, as in
+Paris under the old system, it is less
+the question of admission than the placing
+of the pictures that is the source of
+discontent. The excluded conceal
+their discomfiture; the misplaced
+grumble loudly, and not always without
+reason, especially as regards the
+Academy exhibition. The fault may
+be more in the rooms that contain,
+than in the men who place the pictures.
+Of course everybody whose
+work gets into the Octagon Room feels
+aggrieved, although it is evident that,
+as long as that ridiculous nook is used
+to contain pictures, some unlucky
+artists must fill it. The good
+places in the other rooms&mdash;limited as
+is the extent of these compared to the
+large number of pictures annually
+exhibited in them&mdash;cannot be very
+numerous, although they may be multiplied
+by the exercise of judgment,
+and by impartial attention to the requirements
+of each picture as regards
+light and elevation. The best possible
+arrangement, however, will fail to
+please everybody, and the persons to
+whom falls the difficult task of distributing
+a thousand or fifteen hundred
+pictures over the walls of a suite of
+rooms inadequate to their proper
+accommodation, must be prepared to
+endure some obloquy, and esteem
+themselves fortunate if the public acquit
+them of flagrant partiality or
+negligence. It is not our purpose to
+dilate on this oft-mooted and still
+vexed question. We have no polemical
+intention in the present paper,
+in which we shall not have too much
+space to note down a few of the
+thoughts that suggested themselves to
+us during our morning wanderings
+amongst the throng of pictures in four
+exhibitions.</p>
+
+<p>The great event of the artist's
+year, the opening of the Exhibition
+of the Royal Academy, is of course
+the signal for a Babel of opinions.
+The question which on all sides is
+heard: What sort of Exhibition is
+this? obtains the most conflicting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>
+replies. People are too apt to trust to
+their first impressions, and to indulge
+in sweeping censure or excessive encomium.
+We have heard this year's exhibition
+set down by some as first-rate,
+by others as exceedingly poor. Our
+own opinion, after careful examination
+and consideration, is, that it has rather
+less than the average amount of merit.
+This we believe to be also the opinion
+of the majority of those most competent
+to judge. There is certainly an
+unusually small number of pictures of
+striking excellence; nor is this atoned
+for by any marked improvement in
+those artists whose works can claim
+but a second rank. One circumstance
+unfavourable to the interest of the
+exhibition is the uncommonly large
+number of portraits, the majority of
+which are not very admirable either
+in subject or execution. The impression,
+as one walks through the rooms,
+is, that an extraordinary number of
+ugly or uninteresting persons have got
+themselves painted by careless or indifferent
+artists. Of landscapes there
+seem to be fewer than usual&mdash;certainly
+fewer good ones. Some of the best
+of this class of painters have contributed
+to other exhibitions. On the
+other hand, historical, scriptural, and
+dramatic subjects are numerous, but
+not in many cases have they been
+treated with very great success.
+One of the foremost pictures in the
+Exhibition&mdash;certainly the one about
+which most curiosity has been excited&mdash;is
+Edwin Landseer's <cite>Dialogue at
+Waterloo</cite>. We are unfeigned admirers
+of Mr Landseer's genius, but we do
+not think this one of his happiest
+efforts. There is much fashion in
+these matters; people are very apt
+to be led away by a name, and to fall
+into ecstasies before a picture simply
+because it is by a great painter. We
+believe it impossible for Edwin Landseer
+to paint anything that shall not
+have great merit, but he is certainly
+most felicitous when confining himself
+to what is strictly speaking his own
+style. We do not think him successful
+as a portrait painter. His Marchioness
+of Douro does less than justice to the
+beautiful original. As to the Duke
+of Wellington, it is a failure; especially
+if, as we are assured, it is intended
+to be his portrait as he now
+is. We certainly cannot admire
+the burly figure and swarthy complexion
+of Mr Landseer's Duke, which
+gives us the idea of a younger and
+more robust man than him it is intended
+to represent. We should be disposed
+to object to the strained appearance
+of the downward-pointing hand;
+but the gesture is said to be one habitual
+to the original, and of course the
+painter was right to preserve character,
+even at the cost of grace. The
+less prominent portion of the picture
+is the most to our taste&mdash;the peasants
+and child, the dogs and game, and the
+plough horses with their old driver.
+We are not quite clear as to what it
+all means; some of the objects seeming
+rather to have been dragged in
+than naturally to have come thither;
+the tablecloth spread in the ploughed
+field appearing rather out of character,
+and the left-hand corner of the picture
+having altogether somewhat of a
+crowded aspect: but these are trifles
+not worth dwelling upon. The painting
+is evidently unfinished. The
+subject of Mr Landseer's second picture,
+a shepherd digging the stragglers
+from his flock out of a snow-drift, is
+of less interest than that of his larger
+work; but, in an artistic point of view,
+it claims higher praise. His snow is
+admirable, the tender gray tints are
+full of light, and distributed with
+surpassing skill; and the earnest
+laborious face of the delving peasant is
+very vigorous and characteristic. Mr
+Landseer is so accurate an observer of
+brute nature that it is with extreme
+caution we venture to criticise his
+animals, but we must say that the
+wool of his sheep in this painting has
+a hard and cork-like look. Upon the
+whole it is a question with us, when
+we revert to some of this artist's
+former productions, whether he is
+painting as carefully as he used to do.
+Looking at his Waterloo Dialogue, we
+say no; but an affirmative starts to
+our lips when we examine his last and
+smallest picture in this year's Exhibition,
+Lady Murchison's dog. With
+this the most fastidious would be
+troubled to find fault. It is a gem of
+admirable finish. If Mr Landseer's
+power of drawing, in the grander contours
+of his designs, were equal to the
+skill he displays in the details, he
+would leave nothing to desire.</p>
+
+<p>Mr Maclise has two pictures in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>
+this exhibition. There is scarcely an
+English artist living concerning whom
+we are more embarrassed to make
+up our minds, than concerning the
+painter of <em>The Spirit of Justice</em> and
+<em>The Gross of Green Spectacles</em>. His
+merits and defects are alike very
+great, and unfortunately he delays to
+amend the latter&mdash;if indeed it be in
+his power so to do. His first-named
+and larger picture, whilst it contains
+much to admire, leaves a great deal
+to be desired. To us it is a vexatious
+performance. We cannot look at
+it without admitting it to be the work
+of no ordinary artist, and we feel the
+more annoyed at the mannerism that
+detracts from its merit. Mr Maclise
+has fertility of invention and power of
+design, but there is a deficiency of
+true artistical feeling in his execution.
+We cannot coincide, besides, with the
+notion which he, in common with
+many others, seems to entertain, that
+fresco painting precludes chiaroscuro.
+In <em>The Spirit of Justice</em> there are some
+good faces; but there are more that
+are unnecessarily ugly, and several
+of faulty expression. Justice has a
+fine countenance and altogether pleases
+us well. The widow's face is hard
+and unflesh-like; the accuser, who
+drags the murderer before the tribunal,
+and displays a bloody dagger as evidence
+of guilt, and the free citizen
+who unrolls the charter of liberty, are
+anything but admirable. The accuser
+looks more like an informer than an
+avenger. Nothing can be more unfavourable
+to the face than the sort
+of scrubby, colourless, thinly-sown
+stubble with which his chin is provided,
+as a contrast, we presume,
+with the dark hirsute countenance of
+the criminal, who, deducting the
+beard, might pass for a portrait of Mr
+Macready, of one of whose favourite
+attitudes the position of the head and
+shoulders particularly reminds us.
+With all its defects, however, this is
+by far the best of Mr Maclise's two
+pieces. <em>The Gross of Spectacles</em> we
+consider a failure. It is a gross of
+spectacles, and little besides. The first
+thing that catches the eye is Moses'
+unlucky bargain. There they are, the
+twelve dozen, in green cases and with
+plated rims. We submit that the first
+thing which <em>should</em> attract the eye is
+the countenances of the actors in the
+scene. Owing to their tameness of
+expression, these, which should be
+prominent, are almost subordinate to
+the inanimate details of the apartment.
+Unimportant as it is, we are
+inclined to prefer the recess, and the
+peep through the window, to any
+other part of the picture. There is
+an airiness and transparency in that
+corner of the canvass, which we in
+vain seek elsewhere. The general
+effect is very hard. The hair of
+Moses and the little boy is as unlike
+hair as it well can be: we
+remember to have seen something
+very like it upon a tea-tray. These
+are technical objections. But Mr
+Maclise may rely upon it that he
+lacks the keen perception of humour
+indispensable to the artist who would
+illustrate Goldsmith.</p>
+
+<p>Amongst the scriptural and mythological
+paintings, those of Mr Patten
+and Mr F. R. Pickersgill attract at
+least as much notice as they deserve.
+Besides portraits, Mr Patten has contributed
+three pictures. His <em>Susannah
+and the Elders</em> is remarkable
+as being the most decidedly indecent
+picture exhibited this year. The
+subject is not a very pleasing one,
+and, to our thinking, has been painted
+quite often enough. But this is not
+the question. Mr Patten has put his
+version of it out of the pale of propriety
+by his mode of handling it.
+There is nothing classical in his treatment,
+nothing to redeem or elevate
+the nudity and associations of the
+subject. His Susannah is simply a
+naked English girl, with a pretty
+face, an immaculate cuticle, and something
+exceedingly voluptuous in the
+form and arrangement of her limbs.
+There is no novelty of conception in
+the picture, nor any particular merit
+except the colouring, which is good,
+but not equal to that in No. 446,
+<em>Bacchus discovering the Use of the
+Grape</em>. This is a pleasanter subject,
+cleverly treated, displaying more originality
+and much better taste. The
+flesh-tints are capital, and the picture
+altogether does credit to the painter.
+<em>Venus and Cupid</em>, by the same artist,
+is chiefly remarkable for a plaster-of-Paris
+dove of an extraordinarily brilliant
+and very unnatural effect. As
+to Mr F. R. Pickersgill, we should
+like his pictures better if he would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>
+not imitate poor Etty, whose memory,
+be it parenthetically observed, has
+been little regarded by those who
+have exhibited that most coarse and
+unpleasant picture, <em>The Toilet</em>, No.
+276, a specimen of the deceased
+artist's worst manner. Mr Pickersgill's
+<cite>Samson Betrayed</cite> is, there is no
+denying it, a very unsatisfactory composition.
+His red-haired Dalilah is
+graceless and characterless. Samson,
+recumbent in an attitude in which no
+man ever slept soundly, seems prevented
+only by a miracle from slipping
+off her knees. Two girls, instead
+of getting to a safe distance, are
+hugging each other in terror within
+reach of the giant's arm. There is
+scarcely an attitude in the picture
+that is not strained. In the conception
+there is an utter want of novelty
+of circumstance. The whole picture
+is deficient in originality. The eye
+wanders over it, seeking some feature
+of special interest or striking beauty
+whereon to dwell, and finds none.
+Mr Pickersgill has good qualities,
+but the spark of fancy and genius
+which alone can complete the great
+painter, is, we fear, wanting in his
+composition.</p>
+
+<p>We turn with pleasure to Leslie's
+pictures. Were we disposed to find
+fault with this very agreeable artist,
+our objections could only be technical.
+With want of imagination, and feeling
+for beauty, none can tax him. Two
+of his three pictures contain the sweetest
+female faces in this exhibition.
+How admirably has he interpreted
+Shakspeare's description of Beatrice
+stealing to the woodbine bower, to
+play the eavesdropper on Hero and
+Ursula.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Look where Beatrice, like a lapwing, runs<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Close by the ground."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p class="noind">The painter has exactly rendered the
+poet's graceful idea. As she glides
+along, we seem to detect the slight flutter
+and palpitation attendant on the
+clandestine movement. Expression
+and attitude are alike charming. Sophia
+Western deserves even higher praise.
+She is indeed a lovely creature. Tom
+Jones bids her behold herself in the
+mirror, and say whether such a face and
+form do not guarantee his fidelity. It is
+altogether a most agreeable composition;
+and if we have any fault to find,
+it is with the face of the enamoured
+foundling, which wants refinement, and
+has a sort of overgrown schoolboy's
+ruddy fulness. Katherine of Arragon
+beseeching Capucius to convey to
+Henry VIII. her last recommendation
+of her daughter and servants to his
+goodness, is the most important of Mr
+Leslie's pictures; and although by
+many it will not be deemed the most
+attractive, none can deny it great merit
+and interest. The suffering countenance
+of Katherine, and the tearful
+faces of her attendants, are full of
+expression. The ambassador is rather
+tame, and one scarcely recognises in
+his face or bearing the energy with
+which he vows to do the bidding of the
+unhappy queen.</p>
+
+<p>Mr Eastlake has one scriptural and
+one historical picture in this year's
+exhibition. A passage from Sismondi,
+telling the escape of an
+Italian noble and his wife from
+the persecution of the Duke of
+Milan, has suggested the latter,
+which is painted for the Vernon Gallery.
+There is some good expression
+in the faces in this picture, which has
+more interest and novelty than its
+companion <em>The Good Samaritan</em>, and
+also greater vigour. Both show the
+hand of the experienced and skilful
+artist, although perhaps neither can
+be classed amongst the best things he
+has produced. We should gladly see
+a little more nerve in Mr Eastlake's
+style, and this we think might be
+advantageously combined with his
+beautiful transparency of colouring,
+and other excellent qualities as a
+painter. There is no diminution in the
+purity of style and thought which has
+always been one of his finest characteristics.</p>
+
+<p>Mr Frith is an improving artist.
+There is humour and progress in No.
+543, a scene from Goldsmith's <em>Good-natured
+Man</em>. <em>Mr Honeywood introduces
+the bailiffs to Miss Richland as
+his friends.</em> He must beware, however,
+of running into caricature in
+subjects of this kind. The bailiffs
+are perhaps a little overdone. Miss
+Richland has a very pretty face, but
+she looks more like a <em>soubrette</em> or
+smart actress than a woman of fashion.
+Mr Frith's other picture, Sancho
+proving to the duchess that Don
+Quixote is at the bottom of the table,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>
+is well painted, and, in a technical
+point of view, it must be spoken of
+with respect. He has not been quite so
+successful as we should have expected
+in the expression of the faces,&mdash;that
+of the duke excepted, which is a good
+and thoroughly Spanish countenance,
+with its habitual gravity disturbed by
+Sancho's quaint humour and his
+master's manifest distress. But painting
+ladies is not Mr Frith's forte.
+His duchess is pretty, but there is a
+want of aristocratic distinction in her
+face and bearing; and as to the ladies
+grouped behind her chair, they are
+cookmaids in masquerade. Very few
+living artists, besides Leslie, should
+venture upon Sancho. We will not
+say that Mr Frith is not one of those
+few, but his delineation of the shrewd
+esquire, although very humorous, is
+rather coarse, and he has made him
+ragged and filthy to an unnecessary
+degree. The vexation and embarrassment
+of Don Quixote are ludicrously
+portrayed.</p>
+
+<p>Four very small, very unpretending
+pictures by Thomas Webster, R.A.,
+must be sought for, but, when found,
+cannot fail to be admired. They are
+a feature, and a very charming one,
+of this year's Exhibition. High finish
+and truth to nature are their chief
+characteristics. Mr Webster is getting
+quite into the Ostade manner.
+His colouring, too, is admirable. No.
+54 is a boy in a chimney corner,
+supping pottage, with an old woman
+knitting opposite to him. Both faces
+are excellent, and full of character.
+<em>A Cherry Seller</em> is a perfect <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bijou</i>&mdash;the
+woman weighing out the fruit; the
+boys, looking on with eager eyes and
+watering mouths; the fruit itself, with
+its Dutch nicety of finish:&mdash;altogether
+it is a most desirable picture, such as
+one can hardly pass, even for the
+twentieth time, without pausing for
+another view. <em>A Peasant's Home</em> is
+upon the whole too gray, and perhaps
+the least attractive of the four; but in
+the <em>Farmhouse Kitchen</em> are a couple of
+figures, a farmer and his dame, than
+which nothing can be better, either
+in colour or expression. Mr Webster
+shows great taste and judgment in
+adhering to a pleasing simplicity,
+without ever falling into quaintness
+or affectation. And it is a study for
+a young artist to observe the skill
+with which he throws his lights, and
+the transparency and absence of
+<em>paintyness</em> (to borrow a term from the
+studio) which characterise his pictures.</p>
+
+<p>Mr Solomon Hart's <em>Kitchen Interior
+at Mayfield</em> will not do after Webster.
+This, however, is one of the least
+important of his six pictures, which
+comprise two other interiors, two
+heads, and a Jewish festival. This
+last is perhaps the best picture he has
+painted. The MSS. of the Pentateuch
+are being carried round the synagogue
+at Leghorn, amidst chanting
+of hymns. There is a strong devotional
+character in many of the faces;
+and, as a work of art, the picture is
+more than respectable. The interest
+of the subject is a question of taste.
+For us, we confess, it possesses very
+little attraction; and the Jewish physiognomy,
+so strongly marked as it is
+in all the occupants of the synagogue,
+is, to our thinking, incompatible with
+beauty. We do not much admire
+either <em>A Virtuoso or Arnolfo di Lapo</em>.
+The latter is the best of the two: the
+former, carefully painted, is merely an
+ordinary-looking Jew.</p>
+
+<p>What can we say of Mr Turner?
+Perhaps we had better content ourselves
+with mentioning that he has
+four pictures in the Exhibition, all in
+his latest manner, all illustrative of
+that far-famed, but, unfortunately,
+unpublished poem, <em>The Fallacies of
+Hope</em>, and all proving the fallacy of
+the hope we annually cherish that he
+will abjure his eccentricities, and revert
+to the style which justly gained
+him his high reputation. It were absurd
+of us to attempt to criticise his
+present productions, for to us they are
+unintelligible; and, judging from the
+extremely puzzled looks we see fixed
+upon them, we suspect that not many
+of those who pause for their examination
+are more successful than ourselves
+in deciphering their meaning,
+and in appreciating the beauties which
+a few stanch adherents pretend to discover
+in those strange compounds of
+red, white, and yellow. What if Mr
+Turner were to seek his inspirations
+elsewhere than in the aforesaid MS.?
+Can it be that the poet's halting verse
+influences the painter's vagaries? From
+the specimens afforded us, we are not
+inclined to think highly of <em>The Fallacies of Hope</em>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>
+ Take the following, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">exempli
+gratiâ</i>:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Beneath the morning mist<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Mercury waited to tell him of his neglected fleet."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p class="noind">And this&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Fallacious Hope beneath the moon's pale crescent shone,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Dido listened to Troy being lost and won."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Enough of such poetry, and enough,
+as far as we are concerned, of a great
+painter's unfortunate aberrations.</p>
+
+<p>Apropos of aberrations, we have a
+word to say, which may as well be
+said here as elsewhere. Affectation,
+however, is a more suitable word for
+the mountebank proceedings of a
+small number of artists, who, stimulated
+by their own conceit, and
+by the applause of a few foolish persons,
+are endeavouring to set up a
+school of their own. We allude,
+to the pre-Raphaelites. Let not
+Messrs Millais, Hunt, Rosetti, &amp;
+Co. suppose, because we give them
+an early place in this imperfect review
+of the exhibitions, that we concede to
+them an undue importance. As to
+admiration, we shall presently make
+them aware how far we entertain that
+feeling towards them. Meanwhile, let
+them not plume themselves on a place
+amongst men of genius. Just as well
+might they experience an exaltation
+of their horns, because their absurd and
+pretentious productions get casually
+hung next to pictures by Landseer or
+Webster. It appears they have got
+into their wise heads certain notions
+that the ideal of expression is to be
+found in the works of the artists who
+flourished previously to Raphael. And
+they have accordingly set to work to
+imitate those early masters, not only
+in the earnestness of purpose visible
+in their productions, but in their errors,
+crudities, and imperfections&mdash;renouncing,
+in fact, the progress that since
+then has been made; rejecting the experience
+of centuries, to revert for
+models, not to art in its prime, but to
+art in its uncultivated infancy. And a
+nice business they make of it. Regardless
+of anatomy and drawing,
+they delight in ugliness and revel in
+diseased aspects. Mr Dante Rosetti,
+one of the high-priests of this retrograde
+school, exhibits at the Portland
+Gallery. Messrs Millais and Hunt
+favour the saloons of the Academy.
+Ricketty children, emaciation and
+deformity constitute their chief stock
+in trade. They apparently select bad
+models, and then exaggerate their
+badness till it is out of all nature. We
+can hardly imagine anything more
+ugly, graceless, and unpleasant than
+Mr Millais' picture of Christ in the
+carpenter's shop. Such a collection
+of splay feet, puffed joints, and misshapen
+limbs was assuredly never before
+made within so small a compass.
+We have great difficulty in believing
+a report that this unpleasing and
+atrociously affected picture has found
+a purchaser at a high price. Another
+specimen, from the same brush, inspires
+rather laughter than disgust. A Ferdinand
+of most ignoble physiognomy
+is being lured by a pea-green monster
+intended for Ariel; whilst a row of
+sprites, such as it takes a Millais to
+devise, watch the operation with turquoise
+eyes. It would occupy more
+room than the thing is worth to expose
+all the absurdity and impertinence
+of this work. Mr Hunt's picture
+of a Christian Missionary sheltered
+from Druid pursuit is in as ridiculous
+taste as any of the group.</p>
+
+<p>From such monstrosities it is a
+relief to turn to Mr Frank Stone's
+graceful creations. He also has taken
+a subject from the second scene in the
+<em>Tempest</em>, No. 342, Miranda's first
+sight of Ferdinand. Compared with
+Mr Millais' Ferdinand, that of Mr
+Stone is a demigod. Estimated by its
+intrinsic merits, it strikes us as a little
+theatrical&mdash;rather too much of the
+stage-player in the air and attitude.
+Miranda has a sweet and youthful
+face; Prospero is too young, and does
+not look his part. This is not one of
+Mr Stone's happiest efforts, but it is
+a nice picture, and we prefer it to his
+other in the same exhibition, <em>The
+Gardener's Daughter</em>, a young lady
+attitudinising under a rose-tree, with
+a pair of admiring swains in the distance.
+This artist is too apt to give
+his male lovers a sickly look, as if their
+love disagreed with them. The best
+picture he has shown this year is one
+in the British Institution&mdash;<em>Sympathy</em>&mdash;two
+very pretty maidens, with an
+expression of pleasing sentiment in
+their faces. Barring a little occasional
+mannerism, Mr Stone is a very delightful
+painter; and in our opinion,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>
+if he had had his deserts, he would
+some time since have been a member
+of the Academy. Were it not invidious,
+we could cite a few, who write
+<em>Associate</em> after their names, who have
+less claim than he has to that honorary
+distinction. Mr Stone has a great
+deal of fancy, a fine feeling for the
+beautiful, and we are indebted to him
+for many charming compositions and
+lovely female faces. And certainly
+if popularity be a test of merit, which
+we admit is not always the case, he
+ought years ago to have figured in the
+list of Academicians.</p>
+
+<p>That very conscientious and careful
+artist, Mr Charles Landseer, has
+a pretty and well-painted <em>Girl in a
+Hop-garden</em>, and a larger and still
+better picture&mdash;perhaps the best he
+has for some years produced&mdash;of
+<em>Æsop</em>, surrounded by several of the
+animals celebrated in his fables.
+There is a great deal of quiet humour
+and nice finish in this picture: the
+figure and face of the hump-backed
+fabulist, and those of a girl, who
+seems admiringly to listen to his allegorical
+wisdom, are exceedingly
+good. Mr Dyce has only one picture,
+and really that had been as well
+away. An ugly Jacob is protruding
+his lips to kiss a vulgar Rachel.
+The colouring is hard and bad, and
+there is a pervading gray tint
+which is not natural. We hope Mr
+Dyce, R.A., can do better things
+than this. We prefer Mr Cope's
+<em>King Lear</em>, which has considerable
+merit. There is fine expression in
+the old monarch's head. Cordelia
+pleases us less; and perhaps, upon the
+whole, the best figures in the picture
+are those of the musicians and singers.
+There is a something in this painting
+that reminds us of Maclise. Of Mr
+Cope's other pictures, <em>Milton's Dream</em>
+has a nice tone of colour; and the
+two sketches for fresco of Prince
+Henry's submission to Judge Gascoigne,
+and the Black Prince receiving
+the order of the Garter, are spirited
+and good. Mr Redgrave's
+principal picture is No. 233. <em>The
+Marquis having chosen patient Griselda
+for his wife, causes the court
+ladies to dress her in her father's cottage.</em>
+Griselda has a pretty face, and
+sits in an easy, graceful attitude: the
+ladies are coarse, and the expression
+of scorn upon their countenances is
+theatrical and affected. The heads of
+some of them are too big, and out of
+proportion with their bodies. <em>The
+Child's Prayer</em>, by the same artist, is
+a pleasing picture; well painted, particularly
+the woman's head and hand,
+which latter has a look of Rubens.
+Mr E. M. Ward has two pictures of
+very different subjects. <em>Isaac Walton
+Angling</em> hardly claims any particular
+notice; <em>James II. receiving the News
+of the Landing of the Prince of Orange
+in 1688</em>, has more pretension and
+greater merit. It certainly contains
+good painting: the grouping of the
+figures and the expression of some of
+the faces are also praiseworthy; but
+yet it hardly satisfies us. The queen's
+face and attitude, as she advances,
+already sympathising with the agitation
+visible on his countenance, to
+her husband's side, are very charming.
+James's physiognomy is almost too
+much discomposed to accord with the
+passage from Dalrymple quoted by
+Mr Ward. And it strikes us, although
+this may seem hypercritical,
+that there is something ludicrous in
+the eternal suspension in the air of
+the letter that he has just allowed
+to escape from his fingers. Upon the
+whole, however, this is a clever picture,
+and, as far as we had opportunity
+of observing, it attracts a very
+full share of public attention; although
+that is no criterion of merit, so
+large a proportion of the loungers
+through an exhibition being more
+readily attracted by a piquant subject
+than by artistical skill. And
+probably no subjects are more generally
+popular than those that may be
+styled the homely-historical; scenes in
+the private apartments of royalty; the
+personal adventures and perils of
+princes, whether in the palace or the
+prison&mdash;on the steps of the throne or
+the verge of the scaffold. There is a
+fair sprinkling of such pictures in the
+four exhibitions now under notice; and
+as we have no pretension to be otherwise
+than exceedingly desultory in
+this article, whose limits, and the
+heterogeneous subject, preclude our
+being otherwise, we will at once dispose
+of such of them as deserve notice,
+and have not already received
+it, commencing, in order of catalogue,
+with Delaroche's picture of <em>Cromwell</em><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>
+<em>looking at the dead body of Charles I.</em>
+This is a picture concerning which the
+most conflicting opinions have been
+uttered. It has received fulsome
+praise and unwarranted abuse. Some
+have lauded it as perfection merely
+because it is by Paul Delaroche;
+others have decried it with a virulence
+and injustice warranting the
+suspicion that some envious brother
+of the brush had temporarily abandoned
+the palette for the pen, and
+applied himself to slander merit he
+himself was hopeless of equalling.
+We are aware but of two valid objections
+that can fairly be made to the
+picture. The subject is certainly
+ghastly and horrid; but, on the other
+hand, it has been rendered as little so
+as possible by the consummate skill
+and good taste of its treatment. And
+none, we think, but the very fastidious,
+will dwell upon this point. The
+other objection (technical only) is to
+the coppery tone of colouring of certain
+parts of the picture, particularly
+of the flesh. This premised, we are
+aware of little else that can fairly be
+alleged against this very fine picture.
+The countenance of Cromwell certainly
+does not agree with the most
+authentic portraits that have been
+handed down to us, or with the
+written and traditional accounts of
+his features. The artist has idealised
+his hero&mdash;has abridged his nose, increased
+his under jaw, and thrown
+nearly the whole expression of the
+face into and around the mouth. M.
+Delaroche having taken such liberties,
+we ought to be particularly
+grateful to him that he has not gone
+farther, and, in aiming at a great
+effect, fallen into exaggeration. Out
+of twenty French artists, nineteen,
+we suspect, would have given us,
+with the strong and dangerous temptation
+of so striking a subject, an
+unpleasant caricature. It has been
+objected that the face is deficient in
+character and expression, and would
+perfectly suit any one of Cromwell's
+Ironsides, who through curiosity
+should have lifted the lid of the
+deceased monarch's coffin. It is, to
+our thinking, an evidence of skill on
+the part of the painter thus to have
+left the expression doubtful&mdash;a matter
+of speculation to the beholder.
+We interpret it as merely meditative.
+Any emotion it includes is one of
+exultation at the great and important
+step the Usurper has made in his upward
+progress. Of pity or remorse
+there is no trace.</p>
+
+<p>The next picture in the Exhibition
+of the Academy, of the class at present
+under notice, that particularly
+caught our eye, is No. 491, <em>The
+Burial of the two sons of Edward IV.
+in the Tower</em>, by Mr Cross, whose
+painting of Richard C&oelig;ur-de-Lion,
+exhibited at Westminster Hall, will
+be remembered by many of our
+readers. The present picture does
+not redeem the promise of its predecessor.
+It has a washy, fresco-like
+look, and a great want of light and
+shade, which is the more striking because
+the subject is one particularly
+favourable to the display of a Rembrandt-like
+vigour in that respect. The
+arrangement of the dead bodies is
+very bad, and they have an emaciated
+look which was quite uncalled for.
+On the other hand, the faces of two
+of the murderers, (one sustains the
+stone beneath which the grave is dug,
+and the other grasps the arm of one
+of the children,) and that of the
+turnkey, are very expressive. The
+chief of the gang and the grave-digger
+are rather strained and theatrical.
+Upon the whole, the picture disappoints
+us much. A report, however,
+has reached us, that it was
+painted under the disadvantage of ill
+health, so we will hope that Mr
+Cross may yet do better things.
+No. 569, <em>The Abdication of Mary
+Queen of Scots at Lochleven Castle</em>, by
+J. Severn, is a very tame affair.
+And we do not greatly admire Mr
+Lucy's <em>Parting of Charles I. with his
+Children</em>. The subject has been better
+treated before. But we delight
+in Mr Joy's conception of Cromwell
+coveting, and yet daring not to
+grasp, the crown of England. A
+bilious misanthrope, with flabby
+cheeks and lacklustre eye, is seated
+beside a table on which stands the
+crown, whose covering he has partly
+withdrawn. The notion is amusingly
+matter-of-fact. Does Mr Joy really
+suppose that such a man as Cromwell
+could find enjoyment in the deliberate
+physical contemplation of the
+jewelled bauble&mdash;the substantial
+crown&mdash;the mere emblem of the dignity<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>
+and sway for which he thirsted?
+We cannot compliment this artist on
+either the conceit or the execution.
+We prefer his picture in the British
+Institution, although that is not very
+remarkable. The subject is the interview
+between James IV. of Scotland
+and the outlaw Murray on the
+banks of Yarrow. In this Exhibition
+we find another Cromwell, of a
+very different cast from the one just
+referred to. The Lord Protector of
+England dictates to John Milton his
+celebrated despatch in favour of the
+persecuted Piedmontese Protestants.
+Here there is a fire and energy mingled
+with the coarseness of Cromwell's
+physiognomy, which gives the
+character of the man as we read of him
+and believe him to have been. Milton's
+face wears a look of gentle enthusiasm
+and approval, as he admiringly
+weighs the words that fall from
+the lips of his great patron. In his
+eyes there is a sort of haziness that
+seems to foreshadow the darkness
+which later is to come over him. The
+picture does great credit to a very
+rising artist, Mr F. Newenham, who
+also exhibits a painting at the Portland
+Gallery, which we like quite
+as well as his Cromwell. The subject,
+<em>The Princes in the Tower</em>, is not
+a very new one, but there is imagination
+and novelty in its treatment.
+It is just the same point of time that
+Delaroche has chosen in his painting
+of this subject, but there is nothing
+like an imitation of the great Frenchman.
+Here the younger child still
+sleeps, whilst the elder, a princely-looking
+lad, roused by the noise at
+the door, gazes anxiously, rather than
+fearfully, at the shadow cast upon the
+wall by a hand bearing a lantern.
+The picture is suggestive and interesting,
+and in an artistic point of view,
+also, it merits high praise. In this
+Portland Gallery (which we may
+observe, by the way, is most excellently
+constructed and lighted for the
+advantageous exhibition of works of
+art) is a painting by Mr Claxton,
+<em>Marie Antoinette with her Children, escaping
+by the Secret Door from her
+apartment in Versailles, when the
+palace was attached by the mob</em>, which
+we mention rather on account of the
+interest of the subject than of its merits
+as a work of art, these being but of a
+negative description. Marie Antoinette,
+dressed rather like a fashionable
+of the year 1850, is accompanied
+by a terrified lady, who looks back at
+the door, half-masked by smoke,
+through whose broken pannel the
+bayonets of the rebels cross with those
+of the loyal grenadiers. Another
+picture from French history, but selected
+from a much remoter period, is
+that of <em>The Excommunication of Robert,
+King of France, and his Queen
+Bertha</em>, (No. 159 in the Portland
+Gallery.) which Mr Desanges has
+executed with some skill. The king,
+having married his cousin in defiance
+of the Pope, but with the sanction of
+three prelates of his kingdom, incurs
+the pontifical anathema, in common
+with the prelates and royal family.
+In the picture, the fiat has just been
+pronounced, and the extinction of
+their torches by the officiating priests
+symbolically completes their mission.</p>
+
+<p>This is not one of Mr Clarkson
+Stanfield's best years. We prefer
+this careful and able artist on a grander
+scale than that of the comparatively
+small pictures he this year exhibits.
+Nor do we think he has been particularly
+happy in his choice of subjects.
+His scene from Macbeth,
+viewed as a landscape&mdash;for we do not
+take into account the figures, which
+are insignificant, and might as well
+have been left out&mdash;is a good picture,
+but not in his happiest taste. We
+prefer his <em>Scene on the Maas</em>, and his
+<em>Bay of Baiæ</em>, which are both excellent.
+No. 288, <em>Near Foria</em>, is not a
+very good subject. But Mr Stanfield
+is a pleasant, natural painter, quite
+free from affectation, and a most excellent
+representative of the English
+school. Mr Roberts is another favourite
+of ours. Belgium and the East,
+Egyptian temples and Catholic
+shrines, furnish subjects for his seven
+pictures. What we particularly like
+in him is the strong impression of
+correctness and fidelity conveyed by
+his representations of distant scenes.
+Without having seen the places, one
+feels convinced of the accuracy of his
+delineations, and that he gives the
+real effect of the objects depicted&mdash;just
+as, in certain portraits, one feels
+certain of the resemblance without
+knowing the original. The subjects<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>
+of his pictures this year do not demand
+any detailed criticism, and his
+good qualities are so universally appreciated
+as to render general commendation
+superfluous.</p>
+
+<p>Before passing on to landscapes
+and portraits we will glance at a few
+pictures of various classes, which
+happen to have attracted our attention,
+and which deserve better or
+worse than to be left unnoticed.
+Diving into the gloom of the Octagon,
+we are struck by the very remarkable
+merit of two pictures, which ought
+never to have been placed there.
+Only by kneeling or sitting upon the
+ground is it possible to examine Mr
+Van Schendel's poacher detected,
+No. 633, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Un Braconnier au moment
+qu'on vient le prendre</i>. Of ordinary
+visitors to the Exhibition, not one in
+five will notice the existence of the
+picture&mdash;not one in twenty, probably,
+will go through the painful contortions
+requisite to get even a bad view
+of it. Very few, if any, critics will
+have sought it out or written a comment
+on it. Yet this is a picture on
+which greater talent and labour have
+been expended than on dozens that
+hang in conspicuous places and good
+lights. A dark picture, too&mdash;a night
+scene&mdash;it required a strong light; and
+it was most unjust to put it thus in
+the very darkest nook, and in the
+lowest range of the whole Academy.
+For hospitality's sake to a foreigner,
+this excellent painting should have
+been differently placed. The only
+other picture which we noticed in
+the Octagon&mdash;there may be others of
+great merit, but we never have patience
+to linger long in the gloomy
+closet&mdash;is No. 586, <i>Flowers and Fruit</i>,
+by T. Groenland&mdash;an artist far superior
+to Lance, who seems to us to fall
+off instead of improving. Fruit and
+flower pieces are things that few
+people care much to look at&mdash;and, for
+our part, we confess that we seldom
+afford them more than a very cursory
+glance; but our attention was seriously
+and pleasingly arrested by both
+of those exhibited this year by Mr
+Groenland, remarkable, as they are,
+not only for the accuracy with which
+he imitates the texture of the different
+fruits&mdash;whether pulpiness, bloom,
+or transparency be their chief characteristic&mdash;and
+for the admirable delicacy
+of his flower-painting, but also
+for his skill in elevating and giving
+interest to the walk of art he has
+chosen. This is strikingly the case in
+No. 1254, apropos of which we have
+another piece of injustice or carelessness&mdash;let
+them call it which they like&mdash;to
+notice on the part of the Hanging
+Committee. Of all the seven
+rooms of the Academy, not one is so
+little visited as that which, in the catalogue,
+is headed Architecture. Accordingly,
+the hangmen have placed at
+one end of it five as pleasing pictures&mdash;each
+in its own style&mdash;as any in
+the Exhibition. Here we have the
+<em>Vierge Route du Simplon</em>, a charming
+airy landscape by Harding;
+<em>Esther</em>, by O'Neil, one of the best,
+perhaps, he ever did; <em>The Port of
+Marseilles</em>, by E. W. Cooke, very
+like and very well painted, with excellent
+water; <em>A Winter Evening</em>, by
+H. Horsley, a most clever piece of
+snow scenery, with a cold look that
+makes one shiver, and a capital effect
+of setting sun through an archway;
+and, last in our enumeration, but
+not in merit, Mr Groenland's second
+fruit and flower piece, with a landscape
+background, a gorgeous and
+life-like peacock, a flush of rhododendrons,
+and painstaking and talent in
+every leaf and flower. Another picture
+in the same vicinity, by W.
+Fisher, <em>The Coulin</em>, a subject taken
+from Moore's melodies, is rather affected,
+but by no means destitute of
+merit.</p>
+
+<p>Mr Martin's picture, <em>The Last Man</em>,
+is far from one of his best. The subject
+is unpleasing, and there is a decided
+fault of perspective; the human
+corpses and carcasses of strange beasts,
+in the foreground, being much too
+small in proportion with the figure of
+the man, who stands on an elevation
+which is doubtless intended to be
+much in advance of, but which in
+reality is almost on a line with, the
+spot where they are spread pellmell
+in grisly confusion. Mr Hannah's
+<em>Lady Northumberland and Lady Percy
+dissuading the Earl from joining the
+wars against Henry IV.</em> is oddly
+coloured, and acquires a cold, insipid
+look from the profusion of blue and
+gray; but it is a good and clever picture.
+A similar class of subject has
+been selected by Mr T. J. Barker,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>
+from Professor Aytoun's ballad of
+<em>Edinburgh after Flodden</em>. Randolph
+Murray, bearing news of the defeat, is
+the centre of a throng anxious even
+to agony.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Why art thou alone, unfollowed?<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">Is it weal, or is it woe?"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p class="noind">Perched up as this picture is
+above the door in the West Room,
+it is difficult to arrive at a correct
+appreciation of it. As far as we
+could distinguish, it is not without
+merit, and the expression of exhaustion
+in the figure of Murray is
+pretty well rendered; but altogether
+it is hardly worthy of the nervous and
+admirable verse it is intended to illustrate.
+Mr Armitage's <em>Aholibah</em> has a
+good deal of pretension, but we cannot
+compliment him on it in any one
+respect. In the first place the subject
+is disgusting, and shows wretched
+taste in the artist who would select it.
+Then the face of Aholibah is ugly and
+repulsive, and the expression coarse in
+the extreme: the drawing of the
+limbs under the drapery is faulty, and
+the gazelles are out of place and out
+of perspective. Mr Armitage can do
+better than this. We prefer his picture
+in the Portland Gallery, of Samson
+tying firebrands to the foxes' tails
+for the destruction of the Philistine
+crops; although the face is a great
+deal too black, and we cannot understand
+why Samson should allow a
+fox to bite into the muscle of his
+thigh, as one of those in his grasp appears
+to do. Why does Mr Armitage
+persist in his French style of painting?
+It is quite a mistake. Let him
+be natural, and rely upon his own
+taste and judgment, and we think he
+may do better things.</p>
+
+<p>Mr Hook's <em>Dream of Venice</em>, a
+clever imitation of Paul Veronese, is
+a very pleasant picture. Mr F. Williams'
+<em>Holy Maiden</em> is a pretty head,
+full of sentiment. We are glad to see
+such good promise given by Mr Leslie,
+junior, in a very humorous picture
+entitled <em>A Sailor's Yarn</em>. A thoroughbred
+and unmistakeable Cockney
+greedily listens to some astounding
+narrative, whilst, behind the credulous
+landsman, a second sailor grins admiration
+of his messmate, and contempt
+for the "green hand." <em>The Young
+Student</em>, by W. Gush, is a very nice
+picture of a youthful painter, with an
+artist's eye and a pleasing Vandykish
+contour of face, and with carefully
+painted hands. One of the most
+comical pictures in the Exhibition is a
+wild boar by Wolf. The bristly
+forest-ranger is making its way
+through the deep snow, leaving a long
+furrow behind it, along which it has
+apparently been nuzzling for provender,
+for its snout is garnished with
+the snow, which, combined with the
+sudden fore-shortening of the body,
+produces a ludicrous effect. No. 121,
+<em>Autumn&mdash;Wounded Woodcock</em>, from
+the same hand, has mellow and natural
+tints.</p>
+
+<p>We have kept back, almost to the
+last, one of our chief favourites in the
+Exhibition of the Royal Academy.
+Mr Sidney Cooper is in great force
+this year. He has six pictures;
+four of them all his own, two painted
+in conjunction with Mr F. R. Lee,
+R.A. With all respect for this artist,
+to whose landscapes we shall refer in
+their place, we prefer Cooper alone
+to Cooper in partnership. The two
+styles do not blend well, nor does
+Lee put his best landscapes into
+Cooper's cattle-pieces. Take the first
+of their pictures&mdash;No. 23&mdash;<em>Cattle crossing
+a Ford</em>. As a whole it is agreeable&mdash;and
+the cattle, we need hardly say,
+are worthy of the best English cattle-painter
+of the day; but the landscape
+is feeble. In No. 298, <em>The Watering-place</em>,
+the rather heavy paint of the
+foliage gives a thin washy look to the
+foreground. We advise Messrs Lee
+and Cooper to hang their pictures
+side by side, if they will, as excellent
+specimens of their respective walks
+of art, but not to associate themselves
+on the same canvass. People find
+fault with the landscape part of
+Cooper's pictures; but it is in good
+keeping with the rest, and moreover
+he improves in that respect, as in
+others. We will instance No. 278,
+<em>A Mountain Group&mdash;Evening</em>, some
+charming goats, where the background,
+bathed in soft light, harmonises
+admirably with the more
+prominent parts of the picture. No.
+454, <em>A Group on the Welsh Mountains</em>,
+is most delicately finished, quite a
+gem; and <em>Fordwick Meadows&mdash;Sunset</em>,
+in a somewhat broader style, is equally
+excellent. Mr Cooper's is a class of art<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>
+which strongly appeals to the domestic
+and rural tastes of Englishmen. He
+excels in it, and need fear no competitors,
+although several artists this
+year exhibit cattle-landscapes of some
+merit. And here we should perhaps
+say a word about Mr Ansdell, who
+has put some Brobdignagian sheep
+into a landscape by Mr Creswick,
+(British Institution, No. 123, <em>Southdowns</em>,)
+and who has rather a pretty
+thing in the same exhibition&mdash;No. 40,
+<em>The Regretted Companion</em>&mdash;an old
+hawker perplexed and mournful
+beside the body of his dead ass. We
+would gladly see this artist cease to
+imitate Landseer. He sacrifices his
+originality without succeeding in
+catching the best points of his model.</p>
+
+<p>Nos. 80, 405, 407 in the catalogue
+of the Academy, are Mr Lee's landscapes&mdash;uncombined
+with Cooper's
+cattle. The second, <em>A Calm Morning</em>,
+is the one we prefer; and a very
+charming picture of repose it is. Mr
+Creswick is the next upon our list.
+His cold unnatural grayness of
+colouring greatly detracts from the
+merit of his pictures. We are quite
+aware that the same reproach has
+been repeatedly addressed to him,
+and we should hardly have referred
+to a fault which hitherto he has
+either obstinately clung to, or been
+unable to correct, did not one of his
+pictures in the Academy this year
+give us hopes that he is on the verge
+of a change. No. 542, <em>A Forest Farm</em>,
+is the best picture of Creswick's, in
+point of colouring, that we remember
+to have seen. The <em>slaty</em> look is
+replaced by an agreeable transparency.
+No. 289, <em>In the Forest</em>, is also warmer
+than usual. The others are in the
+old style. Mr Linnell is more to our
+taste, although we cannot approve his
+<em>Christ and the Woman of Samaria
+at Jacob's Well</em>. In the first place the
+colour seems unnatural, altogether
+too brown; at the same time it is
+just possible nature may assume that
+extraordinarily russet tint in Samaria&mdash;a
+country to which our travels
+have not extended. But we can
+more confidently object to the
+figure of the Saviour as altogether
+unpleasant, with a harsh darkly-bearded
+face, devoid alike of resemblance
+to the received type, and of
+any divine expression whatever.
+Mr Linnell is a landscape-painter,
+and should not attempt sacred subjects
+or portraits, things which are quite
+out of his line. No. 395, <em>Crossing
+the Brook</em>, is of a better tone of
+colour; and the same artist has two
+other pictures, of about his usual
+average of merit, in the British
+Institution. The chief fault with
+which we tax Mr Linnell, (whilst freely
+admitting his great talent,) and one
+which may also be imputed to Mr
+Creswick, and to other clever landscape-painters
+of the present day, is
+the undeviating smallness of their
+touch, which gives, to use a colloquialism,
+a niggled look to their
+pictures. Hobbima, and Ruysdael,
+and others of that class&mdash;in whose
+footsteps we presume no living
+landscape-painter is too proud to
+tread&mdash;avoided this fault, and proportioned
+the fulness of their touch
+to the size of their picture. We
+may select an example of what we
+mean from the works of an able and
+industrious artist, who figures advantageously
+this year in all four exhibitions,
+and who, in most instances, is
+very free from the defect we refer
+to. Mr Sidney Percy's <em>Woodland
+River</em>, No. 207, in the Portland
+Gallery, is a good picture, but to
+our thinking the touch is too small
+for the size. Mr Percy, however,
+is a man of talent and a rising
+painter. In the same gallery we
+call attention, as to one of the best
+landscapes exhibited this year, to his
+No. 277, <em>Welsh Mountains</em>. There is
+an effect of aërial perspective in this
+picture, especially in the grass valley,
+on the spectator's left hand, which
+deserves the very highest praise.
+Several others of his eighteen pictures
+for 1850 deserve much commendation;
+but we can only point out
+No. 576, in the Academy, <em>A Limpid
+Pool</em>, and 394, <em>A Quiet Vale</em>, in
+the British Artists'. The water in
+the last is very good,&mdash;otherwise it is
+hardly one of his best. We would
+have Mr Percy to beware of hardness
+of treatment, the fault to which he is
+most prone. His lines are apt to be
+too sharply defined, especially his
+distant outlines. He should guard
+himself against this defect, and with
+care he may expect to attain great
+eminence as a landscape-painter. If<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>
+we mistake not, he is one of a talented
+family, which also comprises Messrs
+Boddington and Gilbert, and several
+artists of the name of Williams, all
+of whom, we believe, devote themselves
+chiefly, if not exclusively, to
+landscape-painting, and either by
+identity of name or affinity of style,
+form a most puzzling group for conscientious
+critics, desirous, like ourselves,
+to sort their works and fairly
+distribute praise. We can mention
+but a few of their pictures, taken,
+nearly at random, from amongst a
+number we have marked as of merit
+or promise. In the Academy, 344,
+<em>A Valley Lane</em>, by A. W. Williams,
+is a charming subject, excellently
+treated. In the Portland Gallery,
+where many good landscapes are to
+be found, most of them by this
+family, we were particularly attracted
+by No. 41, <em>Noon</em>, also by A. W.
+Williams, and by No. 65, <em>Medmenham
+Abbey&mdash;Evening</em>, by G. A.
+Williams. No. 161, <em>A Showery Afternoon
+in Sussex</em>, by A. Gilbert, is
+remarkable as an example of the
+admirable effect he knows how to
+produce by the judicious and little-understood
+application of the various
+gradations between opacity and perfect
+transparency of colour. Mr
+Boddington has two nice pictures in
+the Academy.</p>
+
+<p>We cannot compliment Mr F.
+Danby on either of the two specimens
+of his art that he this year displays.
+We find it impossible to comprehend
+his colouring. That of <em>A Golden
+Moment</em> (British Institution) is surely
+unnatural. Certainly it is a very rare
+effect of sunset; and the background is
+too bright to be consistent with the
+sombre foreground. If we turn to his
+picture in the Academy, <em>Spring</em>, we
+are no better pleased. That sort of
+dusky glow is quite an exaggeration
+of nature. Of Mr Witherington's
+four pictures, we prefer <em>Coniston
+Lake</em> and <em>The Mountain Road</em>. Mr
+Hering's <em>Porto Fesano</em> (British Institution)
+is a pleasing picture, and
+improves on examination; and there
+is a great deal of light and some
+pretty colour in the same artist's
+<em>Ruins of Rome</em> in the Academy. Mr
+J. Peel has rather a pretty <em>Canal view</em>
+in the Portland Gallery, in which,
+oddly enough, he has thrown the shadow
+of a tree the wrong way; and
+in the same exhibition Mrs Oliver
+has a bit of Welsh scenery which
+is pretty in spite of its finical touch.
+Of Mr Linton, who has pictures both
+in the Academy and British Institution,
+we cannot but speak with respect,
+recognising the ability of his
+works, the study they evince, and his
+close observation of the aspect of
+places. But they are quite for distant
+effect; on near approach they look
+rough and granitic, and are not a very
+pleasing or popular class of pictures.</p>
+
+<p>We beg Mr Boxall not to think
+we have forgotten him. We were
+desirous to commence the brief paragraph
+we can afford to portraits, by
+praising his <em>Geraldine</em>, an undraped
+fancy portrait, which shows a capital
+feeling for colour, and is perhaps the
+best specimen of flesh-painting in the
+Exhibition. It wants finish; but
+even without that it is nearly the first
+thing that attracts the eye when we
+glance at that side of the Middle Room.
+There is good colour also in the same
+artist's portrait of Mr Cubitt.</p>
+
+<p>Proceeding, with this exception, in
+numerical rotation, we notice No. 6,
+<em>The Hon. Caroline Dawson</em>, by
+Dubufe. The arms are rather flat,
+but it is a nice portrait, well painted,
+and infinitely superior to the same
+artist's picture in the British Institution&mdash;a
+French grisette with a Jewish
+face and an ugly mouth, holding a
+rose; the motto "Wither one rose
+and let the other flourish,"&mdash;a poor
+conceit and very indifferently executed.
+No. 52 is Mr Francis Grant's,
+the first, but not the best, of seven
+which he exhibits. Mr Grant is getting
+very careless. Such hands and
+clothes as he gives his sitters are really
+not allowable. The only carefully
+finished portrait he exhibits this year
+is that of Lady Elizabeth Wells, after
+which that of Miss Grant is perhaps
+the best. The Countess Bruce has
+an odd sort of resemblance, in the
+attitude or something, to the same
+painter's picture of Mr Sidney Herbert.
+The Duke of Devonshire looks vulgar.
+Viscount Hardinge is feeble, for Grant,
+who can do so much better. We urge
+this artist to take a little more pains,
+or his high reputation will dwindle.
+His portrait of Sir George Grey, now
+on view at Colnaghi's, is another<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>
+example of carelessness. The face is
+the only finished part. Mr Watson
+Gordon understands the portrait-painter's
+vocation after a different
+fashion, and is most conscientious in
+his practice. Apart from their striking
+resemblance, his portraits are
+admirable as carefully finished works
+of art. His sitters this year have
+been, upon the whole, less suited to
+make interesting or pleasing pictures
+than several of the persons who have
+sat to Mr Grant; but Watson Gordon
+has done his work far more carefully.
+Perhaps the best of his three portraits
+is that of a lady, No. 137. The child
+in the same picture pleases us rather
+less. No. 175, Daniel Vere, Esq. of
+Stonebyres, is a striking likeness of
+that gentleman; and nothing can be
+better, in all respects, than the portrait
+of the Lord Justice-General of Scotland.
+Mr Buckner is, we are sorry to
+say, retrograding sadly. He rose
+very suddenly into public favour,
+and if he does not take care, he
+will rapidly decline. His portrait
+of Miss Lane Fox is perhaps his
+best this year. Rachel is flattered.
+Lady Alfred Paget is badly coloured,
+and looks in an incipient stage of blue
+cholera. We do not like Mr Pickersgill's
+portraits this year. For those
+who do, there are seven in the Exhibition,
+besides an ugly thing called
+Nourmahal. Mr G. F. Watts has
+painted Miss Virginia Pattle. It is
+one of the most affected pictures in
+the whole Exhibition. The young
+lady is perched on a platform, her
+figure standing out against the blue
+sky, and her feet completely hidden
+under her dress, which latter circumstance
+gives her an unsteady
+appearance, and inspires dread lest she
+should be blown from her elevation.
+The flesh is very pasty, and the
+general effect of the picture jejune in
+the extreme. No. 282, <em>The Duke
+of Aumale</em>, is by V. Mottez, and presents
+a singular combination or monotony
+of colour, the artist having seemingly
+carefully avoided all tints that
+would give warmth to his picture.
+With the exception of the insipidly
+fair countenance of the Duke, the
+painting is nearly all blue. It is
+not a disagreeable picture, and it
+perhaps gains on repeated examination;
+but one cannot get rid of an
+unpleasant impression of coldness.
+Placed next to Boxall's Geraldine, the
+flesh looks like chalk. That coarse
+but clever painter Knight has eight
+portraits, including several celebrities
+of one kind or other&mdash;Buckstone the
+comedian, Keate the surgeon, Sir J.
+Duke the mayor, Cooper the cattle-painter,
+and Mrs Fitzwilliam the
+actress. The picture of Sir J. Duke
+(who is represented in all the glory of
+civic office) is well put together;
+Cooper is laughably like; Mrs Fitzwilliam
+is perhaps as delicate a female
+portrait as Knight ever painted&mdash;which
+is not saying much for the others.
+Mr Say's portrait of Guizot is softened
+down and idealised till the character
+of the man is lost. In the Portland
+Gallery, No. 1 and No. 70 are by
+an artist whose historical pictures we
+have already commended, Mr Newenham.
+The first is a full length, size
+of life, of Mr Ross, the engineer; the
+other, Mrs Gall, is a sweet female
+countenance. Both are very good;
+but Mr Newenham is always particularly
+successful&mdash;indeed we can call to
+mind no living painter who is more so&mdash;in
+his portraits of ladies. Whilst
+avoiding flattery, he still invariably
+paints pleasing as well as correct likenesses.
+Such at least is the case with
+all those of his lady-portraits we have
+had opportunities of comparing with
+the models. Middleton has some nice
+portraits in this exhibition, and Mr J.
+Lucas shows a pleasing one of a young
+lad. And one of the most lifelike and
+speaking portraits exhibited this year
+is No. 286, by R. S. Lauder, the likeness
+of our old friend and much-esteemed
+contributor, the Rev. James
+White. A more exact resemblance
+we never saw.</p>
+
+<p>We have not counted them, but we
+are informed, and have no difficulty in
+believing, that there are 450 portraits
+(or thereabouts) in this the eighty-second
+exhibition of the Royal Academy.
+A very large number, out of
+1456 works of art. Adding the portraits
+in the three other exhibitions,
+we attain a total of which, even after
+deducting drawings and miniatures, it
+is impossible for us to notice one fourth-part.
+And we must particularly remark,
+with respect to portraits and
+landscapes, what also applies in a less
+degree to the less numerous classes of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>
+pictures, that we have unavoidably&mdash;on
+account of our limited space to
+deal with so compendious a subject,
+and also because we would not reduce
+this article to a mere catalogue&mdash;omitted
+notice of many artists and
+pictures whose claims are undoubted
+to mention more or less honourable;
+as we have also forborne, for the same
+reason, and much more willingly,
+certain censures which we should have
+been justified in inflicting. Concerning
+portraits, however, we would gladly
+have been rather more diffuse, had
+we not still to take some notice, within
+the compass of a very few pages, of
+those exhibitions to which as yet we
+have done little more than incidentally
+refer.</p>
+
+<p>The restoration to the galleries of
+purchasers and studios of painters, of
+the five hundred pictures exhibited this
+year by the British Institution, diminishes
+the interest now attaching to
+that exhibition, and induces us to be
+tolerably brief in our notice of some of
+its leading features. No. 52, <em>The Post
+Office</em>, by F. Goodall, is a pretty
+picture enough, but displays no genius,
+and the subject suggests a comparison
+with Wilkie, which is not favourable.
+Mr Bullock's <em>Venus and Cupid</em>, No.
+124, is about as sickly a piece of blue
+and pink as we remember to have seen.
+Mr Sant's <em>Rivals</em> gives the impression
+of a copy from the lid of a French
+plum-box. We have surely seen the
+Frenchified group in some engraving
+of Louis XV's times. Mr Woolmer's
+<em>Syrens</em> displays some imagination, but
+the colouring is very bad. The sky is
+exaggerated, and the water seems to
+have flowed from a cesspool, suggesting
+unsavoury ideas of the extent of its
+contamination by the dead bodies that
+float upon it. It is a picture, nevertheless,
+that one is apt to look at
+twice. T. Clark's <em>The Horses of
+Rhesus captured by Ulysses and
+Diomed</em>, has plenty of faults, certainly,
+but it has also boldness and spirit, and
+makes us think the painter may hereafter
+do better things. No. 205, <em>Lance
+reproving his Dog</em>&mdash;left unfinished by
+the late Sir A. W. Callcott, and completed
+by J. Callcott Horsley&mdash;includes
+a pretty bit of landscape, and the dog
+is not bad; but, as a whole, the picture
+does not strike us as remarkable. No.
+231, <em>A French Fishing Girl</em>, by T. K.
+Fairless, is a nice bit of colouring, very
+fresh and judicious; and R. M'Innes's
+<em>Detaining a Customer</em>, tells its story
+well, and is of careful finish, but insipid
+colouring. Lady Macbeth, by T. F.
+Dicksee, is repulsive and unnatural; not
+the murderess Shakspeare conceived
+and Siddons acted, but a saucer-eyed
+maniac standing under a gas-lamp.
+No. 290, <em>Our Saviour after the Temptation</em>,
+is by Sir George Hayter, who has
+bestowed great pains without producing,
+as a whole, a very satisfactory
+result. The picture has certainly good
+points, but it speaks against its general
+excellence that we are driven to praise
+details. All the hands are particularly
+well done&mdash;Sir George's experience as
+a portrait painter having here availed
+him. The colouring of Christ's dress
+is good, but generally there is an
+abuse of yellow in the picture. The
+angels have no backs to their heads,
+but this phrenological defect is perhaps
+intentional, to convey the artist's
+notion of an angel by indicating the
+absence of gross passions. G. Cole's
+<em>Don Quixote and Sancho Panza in
+Pedro's hut</em> is humorous, but quite a
+caricature. The painter seems to have
+studied to establish a resemblance
+between the men and their respective
+beasts. Another laughable picture is
+Mrs C. Smith's <em>Irish Piper</em>, whose
+companion <em>The Irish Card-cutter</em> is
+No. 206 in the British Artists'. As
+works of art, they have little merit, but
+one cannot help acknowledging and
+laughing at the vulgar humour and
+truth to nature they both contain.
+Mr Selous' <em>The First Impression</em>,
+Gutemberg showing to his wife his
+first experiment in printing from
+movable types, is perhaps the best
+picture in the South Room. There is
+an air of nature about Mr W. Wyld's
+<em>Smugglers' halt in the Sierra Morena</em>;
+but the figures, although well grouped,
+are on too small a scale for much
+interest, and the landscape lacks
+attraction. Our old friend George
+Cruikshank gives full scope to his rich
+humour in No. 100, <em>Sancho's surprise
+on seeing the Squire of the Wood's Nose</em>;
+and 455, <em>Disturbing the Congregation</em>.
+This last is inimitable&mdash;brimful of fun.
+A charity boy has let his peg-top fall
+during service, and the awful clatter
+upon the church pavement draws all
+eyes in the direction of the delinquent.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>
+This is a picture that must be seen,
+not described; but our readers will
+imagine all the fun Cruikshank would
+make of such a subject&mdash;the terrified
+face of the culprit, in vain affecting
+unconsciousness, and the awful countenance
+of the beadle. We must say
+a word of Mr J. F. Herring's <em>A Farmyard</em>,
+which contains some good
+horses; but he has huddled his
+objects too much together, his colouring
+is very opaque, and there is a
+want of air and perspective in the
+picture. There is the same defect
+of thick colour in Mr H. Jutsum's
+pretty composition, <em>Evening&mdash;coming
+home to the Farm</em>.</p>
+
+<p>We have already mentioned several
+pictures in the Portland Gallery, including
+a portrait by Mr R. S. Lauder,
+(the president of this new society,)
+which is perhaps the best, although
+one of the most unpretending, of the
+seven pictures he exhibits. We do
+not discern any very great merit in
+two carefully painted illustrations of
+Quentin Durward. We should like
+to know on what authority Mr Lauder
+makes a tall, large-limbed man of
+Louis XI., and how he intends to get
+him and the raw-boned Scot through
+the door in No. 166, without a most
+unkingly deviation from the perpendicular.
+There is here a fault of
+perspective. And Mr Lauder should
+beware of repetition. We remember
+the lady behind the tapestry in No.
+45, in at least a dozen of his pictures.
+This, however, is the best of the pair,
+and there is good painting in it. His
+most important picture this year is
+that of <em>Christ appearing to two of his
+Disciples on the way to Emmaus</em>. This
+is certainly a fine work, although
+there is much opposition of opinion
+respecting it. There is undoubtedly
+a fine sentiment in the colouring,
+which is peculiarly applicable to the
+subject. Mr M'Ian is in great force
+here, with no less than ten pictures.
+We like this artist for the character
+and energy he infuses into his productions.
+His most attractive picture
+this year is No. 55, <em>Here's his
+health in Water!</em> thus explained&mdash;"A
+Highland gentleman of 1715, in
+Carlisle prison, the day previous to
+his execution, receiving the last visit
+of his mother, wife, and children, and
+instilling into his son&mdash;the future
+Highland gentleman of 1745&mdash;the
+principles of loyalty." The face of
+the condemned Highlander is full of
+vigour and determination, as is also
+that of his mother, a resolute old
+lady, who seems to confirm his precepts
+to her grandchild. The countenances
+of the sorrowing wife and of
+the little girl, whose attention is distracted
+by the opening of the prison
+door, are natural and pleasing. The
+boy, a sturdy scion of the old stock,
+drinks King James's health out of the
+prison-mug of water. We will not
+omit to praise Mrs M'Ian's very well-painted
+picture of <em>Captivity and Liberty</em>&mdash;gipsies
+in prison, with swallows
+twittering in the loophole that affords
+them light. There is a nice feeling
+about this picture, which includes a
+handsome gipsy face; it is careful in its
+details, and very effective in point of
+chiaroscuro. No. 251, <em>A Jealous Man,
+disguised as a Priest, hears the confession
+of his Wife</em>, is a subject (from
+the <em>Decameron</em>) of which more might
+have been made than there has been
+by Mr D. W. Deane. The countenances
+lack decided expression.
+Several artists have this year painted
+scenes from the <em>Tempest</em>, and Mr
+A. Fussell is one of the number. It
+were to be wished he had abstained.
+His picture of <em>Caliban, Ariel, and his
+fellows</em>, is very bad indeed. He should
+be less ambitious in his subjects, or
+at least less fantastical in their treatment.
+It is unintelligible to us how
+this picture illustrates the passage
+quoted. Nos. 264-5 are Mr H. Barraud's
+pictures:&mdash;<em>Lord have mercy
+upon us</em>, and <em>We praise thee, O God!</em>
+the engravings of which have for
+some time past been in every shop-window.
+We are really at a loss to
+comprehend the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">engouement</i> for these
+pictures, which seem to us as deficient
+in real sentiment as they are feeble in
+execution. They are pretty enough,
+certainly, but that is all the praise we
+are disposed to accord them. There
+is no great beauty in the faces; and
+one of the boys (on the spectator's
+right hand) is a mere lout, without
+any expression whatever. The Messrs
+Barraud have a great many pictures
+in this exhibition&mdash;amongst others,
+No. 199, <em>The Curfew</em>, their joint production,
+which is pretty, but in respect
+to which it strikes us that they have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>
+read Gray's poem wrong, for the
+light in their picture is not that of
+parting day, but of approaching sunset.
+Mr Rayner's <em>Beauchamp Chapel,
+Warwick</em>, is a good picture; Mr Niemann's
+<em>Kenilworth from the Tilt-yard</em>,
+and <em>Landscape</em>, No. 72, also deserve
+praise; Mr Dighton is very effective
+in some of his landscapes and studies.
+Upon the whole, this young exhibition
+promises well.</p>
+
+<p>Driven to our utmost limits, we
+must conclude, without further mention
+than we have already here and
+there made of the Society of British
+Artists in Suffolk Street; and we do
+so with the less regret because that
+gallery contains but a small proportion
+of pictures of merit. Mr Anthony
+contributes a very large number of his
+odd paintings, some of which are
+rather effective at a distance; but it is
+not a style we admire. Finally, we
+have with pleasure noticed, during
+our many rambles through the
+different galleries, that the public not
+only visit but buy; and we trust that
+the year 1850 will prove profitable
+and satisfactory to British artists, in
+the same proportion that it undoubtedly
+is creditable to their industry,
+and, upon the whole, highly
+honourable to their talents. One
+word more we will say at parting.
+In this article we have written down
+opinions, formed neither hastily nor
+partially, of whose soundness, although
+critics will always differ, we venture
+to feel pretty confident. We have
+applied ourselves to point out merits
+rather than defects, and to distribute
+praise in preference to blame; but
+we should have failed in our duty
+to ourselves and the public, had
+we altogether abstained from the
+latter. We well know, however, the
+many difficulties and discouragements
+that beset the path of the painter.
+And it would be matter for sincere
+regret to us, if, in the freedom of our
+remarks, we had unwittingly hurt the
+feelings of any man who is honestly
+and earnestly striving in the pursuit
+of a very difficult art&mdash;although his
+success may as yet be incommensurate
+with his industry and zeal.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2>THE YEAR OF SORROW.&mdash;IRELAND&mdash;1849.</h2>
+
+<h3>SPRING SONG.</h3>
+
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Once more, through God's high will and grace,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Of Hours that each its task fulfils,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Heart-healing Spring resumes its place;&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The valley throngs and scales the hills,<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">In vain. From earth's deep heart o'ercharged,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The exulting life runs o'er in flowers;&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The slave unfed is unenlarged:<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">In darkness sleep a nation's powers.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Who knows not Spring? Who doubts, when blows<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Her breath, that Spring is come indeed?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The swallow doubts not; nor the rose<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">That stirs, but wakes not, nor the weed.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">I feel her near, but see her not,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">For those with pain-uplifted eyes<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Fall back repulsed; and vapours blot<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The vision of the earth and skies.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">I see her not; I feel her near,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">As, charioted in mildest airs,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">She sails through yon empyreal sphere,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And in her arms and bosom bears<br /></span><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">That urn of flowers and lustral dews,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Whose sacred balm, o'er all things shed,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Revives the weak, the old renews,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And crowns with votive wreaths the dead.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Once more the cuckoo's call I hear;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">I know, in many a glen profound,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The earliest violets of the year<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Rise up like water from the ground.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">The thorn I know once more is white;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And, far down many a forest dale,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The anemones in dubious light<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Are trembling like a bridal veil.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">By streams released that singing flow<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">From craggy shelf through sylvan glades,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The pale narcissus, well I know,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Smiles hour by hour on greener shades.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">The honeyed cowslip tufts once more<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The golden slopes;&mdash;with gradual ray<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The primrose stars the rock, and o'er<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The wood-path strews its milky way.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&mdash;From ruined huts and holes come forth<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Old men, and look upon the sky!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The Power Divine is on the earth:&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Give thanks to God before ye die!<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">And ye, O children worn and weak,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Who care no more with flowers to play,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Lean on the grass your cold, thin cheek,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And those slight hands, and whispering, say,<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Stern Mother of a race unblest&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">In promise kindly, cold in deed;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Take back, O Earth, into thy breast,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The children whom thou wilt not feed."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2>IRELAND&mdash;1849.</h2>
+
+<h3>AUTUMNAL DIRGE.</h3>
+
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Then die, thou Year&mdash;thy work is done:<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The work ill done is done at last.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Far off, beyond that sinking sun,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Which sets in blood, I hear the blast<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">That sings thy dirge, and says&mdash;"Ascend,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And answer make amid thy peers,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">(Since all things here must have an end,)<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Thou latest of the famine years!"<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">I join that voice. No joy have I<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">In all thy purple and thy gold,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Nor in the nine-fold harmony<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">From forest on to forest rolled:<br /></span><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Nor in that stormy western fire,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Which burns on ocean's gloomy bed,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And hurls, as from a funeral pyre,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A glare that strikes the mountain's head;<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">And writes on low-hung clouds its lines<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Of cyphered flame, with hurrying hand;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And flings amid the topmost pines<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">That crown the steep, a burning brand.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Make answer, Year, for all they dead,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Who found not rest in hallowed earth,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The widowed wife, the father fled,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The babe age-stricken from his birth.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Make answer, Year, for virtue lost;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">For Faith, that vanquished fraud and force,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Now waning like a noontide ghost;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Affections poisoned at their source:<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">The labourer spurned his lying spade;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The yeoman spurned his useless plough;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The pauper spurned the unwholesome aid,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Obtruded once, exhausted now.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">The weaver wove till all was dark,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And, long ere morning, bent and bowed<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Above his work with fingers stark;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And made, nor knew he made, a shroud.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">The roof-trees fall of hut and hall,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">I hear them fall, and falling cry&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">"One fate for each, one fate for all;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">So wills the Law that willed a lie."<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Dread power of Man! what spread the waste<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">In circles, hour by hour more wide,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And would not let the past be past?&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The Law that promised much, and lied.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Dread power of God! whom mortal years<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Nor touch, nor tempt; who sitt'st sublime<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In night of night,&mdash;O bid thy spheres<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Resound at last a funeral chime.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Call up, at last, the afflicted Race<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Whom Man not God abolished. Sore,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For centuries, their strife: the place<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">That knew them once shall know no more.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2>IRELAND&mdash;1849.</h2>
+
+<h3>WINTER DIRGE.</h3>
+
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Fall, Snow, and cease not! Flake by flake<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The decent winding-sheet compose:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Thy task is just and pious; make<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">An end of blasphemies and woes.<br /></span><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Fall flake by flake: by thee alone,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Last friend, the sleeping draught is given:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Kind nurse, by thee the couch is strewn,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The couch whose covering is from heaven.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Descend and clasp the mountain's crest;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Possess wide plain and valley deep:&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">This night, in thy maternal breast<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Forsaken myriads die in sleep.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Lo! from the starry Temple gates<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Death rides, and bears the flag of peace:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The combatants he separates;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">He bids the wrath of ages cease.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Descend, benignant Power! But O,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Ye torrents, shake no more the vale;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Dark streams, in silence seaward flow;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Thou rising storm, remit thy wail.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Shake not, to-night, the cliffs of Moher,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or Brandon's base, rough sea! Thou Isle,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The Rite proceeds:&mdash;from shore to shore<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Hold in thy gathered breath the while.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Fall, snow! in stillness fall, like dew<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">On temple roof, and cedar's fan;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And mould thyself on pine and yew,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And on the awful face of man.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Without a sound, without a stir,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">In streets and wolds, on rock and mound,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">O omnipresent comforter,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">By thee, this night, the lost are found.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">On quaking moor, and mountain moss,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">With eyes upstaring at the sky,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And arms extended like a cross,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The long-expectant sufferers lie.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Bend o'er them, white-robed Acolyte!<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Put forth thine hand from cloud and mist,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And minister the last sad rite,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Where altar there is none, nor priest.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Touch thou the gates of soul and sense:<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Touch darkening eyes and dying ears;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Touch stiffening hand and feet, and thence<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Remove the trace of sin and tears.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">And ere thou seal those filmed eyes,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Into God's urn thy fingers dip,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And lay, 'mid eucharistic sighs,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The sacred wafer on the lip.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">This night the Absolver issues forth:<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">This night the Eternal Victim bleeds&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">O winds and woods&mdash;O heaven and earth!<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Be still this night. The Rite proceeds.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<h2>LONDON AND EDINBURGH CHESS MATCH.</h2>
+
+
+<p>If we pique ourselves on anything,
+it is on our invincible good-nature.
+We are as slow to be roused as a
+brown bear in the midst of its winter
+sleep; and, if we were let alone, we
+very much doubt whether, by any
+conceivable exertion, we could work
+ourselves into a downright passion.
+But, somehow or other, it constantly
+happens that people of a less tranquil
+mood step in to deprive us of the
+enjoyment of our untroubled repose.
+At one time some worthy fellow
+entreats us to take up the public
+cudgel and belabour a blatant Economist.
+At another, we are pathetically
+besought to administer due castigation
+to some literary sinner who has
+transgressed the first principles of
+decency, morality, and taste. One
+friend implores us, with tears in his
+eyes, to take up the case of the
+oppressed and injured washerwomen:
+a second puts a tomahawk into our
+hand, and benevolently suggests the
+severment of the skull of a charlatan:
+a third writes to us regarding a rowing
+match, in which he opines gross
+injustice has been done by the umpire
+to the Buffs, and he fervently prays
+for our powerful assistance in vindicating
+the honour of the Blues.</p>
+
+<p>In all national questions, it seems
+to be expected that we are to act
+with the devotion of a knight-errant.
+Whenever Scotland is assailed, the
+general impression is that we are
+bound to stand forth, and incontinently
+give battle to the enemy: and
+we believe it will be admitted that
+we have done so before now with no
+inconsiderable effect. It so happens
+that, at the present juncture, several
+of our most esteemed compatriots,
+feeling themselves deeply aggrieved
+by the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">outrecuidance</i> of the Southron,
+have laid the story of their wrongs before
+us; and, after a deliberate review
+of the whole circumstances of the case,
+we feel ourselves compelled to come
+forward in behalf of our countrymen.
+Let no man venture to say that Chess
+is an ignoble subject. It is, if properly
+considered, as recondite a science
+as mathematics. Kings, conquerors,
+and sages have not thought it beneath
+them to ponder over the chequered
+board; and it may be that the
+noble game has contributed in no light
+degree to the success of their most
+triumphant efforts. We know of no
+absorption more complete than that
+which possesses the mind of a true
+votary of chess. Watch him as he is
+contemplating his moves, and his
+countenance is a perfect study for the
+physiognomist. He may not perhaps
+be the most agreeable of companions,
+but we cannot expect loquacity from
+men of high intellect whilst engaged
+in deepest rumination.</p>
+
+<p>Let us, however, dispense as much
+as possible with preface, and come to
+the actual offence which has induced
+us to take up our pen in vindication
+of the national honour. Our attention
+has been called to what is undoubtedly
+a departure from the fair and liberal
+spirit which ought to actuate antagonists&mdash;in
+short, by an attempt to
+deprive the Edinburgh Chess Club
+of laurels which were fairly and honourably
+won. It is all very well
+for men who have been beaten to
+apply salves to their wounded vanity,
+and to persuade themselves that
+they have failed rather through misfortune
+than from any deficiency of
+skill. Napoleon used to amuse himself
+at St Helena by demonstrating that
+he <em>ought</em> to have won the battle
+of Waterloo&mdash;a position in which,
+we doubt not, Count Montholon and
+General Bertrand entirely concurred,
+though, after a certain time, they
+must have been tolerably sick of the
+subject. But these affirmations of
+the Emperor did not serve the purpose
+of reinstating him on the throne
+of France; and, in like manner,
+opine that the writers who, at this
+time of day, are, applying themselves
+to the task of persuading the public
+that the great match at chess between
+Edinburgh and London, which was
+won by Edinburgh in 1828, ought to
+have terminated otherwise, are losing
+their labour, and, moreover, placing
+themselves in a very ridiculous position.</p>
+
+<p>We like to see a man take a beating
+in good part. The Southron may<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>
+come here and vanquish us at cricket,
+and we shall submit to be bowled or
+caught out with the utmost equanimity&mdash;no
+member of the Grange Club
+will retire to the cloister in consequence.
+He may extinguish our renown at
+rackets, or even soar considerably
+above our mark in the altitude of the
+flying-leap. We shall not cavil at
+the result, should some Southron
+Robin Hood defeat the Queen's Body
+Guard in the toxophilite competition
+which is about to take place in this
+city. We shall not be jealous if the
+stranger beats us; and if, in return, we
+should extinguish him utterly at golf
+or throwing the hammer, we promise
+to crow as mildly as the plenitude of
+our lungs will permit. But we have no
+idea of pushing complaisance to such
+an extraordinary point, as to permit
+our real victories to be perverted and
+annulled at the hands of a defeated
+adversary. Hector <em>might</em> have beaten
+Achilles, but he did not; and the
+mere fact of a remote possibility having
+once existed, will not justify us in
+giving the lie to Homer. We make
+every allowance for testiness; still we
+cannot help thinking it extraordinary
+that those feelings of mortification,
+which might perhaps have been
+excusable in the defeated party
+at the moment of the antagonist's
+triumph, should manifest themselves
+as strongly as ever nearly a quarter
+of a century after the contest&mdash;and
+that, too, in persons who took no
+actual share in it, and are comparatively
+strangers to the views and opinions
+of those really concerned.</p>
+
+<p>English chess-players have the command
+of all the chess-periodicals, which
+emanate chiefly, if not exclusively, from
+the London press; and which have,
+for many years back, been made the
+vehicles of repeated observations intended
+to depreciate the triumph of
+Scotland. Of late these have been
+even more than usually frequent.
+And within the last year, the <cite>Quarterly
+Review</cite>, which, like the trunk of
+an elephant, is as ready to pick up a
+pin as to uproot a tree, has opened
+its pages for remarks on the chess
+match, conceived in no very handsome
+spirit towards the Scotch champions.
+This we do not consider to be
+justifiable conduct on the part of our
+bulky contemporary. In the accomplished
+editor&mdash;himself a Scot&mdash;it is
+in direct antagonism to the principles
+of Richie, the servitor of Nigel, who
+made so vigorous a stand for the credit
+of the Water of Leith; and we regret
+to observe so palpable a falling off from
+the fervid patriotism of the Moniplies.
+The uniform burden of the song is,
+that the event of the match was determined
+by an accident,&mdash;or by what
+they reckon as nearly equivalent to
+an accident&mdash;an oversight upon the
+part of the London Club, to which
+the best of players are liable, and
+which in this instance is said to have
+been rather ungenerously taken advantage
+of by Edinburgh. The Scottish
+players have hitherto said very
+little upon the subject, contenting
+themselves with a short but perfectly
+satisfactory answer, made immediately
+after the termination of the
+match, to some observations of Mr
+Lewis, in which, while they conclusively
+disposed of his views and inferences,
+they at the same time stated,
+that they were "far from begrudging
+to the London Club the usual consolation
+of a beaten adversary&mdash;of going
+back upon a game, and showing that,
+if they had played otherwise at a
+particular point, they could have won
+the game." The constant reiteration
+of the English statement, however, is
+calculated to produce an erroneous
+impression in the minds of those not
+acquainted with the merits of the
+question.</p>
+
+<p>The London and Edinburgh chess
+match, which was played by correspondence,
+was begun in the year 1824.
+It was the result of a challenge given
+by the Edinburgh Club, which was
+then only in its infancy. The terms
+agreed on were, that the match should
+consist of three won games; and that,
+in case of any game being drawn, a
+new one, begun by the same opener,
+should take its place. The match
+commenced on 23d April 1824. Two
+games were opened simultaneously.
+The first game was opened by the
+Edinburgh Club; and in sending
+their first answering move, the London
+Club also sent the first move of
+the second game. The first game,
+which consisted of 35 moves, was, on
+14th December 1824, declared to be
+drawn. The second, which consisted
+of 52 moves, was resigned by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>
+London Club on 23d February 1825.
+The third game&mdash;opened by the Edinburgh
+Club in place of the first game,
+which had been drawn&mdash;was begun
+on 20th December 1824; it consisted
+of 99 moves, and was drawn on 18th
+March 1828. The fourth game,
+begun by the Edinburgh Club, on
+26th February 1825, was resigned by
+them on 15th September 1826, at the
+55th move. The fifth game, begun
+by the Edinburgh Club, on 6th October
+1826, was resigned by the London
+Club on 31st July 1828, at the 60th
+move&mdash;and this determined the match
+in favour of Edinburgh.</p>
+
+<p>The simple statement of these details
+is sufficient altogether to exclude
+the idea that the result of the match
+was a mere accident, where manifestly
+inferior players profited by the unfortunate
+blunder of their superior
+antagonists. Though the Edinburgh
+Club had lost, instead of gaining, two
+out of the three games, it would still
+have been in vain to maintain that
+the play in the match showed them
+to be unquestionably inferior. The
+contest was a long and severe one.
+When the fifth and deciding game
+was proceeding, each party had gained
+one game, and there had been two
+drawn games, both of which were
+keenly disputed, without the least
+advantage in favour of London at any
+point of either; while, on the other
+hand, in the third game, Edinburgh
+had obtained an advantage, though
+not sufficient to enable them to checkmate
+their adversaries. It has never
+been pretended, by the most unscrupulous
+partisan of England, that
+the winning of the fifth game was
+ascribable to an oversight. On the
+contrary, their chess writers have,
+with most becoming fairness and
+candour, always referred to it as an
+instance of admirable play on the
+part of Edinburgh; and members of
+the London committee, who shortly
+after happened to visit Edinburgh,
+acknowledged that their committee
+were quite unable to discover the
+object of particular moves, the effect
+of which had been previously calculated,
+and reduced to demonstration
+by the Edinburgh players. Is there,
+in all this, such evidence of overwhelming
+superiority on the part of the
+English players, that their losing the
+match <em>must</em> have been an accident?</p>
+
+<p>But it is time to inquire a little
+more minutely into the so-called
+blunder, which the Englishmen say
+was the cause of their defeat. And
+here it is but fair to give their statement
+in their own words. The
+<cite>Quarterly</cite> reviewer says&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Perhaps the most remarkable instance
+on record of a strict enforcement of the
+tenor of chess law occurred in the celebrated
+match, by correspondence, between
+the London and Edinburgh Clubs. At
+the 27th move of the second game, the
+London Club threw a rook away. How
+they did so, Mr Lewis explains in the
+following words:&mdash;'The 26th, 27th, and
+28th moves were sent on the same day to
+the Edinburgh Club. This was done to
+save time. It so happened that the secretary,
+whose duty it was to write the
+letters, had an engagement which compelled
+him to leave the Club two hours
+earlier than usual&mdash;the letter was therefore
+posted at three instead of five o'clock.
+In the mean time, one of the members
+discovered that the 2d move (the 27th)
+had not been sufficiently examined.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> An
+application was immediately made at the
+Post-office for the letter, which was
+refused. In consequence, a second letter
+was transmitted by the same post to the
+Edinburgh Club, retracting the 2d and
+3d moves, and abiding only by the first.
+The Edinburgh Club, in answer, gave it
+as their decided opinion that the London
+Club were bound by their letter, and that
+no move could be retracted: they therefore
+insisted on the moves being played.
+The London Club conceded the point,
+though they differed in opinion.'</p>
+
+<p>"We cannot but think, under all the
+circumstances, the Edinburgh Club were
+to blame. What rendered the mishap
+more vexatious to the Londoners was,
+that whereas they had a won game before,
+they now barely lost it, and thereby the
+match, which the winning of this game
+would have decided in their favour.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>
+There can be little doubt that the London
+Club (then comprising Messrs Lewis,
+Fraser, and Cochrane) was the strongest
+of the two. On the part of Edinburgh,
+we believe the lion's share of the work
+fell to the late Mr Donaldson."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>In the remarks on the London and
+Amsterdam match, in Mr Staunton's
+periodical, (the <cite>Chess-Player's Chronicle</cite>,)
+for February 1850, there is the
+following passage:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"If the relative skill of the competitors
+engaged on each side were to be the
+gauge by which to estimate the probable
+result of a contest like this, it would have
+been easy to predict to which party victory
+would incline; and we should have
+wondered at the daring gallantry that
+prompted the little band of Hollanders to
+challenge the leviathans of London. Experience,
+however, has shown that, in a
+match of chess by correspondence, the
+battle is not always to the strong, and
+that foresight and profound calculation
+are of infinitely less account, when the
+men may be moved experimentally, than
+they are in ordinary chess, where conclusions
+must be tried by the head, and not
+by the hand. Of this, indeed, the archives
+of the London Club afford a memorable
+instance. In March 1824, a proposal was
+made to this Club by the Club at Edinburgh,
+to play a match at chess by correspondence
+for a silver cup; the match
+to consist of three games, (irrespective of
+drawn games;) two games to be played
+together, and the winner of the first game
+to have the move in the third. The London
+Club at this period was in the pride
+and plenitude of its strength, and the
+committee appointed to conduct the match
+comprised every name of note among the
+chess-players of the metropolis. The
+Edinburgh Chess-Club, on the other hand,
+was composed of amateurs comparatively
+unknown and inexperienced, and possessed
+one player only&mdash;the late Mr Donaldson&mdash;capable
+of making anything like a
+stand 'over the board' with any of the
+London chiefs. In an ordinary contest,
+indeed, over the board, it was the old
+odds of Lombard Street to a China orange!
+Maugre all the advantages of superior
+skill and practice, however, the Londoners
+lost the battle, and lost it by a blunder
+as ridiculous as it was vexatious, at
+the very moment, too, when the game was
+in their hands."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>The general remarks on playing by
+correspondence in this last passage
+are evidently made to furnish a pretence
+for introducing the notice of the
+London and Edinburgh match; and
+they share the fate of all such forced
+work. They are absolute nonsense.
+The probability that a decidedly superior
+will overcome an inferior player,
+is not at all diminished by the circumstance
+that the match is played by
+correspondence. On the contrary,
+we should rather be inclined to say
+that the chance of an inferior player's
+escape in a single game or so is almost
+extinguished where the match is played
+by correspondence; because the
+time given for deliberation increases
+the improbability of his antagonist's
+erring from carelessness, or not taking
+in the whole position of the game,
+which sometimes occurs in playing
+over the board. But there is an inconsequence
+in the whole argument
+which surprises us to find in anything
+sanctioned by a person of Mr Staunton's
+unquestionable powers of mind.
+The loss of the match by London is
+not to be wondered at, it is said, because
+it was a match by correspondence;
+and the immediate cause of
+their losing it was the commission of
+a ridiculous and vexatious blunder!
+To make this anything like logic, it
+would be necessary to hold that ridiculous
+and vexatious blunders are
+more likely to be committed when the
+player has time and opportunity to
+consider his moves, and to make experiments
+upon their effect, than where
+he is under the necessity of moving at
+once in presence of an adversary, and
+possibly of spectators, apt to get impatient
+at long delay. It is plain that
+the game's being played by correspondence
+was the very circumstance calculated
+to render the London Club's
+particular excuse for losing all the
+more untenable.</p>
+
+<p>It is quite true, however, that at a
+particular stage of the game opened
+by the London Club, (being one of the
+two games with which the match commenced,)
+the London Club might have
+won the game, by playing other moves
+than they did. This may be said of
+every game; but it is as unusual as
+it is unhandsome for the unsuccessful
+party, merely because he has missed
+such an opportunity of winning, to
+refuse all credit to his adversary for
+afterwards defeating him. In the
+third game, which was drawn, the
+Edinburgh Club would have won if
+they had played a different 51st move<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>
+from that which they did. But this
+did not lead them to make depreciatory
+remarks about their antagonists:
+all that their report bears on this point
+is, that the London Club "conducted
+a difficult defence with great skill and
+dexterity, and finally succeeded in
+drawing the game."</p>
+
+<p>Further, the remarks above quoted
+are calculated to produce an erroneous
+idea respecting the situation and conduct
+of the two clubs in the second
+game. The sophistry consists in
+mixing up two entirely separate and
+unconnected things. In this same
+game in which the London Club failed
+to observe that they had a winning
+position, they applied to have two of
+their moves recalled after they were
+despatched, and the Edinburgh committee
+refused their request. Now
+the obvious tendency of all that the
+English writers say upon the subject
+is to create the impression that if the
+London Club had been allowed to
+recall these two moves, they would
+have retained their winning position.
+This is plainly the only construction
+that the passage in the <cite>Quarterly
+Review</cite> is capable of bearing. It is
+the only construction which would
+justify his remarks, or make them at
+all intelligible. But it is quite incorrect.
+The only moves which the
+London committee wished to recall
+were the 27th and 28th; but they
+have never attempted to show that if
+they had been allowed to do so, they
+could have won the game. It has
+been demonstrated, over and over
+again, that they could not. In fact,
+the moves they wished to recall were
+as good as any others then in their
+power. They might have drawn
+the game if these moves had been
+played; and they could have done no
+more had they been allowed to recall
+them. This matter was set at rest
+while the match was still pending, by
+a proposal which emanated from the
+Edinburgh Club. When the Londoners
+lost the game, Mr Lewis insinuated,
+though he did not expressly
+state, that if they had not been
+held to the 27th and 28th moves,
+they would have won the game.
+A member of the Edinburgh Club then
+offered to play a back-game with any
+one or more of the London Club, in
+which the London players were to be
+allowed a new 27th move instead of
+the one they had made, and wished
+to recall; and also another back-game
+in which the Edinburgh player was to
+take the London side <em>at an earlier stage
+of the game</em>, with the view of showing
+that, by playing differently, the London
+Club might have won it. This proposal
+was under consideration of the
+London Club <em>for several weeks</em>, during
+which they satisfied themselves that
+the recall of the 27th and 28th moves
+would be of no use, and, accordingly,
+it was declined. It is surely not
+very uncharitable to surmise that
+it was during this period, and on the
+suggestion of their opponents, that
+they discovered that the error was not
+in the 27th move which they had proposed
+to recall, but in the 26th, which
+they had examined and adhered to.
+In his first publication of the games,
+Mr Lewis gives no back-game on this
+26th move; and it is believed that no
+member of the London Club was
+aware, till the game was finished, that
+by playing differently at the 26th move
+they might have won it. But Mr
+Lewis admits that the game could not
+be won by a mere alteration of the
+27th or 28th move; and any one who
+says that it could, is either speaking
+in ignorance of the subject, or is
+making a wilful misrepresentation.
+The likelihood of the remarks of the
+English writers producing an erroneous
+impression arises from their
+mixing up these two separate and
+distinct things: 1st, that at a previous
+stage of the game, the London Club
+had a winning position which they
+did not discover, and failed to avail
+themselves of; and, 2d, that the
+Edinburgh Club would not allow them
+to retract the 27th and 28th moves.
+These two facts have no longer any
+possible connection with each other
+when it is known that, at the 27th
+move, the London Club had ceased to
+have a winning position, and that the
+recall of that move would have been
+of no use to them. The failure, at a
+previous stage of the game, to maintain
+the winning position which they
+had, is simply one among several
+illustrations which occurred in the
+match, of the truth that the London
+Club, "in the pride and plenitude of
+its strength," did not always play as
+well as it was possible to have done.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>
+How such things show that superiority
+on the part of London, which they are
+brought forward to establish, we confess
+ourselves unable to understand,
+unless we were to adopt the principle
+of the <cite>Chess-Players' Chronicle</cite>, that
+it is the best players who are most
+likely to commit errors in conducting
+a match by correspondence!!</p>
+
+<p>It seems to be a source of melancholy
+consolation to the English
+players, that their Club committed a
+"ridiculous and vexatious blunder."
+We are sorry that, in our strict regard
+for truth, we must deprive them even
+of that comfort. The losing of the
+disputed game was not a ridiculous
+blunder, however vexatious. On the
+contrary, the series of moves by which
+they lost the chance of winning, was
+at first a very promising attack, and
+had the additional temptation of
+appearing brilliant and enterprising.
+If any chess-player will set up the
+men at the 27th move of the London
+Club, or glance at the diagram given
+in Mr Staunton's periodical for May
+1850, he will see that nothing but the
+utmost skill and caution on the part
+of Edinburgh could have successfully
+warded off the attack. The London
+Club had not contemplated the defence
+which they met with; and if, in
+these circumstances, they were seduced
+into an ingenious but unsound attack,
+it may be conceded that they manifested
+want of circumspection, an
+important qualification in a chess-player;
+but they cannot be accused
+of committing a ridiculous blunder.
+They talk of having "thrown away"
+a rook. They did no such thing.
+The rook was played not by mistake,
+but for the very purpose of being
+taken in the course of their dashing
+but unsuccessful attack. And in Mr
+Lewis's analyses, it will be found
+that many of his methods of winning,
+at previous stages of the game,
+involve this very sacrifice of the
+rook.</p>
+
+<p>The refusal of the Edinburgh Club
+to allow the recall of the 27th and
+28th moves loses all its importance
+when it is known that it did not affect
+the fate of the game. But we should
+in any circumstances be sorry to
+believe that, in so refusing, they
+had done what deserved the censure
+bestowed on them by the
+<cite>Quarterly</cite> reviewer. In considering
+the propriety of their conduct, there
+are only two lights in which the
+request may be viewed. They were
+either asked to do what the London
+Club had a right to demand, or they
+were asked to grant a favour to the
+London Club. We do not know that
+the former view is supported by any
+of the English writers. Even the
+<cite>Quarterly</cite> reviewer does not say that
+the London Club had a <em>right</em> to recall
+the moves; and on this question of
+right it appears to us that there cannot
+be the least shadow of a doubt.
+The letter containing the moves was
+despatched to the Post-office. It
+was held by the Post-office for the
+party to whom it was addressed, and
+was entirely beyond the control of
+the party sending it. The piece, in
+every sense, was therefore "let go"
+by the player; and the 8th Article of
+Sarratt's laws of chess, by which it
+was agreed that the games should be
+played, provides that "as long as a
+player holds a piece, he is at liberty
+to play it where he chooses; but
+when he has <em>let it go</em>, he cannot
+recall his move." Accordingly, the
+London Club never attempted to
+contest the question of right. They
+stated that they had "no hesitation
+in acceding to the Edinburgh Committee's
+construction," and adhering
+to the moves. In fact, the construction
+put on the point by the Edinburgh
+Club was not only assented to by
+the London players at the time, but
+several members of the committee
+admitted afterwards, that it was
+unquestionably the right way of
+dealing with the case, and no member
+of the London Club ever hinted a
+complaint on the subject, except
+what was insinuated by Mr Lewis
+in the publication referred to.</p>
+
+<p>Were the Edinburgh Club "<em>to blame</em>"
+for not granting the favour which was
+asked of them? On this question
+we think there is quite as little doubt
+as the other. We have a strong and
+decided opinion as to the necessity
+of strict play in <em>all</em> games. It is the
+only fair and rational system; for
+once allow indulgence, and it is
+impossible to fix the limit at which it
+should stop. But we think that the
+remark applies with peculiar force to
+the game of chess, in which rigour is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>
+absolutely essential to the acquisition
+of the habits fitted for the proper
+playing of the game. Above all, in
+an important match at chess, anything
+but the strict game is entirely
+out of the question. A high-spirited
+antagonist will scorn to ask a favour,
+or even to grumble about the commission
+of a blunder. He submits in
+silence, and plays on in the hope of
+retrieving his fault by redoubled care
+and attention. If, on the other hand,
+he were to be expected to grant
+favours to his blundering antagonist,
+it is plain that his very good qualities
+would be turned to his disadvantage
+in the match. The Edinburgh Club
+played in the belief that the rules of
+the game were to apply with equal
+strictness to both parties; and though
+there was more than one instance in
+which they would have been glad to
+recall a move, they never proposed
+this, or even spoke of the occasions for
+it, except in answer to Mr Lewis's
+observations on the proposed recall of
+the 27th move. In the very game in
+which this move was made, the Edinburgh
+committee had at a <em>previous</em>
+point in the game made a move which
+they discovered to be unsound, or at
+least doubtful. Their report bears
+that "application was made to the
+Post-office to have the letter containing
+it restored, but without effect.
+Finding this to be the case, the letter
+was looked upon as delivered, the
+Post-office being regarded as holding
+it, not on behalf of the Club from
+which it had been sent, but on behalf
+of the Club to which it was addressed;
+and therefore no attempt was made to
+countermand the move, by transmitting
+another letter by the same post.
+The 8th article of the laws was considered
+to be too clear and explicit to
+warrant a recall." This conduct of
+the Edinburgh Club appears to us the
+manly and proper way of dealing
+with such a circumstance, and infinitely
+better than trying to make it
+the foundation of a complaint of rigorous
+procedure on the part of their
+opponents.</p>
+
+<p>The same thing happened again to
+the Edinburgh Club in the fourth
+game. In consequence of having put
+up the game erroneously, they sent
+an impossible move&mdash;that is to
+say, they directed a Knight to be
+moved to a square already occupied
+by their King. They discovered the
+mistake before the letter had left
+Edinburgh, but considered themselves
+as having incurred the penalty of
+playing an impossible move, which
+was, in the option of their adversary,
+either to move the Knight to some
+other square, or to move their King.
+Of these two, the move of the <em>King</em>
+was infinitely the better play, and
+therefore, in order to save time, a
+note was written on the outside of
+the letter explaining the mistake, and
+stating that the Edinburgh committee
+held themselves bound to move
+the <em>Knight</em>, which it was presumed
+the London Club would enforce, as
+the more severe penalty. The London
+Club did so; and yet Mr Lewis,
+in his notes to this game, rather
+disingenuously, as it appears to us,
+represented the London Club as
+having yielded an advantage to their
+antagonists, in accepting the move of
+the Knight. This merely accidental
+blunder, on the part of the Edinburgh
+Club, was one cause of their loss of
+the fourth game.</p>
+
+<p>Seeing that the Edinburgh Club
+thus on all occasions subjected themselves
+to the most rigorous interpretation
+of the rules of the game, we cannot
+hold the <cite>Quarterly Review</cite> as
+justified in saying that they were "to
+blame" in not allowing the London
+Club to retract a move. But we
+appeal from the <cite>Quarterly</cite> reviewer as
+a partisan of England, to the <cite>Quarterly</cite>
+reviewer, as an impartial enunciator
+of general propositions respecting the
+game of chess. Hear what he says
+about the absurdity of giving back
+moves:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Another advantage has arisen from
+the multiplication of clubs, and consequent
+publication of accurate rules&mdash;viz.,
+that the strict game is now played, instead
+of those courteous surrenders of
+advantages offered by a heedless adversary,
+which used often to make winners
+of those who had received back two or
+three leading pieces in the course of the
+game. These were a source of endless
+unpleasant discussions, besides being in
+themselves an absurdity. We confess
+we have no notion of rewarding an opponent
+for his oversights. We would show
+him as little mercy as Mr Smith O'Brien
+would to Lord Clarendon. Nay, we
+should be moved hereto by a consideration<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>
+of his benefit as well as our own&mdash;for
+why should we teach him vacillation
+and heedlessness?"</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Again, among a portentous list of
+narrow-minded delusions, he gives as
+"Delusion the Fifth&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"'That it is illiberal to play the strict
+game.' To this we can only reply, that
+other methods are but a miserable imitation.
+People talk of the hardship of
+'losing a game by an oversight,' and so
+on. It is much harder to arrive at nothing
+but 'conclusions inconclusive,' and
+to have the game terminate in an Irish
+discussion which of the two parties made
+the greatest blunders."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>We agree in every word of this;
+and we only wonder that so sound a
+reasoner should himself fall under the
+delusion which he exposes&mdash;so severe
+a censor should commit the very
+offence which he condemns.</p>
+
+<p>On the whole, as regards the proposed
+recall of the 27th and 28th
+moves of the second game, we think
+these three propositions are conclusively
+established, 1. That neither
+according to the rules of the game,
+nor upon any other principle which
+does or ought to regulate the playing
+of matches, were the London Club
+entitled to have their proposal acceded
+to. 2. That though it had been acceded
+to, and these moves had been allowed
+to be recalled, the London Club
+could not have bettered their situation,
+as the opportunity of winning
+was already irretrievably lost in consequence
+of the 26th move, which was
+not asked to be recalled, but, on the
+contrary, was expressly adhered to.
+3. That the impression which English
+chess-players have so industriously
+attempted to create, that the
+refusal on the part of Edinburgh to
+allow the 27th and 28th moves to be
+recalled was what prevented the London
+Club from winning the game, can
+only exist through a confusion between
+these moves and the previous one,
+which the London Club had adhered
+to after a renewed examination, not
+having even then discovered that it
+was unsound.</p>
+
+<p>Before leaving the second game, we
+have this last additional remark to
+make about it, that it is one of the erroneous
+assumptions and inferences of
+the English writers, that the winning
+of that game would have decided the
+match in their favour. It was the
+first won game; and though it is true
+that the London Club <em>subsequently</em> won
+the fourth game, which was the successor
+of the second, it is also the fact
+that the fourth game, which was
+opened by the Edinburgh Club, would
+not have been played if the second had
+been won by London, who in that case
+would have had the opening of the
+fourth. We do not mean to say that
+having to open was a disadvantage.
+All we assert is, that, in point of fact,
+the game, which the Edinburgh Club
+lost partly through a mistake in setting
+up the men, and through another blunder,
+not very different in its character,
+would not have been played at all if
+London had won the second game.
+Besides, the fourth game would, in
+other respects, have been played under
+very different circumstances. The
+opening of the second game by the
+London Club was one which none of
+the Edinburgh players had ever seen
+before, though, from this match, it
+now goes by the name of the Scotch
+opening. They believed, however,
+from their consideration of the second
+game, that the London Club had not
+availed themselves of all the capabilities
+of the opening, and they thought
+it would be a spirited thing to return
+it upon their antagonists. This they
+did in the <em>third</em> game. The event rewarded
+their enterprising conduct.
+They gained a decided advantage;
+and during the greater part of the
+<em>fourth</em> game they believed that it
+would never require to be finished, as
+they thought that by winning the <em>third</em>
+game they would gain the match.
+This accounts for the carelessness with
+which they played the fourth game,
+though we think nothing can excuse
+carelessness in playing chess. They
+were ultimately disappointed in their
+expectation of gaining the third game,
+as the London Club succeeded in drawing
+it; and this rendered a fifth game
+necessary.</p>
+
+<p>Down to the fifth game it appears
+plain enough, from the above examination,
+that the Edinburgh Club had
+maintained, at the very least, an
+equal position to their antagonists.
+The first game had been drawn, with
+no advantage at any stage of it, in
+favour of either party. The second
+had been won by Edinburgh, but was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>
+subject to the observation that, at one
+point, London might have won had
+they played as well as they <em>afterwards</em>
+discovered they might have done. The
+third game was drawn: but the advantage
+throughout had been in favour
+of Edinburgh, though not sufficiently
+so for winning; and, as was the case
+with London in the previous game,
+Edinburgh failed to perceive that by
+moving differently at a certain point,
+they would have been victorious. The
+fourth game was lost by Edinburgh,
+partly through an accidental and
+what may be called a mechanical blunder,
+and partly through another piece
+of carelessness of a similar character.
+After a contest thus maintained down
+to the commencement of the fifth
+game, it is beyond all question that
+the palm of superiority, in point of
+play, must rest with the victor in that
+game. And it was a game worthy to
+determine that question as well as the
+match. The Edinburgh Club had
+again returned upon their antagonists
+their own opening. In order to secure
+scope for the action of their pieces,
+they showed considerable intrepidity
+in disregarding the ordinary rules
+against doubled and isolated pawns;
+and so admirably had they analysed
+the game, that for a great many
+moves they knew that victory was
+certain, though all the while the
+London Club, according to the confession
+of some of their own members,
+were blind to the fate that was awaiting
+them; and believed, on the contrary,
+that the game was in their own hands.
+This fifth game will long be remembered
+by chess players as one of the
+most remarkable in the annals of
+chess; and appears to us conclusive,
+so far as regards the internal evidence
+derived from the games themselves,
+that the superiority, in point of play,
+lay with the Edinburgh Club, and
+that their winning the match was not
+a mere accident.</p>
+
+<p>It may be that there are other data
+for determining the relative superiority
+of the two Clubs; but we cannot admit
+the correctness of any of those mentioned
+by the <cite>Quarterly</cite> reviewer or
+Mr Staunton. It is true, as these gentlemen
+say, that the Edinburgh Club
+was comparatively inexperienced.
+It had only been instituted in 1822,
+and the match was begun in 1824.
+It comprehended, almost exclusively,
+professional gentlemen actively engaged
+in business, who had not,
+generally speaking, much leisure or
+opportunity for seeking antagonists
+out of their own little circle of chess-players
+at home. On the other hand,
+it cannot be disputed that there is to
+be found in the metropolis of England,
+in greater abundance than anywhere
+else, that combination of leisure with
+intellectual power, which gives the
+promise of good chess-playing. But
+these circumstances do not lead our
+minds to the conclusion to which Mr
+Staunton and the <cite>Quarterly</cite> reviewer
+have come, that the winning of the
+match by the Edinburgh Club was an
+accident. We should rather be inclined
+to hold, considering the character of the
+contest as explained by us above,
+that they are a proof of the greater
+natural chess-playing capacity of the
+members of the Club which won the
+match under such disadvantages.
+Again, Mr Staunton asks where are
+the previous exploits to which the
+Edinburgh players could point, such
+as those that the members of the
+London Club had performed? The
+answer is, None. They never had, and
+never sought the opportunity of
+performing any great chess exploit,
+except beating the London Club.
+But in so doing they made their own
+all the previous victories of the
+London Club. The event showed
+that they might, without presumption,
+have expressed the sentiment of
+Prince Henry&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Percy is but my factor, good, my lord,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To engross up glorious deeds on my behalf;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And I will call him to so strict account,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That he shall render every glory up.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And all the budding honours on his crest<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I'd crop to make a garland for my head."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p class="noind">With which valorous quotation we
+draw our remarks to a close,
+submitting that the members of the
+Edinburgh Club are bound to invite
+us to a special sitting at a board,
+which shall be garnished with some
+other material more soft and digestible
+than chessmen.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>THE INDUSTRY OF THE PEOPLE.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The dismal efforts of the Free-trading
+party to maintain the credit
+of their unnatural and mischievous
+scheme, afford the surest indication
+of their own consciousness that they
+have committed a grievous error. In
+their attempts to make head against
+the symptoms of reaction which are
+everywhere apparent in the public
+mind, they exhibit no unity of purpose;
+they are not agreed even as to
+the facts from which their arguments
+should be drawn. A few months ago,
+we were told that the whole country
+was in a state of the greatest prosperity.
+The existence of agricultural
+distress was denied; the shipping
+interest was said to be in the
+most healthy and flourishing condition;
+the manufacturers had so many
+orders that their ability to execute
+was impeded; wages were rising&mdash;pauperism
+decreasing&mdash;in short, no
+one could recall to memory times of
+more general happiness and content.
+Such was the picture drawn by Ministerial
+limners, no further back than
+the opening of the present session of
+Parliament, and it is very much to be
+regretted that it should so soon have
+vanished like a dissolving view.
+Down to the present moment, we
+have been unable to discover the
+motive for so monstrous a fiction.
+Nobody believed it: nobody could
+believe it, for it ran counter to every
+man's knowledge of his own affairs,
+and his opinion as to those of his
+neighbour. The agriculturists declared
+it to be a falsehood in so far as
+they were concerned&mdash;so did the ship-owners&mdash;so
+did the shopkeepers&mdash;so
+did the manufacturers, whose circulars
+acknowledged depression for the
+present, and held out little hope for
+the future. The Ministerial averment
+answered no purpose, save to excite
+a general burst of disapprobation.
+Conceived in fraud, it was abandoned
+with cowardice. A lower tone was
+assumed. Distress was admitted&mdash;but
+only to a certain extent; and we
+may remark that such admissions are
+peculiarly convenient and innocuous
+to those who make them, inasmuch
+as the actual degree or prevalence of
+the suffering must still remain matter
+of debate. Indeed, no statistics, however
+ingenious or elaborated, can furnish
+data for determining so delicate
+a point. But to account for the
+existence of distress, even in a mitigated
+form, was no easy task for
+those who were resolved, at all
+hazards, to exclude the operation of
+free trade. Their prosperity balance-sheet
+stood awkwardly in the way.
+Pluming themselves upon increased
+exports, and a larger foreign trade
+than had been driven for some years,
+they were compelled to assign some
+reason for the remarkable depression
+at home. The old shift of railway calls
+would no longer suit their purpose.
+Sir Robert Peel, regardless of a certain
+personal passage of his life connected
+with the opening of the Trent Valley,
+was exceedingly fond of turning out
+that scape-goat into the wilderness;
+but the time had gone by; the calls
+were paid up or suspended; and it
+was no longer possible for effrontery
+to maintain that the great mass of
+the consumers of these kingdoms had
+been materially injured by their
+imprudent dalliance with scrip. There
+was no tightness in the money
+market; no external cause to interfere
+with the successful operation of
+industry, capital, or enterprise. Yet
+still there was distress; and, what was
+more remarkable, the complaint was
+universal. The value of produce had
+fallen, effecting thereby a corresponding
+decline in rents, and every kind
+of uncertain profit. Employment
+grew scarcer every day, whilst the
+number of applicants increased. The
+burden of taxation, however, still
+remained undiminished. The creditor
+could still exact the stipulated amount
+of money from his debtor, without
+deduction, although the labour of the
+debtor was reduced in point of value
+by at least a third. Such were, and
+are, the leading phenomena, to account
+for which the ingenuity of the
+Free-traders has been exercised.</p>
+
+<p>They have, we are bound to say, cut
+an exceedingly sorry figure in explanation.
+They have got in their mouths a
+few cant phrases, which, when assailed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>
+they repeat over and over again, without
+the slightest reference to their
+meaning. One of these, and perhaps
+the most favourite, refers to the "transition
+state"&mdash;a peculiar phase of suffering,
+which they maintain to be the
+necessary consequence of every considerable
+change in the fiscal regulations
+of the empire. This "transition state,"
+in politics, would appear to correspond
+to that which, in medicine, was favoured
+by Mr St John Long. In
+order to become better, it is necessary
+to make the patient, in the first
+instance, materially worse&mdash;to inflict
+artificial wounds and promote
+suppuration, in the hope that these
+may afterwards be healed. It is
+rather remarkable that none of our
+political doctors have as yet ventured
+to specify the nature of the curatory
+process. They leave us woefully in
+the dark as to the means which are
+to be adopted for remedying the evil;
+and they obstinately refuse to predict
+what kind of state is to follow upon
+this of transition. In truth, they are
+utterly at sea. They cannot shut
+their eyes to the extent of the mischief
+which they have wrought; they
+cannot find or invent an extraneous
+excuse, which will avail them, in the
+opinion even of the loosest thinker, to
+maintain the delusion that the present
+distress and stagnation are attributable
+to any other cause than that of low
+prices, occasioned by foreign competition;
+and they are attempting to conceal
+their chagrin and disappointment
+at the disastrous issue of their experiment
+under the cover of general
+terms and vague ambiguous phrases&mdash;a
+rhetorical expedient which is not
+likely to have much weight with those
+who have been made the victims of
+their rashness or vacillation.</p>
+
+<p>Latterly, indeed, some portions of
+the public press have shown symptoms
+of being more specific, and very
+glad should we be if Ministers would
+follow that example. We are told
+that present prices are merely exceptional,
+and that they must shortly
+improve. The mere adoption of this
+argument shows that such writers
+dissent from the doctrine that cheapness
+is an unqualified blessing&mdash;that
+they still believe in their hearts that
+it is impossible altogether to separate
+the interests of the producer and the
+consumer&mdash;and that they are still
+alive to the fundamental political
+axiom, that the wealth of a country
+depends mainly upon the value of its
+produce. Were it otherwise, they
+would be supporters of the most
+astounding paradox that was ever
+advanced. The price of the loaf
+must rise correspondingly with that
+of the quarter of wheat: beef and
+mutton are sold by the stone or by
+the pound, in proportion to the market
+value of the living animal. If
+wheat were to rise to 56s., which is
+said to be the average cost of its
+production in this country, bread
+would become so much dearer, and,
+in that case, the working-man could
+be no better off than he was before
+the corn laws were repealed. We
+have heard it said, and we firmly
+believe it to be the case, that many
+of the public men, of both parties,
+who voted with Sir Robert Peel, did
+so under the full conviction that there
+could be no material decline&mdash;that
+they were misled by the onesided,
+imperfect, and fallacious reports as to
+the state, quality, and extent of the
+Continental harvests, which were laid
+before Parliament&mdash;and that they
+never would have consented to such a
+measure, had they foreseen the results
+which are now unhappily before us.
+We gather this, not merely from
+rumour, but from the tenor of the
+speeches delivered in the House of
+Commons in 1846. Sir James Graham
+and Lord John Russell both treated as
+visionary the notion of any material
+decline&mdash;Lord Palmerston went
+further; and we think it useful to lay
+before our readers the following excerpt
+from his speech, delivered on
+the occasion of the second reading of
+the Corn Importation Bill. Referring
+to the surplus quantity of Continental
+grain, he said&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"The surplus quantity now, or from
+time to time in existence, is merely the
+superfluity of abundant seasons held for
+a time in store to meet the alternate
+deficiency of bad years. Till the bad
+years come, that corn is cheap, because
+it is a supply exceeding the demand; but
+the moment we go into the foreign
+market as buyers, to purchase up this
+surplus, <em>prices abroad will rise</em>. Not
+only will the British demand, as a new
+competition with foreign demand, naturally
+cause a rise of prices, but our own<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>
+merchants will compete against each
+other, until, by a rise of prices abroad,
+the profit of their importations shall have
+been brought down to the usual rate of
+mercantile profit upon capital employed
+in other ways. There is, therefore, very
+little probability that the importation of
+the existing surplus quantity of corn in
+foreign markets will materially lower
+prices in this country."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>We have nothing to say to the
+arguments of the noble Viscount&mdash;however
+singular these may appear
+to persons of ordinary understanding&mdash;we
+merely refer to his conclusion,
+which we think is plain enough, to
+the effect that free importations could
+not materially lower prices. Nay,
+we could extract from the speeches of
+Sir Robert Peel himself, passages
+which would go far to show that he
+entertained the same opinion, notwithstanding
+the extreme wariness
+which he exhibited when challenged
+by Lord George Bentinck to state his
+views as to the probable effects of the
+change on the value of agricultural
+produce. Well, then, if this be the
+case&mdash;if there was actually a strong
+conviction in the minds of the leading
+men who supported the repeal of
+the corn laws that the expressed
+fears of the agricultural party were
+unfounded&mdash;are we not entitled now
+to require that the question should be
+brought to a very narrow issue indeed?
+So far as experience has gone,
+our calculations have proved right&mdash;theirs
+entirely wrong. We maintained
+that, in consequence of the
+removal of protective duties, the price
+of grain in this country would decline
+to a point far below the cost of production;
+they averred that nothing
+of the kind would happen. Nearly a
+year and a half has elapsed since the
+new system came into full operation,
+and the general averages of wheat
+throughout the country have fallen,
+and have remained for many months
+below 40s. per quarter. In spite of
+the accurate and veracious information
+of writers in the <cite>Economist</cite> and
+other Ministerial prints, who have
+been assuring us, for a long period of
+time, that the whole available supplies
+of grain have been pumped out
+of the Continent, importations continue
+undiminished. In May 1850
+we receive from abroad the equivalent
+of a million quarters of grain;
+France pours in her flour, to the panic
+even of our millers; and, instead of
+diminution, there are unmistakeable
+symptoms of a greater deluge than
+before. Now, if the Free-traders, in
+or out of Parliament, are honest in
+their views&mdash;as many of them, we
+believe, undoubtedly are&mdash;they are
+bound to tell us how far and how long
+they intend this experiment to last?
+Of course, if it is no experiment at
+all, but an absolute rigorous finality,
+there is no need of entering into discussion.
+If everything is to be sacrificed
+for cheapness, let cheapness be
+the rule; only do not let us behold the
+anomaly of the advocates of that system
+prophesying a rise of prices as a
+general boon to the country. If
+otherwise, surely some tangible period
+should be assigned for the endurance
+of this <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">experimentum crucis</i>. We
+entirely coincide with Lord John
+Russell in his dislike to vacillating
+legislation, and we have no wish
+whatever to precipitate matters. We
+think it preferable, in every way, that
+the eyes of the country should be
+opened to a sense of its true condition
+by a process which, to be effectual,
+cannot be otherwise than painful.
+But we are greatly apprehensive of
+the consequences which may arise
+ere long, from the obstinate refusal of
+Ministers to give the slightest indication
+of their intentions, supposing
+that the present prices shall continue;
+or to indicate what relief, if any, can
+be given to the industry of the nation.</p>
+
+<p>As to the permanent nature of the
+fall under the operation of the present
+law, we entertain not the slightest
+doubt. There is no one symptom
+visible of its abatement; on the contrary,
+the experience of each succeeding
+month tends to fortify our previous
+impressions. The decline in the
+value of cattle is as great as in that of
+cereal produce. We have already, in
+a former paper, had occasion to state
+the extent of that fall down to the
+commencement of the present year:
+the accounts received of the state
+of the Dumbarton market, held in the
+beginning of June, are still more disastrous
+than before. Throughout a
+large portion of the Scottish Highlands&mdash;we
+do not know, indeed,
+whether we are entitled to make any<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>
+exception&mdash;black cattle, the staple
+of the country, will not pay the expense
+of rearing. The enormous importation
+of provisions from America
+is annihilating this branch of produce,
+with what compensating benefit to
+the nation at large, it would be difficult
+for an economist to explain.</p>
+
+<p>This is a state of matters which
+cannot continue long without manifest
+danger even to the tranquillity of the
+country. It is quite plain that, at
+present rates, agriculture cannot be
+carried on as heretofore in Great
+Britain. The farmer has been the
+first sufferer; the turn of the landowner
+is approaching. Let us illustrate
+this shortly. There must be, on
+an average of ordinary years, a certain
+price at which wheat can be grown
+remuneratively in this country. Sir
+Robert Peel, no mean authority on
+the subject, has indicated his opinion
+that such price may be stated at or
+about 56s. per quarter. Mr James
+Wilson, rating it somewhat lower,
+fixes it at 52s. 2d. Let us suppose,
+that wheat for the future shall average
+over England 39s. per quarter, and
+that the produce of the acre is twenty-four
+bushels, the loss on each acre of
+wheat hereafter raised will be, according
+to Sir Robert Peel, £2, 11s.&mdash;according
+to Mr Wilson, £1, 19s. 6d.
+What deduction of rent can meet
+such a depreciation as this? Excluding
+Middlesex, which is clearly exceptional,
+the highest rented county
+of England, Leicester, is estimated at
+£1, 14s. 10d. per acre; Warwickshire,
+at £1, 11s. 6d.; and Lincolnshire at
+£1, 8s. Haddington and Fife, the
+highest rented counties of Scotland,
+are estimated at £1, 5s. 6d. per acre.
+This of course includes much land of an
+inferior description; but we believe
+that, for the best arable land, an average
+rent of 40s. per acre may be assumed.
+In that case, supposing the whole rent
+to be given up, the farmer would still
+be a loser by cultivation, if Sir Robert
+Peel is correct in his figures.</p>
+
+<p>Without presuming to offer an
+opinion as to the accuracy of either of
+the calculations submitted by these
+two Free-trading authorities, we think
+it is plain that the more favourable of
+them, taken in connection with present
+prices, is appalling enough to the
+agriculturist, whether he be landlord
+or tenant. We shall see, probably in
+a month or two, whether it is likely
+that even these prices can be maintained.
+We are clearly of opinion
+that the price of corn in this country
+must fall to the level of the cheapest
+market from which we can derive any
+considerable supplies; and in that
+case it is quite as likely that we may
+see wheat quoted at 32s. or 33s., as
+at 39s. or 40s. But the matter for
+our consideration is, that, ever since
+the repeal of the corn laws, the market
+price of grain has been greatly
+below the cost of its production; and
+that there are no symptoms of any
+amendment, but obviously the reverse.</p>
+
+<p>The inevitable result of the continuance
+of such a state of matters is
+too clear to admit of argument. The
+land must go out of cultivation. The
+process may be slow, but it will be
+sure. It may, doubtless, be retarded
+by remissions of rent not sufficient to
+cover the farmer's losses, but great
+enough to induce him to renew his
+efforts for another year with the like
+miserable result; until at length the
+tiller of the soil is made bankrupt,
+and the landowner occupies his place.
+We can hardly trust ourselves to
+depict the effect of such a social revolution.
+All the misery which has
+been already felt&mdash;and that is far
+greater than our rulers will permit
+themselves to believe&mdash;would be as
+nothing compared with the calamitous
+consummation of Free Trade.</p>
+
+<p>Yet it is towards that point that
+we are rapidly tending. Some of the
+fierce and more plain-spoken Radical
+journals are so far from contradicting
+our views, that they openly rejoice in
+the havoc which has been already
+made, and in the wider ruin which is
+impending. They say plainly, looking
+to the funds, that they see no
+method of escaping from the domination
+of the moneyed interest, except
+through the prostration of the landlords.
+Their meaning is quite distinct
+and undisguised. They want to get
+rid of the national debt, by reducing
+the value of produce so low, that the
+usual amount of taxation cannot possibly
+be levied; and their scheme, however
+nefarious, is by no means devoid
+of plausibility. There can be no doubt
+that the Currency Act of 1819 has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>
+operated most injuriously upon the
+industry of the nation, by enhancing
+the value of the claims of the creditor;
+and that these claims, along with the
+necessary expenses of government,
+must be paid, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">ante omnia</i>, from the
+industrial produce of the year. The
+cheapening process, therefore, is one
+directly antagonistic to the maintenance
+of taxation. The anomaly in
+legislation of forcibly reducing the
+value of produce, and yet maintaining
+stringently an artificial standard of
+taxation, has been reserved for our
+times; yet, strange to say, though its
+effects are visible and confessed, few
+persons have courage or patience
+enough to grapple with the difficulty.
+Free Trade and a Fettered Currency
+are things that cannot possibly co-exist
+for any length of time; and our
+sole surprise is, that any statesman
+could be shortsighted enough to
+attempt to reconcile them. Taken
+singly, either of them is a great evil
+to a country situated like ours&mdash;taken
+together, they become absolutely intolerable.
+But we have no wish, at
+the present time, to depart from the
+point before us. We are merely
+taking the evidence of adversaries, to
+show that our views as to the position
+and prospects of the great productive
+classes of Britain are so far from exaggerated
+that they are acknowledged
+by the most strenuous advocates of
+Free Trade. The fundholder, nevertheless,
+may derive a useful lesson
+from these financial hints, which indicate
+an ulterior purpose.</p>
+
+<p>Such is the state of the agricultural
+interest throughout the three Kingdoms
+at this moment, and such are
+the prospects before us. The evidence,
+albeit not taken before a committee
+of either House of Parliament, is too
+unanimous to admit of a doubt;
+county after county, district after
+district, parish after parish throughout
+England, have testified to their
+melancholy condition. The <cite>Times</cite>
+may talk of mendicity, and the <cite>Economist</cite>
+may trump up figures to show
+that the farmers ought to be making
+a profit even at present prices; but
+neither irony nor fiction can avail to
+discredit or pervert facts so well
+authenticated as these. Of these
+facts parliament is fully cognisant&mdash;not
+only from the individual knowledge
+of members as to what is passing
+abroad&mdash;not only from the sentiments
+expressed at many hundred
+meetings, independent of the great
+demonstrations lately made at London
+and Liverpool&mdash;but from the
+petitions which have been presented
+to both Houses, praying for a reversal
+of that policy which has proved so
+detrimental to the interests of a large
+section of her Majesty's subjects.
+Yet still Parliament is silent, and the
+first Minister of the Crown refuses
+to sanction that appeal to the country,
+which the exigency of the case would
+seem to require, and which has been
+resorted to on occasions far less peremptory
+and pressing than this.</p>
+
+<p>Let us not be misunderstood. Our
+wish simply is to record the fact of
+such silence and refusal,&mdash;not to be
+rash in censure. We cannot, and do
+not forget the peculiar circumstances
+connected with the last general election&mdash;the
+political tergiversation
+which preceded it, the hopes and
+expectations which were then entertained
+by many, as to the working of
+the new system,&mdash;or the disorganisation
+of parties. Even the most strenuous
+opponents of the Free-Trade
+measures, since these had passed into
+a law, however iniquitously carried,
+were desirous that the experiment
+should have a fair trial, and that it
+should not be impeded in its progress,
+so long as, by the most liberal construction,
+it could be held to justify the
+anticipations of its authors. Many
+names of great weight, influence, and
+authority were found among the roll
+of those who consented to the new
+measures; and it was most natural
+that, throughout the country, a number
+of persons should be found willing to
+surrender their own judgment upon
+a matter yet untried, which had
+received so creditable a sanction.
+Therefore it was that the majority of
+members returned to the present
+House of Commons were Free-traders,
+bound to the system by the double
+ties of previous conviction and of
+pledge; and though recent elections,
+as well as the alarming posture of
+affairs, have contributed materially
+to alter the position of the two great
+parties in the House, it would be unreasonable
+as yet to look for a change,
+in a body so constituted, at least to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>
+that extent which a reversal of the
+adopted policy must imply.</p>
+
+<p>Neither can we rationally expect,
+that Lord John Russell will be forward
+to recognise a failure, where he
+confidently anticipated a triumph.
+We believe him to have been, far
+more than Sir Robert Peel, the dupe
+of those random assertions and presumptuous
+calculations which were
+thrust forward by men utterly unfit,
+from their previous habits and education,
+to pronounce an opinion upon
+subjects of such magnitude and intricacy.
+We should not be surprised if,
+even now, his Lordship had some
+lingering kind of faith in the prophecies
+of the member for Westbury.
+Men are slow to believe that the
+ground is crumbling from below their
+feet; that the political scaffolding
+which they assisted to rear has been
+pitched in a marshy quagmire. Self
+love, and that kind of pride which is
+so nearly allied to conceit that it
+often assumes the form of obstinacy,
+stand woefully in the way of recantation;
+and moreover in the present
+instance to recant is equivalent to
+resign. We remember well the profound
+and sagacious remark of Sir
+Walter Scott, that "the miscarriage
+of his experiment no more converts
+the political speculator, than the
+explosion of a retort undeceives an
+alchymist." Lord John Russell in all
+probability is not yet prepared, from
+conviction, to revise his opinions on a
+question in which he is so deeply committed.
+He has a majority in the
+House of Commons, and, according to
+the forms of the constitution, so long
+as he can command that majority, he
+is entitled to persevere. It is well
+that our friends, whatever pressing
+cause they may have for their impatience,
+should remember these
+things; and not be too forward in
+pressing wholesale accusations, either
+against a Parliament chosen under
+such peculiar circumstances, or a
+Minister who is simply adhering to
+the course long since avowed by himself,
+and acted on by his immediate
+predecessor. We may regret, and
+many of us do unquestionably most
+bitterly feel, the anomalous position
+in which we are placed. A more
+cruel, a more galling thought can
+hardly be imagined than the conviction
+which is very general abroad,
+and which is also ours, that the present
+Parliament does not represent the
+feelings or the desires of the people;
+that it is not consulting their welfare
+or protecting their interests; and
+that the duration of that Parliament
+alone prevents a vigorous and successful
+effort in the cause of British
+industry. Yet still, while we feel all
+this, let us not be unjust to others.
+We cannot coerce opinion. We cannot
+force honourable members at once
+to retrace their steps, or to give the
+lie to their acknowledged pledges.
+We cannot complain of open wrong
+if Ministers decline to accept our
+voices, in lieu of the voices of those
+whom we formerly sent as representatives.
+Their answer and vindication
+lies in the fact of their Parliamentary
+majority. Why Parliament should
+thus be placed in direct antagonism
+to the country, is a very different
+question. We need not go far in
+search of the reason. It is the direct
+consequence of that policy which Sir
+Robert Peel thought fit to adopt,
+not with regard to the abstract
+measures of Free Trade, but for the
+carrying of these measures into effect,
+without an appeal to the country,
+and by means which proved how
+closely deceit is allied to tyranny.
+Upon his head, if not the whole, at
+least the primary responsibility rests.
+He has accepted it, and let it abide
+with him. And let no man affirm
+that, in saying this, we are prolonging
+any rancorous feeling, or seeking
+to rub a sore which by this time
+should be wellnigh healed. The
+time for indignation and anger, if
+injury coupled with perfidy can ever
+provoke such sentiments, is not yet
+past; it is now in its fullest force.
+Had Sir Robert Peel acted as he
+ought to have done&mdash;had he played
+the part of a British statesman,
+sincerely desirous that in a matter
+of such magnitude the will of the
+country should be respected&mdash;the
+present Parliament, whatever might
+have been its decision as to Free
+Trade or Protection, would at least
+have represented the wishes of the
+electoral body; and if subsequent
+events had shown that these wishes
+were more sanguine than wise, the
+error would have been a national one,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>
+and no weight of individual responsibility
+would have been incurred.
+As it is, we are not only justified,
+but we are performing our duty, in
+indicating the real and sole originator
+of our present difficulties; and without
+wishing in any degree to trench
+upon his secret sources of consolation,
+we can hardly imagine that he
+will derive much comfort from the
+knowledge, that his tortuous policy
+has deprived the people in the hour
+of need of their best constitutional
+privilege and shield&mdash;the sympathy
+and co-operation of that House
+which is emphatically their own,
+and which, to the great detriment of
+the state, must lose its moral power
+the moment that it ceases to represent
+the will, and to protect the
+interests of the Commons.</p>
+
+<p>We are well aware that such reflections
+as these can bring but sorry
+comfort to the farmers. Their situation
+is one of unparalleled hardship,
+unrelieved by any consideration
+which can make the case of other
+sufferers more tolerable. We fully
+admit the vast extent of the powers
+which, since the Great Revolution,
+are held to be vested in Parliaments.
+We cannot gainsay the doctrine that
+these powers may, on occasion, be
+exerted to the uttermost; but we
+say, after the most careful and
+thoughtful deliberation, that the proceedings
+of the legislature with regard
+to the farmers of Great Britain
+are irreconcilable with the principles
+of justice, with the sacred laws of
+morality, which no legislative resolutions
+can abrogate or annul. The
+farmers are entitled to maintain that,
+in so far as regards them, the public
+faith has been broken. Such of them
+as hold leases had a distinct and
+unqualified guarantee given to them
+by the protective laws; and the
+allegation that the substitution of
+the sliding-scale for a fixed duty
+acted as a release for all former
+Parliamentary engagements, is a
+quibble so mean and wretched that
+the basest attorney would be ashamed
+to use it as a plea. The whole of the
+farmers' fixed and floating capital,
+estimated at the enormous sum of five
+hundred millions sterling, has been
+laid out on the faith of Protection; and
+yet when that Protection was furtively
+and treacherously withdrawn, no
+measure was introduced for the purpose
+of relieving them from engagements
+contracted under the older
+system, which were obviously incompatible
+with the lowered prices
+established by the formidable change.
+The public, we are afraid, are not
+aware of the extent of that depreciation
+which is still going on, <em>and
+which already exceeds the whole annual
+value of the manufacturing productions
+of Great Britain</em>. We borrow
+the following table from a late
+pamphlet by Mr Macqueen entitled,
+"Statistics of Agriculture, Manufactures,
+and Commerce, drawn up from
+Official and Authentic Documents;"
+and having tested it by every means
+in our power, we have no hesitation
+in adopting it. It is, in truth, a fearful
+commentary on the rashness and
+folly of our rulers.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center">COMPARATIVE VALUES OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE.</p>
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="produce">
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="left">Protective value.</td><td align="left">Depreciation.</td><td align="left">Value 1850.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Grains, potatoes, &amp;c.,</td><td align="right">£237,543,750</td><td align="right">£80,764,875</td><td align="right">£156,778,875</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Straw,</td><td align="right">100,700,000</td><td align="right">30,210,000</td><td align="right">70,490,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Green crops, pasture, &amp;c.,</td><td align="right">222,404,786</td><td align="right">66,721,435</td><td align="right">155,683,351</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Sundries,</td><td align="right">8,500,000</td><td align="right">2,125,000</td><td align="right">6,375,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Wool, British,</td><td align="right">15,400,000</td><td align="right">1,540,000</td><td align="right">13,860,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" class="bt bb">£584,518,536</td><td align="right" class="bt bb">£181,361,310</td><td align="right" class="bt bb">£403,187,226</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p>But this is not all. We have still
+to deal with the depreciation or diminished
+value of the farmers' fixed
+capital, invested in live stock, &amp;c.,
+which at the rate of 25 per cent,
+(a most moderate calculation, and
+below the mark in so far as Scotland
+is concerned,) shows a loss
+on £504,833,730 of £126,208,432
+<em>additional</em>!</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>We put forward the case of the
+farmers thus prominently, because, in
+addition to the great public wrong
+which has been done to them, they
+have serious reason to complain of
+the general apathy of the landlords.
+We do not allude to the part which
+the landowners took in 1846. We
+believe that the majority of them
+were sincerely disgusted by the conduct
+of the men who had climbed
+into office on their shoulders; and that
+they loathed and despised in their
+hearts the treachery of which they
+were made the tools. We know,
+moreover, that a great many of them
+abstained from taking part in the
+election of 1847, not being able to
+see their way through the political
+chaos in which we were then involved,
+and having, naturally enough,
+lost confidence in the probity of public
+men, and despairing of the remodelment
+of a strong constitutional
+party. Such things were, perhaps,
+inevitable; and it may be argued with
+much show of reason, that no better
+line of conduct was open to the landlords,
+and that they did wisely in
+reserving themselves for a more favourable
+opportunity, when experience,
+that stern and unfailing monitor, should
+have exposed to the Free-traders
+the falsity of their wild expectations.
+But it is impossible for them now to
+plead that the opportunity has not
+arrived. The experiment has been
+made, and has failed&mdash;failed utterly
+and entirely, if the practical refutation
+of the views advanced by all its leading
+advocates is to be considered as
+equivalent to failure. The current of
+reaction has set in strong and steady,
+not only in the counties, but in the
+towns; not only among those who, from
+their position, must be the earliest
+sufferers, but among those who are
+connected with the trade and general
+commerce of Britain. The disorganised
+party has rallied and is reformed
+under leaders of great talent,
+tried skill, and most assured loyalty
+and honour. How is it that, in this
+posture of affairs, any considerable section
+of the landlords is still hanging
+back? Why is it that they do not
+place themselves, as is their duty, at
+the head of their tenantry, and enforce
+and encourage those appeals to public
+justice, and to public policy, which are
+now making themselves heard in every
+quarter of the kingdom? We confess
+that we are at a loss to know why
+any apathy should be shown. The conduct
+of the tenantry towards the landlords
+has been generous and considerate
+in the extreme. They were invited, in
+no equivocal terms, to join their cause
+with that of the Free-traders and financial
+reformers; and they were promised,
+in that event, the cordial assistance
+of the latter towards the adjustment
+of their rents, and the equalisation
+of their public burdens. We venture
+not an opinion whether such promise
+was ever intended to be kept. Still it
+was made; and no effort was left untried
+to convince the farmers that
+their cause was separate and apart
+from that of the owners of the land.
+Their refusal to enter into that unholy
+alliance was most honourable to the
+body of the tenantry, and entitles
+them, at the hands of the proprietors,
+to look not only for consideration and
+sympathy, but for the most active and
+energetic support. Very ill indeed
+shall we augur of the spirit and
+patriotism of the gentlemen of England,
+if they longer abstain from identifying
+themselves universally with a movement
+which is not only a national
+one, in the strictest sense of the word,
+but upon which depends the maintenance
+of their own interests and order.
+Surely they cannot have been so dull
+or so deaf to what is passing around
+them, as not to be aware that they
+were especially marked out as the
+victims of the Manchester confederacy!
+These are not times in which any man
+can afford to be apathetic, nor will
+any trivial excuse for languor or indifference
+be accepted. Exalted position,
+high character, the reputation
+for princely generosity, and the best
+of private reputations, will be no apology
+for inactivity in a crisis so momentous
+as this. Organisation, union,
+and energy are at all times the chief
+means for insuring success; and we
+trust that, henceforward, there may be
+less timidity shown by those who
+ought to take the foremost rank in a
+contest of such importance, and who
+cannot abstain longer from doing so
+without forfeiting their claim to that
+regard which has hitherto been readily
+accorded them.</p>
+
+<p>It will be observed that, as yet, we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>
+have put the case for Protection upon
+very narrow grounds. We have
+shown that, so far as the agricultural
+body is concerned, Free Trade has
+proved most injurious, and that it
+cannot be persisted in without bringing
+downright ruin to that section of
+the community. If we had nothing
+more to advance than this, still we
+should be entitled to maintain that
+enough has been adduced to show the
+necessity of retracing our steps. The
+annihilation of such an important
+body as the agriculturists of Britain,
+implies of itself a revolution as great
+as ever was effected in the world; and
+to that, assuredly, if the agriculturists
+stood alone, they would not tamely
+submit. When Mr Cobden or his
+satellites addressed the people of Manchester,
+through their League circulars,
+to the following effect, "If the Americans
+will only put down their monopolising
+manufacturers, and we put
+down our monopolising landowners
+here, when our election time comes,
+we will lay the Mississippi valley
+alongside of Manchester, and we will
+have a glorious trade then!"&mdash;and
+again, "Our doctrine is, let the working
+man ply his hammer, or his
+spindle, or his shuttle, and let the
+Kentucky or the Illinois farmer, by
+driving his plough in the richest land
+on the surface of the earth, feed this
+mechanic or this weaver, and let him
+send home his produce in exchange
+for the products of our operatives and
+artisans"&mdash;they seem to have forgotten
+the temper and mould of the men with
+whom they proposed to deal so summarily.
+It is not quite so easy to expatriate
+three millions of able-bodied
+men; nor do we opine that a power
+morally or physically adequate to the
+task of such removal exists in the
+manufacturing districts. But, in
+reality, of all idle talk that ever issued
+from the lips or the pen of an inflated
+demagogue, this is the silliest and the
+worst. It presupposes an amount of
+ignorance on the part of his audience
+anything but flattering to the calibre
+of the Manchester intellect: indeed
+we hardly know which is most to be
+admired&mdash;its intense and transparent
+folly or its astounding audacity. The
+home trade is a thing altogether kept
+out of account in the foregoing
+splendid vision of a calico millennium.
+Mr Cobden, it will be seen, contemplates
+no home consumption, except
+in so far as the operative may provide
+himself with his own shirtings.
+The whole production of Britain is to
+be limited to manufactures; the whole
+supplies are to be derived from the
+hands of the reciprocating foreigner!</p>
+
+<p>There does not exist in this great
+and populous country any one class
+the labour of which can be restricted,
+or the profits curtailed, without an
+injurious result to the interests of the
+whole community. This is not simply
+a maxim of political economy; it is
+a distinct physical fact, which no ingenuity
+can controvert. Yet, strange
+to say, our rulers have acted, and are
+acting, with regard to by far the most
+important class of the country, as if
+no such fact were known; and they
+now profess to be amazed at its speedy
+and inevitable consequence. That
+agricultural distress must react upon
+the manufacturer, the trader, shopkeeper,
+and artisan, is as necessary a
+consequence as is a failure in the
+supply of water after a long-continued
+drought. If our taxation is artificial,
+and our national establishments costly,
+it must not be forgotten that our private
+expenditure is generally on the
+same scale. We consume within the
+country a far greater amount of manufactures
+than we can ever hope to export,
+and the only limit to that consumption
+is the power of purchase.
+The profits of the landowner, which
+depend upon the value of produce, do
+not constitute a fund which is removed
+from public circulation. On the contrary,
+these profits furnish the means
+of labour and employment to the
+greater portion of the industrious
+classes, who otherwise would have no
+resource; and if they are violently
+curtailed, it must needs follow that
+a large amount of employment is withdrawn.
+That is precisely our case at
+the present moment. By the admission
+of foreign produce, which is in
+fact foreign labour, the value of agricultural
+production in this country has
+fallen very nearly thirty per cent, and
+the consequence is a greatly diminished
+expenditure, and a slackening
+of employment grievously felt by those
+who are supported by manual labour.
+How, indeed, is it possible that it can
+be otherwise? A very little thought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>
+must convince every one that all incomes
+in Britain must depend upon
+the amount and value of the national
+production, and that, by reducing and
+lowering that, a direct attack is made
+upon the profits of every kind of
+labour. It is singular that consequence
+so plain should ever have been
+overlooked; still more singular that
+statesmen should have been found to
+maintain an opposite theory. The
+only explanation we can suggest as
+to this singular departure from the leading
+principles of economical science
+is, that of late years Ministers have
+habitually consulted the interests of
+the capitalists rather than those of the
+people. Sir Robert Peel has invariably
+shown himself a capitalist legislator.
+At the outset of his career,
+and while under the Israelitish guidance
+of Ricardo, he succeeded in carrying
+those Currency measures which
+increased by nearly one-third the
+weight of the national obligations.
+Later in life we find him engaged in
+measures of arbitrary bank restriction,
+thereby occasioning commercial panics,
+and securing another rich harvest for
+the moneyed class. His tariffs and
+Free-trade measures exhibit precisely
+the same tendency. They are all
+constructed with a view to cheapness,
+or, what is the same thing, to the
+diminution of the value of labour, so
+that the fortune of the capitalist or
+fundholder is now virtually doubled:
+while the industrious classes, with a
+lowered rate of wage, are compelled
+to undergo the additional evil of unrestricted
+foreign competition.</p>
+
+<p>Let us now, for a brief space, proceed
+to consider the internal adjustment
+of the strength and industry of
+Britain. It is a subject well worthy
+of study, especially at the present
+moment, when a general feeling of
+perplexity prevails, and when those
+who unfortunately gave ear to the
+specious representations of the Free-traders
+are convinced of their error,
+but are yet in doubt whether it be
+possible to retrace our steps. It is a
+subject, moreover, upon which we are
+bound to enter, seeing that official
+cunning has been used to conceal the
+real posture of affairs in this country,
+and, by undervaluing the magnitude
+of some interests, to give a factitious
+and altogether imaginary importance
+to others. We trust that we shall be
+able to show, to the satisfaction of
+our readers, the gross extent to which
+this kind of delusion and imposture
+has been carried.</p>
+
+<p>Upon no subject whatever are more
+erroneous impressions entertained,
+than upon the relative importance and
+strength of the two great classes of
+the country. Of late it has been
+quietly assumed that the manufacturers
+are infinitely superior to the
+agriculturists, not only in point of
+numbers, but in respect of capital employed
+or available; and many people
+have been puzzled to understand why,
+if this should be the case, such vehement
+opposition should be made to
+any proposal for readjusting the direct
+and local taxation, which confessedly
+weighs most heavily upon the proprietors
+and occupiers of the land.
+We have been told, in as many words,
+that henceforward the voice of the
+towns is to dictate the policy of Britain&mdash;that
+the agriculturists are a
+worn-out class, scarce worth preserving&mdash;and
+the most influential of the
+Free-trade journals has not hesitated
+to recommend a wholesale emigration
+to the Antipodes, or any portion of the
+surface of the globe where corn can be
+cultivated cheaper than in England.
+We have been not only taunted, but
+threatened, whenever we presumed to
+expostulate. Reference was made to
+certain "masses," who were ready to
+rise in defence of perennial cheapness;
+and Mr Cobden has warned us not to
+provoke the exercise of that power
+which is vested in himself, as dictator
+of the democracy. In short, we have
+been given to understand that, if protection
+to native industry, in any
+shape, should be re-introduced&mdash;which
+only can be done by the will and legitimate
+sanction of Parliament&mdash;physical
+force shall not be wanting on the
+other side.</p>
+
+<p>The use of such language argues
+great ignorance of the national
+temper. We have heard a good
+deal lately of what is termed the
+dogged Anglo-Saxon spirit, the main
+characteristic of which we take to be
+its decided antagonism to bullying,
+and its inveterate hatred of coercion.
+It is too much to expect that a controversy
+such as this should be conducted
+without some asperity of language,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>
+and therefore we make no clamorous
+complaint when Mr Cobden,
+or his friends, think proper to designate
+the British agriculturists as
+"ignorant clodpoles" and "horse-shoe
+idiots," or the landed proprietors
+as "a selfish and degraded faction,"
+or the Protectionist press as the
+"hireling tools of oppression." These
+are very old and very harmless terms
+of rhetoric, and we are not sure that
+we can claim entire vindication from
+the charge of having retorted with
+tolerable energy. The real danger
+begins when men step beyond constitutional
+limits, and advocate resistance
+to the legislature by appealing
+to the passions, as they have pandered
+to the prejudices, of the mob.</p>
+
+<p>Having premised so much, we think
+no one can misinterpret our motives,
+if we set ourselves seriously to the
+task of refuting a great fallacy which
+has been hatched and propagated by
+the Free-traders. It is one so monstrous
+in itself that we hardly could
+have supposed that any man, who had
+reflected for a moment on the subject,
+could have yielded to the delusion:
+nevertheless, we believe it to be most
+common, and it has been over and
+over again repeated at public meetings,
+until it has lost its quality as an
+assertion, and been treated as a recognised
+fact. It is within the recollection
+of all of us, that, both within the
+walls of Parliament and at the great
+outward gatherings of the League, the
+superiority of the manufacturing over
+the agricultural interest of Great Britain
+was broadly asserted, and assumed
+as the basis of the leading argument
+of the Free-traders. Sir Robert Peel
+expressly adopted this view in 1846,
+while advocating the repeal of the
+policy, which he had hitherto professed
+to support; we say, <em>professed</em>, because
+no man now doubts&mdash;indeed, it
+is fairly admitted by himself, with
+something like a sneer of triumph&mdash;that
+for many years he had been
+practising a deliberate imposture on
+the public. This view necessarily
+must have had some foundation on
+authority, if not on fact; and we can
+trace that authority to a statistical
+writer, Mr Porter, on whose accuracy,
+and method of dealing with figures,
+far too much reliance has been placed
+by statesmen high in office.</p>
+
+<p>In dealing with the census of 1841,
+and compiling his tables with a view
+to show the relative occupations of
+the people, Mr Porter has adopted
+the ingenious plan of massing commerce,
+trade, and manufactures together,
+and exhibiting the aggregate
+of these in contradistinction to the
+purely agricultural interest! At page
+55 of the last edition of his <cite>Progress
+of the Nation</cite> we find this statement&mdash;"The
+following more elaborate table
+of the occupations of the population
+of Great Britain, as ascertained in
+1841, his been compiled from the
+Reports of the Census Commissioners.
+<em>It affords the best abstract</em> that has
+hitherto been attainable upon this
+important branch of political arithmetic."</p>
+
+<p>We turn to the table indicated in
+this modest passage, and we find the
+following results for Great Britain
+alone:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="GB">
+<tr><td align="left">Persons engaged in commerce, trade, and manufacture,</td><td align="right">3,092,787</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Agriculture,</td><td align="right">1,490,785</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Labour not agricultural,</td><td align="right">758,495</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p>This, of course, is exclusive of the
+army, navy, learned professions,
+domestic servants, and various other
+employments, besides women and
+children. In another table, Mr Porter,
+estimating the male population of
+Great Britain, (excluding Ireland,)
+who were then upwards of twenty
+years of age, at 4,761,091, divides
+them thus:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="males">
+<tr><td align="left">Agriculture,</td><td align="left">1,198,156</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Trade, manufactures, &amp;c.,</td><td align="left">2,125,496</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Other classes,</td><td align="left">1,437,439</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="right" class="bt">4,761,091</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p>If, as Mr Spackman most properly
+observes in his excellent work, the
+<cite>Analysis of the Occupations of the
+People</cite>, one of the principal objects of
+taking the census is to trace the
+relative degree of dependence of one
+class upon another, how can this be
+done if all the trade and commerce of
+the country is to be mixed up with
+manufactures? "Mr Porter would
+have us to consider trade and commerce,
+<em>and manufactures</em> as synonymous
+terms, and that together they
+only form one class; and he seems to
+be so thoroughly haunted with the
+numerical weakness of the manufacturing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>
+interest, that his fear of its
+being discovered peeps out in every
+paragraph; and, by mixing them up in
+every table in which they are mentioned
+in his book, with those engaged
+in trade and commerce, he has
+effectually succeeded in his object."</p>
+
+<p>As we propose to lay before our
+readers the results of Mr Spackman,
+it may be proper shortly to state
+the principles which have guided
+him in his classification of the
+official returns. He recognises but
+two great classes of the community
+engaged in the production of wealth,
+and upon these he justly considers
+the whole of the remainder to be
+dependent. The following extract
+from his preface will sufficiently
+explain his view:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Of the number of persons actually employed
+by the agriculturists and manufacturers,
+no difference of opinion can exist,
+as we have adopted the Government classification
+in every instance, and copied the
+figures given in the returns. We believe
+this classification to be correct in principle,
+and but slightly erroneous in
+details.</p>
+
+<p>"Political economists may exercise
+their ingenuity by calling in question this
+classification, but we believe it is the
+only one that accurately traces the dependence
+of an individual on the one or
+the other interest; and, as this is the
+primary object of all such matters, if it
+attains this end, it is sufficient for all
+purposes. By the landed interest we
+mean not only the proprietors of the soil,
+but all that are engaged in its cultivation,
+and all the interests that are
+dependent on and supported by both
+landlord and tenant. An agriculturist
+is one who grows the raw material. The
+manufacturer changes the fabric from
+cotton into calico, flax into linen, wool
+into cloth, raw into manufactured silk,
+mineral ores into various combinations
+of metals, and the skin of an animal into
+leather.</p>
+
+<p>"All besides the agriculturists and
+the manufacturers are auxiliaries, not
+principals. Thus the handicraftsman
+alters the form, but not the substance,
+and adapts the article to the use of the
+consumer,&mdash;so the miller, baker, and
+butcher; the tailor, milliner, and shoemaker.</p>
+
+<p>"There is also a very numerous class,
+who neither produce, manufacture, nor
+alter the shape or substance of an article,
+and these are called merchants, if they
+buy and sell in a wholesale manner, or
+shopkeepers and retail dealers if they
+sell by retail. The business of these is
+to distribute all articles imported from
+abroad or produced at home, through
+every city, town, and village, in the
+United Kingdom; and the Government
+definition of all these auxiliaries is
+'engaged in trade and commerce.'</p>
+
+<p>"The dependence of any particular
+class engaged in trade and commerce, or
+in handicraft, is not upon the party who
+produces, alters, or supplies the article,
+but on the individual who consumes it;
+and if there is any tax whatever on the
+raw material, or on anything used in its
+manufacture, adaptation, or distribution,
+it is on him that all and every item of
+such tax, together with all profits and
+charges, must ultimately fall.</p>
+
+<p>"Inasmuch, however, as there is no
+wealth in this country of any amount, but
+what has been derived either from agriculture
+or manufactures, nor any of
+which the value is not determined by
+the success of these, so again this consumer,
+whatever his rank or position in
+society may be, is mainly dependent on
+them. The rental of land, the income
+from houses, or investments in the public
+funds, are merely the representatives of
+so much labour; and the means necessary
+to pay them are principally drawn from
+either agriculture or manufactures.</p>
+
+<p>"Our annual creation of wealth may
+be thus stated:&mdash;</p></blockquote>
+
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="annual">
+<tr><td align="left">Agriculture,</td><td align="right">£250,000,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Manufactures, deducting the value of the raw material,</td><td align="right">127,000,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Money interest,</td><td align="right">37,000,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Colonial interest,</td><td align="right">18,000,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Foreign commerce, (including shipping interest,) 10 per cent on amount of exports and imports,</td><td align="right">15,000,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Fisheries,</td><td align="right">3,000,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="right" class="bt">£450,000,000"</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p><em>And from one or other of these does
+every individual in the land derive his income
+or means of support.</em> The Peer
+of the realm, the landed proprietor,
+the Government annuitant, the clergyman,
+the medical and the legal adviser,
+with the banker, merchant, dealer, and
+handicraftsman of every class and
+kind,&mdash;derive what is necessary to
+support their state and condition, and
+their daily sustenance, from these
+spring-heads of national wealth.
+This is the substance of the nation,
+and what we call money consists
+merely of the counters we use to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>
+denote and measure the value of this
+substance as it passes from one to
+another.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"To do equal justice to all classes, the
+legislation of a country ought, therefore,
+to keep steadily in view their relative
+importance, not only as regards numbers,
+but also their powers of production, and
+the proportion which they severally bear
+of the national burdens. Unless this is
+the governing principle, it strikes at the
+root of their prosperity, and the injury
+inflicted on a class is evinced in the
+gradual decay of the whole community."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Acting upon these distinct, and, we
+submit, perfectly sound principles,
+Mr Spackman has compiled his tables
+in the following manner. The Government
+returns are quite explicit as to
+the number of those engaged directly
+in agriculture and in manufactures.
+Mr Spackman takes each county
+separately; and having set down the
+relative numbers of each class, he
+divides the remainder of the population
+between these according to their proportion.
+For example, let us instance
+his table of the county of Lanark,
+which is the great seat of Scottish
+manufactures. We find, from the
+official returns, that the following
+numbers are directly engaged:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="divided">
+<tr><td align="left">In Agriculture,</td><td align="right">13,169</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">In Manufactures of all kinds,</td><td align="right">61,378</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p>The residue of the population being
+352,425, he divides in the same
+proportion, and thus gives us as a
+result:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="left">Engaged in Agriculture,</td><td align="right">13,169</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Dependent on,</td><td align="right" class="bb">62,257</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="right">75,426</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Engaged in Manufactures,</td><td align="right">61,378</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Dependent on,</td><td align="right" class="bb">290,168</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" class="bb">351,546</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">Total of county,</td><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="right">426,972</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p>In the same way, by estimating the
+population of Perthshire directly
+employed in agriculture and manufactures,
+Mr Spackman forms his
+table thus,&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="engaged">
+<tr><td align="left">Engaged in Agriculture,</td><td align="right">16,302</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Dependent on,</td><td align="right" class="bb">64,233</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="right">80,535</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Engaged in Manufactures,</td><td align="right">11,509</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Dependent on,</td><td align="right" class="bb">45,346</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" class="bb">56,855</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">Total of County,</td><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="right">137,390</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p>The grand result for the United
+Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
+is as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="grand result">
+<tr><td align="left">Engaged in, and dependent on agriculture,</td><td align="right">18,734,468</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Engaged in, and dependent on manufactures,</td><td align="right">8,091,621</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Population, exclusive of those travelling on night of census,</td><td align="right" class="bt">26,826,089</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p>Lest it should be said that Mr
+Spackman has acted upon any wrong
+principle in framing these tables&mdash;for
+we know by experience that a certain
+class of political economists can see no
+virtue in any figures which are not of
+their own construction&mdash;let us turn to
+the Government reports, and extract
+from them the number of males <em>directly</em>
+employed in the two great branches of
+production.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center"><br /><span class="smcap">Agriculture.</span></p>
+
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="agriculture">
+<tr><td align="left">Farmers and Graziers,</td><td align="right">737,206</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Agricultural Labourers,</td><td align="right">2,312,388</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Gardeners, Nurserymen, &amp;c.</td><td align="right">60,767</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">All others,</td><td align="right">9,196</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">Total Males,</td><td align="right" class="bt">3,118,557</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+<p class="center"><br /><span class="smcap">Manufactures.</span></p>
+
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="manufactures">
+<tr><td align="left">Above 20,</td><td align="right">717,780</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Under 20,</td><td align="right">168,964</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">Total Males,</td><td align="right" class="bt">886,744</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+<p>"It will thus be seen," says Mr
+Spackman, "that the farmers and
+graziers alone, as a body, are more
+in number than all the males above
+twenty years of age employed in
+manufactures, and only 150,000 short
+of the whole number of males of all
+ages so employed. If we add the two
+and a quarter millions of labourers
+which these farmers and graziers give
+employment to, the <em>male</em> population
+employed in agriculture are nearly as
+four to one compared with those employed
+in manufactures. The same
+remark will also apply as to age: those
+above twenty are four to one; those
+under twenty are nearly two to one."</p>
+
+<p>We put forward these statements<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>
+with no other view than to exhibit to
+our readers the national importance
+of that agricultural interest which has
+been so bitterly assailed, and which
+is threatened still by a heavier accession
+of calamity. If the bastard system
+of Free Trade is to be considered
+according to its influence on the welfare
+of the majority of the people of
+Britain, there can be no doubt to
+which side the vast preponderance
+belongs. The "horse-shoe idiots,"
+though dull in intellect, are numerous
+in the flesh to an extent of which,
+perhaps, even Mr Cobden was little
+aware. It is quite true that the extended
+area over which they are disposed
+does not afford them the same
+means of combination which are within
+the reach of the inhabitants of the
+factories. The agriculturalists have no
+wish to interfere with their neighbours'
+livelihood, and little inclination to
+move at the bidding of mercenary demagogues.
+They seldom speak until
+suffering or a sense of injustice compels
+them to appeal to the legislature:
+and their unwillingness to join in
+agitation has, ere now, been made
+subject of taunt against them. Were
+it otherwise, we should not attach
+one half the importance which we do
+to the movement which is visible all
+over the face of agricultural England&mdash;a
+movement which the advocates
+of Free Trade may affect to despise,
+but which, in reality, has struck them
+with consternation. And no wonder
+that the movement should have been
+made. Let us pass from the mere
+numerical consideration, and look to the
+extent of property which is embarked
+on the one side and on the other.</p>
+
+<p>We have already stated the annual
+value of the agricultural production of
+these kingdoms to be £250,000,000,
+whilst that of manufactures is little
+more than £127,000,000. To
+this latter sum we must add about
+£50,000,000, being the estimated cost
+of the raw material, if we wish to calculate
+from the exports the importance
+of the home market compared with
+that which is to be found abroad.
+For example, if the declared value of
+the exports shall amount to 69 millions,
+we are entitled to assume that
+about 117 millions are consumed at
+home in a year of ordinary prosperity.
+This, of course, is no more than an
+approximation to the truth, but it is
+the nearest which can be made from
+such documents, reports, and returns,
+as are accessible to the statist. Let
+us take Mr Spackman's estimate of
+the capital employed, referring our
+readers for the details to his exceedingly
+interesting work.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center"><br /><span class="smcap">Agricultural Capital.</span></p>
+
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="capital">
+<tr><td align="left">Value of the Land, at 25 years' purchase of the annual rental of Great Britain and Ireland, amounting, to £58,753,615</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="left">£1,500,000,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Farmers' capital, employed in the cultivation of the soil, independent of the stock on hand, at all times, of cattle, grain, &amp;c., £5 to £6 per acre on 46,522,970 acres, about</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="left">250,000,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Stock in hand&mdash;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">About 7,500,000 head of cattle,</td><td align="left">}</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">About 31,000,000 sheep and lambs,</td><td align="left">}</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">About 1,500,000 horses,</td><td align="left">}</td><td align="right">250,000,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">About £50,000,000 value of timber,</td><td align="left">}</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">On an average, three months stock of grain, seeds, hay, and other produce always on hand,</td><td align="left">}</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">Estimated agricultural capital</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="right" class="bt bb">£2,000,000,000</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p class="center"><br /><span class="smcap">Manufacturing Capital.</span></p>
+
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Manufacturing Capital">
+<tr><td align="left">In Cotton,</td><td align="right">£24,500,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;&nbsp;" Woollen,</td><td align="right">16,500,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;&nbsp;" Linen,</td><td align="right">7,000,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;&nbsp;" Silk,</td><td align="right">4,000,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;&nbsp;" Lace,</td><td align="right">2,000,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;&nbsp;" Hose,</td><td align="right">1,000,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">All others,</td><td align="right">23,000,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">Estimated manufacturing capital,</td><td align="right" class="bt bb">£78,000,000</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The first reflection which must
+come home to the mind of every one
+who considers these tables, is the
+astounding audacity of those who
+have characterised the landlords as a
+grasping and rapacious class. Singular,
+nay, almost incredible as it
+may appear, the annual value of the
+production of manufactures is nearly
+double the amount of the whole capital
+invested. This fact sufficiently
+explains the manner in which so
+many colossal fortunes have been
+realised, while it also suggests very
+painful reflections as to the condition
+of the operatives who are the creators
+of all this wealth. But what are we
+to think of the conduct of the men
+who, not content with such enormous
+returns, have leagued together to
+swell them to a greater amount, by
+demanding the free importation of
+foreign produce, under the pretext
+that the people were oppressed by the
+continuance of a system which gave
+remunerative prices, continuous employment,
+and the means of livelihood
+to two-thirds of their aggregate
+number? We acquit many of the
+leading and most respectable manufacturers
+from being participators in
+any such scheme. Those connected
+with the home trade have very generally
+been opposed to the application
+of the Free-trade doctrines, the
+leading advocates of which were
+comprised of men who manufactured
+solely for exportation, and whose
+goods were neither intended nor
+adapted for British consumption. It
+was for the exclusive benefit, as at
+the instigation of the latter, that the
+Corn Laws were repealed. Few can
+be sorry&mdash;we confess we are not&mdash;that
+even they have been disappointed
+in their expectations. No tariffs have
+been relaxed in consequence of the
+ill-omened surrender; on the contrary,
+the Continental states, as well
+as the Americans, are protecting their
+own manufactures with increased
+vigilance; whilst, on the other hand,
+they are availing themselves of our
+folly, by deluging our market with
+their agricultural produce, securing
+by these means the double advantage
+of promoting both branches of industry.
+Never was there a vainer
+notion than the chimera that other
+states would abandon their rising
+manufactures to reciprocate with
+Great Britain, when that haughty
+power had deliberately deprived herself
+of the means of enforcing reciprocity.
+<em>The countries from which we
+import the largest amount of grain are
+not the countries which take the largest
+amount of our manufactures.</em> Even
+if the case were otherwise, we maintain
+that we should be heavy losers,
+and in no way gainers, by the transaction.
+Nationally, this is so clear
+that we need not waste words by
+arguing the point; but we go further
+and say that, even had other states
+reciprocated, the manufacturers, as a
+body, could not have been gainers by
+Free Trade, unless the relative proportions
+between the amount of
+home and foreign consumption had
+been entirely changed. For, so long
+as two-thirds of our whole manufactures
+are annually consumed in Britain,
+the condition of the consumers
+there, and their power of purchase,
+must be a matter of greater importance
+to the manufacturer than that of
+consumers abroad. The interest of
+the shopkeepers and of the artisans is
+almost entirely bound up with the home
+trade; and nothing can be more suicidal
+to the traders than to give
+any countenance to a system which
+strikes at the amount of their profits,
+by crippling the means of their customers.</p>
+
+<p>Were our object merely to show
+the glaring injustice which has been
+done to the landed interest, we could
+proceed much further in disentangling
+details from the confusion into which
+they have been purposely thrown, by
+such statistical writers as Mr Porter.
+But we apprehend that, in the present
+temper of the nation, there is little
+occasion for this. Men of all classes
+have had that opportunity which experience
+can alone give, of testing in
+their own individual case the advantages
+which were so confidently predicted
+by those who advocated the
+commercial change. Those who have
+benefited by it will, of course, remain
+Free traders. We are not unreasonable
+enough to expect that they will
+abandon that policy which is profitable
+to themselves, even though they
+should be convinced that it has proved
+the reverse of profitable to others.
+But we can conscientiously say, that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>
+we are acquainted with very few such
+persons. In the country they do not
+exist: in the towns, we hear of nothing
+except continued and weary depression.
+Almost every day fresh complaints of
+want of employment are thrust upon
+us. Establishments are reduced, because
+those who were considered
+wealthy, and those whose wealth depended
+upon produce, have no longer the
+means to support them as before:
+even professional incomes are declining:
+and no one ventures now to
+indulge in that expenditure which,
+four or five years ago, gave an impulse
+to the industry of the people.
+All this we believe to be acknowledged,
+and we have heard it from
+the lips of many whose political
+creed is quite at variance with our
+own.</p>
+
+<p>Most important testimony to the
+same effect was borne, at the recent
+meeting in Liverpool, by gentlemen
+who, from profession and connection,
+belong to the mercantile and trading classes
+of the community. It is no
+vague apprehension of coming evil,
+no slight or ephemeral touch of distress,
+which has elicited declarations
+of opinion so strong as were there
+expressed. The urgency of the case
+is felt and acknowledged; and ere
+long we have not the slightest doubt
+that demonstrations of similar magnitude
+and importance will take place
+in other of the English towns.</p>
+
+<p>From what we have already said,
+it will be gathered that we recommend
+no hasty or precipitate movement.
+Our strength lies in the justice
+of our cause, and in the palpable
+failure of the measures against which
+we have emphatically protested.
+This is not a question of mere sentiment,
+regarding which men can long
+continue to maintain divided opinions.
+It is a practical question, affecting not
+only the general welfare of the kingdom,
+but the property and means of
+every man who lives and thrives
+through his industry. It is essentially
+a labour question, and, as such, it
+cannot long remain without receiving
+a distinct solution. In the mean
+time, however, it is our duty to make
+preparation for the change which may
+arrive at no distant period. The
+various Protection societies which
+are everywhere organised, offer to
+those who condemn the present line of
+policy the best opportunity of concentrating
+their efforts, and of contributing
+to the ultimate triumph of
+the cause. These societies must be
+supported, for, under existing
+circumstances, they are of the utmost value.
+They present a ready channel through
+which the wishes and situation of the
+people can be communicated to the legislature
+or the throne; they establish
+and preserve communication between
+neighbouring districts; and
+they supply useful information, and
+disseminate sound principles, in quarters
+where good political knowledge is
+most especially required. We trust
+that no one who entertains opinions
+similar to our own, and who is deeply
+impressed with the necessity of a return
+to the just system of Protection,
+will be backward in lending his aid to
+these institutions. From the peculiar
+position of the agricultural party, such
+combinations are absolutely necessary,
+in order to arrive at a just estimate of
+our strength, and the true sentiments
+of the nation. Private efforts, however
+energetically made, are ineffectual
+in compassion with this system of
+union and of order; and although we
+know that agitation is in itself a thing
+distasteful to many, the emergency of
+the case is such that we are imperatively
+bound to adopt all legitimate
+means for the furtherance of our
+object. It may be that under no
+circumstances whatever can redress be
+obtained from the present Parliament.
+We have already adverted to the
+peculiar causes which would seem to
+render such an expectation at best a
+forlorn hope; yet still that furnishes
+no reason for relaxing in our efforts.
+The Whig Ministry&mdash;by the confession
+of men of all parties&mdash;has a most
+precarious tenure of office. Already
+the House of Peers has passed its
+gravest censure upon the course of
+foreign policy which has been pursued&mdash;a
+course of which it is difficult
+to say whether its most prominent
+feature is culpable recklessness or
+glaring dishonesty. We do not know
+what may be the decision of the House
+of Commons upon a point of such
+importance, or whether unscrupulous
+influence, and the dread of a dissolution,
+may not overcome the dictates of
+honour and the force of private judgement<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>
+in the more popular assembly.
+But, whatever may be the fiat of the
+Commons, this at least is clear, that
+a severe blow has been given to the
+stability of the Whig Government. Beyond
+the walls of Parliament they
+have hardly any support upon a question
+which threatens to involve us
+in direct hostility with France; and
+nothing could have more effectually
+damaged them, even in this wretched
+business, than the acerbity of the tone
+assumed by Lord John Russell with
+regard to the European powers, who
+are most justly incensed at the paltering
+and bad faith of the political incendiary
+who, to the misfortune of
+this country, has been intrusted
+with the management of foreign
+affairs. Neither the honour nor the
+interests of Britain are safe in such
+hands. Therefore we say to the men
+of the Country Party&mdash;Be prepared to
+act, for no one can tell how soon the
+moment for action may arrive. Ours
+is a great cause, and it must not be
+imperilled by slothfulness or inactivity
+at a crisis which requires the
+exertion of all our energies, and the
+combination of all our powers. Let
+us but be true to ourselves, and
+ultimate success is certain. Delusions
+may for a time have taken hold
+of the public mind; but the endurance
+of all delusions is short, and the mist
+is rapidly dissipating. Let any man
+compare the state of public feeling as
+it exists now, with what it was but
+twelve months ago, and he cannot fail
+to be impressed with the amazing
+rapidity of the change. And yet, why
+should he wonder at it? The industry
+of the nation is at stake, and what
+marvel that the people should demand
+their own?</p>
+
+<p>That cheapness of itself is no blessing,
+even our opponents admit in the
+arguments which they try to direct
+against us. Read their accounts of
+the squalidness and poverty which
+prevail in the larger towns&mdash;the testimony
+which has been laboriously collected
+as to the lamentable fall of
+wages, and the diminished profits of
+thousands employed in the lower kinds
+of handicraft. Undoubtedly competition
+among themselves has contributed
+to this state of matters; but in no
+degree at all commensurate to the
+great decline which has taken place
+since we commenced the ruinous system
+of reducing customs duties. Mr
+Joseph Hume once ventured to maintain,
+in the House of Commons, "that
+England might exist and prosper as a
+purely manufacturing and commercial
+country, if it did not grow a single
+bushel of corn,&mdash;if, in exchange for its
+manufactures and minerals, it imported
+from the cheap corn-producing
+countries every quarter of wheat required
+in this country!" How far
+that statement is compatible with the
+ascertained sources of the national
+wealth, we leave our readers to decide.
+This much, however, we shall say, that
+England, so situated, would be a very
+different country from that which we
+have known; and that the wildernesses
+of the West would offer a place of abode
+infinitely preferable to that which we
+could enjoy here under the gentle sway
+of the Millocrats, and the enlightened
+legislation of the Economists.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center space-above"><em>Printed by William Blackwood &amp; 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> <cite>Histoire des Ducs de Guise.</cite> Par <span class="smcap">Réné de
+Bouillé</span>, ancien ministre plénipotentiaire.
+Volume the First. Paris: 1849.</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> Francis of Lorraine was eighteen years old when slain at Pavia. One of his
+brothers had fallen, at about the same age, at the battle of Marignano.</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> Having ourselves seen the Old Guard on this trying occasion, we can vouch for
+the general fidelity of Chateaubriand's narrative.</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">Macaulay's</span> <cite>Essays</cite>, ii. 230.</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">Machabies.</span></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> M. de Chateaubriand died in 1847, before the Revolution of 1848.</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> Men employed in the stowing of ships' cargoes.</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> Looking into Homer's <cite>Iliad</cite> here for a passage to correspond with the account
+given by the naval man, one is somewhat at a loss; but at the end of the second
+book of the <cite>Odyssey</cite> there occur lines which might not improbably have been those
+recited. They are such as might well, in the original, excite longings after sea-life,
+and revive feelings of the kind most natural to the seafaring character, apparently
+known to Captain Collins only as "Jones." Will the readers of Maga accept, illustratively,
+of a rough translation?&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Then to Telemachus glided on board divinest Athenè,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Where on the poop she sat, and near her Telemachus rested.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Then were the moorings loosed by the mariners coming aboard her,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Joyous coming on board, and seated apart on the benches.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A fair westerly breeze by the blue-eyed goddess was wafted,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Cheerfully rippling along, and over the deep-coloured ocean.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Now to his shipmates shouted Telemachus, while to the oar-blades<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Leapt the impatient surge, till each at his order obeying,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Stepped they the pine-mast then in the mast-hole ready amidships,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Firmly staying it both ways down; and next by the well-twisted hide-thongs,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Snowily spreading abroad, the sails drew fluttering downward.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And in the sail-breast blew the bellying wind with a murmur,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The purple wave hissed from the prow of the bark in its motion;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Into the riotous wave she plunged, pursuing her voyage.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But when their oars they drew back to the galley securely,&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The swift, dark-sided bark, as she full on her journey exulted&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Then to her foaming beak they brought the o'er-bubbling goblet<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of red-hued wine, and poured out on her head a libation<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To the immortal gods, that dwell in the sky and in ocean,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But to the blue-eyed daughter of Jupiter mostly, Athené.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">All night then they sailed, till the morning rose on their voyage.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+</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> Lascar boatswain's mate.</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> It is of importance to keep in view that it never was asserted that the <em>first</em> move,
+the 26th, had not been sufficiently examined; and it will be immediately seen that
+that move was adhered to, no attempt being made to recall it. The truth is, that the
+London Club could not have played a better move than their 27th. Their mistake,
+as was first discovered by the Edinburgh Club, was in the 26th move, the one
+adhered to <em>after examination</em>.</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>
+</div>
+
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44338 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #44338 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44338)
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 68,
+No. 417, July, 1850, 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 68, No. 417, July, 1850
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: December 3, 2013 [EBook #44338]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE, JULY 1850 ***
+
+
+
+
+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.)
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+Transcriber's note:
+
+Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
+
+Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+  BLACKWOOD'S
+
+  Edinburgh
+
+  MAGAZINE.
+
+  VOL. LXVIII.
+
+  JULY-DECEMBER, 1850.
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+  WILLIAM BLACKWOOD & SONS, EDINBURGH;
+
+  AND
+
+  37 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.
+
+  1850.
+
+
+
+
+BLACKWOOD'S
+
+EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.
+
+  NO. CCCCXVII.       JULY, 1850.       VOL. LXVIII.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+  THE HOUSE OF GUISE,                                          1
+
+  MY PENINSULAR MEDAL. BY AN OLD PENINSULAR. CONCLUSION,      20
+
+  CHATEAUBRIAND'S MEMOIRS,                                    33
+
+  THE GREEN HAND--A "SHORT" YARN. PART XI.,                   48
+
+  THE JEW BILL,                                               73
+
+  THE PICTURES OF THE SEASON,                                 77
+
+  THE YEAR OF SORROW.--IRELAND--1849,                         93
+
+  LONDON AND EDINBURGH CHESS MATCH,                           97
+
+  THE INDUSTRY OF THE PEOPLE,                                106
+
+
+EDINBURGH:
+
+WILLIAM BLACKWOOD & 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. CCCCXVII.       JULY, 1850.       VOL. LXVIII.
+
+
+
+
+THE HOUSE OF GUISE.[1]
+
+  [1] _Histoire des Ducs de Guise._ Par RÉNÉ DE BOUILLÉ, ancien
+  ministre plénipotentiaire. Volume the First. Paris: 1849.
+
+
+Upon the page of history are inscribed the names of many great men,
+uncrowned, but more illustrious than most kings, whose biography
+essentially involves the records of their country and times. The
+cases are very rare in which this occurs of an entire lineage;
+when through several successive generations the same extraordinary
+qualities are transmitted, and the hero or statesman who perished
+yesterday, to-day and to-morrow seems to start again to life in the
+persons of descendants who rival and even eclipse his fame. These
+remarkable and most unfrequent instances are exemplified in the
+house of Guise, those puissant nobles of Lorraine, immigrant into
+and naturalised in France, who for eighty years led the armies and
+directed the councils of their adopted country. Great warriors, bold
+and profound politicians, unscrupulous and interested champions of
+Rome, alternately defenders of and competitors for thrones, they
+upheld their power and pretensions by the double lever of religious
+enthusiasm, and of skilful appeals to the sympathy of the people.
+Rich in glory, in wealth, in popularity, they were alternately
+indispensable and formidable to their sovereigns, and were virtually
+the last representatives of that energetic, able, and arrogant
+aristocracy, whose services to the state were often limited by
+the jealousy their power inspired, and whose patriotism was not
+unfrequently tarnished by their factious temper and unbounded
+ambition. From an early period of the sixteenth century, the
+influence of Guise was felt in France, for the most part paramount
+to that of royalty itself; until the might and glory of the house
+sank and disappeared beneath the daggers of assassins, and before
+the conquering sword of the Fourth Henry.
+
+The history of France during the sixteenth century necessarily
+comprises the public acts of the family of Guise, and the memoirs
+of the time abound in personal details of the members of that
+renowned house; but a work especially devoted to them was still
+a desideratum, until the appearance of that which M. Réné de
+Bouillé has just produced. One of the chief difficulties of his
+task must have been to avoid including the history of the century
+in that of the extraordinary men so intimately connected with its
+chief events. Whilst confining himself as much as possible to his
+immediate subject, he has yet, as he himself says, found his horizon
+of necessity extensive. And in order to assemble in one frame the
+various members of that celebrated family, he has been compelled
+to admit with them a host of other personages, who in their turn
+have brought a retinue, and have insisted on at least a corner of
+the canvass being allotted to their deeds. The manner in which M. de
+Bouillé has treated this great historical picture, whose magnitude
+and difficulty must have deterred a less zealous and persevering
+artist, is most judicious. "I have been as sparing as possible of
+discussion," he says, "prodigal perhaps, on the other hand, of
+cotemporary evidence, of faithful quotations, of such details as
+bring facts into a stronger light, exhibit the actors on the stage
+in a more animated manner, and display and make known, of and by
+themselves, the personages, parties, manners and spirit of the
+times, and the character of the situations." M. de Bouillé claims,
+as a matter of justice, credit for conscientious application, and
+declares his whole aim will have been attained if his work be
+admitted to possess historical interest and utility. No impartial
+critic will refuse it these qualities. It is at once substantial
+and agreeable; valuable to the student, and attractive to those who
+consider histories of the Middle Ages as fascinating collections of
+strange adventures and romantic enterprises.
+
+Réné the Second, reigning duke of Lorraine--the same who fought and
+conquered with the Swiss at Morat, and defeated Charles the Bold at
+Nancy--desired to see one of his sons settled in France. He selected
+the fifth, Claude, to whom he left by will his various lordships in
+Normandy, Picardy, and other French provinces, causing him to be
+naturalised a Frenchman, and sending him at a very early age to the
+court of France, where he was presented as Count de Guise, a title
+derived from one of his domains. The young count found immediate
+favour with Louis XII., to the hand of whose daughter Renée he was
+considered a likely aspirant. But he fell in love with Antoinette
+de Bourbon, daughter of Count de Vendôme, (the great-grandfather of
+Henry IV.,) asked and obtained her in marriage, and celebrated his
+wedding, when he was but sixteen years of age, in 1513, at Paris,
+in presence of the whole French court. The following year another
+wedding occurred, but this time youth was on one side only. In his
+infirm and declining age, Louis XII. took to wife the blooming
+sister of Harry VIII. of England, and honoured Guise by selecting
+him to go, in company with the Duke of Angoulême and other princes
+of the blood, to receive his bride at Boulogne. The wedding was
+quickly followed by a funeral, and Francis I. sat upon the throne.
+This chivalrous and warlike monarch at once took his young cousin of
+Guise into high favour, to which he had a fair claim, not only by
+reason of his birth, and of his alliance with the house of Bourbon,
+but on account of his eminent capacity, and of the martial qualities
+whose future utility Francis doubtless foresaw. To his triumphs in
+the field, Guise preluded by others less sanguinary, but in their
+kind as brilliant, in the lists and in the drawing room. His grace
+and magnificence were celebrated even at a court of which those were
+the distinguishing characteristics, thronged as it was with princes
+and nobles, most of them, like the king himself, in the first flush
+of youth, and with keen appetites for those enjoyments which their
+wealth gave them ample means to command. He gained great credit by
+his prowess at the jousts and tournament held at Paris on occasion
+of the coronation, and his conduct in another circumstance secured
+him the favour of the ladies of that gallant and voluptuous court.
+"One night," says his historian, "he accompanied Francis I. to the
+queen's circle, composed of those ladies most distinguished by their
+charms and amiability. Struck by the brilliancy and fascination of
+the scene, unusual at a time when custom, by assigning to women a
+sort of inferior position, or at least of reserve, interdicted their
+mingling in the conversation, and to a certain extent in the society
+of men, Guise communicated his impression to the king, who received
+it favourably, and at once decided that, throughout the whole
+kingdom, women should be freed from this unjust and undesirable
+constraint." It will easily be conceived that such an emancipation
+insured Guise the suffrages of the fair and influential class who
+benefited by it. From his first arrival at the French court he seems
+to have made it his study to win universal favour; and he was so
+promptly successful that, at the end of a very few months, he had
+conquered the goodwill of both nobility and army. He took pains to
+study and adapt his conduct to the character of all with whom he
+came in contact, thus laying the foundation of the long popularity
+which he and his successors enjoyed in France.
+
+But courtly pleasures and diversions were quickly to be succeeded
+by the sterner business of war. At his death, Louis XII. had left
+all things prepared for an Italian campaign; and Francis, eager
+to signalise his accession by the recovery of the Milanese, moved
+southwards in the month of August 1515, at the head of the finest
+troops that had yet crossed the boundary line between France and
+Italy. His army consisted of fifteen thousand excellent cavalry,
+twenty-two thousand lansquenets, fourteen thousand French and
+Gascon infantry, besides pioneers and a numerous artillery. The
+Constable of Bourbon led the van, the Duke of Alençon commanded the
+rear; Francis himself headed the main body, accompanied by Duke
+Anthony of Lorraine, (eldest brother of Guise,) with Bayard for his
+lieutenant, and by the Duke of Gueldres, captain-general of the
+lansquenets, whose lieutenant was the Count de Guise. If the army
+was good, none, assuredly, ever reckoned greater warriors amongst
+its leaders. Guise, during the passage of the Alps--accomplished by
+extraordinary labour, and which completely surprised the enemy--made
+himself remarkable by his constancy and activity, by the wisdom of
+his counsels, and by his generosity to the soldiers, thus further
+augmenting the affection they already bore him. Bayard and other
+illustrious officers formed his habitual society; and in him they
+found the most cordial and affable of comrades, as well as the most
+zealous advocate of their interests with the king. Devoted to his
+sovereign, Guise, when Francis somewhat over-hastily promised the
+Swiss an exorbitant sum of money as the price of the Milanese, nobly
+offered to contribute to it to the extent of all he possessed. The
+treaty, however, was broken by the Swiss. Steel, not gold, was to
+settle the dispute; and the plains of Marignano already trembled at
+the approach of the hostile armies. At the age of eighteen, Guise
+found himself general-in-chief of twenty thousand men. The Duke of
+Gueldres, having been recalled to his dominions by an invasion of
+the Brabanters, transferred his command to his young lieutenant, at
+the unanimous entreaty of the lansquenets, and in preference to all
+the French princes there present. In the quickly ensuing battle,
+Guise showed himself worthy of his high post. In the course of the
+combat, when the Swiss, with lowered pikes and in stern silence,
+made one of those deadly charges which in the wars of the previous
+century had more than once disordered the array of Burgundy's
+chivalry, the lansquenets, who covered the French artillery, gave
+way. Claude of Lorraine, immovable in the front rank, shamed them
+by his example; they rallied; the guns, already nearly captured,
+were saved; the battle continued with greater fierceness than
+before, and ceased only with darkness. Daybreak was the signal
+for its resumption, and at last the Swiss were defeated. After
+breaking their battalions, Guise, over eager in pursuit, and already
+twice wounded, had his horse killed under him, was surrounded,
+overmatched, and left for dead, with twenty-two wounds. Nor would
+these have been all, but for the devotedness of an esquire, whose
+name Brantôme has handed down as a model of fidelity. Adam Fouvert
+of Nuremberg threw himself on his master's body, and was slain,
+serving as his shield. After the action, Guise was dragged out
+from amongst the dead, and conveyed by a Scottish gentleman to the
+tent of the Duke of Lorraine. He was scarcely recognisable, by
+reason of his wounds; he gave no sign of life, and his recovery was
+deemed hopeless. He did recover, however, thanks to great care,
+and still more to the vigorous constitution and energetic vitality
+which distinguished all of his house, and without which the career
+of most of them would have been very short. Scarcely one of the
+prominent members of that family but received, in the martial
+ardour of his youth, wounds whose severity made their cure resemble
+a miracle. A month after the battle of Marignano, Guise, although
+still suffering, was able to accompany Francis I. on his triumphant
+entry into Milan, "as captain-general of the lansquenets, with four
+lieutenants, all dressed in cloth of gold and white velvet." One
+of his arms was in a scarf, one of his thighs had to be supported
+by an esquire, but still, by his manly beauty and martial fame, he
+attracted the admiring gaze of both army and people. Francis, in his
+report to his mother of the battle, named Guise amongst the bravest,
+as well he might; and thenceforward his great esteem for the young
+hero was testified in various ways--amongst others, by intrusting to
+him several important and delicate diplomatic missions. At Bologna,
+on occasion of the interview between Francis and Leo X., the Pope
+addressed to Guise the most flattering eulogiums. "Your holiness,"
+replied the ardent soldier, in a prophetic spirit, "shall see that
+I am of Lorraine, if ever I have the happiness to draw sword in the
+Church's quarrel."
+
+Master of the Milanese, Francis I. returned to France and beheld
+his alliance courted by all the powers of Europe, when suddenly the
+death of the Emperor Maximilian (15th January 1519) proved a brand
+of discord. Francis and Charles were the only serious candidates
+for the vacant dignity. Guise, with a secret view, perhaps, to
+the crown of Jerusalem for himself, strained every nerve, exerted
+all his influence, on behalf of the French King. But Charles, the
+more skilful intriguer, prevailed; and Francis, deeply wounded and
+humiliated by his failure, revolved in his mind projects of war.
+In these the king did not lose sight of the great assistance he
+might expect from Guise, brave, skilful, and prudent as he was; and
+the esteem in which the young chief was held at court increased so
+greatly, that the French nobles came to consider him almost the
+equal of the members of the royal family. Guise, on the other hand,
+by reason of his enormous fortune and high birth, and in his quality
+of a foreign prince, spared no effort to place himself on the
+footing of an ally rather than of a subject of the King of France.
+
+Pretexts for hostilities were not wanting; and soon we find Guise,
+at the head of his lansquenets, fighting victoriously over the
+very same ground upon which, in our day, French armies contended
+with very different results. Maya, Fontarabia, and the banks of
+the Bidassoa witnessed his prowess; he himself, a half-pike in his
+hand, led his men through the river, with water to his armpits,
+dislodging the enemy by the mere terror his audacity inspired. When
+he returned to Compiègne, where the court then was, the King hurried
+forth from his chamber to meet him, embraced him warmly, and gaily
+said, "that it was but fair he should go out to meet his old friend,
+who, on his part, always made such haste to meet and revenge him
+on his enemies." His summer triumphs in the Pyrenees were followed
+by a winter campaign in Picardy, where he succeeded in preventing
+the junction of the English and Imperialists, besides obtaining
+some advantages over the former, and harassing their retreat to the
+coast. He thus added to his popularity with the army, and acquired
+strong claims to the gratitude of the Parisians, deeply alarmed by
+the proximity of the enemy to the capital, and who viewed him as
+their saviour.
+
+The year 1523 opened under menacing auspices. Germany, Italy,
+England, were leagued against France, whose sole allies were
+Scotland, the Swiss, (the adhesion of these depending entirely
+on regular subsidies,) and the Duke of Savoy, whose chief merit
+was that he could facilitate the passage of the Alps. Undeterred,
+almost foolhardy, Francis, instead of prudently standing on the
+defensive, beheld, in each new opponent, only a fresh source of
+glory. Unhappily for him, at the very moment he had greatest need
+of skilful captains, the Constable of Bourbon, irritated and
+persecuted in France, courted and seduced by the astute Charles V.,
+entered into a treasonable combination with the Imperialists. It was
+discovered; he fled, and effected his escape. Out of France, he
+was but one man the less, but that man was such a leader as could
+hardly be replaced, and Charles gave him command of his troops in
+the Milanese. The Constable's misconduct brought disfavour on the
+princes of the house of Bourbon, (of that of Valois none remained,)
+and this further increased the credit and importance of the Count
+of Guise. He was already governor of Champagne and Burgundy,
+provinces the Emperor was likely to attack. This command, however,
+was not the object of his desires; he would rather have gone to
+Italy, and applied to do so; but the King, rendered suspicious by
+the Constable's defection, began to consider, with some slight
+uneasiness, the position acquired by the Count of Guise; and it
+was probably on this account only that he would not confer on the
+Lorraine prince the direction of the Italian war. The glory of Guise
+lost nothing by the refusal, although that of France grievously
+suffered by the army of Italy being confided to the less capable
+hands of Admiral Bonnivet. Fortune soon afforded the younger general
+one of those opportunities of high distinction, of which no leader
+ever was more covetous or better knew how to take advantage. A large
+body of Imperialist infantry having made an irruption into Burgundy,
+he assembled the nobility of the province and about nine hundred
+men-at-arms, with which force he deemed himself able to keep the
+field against the twelve thousand lansquenets that Count Furstemberg
+led to meet him. By an odd accident, he had no infantry, his
+adversary no cavalry. By dividing his horsemen into small parties,
+and maintaining an incessant harassing warfare, Guise prevented
+the Germans from foraging; and at last, compelled by famine, they
+prepared to recross the Meuse, abandoning two forts they had
+captured, and carrying off a large amount of spoil. Thus encumbered,
+and vigorously pursued, their rearguard was cut to pieces, and
+their retreat converted into a rout. "With a feeling of chivalrous
+gallantry," says M. de Bouillé, "Guise desired to procure the
+duchess his sister-in-law, Antoinette de Bourbon, and the ladies of
+the court of Lorraine, then assembled at Neufchâteau, the enjoyment
+of this spectacle, (the battle), to them so new. Warned by him, and
+stationed at windows, out of reach of danger, whence they looked out
+upon the plain, they had the pastime, and were able to recompense,
+by their applause and cries of joy, the courage of the troops whom
+their presence animated."
+
+But such partial successes, however glorious to him by whom they
+were achieved, were all insufficient to turn the tide of disaster
+that had set in against the French arms. The defeat of Bonnivet,
+the invasion of Provence by the Constable, were succeeded by that
+terrible day before the walls of Pavia, when Francis I., vanquished,
+wounded, made prisoner by a rebellious subject, beheld his army
+destroyed, and the battle-field strewn with the bodies of his best
+generals, whilst, bleeding at his feet, slain in his defence, lay
+Francis of Lorraine, a younger brother of the Count of Guise, the
+second of that brave brotherhood who had fallen in arms under the
+_fleur-de-lis_.[2] When the brave but most imprudent monarch was
+carried into captivity, his mother, regent in his absence, placed
+her chief trust and dependence in Guise. Of these he proved himself
+worthy. He checked the ambition of the Duke of Vendôme, who, as
+first prince of the blood, showed a disposition to seize upon the
+regency; he advised the ransoming of the French prisoners taken
+at Pavia, and exercised altogether a most salutary influence upon
+the circumstances of that critical time. His good sword, as well
+as his precocious wisdom, was soon in request. A large body of
+German fanatics, proclaiming the doctrine of absolute equality,
+and the abolition of all human superiority, had swept over Suabia,
+Wurtemberg, and Franconia, burning churches and slaying priests, and
+threatened to carry the like excesses into Lorraine and Burgundy.
+By aid of his brothers, at much expense and with great difficulty,
+Guise got together ten thousand men, four thousand of whom were
+cavalry. The double cross was the rallying sign of this little
+army. The time was come for Guise to perform his promise to Pope
+Leo, to fight stoutly in defence of the Church. And truly his hand
+was heavy upon the unfortunate and half frantic Lutherans, although
+to a certain extent he tempered its weight with mercy. Besieged
+in Saverne, the fanatics put to death the herald who summoned
+them to surrender. Learning that reinforcements from Germany were
+at hand, Guise hurried to meet them with three thousand men, and
+encountered them at the village of Lupstein, into which the Germans
+retreated, after a terrible conflict outside the place, and threw
+up a barricade as best they could, of carts, casks, and gabions.
+From the cover of these, and of the adjacent hedges, they kept up
+so obstinate a defence, that Guise, whose men fell fast, caused
+fire to be applied to the houses. But hardly had the flames begun
+their ravages, when the Count, seized with compassion, threw himself
+from his horse to assist in extinguishing them, and succeeded, at
+imminent risk to his own life, in saving upwards of four thousand
+persons of all ages. Nearly double that number perished; as many
+more at Saverne and in the mountains, to which the unfortunate
+Germans fled; and about fifteen thousand in a final engagement
+at Chenouville, which broke the strength of the fanatic host,
+and finally closed the campaign. During one of these battles,
+the soldiers of Guise beheld in the air the image of the Saviour
+attached to the cross, a phenomenon in which they saw assurance of
+victory.
+
+  [2] Francis of Lorraine was eighteen years old when slain at Pavia.
+  One of his brothers had fallen, at about the same age, at the battle
+  of Marignano.
+
+"Once more," says M. de Bouillé, "Guise had rendered a most
+important service to the kingdom; he had also assumed a peculiar
+and marked position, and had fixed a point of departure for himself
+and his descendants, by striking, of his own accord, and without
+instructions from the Government, the first blows that Protestantism
+received in France: a circumstance often recalled, with more or less
+exultation, by the panegyrists of that family, and which procured
+Claude de Lorraine the nickname of the _Great Butcher_, given him
+by the heretics, who were exasperated by the loss of nearly forty
+thousand men, caused them by his arms in that fatal expedition."
+
+Determined foes to the Reformed faith as both of them were, a
+distinction must yet be made between the Count of Guise assailing
+and slaughtering, with far inferior forces, a formidable body of
+armed and aggressive foreigners, and the fierce _Balafré_, wielding
+a murderous sword against his defenceless and inoffensive Huguenot
+countrymen, on the terrible night of St Bartholomew. If the amount
+of bloodshed at Saverne and Chenouville appears excessive, and
+implies that little quarter was given, it must yet be remembered
+that greater clemency to the vanquished might have had the most
+disastrous consequences to the handful of conquerors. The Council
+of Regency disapproved of Guise's conduct in the affair; taxing him
+with rashness in risking the whole of the small number of regular
+troops disposable for the defence of the kingdom. But there could
+hardly have been more pressing occasion to expose them; and Francis
+I., on returning from exile, recognised and rewarded that and other
+good services by elevating the county of Guise into a duchy and
+peerage--further enriching the newly-made duke with a portion of
+the crown domains. Such honours and advantages had previously been
+almost exclusively reserved for persons of the blood-royal. The
+Parliament remonstrated in vain; but Francis himself, before very
+long, repented what he had done. He took umbrage at the increasing
+popularity of the Duke of Guise, and gave ear to the calumnies
+and insinuations of the French nobles, who were irritated by the
+haughty bearing, great prosperity, and ambitious views of the house
+of Lorraine. The manner in which Francis testified his jealousy and
+distrust was unworthy of a monarch who has left a great name in
+history. He showed himself indulgent to those of his courtiers and
+officers who organised resistance to the influence and pretensions
+of the Guises. "One time, amongst others," says M. de Bouillé, "the
+Duke of Guise, governor of Burgundy, wishing to visit the castle
+of Auxonne, whose governorship was a charge distinct from that of
+the province, the titulary, Rouvray, a French gentleman, refused
+him admittance, which he would not have dared to do had Guise been
+recognised as prince. When the Duke complained of this treatment,
+the King, delighted, whilst taking advantage of his services, to see
+his pride and ambition thwarted, lauded the conduct of Rouvray, and
+laughed at him who had wished to play the prince of royal blood."
+For annoyances of this kind Guise sought compensation in popularity,
+thus tracing out for his descendants the line they should most
+advantageously follow.
+
+The partial disfavour into which the Guises had fallen, during
+an interval of peace when their services were not indispensable,
+was dissipated by the zeal and talents exhibited by the Duke's
+brother, John Cardinal of Lorraine, in a most difficult and delicate
+negotiation with Charles V., and by the prompt good-will with
+which, when negotiation failed and war broke out, the Duke hurried
+to the relief of Peronne, accompanied by his eldest son, the Count
+of Aumale, then scarcely nineteen years old. Peronne la Pucelle
+was hard beset by the Count of Nassau, who pounded its ramparts
+with seventy-two pieces of cannon, and was defended with equal
+valour by Fleuranges, Marshal de la Marck, who repulsed an assault
+made simultaneously by two breaches, and destroyed a mine on which
+the enemy reckoned for his discomfiture. Want of supplies, and
+especially of powder, must soon, however, have compelled him to
+yield, but for a stratagem practised by Guise. That able commander
+selected four hundred resolute soldiers, loaded each of them with
+a bag containing ten pounds of powder, and set out, at six in the
+evening, from his headquarters at Ham, with the Count of Aumale,
+whose first experience of war this was, and to whom Guise, as he
+wrote to the King, "intended soon to give up his sword, as capable
+of doing better service in his young hands than in his own." Two
+hundred horsemen escorted them as far as the edge of the marshes of
+Peronne, and at midnight Guise, who had brought with him a large
+number of drummers and trumpeters, distributed these at different
+points around the besiegers' camp. Whilst they sounded and beat
+the charge, and the Imperialist generals, believing themselves
+attacked on all sides, hastily formed their troops for the combat,
+the powder-bearers, guided by a soldier of the garrison who had
+borne news of its distress from Fleuranges to Guise, crossed the
+marshes by means of a number of little roads and bridges, which the
+enemy himself had made to maintain his communications, and reached
+the moat, whence by means of ropes and ladders they entered the
+fortress. The last of them were just getting in when day broke, and
+the Count of Nassau discovered the trick that had been played him,
+and detached a body of cavalry to pursue Guise, then retreating with
+his drums and trumpets, and whose steady array discouraged attack.
+A few days later the Imperialists raised the siege, and Paris,
+which had been in consternation at the danger of Peronne, its last
+bulwark against the advancing foe, knew no bounds in its gratitude
+to the man to whom it thus, for the second time, was indebted for
+its salvation. Guise's great services in this and the following
+campaign rendered Francis I. indulgent to his still-recurring
+pretensions; to the arrogance which led him frequently to refuse
+obeying orders that did not emanate directly from the King, and
+to assume a sort of independence and irresponsibility in the
+exercise of his government. Looking back, through the clarifying
+medium of history, upon the character and conduct of Claude of
+Lorraine, we are disinclined to think that Francis had ever serious
+cause for mistrusting the loyalty of his powerful subject; whose
+encroachments, however, it cannot be denied, were sufficient grounds
+for jealousy and uneasiness. And on more than one occasion we find
+the royal anger--perhaps complete disgrace--averted from him only
+by the interest of his brother the Cardinal, to whom Francis could
+refuse nothing.
+
+As a diplomatist and patron of the arts, Cardinal John of
+Lorraine occupies almost as elevated a pedestal in the gallery
+of distinguished Frenchmen of the sixteenth century, as does his
+brother Claude in his more active capacity of general of armies
+and administrator of provinces. His courtly qualities, and a
+congeniality of tastes--some of which, although they might be
+held excusable in a king, were scarcely to be palliated in a
+prelate, even in that age of lax morality--endeared him to Francis,
+who associated with him on a footing of great familiarity. His
+generosity and charity were on such a scale as at times to resemble
+prodigality and ostentation; his love of pleasure and addiction
+to gallantry were in like manner excessive. "He was," says M. de
+Bouillé, "a very lettered prince, a splendid patron of learned men,
+whom he treated as friends, and in whose labours he associated
+himself. A writer named Bertrand de Vaux, having presented and
+read to him a critical work, containing low personality, awaited,
+notwithstanding its base character, the recompense which the
+Cardinal always granted to those authors with whose productions he
+was satisfied. The prelate accordingly handed him a golden etui.
+'Take this, friend Bertrand,' he said; 'it is to pay the fatigue and
+salary of the reader. The writer must seek payment from some more
+malignant man than myself.'" The celebrated Erasmus, Clement Marot
+the poet, and Rabelais the satirist, all benefited by the patronage
+or enjoyed the intimacy of the Cardinal, who, conjointly with his
+nephew the Cardinal Charles of Lorraine, is believed by some to
+have been indicated by the witty priest of Meudon in the character
+of Panurge. Passionately fond of art, the prelate-prince gathered
+around him the men of genius whom the largesses and magnificence
+of Francis I. seduced from Italy to France. He showed particular
+favour to Benvenuto Cellini, who presented him with some of his
+works and received from him costly gifts. "When in full blaze of
+fortune and favour, he caused to be built and decorated, with blind
+prodigality, after the designs of Primaticcio and by the pupils
+of that famous artist, the superb chateau of Meudon, in whose
+park was constructed, amongst other costly ornaments, a grotto,
+'excellently fine and pleasant to save oneself from being wetted
+by the rain.' He had musicians in his service, and Arcadelt, a
+distinguished composer, some of whose works are still preserved and
+esteemed, was his _maître de chapelle_." His charity, although often
+too indiscriminate, sprang from real kindness of heart. Numerous
+children, belonging to poor families, were educated at his expense
+in the Paris schools. And his good grace in conferring favours
+doubled their value. The farmer of his abbey of Fécamp, having made
+the same receipt serve for three separate payments, and endeavouring
+to make it pass a fourth time, the Cardinal's receivers refused
+to admit it, and the case was referred to the prelate himself,
+who, having examined and recognised his signature, merely said,
+"Since John is there, John shall be believed," and ordered it to
+be definitively admitted. When he went abroad, "he usually," says
+Brantôme, "carried a great pouch, which his _valet-de-chambre_, who
+had charge of the money for his petty expenses, failed not to fill
+each morning with three or four hundred crowns: and as many poor
+as he met he put his hand into the pouch and gave, without stint
+or consideration, whatever he drew forth." The story is well known
+of the blind mendicant, who, having implored an alms of him in the
+streets of Rome, exclaimed, on receiving a handful of gold: "_O tu
+sei Christo, o veramente il cardinal di Loriena_." By the light
+which these details throw upon his character, it is not difficult
+to discern that the magnificent cardinal must have been a welcome
+courtier to the sumptuous Francis, who, during the period of his
+favour, made him his constant companion and delighted to do him
+honour. He sat upon the King's left hand on occasion of the _lit
+de justice_ held at Paris on New Year's day 1537, at which Francis
+declared Charles of Austria attainted of rebellion and felony, and
+deprived of Artois, Flanders, and all the domains that he held _en
+mouvance_ of the crown of France--a sentence more easily pronounced
+than enforced, and which of course entailed a war. Peace again
+concluded, in great measure by the diplomacy of the Cardinal, he it
+was, according to Du Bellay, who alone accompanied the King and
+Queen at dinner, on the day of Charles V.'s entrance into Paris.
+The friendship borne him by Francis, was the cause of his being
+charged to break to that monarch the death of his son, the Dauphin
+of France. Of the familiarity with which the King treated him, M.
+de Bouillé gives a specimen in a curious anecdote: "One day, at
+mass, the Cardinal did not perceive that a thief, who had managed to
+enter the chapel, had picked his pocket. The rogue, observing that
+the King had his eyes fixed upon him, with extraordinary coolness
+and audacity put his finger on his lips, looking at the same time
+significantly at Francis I., who took the hint and said nothing,
+in order not to spoil what he imagined to be an adroit practical
+joke. Service over, however, he made an observation which induced
+the Cardinal to put his hand in his pocket, when he discovered his
+loss. When the King had amused himself at his surprise, he ordered
+that what had been stolen should be restored; but the thief, who
+was perfectly serious in his intentions, had made his escape, which
+greatly increased the mirth of the monarch, thus cleverly duped. 'On
+the word of a gentleman,' he exclaimed, 'the rogue has made me his
+accomplice!'"
+
+Powerfully supported at court by his brother, Claude of Lorraine
+was no less ably seconded in the field by his son Francis, Count
+of Aumale, a young hero destined ultimately to surpass even him in
+glory, and to raise the name of Guise to its apogee of splendour.
+The constantly-recurring wars with the Emperor yielded him abundant
+opportunities to display his prowess. In the campaign of 1543 he did
+good service, until, at the siege of Luxemburg, he was dangerously
+wounded above the ankle by an arquebuse ball. "Carried, almost
+without hopes--on account of the fracture of the bones and the
+injury to the nerves--first to his tent and then to Longwy, five
+leagues in rear, he owed his recovery to the attention of the King,
+who sent him his own physicians, and to the care bestowed upon him
+by his father. And nevertheless, when he suffered signs of pain
+to escape him during the dressing, the Duke of Guise addressed
+to him reproaches by which it will be seen that he subsequently
+profited, saying to him--a noble and stoical maxim--'That persons
+of his rank ought not to feel their wounds, but, on the contrary,
+to take pleasure in building up their reputation on the ruin of
+their bodies.'" It was in no feather-bed school that the Guises were
+educated. Nearly at the same time that the Count d'Aumale was hit
+before Luxemburg, Gaspard de Coligny-Châtillon, then his rival in
+valour, and at a subsequent day his deadly foe, was severely wounded
+in the throat at the siege of Binche.
+
+In the war in which these incidents occurred, England was allied
+with the Emperor against France. Personal motives combined with
+political irritation to dispose the violent and uxorious Henry VIII.
+to a rupture with Francis I. Mary of Lorraine, daughter of the Duke
+of Guise, and widow of Louis of Orleans, duke of Longueville, had
+been given in marriage to James V. of Scotland, in preference to
+Henry, who, inflamed by the report of her beauty, had solicited her
+hand as a pledge of perpetual alliance with France. Dazzling as
+was the offer of so powerful a sovereign, his anti-catholic acts,
+and his evil reputation as a husband, deterred the Guises from
+entertaining it; and Francis I., obeying the dictates of feeling
+rather than those of prudence, extricated them from a dilemma by
+alleging a previous promise to the Scottish king. It is said that
+Henry would then gladly have espoused Louisa, second daughter of the
+Duke, and that, means being found to elude his pursuit, this second
+disappointment further augmented his rancorous feelings towards
+Francis and the house of Guise. However this may have been, the
+war with England continued subsequently to the conclusion of peace
+between Francis and Charles--chiefly in Picardy, around Boulogne,
+which Henry held, and in whose neighbourhood his army was encamped.
+Some severe skirmishes and partial engagements occurred, and in one
+of these the Count of Aumale received a wound, probably the severest
+ever survived by mortal man, from the lance of an English officer.
+The weapon, according to the description of Ambrose Paré, entered
+"above the right eye, declining towards the nose, and piercing
+through on the other side, between the nape and the ear." So violent
+was the blow that the weapon broke in the head, into which it had
+penetrated more than half a foot, the entire lance-iron and two
+fingers' breadth of the staff remaining in the wound. Paré explains
+the possibility of such a wound, in an age when helmets and visors
+were in use, by mentioning that the Count always went into action
+with his face bare.
+
+"Terrible as was the shock," says M. de Bouillé, "it did not unhorse
+d'Aumale. He still made head against his foes, succeeded in forcing
+a passage through them, aided by his young and valiant brother
+Claude, and by de Vieilleville--who, alone of all, had not abandoned
+him--and rode gloriously into camp. His appearance was frightful;
+his face, armour, and clothes were deluged with blood. The surgeons,
+stupified by the depth and gravity of the wound, despaired of cure,
+and refused to inflict useless sufferings upon the patient. But
+Ambrose Paré, the King's surgeon, sent by Francis with orders to
+try every means of saving the hero's life, was not discouraged.
+Confiding in his skill, and in the firmness of the wounded man, he
+resolved to attempt an operation, terrible indeed, but admirable for
+those days, and worthy alone to insure celebrity to him who imagined
+it. The lance-head was broken off so short, that it was impossible
+to grasp it with the hand. Taking then a blacksmith's pincers, to
+draw it out with great force, and assisted, amongst others, by
+Master Nicolle Lavernan, a very experienced surgeon, he asked the
+Lorraine prince, in presence of a crowd of officers shuddering
+with horror, if he would submit to the employment of such means,
+and would suffer him to place his foot upon his face. 'I consent
+to everything; proceed,' replied d'Aumale. Nor did his fortitude
+abandon him for an instant during this cruel operation, which was
+not effected without fracture of bones, nerves, veins, and arteries,
+and other parts, and which he endured as if they had only pulled out
+a hair. The agony extorted from him but the single exclamation--'Ah!
+my God!' Transported afterwards in a litter to Pecquigny, he
+remained for three days in a hopeless state: early on the fifth day
+more favourable symptoms declared themselves, and nature made such
+powerful efforts, that the cure was completed without leaving the
+Count d'Aumale any trace of this astonishing wound, except a scar,
+equally glorious for him and for Ambrose Paré. That skilful surgeon
+was wont modestly to say, when speaking of the marvellous cure of
+Francis of Lorraine--'I dressed it, and God healed it.' As soon as
+he began to get better, the Count d'Aumale hastened to write to the
+King, with a hand still unsteady, the following note, characterised
+by a calmness remarkable in such circumstances:--'Sire, I take the
+liberty to inform you that I find myself well, hoping not to lose an
+eye. Your very humble servant, LE GUIZARD.'" Admiring his energy,
+and in recompense of his services, Francis I. made him governor
+of Dauphiny; whilst the numerous partisans of the house of Guise
+attributed his cure to a miracle wrought by the prayers of his pious
+mother, Antoinette of Bourbon. This princess carefully preserved
+till her death the lance-point which had penetrated her son's head.
+The extent of the wound, as described by Paré, would be scarcely
+credible, but for the testimony of that learned and excellent man,
+and of other cotemporary writers quoted by M. de Bouillé. In a
+short time the heroic Count had forgotten his hurt, and was again
+in arms against the English, with whom, however, peace was shortly
+afterwards concluded.
+
+Notwithstanding the frequent uneasiness occasioned him by the power
+and ambition of the family of Guise, Francis I. continued, almost to
+the close of his reign, to enrich and aggrandise them. The magnitude
+of their services, and their many great qualities, at intervals
+elicited his gratitude and generosity, to the oblivion of mistrust
+and apprehension. Thus, only three years prior to his death, he
+erected into a marquisate certain lands and lordships of the Duke
+of Guise, and immediately afterwards elevated the marquisate to a
+duchy, in consideration, said the letters patent, of the great,
+virtuous, and commendable services that the Duke of Guise had long
+rendered to king and country, without sparing his own person, his
+children, or goods; "and also that our said cousin Duke of Guise
+is of the house of Lorraine, descended by wife and alliance from
+the house of Anjou, and from our predecessors, kings of France."
+Thus was the title of Duke of Mayenne provided for a younger son of
+Claude of Lorraine. Such laudatory declarations as the one above
+cited were concurrent, however, with the systematic restriction of
+the Guises' direct influence on state affairs. And on his deathbed,
+when dividing his last hours upon earth between religious duties and
+sage counsels to his son, Francis enjoined this prince not to recall
+the Constable of Montmorency, or to admit to a share of government
+the princes of the house of Guise. Montmorency had incurred disgrace
+and banishment by exciting the King's conjugal jealousy. Henry II.
+showed slight regard to his father's dying injunctions. Scarcely
+had the earth closed over the deceased monarch, when those he had
+recommended to his son's favour were removed from their posts;
+Montmorency was recalled, and the Guises were taken into favour;
+the Count of Aumale, and Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine, dividing
+between them Henry's whole confidence. It must be admitted, that the
+means to which they resorted to secure and preserve this favour,
+were not of the most delicate description, although, doubtless,
+they would be very differently estimated then and now. They
+sustained their credit with Henry II. by their attentions to Diana
+of Poitiers, his all-powerful mistress, whose eldest daughter one
+of the brothers, Claude, Marquis of Mayenne, had just married. From
+this discreditable alliance Châtillon, afterwards the Admiral de
+Coligny, had tried to dissuade them, by pointing out, says Brantôme,
+in his Life of the Admiral, "that it was not very honourable for
+them, and that an inch of authority and favour with honour was
+better than an armful without." The Count of Aumale, up to that
+time the inseparable companion of Coligny, was but ill-pleased by
+the freedom of this advice, which, he said, was less that of a
+friend than of one envious of the good fortune such an alliance
+insured to his family. This difference, however, cast but a slight
+cloud over the intimacy which thereafter was exchanged for so
+bitter an enmity. Meanwhile the royal favour, lavished on the young
+Guises, was not extended to their father, who was excluded from the
+government which his sons freely exercised, and who, immediately
+after the coronation of Henry, left the court, to live in retirement
+in his castle of Joinville. The prudence and moderation of the
+elder Guise were probably less welcome to the young king than the
+bolder and more impetuous counsels of his sons. There were six of
+these, all pretty well provided for when Claude of Lorraine retired
+into private life: Francis, Count of Aumale; Claude, Marquis of
+Mayenne; Charles, Archbishop of Rheims; Louis, Bishop of Troyes, and
+Francis, Chevalier of Lorraine, afterwards grand-prior and general
+of the galleys of France. "During his stay at Paris, after the
+campaign of 1544, the Duke of Guise frequently went, accompanied
+by his six young sons, to pay his devoirs to the King, who always
+graciously received and congratulated him, saying 'that he was six
+times fortunate in seeing himself live again, before his death, in
+a posterity of such great promise.' One day Charles, the second
+brother, who was intended for the church, presented to Francis
+I. some moral and theological theses, accompanying them with an
+eloquent and tasteful harangue. His promotion to the archbishopric
+of Rheims, the richest benefice in France, was, it is said, the
+munificent reward of this precocious ability." Henry II. received
+his crown from the hands of this youthful archbishop, upon whom the
+Pope, five days after the ceremony, conferred a cardinal's hat.
+Charles of Lorraine can have been but thirty or thirty-one years
+old, when he thus attained to the highest dignities of the church.
+
+A few days before the coronation, Henry II. sanctioned by his
+presence the celebrated judicial duel--which gave rise to a proverb
+still current in France--between Guy Chabot de Jarnac, and François
+de Vivonne. It took place in lists erected near the chateau of St
+Germains. Vivonne's second (or godfather, as it was then called)
+was the Count of Aumale, who attracted universal attention by the
+grandeur of his air and the lustre of his renown. "Towards half-past
+seven in the morning," says M. de Bouillé, "d'Aumale pronounced
+it time to bring the arms, and the combatants appeared in the
+lists, Vivonne conducted by d'Aumale; and, after the customary
+salutations and injunctions, the king-at-arms, Normandy, having
+thrice exclaimed--_Laissez aller les bons combattants!_ the combat
+commenced with skill and fury. In a few moments, however, by a
+blow, since proverbial, dealt and repeated on the left ham, Vivonne
+was prostrated by his adversary. The Count d'Aumale sprang to the
+assistance of the vanquished man, and to calm the rage which made
+him tear open his own wounds. But Vivonne survived only three
+days, and, after his death, d'Aumale had the following inscription
+engraved upon his tomb: 'A great prince _Lorrain et François_, much
+grieved and afflicted by so unexpected an event, has dedicated
+this to the manes of a brave knight of Poitou.' In these few words
+was revealed a pretension constantly entertained by the house of
+Guise, and which then appeared surprising, but which received a sort
+of consecration from its silent toleration by the King." It was
+doubtless this toleration, combined with the sentiment of growing
+power and influence, which raised the arrogance of the Guises to
+such a pitch that, on occasion of Henry II.'s solemn entrance into
+Chambery, during a visit of inspection to his frontier fortresses,
+we find the Count of Aumale placing himself on the same line with
+the Duke of Vendôme, first prince of the blood, and afterwards King
+of Navarre. The angry dispute to which this gave rise was terminated
+by the King, who maintained Guise in the place he had audaciously
+assumed. Like his father, Henry was nurturing a pride which was
+afterwards to give him umbrage. Already d'Aumale's influence and
+popularity were so great as to make him courted by all classes, even
+to the highest, not excluding persons of blood-royal; and only a
+few months after the dispute at Chambery, we find the same King of
+Navarre thanking him, conjointly with the Cardinal of Bourbon, for
+services he had rendered to friends of theirs. The first nobles of
+the land had recourse to his protection and support, and strove to
+propitiate him by presents and flattering letters. From all quarters
+he received offerings of "wine, fruit, confections, ortolans,
+horses, dogs, hawks, and gerfalcons, the letters accompanying
+these very often containing a second paragraph, petitioning for
+pensions or grants from the King, or for places, even down to that
+of apothecary, or of barber to the Dauphin, &c." The memoirs and
+manuscripts of the time furnish many curious particulars of this
+kind, especially the MSS. Gaignières, often referred to by M. de
+Bouillé. And they further show that d'Aumale, amidst his countless
+occupations, found leisure to listen to all petitioners, and means
+to content many. There exist the most flattering letters written to
+him by the hand of kings; the humblest supplications addressed to
+him by great state corporations, such as the parliaments of Paris,
+Bordeaux, and other cities; testimony of the profoundest deference
+from the nobles of the court--names such as Brézé and Brissac being
+affixed to fulsome protestations of service and thanks for favour
+shown. Such was the immense position of the Duke d'Aumale, (that
+county also had become a duchy,) who now openly affected the state
+and quality of prince of the blood. Then, as afterwards, (when he
+was duke of Guise,) he always received the title of _monseigneur_,
+(except from the princes of the blood, who called him _monsieur_,)
+and that of _vostre excellence or vostre seigneurie_. And in 1548
+the nuns of Bonneuil addressed him a supplication as _vostre haulte
+et puissante majesté et seigneurie_. So great was his reputation for
+magnanimity, so popular his rule, that those provinces rejoiced over
+which he was appointed governor. And the affection borne him by the
+French people became at last so great "that it may be said it was
+carried to an excess, even to the point of making them forget their
+fidelity to the King." For a time the favour and confidence of the
+King kept pace with the love of the nation; and it was augmented by
+the ability with which d'Aumale pacified several revolted provinces,
+where his presence alone sufficed, for the most part, to calm angry
+passions and revive the loyalty of the population. Soon after this
+expedition, occurred his marriage with Anne d'Est, daughter of the
+Duke of Ferrara, a beautiful, virtuous, and well-dowered princess
+who had been sought in marriage by Sigismund, King of Poland,
+but whom an innate sympathy for France, combined with the able
+management of Cardinal de Guise, induced to give the preference to
+the Duke d'Aumale.
+
+In his castle of Joinville, on the 12th April 1550, Claude, first
+duke of Guise, piously and resignedly terminated his illustrious and
+honourable career. His duchess, Antoinette de Bourbon, one of the
+most virtuous and amiable princesses of her time, his eldest son
+and the Marquis of Elbeuf, were beside his dying bed; and during
+his illness the King sent frequent expresses to inquire his state.
+His premature death, at the age of fifty-three, after a short but
+violent illness,--combined with some solemn and generous expressions
+he used a few minutes before breathing his last, to the effect
+that he heartily forgave the person, whosoever it might be, who
+had given him "_le morceau pour mourir_,"--gave rise to a belief,
+further accredited by his funeral oration and by the inscription on
+his tomb, that he had perished by poison. History has difficulty
+in confirming this popular notion, in support of which no evidence
+was ever produced, nor anything beyond a vague supposition that the
+author of the Duke's death was a Genoese, an agent of the Emperor,
+then in France to watch the measures taken by that republic to
+obtain from Henry II. means of resistance to the party of Ferdinand,
+in opposition to whom there was little doubt that Guise would
+advise the King to give his support to Genoa. Considering, however,
+that Claude of Lorraine lived away from court, where his son had
+succeeded to his influence, this is rather a far-fetched story;
+and the probability is that the Duke died of some unusual malady,
+misunderstood by, perhaps wholly unknown to, the imperfect medical
+science of those days. But natural deaths were rare in the house of
+Guise; and in the sixteenth century poison had no unimportant share
+in the bills of mortality. Some indeed have hinted its possible
+agency in the death of John, Cardinal of Lorraine, which occurred
+within forty days of that of his brother Claude. This prelate was on
+his way back from Rome, where he had been an unsuccessful aspirant
+to the papal tiara, when he was suddenly informed, on his passage
+through Lyons, of the Duke's decease. It was possibly the shock of
+this intelligence that brought on an attack of apoplexy under which
+he sank and shortly expired. "Providence," says M. de Bouillé, "had
+perhaps resolved to consecrate, by an almost simultaneous death, the
+union which had so constantly and advantageously existed between him
+and his brother, and which the cotemporary writers characterise, in
+their mythological style, by comparing the two princes to Castor
+and Pollux. Their place was not to remain vacant, but was about to
+be even more than filled by two brothers, also 'the happiest pair
+of brothers that ever were seen;' one an accomplished warrior and
+magnanimous hero, the other a skilful and enterprising prelate,
+who, by renewing the example of a constant agreement of views, by
+putting in practice that useful and remarkable combination of the
+churchman and the man of the sword, peculiar to their family, and
+efficaciously applied by them to politics and ambition, realised an
+immense amount of favour and authority. The first generation of this
+dynasty--if not sovereign, at least so brilliantly episodical--had
+passed away, already almost surpassed in grandeur by its successor,
+destined to elevate itself in the inverse ratio of the wearer of
+that crown which gradually became almost illusory."
+
+Certain it is that the figure of Francis, second Duke of Guise,
+surnamed the Great, occupies, upon the canvass of French history,
+a far more remarkable and important place than that of any one of
+the three kings whose reigns were cotemporary with his power. Early
+distinguished in arms, his generosity, urbanity, and irresistible
+valour made him the idol of the army, whilst the prudence and
+precocious wisdom he inherited from his father, rendered him
+invaluable at the council board, and secured him the favour of his
+sovereign; to such a point that Henry II. had no secrets from him,
+but caused all important despatches to be communicated to him as
+punctually as they were to himself. Nor was his brother Charles
+inferior to him in talent, although their difference of profession
+rendered its display less striking in the cardinal. Both possessed
+of admirable tact and judgement in the conduct of public affairs,
+the one was not more terrible in the battle-field than the other
+was skilful and seductive in diplomatic negotiations, and in the
+graceful intercourse of private life. The cardinal's learning
+and eloquence, his fine countenance, his dignified bearing, his
+richly-stored memory, combined to exercise a powerful fascination
+upon all he met. "Had I the elegance of Monsieur le Cardinal de
+Lorraine," said Theodore de Beze one day, when mounting his horse to
+leave Rheims, where he had had a conference with the accomplished
+prelate, "I should expect to convert half the persons in France to
+the religion I profess."
+
+At the date of the death of Claude of Lorraine, Charles V. was
+the sole survivor of the three remarkable sovereigns who had
+simultaneously filled the three most important European thrones.
+With him the Duke and Cardinal now impelled Henry II. into a
+war, which had for its real object the realisation of a bold and
+extensive scheme greatly to increase the authority of France in
+Europe, and at the same time to establish the omnipotence of the
+Guises in France. One of the most remarkable events of this war was
+the siege of Metz, in which large ill-fortified place the Duke,
+with a small number of men, was exposed to the assaults of an army
+consisting of one hundred thousand infantry, twenty-three thousand
+horse, and one hundred and twenty pieces of artillery. Guise
+displayed extraordinary skill and energy, leading sorties himself,
+and even issuing forth at the head of a mere handful of men to
+skirmish with the enemy. Fortunately he had had time to lay in good
+store of provisions; but his cannon were few in number and for the
+most part unserviceable, and he was fain to defend with falconets
+and other small guns, the breaches which the Imperialists soon made
+in his walls. In an action that occurred during the siege, in the
+neighbourhood of Nancy, Claude de Guise--that brother of the Duke
+who, when a mere youth, had powerfully and valiantly contributed
+to deliver him, in front of Boulogne, from an overwhelming number
+of assailants--was taken prisoner. Thrice wounded, and with his
+horse killed under him, he had no choice but to yield or die. This
+disaster deprived Metz of a gallant defender, and plunged Guise and
+the whole army into deep affliction; the Duke, however, consoling
+himself by the resolution to make the Emperor dearly pay for his
+brother's ransom, and by the reflection that d'Aumale had not
+yielded until he was knocked down and had a cocked pistol at his
+throat. The sorties continued with great vigour, but at the expense
+of many wounded men, of whom so large a proportion died, for want
+of efficient medical assistance, that a rumour gained credit that
+the drugs were poisoned. Guise begged the King to send him Ambrose
+Paré with a stock of fresh medicaments, and, by the connivance of
+an Italian officer in the Imperialist camp, that skilful leech was
+introduced at midnight into the town, with the apothecary Daigue
+and a horse-load of medical stores. Paré was bearer of a letter
+from the King, thanking Guise and the other princes and nobles for
+all they had done and were doing to preserve his town of Metz, and
+assuring them he would remember and reward their services. Thus
+encouraged, and confident in his troops, Guise wrote to the King,
+with whom he found means constantly to correspond in cypher, that
+Metz could hold out six months without succour. On the other hand
+the Imperialists redoubled their efforts for success. The Emperor,
+who lay at Thionville, sick of the gout and expectant of triumph,
+at last judged his presence indispensable for the fortunate
+conclusion of the siege, and made his appearance in the camp,
+mounted on an Arab horse, "his face very pale and wasted, his eyes
+sunken, his head and beard white." His coming was the signal for
+so great a salvo of artillery and small arms, that the besieged
+flew to arms, expecting a general attack. Until the neighbouring
+castle of La Horgne could be prepared for his reception, he took
+up his quarters in a small wooden house, hastily constructed with
+the ruins of an abbey. "A fine palace," he said, "when I shall
+receive in it the keys of Metz." But the keys were long in coming,
+although the fierceness of the attack was redoubled--fourteen
+thousand cannon-shots being fired against the ramparts in one day,
+the noise of which was said to have been heard beyond the Rhine, at
+forty leagues from Metz. The constancy of the besieged was a match
+for the fury of the assailants. Breaches were diligently repaired,
+and sorties continued--the French actually seeking the Imperialists
+under their tents. Suddenly the latter changed the point of attack,
+and directed their cannonade against one of the very strongest parts
+of the rampart, behind which the besieged hastened to construct a
+second wall, also of great strength. The sudden change of plan is
+attributed by Ambrose Paré in his _Voyage à Metz_, to a stratagem
+employed by Guise. The Duke, according to the learned physician and
+chronicler, wrote a letter to Henry II. with the intention of its
+being intercepted by the enemy, in which he said, that if Charles V.
+persisted in his plan of attack, he would be compelled to raise the
+siege, but that a very different result was to be apprehended, if
+unfortunately the enemy directed his attention to a certain point,
+cunningly indicated in the despatch. Sewn, with an affectation of
+mystery, under the doublet of a clumsy peasant, this letter was
+destined for the perusal of the Duke of Alva, one of whose patrols
+did not fail to seize and search the unfortunate messenger, who
+was forthwith hanged. Misled by the information thus obtained, the
+besiegers changed the position of their batteries. In two days a
+breach was effected, the old wall crumbling into the ditch, amidst
+the acclamations of the assailants. But their joy was exchanged
+for rage and disgust when, upon the subsidence of the dust, they
+beheld a second wall in rear of the breach. The French began to
+scoff and abuse them, but Guise commanded silence, under pain of
+death, lest some traitor should take advantage of the tumult to
+convey information to the enemy; whereupon his soldiers fastened
+live cats to the end of their pikes, whose discordant cries mocked
+the enemy. The enthusiasm of the besieged now knew no bounds. Men,
+women, and young girls toiled day and night to strengthen the inner
+wall. Guise's gay and encouraging words gave confidence to all.
+Collecting his soldiers upon the breach, which was ninety feet
+wide: "I rejoice," he said, "that the enemy have at last overthrown
+this barrier, more useful to them than to you. You have so often
+visited them in their camp, that it is only just they should have
+an opportunity of reconnoitring the town upon whose capture they
+so boastfully reckoned." Charles ordered the assault; but when his
+troops saw the French crowning the breach, with Guise at their
+head, they recoiled as if already attacked, and neither entreaties
+nor threats could move them forward. "How is it," the Emperor had
+exclaimed with a great oath, when he saw the gaping breach, "that
+they do not enter? It is so large and level with the ditch; _vertu
+de Dieu!_ what means this?" He had himself conveyed in a litter to
+the foremost ranks, to animate the soldiers by his presence. When he
+beheld their retreat, he mournfully desired to be carried back to
+his quarters. "Formerly," he said, "I was followed to the fight, but
+I see that I have now no men around me; I must bid adieu to empire
+and immure myself in a monastery; before three years are over, I
+will turn Franciscan." Finally, on the 26th December, provisions
+running short, and his army weakened one-third by sickness and
+the sword, Charles, with a sad heart, raised the siege, uttering,
+in the bitterness of his shame and disappointment, the well-known
+words, "I plainly see that Fortune, like a true woman, prefers a
+young king to an old emperor." The imperial camp and artillery
+crossed the Moselle, and in the night the Duke of Alva evacuated his
+position, leaving behind a quantity of stores and tents. Guise, who
+had expressed, that very evening, in a letter to his brother the
+Cardinal, his conviction that the Emperor would never endure the
+shame of abandoning the siege, was greatly astonished in the morning
+to find that the enemy had decamped. His skill and constancy had
+triumphed, and France was saved from invasion. When he reappeared
+at court, the King embraced him with transport, and called him his
+brother. "You have vanquished me as well as the Emperor," said
+Henry, "by the obligations you have laid me under."
+
+The Duke of Guise's humanity after the siege did him as much honour
+as his bravery during it. A large number of sick men remained in
+the Imperialist camp; the rearguard of the retreating army were in
+a pitiable state, and, unable to proceed, yielded themselves ready
+prisoners. The commander of a troop of Spanish cavalry, pursued
+by the Prince of _la Roche-sur-Yon_, who would fain have brought
+him to battle, suddenly faced about, exclaiming, "How should we
+have strength to defend ourselves, when you see we have not enough
+left to fly?" In the hospitals of Metz and Thionville, the sick
+and wounded Imperialists were carefully tended by order of Guise;
+non-combatant prisoners were sent back to the Duke of Alva, with
+the offer of covered boats to transport his exhausted soldiers;
+the bodies of the dead received suitable burial. The magnanimous
+general's courtesy and humanity bore their fruits. In the following
+campaign, when the town of Therouenne, in Picardy, was surprised by
+the Imperialists, the Germans and Flemings were putting inhabitants
+and garrison to the sword, without distinction of age or sex,
+when the Spanish officers, with a lively and grateful remembrance
+of the good treatment received from Guise and the French, united
+their voices and efforts to check the carnage. "_Bonne guerre,
+compagnons,_" they cried; "_souvenez-vous de la courtoisie de Metz!_"
+
+It was during the following campaign (1554) that there occurred the
+first marked manifestations of discord between the Duke of Guise
+and the Admiral de Coligny. In the combat of Renty, near St Omer,
+Coligny commanded the infantry, in his quality of colonel-general
+of that arm. Victory declared itself for the French; already
+many trophies had been taken, and heavy loss inflicted on the
+Imperialists, who were on the brink of a general rout, when Guise
+"feeling" says M. de Bouillé, "that he was not supported by
+the Constable de Montmorency--the retreat also, according to a
+report current at the time, having been sounded _by the breath of
+envy_--was unable to follow up his advantage, and could but maintain
+himself on the field, whilst the Imperialists, although defeated,
+succeeded in entering the besieged fort." The chief merit of this
+imperfect victory was attributed by the Constable to his nephew
+Coligny, who, on his part, was said to have asserted that, during
+the heat of the fight, Guise had not been in his right place. This
+led, upon the evening of the action, to a violent altercation, which
+would have ended with drawn swords but for the intervention of the
+King, in whose tent it occurred. He compelled them to embrace; but
+the reconciliation was only skin-deep, and from that day forwards a
+rancorous dislike was substituted for the close intimacy which had
+existed in their youth between these two great soldiers, and which
+had been carried to such a point that they "could not live without
+each other, wearing the same colours, and dressing in the same
+manner." Henceforward they were constant antagonists, the chiefs
+of two parties under whose banners nobles, soldiers, and courtiers
+ranged themselves, according to the dictates of their sympathies
+or interests. And soon their rivalry for fame and influence was
+inflamed and envenomed by the ardour of religious passions, and of
+combats for their respective creeds.
+
+It is here impossible to trace, even in outline, the events that
+crowded the reign of Henry II., and in which the Duke, the Cardinal,
+and their brother d'Aumale played a most conspicuous part. It was
+a constant succession of battles and intrigues, for the most part
+terminating, in spite of formidable foes both in the field and at
+court, to the advantage of the Guises. And when, a few weeks after
+the battle of St Quintin, so disastrous to the French arms--where
+the Constable de Montmorency, who had boasted beforehand of victory,
+beheld his entire army slain or taken, and himself a prisoner--the
+Duke of Guise returned from Italy, "to save the state," as the
+King himself expressed it, he found himself at the utmost pinnacle
+of power a subject could possibly attain. On the very day of his
+arrival, Henry declared him lieutenant-general of the French armies,
+in and out of the kingdom; a temporary dignity, it is true, but
+one superior to that of Constable, and which usually was bestowed
+only in times of regency and minority. That nothing should be
+wanting to the exorbitant authority thus conferred upon the man
+to whom sovereign and nation alike were wont to turn in the day
+of danger and disaster, the King addressed to all the provincial
+authorities particular injunctions to obey the orders of the Duke
+of Guise as though they emanated from himself; and truly it was
+remarked, says Dauvigny in his _Vies des Hommes Illustres_, that
+never had monarch in France been obeyed more punctually and with
+greater zeal. The whole business of the country now rested upon
+the shoulders of Guise. But even whilst thus exalting him, Henry,
+conscious of his own weakness, and haunted, perhaps, by his father's
+dying injunction, was actually plotting how to lessen the power
+of his great subject, so soon as the period of peril should have
+passed, during which his services were indispensable. With strange
+infatuation, the feeble monarch expected to be able to clip at
+will the wings of that soaring influence, when victory over the
+foreigner and the liberation of the country should have confirmed
+its domination.
+
+Invested with his new dignities, whose importance his sagacity fully
+appreciated, Guise, with the least possible delay, set out for
+Compiègne, which, since the recent disasters of the French arms,
+was a frontier town. Those disasters, he felt, could be effectually
+repaired only by a brilliant feat of arms, at once useful to the
+state, and flattering to the national pride. Upon such a one he
+resolved. Calais, now upwards of two centuries in possession of
+the English, to the great humiliation of France, was the object
+of destined attack. Skilled in the stratagems of war, the Duke
+contrived, by a series of able manoeuvres, to avert suspicion of his
+real design, until, on the 1st January 1558, he suddenly appeared
+before the ramparts of Calais. The siege that ensued has been often
+narrated. It terminated, after an obstinate resistance, in the
+capitulation of the garrison, which had scarcely been executed, when
+an English fleet appeared off the port, bearing succours that came
+too late. The triumph excited indescribable astonishment and joy
+throughout France. It was a splendid revenge for the defeat of St
+Quintin, and produced a marked change in the sentiments of several
+foreign potentates, who believed that reverse to have prostrated the
+French power for some time to come. The Grand Signior offered the
+co-operation of his fleet, and the German princes hastened, with
+redoubled good-will, the levies that had been demanded of them. Pope
+Paul IV., when congratulating the French ambassador, pronounced the
+highest eulogiums on Guise, and declared the conquest of Calais
+preferable to that of half England. At court, the partisans of the
+Constable were in dismay, and tried to lessen the merit of the
+victor by attributing its success to the adoption of a plan sketched
+by Coligny. But even if this were true, the merit of the execution
+was all the Duke's own. Upon the heels of this triumph, quickly
+followed the capture of Guines and the evacuation by the English of
+the castle of Hames, their last possession in the county of Oye. "In
+less than a month," says M. de Bouillé, "Francis of Lorraine had
+accomplished the patriotic but difficult enterprise so often and
+fruitlessly attempted during two centuries, and had cancelled the
+old proverb applied in France, in those days, to generals of slight
+merit, of whom it was derisively said, 'He will never drive the
+English out of France.'"
+
+Henry II., accompanied by the Dauphin, the Cardinals of Lorraine and
+Guise, and several nobles of the court, made a journey to Calais,
+which he entered with great pomp. The object of this expedition was
+to sustain the courage and zeal of the troops, who endured much
+fatigue and hardship, in that inclement season and in the midst
+of the marshes. The King also wished to testify his gratitude to
+his lieutenant-general, showing him great confidence, referring to
+him all who requested audience on business, and presenting him,
+in the most flattering terms, with a house in Calais. The Duke
+returned with Henry to Paris, where great feasts and rejoicings
+were held in his honour, and, on occasion of the Dauphin's marriage
+with Mary Queen of Scots, which shortly followed, Guise filled, in
+the absence of Montmorency, the office of grand-master, which he
+long had coveted. Concurrently, however, with this great apparent
+favour, Henry was secretly uneasy at the power and pretensions of
+the family of Guise, and maintained a constant and confidential
+correspondence with their inveterate enemy the Constable de
+Montmorency. On the other hand the Guises were on their guard,
+labouring to countermine and defeat the intrigues levelled against
+them. Urged on by his brother, and feeling that, in their position,
+if they did not advance they must recede, the Duke directed all
+his efforts to an effectual concentration in his own hands of the
+entire military power of the kingdom. Should he fail in this, he at
+least was resolved to leave none in those of his rivals. By this
+time the progress of the Reformed religion in France had attracted
+great attention. It was an abomination in the eyes of Henry; and of
+this the Duke and Cardinal took advantage to work the downfall of
+d'Andelot, brother of Coligny, and colonel-general of the French
+infantry, the only military commander who at that moment caused
+them any uneasiness. Accused of heresy, and summoned before the
+King, who received him kindly, and, expecting he would so reply as
+to disconcert his enemies, "commanded him to declare, in presence
+of all the court, his belief with respect to the holy sacrifice of
+mass; d'Andelot proudly replied that his gratitude for the King's
+favours doubtless rendered entire devotedness incumbent upon him,
+but that his soul belonged to God alone; that, enlightened by
+the torch of Scripture, he approved the doctrines of Calvin, and
+considered mass a horrible profanation and an abominable invention
+of man." Furious at what he deemed a blasphemy, the King, who
+was at supper, snatched a basin from the table and hurled it at
+d'Andelot; but it struck the Dauphin. He was then tempted, says
+one of his historians, to pierce the offender with his sword, but
+finally contented himself with sending him to prison, and the post
+of colonel-general was bestowed upon Montluc, an ex-page of Guise's
+grandfather, and a devoted partisan of the house of Lorraine. This
+brave Gascon officer at first scrupled to accept it, for he feared
+to incur the hatred of the Colignys and the Constable. Wily and
+wary, like most of his countrymen, he declared himself willing to
+serve as a private soldier under the Duke, but modestly declined the
+command offered him. The King insisting, he alleged a dysentery,
+as rendering him incapable of the needful activity. This and other
+objections being overruled, he took possession of his important
+command, and speedily proved himself worthy to hold it--notably at
+the siege of Thionville on the Moselle. This fortress, one of the
+strongest the Imperialists owned, was defended by Jean de Caderebbe,
+a brave gentleman of Brabant, at the head of three thousand picked
+men. The Dukes of Guise and Nevers, and Marshal Strozzi, were the
+leaders of the besieging army; Montluc joined them on the eve of
+the opening of the batteries, and did excellent service. On the
+fifteenth day of the siege, Guise was in the trenches, talking
+to Strozzi, on whose shoulder his hand rested, when the Marshal
+was struck by an arquebuse ball, a little above the heart. On
+feeling himself hit, "_Ah! tête Dieu, Monsieur_," exclaimed this
+brave and able general, "the King loses to-day a good servant,
+and your Excellency also." He did himself no more than justice.
+Guise was deeply affected, but, repressing his emotion, he tried
+to fix Strozzi's thoughts on religion. The veteran's death was
+less exemplary than his life; he died in profession of unbelief;
+and Guise, much scandalised, but perhaps doubly furious at the
+thought that the soul as well as the body of his old comrade had
+perished by the sudden manner of his death, prosecuted the siege
+with fresh ardour, eager for revenge, and suppressing for the
+moment, as far as he was able, the disastrous news, which could not
+but produce a most unfavourable impression. Valiantly seconded by
+Montluc and Vieilleville, on the 22d June, two days after Strozzi's
+death, he received the capitulation of the garrison. His triumph
+was well earned. Besides the exhibition, throughout the siege, of
+the genius and inventive resource that constitute a general of
+the highest order, he had toiled and exposed himself like a mere
+subaltern, constantly under fire, personally superintending the
+pioneers and artillerymen, and rarely sleeping; so that it was no
+wonder (considering he had not had a single night's rest during the
+operations against Thionville) that on the 1st July, when preparing
+for the siege of the rich little town of Arlon, he complained of
+being very drowsy, and left Montluc to invest the place--himself
+retiring to bed in a cottage, and giving orders to let him sleep
+till he awoke of himself. "It is very quick work," he observed,
+crossing himself, when he was the next day informed, in reply to
+his inquiry whether the batteries had opened fire, that Montluc had
+surprised and taken the place in the night.
+
+Whilst Guise was thus not only rendering great services himself, but
+bringing forward leaders whose exploits honoured the French arms,
+in other quarters affairs went less favourably for France. Near
+Dunkirk, Marshal Thermes was beaten and taken prisoner, and Guise,
+whose frequent lot it was to repair the blunders or misfortunes
+of less capable generals, marched to Picardy; on the frontier of
+which province, at a grand review passed by Henry II., the Duke's
+son and successor, Henry, Prince of Joinville, then but eight years
+old, appeared for the first time in public, with his cousin, the
+Count of St Vallier, son of the Duke d'Aumale. Accompanied by their
+preceptors and some other gentlemen, and mounted on ponies, they
+rode through the ranks, until they reached the troops commanded
+by Montluc. "_Cà, çà_, my little princes," exclaimed that brave
+captain, "dismount; for I was brought up in the house of which you
+are issue, which is the house of Lorraine, where I was page, and
+I will be the first to put arms in your hands." The two cousins
+dismounted, and Montluc, taking off the little silken _robons_
+that covered their shoulders, placed a pike in the hand of each of
+them. "I hope," he said, "that God will give you grace to resemble
+your fathers, and that I shall have brought you good fortune by
+being the first to invest you with arms. To me they have hitherto
+been favourable. May God render you as brave as you are handsome,
+and sons of very good and generous fathers." After this species of
+martial baptism, the two children, conducted by Montluc, passed
+along the front of the troops, objects of the admiration and good
+wishes of men and officers. A few months later, one of them was
+dead; the other, heir to most of the great qualities, whether good
+or bad, that distinguished his race, lived to prosecute, and at one
+time almost to realise, the most ambitious designs his father and
+grandfather had conceived. The fair-haired boy of the review at
+Pierrepont, was the stern _Balafré_ of the wars of the League.
+
+The spring of the year 1559 found the Guises in marked disfavour
+with the King. The great services of the Duke, the capture of
+Calais and Thionville, and the many other feats of arms by which he
+had reduced the power of the enemy, at moments when it was about
+to be fatal to France, were insufficient to counterbalance the
+alarm felt by Henry II. at his and the Cardinal's influence and
+ambition. The star of the Constable was in the ascendant. Chiefly
+by his intervention, a disadvantageous peace was concluded, and,
+at his request, d'Andelot was recalled to court. Montmorency and
+Coligny triumphed. The efforts of the Protestants combined with
+court intrigues to ruin the credit of the house of Lorraine. The
+two brothers were attacked on all sides, and in every manner:
+epigram and satire furiously assailed them, and they were denounced
+as aspiring, one to the tiara, the other to the crown of France.
+However doubtful--or at least remote from maturity--these projects
+were, they were yet sufficiently probable for their denunciation to
+produce the desired effect on the mind of Henry, already writhing
+impatiently under the domination of the Guises, against whom he was
+further prejudiced by his mistress, the Duchess de Valentinois,
+(Diane de Poitiers,) still influential, in spite of her threescore
+winters. Never had circumstances been so menacing to the fortunes of
+the Guises; and perhaps it was only the subtle and temporising line
+of conduct they adopted in this critical conjuncture, that saved
+them from utter disgrace and downfall. Things had been but a short
+time in this state, and already, from the skilful manoeuvres of the
+Cardinal, their side of the balance acquired an upward inclination,
+when the whole aspect of affairs was changed by the death of Henry
+II. With the reign of his feeble successor, there commenced for the
+restless princes of Lorraine a new epoch of power and renown.
+
+
+
+
+MY PENINSULAR MEDAL.
+
+BY AN OLD PENINSULAR.
+
+
+PART VIII.--CHAPTER XIX.
+
+Now for the fight. On the morning of the battle of Toulouse we left
+Grenade. It was known amongst us that the battle was coming off; and
+we started in the expectation of passing the night either in the
+city itself, or in its immediate vicinity. We ascended towards the
+city by the left bank of the Garonne, but reached a pontoon bridge,
+which enabled us to cross to the right bank, where the main body of
+our troops was posted. The fight had commenced. We heard the firing
+as we advanced; and while we approached the scene of action, it
+became gradually louder and more distinct. Immediately in the rear
+of the British lines we halted, not knowing the ground, and withdrew
+from the road into a field which was close at hand, in order that
+our numerous party might not prove an obstacle to passing troops,
+ammunition, or artillery. Our forces held the low ground, and
+closed, in a sort of semicircle, around the heights occupied by the
+French. As it so happened that I was not only at this battle, but
+in it, I here beg leave to relate the circumstances which led to my
+finding myself in a position where, as a civilian, I was so little
+wanted, and so much out of my ordinary sphere of duty.
+
+Sancho did it all. We were sitting upon our nags, speculating upon
+the fight, and seeing all that could be seen, till we began to
+think we knew something of what was going on. At this moment rode
+up from the rear, coming across the fields, an old officer of rank,
+a major-general, well known at headquarters, without aide-de-camp,
+orderly, or any kind of attendant. He inquired eagerly, "Where are
+the troops?--Where are the troops?" We pointed forward; little
+was visible but trees. He looked rather at a loss, but turned his
+horse's head in the direction we had indicated. That villain Sancho,
+seeing another horse go on, snorted, and pulled at the bridle. He
+was tired of standing still. I, ever indulgent to Sancho, followed
+the old general, and soon overtook him. "I believe I know the
+position of the troops, sir. Will you give me leave to show you?"
+
+"Thank you, sir, thank you," said he; "I shall really be much
+obliged."
+
+We rode on till we reached a British regiment, drawn up in line.
+With renewed acknowledgments he then took his leave. The air was
+musical above our heads with whistling and humming missiles. I was
+now fairly upon the ground, and didn't like to go back.
+
+There was a lull in the fight. The spectacle was singular. Some
+firing was kept up on both sides, but not sufficient to obscure
+the view of the French position, which rose immediately in front,
+a bare range of hills, crowned by their redoubts. The atmosphere
+was bright; and though the skirmishers on the declivity were
+discoverable only by small white jets of smoke, as they fired from
+time to time, every movement of the enemy on the summit, with the
+sky for its background, was perfectly visible. I noticed a single
+horseman, probably an aide-de-camp bearing orders, as distinct
+and diminutive as if seen through the wrong end of a telescope.
+You might perceive the very action of his horse, that laborious
+up-and-down gallop of the French manége, which throws away so much
+of the animal's strength, and sacrifices speed without securing
+elegance.
+
+The combat, at this moment, was renewed, and our troops went to
+work in earnest. The Spanish army ascended the hill to assault the
+enemy's redoubts. This movement, at first, had all the regularity
+of a review. But the redoubts opened their fire; as the Spaniards
+moved up, the smoke rolled down; and, when the wind swept it away,
+their broken bands were seen in precipitate retreat, followed by a
+large body of the French, who swarmed out from their intrenchments.
+Instantly, and just in front of me, our artillery opened upon the
+pursuing foe. The round-shot plumped into their columns, knocking
+up clods as high as a house; and the enemy, not relishing this
+salutation, hastily fell back to their former position. Sancho
+now became a dreadful plague. He had for some time been getting
+unquiet, and, with the continual firing, he grew worse and worse. I
+believe this was his first battle, as it was mine. Not content with
+a little extra restiveness at every fresh discharge of artillery,
+he had worked himself into a state of chronic excitement, and, at
+intervals, attempted to bolt. It was clear I must get rid of Sancho,
+or see no more of the fight; so I deposited him in a stable, under
+care of a cottager, in the adjoining village.
+
+Still moving towards the left, along the base of the hill, I reached
+a part of the British position, where a number of our troops were
+waiting to storm the heights, when the flank movement against the
+enemy's right, which was his weakest point, should be sufficiently
+advanced. All at once I plumped upon "Cousin Tom," whom I had not
+met since he embarked, three years before, a raw subaltern, at
+Portsmouth. There he now stood, as large as life, rough and ugly,
+at the head of his regiment, a regular "Old Peninsular;" and on him
+had devolved the duty, as he gave me to understand, of "taking those
+fellows up the hill." This service, I thought, would have fallen
+to some officer of higher rank; but Tom explained. The regiment
+having been reduced, either by losses or detachment, its numbers in
+the field were small, and he, being the senior officer present, of
+course had to "carry them up." "Come," said he, "we are going to
+take a look at those monsieurs above there; you may as well go with
+us."
+
+The proposal was coolly made, so I took it coolly. "With all my
+heart," said I. "You know what is the feeling towards an amateur.
+If he makes an ass of himself, he's laughed at; and if he gets hit,
+they only say, it serves him right. If it's of any use, I'll go with
+pleasure."
+
+"Use?" said Tom; "the greatest use. Why, I want to ask you twenty
+questions about friends in England. Besides, you know, if I am
+knocked over, you can pick me up."
+
+"Very well, then; and you can do the same for me."
+
+"No, no," said cousin Tom; "I don't promise that. Got my men to
+attend to. If I am hit, you must take care of me. If you are hit,
+you must take care of yoursel----Oh, that's the signal. Come along."
+Away we went, up the hill.
+
+Rank and file--double-quick time--a capital pace for opening the
+chest. Tom took it easy, trotting on at a steady pace, and assailing
+me with a running fire of questions; while the row that had already
+commenced above prevented my returning categorical replies. "Is
+your father at sea now?"--Bang! from one of the big guns in the
+French batteries right over our heads. "Got any brandy?"--A shout
+from a thousand throats, in the rush and shock of a charge with
+bayonets. "Had breakfast this morning?"--Pop! pop! pop! a running
+fire of musketry. Pop! pop! pop! "Got any cigars?"--Bang! bang! the
+big guns at it again. "When did you hear from your mother?" A new
+sound, less loud and sudden, but, from its peculiarity, distinct
+amidst the din; a spiteful, whirling, whizzing noise, ten thousand
+skyrockets combined in one; not, though, like the skyrocket, first
+loud, then less audible--quite the contrary. Commencing with a
+faint and distant hiss, it grew louder and louder, came singing on,
+nearer and nearer, till a shell dropped a few yards in front of our
+column! The hiss was now an angry roar, like the blowing off of
+steam. There lay the bottled demon, full in our path, threatening
+instant destruction, and daring us to advance. Our column halted.
+"Hurra! my lads," cried Cousin Tom, waving his sword. "Come along,
+old Five-and-threepennies. Push by it at once, before it _spreads_."
+The game old Five-and-threepennies gave a shout--rushed forward--got
+by in time; each yelping and capering as he passed the fizzing foe.
+Bang went the shell. For a few seconds I was stone deaf. Never felt
+such an odd sensation. Not the deafness, but the return of hearing.
+First, perfect silence in the midst of the turmoil--then the crack!
+crack! bang! bang! as if you had suddenly flung open a door. Not a
+man of us was hurt. "Got an English paper?" said Tom.
+
+"I've got some intelligence for you, old chap, not in this morning's
+_Times_. Just look up there, in front."
+
+The view in front was striking and picturesque. Right above us,
+dimly visible through the smoke, on the verge of the platform or
+table-land which we were mounting to assault, appeared a regiment
+of French infantry, enough of them to eat us up, advancing upon
+us with an irregular fire, and led on by their colonel. He rode a
+showy horse; and, hat in hand, waved them on, while his white hairs
+streamed in the wind, and his whole bearing announced the brave old
+soldier. "We must form line," said Tom. It was done forthwith, with
+steadiness, order, and rapidity. "Make ready--present--fire." Crack!
+went all the muskets together. I saw the gallant old colonel, with
+outspread arms, tumbling from his horse.--"Charge!" We rushed upon
+the foe; but, when the smoke had cleared away, found no foe to fight
+withal. Nothing was visible, save their knapsacks in the distance,
+poppling up and down in the smoke, as they scampered off. We still
+continued advancing in pursuit, and now were fairly in for it, half
+choked with dust and sulphur. If it be asked, how far I personally
+contributed to the triumphs of that glorious day, I beg leave to
+answer:--Unquestionably my arm performed prodigies of valour; of
+that there neither is, nor can be, the shadow of a doubt. But as I
+should have felt it extremely difficult to give a distinct account
+of my exploits if questioned on the day, why, of course you won't
+expect it now, after the lapse of six-and-thirty years. Suffice it
+to say, we made good our footing on the platform, drove the enemy
+from their position, occupied it ourselves, took possession of
+their redoubts, and formed, with the rest of the British forces,
+on the summit of the heights. The day was our own. But there was
+one unfortunate circumstance to damp our exultation; Cousin Tom was
+missing. A sergeant now informed me he was wounded, and had gone to
+the rear.
+
+
+CHAPTER XX. AND LAST.
+
+As victory had crowned our efforts, and my valuable services were
+now no longer required, I determined to look for Cousin Tom, and
+walked down the hill for that purpose. At its base, I entered a long
+thicket or shrubbery. There, amongst the trees, I found several
+wounded men, whom their comrades were removing off the ground.
+No one could give me the information that I sought; no one knew
+anything of Cousin Tom. Saw a sergeant sitting on a bank, who, I
+soon discovered, was also wounded. He knew no such officer; had seen
+no one answering the description. "What's your injury, sergeant?"
+
+"A musket-ball in my ankle, sir."
+
+"Well, but hadn't I better help you to a place of shelter?"
+
+"Much obliged to you, sir; but I couldn't walk, even with your
+support. I'd rather wait till my turn comes to be carried, if you've
+no objections, sir. Much obliged to you, equally all the same, sir."
+
+"As you please. Can I render you any assistance? What can I do for
+you?"
+
+"If you'd have the kindness, sir, perhaps you'd be so good and take
+off my gaiter. I can't take it off myself, sir, though I've tried;
+it does hurt me so when I stoop forward. I'm afraid the bleeding
+will spoil it, sir; and then I shall be forced to take out a new
+pair."
+
+Having performed this office, and administered a little brandy both
+topically and constitutionally, I once more ascended the hill,
+thinking it possible Cousin Tom might be somewhere nearer the scene
+of action. I inquired and looked in every direction, but without
+success. Where are you, Cousin Tom? This time my steps brought me
+into one of the redoubts, which had been carried by our troops.
+When I entered, there were not a dozen men in it. Sunset was near,
+and everything over for the day. Yet just at that moment, for what
+reason I know not, perhaps for a freak, the enemy thought fit to
+open upon this all but unoccupied post, from their own lines nearer
+the city, with a heavy fire of shot and shell. Bang went a shell,
+knocking up bushels of earth and mire. Plump came a round-shot,
+into the mud parapet of the redoubt. It was no use moving; one
+place was as hot as another. So we had nothing to do for it but to
+stand still and exchange grins till the pelting was over. I then
+took my leave for the evening. The day indeed was drawing to a
+close as I descended the hill; and happily I succeeded in reaching
+the village, and finding the cottage where Sancho had been left in
+charge, just after it became pitch-dark. A cheering light streamed
+through the cottage window; and, on entering, I found comfortably
+seated by the blazing hearth a veterinary surgeon, who was there in
+charge of wounded horses. He very civilly informed me there were
+two good beds, so all was right with respect to accommodation;
+and, more civilly still, invited me to partake of his supper,
+which was boiling on the fire. Not having eaten a morsel since my
+early breakfast at Grenade, and having just discovered that I was
+enormously hungry, I accepted the invitation with glee, took my
+seat, and cast many a glance at the boiling, bubbling, and steaming
+kettle. Presently the contents were turned out into a large,
+old-fashioned tureen, and displayed to my eager gaze a compound of
+various materials, the chief of which were a fowl, and--what d'ye
+think?--a pig's heart. Supper excellent. Bed ditto.
+
+Next day early I resumed my search for Cousin Tom, but still,
+alas! without success. Went from village to village, inquired
+from house to house, searched the whole neighbourhood. Lots of
+wounded officers, but not the man I sought. Throughout the day my
+search was unsuccessful. Towards night I was passing through a
+street of scattered houses, a sort of hamlet, and was beginning to
+think of securing a lodging and a dinner. Wolves rouse at sunset;
+and I distinctly felt one gnawing at my stomach. At this painful
+juncture, much to my satisfaction, at the door of a cottage I
+discovered a jolly acquaintance, whom I beg to introduce as my "Fat
+Friend." He was one of the smartest clerks amongst our civilians,
+and probably the youngest; under, rather than over fifteen; in
+short, a chubby boy, who somehow or other had broken away from his
+mother's apron-strings, and obtained a post, which he filled in a
+way that did him credit. In one respect he was precocious; namely,
+that he soon proved himself up to all the waggery and villainy
+of headquarters. Moreover, he had a vast idea of maintaining his
+importance, and could take his own part; was touchy in anything
+that affected his manhood; and, if you offended him, punched your
+head; brushed up to fine women, with a marked preference for a
+bouncer. Yet, after all, he was but an overgrown boy, and often
+afforded us sport by his mannish airs. "Ah, Fatty, is that you? Glad
+to see you. Got any room?"
+
+"Plenty, plenty," said Fatty; "good entertainment for man and horse.
+Glad to see you; and glad to see the pony. Here, Francisco, take
+Sancho, and give him some corn. Come in, old fellow. Sit down, and
+make yourself comfortable. Dreadful dull here--horrid! Left in
+charge of the departmental boxes."
+
+"I say, Fatty; have you dined?"
+
+"Dined? We dined an hour ago." Fatty saw his advantage, and was
+resolved to make the most of it.
+
+"Well, what did you have for dinner? Got any cold beef?"
+
+"Why, where have you been?" said Fatty; "haven't seen you these two
+days. Oh, I suppose you got into Toulouse. Lots of fine gals?"
+
+"Answer my question, and I'll answer yours."
+
+"Come out, old fellow. Let's take a turn through village before it
+gets dark. Dinner? Why, a turkey. Sorry you were not with us to
+partake. Not a morsel left. Picked the old gobbler clean, drumsticks
+and all."
+
+"I wish you'd let me send your fellow for some beef."
+
+"Oh yes," said Fatty, "send him by all means. Sorry to inform you
+it's no use, though. Not a morsel of rations to be had; not a
+biscuit. What, haven't you _dined_?" I saw he meant to have his
+joke, so made no reply.
+
+There was a dodge, though; my remedy was in my pocket. Brought out a
+cigar, one of my choice grenadiers; struck a light, blew a fragrant
+cloud, took it easy. The rich odour diffused itself through the
+apartment.
+
+Fatty, knowing in cigars, soon discovered that mine was no common
+weed. He first drew a sniff; then gave utterance to his emotions in
+a coaxing and admiring "Oh!" I took no notice.
+
+"Come, old fellow," said Fatty; "hand out one of those."
+
+"Lost your cigar-case?"
+
+"No, no; nonsense. Come, give us one; that's a good chap."
+
+Failing in his request, Fatty sat silent and fidgetty. The first
+finished, I lit a second.
+
+Fatty watched his opportunity; made a vicious grab at the case. I
+was too quick for him--knew his ways. Down he sat again; tried all
+the varieties of entreating, threatening, bullying, wheedling, till
+cigar the second was burnt out. When I extracted the third, Fatty
+could stand it no longer; made a rush, and commenced a ferocious
+assault, pitching it in, right and left. The punches came so fierce
+and fast, I was at length compelled, in self-defence, to administer
+a slight persuader, and Fatty found it convenient to resume his
+seat. He sat awhile, sulky and all but blubbering; then hastily
+rose, and stalked out of the room in high dudgeon. I presently found
+him stationed at the front door with his hands in his pocket, very
+pensive and dignified. Shortly after, he slipped into the house;
+Francisco appeared with the tablecloth and a bottle of wine; then
+came half a turkey and the cold beef. After dinner we clubbed our
+resources, and closed the evening with whisky punch and prime cigars.
+
+Next morning early, started afresh in search of Cousin Tom. Near
+Toulouse, fell in with Gingham--told him my difficulties. "Come up
+the hill," said Gingham; "I'll go with you. There, no doubt, we
+shall find your cousin's regiment." On reaching the summit of the
+heights, we found our way in the first instance into the Colombette
+redoubt; the same in which, on the day of the fight, the brave
+Forty-second had been suddenly overwhelmed by a superior force,
+and had lost four-fifths of its numbers. Within the redoubt were
+standing two or three privates; they belonged to the Forty-second.
+The uniform at once reminded me of Corporal Fraser, the trusty
+companion of my march to headquarters. I asked one of the privates,
+did he know the Corporal. "He joined about three weeks ago, sir."
+
+"Hope he's well. Where is he now?"
+
+"He's there, sir," said the man, pointing to the parapet of the
+redoubt. I looked, but saw no one.
+
+"The earth," said Gingham, "seems to have been recently stirred
+there. That mound, I think, is not many days old." Then, addressing
+the soldier, "your regiment suffered a heavy loss. Is that where you
+buried after the action?"
+
+"That's the place, sir." The man then walked away, as if little
+disposed for conversation.
+
+We did not pause to calculate how many bodies would fill a space
+commensurate with the length, breadth, and altitude of the soil
+displaced. There lay the slain of a gallant regiment, in the redoubt
+they had so nobly won. There lay Corporal Fraser, who, in all the
+difficulties of our march, had shown himself trustworthy, fearless,
+intelligent, and energetic. He had longed to join ere the day of
+combat, and had found a soldier's grave.
+
+We discovered at length the sergeant who had informed me of my
+cousin's wound. He now pointed to a large house, near the thicket at
+the bottom of the hill. While searching for Cousin Tom on the day of
+the fight, I was close to that same house, but without seeing it.
+From our present elevated position it was distinctly visible, though
+not from the low ground, amongst trees and underwood.
+
+Our approach to the house led us through the thicket. While making
+our way among the trees, we both, Gingham and I, came to a halt at
+the same instant. The sight which arrested our steps was new to
+Gingham, not to me. I saw, on that spot, an object that I had seen
+two days before. The sergeant whom I had then found wounded was
+still sitting there, on the same bank, in the same attitude! There
+he had sat the whole time, overlooked by the bearers, and unable to
+move. Viewed at the distance of a few paces, his aspect scarcely
+appeared changed. It was the identical figure--I remembered him
+at once. But on a nearer inspection, the alteration was but too
+manifest. His eye was glazed, and half shut. His face was that of a
+corpse. He sat up, like a dead man galvanised. "What, still here,
+sergeant? Has nobody come to remove you yet."
+
+He attempted to speak--paused--at length found utterance. "Sorry I
+didn't accept your offer, sir." His voice was low and husky, but
+distinct.
+
+"Come," said Gingham, "you mustn't refuse this time. We'll soon
+carry you into the house just by."
+
+"Thank you, sir; thank you, gentlemen. Would you have the kindness
+though--I should be sorry to lose my gaiter."
+
+The gaiter secured, we prepared to lift the sufferer from his seat,
+and he on his part made a feeble effort to rise. The attempt brought
+on a gush of pain. For a moment, his features were distorted with
+intolerable anguish; the next, he fainted in our arms.
+
+"Now then," said Gingham, thrusting back into his sidepocket a small
+flask which he had just drawn out. "Now then; away with him at once,
+before he recovers. Come, Mr Y----; you take his shoulders, I'll
+take his legs. It may save him further pain."
+
+We bore the sufferer, still senseless, to the house. Gingham, not
+having a hand to spare, banged at the door with his foot. It was
+opened by Mr Staff-surgeon Pledget, who bowed on recognising us, but
+looked rather perplexed at the unexpected addition to his duties.
+
+Pledget gave instant directions for the accommodation of the wounded
+man, and informed me, in reply to my inquiries for Cousin Tom, that
+he had an officer under his care, answering to my description.
+Pledget appeared bewildered, and stood with us in the passage a few
+moments, without speaking. At length he opened the door of a small
+chamber close by, and begged us to enter. He placed chairs for us,
+and seated himself on the bed. "I'm rather exhausted," said he.
+
+"I fear after such a fight," said Gingham, "your duties must be
+heavy indeed."
+
+"Oh yes," said Pledget, looking distressed and rather wild. "I have
+had much work, and little assistance; a long spell, too."
+
+"Why, you began, I suppose," replied Gingham, "early on the day of
+the fight."
+
+"Yes," said Pledget; "and I've been at it ever since. Let me see:
+two days and two nights, isn't it? Yes, and now going on for the
+third. Here have I been operating, bandaging, taking up arteries,
+taking off arms and legs, night and day, without time to lie down,
+almost without a moment to eat. In fact," said he, looking about the
+room like a man lost, "this is the first time I've sat down these
+eight-and-forty hours."
+
+Pledget's look bore full testimony to his toils. Three weeks'
+illness could hardly have wrought a greater change. Nor was his
+appearance mended by his garb. He wore a sort of operating gown
+similar to that employed in dissecting; a long pinafore with
+sleeves, protecting the whole person from the chin to the feet, tied
+round the middle, and closing with a fold behind. The front was
+spotted in every part with jets of blood from wounded arteries. Some
+of the stains had dried on, and blackened where they dried; others,
+more recent, were still moist and crimson. Blood was on his unshaven
+and haggard face; and on his hands, too, wore marks of blood.
+
+Gingham eyed him with a look of deep concern. "I really fear," said
+Gingham, "you've been quite overdone."
+
+"I did hope, before this," replied Pledget, "to be relieved by other
+gentlemen of my own department. I have but one medical assistant,
+and he, at this moment, can afford me no help, for I have been
+forced to leave him sitting with his finger on a wounded artery; and
+if he takes it off but for a few seconds, the major's a dead man."
+
+Pledget now looked like a man that can't remember what's next. "Oh,"
+said he, in all absent tone, "so peace is really concluded. Come, Mr
+Y----, suppose we go and look for your cousin. His case, I'm happy
+to say, is not serious. The ball will be extracted this evening, and
+then, I hope, he will do well."
+
+Pledget spoke, but did not stir. "By the bye," he added, "you know
+Captain Gabion? I think you do. Oh yes, I recollect; we were all
+three fellow-passengers from Lisbon to Falmouth. No, no, what am
+I saying? From Falmouth to Lisbon. His case is past hope. He can
+hardly live through the night."
+
+Gingham and I rose at once from our seats. For the moment, the
+imminent danger of a man we so highly esteemed, expelled from my
+thoughts even Cousin Tom. Pledget also rose, as if to lead the way,
+but again lapsed into forgetfulness. His mind was evidently worn
+out, as well as his body. "Well," said he, "I'm glad we've got
+Toulouse.--Gentlemen, I beg your pardon. This way, if you please; up
+stairs."
+
+He led the way. Every open door, as we passed through the spacious
+mansion, discovered a room crowded with wounded and dying men, in
+beds, or on the ground. Or, if we saw not into the apartment, sounds
+were heard, which told of anguish and laceration within. We were
+conducted by Pledget into a large room on the first floor, filled,
+like the others, with every form of suffering. Some, slightly
+wounded, sat round the fire, on which cookery was proceeding in
+kettles of every size and shape. One officer, bandaged round the
+head, had become delirious. He alternately laughed and whimpered,
+muttered and sang. Another sat near him, moaning, with his arm in
+a sling. A spent cannon ball had smashed the bones from the elbow
+to the wrist, without inflicting an external wound. Every bed had
+an occupant; and many lay upon the floor, with only a blanket under
+them. My eye glanced round the apartment, and lighted on the pinched
+features and pallid visage of Captain Gabion.
+
+He lay on his back in bed. Death was legible in his aspect. His eyes
+were all but shut; but, from time to time, a convulsive twitching
+of the muscles suddenly expanded them to their full width. To all
+appearance, he was perfectly insensible. His breathing was irregular
+and laborious; but the expression of his countenance, except when
+disfigured by the spasms which occasionally shot through his frame,
+and jerked him from head to foot, was, as in health, calm and
+dignified. Strange indeed were the vicissitudes, strange was the
+contrast, between the rigid tranquillity of one moment, and the
+awful distortion of the next. Now, it was the quivering play of
+features pulled by muscular contraction; now, the monumental repose
+of marble.
+
+"I fear," whispered Gingham to Pledget, "you view the case
+unfavourably." Pledget hopelessly raised his eyes.
+
+"The Captain has been insensible," said Pledget, "ever since he was
+brought in; and probably will continue so till he expires."
+
+We turned from this sad spectacle, without exchanging a syllable.
+A handkerchief was whisked in my face. I looked round; there
+was the man I wanted. In the next bed, tucked in, with smiling
+face, little changed since we parted, a splendid specimen of the
+ugly-handsome--those fellows that make the biggest holes in ladies'
+hearts--lay Cousin Tom. Gingham, my object attained, forthwith
+took a temporary leave--had urgent business in Toulouse--an
+appointment--would return as soon as possible.
+
+"Fine fellow, that" said Cousin Tom, craning round, and nodding at
+Captain Gabion.
+
+"Well, Tom," said I; "what's the matter with YOU? What brought YOU
+here?"
+
+"Oh, not much; nothing," replied Tom, curling out his lips
+contemptuously, like a disappointed man; "only a musket-shot. It
+won't get me a step, I'm afraid; no, nor a pension neither."
+
+"Well, but how was it? When was it? We lost you in a moment."
+
+"I'll tell you just how it happened," said Tom. "You saw the old
+colonel knocked over. Ah! Don't touch the bed; that's a good fellow.
+Well. Directly after, you know, we charged. I was running on; felt
+a smart crack in the small of my leg. Thought it was a stone; took
+no notice. A few paces further, though, found I couldn't walk. The
+sergeant looked at my leg; said 'You're wounded, sir.' Wounded I
+was, sure enough; and disabled, too. Got carried to the rear; placed
+myself in the doctor's--"
+
+Here Tom suddenly knit his brows. His colour changed in an instant
+from florid to livid; his whole face was distorted with pain.
+Clapping his handkerchief to his mouth, he chewed away at it with
+all his might, while big drops of sweat started out on his forehead,
+and he drew in breath till the bedclothes heaved. Next moment he was
+himself again.
+
+Once more Tom nodded at the next bed. "Known him long? The doctor
+knows him."
+
+"We came over from England, all three of us in a ship."
+
+"Doctor was out, though, in one thing," said Cousin Tom. "Told you
+he was insensible ever since he came in. No such thing; this morning
+he revived; for about an hour seemed quite himself. Told me how he
+got hit."
+
+"Then tell me. I must communicate with his friends in England."
+
+"Well," replied Tom, "the Captain wasn't on duty here at
+headquarters; was doing some field-works on the left bank of the
+river, to be ready for Soult in case of his bolting again for the
+south. He heard, though, that the fight was coming off; so rode
+in on the morning. Found out there was to be a flank movement to
+the left; thought he might as well explore the line of march; went
+forward alone. Passed through the thicket on foot; made his way
+from one end to the other. When he reached the further extremity,
+just where our men got such a pounding afterwards from the guns
+on the heights, he looked out for the enemy's skirmishers; saw no
+one; thought he might as well go a little further. Just then our
+batteries at the right opened on the French position; some of our
+shots flew too high, and came clean over the hill into the lane,
+just exactly where he was standing."--Indeed! I thought of Captain
+Gabion's dream.--"Well; he saw one coming; didn't trouble himself;
+it seemed spent. Just when he thought it was going to stop, it
+fetched a pitch; took him in the side. He was found when our troops
+advanced, and brought in here." At this moment the pain returned.
+Tom again made wry faces, took another chew at his handkerchief, and
+soon recovered as before.
+
+"Well, Tom; I'm a leisure man. What can I do for you? Is there
+anything you want?--anything I can get you?"
+
+Cousin Tom looked very much as if there was something he did want,
+yet was backward to speak. "Why," said he, "I suppose by this time
+you can get into Toulouse. I wish you would make inquiries; try
+and find me some--But never mind; it's of no use. The ball will be
+extracted this evening, and to-morrow I shall go in myself."
+
+"Nonsense, nonsense; I'll go this instant."
+
+"Don't be too sure of that, though," said Tom. "Yesterday morning
+I tried it. Told the servant to have my mule ready; got my things
+on while the doctor was sawing away on the other floor; slipped
+down stairs; gave him the go-by. Mounted--rode to the top of the
+hill--was riding down into the city--almost rode into a French
+piquet."
+
+"No fear of that now, Tom; the city is ours. I saw the French troops
+marching out. Come, tell us, old fellow. What is it you fancy?
+Anything the doctor sanctions, you know. A quarter of mutton?--a
+dozen of pigeons?--some prime French sausages?--a bushel or so of
+oysters? What do you say to a brace of biddies?"
+
+"Oh, no!--oh, no!" said Tom, as if the very mention of biddies made
+him sick. "We were always in advance; got fowls and turkeys till we
+hated the sight of them."
+
+"Any dish from a French cuisine, then?"
+
+"Oh, no--oh, no! Nothing French, nothing Frenchified. What I
+want, if it's to be got at all, is not to be got good, except in
+England--or the West Indies."
+
+"Well, but, you know, Bordeaux is open; West India produce has come
+into the country by ship-loads. What is it? Come, just tell us, old
+chap, and I'll go and get it for you at once, if it's to be had in
+Toulouse."
+
+Tom was not so well as he looked; and there was evidently something
+for which, like other sick persons, he was inwardly pining. Now that
+I had held out a prospect of its attainment, his cheek flushed, and
+his eye gleamed with feverish eagerness.
+
+"Well, then," said Tom, "I wish you would try and get me--but it's
+no use; it's a shame to bother you.--I say, though, can you spare
+the time? Have you really nothing to do? Upon your honour?--I've
+been longing for them, day and night, ever since I got here. Oh, if
+you could only get me--some tamarinds!"
+
+His eye, while he spoke, fixed full on mine. He watched my
+countenance with the anxiety of a dying man when he makes his last
+request. "I'll be off and try this instant," said I, though really
+fearing there was little chance of success.
+
+"Oh, thank you--thank you!" cried Cousin Tom. I was going.
+"Here--here! Come back! I want to speak to you!" I returned. "Old
+fellow," said Tom, with a coaxing, eager grin, "make haste now, will
+you? Bring 'em directly--that's a good chap."
+
+"Well, but, you know--if tamarinds can't be had for love or money,
+is there nothing else?"
+
+"No, stupid--no! Tamarinds, I say; get me some tamarinds. What did
+I tell you? Didn't I tell you tamarinds? Now then; what are you
+waiting for? Cut away, and be hanged to you! Be off!--be off!"
+
+I entered the ancient and very interesting city of Toulouse, and
+rushed through streets choked with cars of wounded men, in search
+of tamarinds. The search was tedious, and far from satisfactory.
+I inquired at all the likeliest shops; found only two where
+they professed to sell tamarinds. The samples were similar: a
+made-up, sticky mess; a black, nauseous electuary, with a beastly
+pharmaceutical odour, and barely the flavour of tamarinds.
+
+It was no pleasant thought returning to poor Tom with a big gallipot
+of this filthy compound stowed in each of my coat pockets. Yet,
+though bad thus to baulk him, it was worse to keep him in suspense;
+so I started on my return with all speed, and, in my speed, came
+full butt against a passenger, who hugged me like a wrestler, to
+prevent a mutual capsize.
+
+"Well, Mr Y----! Glad to see you so active. Something of importance,
+no doubt: official duty, I suppose."
+
+It was Gingham! I told him my troubles, my pursuit in behalf of
+Cousin Tom, and my disappointment. Had searched all Toulouse, and
+could find no good tamarinds.
+
+"Shall be happy to supply you," said Gingham, "in any quantity your
+cousin can require. Got a whole kegful--capital. Always take some
+with me when I visit the Continent. Got them on Fish-street Hill."
+We walked off forthwith to Gingham's quarters.
+
+I was speedily on my return to Cousin Tom, with Gingham for
+my companion, and a good jar of prime, sweet, wholesome,
+unsophisticated tamarinds. On approaching Tom's bed, I held up the
+jar in triumph. Tom raised himself without saying a word, tucked his
+handkerchief under his chin, and sat up, poor fellow, like a child,
+with eyes half-closed and mouth half-open, eager to be fed. In went
+a spoonful. The next instant--bolt!--it was gone! What a swallow! He
+sat as before, ready for another. A second allowance vanished with
+equal speed. Down it goes! Why, it's like feeding a young rook!--Tom
+now laid himself down again, exhausted. "Here," said he; and made me
+a present of a handful of tamarind stones. "Now put a good lot in
+that jug, and fill it up with water."
+
+While the drink was mixing, an unusual sound called our attention to
+the adjoining bed. Captain Gabion was fast sinking. His respiration,
+laborious from the first, had now become painfully audible; in
+fact, he did not breathe, he gasped. The convulsive movements had
+ceased. His face retained its natural expression; but there was that
+in his look which told us he was a dying man. I felt at the moment
+an impression,--He is not insensible! His lips moved. Surely he is
+trying to speak! He strove to fix his eyes on us, but could not.
+I stooped down, observing his lips again in motion. Yes, he was
+speaking. I caught only the words--"On the platform."
+
+"The Calvinet platform?" I whispered in reply. "Is that the spot
+where you wish--?"
+
+Feebly, tremulously he pressed my hand, which had just before taken
+his. I had caught his last request, then; a grave on the summit of
+Mount Rave, the key of the French position, where the table-land,
+crowned with redoubts, had been carried by our troops. His breathing
+became gradually feebler and less perceptible. The moment when it
+ceased entirely, no one present could determine. This only was
+evident:--a minute before, he had given signs of life; and now, he
+had passed into another world!
+
+Cousin Tom's bullet was extracted the same afternoon, with immediate
+relief to the patient. During the operation I was present, by Tom's
+request; and friendship, let me tell you, has more pleasing duties
+than that of attending on such emergencies. Tom, however, made it as
+agreeable as he could. Throughout the process he viciously stared
+me full in the face, grinning most horribly from time to time, half
+in agony, half in fun. When the forceps was produced, he caught a
+glimpse of that terrific implement, and twisted his ugly mug into
+such a comical grimace, that mine, spite of the solemnity of the
+occasion, was screwed into a smile. Tom thereupon clenched his fist,
+with a look that said ferociously, "Laugh again, and I'll punch your
+eye."
+
+The bullet, doctor, had lodged between the bones of the leg, a
+little above the ankle, and, I need not inform you, came out
+rather flattened. Tom kept it as a bijou, in a red morocco case
+made express by an artist in Toulouse. Tom called it his pill-box.
+Neither bone was broken; but the strain of this disagreeable
+visitant wedged in between them, and rending them apart, had
+occasioned from time to time those awful twinges, which Tom assuaged
+by taking a chew at his handkerchief. The enemy removed, he not only
+found himself in a state of comparative ease, but was relieved from
+the constitutional irritation which had begun to manifest itself
+by hardness of pulse, dryness of the mouth, parched lips, a dull,
+hectic, brickdust-coloured patch on each cheek, a feverish lustre of
+the eye, and an enormous appetite for tamarinds.
+
+The operation, though, I ought to have said, was not performed
+by Pledget, but by another army surgeon, who had arrived in the
+course of the day, not before he was wanted. Poor Pledget was quite
+done up. His powers, both mental and physical, had evidently been
+over-taxed. He looked haggard and wild. Yet still, though relieved,
+anxious about his cases, he wandered from room to room, and fidgeted
+from one patient to another; standing a while in silence, with his
+hands behind him, first by an amputation, then by a wounded artery,
+then by a contusion, then by a broken head; while his care-worn
+countenance expressed pleasure or pain, according to the symptoms.
+As Cousin Tom was now in a dreadful fuss to be off for Toulouse,
+Gingham and I applied to the newly-arrived surgeon, and consulted
+him as to the removal.
+
+"I think, gentlemen," said he, "if no bad symptoms supervene in the
+night, it may safely be effected to-morrow; that is, of course, with
+proper care and precautions."
+
+"You are not afraid, sir," said Gingham, "that to-morrow may be too
+early a day, then?"
+
+"Why, sir, to say the truth," replied the doctor, "if we had more
+room here, better accommodations, and a less vitiated atmosphere,
+I should say a later day would be better. But, under existing
+circumstances, less evil, I think, is likely to arise from the
+patient's removal, than from his remaining. In his case, what we
+now have most to look to, is the general health. Keep that right,
+and the wound, I hope, will do well. Therefore the sooner he is
+withdrawn from the bad air, and the associations which surround him
+here, the better for him." The doctor paused.--"Pray, sir," said he,
+looking Gingham full in the face, as though intuitively knowing he
+spoke to a real good fellow, "pray, sir, if you will permit me to
+ask the question, is Mr Pledget a friend of yours?"
+
+"There are few men, sir," replied Gingham, "for whom I have a higher
+regard, than for Mr Pledget."
+
+"Well, sir," said the doctor, "I feel rather uneasy about him. It's
+a delicate thing to speak about. But you yourself must have noticed
+how changed he is, by the labours of the last three days. In short,
+to speak plainly, he requires to be looked after; and just at this
+time, with so many wounded upon our hands, I hardly know whether we
+could possibly give him the attention here which his case requires.
+If it is neglected now, it may become serious. Would it be asking
+too much, if I requested you to take charge of him into Toulouse?"
+
+"Take him with us this instant, sir," said Gingham; "or when you
+please. If you approve, I'll have him with me in my own quarters."
+
+"I really, sir, feel obliged to you," said the doctor. And the
+doctor looked as if he spoke from his heart. "Hope you understand,
+though, what it is you are taking on your shoulders. For a few
+days--not longer, I hope--he will require vigilant superintendence,
+and, possibly, slight control. His case demands firmness, and
+indulgence at the same time."
+
+"Yes, sir, I understand," said Gingham. "Shall he go with us now?"
+
+"I would rather have him under my eye," said the doctor, "till
+to-morrow morning. Perhaps a night's rest may effect a favourable
+change. In the interval, too, I shall have time to prepare his mind
+for the removal." So it was settled.
+
+The next morning we returned to the chateau, for the purpose of
+bringing in Pledget and Cousin Tom. Tom's patience, though, had not
+lasted out till our arrival. At sunrise, again giving the doctor
+the go-by, he had got on his things, crept down stairs, mounted his
+mule, and taken himself off. In fact, he had got into Toulouse,
+obtained a billet, and, snugly located in a respectable French
+family, was prattling the vernacular, which he had at his fingers'
+ends, before we arrived at the chateau to fetch him.
+
+It only remained, therefore, to remove Pledget. He, poor man, though
+all the better for a night's rest and a clean shirt, still looked
+very unlike himself. He had rested, indeed, but he had not slept;
+and his medical colleague hinted to Gingham, ere we departed, that
+the case still required vigilance and care. The state of Pledget's
+mind, at this time, was singular; he had all at once become
+excessively ceremonious. When we reached the garden gate he drew up;
+insisted that we should both precede him in going out. Had Gingham
+and I been equally punctilious, we should not have reached Toulouse
+by dinner-time.
+
+Gingham had a matter upon his mind. Captain Gabion having expressed
+a last wish respecting his funeral, Gingham had undertaken the whole
+details, and some arrangements had been necessary at the chateau,
+or our departed friend would speedily have been consigned, on the
+spot, to a ready-made grave. Gingham mentioned the subject as we
+rode along, and began stating what steps he had taken. Pledget, who
+was ambling side by side with us on his mule, suddenly fell behind.
+Coosey, previously admonished by Gingham, kept still further in the
+rear. We waited till Pledget came up.
+
+"Why, Mr Pledget," said Gingham, "I thought we had lost you, sir."
+
+"Excuse me, sir," said Pledget, with gravity; "you are making a
+confidential communication. Part of it I unintentionally overheard.
+For this, an apology is due to both of you. Gentlemen, I most humbly
+beg your pardon."
+
+We rode on. Presently, Pledget edged up alongside of me, as though
+he had something important to communicate.
+
+"Mr Y----," said he, "I consider it the first duty which one
+gentleman owes another, to avoid giving him needless offence." Not
+exactly perceiving to what this observation tended, I could only bow
+my acquiescence.
+
+"But if," continued Pledget, "an offence is actually given, then I
+conceive the next duty is to make reparation by a humble apology."
+Apology, it was evident, was now the uppermost idea in poor
+Pledget's mind.
+
+"Well, sir," said I, seeking to divert his thoughts, "I think, in
+such a case, regard should be had to the feelings of both parties.
+And, judging by my own, I should say that, next to making an
+apology, there are few things one would more wish to avoid than
+receiving one."
+
+"And accordingly," said Gingham, "in the intercourse of gentlemen,
+it rarely, very rarely occurs, that an actual apology is deemed
+requisite. To signify an intention, to express a willingness to
+apologise, is in most cases thought amply satisfactory. Manly
+feeling forbids the rest; and honour itself exacts no more." Pledget
+rode on awhile, absorbed in thought.
+
+"Mr Y----," he said at last, "I appreciate your sentiments, as well
+as Mr Gingham's; and I perceive their drift. Allow me to say it,
+your conduct is most generous. I really feel that you have just
+cause to complain of mine; and, if it would pain you to receive
+the apology, which is your due, allow me at least to express my
+_willingness_, and, believe me, it was my _intention_, to apologise."
+
+"Mr Pledget, my dear sir, what possible need of apology between
+you and me? What offence has been given or received? I know of
+none--never dreamt of any."
+
+"Very handsome of you to say so, Mr Y----," replied Pledget. "But
+what could be more inconsiderate than my conduct yesterday morning?
+You _must_ have felt it; I know you did. You came to me with an
+anxious inquiry respecting your wounded cousin; I spoke to you of
+Captain Gabion. It was wrong, I own. Nay, not merely wrong, it was
+unfeeling. I trust you will bear in mind my peculiar circumstances
+at the time. I was overwhelmed, perplexed, bewildered, I----"
+
+Gingham now saw it was high time to interpose, and with much
+adroitness gave a new turn to the conversation. But ere we were
+housed in Toulouse, Pledget, addressing us alternately, and
+continually discovering fresh grounds of self-accusation, had made
+two or three more apologies.
+
+For a few days, sedulously and most kindly tended by Gingham, who
+managed him admirably, and evinced equal tact and delicacy, Pledget
+continued in a state of alternate depression and excitement, with
+occasional hallucinations. He made apologies to all who came near
+him; and, ere he quitted Gingham's quarters, had begged pardon,
+again and again, of every servant in the household. From my first
+conversation with Gingham on the steps of the hotel at Falmouth, I
+always valued his acquaintance. But when I had seen him in this his
+new character as Pledget's nurse, wise, thoughtful, vigilant, and
+indulgent, I really grew proud of such a friend.
+
+Within a week Pledget was almost himself again; and long before he
+quitted Toulouse, to embark for England at Bordeaux, he was fully
+and permanently restored.
+
+Cousin Tom's, though, was a business of more time. He begged or
+borrowed a formidable sapling, with a knob as big as his fist,
+and was soon able to hobble about Toulouse, very much to his own
+satisfaction. But the bones of his leg had been injured, though not
+broken; and it was long before the wound got well, if it ever did.
+I was with him many months after in London, when the Medical Board
+sat to award gratuities and pensions to the wounded and disabled
+officers of the Peninsular Army. Lucky, then, did the wight esteem
+himself who had lost a limb or an eye. Tom was waiting for his
+turn to go before the Board; I saw him two days previously. His, I
+feared, was only a case for a gratuity; but Tom was determined to go
+for a pension, and made sure of getting it. I ventured to express
+my doubts; Tom whipped off his half-boot, turned down his sock, and
+exclaimed triumphantly, "Look at that!" The wound was clean, but
+looked fresh; much, indeed, as it appeared two days after the fight
+when the bullet was extracted, and still big enough to re-admit
+it. "If the Board don't give me a pension," cried Tom, "for such a
+punch as that, why, all I can say is, they deserve to be punched
+themselves." Saw him again after the inspection. "It's no go," said
+Tom; "I tried hard for it, too. Got up early in the morning--slapped
+twice round the Park at a swinging pace. When I went before them it
+was red all about, a couple of inches. The flinty-hearted villains
+gave me only a gratuity, though it bled while they were looking at
+it."
+
+At an early day after Pledget's and Tom's removal, we assembled
+at the chateau, on an occasion in which we all felt a melancholy
+interest--the funeral of Captain Gabion. The military arrangements,
+of course, did not rest with us; Gingham had made every provision
+which was left to his care with equal liberality and propriety.
+Gingham also, no chaplain being present, officiated at the grave. He
+read the service with great devoutness and solemnity. The procession
+was joined, as we ascended the hill, by a mounted officer, a major
+of the artillery, who, during the whole of the service, seemed lost
+in thought, and stood with his eyes fixed upon the coffin till it
+was lowered into the grave. The whole concluded, he approached and
+shook hands with Gingham and myself, spoke a few hurried words, took
+a hasty leave, mounted, and rode away. Gingham and I waited by the
+grave till all was filled in and made right; we then walked down
+together towards the city, both for some time silent. I spoke first.
+
+"Wouldn't it be right to communicate with the friends? I think
+they ought to know the exact position of the grave, and also the
+particulars which I got from my cousin."
+
+"Why, yes," said Gingham; "it would, I think, be as well to give
+them all the information you can. I have already written to the
+widow."
+
+
+
+
+CHATEAUBRIAND'S MEMOIRS.
+
+_Mémoires d'outre Tombe._ Par M. LE VICOMTE DE CHATEAUBRIAND. Tom.
+v. vi. vii. viii. et ix. Paris: 1849.
+
+
+The great and honourable feature of Chateaubriand's mind, amidst
+some personal weaknesses, is its noble and disinterested character.
+It differs from what we see around us, but it differs chiefly in
+superior elevation. It united, to a degree which perhaps will
+never again be witnessed, the lofty feelings of chivalry, with the
+philanthropic visions of philosophy. In the tribune he was often a
+Liberal of the modern school; but in action he was always a paladin
+of the olden time. His fidelity was not to prosperity, but to
+adversity; his bond was not to the powerful, but to the unfortunate;
+reversing the revolutionary maxim, he brought the actions of public
+men to the test, not of success, but of disaster. He often irritated
+his friends when in power by the independence of his language,
+but he never failed to command the respect of his enemies when in
+adversity, by his constancy to misfortune. "Vive le roi quand-même,"
+ever became his principle when the gales of adversity blew, and the
+hollow-hearted support of the world began to fail. Prosperity often
+saw him intrepid, perhaps imprudent in expression, but misfortune
+never failed to exhibit him generous and faithful in action; and
+his fidelity to the cause of royalty was never so strikingly
+evinced as when that cause in France was most desperate. He was
+the very antipodes of the hideous revolutionary tergiversation of
+Fontainebleau. A pilgrim in this scene of trial, he was ever ready,
+after having attained the summit of worldly grandeur, to descend
+at the call of honour; and, resuming his staff and scrip, to set
+out afresh on the path of duty. He was fitted to be the object of
+jealousy and spite to kings and ministers in power, whose follies
+he disdained to flatter or to overlook their vices, and of eternal
+admiration to the great and the good in every future age, whose
+hearts his deeds not less than his words will cause to throb. Such a
+character might pass for fabulous or imaginary, were it not clearly
+evinced, not only by words, but actions; not only in the thoughts of
+genius, but in the deeds of honour. His life, and the feelings by
+which it was regulated, are well worth examining, although we fear
+he will find but few imitators in these days, and is more likely, in
+a utilitarian and money-seeking age, to be classed with the mammoth
+and mastodon, as a species of existence never again to be seen in
+this world.
+
+A character of this description naturally became enamoured of awful
+or heartstirring events, and was ever ready to find a friend in
+those capable of noble or heroic deeds in the ranks even of his
+enemies. Both qualities are evinced in the following graphic account
+of the appearance of the Grand Army when it arrived at Smolensko
+during the Moscow retreat:--
+
+     "On the 9th November, the troops at length reached Smolensko.
+     An order of Buonaparte forbade any one to enter before the
+     posts had been intrusted to the Imperial Guard. The soldiers
+     on the outside were grouped in great numbers round the foot of
+     the walls: those within were under cover. The air resounded
+     with the imprecations of those who were shut out. Clothed in
+     dirty Cossack cloaks, horse-cloths, and worn-out blankets, with
+     their heads covered with old carpets, broken helmets, ragged
+     shakos, for the most part torn by shot, stained with blood, or
+     hacked in pieces by sabre-cuts--with haggard and yet ferocious
+     countenances, they looked up to the top of the ramparts gnashing
+     their teeth, with the expression of those prisoners who, under
+     Louis the Fat, bore in their right hand their left cut off: you
+     would have taken them for infuriated _masques_, or famished
+     madmen escaped from Bedlam. At length the Old and Young Guard
+     arrived, they were quickly admitted into the place which had
+     been wasted by conflagration on occasion of our first passage.
+     Loud cries of indignation were immediately raised against the
+     privileged corps. 'Is the army to be left nothing but what it
+     leaves?' was heard on all sides. Meanwhile the household troops,
+     who had been admitted, rushed in tumultuous crowds to the
+     magazines like an insurrection of spectres: the guards at the
+     doors repulsed them; they fought in the streets: the dead, the
+     wounded encumbered the pavements, the women, the children, the
+     dying filled the waggons. The air was poisoned by the multitude
+     of dead bodies; even old soldiers were seized with idiocy or
+     madness; some whose hair stood on end with horror, blasphemed,
+     or laughed with a ghastly air and fell dead. Napoleon let his
+     wrath exhale in imprecations against a miserable commissary,
+     none of the orders given to which had been executed.
+
+     "The army, a hundred thousand strong when it left Moscow, now
+     reduced to thirty thousand, was followed by a band of fifty
+     thousand stragglers; there were not eighteen hundred horsemen
+     mounted. Napoleon gave the command of them to M. de Latour
+     Maubourg. That officer, who had led the cuirassiers to the
+     assault of the great redoubt of Borodino, had had his head
+     almost cleft asunder by the stroke of a sabre; he afterwards
+     lost a leg at Dresden. Perceiving his servant in tears when
+     the operation was over, he said to him, 'Why do you weep? you
+     will have only one boot to clean.' That general, who remained
+     faithful to misfortune, became the preceptor of Henry V. in the
+     first years of the exile of that prince. I lift my hat in his
+     presence, as in that of the Incarnation of Honour."--_Memoirs_,
+     vi. p. 116, 118.
+
+As Chateaubriand had declined office, and narrowly escaped death in
+consequence, when Napoleon murdered the Duke d'Enghien, his life,
+from that period to the Restoration of the Bourbons, was one of
+retirement and observation. The important part which he took in
+the Restoration, by the publication of his celebrated pamphlet _De
+Buonaparte et des Bourbons_, restored him to political life. The
+effect produced by that work was immense, and the placing of the
+ancient race of monarchs on the throne was in a great degree owing
+to it; for, at a crisis when the intentions of the Allies were yet
+undecided, and Austria openly supported the strong party in France
+which inclined for a regency with Marie Louise at its head, it
+swelled immensely the numbers of the decided Royalists, and gave a
+definite and tangible object to their hitherto vague and divided
+aspirations. It was written with prodigious rapidity, and bears
+marks of the haste of its composition in the vehemence of its ideas
+and the occasional exaggeration of its assertions; but it was the
+very thing required for a national crisis of unexampled importance,
+when every hour was fraught with lasting consequences, and every
+effort of genius was required for laying the foundation of a new
+order in European society. Of the first conception and subsequent
+completion of this remarkable work he gives the following account:--
+
+     "I had been permitted to return to my solitary valley. The earth
+     trembled under the footsteps of stranger armies: I wrote like
+     the last Roman, amidst the din of barbarian invasion. During
+     the day, I traced lines as agitated as the events which were
+     passing: at night, when the roar of cannon was no longer heard
+     in my solitary woods, I returned to the silence of the years
+     which sleep in the tomb, and to the peace of my earlier life.
+     The agitated pages which I wrote during the day, became, when
+     put together, my pamphlet _On Buonaparte and the Bourbons_. I
+     had so high an idea of the genius of Napoleon, and the valour of
+     our soldiers, that the idea of a foreign invasion, successful
+     in its ultimate results, never entered into my imagination; but
+     I thought that such an invasion, by making the French see the
+     dangers to which the ambition of Napoleon had exposed them,
+     would lead to an interior movement, and that the deliverance of
+     the French would be the work of their own hands. It was under
+     that impression that I wrote my notes, in order that, if our
+     political assemblies should arrest the march of the Allies,
+     and separate themselves from a great man who had become their
+     scourge, they should know to what haven to turn. The harbour
+     of refuge appeared to me to be in the ancient authority, under
+     which our ancestors had lived during eight centuries, but
+     modified according to the changes of time. During a tempest,
+     when one finds himself at the gate of an old edifice, albeit in
+     ruins, he is glad to seek its shelter."--Vol. vi. p. 196, 197.
+
+Madame de Chateaubriand, in a note, has described the circumstances
+under which this memorable pamphlet was written, and the morbid
+anxiety with which she was devoured during its composition:--
+
+     "Had the pages of that pamphlet been seized by the police, the
+     result could not have been a moment doubtful: the sentence
+     was the scaffold. Nevertheless the author was inconceivably
+     negligent about concealing it. Often, when he went out, he left
+     the sheets on the table: at night he only placed them under his
+     pillow, which he did in presence of his valet--an honest youth,
+     it is true, but who might have betrayed him. For my part, I
+     was in mortal agonies: whenever M. de Chateaubriand went out,
+     I seized the manuscript, and concealed it on my person. One
+     day, in crossing the Tuileries, I perceived I had it not upon
+     me, and being sure I had it when I went out, I did not doubt
+     that I had let it fall on the road. Already I beheld that fatal
+     writing in the hands of the police, and M. de Chateaubriand
+     arrested. I fell down in swoon in the garden, and some
+     kind-hearted person carried me to my house, from which I had
+     only got a short distance. What agony I endured when, ascending
+     the stair, I floated between terror, which now amounted almost
+     to a certainty, and a slight hope that I might have forgot the
+     pamphlet. On reaching my husband's apartment, I felt again ready
+     to faint: I approached the bed--I felt under the pillow; there
+     was nothing there: I lifted the mattress, and there was the
+     roll of paper! My heart still beats every time I think of it.
+     Never in my life did I experience such a moment of joy. With
+     truth can I say, my joy would not have been so great if I had
+     been delivered at the foot of the scaffold, for it was one who
+     was more dear to me than life itself whom I saw rescued from
+     destruction."--Vol. vi. p. 206, 207.
+
+On the entrance of Louis XVIII. into Paris, on the 3d May 1814, the
+Allied sovereigns, from a feeling of delicacy to that monarch, gave
+orders that none but French troops should appear in the procession.
+The Old Guard lined the streets next the palace, and Chateaubriand
+gives the following account of the way in which they received him:--
+
+     "A regiment of infantry of the Old Guard kept the ground, from
+     the Pont Neuf to Notre Dame, along the Quai des Orfures. I
+     do not believe that human figures ever expressed anything so
+     menacing and so terrible. These grenadiers, covered with wounds,
+     so long the terror of Europe, who had seen so many thousand
+     bullets fly over their heads, who seemed to smell of fire and
+     powder--these very men, deprived of their leader, were forced
+     to salute an old king, enfeebled by time and not combats,
+     guarded by an army of Russians, Austrians, and Prussians, in the
+     conquered capital of Napoleon! Some, shaking their heads, made
+     their huge bearskins fall down over their eyes, so as not to
+     see what was passing: others lowered the extremities of their
+     mouths, to express their contempt and rage: others, through
+     their mustaches, let their teeth be seen, which they gnashed
+     like tigers. When they presented arms, it was with a gesture
+     of fury, as if they brought them down to the charge. The sound
+     they made with the recover was like thunder. Never, it must be
+     admitted, had men been subjected to such a trial, or suffered
+     such a punishment. If, in that moment, they had been called
+     to vengeance, they would have exterminated the last man, or
+     perished in the attempt.
+
+     "At the extremity of the line was a young hussar on horseback,
+     with his drawn sabre in his hand; his whole body literally
+     quivered with a convulsive movement of wrath. He was deadly
+     pale; his eyes rolled round in the most frightful manner; he
+     opened his mouth alternately and shut it, grinding his teeth,
+     and uttering inarticulate cries of rage. He cast his eyes on a
+     Russian officer: no words can express the look which he gave
+     him. When the carriage of the King passed before him, he made
+     his horse leap forward, it was easy to see that he withstood
+     with difficulty the temptation to precipitate himself on his
+     sovereign.[3]
+
+     "The Restoration, at its very outset, committed an irreparable
+     fault. It should have disbanded the army, preserving only the
+     marshals, generals, military governors, and officers, in their
+     rank, pay, and appointments. The soldiers, in this manner, would
+     have gradually re-entered their ranks, as they have since done
+     into the Royal Guard; but they would have done so isolated from
+     each other. The legitimate monarch would no longer have had
+     arrayed against him the soldiers of the empire in regiments and
+     brigades, as they had been during the days of their glory, for
+     ever talking to each other of times past, and comparing the
+     conquests of Napoleon with their inglorious inactivity under
+     their new master.
+
+     "The miserable attempt to reconstruct the _Maison Rouge_, that
+     mixture of the military men of the old monarchy and the soldiers
+     of the new empire, only augmented the evil. To suppose that
+     veterans famous on a hundred fields of battle should not be
+     shocked at seeing young men--brave without doubt, but for the
+     most part unaccustomed to the use of arms--to see them wear,
+     without having earned or deserved, the marks of high military
+     rank, was to be ignorant of the first principles of human
+     nature."--Vol. vi. p. 311-313.
+
+  [3] Having ourselves seen the Old Guard on this trying occasion,
+  we can vouch for the general fidelity of Chateaubriand's
+  narrative.
+
+These observations of Chateaubriand's are well founded, and the
+last, in particular, is very important; but it may well be doubted
+whether, by any measures that could have been adopted, the support
+of the army could have been secured, or the dynasty of the Bourbons
+established on a secure foundation. It was the fact of their
+having been replaced by the bayonets of the stranger which was the
+insurmountable difficulty; it was national subjugation, the capture
+of Paris, which had for ever stained the white flag. This original
+sin in its birth attended the Restoration through every subsequent
+year of its existence: it was the main cause of the revolution of
+1830, and operated with equal force in bringing about the still more
+fatal one of 1848. Impatience of repose--a desire to precipitate
+themselves on foreign nations--an aversion to the employments and
+interests of peace, were the secret but principal causes of these
+convulsions. If either Louis XVIII. or Louis Philippe had been young
+and warlike princes, and the recollection of Leipsic and Waterloo,
+of the invasions of France, and the double capture of its capital,
+had not prevented them from engaging in the career of foreign
+warfare; if they had been enterprising and _victorious_, they would
+have secured the unanimous suffrages of the nation, and continued
+the honoured possessors of the throne of France. But this dazzling
+though perilous career was denied to Louis XVIII. To him there was
+left only the difficult, perhaps the impossible task, of reconciling
+irrevocable enmities, of closing irremediable wounds, of appeasing
+inextinguishable mortifications. They have been thus set forth in
+the eloquent words of genius:--
+
+     "The house of Bourbon was placed in Paris at the Restoration
+     as a trophy of the European confederation. The return of the
+     ancient princes was inseparably associated, in the public mind,
+     with the cession of extensive provinces, with the payment of an
+     immense tribute, with the occupation of the kingdom by hostile
+     armies, with the emptiness of those niches in which the gods of
+     Athens and Rome had been the objects of a new idolatry, with
+     the nakedness of those walls on which the Transfiguration had
+     shone with a light as glorious as that which overhung Mount
+     Thabor. They came back to a land in which they could recognise
+     nothing. The Seven Sleepers of the legend, who closed their
+     eyes when the Pagans were persecuting the Christians, and woke
+     when the Christians were persecuting the Pagans, did not find
+     themselves in a world more completely new to them. Twenty years
+     had done the work of twenty generations. Events had come thick;
+     men had lived fast. The old institutions and the old feelings
+     had been torn up by the roots. There was a new church founded
+     and endowed by the usurper; a new nobility, whose titles were
+     taken from the fields of battle, disastrous to the ancient line;
+     a new chivalry, whose crosses had been won by exploits which
+     seemed likely to make the banishment of the Emigrants perpetual;
+     a new code, administered by a new magistracy; a new body of
+     proprietors, holding the soil by a new tenure; the most ancient
+     local distinctions effaced, the most familiar names obsolete.
+     There was no longer a Normandy, a Brittany, or a Guienne. The
+     France of Louis XVI. had passed away as completely as one of the
+     Preadamite worlds. Its fossil remains might now and then excite
+     curiosity; but it was as impossible to put life into the old
+     institutions as to animate the skeletons which are imbedded in
+     the depths of primeval strata. The revolution in the laws and
+     the form of government was but an outward sign of that mightier
+     revolution which had taken place in the minds and hearts of men,
+     and which affected every transaction and feeling of life. It was
+     as absurd to think that France could again be placed under the
+     feudal system, as that our globe could be overrun by mammoths.
+     Louis might efface the initials of the Emperor, but he could not
+     turn his eyes without seeing some object which reminded him he
+     was a stranger in the palace of his fathers."[4]
+
+  [4] MACAULAY'S _Essays_, ii. 230.
+
+As a parallel to this splendid passage, though in an entirely
+different style, we gladly give place to a noble burst of
+Chateaubriand, on that most marvellous of marvellous events, the
+return of Napoleon from Elba. It was natural that so memorable
+a revolution should strongly impress his imaginative mind; but
+he seems to have exceeded himself in the reflections to which
+it gives rise. We know not whether to award the prize to the
+Englishman or the Frenchman, in these parallel passages. They are
+both masterpieces in their way. Perhaps the correct view is, that
+Macaulay is superior in graphic force and the accumulation of
+sarcastic images; Chateaubriand in lofty thought and imaginative
+images.
+
+     "On the 1st March, at three o'clock in the morning, Napoleon
+     approached the coast of France in the Gulf of Juan; he
+     disembarked, walked along the shore, gathered a few violets, and
+     bivouacked in an olive wood. The inhabitants withdrew in a state
+     of stupefaction. He left Antibes to his left, and threw himself
+     into the Mountains of Grasse in Dauphiny. At Sisterone the road
+     passes a defile where twenty men might have stopped him; he did
+     not meet a living soul. He advanced without opposition among the
+     inhabitants who the year before had wished to murder him. Into
+     the void which was formed around his gigantic shade, if a few
+     soldiers entered, they straightway yielded to the attraction of
+     his eagles. His fascinated enemies seek him and find him not; he
+     shrowds himself in his glory, as the lion in the Sahara desert
+     conceals himself in the rays of the sun to dazzle the eyes of
+     his pursuers. Enveloped in a burning halo, the bloody phantoms
+     of Arcola, Marengo, Austerlitz, Jena, Friedland, Eylau, the
+     Moskwa, Lützen, and Bautzen, form his cortege amidst a million
+     of the dead. From the midst of that column of smoke and flame,
+     issue at the gates of towns some trumpet-notes mingled with
+     tricolor standards, and the gates fly open. When Napoleon passed
+     the Niemen, at the head of four hundred thousand foot, and a
+     hundred thousand horse, to blow into the air the palace of the
+     Czars at Moscow, he was less wonderful than when, breaking his
+     ban, casting his fetters as a gauntlet in the face of kings,
+     he came alone from Cannes to Paris, to sleep peaceably in the
+     palace of the Tuileries."--Vol. vi. p. 359, 360.
+
+To a mind like that of Chateaubriand, reposing in solitude when
+Napoleon was acting with such marvellous effect in the world, the
+character and qualities of that wonderful man could not fail to
+be a constant object of solicitude and observation. It has been
+already noticed that he braved the Emperor in the plenitude of his
+power, and essentially contributed, in the crisis of his fate, to
+his dethronement, and the re-establishment of the ancient line of
+princes. But, as is not unusual with persons of his highly wrought
+and generous temper of mind, his hostility to the Emperor declined
+with the termination of his authority, and his admiration for his
+genius rose with the base desertion of the revolutionary crowd who
+had fawned upon him when on the throne. The following observations
+on the style of his writings, indicate the growth of this counter
+feeling, and are in themselves equally just and felicitous:--
+
+     "His partisans have sought to make of Buonaparte a perfect
+     being; a model of sentiment, of delicacy, of morality, and of
+     justice--a writer like Cæsar and Thucydides, an orator like
+     Demosthenes, a historian like Tacitus. The public discourses of
+     Napoleon, his sonorous phrases in the tent and at the council
+     board, are the less inspired by the spirit of prophecy, that
+     many of the catastrophes which he announced have not been
+     accomplished, while the warlike Isaiah himself has disappeared.
+     Prophecies of doom which follow without reaching states become
+     ridiculous. It is their accomplishment which renders them
+     sublime. During sixteen years, Napoleon was the incarnation
+     of destiny. Destiny now is mute, and he, too, should be
+     so. Buonaparte was not a Cæsar; his education had neither
+     been learnedly nor carefully conducted: half a stranger, he
+     was ignorant of the first rules of our language, and could
+     hardly spell it; but what did it signify, after all, that his
+     expression was defective?--he gave the law to the universe. His
+     bulletins have the most thrilling of all eloquence--that of
+     victory. Sometimes, during the intoxications of success, they
+     affected to be written on a drum-head: in the midst of the most
+     lugubrious accents, something emerged which excites a smile. I
+     have read all that Napoleon has written--the first manuscripts
+     of his infancy, his love-letters to Josephine, the five volumes
+     of his discourses, bulletins, and orders; but I have found
+     nothing which so truly portrays the character of that great
+     man, when in adversity, as the following autograph note left at
+     Elba:--
+
+     "'My heart refuses to share in ordinary joys as ordinary sorrows.
+
+     "'Not having given myself life, I am not entitled to take it
+     away.
+
+     "'My bad genius appeared to me and announced my end; which I
+     found at Leipsic.
+
+     "'I have conjured up the terrible spirit of innovation, which
+     will overrun the world.'
+
+     "Certes, there is Napoleon to the very life. His bulletins and
+     discourses have often great energy; but it was not his own;
+     it belonged to the age; he only adopted it. It sprang from
+     the revolutionary energy, which he only weakened by moving in
+     opposition to it. Danton said, 'The metal is fused; if you do
+     not watch over the furnace, you will be consumed.' St Just
+     replied, '_Do it if you dare_.' These words contain the whole
+     secret of our Revolution. Those who make revolutions by halves,
+     do nothing but dig their own graves."--Vol. vii. p. 101.
+
+Certes, there is Chateaubriand to the very life.
+
+Chateaubriand, as all the world knows, was Minister for Foreign
+Affairs to Louis XVIII. at Ghent; adhering thus to his ruling
+maxim throughout life, "Fidelity to misfortune." So great were the
+services rendered by him to the cause of European freedom, by the
+energetic series of papers which he poured forth with unwearied
+vigour every week, that there were serious thoughts, after the
+battle of Waterloo, of promoting him to the dignity of Prime
+Minister. Louis XVIII. openly inclined to it; and if his advice had
+prevailed, the catastrophe which fifteen years afterwards befel his
+family, would probably have been prevented. But the insuperable
+difficulty lay here: the pure and honourable mind of Chateaubriand
+revolted from the idea of forming a Ministry in conjunction with
+Talleyrand and Fouché; and yet their influence was such that the
+monarch, in the first instance at least, was compelled to court
+their assistance. Expedience, at least immediate expedience, seemed
+to counsel it; but Chateaubriand, animated by higher principles, and
+gifted with a more prophetic mind, anticipated no lasting advantage,
+but rather the reverse, from an alliance with the arch-regicide
+of Nantes, and the arch-traitor who had sworn allegiance to and
+betrayed _twelve_ Governments in succession. But the chorus of
+"_base unanimities_," as he expresses it, with which the monarch
+was surrounded, proved too strong for any single individual, how
+gifted soever. Fouché and Talleyrand were taken into power, and
+Chateaubriand retired. Of the conversation with Louis XVIII.,
+when this vital change was resolved on, he gives the following
+interesting account, which proves that that sagacious monarch at
+least was well aware of the consequences of the step to which he was
+thus involuntarily impelled:--
+
+"Before quitting St Denis, on our way back to Paris, I had an
+audience of the King, and the following conversation ensued:
+
+     "'Well?' said Louis XVIII., opening the dialogue by that
+     exclamation.
+
+     "'Well, sire, you have taken the Duke of Otranto,' (Fouché.)
+
+     "'I could not avoid it; from my brother to the bailie of
+     Crussol, (and he at least is not suspected,) all said that we
+     could not do otherwise--what think you?'
+
+     "'Sire! the thing is done; I crave permission to remain silent.'
+
+     "'No, no--speak out; you know how I resisted at Ghent.'
+
+     "'In that case, sire, I must obey my orders. Pardon my fidelity:
+     I think it is all over with the monarchy.'
+
+     "The King remained some time silent. I began to tremble at my
+     boldness, when his Majesty rejoined:--
+
+     "'In truth, M. de Chateaubriand, I am of your opinion.'
+
+     "I bowed and withdrew; and thus ended my connection with the
+     Hundred Days."--Vol. vii. 70.
+
+Manzoni has written an ode, known over all Europe, on the double
+fall of Napoleon: "The last poet," says Chateaubriand, "of the
+country of Virgil, sang the last warrior of the country of Cæsar.
+
+    Tutte ei provo, la gloria
+    Maggior dopo il periglio,
+    La fuga e la Vittoria,
+    La reggia e il triste esiglio:
+    Due volte nella polvere,
+    Due volte sugli altar.
+
+    Ei se nomo: due secoli,
+    L'un contro l'altro armato,
+    Sommessi a lui se volsero,
+    Come aspettando il fato:
+    Ei fe silenzio ed arbitro
+    S'assise in mezzo a loro.
+
+     "He proved everything; glory greater after danger, flight, and
+     victory: Royalty and sad exile, twice in the dust, twice on the
+     altar.
+
+     "He announced himself: two ages, armed against each other,
+     turned towards him, as if awaiting their fate; he proclaimed
+     silence, and seated himself as arbiter between them."
+
+Notwithstanding the vehemence of Chateaubriand's dissension with
+Napoleon, it cannot be expected that a man of his romantic and
+generous temperament would continue his hostility after death.
+No one, accordingly, has awarded a more heartfelt or magnanimous
+tribute to his memory.
+
+     "The solitude of the exile and of the tomb of Napoleon has shed
+     an extraordinary interest, a sort of prestige, over his memory.
+     Alexander did not die under the eyes of Greece, he disappeared
+     amidst the distant wonders of Babylon. Buonaparte has not died
+     under the eyes of France: he has been lost in the gloomy edge
+     of the southern horizon. The grandeur of the silence which
+     now surrounds him equals the immensity of the noise which his
+     exploits formerly made. The nations are absent: the crowd of men
+     has retired: the bird of the tropics, 'harnessed,' in Buffon's
+     words, 'to the chariot of the sun,' has precipitated itself from
+     the star of light--where does it now repose? It rests on the
+     ashes of which the weight has all but subverted the globe."
+
+"Imposuerunt omnes sibi diademata post mortem ejus; et multiplicata
+sunt mala in terrâ."[5] "They all assumed diadems after his death,
+and evils were multiplied on the earth." Twenty years have hardly
+elapsed since the death of Napoleon, and already the French and
+Spanish monarchies are no more. The map of the world has undergone a
+change: a new geography is required: severed from their legitimate
+rulers, nations have been thrown against nations: renowned actors on
+the scene have given place to ignoble successors: eagles from the
+summits of the loftiest pines have plunged into the ocean, while
+frail shellfish have attached themselves to the sides of the trunk,
+which still stands erect.
+
+  [5] MACHABIES.
+
+     "As in the last result everything advances to its end, '_the
+     terrible spirit of innovation which overruns the world_', as
+     the Emperor said, and to which he had opposed the barrier of
+     his genius, has resumed its course. The institutions of the
+     conqueror fail: he will be the last of great existences on the
+     earth. Nothing hereafter will overshadow society, parcelled
+     out and levelled: the shadow of Napoleon alone will be seen
+     on the verge of the old world which has been destroyed, like
+     the phantom of the deluge on the edge of its abyss. Distant
+     posterity will discern that spectre through the gloom of passing
+     events still erect above the gulf into which unknown ages
+     have fallen, until the day marked out by Providence for the
+     resurrection of social man."--Vol. vii. 169-171.
+
+Assuredly no one can say that Chateaubriand's genius has declined
+with his advanced years.
+
+To a man viewing Napoleon with the feelings expressed in these
+eloquent words, the translation of his remains from their solitary
+resting-place under the willow at St Helena could not but be an
+object of regret. He thus expresses himself on that memorable event,
+and future ages will probably confirm his opinion:--
+
+     "The removal of the remains of Napoleon from St Helena was a
+     fault against his renown. A place of sepulchre in Paris can
+     never equal the Valley of Slanes. Who would wish to see the
+     Pillar of Pompey elsewhere than above the grave dug for his
+     remains by his poor freedman, aided by the old legionary? What
+     shall we do with those magnificent remains in the midst of
+     our miseries? Can the hardest granite typify the everlasting
+     duration of Napoleon's renown? Even if we possessed a Michael
+     Angelo to design the statue on the grave, how should we fashion
+     the mausoleum? Monuments are for little men, for the great
+     a stone and a name. At least they should have suspended the
+     coffin from the summit of the triumphal arch which records his
+     exploits: nations from afar should have beheld their master
+     borne aloft on the shoulders of his victories. Was not the urn
+     which contained the ashes of Trajan placed at Rome, beneath
+     his column? Napoleon at Paris will be lost amidst the crowd
+     of unknown names. God forbid he should be exposed to the
+     vicissitudes of our political changes, surrounded though he is
+     by Louis XIV., Vauban, and Turenne. Let a certain section of our
+     revolutionists triumph, and the ashes of the conqueror will be
+     sent to join the ashes which our passions have dispersed. The
+     conqueror will be forgotten in the oppressor of our liberties.
+     The bones of Napoleon will not reproduce his genius; they will
+     only teach his despotism to ignoble soldiers."--Vol. vii. 184,
+     185.
+
+The Restoration did not immediately employ Chateaubriand. His
+anticipations were realised. The chorus of baseness and selfishness
+with which the court was surrounded, kept him at a distance. They
+were afraid of his genius: they were jealous of his reputation.
+Above all, they dreaded his independence. He was not sufficiently
+manageable. They were actuated, perhaps not altogether without
+reason, by the same feeling which made Lord North say, when urged
+to bring Dr Johnson into Parliament, whose great powers in the
+political warfare of pamphlets had been so signally evinced on the
+side of Government, "No, sir, he is an elephant, but a wild one,
+as likely to trample under foot his friends as his enemies." The
+veteran statesman, so well versed in the ways of men, was right.
+Genius is the fountain of thought: it ultimately rules the councils
+and destinies of men; but it generally requires to be tempered by
+time before it can be safely introduced into practice.
+
+Chateaubriand enlivens this period of his memoirs, which is neither
+signalised by political event nor remarkable literary effort, by
+a sort of biography of Madame Recamier, with whom he was on terms
+of intimate friendship. This remarkable person, who was beyond all
+question the most beautiful and attractive woman of her age in
+France, or perhaps in Europe, is now no more; and he appears to
+have obtained from her relatives, or perhaps from herself prior to
+her decease, not only many curious and highly interesting details
+concerning her early years and subsequent history, but a great
+variety of original letters from the most eminent men of the age,
+who were successively led captive by her charms, but none of whom
+appear to have impaired her reputation. In this country, where the
+lines of severance between the sexes are much more rigidly drawn,
+it would be impossible for a young and beautiful married woman to
+be in the habit of receiving the most ardent love-letters from a
+great variety of distinguished and fascinating admirers, without
+the jealousy of rivals being excited, and the breath of scandal
+fastening upon her as its natural prey. But it is otherwise on
+the Continent, where, although there is doubtless abundance of
+dissoluteness of manners in certain circles, yet in others such
+intimacies may exist, which are yet kept within due bounds, and cast
+no reflection on the fortunate fair one who sees all the world at
+her feet.
+
+Such, at least, appears to have been the case with Madame
+Recamier, the intimate friend of Madame de Stael, who said "She
+would willingly give all her talents for one half of her beauty;"
+and whose powers of fascination were such, that she not only
+inspired a vehement passion nearly at the same time, in La Harpe,
+Lucien Buonaparte, Murat, Moreau, Bernadotte, Marshal Massena,
+Benjamin Constant, Prince Augustus of Prussia, Prince Metternich,
+Chateaubriand, and a vast many others, but attracted the particular
+notice of Napoleon, and did not escape the vigilant and practised
+eye of the Duke of Wellington. The Prince of Prussia would have
+married her, if he could have effected her divorce from M. Recamier.
+It is one of the worst traits of the Emperor Napoleon's character,
+that he was not only so envious of the celebrity of her beauty that
+he banished her from Paris to extinguish its fame, but was inspired
+with such malignant feelings towards her, from her having rejected
+his advances, that he got a law passed which rendered the wives of
+persons engaged in commerce responsible in their separate estates
+for their husbands' debts; the effect of which was to involve Madame
+Recamier, whose husband, a great banker in Paris, failed, in almost
+total ruin, in the latter years of her life.
+
+Madame Recamier, whose birth, though respectable, gave her none of
+the advantages of rank or opulence, was bred up at the abbey of the
+_Desert_, near the confluence of the Rhone and the Saone at Lyons.
+Her parents, however, resided at Paris; and they having brought
+her home at the age of twelve years, she was at that tender age
+married to M. Recamier, a rich banker, almost four times her own
+age, whose immense transactions, which entirely absorbed his time
+and attention, left him no leisure to attend either to the education
+or occupations of his infantine and beautiful wife. But though thus
+left to herself, surrounded by admirers, and with every luxury which
+wealth could purchase at her command, she was never led astray.
+Benjamin Constant, who knew her well from her earliest years, has
+left the following interesting portrait of what may be called her
+infantine married life:--
+
+     "She whom I paint emerged pure and brilliant from that corrupted
+     atmosphere, which elsewhere withered where it did not actually
+     corrupt. Infancy was at first her safeguard. Libertinism shrunk
+     from approaching the asylum of so much innocence. Removed from
+     the world in a solitude embellished by the arts, she spent her
+     time in the sweet occupation of those charming and poetical
+     studies which usually constitute the delight of a more advanced
+     age.
+
+     "Often, also, surrounded by her young companions, she abandoned
+     herself to the amusements suited to her tender years. 'Swift as
+     Atalanta in the race,' she outran all her companions: often,
+     in playing Hide-and-seek, she bandaged those eyes which were
+     destined one day to fascinate every beholder. Her look, now
+     so expressive and penetrating, and which seems to indicate
+     mysteries of which she herself is unconscious, then shone only
+     with the animated and playful gaiety of childhood. Her beautiful
+     hair, which could not be undone without causing emotion, fell
+     in natural curls on her shoulders. A hearty and prolonged laugh
+     often burst from these infantine circles, but already you
+     could perceive in her that fine and rapid observation which
+     seizes the salient points of ridicule--that sportive raillery
+     which diverted itself without injuring any one: above all,
+     that exquisite sense of elegance and propriety, of purity and
+     taste, that true nobility of mind, which are given only to a few
+     privileged beings.
+
+     "Nevertheless Madame Recamier emerged occasionally from her
+     retreat, to go to the theatre or to the public promenades; and
+     in those places of general resort her rare appearance was quite
+     an event. Every other object in those immense assemblages was
+     forgotten: every one precipitated himself upon her steps. The
+     fortunate cavalier who attended her could scarcely make his way
+     through the crowds which she collected: her steps were at every
+     instant impeded by the spectators who crowded around her. She
+     enjoyed that success with the gaiety of an infant combined with
+     the timidity of a young woman; but the gracious dignity which
+     at home restrained the overflowing gaiety of her companions,
+     inspired respect in public in the admiring crowd with which she
+     was constantly environed. You would say that her air imposed
+     restraint equally on her companions and on the public. Thus
+     passed the first years of the married life of Madame Recamier,
+     between poetical occupation, infantine amusements, and the
+     triumph of beauty in the world.
+
+     "But her expanding mind and capacious genius soon required other
+     aliment. The instinctive love of the beautiful with which she
+     was inspired from her earliest years, made her long for the
+     society of men distinguished for the reputation of their talents
+     or genius. M. de La Harpe was one of the first who appreciated
+     the young woman, around whom were one day to be grouped all
+     the celebrated characters of her age. The conversation of that
+     young woman of fifteen had a thousand attractions for a man of
+     his great acquirements, and whose excessive vanity, with the
+     habit of conversing with the ablest men in France, had rendered
+     exceedingly difficult to please. He delighted in being her
+     guide: he was astonished at the rapidity with which her talent
+     supplied the want of experience, and comprehended everything
+     which he revealed to her of the world and of men. This was at
+     the moment of his celebrated conversion to Christianity. The
+     Revolution having rendered infidelity all-powerful, scepticism
+     had lost the merit of being opposed to authority, and those whom
+     vanity alone had rendered such could in good faith, and without
+     compromising their reputation, avow their secret belief."--Vol.
+     ix. 118, 121.
+
+Of the unbounded devotion which Madame Recamier in a few years came
+to inspire in the breasts of the most distinguished men of her day,
+abundant proof is furnished in Chateaubriand's Memoirs. To give only
+a few examples, among a host of others which might be cited, Marshal
+Massena--a roturier by birth, and certainly not inheriting by
+descent any of the feelings of chivalry--yet even he asked a ribbon
+from Madame Recamier before he set out for the army of Italy, to
+take the command in Genoa, in the siege since so celebrated; and,
+having obtained it, he wrote to her the following note some weeks
+after:--
+
+     "The charming ribbon given by Madame Recamier has been borne by
+     General Massena in the battles and the blockades of Genoa: it
+     has never left him, and been, in every instance, the harbinger
+     of victory."--Vol. viii. 167.
+
+     "There," as Chateaubriand justly observes "the ancient manners
+     reappeared athwart the modern manners of which they formed the
+     base. The gallantry of the noble chevalier shone forth in the
+     plebeian soldier; the memory of the tournaments and of the
+     crusades was concealed amidst the blaze of glory with which
+     modern France has crowned its old victories."
+
+Lucien Buonaparte, one of her first adorers, addressed her early in
+life in these terms:--
+
+     "Till within these few days, I knew you only by renown. I had
+     seen you sometimes at church and in the theatres. I knew you
+     were the most beautiful: a thousand voices repeated it; and
+     your charms had struck without dazzling me. Why has the peace
+     rendered me captive? it reigns in our families, but sorrow is in
+     my heart.
+
+     "I have seen you since: Jove seemed to smile on your steps.
+     Seated on the edge of a fountain, motionless and dreamy, you
+     gathered a rose. I addressed you alone: I thought I heard
+     a sigh. Vain illusion! I soon saw the tranquil front of
+     indifference seated between us. The passion which devoured me
+     expressed itself in my words; while yours bore the cruel yet
+     amiable stamp of infancy and sport.
+
+     "Be severe, I implore you, for pity's sake. Banish me from your
+     presence. Desire me to withdraw from your enchanting society:
+     and if I can obey the order, remember only that my heart is for
+     ever your own; that no one ever reigned over it as Juliette;
+     and that he will ever live with her, at least in memory."--Vol.
+     viii. 130.
+
+"For a man of _sangfroid_," says Chateaubriand, "all that is a
+little ridiculous." He is right: it is gallantry without passion
+which always appears _fade_ and contemptible. It is vehemence
+and sincerity which makes sentiment interesting. The Buonapartes
+had nothing chivalrous in their breasts: Lucien's letter is very
+different from Massena wearing Madame Recamier's ribbon next his
+heart amidst the fire of the Austrian cannon. But Chateaubriand
+himself had the true spirit of chivalry in his bosom. He thus
+recounts one of the last moments which he spent in 1832, late in
+life, with Madame Recamier on the banks of the Lake of Constance:--
+
+     "We wandered as chance guided our steps, and sat down beside
+     the lake. From a pavilion in the woods arose a concert of the
+     harp and the German horns, which ceased as we began to listen
+     to them. It was a scene in a fairy tale. As the music did not
+     recommence, I read to Madame Recamier my description of the St
+     Gothard. She asked me to write something in her pocket-book.
+     Immediately below the last words of Rousseau, which were there
+     inscribed, 'Open the windows, that I may again see the light
+     of the sun,' I wrote, 'What I felt the want of on the Lake of
+     Lucerne I have found on the Lake of Constance--the charm and the
+     intelligence of beauty. I no longer wish to die like Rousseau; I
+     wish, on the contrary, to live long, and behold the sun, if it
+     is near you that I am to finish my life. May my days expire at
+     your feet, as the waves of which you hear the murmur.' The azure
+     light of the setting sun coloured the lake; on the horizon, to
+     the south, the snowy alps of the Grisons reflected the ruddy
+     glow; the breeze which swept the waves harmonised with their
+     ceaseless murmur. We knew not where we were."--Vol. x. 246, 247.
+
+With the accession of a more Liberal Administration under M. de
+Martignac, Chateaubriand was taken into power. In 1822 he was sent
+as ambassador to London; in 1823 he was made minister of foreign
+affairs, and directed the expedition into Spain in that year, which
+had so successful a result; and in 1824 he represented France at the
+Congress of Verona. He was again, however, chased from the helm by
+the jealousy of the Royalists, whose imbecility was rebuked by his
+genius; and it was not till 1828 that he was again taken into power,
+and appointed to the embassy at Rome. He was there when the Polignac
+Administration was appointed.
+
+We must hasten to the most brilliant and honourable period of
+Chateaubriand's life, that in which he stood almost alone amidst a
+nation's defection, and singly opposed the revolutionary torrent
+by which nearly all others had been swept away. The spectacle is
+at once animating and mournful: animating as evincing of what high
+resolves, of what heroic constancy, noble minds are capable even
+in the extremity of disaster: mournful, as exhibiting so bright a
+contrast to the tergiversation of later times, and suggesting the
+mournful reflection that, in these days of economists and material
+enjoyment, the days of chivalry are gone for ever.
+
+It is well known that Chateaubriand was esteemed not only a Liberal,
+but an ultra-Liberal, by the extreme Royalist party whom Charles
+X. summoned to his councils on his accession to the throne; and
+that, in consequence of his disagreement with Polignac and the
+leaders of that party, he retired from the ministry, and resigned
+his appointment as ambassador at Rome. His consternation was great
+on perceiving the extreme measures which the Polignac party were
+preparing to carry into execution, and the feeble preparations made
+for supporting them by military force, in the midst of a warlike and
+excited people. Of his first intelligence of the appointment of the
+Polignac Administration by the sovereign whom they were destined so
+soon to overthrow, he gives the following account:--
+
+     "Rumours of a change of Administration had already reached us
+     at Rome. Well-informed persons had even gone so far as to speak
+     of Prince Polignac, but I could not credit the reports. At
+     length the journals arrive; I open them, and my eyes rest on
+     the official ordinance calling him to the head of the ministry.
+     I had experienced many vicissitudes of fortune in my journey
+     through life, but never had I fallen from such an elevation.
+     My evil destiny had again blown over my chimeras: that breath
+     of fate had not only destroyed my illusions, but it had swept
+     away the monarchy. The blow was fearful: for a moment I was in
+     despair, but my part was soon taken. I felt that I must retire
+     from power. The post brought me a multitude of letters; all
+     recommended me to send in my resignation. Even persons to whom I
+     was almost a stranger thought themselves obliged to counsel me
+     to retire. I was in secret mortified at the officious interest
+     thus evinced in my reputation. Thank God, I have never needed
+     nor waited for counsels when the paths of honour and of interest
+     lay before me. Falls from station have ever been to me ruin,
+     for I possessed through life nothing but debts; so that when I
+     resigned my appointments, I was reduced to live by my wits. In a
+     word, I resigned a situation of 200,000 francs (£8000) a-year,
+     and was reduced to nothing; but my choice was not doubtful. Cast
+     to the winds, said I to myself, 200,000 francs (£8000) a-year
+     of income, an appointment entirely suited to your taste, a high
+     and magnificent office, the empire of the fine arts at Rome, the
+     felicity, in fine, of having at length received the recompense
+     for your long and laborious struggles. Honour is to be won,
+     esteem preserved, at no other price."--Vol. ix. 141, 142.
+
+On arriving at Paris after he had resigned his appointment as
+ambassador at Rome, Chateaubriand found that many of the kind
+and officious friends who had so strongly urged _him_ to resign,
+had themselves quietly accepted appointments under the Polignac
+Administration! He withdrew, however, in pursuance of his
+resolution, into private life; and in order to avoid the expenses
+of Paris, which exceeded what his reduced income could bear, he
+retired to Dieppe in June 1830. When there he received the stunning
+intelligence of the Ordinances of July. His part was immediately
+taken. He returned with the utmost expedition to Paris, resolved
+to share the fate of his country whatever it might be, and to
+exert himself to the utmost to mitigate the calamities which he
+foresaw awaited it. His first step on arriving in the capital was
+to write a letter to the King, making a tender of his services to
+negotiate with the popular leaders who had got the command in the
+capital. The only answer he received was a verbal one, that M. de
+Montemart had been appointed to the head of the Ministry, and a
+reference to him. But M. de Montemart could not be found; and even
+if he had been, affairs had gone too far to admit of any remedy
+by individual efforts, how powerful soever. The nation would have
+a Revolution with its consequences, and it was doomed to have a
+Revolution with its consequences. But although Louis Philippe was
+successful, Chateaubriand foresaw that his throne was established
+on a rotten foundation: that the _juste milieu_, resting neither on
+the attachment of a loyal, nor the passions of a conquering people,
+could not be of lasting endurance; and that, in default of all
+principles of honour whereon to rest a Government, those of interest
+alone remained. He has left the following memorable prophecy of
+the fate awaiting a monarchy cradled in treason and fostered by
+selfishness:--
+
+     "Louis Philippe, his Government, the whole of that impossible
+     and contradictory combination, _will perish in a time more
+     or less retarded by fortuitous events_, by complications of
+     interests interior and exterior, by the apathy or corruption of
+     individuals, by the levity of disposition, the indifference and
+     want of nerve in characters. But be its duration long or short,
+     the present dynasty will not exist long enough for the House of
+     Orleans to strike its roots in the soil of France."--Vol. ix.
+     333.[6]
+
+  [6] M. de Chateaubriand died in 1847, before the Revolution of 1848.
+
+It is not in public documents and actions that the real opinions of
+the actors on the stage of public events are to be discerned. It is
+their private conversation or correspondence that reveals their real
+sentiments; it is there that the mental struggles which preceded
+the most decisive steps, and the secret views by which they were
+actuated in adopting or rejecting them, are in truth disclosed. In
+this view, the following conversation between Chateaubriand and the
+Duchess of Orleans, immediately after the triumph of the Barricades,
+is peculiarly interesting--
+
+     "M. Arago spoke to me in the warmest terms of the intellectual
+     superiority of Madame Adelaide; and the Count Analde de
+     Montesquieu, having met me one morning at Madame Recamier's,
+     informed me that the Duke and Duchess of Orleans would be
+     charmed to see me. I went, accordingly, to the Palais Royal with
+     the Chevalier d'Honneur of the future queen. I found the Duchess
+     of Orleans and Madame Adelaide in their private boudoirs. I had
+     previously had the honour of being presented to the duchess. She
+     made me sit down near her, and immediately said--
+
+     "'Ah! M. de Chateaubriand, we are very unfortunate. If all
+     parties would unite we might perhaps be saved, what think you of
+     that?'
+
+     "'Madame,' I replied, 'nothing is so easy. Charles X. and the
+     Dauphin have both abdicated; Henry V. is now king; the Duke
+     of Orleans is now Lieutenant-general of the kingdom; let him
+     be Regent during the whole minority of Henry V., and all is
+     accomplished.'
+
+     "'But, M. de Chateaubriand, the people are extremely agitated;
+     we should fall into anarchy.'
+
+     "'Madame, may I venture to ask you what is the intention of the
+     Duke of Orleans? will he accept the throne if it is offered to
+     him?'
+
+     "The two princesses hesitated to answer. After a short pause the
+     Duchess of Orleans replied,--
+
+     "'Consider, M. de Chateaubriand, the disasters which may
+     ensue--you and all other men of honour require to unite to save
+     us from a republic. At Rome, M. de Chateaubriand, you might
+     render us essential service--or even here, if you did not wish
+     to quit France.'
+
+     "'Madame is not ignorant of my devotion to the young king and to
+     his mother.'
+
+     "'Ah! M. de Chateaubriand, how well they have rewarded your
+     fidelity.'
+
+     "'Your Royal Highness would not wish me to give the lie to my
+     whole life.'
+
+     "'M. de Chateaubriand, you do not know my niece; she is so
+     inconsiderate, poor Caroline. I will send for the Duke of
+     Orleans; I hope he may succeed in persuading you better than me.'
+
+     "The princess gave her orders, and in a quarter of an hour
+     Louis Philippe arrived. He was dressed in disorder, and
+     looked extremely fatigued. I rose as he entered, and the
+     Lieutenant-general of the kingdom said,--
+
+     "'The duchess has doubtless informed you how unfortunate we
+     are.' And upon that he began a speech on the felicity which
+     he enjoyed in the country, and the life, in the midst of his
+     children, which was entirely according to his taste. I seized
+     the opportunity of a momentary pause to repeat what I had said
+     to the princess.
+
+     "'Ah!' he exclaimed, 'that is just what I desire. How happy
+     should I be to become the tutor and support of that infant! I
+     think exactly as you do, M. de Chateaubriand: to take the Duke
+     of Bordeaux would unquestionably be the wisest course that could
+     be adopted. I only fear events are too strong for us.'
+
+     "'Stronger than us, my Lord Duke! Are you not invested with all
+     powers? Let us hasten to join Henry V. Summon the Chambers and
+     the army to meet you out of Paris. At the first intelligence of
+     your departure all that effervescence will subside, and all the
+     world will seek shelter under your enlightened and protecting
+     government.'
+
+     "While I yet spoke, I kept my eyes fixed on Louis Philippe. I
+     saw that my counsels gave him annoyance: I saw written on his
+     forehead the desire to be king. 'M. de Chateaubriand,' said he,
+     _without looking me in the face_, 'the thing is not so easy as
+     you imagine: things do not go as you imagine. A furious mob may
+     assail the Chambers, and we have, as yet, no military force on
+     which we can rely for its defence.'
+
+     "The last expression gave me pleasure, because it enabled me
+     to bring forward a decisive reply. 'I feel the difficulty you
+     mention, my Lord Duke; but there is a sure mode of obviating
+     it. If you cannot rejoin Henry V., as I have just proposed,
+     you may embrace another course. The session is about to open:
+     on the first proposition made by the deputies, declare that
+     the Chamber of Deputies has not the power to determine the
+     form of government for France; that the _whole nation must be
+     consulted_. Your Royal Highness will thus place yourself at the
+     head of the popular party: the Republicans, who now constitute
+     your danger, will laud you to the skies. In the two months which
+     must elapse before the new legislature can assemble, you can
+     organise a national guard; all your friends, and the friends
+     of the young king, will exert themselves in the provinces. Let
+     the deputies assemble, and let the cause I espouse be publicly
+     pleaded before them. That cause, favoured in heart by you,
+     supported by the great majority of the country electors, will
+     be certain of success. The moment of anarchy being past, you
+     will have nothing to fear from the violence of the Republicans.
+     I even think you might win over, by such a course, General
+     Lafayette and M. Lafitte to your side. What a part for you to
+     play, my Lord Duke! You will reign fifteen years in the name of
+     your young pupil; at the expiration of that time, repose will
+     be a blessing to us all. You will earn the glory, unique in
+     history, of having had the power to ascend the throne, and of
+     having left it to the lawful heir. At the same time, you will
+     have enjoyed the means of educating that heir abreast of the
+     ideas of his age: you will have rendered him capable of reigning
+     over France. One of your daughters may aid him to bear the
+     weight of the crown.'
+
+     "Louis Philippe looked around with a wandering eye and an absent
+     air. 'I beg your pardon, M. de Chateaubriand,' said he; 'I left
+     a deputation to converse with you, and I must return to it.'
+     With these words, he bowed and withdrew.
+
+The advice thus given at the decisive moment by Chateaubriand
+was that of honour and loyalty; it dictated by the spirit of the
+chevalier _sans peur et sans reproche_. But it was not that of
+immediate or apparent interest; and therefore it was not adopted.
+The event has now proved, however, that in this, as in so many
+other instances in this world, the path of honour and duty would
+have been that of expedience. What Chateaubriand recommended to
+Louis Philippe was substantially what Louis Napoleon _did_; and
+the result proved that the great majority of the nation, differing
+widely from the revolutionary rabble of Paris, was not only
+Conservative, but Royalist in its dispositions. Had Louis Philippe
+followed this course, and taken only the regency till the majority
+of the Duke of Bordeaux, the two branches of the house of Bourbon
+would have been cordially united: no discord or jealousies would
+have weakened the Royalist party; the national will would have
+been decidedly pronounced for the monarchy before it had been
+rendered an object of contempt; the Revolution of 1848, with all
+its disastrous consequences, would probably have been prevented;
+and as the Duke de Bordeaux has no family, the Orleans dynasty, as
+the next heirs, would have ascended the throne in the natural order
+of succession--and not only without the bar sinister of treason on
+their escutcheon, but with a deed of unexampled magnanimity and
+honour to illustrate their accession!
+
+Louis Philippe, bent on the immediate possession of the throne, made
+another attempt to gain M. de Chateaubriand; and for this purpose
+the Duchess of Orleans and Madame Adelaide again sent for him.
+
+     "Madame Adelaide was present as on the former occasion; and
+     the duchess now described more specifically the favours with
+     which the Duke of Orleans proposed to honour me. She dwelt on
+     what she called my sway over public opinion; the sacrifices I
+     had made, and the aversion which Charles X. and his family had
+     always shown to me in spite of my services. She said to me, that
+     if I would accept the portfolio of foreign affairs, his Royal
+     Highness would be too happy to replace me in that situation; but
+     that possibly I would prefer returning to Rome, and that she
+     would greatly rejoice at that appointment, for the interests of
+     our holy religion.
+
+     "'Madam,' I answered with some degree of vivacity, 'I see that
+     his Royal Highness has taken his line; that he has weighed the
+     consequences; that he is prepared to meet the years of misery
+     and perils he will have to traverse. I have therefore nothing
+     to say on that head--I come not here to fail in respect to the
+     blood of the Bourbons; I owe besides nothing but gratitude
+     and respect to _Madame_. Leaving apart, then, those great
+     objections, founded on reason and principle, I pray her Royal
+     Highness to allow me to explain what personally concerns myself.
+
+     "'She has had the condescension to speak of what she calls
+     my power over general opinion. Well, if that power is well
+     founded, on what is it founded? Is it on anything else but the
+     public esteem: and should I not lose it the moment I changed my
+     colours? The Duke of Orleans supposes he would in me acquire a
+     support: instead of that he would gain only a miserable maker
+     of phrases, whose voice would no longer be listened to--a
+     renegade, on whom every one would have a right to throw dust
+     and to spit in his face. To the hesitating words which he could
+     pronounce in favour of Louis Philippe, they would oppose the
+     entire volumes he had written in favour of the fallen family. Is
+     it not I, Madam, who have written the pamphlet of _Buonaparte
+     and the Bourbons_; the articles on the arrival of Louis XVIII.
+     at Compiègne; the relation of the Royal Council at Ghent, and
+     the _History of the Life and Death of the Duke de Berri_? I
+     know not that I have written a single page where the name of
+     our ancient kings is not either mentioned or alluded to, and
+     where they are not environed by the protestations of my love and
+     fidelity--a thing which marks strength of principle the more
+     strongly, as _Madame_ knows that, as an individual, I put no
+     faith in princes. At the thought even of desertion, the colour
+     mounts to my cheeks. The day after my treachery, I should go to
+     throw myself into the Seine. I implore _Madame_ to forgive the
+     vehemence of my language: I am penetrated with her goodness: I
+     shall ever preserve a profound and grateful remembrance of it;
+     but she would not wish me to be dishonoured. Pity me, madam,
+     pity me.'"
+
+     "I was still standing; and bowing, I retired. Mademoiselle de
+     Orleans, (the Princess Adelaide,) had not yet said anything.
+     She rose up, and retiring said, '_I do not pity you, M. de
+     Chateaubriand; I do not pity you_.' I was forcibly struck
+     with the mournful accent with which she pronounced these
+     words."--Vol. ix. 361, 362.
+
+"Pity not me," said the dying Chevalier Bayard to the traitor
+Constable de Bourbon; "pity those who fight against their king,
+their country, and their oath." The feelings of honour are the same
+in all ages.
+
+We shall close this long line of honourable acts with an extract
+from Chateaubriand's noble speech in favour of Henry V., in the
+Chamber of Peers, on July 7, 1830.
+
+     "'Charles X. and his sons are dethroned or have abdicated; it
+     signifies not which. The throne is _not vacant_--after them
+     comes an infant; will you condemn the innocent?
+
+     "'What blood now cries out against him? Can you say it is
+     that of his father? That orphan educated in the school of his
+     country, in attachment to a constitutional throne, and in
+     the ideas of his age, will become a king in harmony with the
+     cravings of the future. It is to the guardian of his infancy
+     that you would first tender the oath to be faithful to it.
+     Arrived at mature years, he would himself renew it. The king
+     at this moment, the real king for a time, would be the Duke of
+     Orleans, the regent of the kingdom; a prince who has lived near
+     the people, and who knows that the monarchy now can only be a
+     monarchy of concession and reason. That combination, so natural,
+     so obvious, appears a main element in reconciliation, and would
+     save France from the convulsions which are the consequence of
+     violent changes in a state.
+
+     "'To say that this infant, separated from his masters, would not
+     have leisure to forget their precepts before becoming a man: to
+     say that he would remain infatuated by certain dogmas of his
+     birth, after a long popular education, after the terrible lesson
+     which has discrowned two kings in two nights: is that reasonable?
+
+     "'It is neither from a sentimental devotion, nor the affection
+     of a nurse for the cradle of Henry IV., that I plead a cause
+     where all would turn against me if it triumphed. I am neither
+     influenced by the ideas of romance nor of chivalry: I do not
+     desire the crown of martyrdom. I do not believe in the divine
+     right of kings: I am alive to the power of revolutions, and the
+     evidence of facts. I do not even invoke the charter: I ascend
+     to a higher source. I draw my principles from the philosophic
+     ideas of the age in which my life expires: I propose the Duke of
+     Bordeaux simply as a necessity preferable to the Duke of Orleans.
+
+     "'You proclaim the sovereignty of force. It is well. _Look
+     carefully after it: guard it well; for, if it escapes you,
+     who will pity your lot?_ Such is human nature. The most
+     enlightened minds are not always raised above the temptations
+     of success. The _esprits forts_ were the first to invoke the
+     right of violence; they supported it by all the force of their
+     talents; and at the moment when the truth of what they said is
+     demonstrated by the abuse of that force, and its overthrow,
+     the conquerors seize the weapon they have broken! Dangerous
+     trophies, which may wound the hand which seized them.
+
+     "'A useless Cassandra, I have fatigued the throne and the
+     country sufficiently with my disdained predictions: it remains
+     for me only to seat myself on the remains of the wreck which I
+     have so often predicted. I recognise in misfortune every power
+     except that of absolving us from our oaths. I must render my
+     life uniform: after all I have written, said, and done for the
+     Bourbons, I should be the basest of the base if I deserted them
+     when for the third time they bend their steps into exile.
+
+     "'Far from me be the thought of casting the seeds of division
+     into France: thence it is that I have avoided in my discourse
+     the language of the passions. If I had the firm conviction that
+     an infant should be left in the obscure and tranquil ranks of
+     life, to secure the repose of thirty-three millions of men, I
+     should have regarded any opinion expressed against the declared
+     wishes of the age as a crime. I have no such conviction. If I
+     was entitled to dispose of the crown, I should willingly lay it
+     at the feet of the Duke of Orleans. But I have no such right. I
+     see no place vacant but a tomb at St Denis, and not a throne.
+
+     "'Whatever destinies may attend the lieutenant-general of the
+     kingdom, I shall never be his enemy, if he acts for the good of
+     his country. I only ask to be allowed to preserve the freedom of
+     my conscience, and to go and leave my bones where I shall find
+     independence and repose. I vote against the motion.'"--Vol. ix.
+     386-388.
+
+Chateaubriand was as good as his word. He resigned all his
+appointments, even his pension of £600 a-year as Peer of France: he
+sold off all his effects, which scarcely paid his debts: he refused
+the offer of Charles X. to restore that pension out of the wreck
+of that Prince's own fortune: he set out again penniless on the
+pilgrimage of life: and till his death, in 1848, supported himself
+entirely by his literary talents.
+
+Such was honour in the olden time. We do not say that it would not
+find imitators, on a similar crisis, on this side of the Channel: we
+believe it would find many. But this we do say, that it would find
+them only among those who are imbued with the ancient ideas, among
+whom, whether patrician or plebeian, the spirit of chivalry is not
+extinct. It will not be found among the worshippers of mammon, or
+the slaves of interest. Woe to the nation by whom such feelings are
+classed with the age of the mammoth and the mastodon! It has entered
+the gulf of destruction, for it deserves to be destroyed.
+
+
+
+
+THE GREEN HAND.
+
+A "SHORT" YARN.
+
+PART XI.
+
+
+"Well, ma'am," continued our narrator, addressing himself, as usual,
+to his matronly relative in the chair, and with the accustomed
+catch-word, which was like the knotting together of his interrupted
+yarn: "well--it was between a fortnight and three weeks after losing
+sight of St Helena, that, being at last fairly in the latitude of
+the Cape, the frigate and schooner tacked in company, and stood
+close-hauled on a wind to the eastward. By the middle watch that
+night, when the moon set, we could make out the long flat top of
+Table Mountain heaving in sight off the horizon over against her.
+Next day, in fact, we were both of us quietly at anchor outside of
+the shipping in Table Bay; Cape Town glittering along on the green
+flat amongst the trees to southward, with the hills on each side
+of it like some big African lion lying on guard close by; while
+Table Mountain hove up, square-shouldered, blue to the left, four
+thousand feet high, as bare and steep as a wall, with the rocks and
+trees creeping up from the foot, and the wreaths of light cloud
+resting halfway, like nothing else but the very breakwater of the
+world's end. The sea stretched broad off to north and west, and
+a whole fleet of craft lay betwixt us and the land--half of them
+Indiamen--amongst which, you may be sure, I kept a pretty sharp
+look-out with the glass, to see if the Seringapatam were there still.
+
+I was soon saved further pains on this head, however, when shortly
+afterwards the frigate was beset by a whole squadron of bumboats,
+shoving against each other, and squabbling, in all sorts of Nigger
+tongues, who should be first: the chief of them being in evident
+command of a fat old Dutch Frouw, with an immense blue umbrella
+over her, two greasy-looking Hottentot rowers in blankets, and a
+round-faced Dutch boy, the picture of herself, steering the boat; as
+the old lady made a clear berth for herself, by laying about with
+her blue umbrella, till she was close under our quarter, sitting all
+the while with the broad round stern of her bright-coloured gown
+spread over a couple of beer-barrels, like a peacock's train. In
+two minutes more the little fellow was up the side, flourishing a
+bundle of papers under the first lieutenant's very nose, and asking
+the ship's custom, even whilst the sentries were ordering them all
+off. A midshipman took this youth by the cuff of the neck, and
+was handing him rather roughly along to the care of the purser's
+steward, when I stepped betwixt them; and a bumboat being the best
+directory on the point, of course, I soon found the old lady had
+had dealings with the Seringapatam, which her bluff-built little
+progeny described as a very good ship indeed, all having paid their
+bills, except one young officer, who had left a balance standing,
+for which he had given a letter to his brother in a ship that was
+to come after. As for the Indiaman herself, the Dutch boy said she
+had sailed about a week before our arrival, along with two others;
+and he was anxious to know if we were the vessel in question. I
+accordingly unfolded the open letter, which was addressed,--"Thomas
+Spoonbill Simm, Esquire, of His Britannic Majesty's ship Nincompoop,
+(or otherwise;") and it ran somehow thus:--"_Hon. East India
+Company's ship Seringapatam, Table Bay, September 1, 1816._--My
+dear Brother, This is to certify, that I have eaten four dozen and
+a half of eggs, supplied by the worthy Vrouw Dulcken, the bearer
+of this, whom I can recommend as an old screw, and am due her for
+the same the sum of nine shillings and sixpence sterling, which you
+will kindly pay her, taking her receipt or mark, unless you are
+willing to forfeit our family watch, herewith deposited by me in
+the hands of said Mother Dulcken. I may add that, in justice to the
+worthy Vrouw, three of the above-mentioned eggs ought to be charged
+as _fowls_, which, by the way, I did not consume; and, with love
+to all at home, remain your affectionate brother, JOHN SIMM, H.
+E. I. C. S.--_P. S._ The watch I have discovered to be pinchbeck,
+and it does not go; so that a sad trick must have been originally
+played upon our venerated Uncle, from whom it descended. J. S." This
+precious epistle was, without doubt, a joke of the fat mid. Simm,
+who used to come such rigs over Ford the cadet, and that jumped
+overboard one night by mistake out of the Indiaman's quarter-boat,
+during the voyage. As for the existence of his brother Thomas,
+or the chance of his touching at that port, I set them down with
+the coming home of Vanderdecken; though the thought of this young
+scamp of a sea-lawyer breakfasting for a fortnight so comfortably,
+only a few feet distant from my charmer's state-room, sent me all
+abroad again, and right into the Indiaman's decks, by this time far
+out of sight of land. Piece of impudent roguery though it was, I
+was actually loath to part with the scrawl, which the reefer had
+fisted, no doubt, on the lid of his chest--probably with a pipe
+in his mouth at the time, it smelt so of tobacco--only seven days
+before. I could even see the grin on his fat face as he wrote it
+below in the steerage, with his chin up, and his eyes looking down
+past his pipe; while the little Dutch boy's round flat frontispiece
+glistened as he peered up at me, in the evident notion of my being
+the brother expected. In fact, ma'am, I was so soft as to intend
+paying the nine-and-sixpence myself, and keeping the letter, when
+I was startled to see the old lady herself had contrived to be
+hoisted on board amongst her cabbages; and having got wind of the
+thing, seemingly, she came waddling towards me to hand over Simm's
+watch to boot. In another half minute the letter was being read
+aloud in the midst of the whole gun-room officers, amongst roars
+of laughter; the honest old Dutchwoman holding aloft the precious
+article, and floundering through to find out the rightful owner, as
+every one claimed it and offered the nine-and-sixpence; while for my
+part I tried first to get down one hatchway, then another, and Lord
+Frederick himself came up on the starboard side of the quarterdeck
+in the height of the scene. Indeed, I believe it was a joke for
+months after in the Hebe, of a night, to say it was "the second
+lieutenant's watch;" the sole revenge I had being to leave Mother
+Dulcken and her boy to expect the "ship that was coming after."
+
+A Government boat came aboard in the afternoon, and as soon as it
+left us, Lord Frederick took his gig, and steered for a frigate
+lying some distance off, which had the harbour flag hoisted at her
+main, being the only man-o'-war besides ourselves, and commanded
+by a senior captain. Till it got dark I could see the crews of the
+nearest merchantmen looking over their bulwarks at us and our prize,
+apparently comparing the schooner with the frigate, and speculating
+on her character, as she lay a few fathoms off the Hebe's quarter,
+both of us rising and falling in turn on the long heave of the
+Cape swell from seaward. 'Twas hard to say, in fact, so far as
+their hulls went, which was the most beautiful sample of its kind;
+though the schooner's French-fashioned sticks and off-hand sort
+of rigging, showed rather like jury-gear beside the tall regular
+sticks aloft of the Hebe's decks, with all her hamper perfect to
+a tee. The Hebe's men very naturally considered their own ship a
+model for everything that floated, a sort of a Solomon's temple, in
+short; and to hear the merciless way they ran down the Indiamen all
+round, would have raised the whole homeward-bound fleet against us;
+whereas the schooner was our own, at any rate, and she was spoken of
+much in the manner one mentions an unfortunate orphan, as good as
+already christened by the name of "the Young Hebe." This our learned
+chaplain said was quite improper, and he gave another name in place
+of it--the "Aniceta"--which meant, as he observed, the Hebe's
+youngest daughter; so the Aniceta she was called, happening to be a
+title that went, according to the boatswain, full as sweetly through
+the sheave-hole.
+
+Next day the schooner had landed not only her passengers from St
+Helena, but the prisoners also, as we still understood the French
+and their Kroomen to be. Not long after that Lord Frederick came
+back from Cape Town, looking grave, and went straight down to his
+cabin, or "cabins," as his lordship preferred to have it said. The
+first lieutenant dined that day with the captain; but they could
+scarcely have finished when the "young gentlemen" who had been
+as usual from the reefer's mess, came up with a message from the
+captain, that his lordship would be glad if I would join the first
+lieutenant and himself in a glass of wine. I found them sitting at
+the side of the table nearest the open port, with the decanters
+between them, and the broad bright bay in full sight to the shore
+and the foot of Table Mountain, which rose up blocking the port with
+the top of it beyond view; the sounds of the merchantmen clicking at
+their heavy windlasses, and hoisting in water-casks, floated slowly
+in from every side, while the schooner had hauled on her cable more
+abreast of the frigate, leaving the sight clear over the eddy round
+her low counter.
+
+"A lovely piece of workmanship, certainly!" observed Lord Frederick
+thoughtfully, as he leant back swinging his eyeglass round his
+finger, with the other hand in the breast of his waistcoat, and
+looking out at what was seen of the schooner. "And how one might
+have improved her spars, too!" said Mr Hall, wistfully. "I should
+have recommended longer lower-masts altogether, Lord Frederick, and
+a thorough overhaul, I may say, from the combings upwards!" "I would
+not have her hull touched for the world, Mr Hall!" said the captain;
+"'tis too--excessively provoking, at least! But pass the bottles to
+Mr Collins, if you please." I had taken a chair and quietly filled
+my glass, wondering what could be the matter, when his lordship
+turned to me and said, "Do you know, Mr Collins, this schooner of
+ours is likely to be laid up in Chancery, heaven knows how long. The
+Admiralty court ashore are doubtful of condemning her, apparently,
+and she must either be sent home or to Monte Video or somewhere,
+where the master of her claims to belong!" "Indeed, my lord," said
+I, setting down my glass, "that is curious." "Curious indeed, sir!"
+replied he, biting his lips, "though, after all, we really can
+scarce say what she is to be condemned for--only in the meantime I
+sail to-morrow for India." "She's French to the backbone, that I'll
+swear, Lord Frederick!" I said; "and what's more, she was"----"Ah,"
+broke in the captain, "I know, I know; but the less we say of
+that, in present circumstances, the better! Once get her entangled
+with politics, and we may give her up altogether." Lord Frederick
+twisted his eyeglass round his forefinger faster than before, still
+watching the schooner; the first lieutenant held up his claret
+betwixt himself and the light, and I sipped mine. "I tell you what,
+gentlemen," exclaimed his lordship suddenly, "I _must_ have that
+schooner at any cost!--What is to be done, Mr Hall?" "She'd be of
+great service in the China seas, my lord, certainly," said the first
+lieutenant, looking thoughtfully into his empty glass; "a perfect
+treasure for light service, especially if new sparred and--" I
+noticed Lord Frederick glancing sideways at me, as I thought, with a
+slight gleam in his eye; and accordingly I suggested that he might
+buy her from the Frenchman himself; a very poor idea, no doubt, as
+both the captain and first luff seemed to think, and we all three
+kept eyeing her doubtfully through the port, without a word.
+
+At this time the schooner's counter had been slowly sheering toward
+the frigate's beam, owing to the ebb-tide, and her holding only by a
+single cable, till her stern began to show right opposite the cabin,
+I should say not twenty feet off. Lord Frederick put his glass to
+his eye, and was peering through it, when he remarked that they had
+brought up rather too near, leaving scarce room for the schooner to
+swing as she did, earlier than we, so that she would be in danger
+of getting foul of the frigate's cables. "The worst of it is, Lord
+Frederick," said I, "that in case of a gale from seaward here, she
+might have to slip and run upon very short warning, whereas the Hebe
+has plenty of ground-tackle to let her ride it out. Considering it
+was Table Bay, at this season, he ought to have kept her a clearer
+berth for herself, or else have gone well outside!"--"Ah!" said
+Lord Frederick quickly, meeting my eye for half a minute, till the
+gleam came into his again; and somehow or other mine must have
+caught it, though I must say the notion that struck me then all at
+once wasn't in my head before. "Do you know, that's well thought
+of, Collins!" said his lordship. "You've weathered the Cape before,
+by the bye?"--"A dozen times, Lord Frederick," said I; when a
+regularly jovial roar of laughter broke fair through the port into
+the cabin, from over the schooner's taffrail, as she sheered end-on
+to the frigate's quarter, and Lord Frederick leant forward with the
+glass screwed into his right eye to see along their decks, which
+were covered aft with an awning like the open gable of a tent at a
+fair. "Singular!" said he; "by the lord Harry, who or what can that
+be Mr Hammond has got there?" Dangling over the French schooner's
+taffrail were to be seen the soles of two immense boots, with calves
+and knees to match, and a pair of tightish striped trousers worked
+up more than half way, 'till you saw the tops of the stockings;
+just beyond the knees was the face leaning back in the shade of
+the awning and a straw hat together, out of which a huge green
+cabbage-leaf hung like a flap over one eye, while the other kept
+gazing in a half-closed sleepy sort of way at the sky, and the red
+end of a cigar winked and glowed in the midst of the puffs of smoke
+lower down. The first lieutenant started up shocked at the sight,
+the noble captain of the Hebe sat with his eyeglass fixed, between
+amusement and wonder; for my own part, when the voice of this same
+prodigy broke all of a sudden on us out of the awning, in a mixture
+of stuttering, hiccuping, Yankee drawling, and puffs at the cigar,
+'twas all I could do to hold on, with the knowledge of where I was.
+"W_a_ll now, general," said the American, as if he were talking
+to some one aloft or in the sky, "ye-you're qui-quite wrong--I
+ki-kick-calc'late I've fit a deal more be-be-battles than you
+have--I re-respect you, Ge-Ge-General Washington; but I ho-ho-hope
+you know who--hic--whom I am!" Here Mr Daniel Snout, who was in a
+state of beastly intoxication, swayed himself up bodily into the
+schooner's taffrail, and sat with his arms folded, his long legs
+swinging over the stern, and his head trying to keep steady, as he
+scowled solemnly aloft over the frigate's mizen-royal-masthead;
+while the third lieutenant, Mr Hammond, and the master's mate he had
+aboard with him, could be heard laughing at his back, as if they had
+gone mad--Hammond being a wild sprig of an Irishman, who would go
+any length for a piece of fun.
+
+Just then the American's one eye lighted on the side of the frigate,
+till it settled lazily on the port of the captain's cabin: first he
+seemed to notice Lord Frederick Bury, and then myself, the first
+lieutenant having just recovered himself enough to rush toward
+the door to get on deck. Daniel himself surveyed me scornfully
+for a moment, then with a sort of doubtful frown, and a gravity
+that passes me to describe, unless by the look of an old cock
+a-drinking--evidently trying to recollect me. "Hallo, mister!"
+shouted he suddenly, "you haven't touched those _notions_ of mine,
+I hope." With that he made a spring off where he sat, as if to come
+towards us--no doubt thinking of the Seringapatam, and the valuables
+he had left aboard, without seeing the water between; and a pretty
+deep dive Mr Snout would have made of it, into an ebb-tide that
+would have swept him under the frigate's bottom, if Mr Hammond and
+the midshipman hadn't both sprung forward in time to catch him by
+the neck of the coat. There, accordingly, was the Yankee hanging
+like a spread eagle over the schooner's taffrail, yelling and
+turning round at the same time like a fowl on a spit--the third
+lieutenant's and the mate's faces, two pictures of dismay, as they
+held on, at finding for the first time where the schooner had shied
+them round to, with their two pairs of eyes fair in front of the
+captain's eyeglass,--while Mr Hall was singing out like thunder from
+the deck above us, "The schooner ahoy--d'ye see where you've got
+to, sir; haul ahead on that cable, d'ye hear, you lubbers, and keep
+clear of the ship!"
+
+"Mr Collins," said his lordship quietly to me, as soon as he could
+keep his countenance, and looking the sterner for the trouble he
+was put to in doing it, "you will get your things and go aboard the
+schooner directly--take her in charge, sir, and send Mr Hammond
+back here."--"Very well, my lord," said I, waiting in the doorway
+for something more, which, from something in Lord Frederick's
+look, I had reason to expect, knowing it of old. "I can only spare
+you a dozen of the men she has," added he; "but if you choose you
+can send ashore at once to pick up a few makeshifts, or anything
+you find!"--"Ay, ay, my lord," said I; "the best hand for that
+would be Mr Snelling, if I may take him, Lord Frederick?" "Oh,
+certainly," was the answer; "and harkye, Collins, you had better
+shift your berth a few cable-lengths farther off, or more, if you
+please."--"One thing, my lord," said I, stooping down to see through
+the port, "I don't much like the heavy ground-swell that begins
+to meet the ebb, Lord Frederick; and I fancy it won't be long ere
+Table Mountain spread its supper-cloth--in which case I'd consider
+it necessary to slip cable and run out at once, though I mightn't
+get in again so easily. Am I to find the frigate here again, Lord
+Frederick?"--"Deuce take it, man--no!" said his lordship. He turned
+his back to hide the evident twinkle of his eye. "Should we part
+company, of course you make for the Bay of Bengal! You can't be
+sure of the Hebe, short of the Sandheads--and if not there, then
+opposite Fort William, at Calcutta."--"Very good, my lord," said I,
+and had made my bow to go on deck, when Lord Frederick called me
+back. "By the bye," said he hastily, "about that Indiaman of yours,
+Collins--she is here, no doubt?" "No, Lord Frederick," answered I,
+"I believe she sailed a week ago." "Dear me, the deuce!" exclaimed
+he, "why I meant to have sent to-morrow to have your friend Westwood
+arrested and brought aboard!" I started at this, on which his
+lordship explained that if Westwood got to Bombay, whither the
+Seringapatam was bound, the authorities there would have news of the
+thing by this time, and could send him overland at once to England,
+which would be far worse for him than being carried to Calcutta,
+where his uncle the Councillor's interest might do something for
+him. "The best thing you can do, Collins," added Lord Frederick,
+"if you _are_ obliged to run out to sea, is to look after that
+Indiaman! With such a neat thing of a sea-boat under you, you might
+do anything you please; so cruise to windward or leeward in chase,
+find her out, and take out Westwood bodily--lose him afterwards in
+the Hoogley, if you like--carry away those old spars of hers, and
+send up new ones--only don't lose the schooner, I beg; so good bye
+to you, my dear fellow, lest we should not meet on this side the
+Line again!"--"Good bye, my lord!" said I cheerfully, and hurried on
+deck, understanding all he wanted as well as if I'd been ordered to
+set her jib that moment and heave up anchor. In ten minutes I was
+over the frigate's side, and in ten more Hammond was back in her,
+with the men who were to leave; while I sent my baggage below, set
+the hands to work shifting the schooner's berth, and by sun-down we
+were lying beyond hail of the ship, opposite the custom-house, and
+a long line of a main street in Cape Town, where we could see the
+people, the carriages, and the Dutch bullock-carts passing up and
+down; while Table Mountain hove away up off the steep Devil's Hill
+and the Lion's Rump, to the long level line a-top, as blue and bare
+as an iron monument, and throwing a shadow to the right over the
+peaks near at hand.
+
+Our friend from the United States being by this time in quite an
+oblivious condition, the first thing I did was to have him put
+quietly into the boat with which Mr Snelling was to go ashore for
+fresh hands, and I instructed the reefer to get clear of him anyhow
+he liked, if it was only above tide-mark. When they were gone I
+walked the schooner's little quarterdeck in the dusk by myself,
+till the half moon rose with a ghostly copper-like glare over the
+hollow in the Lion's Rump, streaking across the high face of Table
+Mountain, and bringing out all its rifts and wrinkles again. The
+land-breeze began to blow steadily with a long sighing sweep from
+the north-east, meeting the heavy swell that set into the broad
+bay; and the schooner, being a light crank little craft, got rather
+uneasy; whereas you could see the lights of the frigate heaving and
+settling leisurely, less than half a mile off. I had only six or
+seven good hands aboard altogether at the time, which, with those
+the midshipman had, were barely sufficient to work her in such seas;
+so with all I had to do, with the difficulty of getting men in the
+circumstances, a long voyage before us, and things that might turn
+up, as I hoped, to require a touch of the regular service, why the
+very pleasure of having a command made me a good deal anxious. Even
+of that I didn't feel sure; and I kept watching Table Mountain,
+eager for the least bit of haze to come across the top of it, as
+well as sorry I had sent Snelling ashore. "I'd give a hundred pounds
+at this moment," thought I, "to have had Bob Jacobs here!"
+
+As the moon got higher, I could see the swell washing up between the
+different merchantmen in sight, into their shadows, and heavy enough
+some of them seemed to roll round their cables, betwixt a breeze
+and a swell running the contrary ways; first one let go a second
+anchor, and then another, to help their heads shoreward; but still
+there was no danger, as things went. It wasn't long before I made
+out two boats coming from toward the town, round the stern of one of
+the ships, the frigate lying betwixt her and us, so that they took
+her by the way, and a good deal of hailing seemed to pass between
+them. I could even see epaulets glisten over the Hebe's quarter, as
+if there was a stir made aboard; after which the boats were plainly
+pulling for the schooner. What all this might mean, I couldn't very
+well conceive, unless it were either Snelling come back already, or
+else some hands Lord Frederick himself had provided before this, as
+I saw both boats were full of people. "Forward there!" I sung out,
+"hail those boats!"--"Ay, ay, the schooner ahoy!" was the answer,
+in a sharp voice from the headmost of them, "from the shore--all
+right! Stand by to heave us a line, will ye?" Next came a hail from
+Snelling, in our own gig; so I at once gave orders to heave them
+a rope and have both boats brought under the gangway, naturally
+supposing the sharp little fellow had come some marvellous good
+speed in shipping hands. As soon as he jumped on deck, I accordingly
+inquired how many men he had brought, when to my great surprise he
+informed me there was only one, "a scuffy sort of a swab," as he
+expressed it, "who would do for cook!"--"The devil he will, you
+young rascal," I broke out. "Hush, sir, for heaven's sake," said he,
+making some extraordinary sign which I didn't understand; "it'll all
+be right in the end, Mr Collins. Now then, sir," to some one in the
+boat alongside, as he carefully handed him the accommodation-ropes,
+"here you are--hold on, sir--so-o!" This was a rather youngish
+fellow in a huge pilot coat and a glazed cap, with some kind of
+uniform inside, and a large breastpin in his shirt, who handed
+me a paper the moment he stood firm on deck, without speaking a
+word; though, by the light of the deck-lantern, I didn't much like
+the look of his foxy sort of face, with the whiskers on it coming
+forward from both cheeks to his mouth, nor the glance he gave round
+the schooner with his pair of quick sharp little eyes. "Much more
+like a custom-house officer than a cook!" thought I, "unless we mean
+to have a French one;" but what was my astonishment, on opening
+the paper, to find him called "Gilbert Webb, harbour-master's
+assistant, hereby authorised by the Admiralty Court, sitting in
+Cape Town, to take charge of the doubtful vessel described in her
+papers as the 'Ludovico,' belonging to Monte Video--from the officer
+commanding the prize crew of his Britannic Majesty's ship Hebe."
+My first thought was to have Mr Gilbert Webb pitched over into his
+boat again, when Lord Frederick's own signature met my eye at the
+bottom of the paper, addressed below to "Lieutenant Collins, of his
+Majesty's schooner Aniceta, _at sea_." A wonderfully mysterious
+squint from Snelling, behind the officer, was sufficient to clinch
+the matter in my own mind, showing that the reefer was as sharp as
+a needle: and I handed back the document to the harbour gentleman,
+with a "Very well, sir, that will do." "I suppose I'd better have
+my men up, Lieutenant Collins?" said he, with a quick pert kind of
+accent, which made me set him down at once for a Londoner, while
+at the same time he seemed impatient, as I thought, to get the
+management. "Why, sir," said I, "I suppose you had."
+
+Hereupon up mounted four or five decent enough looking
+_stevedores_[7]--one or two of whom had rather the air of sailors,
+the rest being broad-beamed, short-legged Dutchmen, with trousers
+like pillow-slips--followed by a whole string of fourteen or fifteen
+Indian Lascars, their bundles in their hands, and an ugly old
+_serdug_ at their head; while the lame, broken-down, debauched-like
+fellow of a man-o'-warsman, that Snelling had found sitting on
+a timberhead ashore, got aboard with our own boat's crew. Our
+gangway was chokeful, to my fresh dismay, for to get rid of such a
+tagrag-and-bobtail, in case of running to sea, was impossible; even
+if they weren't odds against us, here was it likely to get a thick
+night, the swell growing under the schooner till she began to yerk
+at her anchor, head to wind, like a young filly at a manger; so that
+dropping them back into their boat when needful, as I intended at
+first, was out of the question for the present. I found from the
+harbour officer that the number of hands would all be required with
+the morning tide, when his orders were to have the schooner towed
+in opposite the Battery Dock, especially as there was much chance
+of the wind blowing strong from seaward next day. The swell on the
+water, he said, was such that, after putting off, he thought of
+going back again till the tide began to turn; if he had not been
+encouraged to stick to it and keep on by the midshipman, whom he
+fell in with near the quay. This piece of news was the finish to the
+rage I felt brewing in me, vexed as I naturally was to give up the
+notion of a free cruise, in command of a craft like the schooner;
+and, as soon as Mr Webb was comfortable in the cabin, over a tumbler
+of stiff grog and some cold beef, I sent for Snelling to my own
+cupboard of a state-room.
+
+  [7] Men employed in the stowing of ships' cargoes.
+
+"You cursed unlucky little imp you!" I burst out, the moment he made
+his appearance, "What's the meaning of this, sirrah? eh?"--"What
+is it, if you please, sir?" said Snelling, pretending to hold down
+his shock-head like a frightened schoolboy, and looking up all
+the time both at me and the lamp at once, while he swayed with
+the uneasy heave of the deck in such a way as made me grip him by
+the arm in a perfect fury, fancying he had got drunk ashore. "You
+young blackguard you!" said I, shaking him, "didn't I tell you to
+get hands--didn't you know I meant to--to--" "Oh yes, Mr Collins,"
+gasped the reefer, "I did indeed--you meant to cut and run--I saw
+it by your eye, sir, and--don't shake me any more, sir, or you'll
+spoil my hair--and I don't deserve it--it's--all right!" And on my
+letting him go, the ugly little scamp sunk down on a chair with
+his eyes starting from his head, and a leer like a perfect demon
+incarnate; but so perfectly laughable it was, not to mention the
+air of complete confidence between us that he threw into it, that
+I sat down myself, ready to grin at my bad luck. "Well, Mister
+Snelling," said I, quietly, "you _are_ a touch beyond me! Let's
+have the joke, at least--out with it, man, else another shake may
+be--" The reefer pointed with his thumb over his shoulder to the
+cabin, shoved his chin forward, and whispered, "Why, sir, I'm only
+doubtful whether you could make him third officer--but at any rate,
+he'll always be useful at a rope, Mr Collins--won't he, sir?" I gave
+Snelling one look, meant to be as grave as an Old Bailey chaplain's,
+but it wouldn't do--my conscience wouldn't stand it--in fact the
+very self-same notion seemed to me to have been creeping into my
+mind. "You--young--rascal!" was all I could manage to say, before
+making bolt to go on deck. "By the by, Mister Snelling," said I,
+turning and looking down from the hatchway, "you must want a glass
+of grog--tell the boy to let you have some--and go and keep the
+officer company, sir."
+
+By this time it was raining hard, the half-moon coming out at
+moments and shining through it with a sudden sharp gleam, in some
+gust of the wind off the land--showing the swell in as far as the
+wet white custom-house and the bare quays, the ships with their
+hazy lights all hither and thither, while Table Mountain was to be
+seen now and then peering half over the mist, first one corner and
+then another, of a colour like dead ashes. One time I looked down
+toward the dusky little cabin, where the midshipman, quite in his
+element, was sitting with the harbour officer, the lamp jerking and
+making wild swings betwixt them, while Snelling evidently egged on
+his companion to drink; then I gave a glance seaward, where there
+was nothing but a glimmer of rain and spray along the dark hollows
+of the water. I couldn't make up my mind, all I could do--it was
+too barefaced a thing to slip from the roadstead with a breeze
+blowing off-shore; but the worst of it was that I didn't feel easy
+at the idea of parting with an anchor in the circumstances, not
+to say carrying off the Government people, unless forced to it. I
+accordingly went below to mix myself a stiffener, and found the
+officer a cool head, for, in spite of all Snelling could do, the
+reefer himself had got provoked, whereas the sharp Mr Webb was
+only a little brisker than before. "A rough sort of night," said
+I, nodding to him, as I knocked the water out of my cap. "Well,
+it seems," said he, free and easy. "S'pose I go on deck then,
+gentlemen--I've refreshed, I assure you, so you needn't trouble
+about this 'ere schooner no farther--glad to get quit of it and turn
+in, I desay, lieutenant?"--"No trouble in the world, Mr Webb," said
+I, going on with my mixture, "far from it; but sit down a minute,
+pray sir,--Mr Snelling here will take charge of the deck for us in
+the meantime;" and Snelling vanished at once, Mr Webb apparently
+flattered at my wishing his company. "Will that cable of yours
+hold, think ye, Lieutenant Collins?" asked he, filling up another
+glass. "Why," said I, almost laughing, "to tell you the truth,
+I begin to feel devilish doubtful of it." "What!" broke out the
+harbour officer, starting up, "then I must 'ave another put down
+immediately: why, what's the effect, sir--we'll be carried out to
+sea!" "You said it exactly, Mr Webb," I said "'twould have been much
+worse, I suppose, if we were driven ashore, though! Now look you,
+if I were to let go a second anchor at present, I couldn't light
+upon a better plan either to break her back, or lose both anchors in
+the end--from the difference of strain on the two cables, with this
+ground-swell. The fact is, my good fellow, you're evidently not fit
+to take charge at present." "D--n me, lieutenant!" said he, looking
+fierce and foolish at the same time, "here's strange lang'age to a
+Gov'ment officer, sir--I hask the meanin' off it _at_ once, mister!"
+"But I depend a good deal on your knowledge of Table Bay weather,"
+I continued, leaning back with my weather eye screwed to bear upon
+him. "D'ye think this wind likely to moderate soon, sir? come
+now."--"No," replied he sulkily: "I'm sure it won't--and to-morrow
+it's certain to blow back ten times worse." "Then, Mr Webb," said
+I, rising, "you oughtn't to have come aboard to-night; as the short
+and the long of it is, I shall get the schooner an offing the first
+possible moment!" The officer stared at me in a bewildered manner;
+and as for the schooner, she seemed to be bolting and pitching in
+a way worse than before, with now and then a plunge of the swell
+on her broadside as if she had been under weigh. Suddenly Snelling
+lifted the skylight frame and screamed down into the cabin, "Mr
+Collins, Mr Collins! she's been dragging her anchor for the last ten
+minutes, sir!"
+
+I sprang on deck at two bounds--the schooner had somehow or other
+got her anchor out of hold at the time, the cable as taut as a
+fiddle-string. It was quite dark aloft, and not a vestige of Table
+Mountain to be seen, though the moonshine, low down to westward,
+brought out two or three tracks of light along the stretch of water,
+and you saw the lights in the ships slowly sweeping past. Where we
+happened to be, it blew two ways at once, as is often the case in
+Table Bay, round the bluffs of the mountain, and as soon as she
+brought up again with a surge at the windlass, the heave of a long
+swell took her right on the quarter, lifting her in to her anchor
+again with a slack of the hawser, at which every second man sung out
+to "hold on!" Over she went to port, a sea washing up the starboard
+side, and throwing a few dozen bucketfuls at once fair into the
+companion, where our friend the harbour officer was sticking at the
+time; so down plumped Mr Webb along with it, and the booby hatch
+was shoved close after him, while the poor devils of Lascars were
+huddled together as wet as swabs in the lee of the caboose forward.
+"A hand to the wheel!" shouted I, as soon as I recovered myself;
+when to my great surprise I saw Snelling's new hand, poor creature
+as I'd thought him, standing with a spoke in each fist, as cool and
+steady as possible, and his eye fixed on me in the true knowing way
+which I felt could be trusted to. "Jib there!" I sung out, "see all
+clear to run up a few hanks of the jib--stand by to cut the cable at
+the bitts!"--"Ay, ay, sir," answered Snelling, who was working away
+with the harbour men, his bare head soaked, and altogether more like
+an imp than a young gentleman of the navy--"All's clear, sir."
+
+Five minutes I dare say we stood, every one in the same position,
+while I waited for a good moment in the run of the swell, looking
+into the binnacle: till she hung slack, as it were, in a wide
+seething trough of the sea, when I signed to the man behind me to
+put the helm gradually to starboard. I glanced at the fellow again,
+caught his sharp weatherly eye once more--then putting both hands to
+my mouth I sung out to bowse on the jib halliards. "Now--cut--the
+cable!" shouted I, springing forward in my anxiety. The schooner
+rose away from her anchor on the heavy roll of the sea; I saw two
+quick strokes of the axe on the instant, and she was spinning head
+off from the wind, heeling over betwixt the force of it and the
+ground-swell together, while the mass of black water was washing
+bodily away with us; the new helmsman showing down below me as he
+leant to the wheel, like somebody at the foot of a slide. If he
+hadn't helped her at the moment with a back turn of the spokes to
+port, t'would have been all up with us. As it was, the schooner fell
+off gallantly in his hands, with a sliding surge into the lee of
+the next swell, that buried her sharp bows in the green sea, till
+it foamed about our very shoulders as we hung on like grim death
+to the weather bulwark. She was just shaking herself free, and
+rising like a buoy over the broad tops of the waves, when Snelling,
+myself, and two or three of the men, staggered down to her mainmast
+to swig up the throat halliards, letting her feel a little of the
+boom mainsail; and we had scarce belayed, as the last glimpse of the
+frigate's lights was caught astern of us, heaving and setting, as
+she rode with her two bower anchors down; we had driven past close
+enough to have heard the creak of her hamper aloft. After that, I
+had the fore-stay-sail set on her, then the reefed mainsail, and the
+lively schooner yielded to the long rolling seas so well, as very
+soon to make her own weather of it--especially since, clear of the
+high land about Table Bay, it was blowing only a strong breeze, and
+the more I began to feel master of her, the more inclined I was to
+let her show her good qualities. Such a craft I never had had the
+full management of before in my life; and you may easily fancy how
+I felt at dividing the hands into the two watches, giving little
+Snelling command of one, as first mate, and picking out our men in
+turn. I looked round amongst mine, rather at a loss for one to make
+second mate for the cruise, though there were three prime enough
+man-o'-warsmen, and I had chosen one of the Government officer's
+gang for his activity. As for the Lascars, we slumped in half of
+the number to each of us, for make-weights--when Snelling's fresh
+hand, who had fallen to my share, caught my eye again as he stood
+at the wheel. Every half spoke he gave the schooner told; she was
+topping the heavy seas as they rose, and taking them just where they
+melted one to the other, with a long floating cleave, that carried
+her counter fairly free of the after-run, though nearly right before
+the wind: the main-boom had been guyed over to the lee-quarter, till
+a third of the sail hung clear of her hull, and the breeze swept
+into the hollow of it, thick with spray. The light from the little
+binnacle shone up distinctly on the man's face, and with all the
+desperate, used-up, marbled sort of look of it, like one getting
+the better of a long spree ashore, I thought there was something
+uncommonly promising about him, not to say greatly above the run of
+foremast men. The wet, the wind, and the work he was at, took off
+the seediness of his clothes; even the old rag of a handkerchief
+round his hairy neck had got a gloss to it, and he stood handling
+the wheel with a strange mixture of recklessness and care, as he
+glanced from the compass to the gaff of the mainsail against the
+scud, and down again. The very contrast between the man's manner
+and his outward rig was sufficient to strike one, though plenty of
+seamen are to be found in the like state ashore: but what fixed me
+to him above all, was the expression in those two keen, searching,
+_living_ eyes of his, when they once or twice met mine on their
+way from aloft to the compass-boxes. 'Twas as if they'd woke up
+since he came aboard out of a sleepy, maudlin condition, with the
+"blue-devils" or scarce fully out of 'em; like a sick man's in the
+lull of a fever, suddenly seen watching you out of the dusk of the
+bed, when one happens to glance up from the nurse's seat.
+
+"What's your name, my man?" asked I, stepping aft to the binnacle.
+"My name is Jones, sir," said he readily. "And your first name?"
+I said. "Jack," was the answer, in an off-hand way, with a hitch
+of one shoulder, and a weather-spoke to the wheel; spoken in an
+accent you'd have expected more in a West End drawing-room than
+from a common sailor. "Ah," said I, sharply, "Jack Jones? I wonder
+how many Jack Joneses there are afloat! An able seaman, I think,
+Jones?"--"Why sir," replied the man, "I never rate myself, sir--'tis
+all one to me, able, ordinary, landsman, or boy--I carry no papers,
+and leave my betters to rate me." "Where were you last, my man?"
+I asked; whereupon I met such a cool, steady, deep look out of
+the fellow's strange light-coloured eyes, bloodshot as they were
+with drinking, that I felt almost our very two souls jostle in it:
+as much as to say, To all eternity fathom me if ye can! "Well, I
+forget where, sir," said he, lowering his look to the compass-box
+again: "always the way with me, after a trip, a cruise, a voyage, or
+whatever it may be. I've got--ha!" and he yielded his body coolly
+to a jerk of the schooner's wheel. "A sweet craft this, sir, but
+a little ticklish!" "You've got what?" said I, not unwilling to
+wear out the time. "I've got--no memory!" Still there was somewhat
+so gloomy and mournful in the next glance aloft, I don't know how
+it was, but I felt inclined to offer him a mate's place on trial,
+and so I hinted, if he knew half as well how to handle a craft as
+he did of steering her. To my own surprise, Jones's wonder didn't
+seem to be roused at the notion, except that he gave me another
+quick glance from head to foot, with a queer smile that struck me
+as if I were being questioned, instead of _him_; then he looked
+down over his own outfit, judging by which you'd have said he'd
+been shipwrecked. "Well," said I, "I daresay you've been hard put
+to it, somehow, Jones,--so as soon as you leave the wheel, you can
+go below to the steward, and get a seagoing suit of my own, till we
+see Calcutta, when your mate's wages will set you all right again."
+The man touched his battered old straw hat; but I noticed his eyes
+gleam for a moment by the binnacle light, and a strange twitch run
+round his mouth at the mention of the mate's wages: the only way I
+could account for it at the time being his late hard-up condition;
+and nothing to my mind was more deucedly pitiable, than to see the
+thought of a few paltry additional rupees light up a head like that,
+with the glistening sort of expression of a miser, as I fancied.
+The man had a head on him, in fact, when you eyed him, fit for a
+gentleman's shoulders, or more--his hair and his whiskers curly and
+dark, draggled though they were with the rain, not to say Cape Town
+mud--while the wearing away of the hair about the temples, and the
+red grog-streaks in the veins of his face, made him no doubt a dozen
+years older to appearance than he was. For my part I was quite
+convinced already, this same Jack Jones hadn't been sent out a cabin
+boy; there was not only a touch of high blood in him at bottom, but
+I'd have sworn he had been some time or other in the place of a
+gentleman, afloat or ashore, though plainly now "going to the devil."
+
+Meanwhile the breaking look of the clouds away on our larboard bow
+showed it wasn't far off dawn; so, sending another hand to the
+wheel, and finding a snug spot under a stern-grating for a snooze
+on deck, I told Jones to begin with taking charge of the deck for
+me. "One thing, sir," said he, touching his hat again, as I lay
+down, "I've only shipped for the outward voyage, and leave at the
+first port."--"Why, what the deuce!" said I, lifting my head; "what
+do you mean to do there, eh?" "I--I want to go ashore," answered
+he, eagerly; "ay, if we're years on the cruise, so much the better,
+sir,--but so soon as she drops anchor off Calcutta, I'm my own
+master?"--"Have your own way, then," said I; "at any rate I'll try
+you in the meantime,--so Mister Jones, let's see how you mind the
+schooner till eight bells!" Whereupon I turned myself over to sleep,
+and it was as broad daylight as we had any likelihood of about the
+Cape, when I woke.
+
+It still blew a stiff breeze, but the waves rose with a length and
+a breadth in them you find in no other sea; deep-blue sparkling
+hills of water, with green gleams about the crests, of which every
+single wave had a hundred or so; and a long seething, simmering,
+glassy hollow of a still valley between, where the flecks of foam
+slid away glittering out of the shadow. But, Lord! it was glorious
+to feel the schooner rising quietly in the trough, with the mount
+of a wave, to the very ridge of it; then with a creak of all her
+timbers and bulk-heads below, a slight shake to windward, and a
+yerk at her bows, lean over to leeward again and go hissing through
+the breast of a huge sea, till you thought she'd go down into it;
+while there she was, however, lifting head up, with a swift flash
+of her cutwater, on the cross half wave that joined every first and
+third one--"billow" and "sea," as you may say. The breeze having
+drawn more easterly toward morning, Jones had braced her more upon
+a wind, with reefed main and foresails, and fore-staysail set,
+which brought out the Aniceta's weatherly qualities to a marvel;
+as notwithstanding almost a head-wind and a swelling sea, she went
+nearly as fast as the frigate would have done before the breeze, and
+not a sign of the land was to be seen from her crosstrees.
+
+It was not till the afternoon, when the midshipman and I had both
+been busy together seeing various things done about the rigging,
+as well as having preventer-braces and guys clapped on the booms
+and gaffs, that we had time to look about us; the schooner still
+driving along with the breeze strong abeam, and a floating plunge
+from one wide dark-blue sea to another, as if they handed her
+onward. Jones had got himself made decent below, as I told him,
+till what with different clothes and a shave together, besides
+refreshment from sea weather, he was quite a different man to look
+at. Even Snelling owned to his sailor-like appearance, though
+rather surprised at my notion of making him a mate; while as for
+the men, they didn't know but he had come aboard as such, and to
+tell the truth, he was having the mainstaysail got up and ready to
+bend at the time, like one accustomed to give orders. By this time
+I remembered the harbour officer, Webb, whom we'd carried off so
+unceremoniously, and found he was still in his "bunk" below, half
+sulky and half sick, consoling himself with brandy and water till
+we should get into Table Bay again, as he said. "Only put him into
+my watch, Mr Collins," said Snelling gravely, "and I'll work him
+up, sir." The reefer himself, in fact, had all of a sudden turned
+out in a laughably dignified style, to meet his new post--in full
+midshipman's rig, dirk and all, with his cocked hat, which I sent
+him down immediately to change; but he had brushed up his mop of
+hair, and begun to cultivate the down on his upper lip; while
+being a deep-shouldered, square-built, short-armed little fellow,
+as muscular as a monkey, you'd have thought from the back of his
+coat he was a man cut shorter, and for his face, he had contrived
+to put such a sour effect into it--meant for great experience, no
+doubt--that it was only by his eyes one saw he was a boy of sixteen
+or so; and _they_ were brimful of wild glee, as he jumped about
+wherever he was needed, doing the work of a couple of ordinary men,
+and actually delighted when a spray came over the weather bulwarks
+on top of him, seeing that, instead of the frigate, she was "our
+schooner" that did it.
+
+"I think she walks, Mr Collins!" observed Snelling, holding up
+his head stiffly, and looking aloft as we went aft, after shaking
+ourselves from one of these same sprays. "No denying that, Mr
+Snelling," said I as gravely; "I only wish your fond parents
+could see you just now, first mate of such a smart craft, Mister
+Snelling!" His father was a country baronet, who had sent him off to
+sea with an allowance--I daresay because his looks were no ornament,
+and there were plenty more coming; though Snelling always pretended
+his worthy progenitor was an old man. "Fond be blowed!" said he,
+starting; "I just see him at this moment at the foot of that blessed
+old mahogany, proposing my health before the ladies go, and--" Here
+the schooner rose on a sharp, short wave, making a plunge through it
+that sent the helmsman swinging to the lee-side of the wheel, while
+a sea washed up over her forecastle, and away aft with the tubs,
+buckets, and spars, knocking everybody right and left. Snelling
+and I held on by the weather main-rigging with our feet in a bath,
+till she lifted bodily through it, careering to her lee-gunnel. "By
+George, though!" broke out the reefer, smacking his lips as we drew
+breath, "I wish he _did_ see me--wouldn't it cheer his declining
+years, when I'd got to hand the governor carefully below! And
+such a rough night as we're going to have of it, too, sir!" "You
+unfilial young dog!" said I; "but so I'm afraid we shall--and no
+joke either!" Jones was standing near us, watching the looks of the
+weather with evident uneasiness, and I asked him what he thought of
+it. "In my opinion, sir," said he, "you'll have some pretty sudden
+shift of wind ere long, of a kind I have seen more than once off the
+Cape before--and that as furious as a south-easter ordinarily is
+hereabouts. Look away yonder, sir!"
+
+It had got to a clear, dry, north-easterly gale, that shook our
+canvass every time she lifted, singing through the ropes, and bitter
+cold. Long and heavy as the roll of the sea was, the sky was as
+keen and clear as glass all round about and aloft, save the mist
+kicked up by the spray off a wave here and there. If a rag of white
+cloud appeared, it was blown away, and you saw the black wrinkled
+side of one wave at a time, a mile wide, you'd have said, freckled
+all over with spots of foam, and its ridge heaving against the eye
+of the blast. The waves had begun to break shorter. The schooner,
+buoyant as she was, and sharp as a dolphin, pitched and rolled at
+times like mad, and the men forward were standing by to let go the
+fore-halliards, throat and peak, to ease her a little: when Jones
+pointed out the bank of gray cloud ahead of us, scarce to be seen
+through the troughs of the water, except when she lifted well upon
+a swell of sea. The sun going down in a wild red glare to leeward
+of us, threw a terrible glitter across the huge slant of one single
+wave that rose stretching away far and wide from her very bow, then
+brought out the sulky wrinkled blue in it; the hissing green crests
+curled over to the very sunset, as it were, while we sunk slowly
+into the long dark lulling trough, and saw the broken shaft of a
+rainbow stand glimmering for a moment or two into a black hollow
+right ahead, when the gale drove it back upon us like an arrow, as
+the schooner urged through the breast of the next wave. I looked
+from Snelling to the new mate, who still held on by a belaying-pin
+and watched the clouds, giving me back a glance that showed he
+thought the matter more serious than ordinary. "The sooner we strip
+her to the storm-staysails," said I quickly, as we fell into the
+trough again, "the better, I think. If it blows harder, we must
+lie-to with her at once." My eye was anxiously fixed on Jones, for
+large as the schooner was, between two and three hundred tons, yet
+no craft in the world is so nice to bring to the wind in a gale,
+with a heavy sea running. Scudding before it might have done for
+the frigate, with her full bows, and spars high enough to keep her
+main-topsail full in spite of the troughs; but even that would have
+taken us out of our course after the Indiaman. Besides that, to tell
+the truth, I didn't sufficiently understand fore-and-aft rigged
+craft in all weathers yet, to be quite sure of what I did at a pinch
+like the present. "Yes, yes, sir," answered he; "but if you'll take
+an older man's advice, before that you'll wear her round on the
+other tack to it. We've the worst to come, or else I'm mistaken,
+sir."--"You're accustomed to schooners?" asked I firmly, and gazing
+him in the face. I saw his lips open in the sweep of the wind
+through our after-rigging, and he made a sign with his hand, while a
+gnawing sort of spasm, as it were, shot through the muscles of his
+jaw, and for a moment he gave me a devilishly fierce, keen glance,
+almost a glare, from under his strong straight eyebrows--then turned
+away. "Take the trumpet then, Mr Jones," said I, singing out into
+his ear; "I'll leave her to you, sir. Mr Snelling, let's see the
+hatches all fast!" And we scrambled along by the belaying-pins.
+
+"Are you all ready fore and aft?" came Jones's voice like thunder
+in the next dip she made, and he leapt up bareheaded on the breech
+of one of the small carronades aft, holding on with one hand by the
+weather main-shrouds, and watching the run of the waves as they
+glimmered off our lee-beam into the dusk, for full five minutes.
+I had hold of a rope near him, and his eye was as steady as if he
+were picking out hills in a view. I had full confidence in the
+man; but I must say it was a nervous moment to me, when I saw him
+lift the trumpet to his mouth--and furiously as the wind shook
+the schooner, you heard his hoarse cry, "Put your helm up--slack
+off the mainsheet--brail up the mainsail--ease down the weather
+boom-guy--main-staysail sheet--" And the rest was lost in the
+wild shriek of the north-east gale. We were hard at it, however,
+staggering as we hauled and held on, even to the poor half-drowned,
+terrified Lascars, whom the midshipman had roused out of the caboose
+and long-boat, shoving the ropes into their leathery hands. But I
+knew little else till I saw the schooner had payed off before the
+wind, shearing with a hiss like red-hot iron right through the
+ridge, betwixt two tremendous combing waves. It swelled green over
+her larboard bulwark as she heeled over, and she gave a heavy dead
+lurch with it, as if she would let the next sea break aboard. "Now!
+now!" shouted Jones, at a pitch of voice like no earthly sound; "aft
+the mainsheet, for your lives!" He jumped to the wheel himself, at
+a single bound. We were in two floundering heaps, as we dragged at
+the mainboom aft, and the head-sheets on the forecastle, while she
+came trembling up in the long bight of the sea, and took the gale
+steadily before her other beam. It was blowing harder than ever; and
+the awful "scud" of the sea rolled her bodily away, as she met it
+with her weather-bow, washing white over the headrail, with spray
+from cathead to bowsprit; the gale heaving her down on the lee-beam,
+till she plunged to the brim on that side, at every forward pitch,
+so that all hands on deck had to keep crowded together aft. Still
+it was keen starlight overhead, the gale dry, though it was bitter
+cold, and the seas long and pretty regular. The schooner behaved
+wonderfully, being as tight as a bottle; and at the same time we
+were not only lying our course either for the Mozambique or Indian
+Ocean, but instead of running farther into the gale, as before,
+and getting more into the wild Cape latitudes, why, at present she
+tended to clear out of them. I accordingly agreed with Jones to hold
+on with everything as long as possible, in spite of the way she was
+sometimes flung off with the crest of a wave, as it were, making a
+clear dive with her nose under water through a white seething sea
+that seemed to swell round the whole horizon: the black bank of
+cloud off our weather-beam towered like icebergs against the cold
+green sky to south-east, the stars glittering and twinkling over it,
+with little hazy rings round them, after a fashion that one of us
+liked no more than the other.
+
+About midnight, we had got everything off her to the two small
+storm-staysails, main and fore, the wind blowing great guns, and
+the half moon shining right over the long bank, as if the back of
+it were dead-white; while betwixt it and the washing glimmer of
+moonlight half-way, you'd have thought the black heave of the ridges
+vanished into a bulk of shadow ten times blacker, save for the heads
+of spray tossing dimly over in it here and there. All at once, in
+the very height of the gale, as the black floating clouds from the
+bank began to cross over the gray scud flying fast aloft, a blue
+flash of lightning shot zig-zag into the very comb of a wave ahead
+of us, then came the clap of thunder, loud enough to be heard above
+the wind, and in half a minute there was a sudden lull. You saw
+the fleecy rags of scud actually settling together under the dark
+vapour moving above them, and heard nothing but the vast washing
+welter of the billows rising and seething for miles round, as if
+the world were water, while the schooner rolled helplessly away,
+with her storm-staysails flapping, into the trough. The midshipman
+almost gasped as he looked to me--not from fear, but as much as to
+say, "What next?" Our strange mate stood against the fife-rail of
+the mainmast, apparently too intent on the sky and sea for speaking.
+For my own part, I let go of my belaying pin, and half tumbled to
+the wheel, almost knocking the sailor down in my haste to put the
+helm hard up--for I saw how the blast was to come, fairly before the
+beam, upon us. "Hard a-starboard with it!" shouted I; "haul down
+the main-staysail there--let her fall off as she rises!" The last
+words were never heard, for next moment there was another flash of
+lightning, this time a blaze all round into the troughs of the sea;
+I saw a body of mist coming down upon us from south-east, through
+which the gale struck her on the starboard beam, having suddenly
+shifted eight points or so. The heavy rolling swell from north-east
+was close aboard, and as soon as I knew what I was about, here she
+was leaning over to the full tremendous force of the storm, without
+power to surge ahead, though struggling to rise like a cart-horse
+down on his knees with a load uphill of him. 'Twas by instinct,
+as they say, I found myself scrambling along to her weather
+main-channels, where I managed to get out on the side, slippery as
+it was, and drenched with the blinding showers of spray. I had got
+my knife at work, cutting the lanyards of the shrouds to let the
+mainmast go, when I saw Snelling creep after me, like a fearless
+little fellow as he was, dirk in hand; although what was come of
+Jones I couldn't see, unless he had lost heart and skulked. All at
+once, to my great joy, the main-staysail blew inway to leeward out
+of the bolt-ropes, like a scrap of paper, the main-topmast crashed
+at the cap and went alongside, when the schooner righted to her
+keel, with a wild bolt forward through the whole width of an immense
+wave--one of the "third waves" it was, commonly the last and the
+hugest in a single roll of the sea of the Cape, before you sink into
+a long gliding valley, with a sort of a lull in it. The scene was
+so terrible at the moment, though we bore up for full half a minute
+to the fair steady stroke of the awful gale, nothing but a yeast
+of mist, scud, and darkness ahead, the spray torn off the ridge of
+the wave and flying with us, while the triple run of the heavy seas
+astern was in danger of sweeping her decks from over the poop--that
+I felt we must try lying-to with her at once. Indeed, Snelling and
+I hardly knew whether we were holding on or not, as we were half
+washed inboard and half crawled round the rigging; but Jones had
+already seized the exact point, when she sank in the hollow, to have
+the helm eased down to leeward. Meanwhile he had got the reefed
+foresail balanced and set, with the sheet hauled aft beforehand--a
+tackle hooked on to the clue, and bowsed amidships--everything else
+was off her; and with this sail she came slowly up close to the
+wind on the slant of the next wave, lying-to nearly head toward the
+force of the sea, as her helm was kept fast, two or three points
+to leeward. I never had seen a craft of the kind hove-to in a gale
+before, and a very nice matter it is, too. We drew breath, scarce
+able to credit our eyes, while the schooner rode apparently safe on
+a sea rolling mountain-high; rising and falling off from the breasts
+to the sides of the waves, so far as leeway went, and forging ahead
+a little at the same time through the fierce spray that showered out
+of the dark over her weather-bow.
+
+Cape weather as bad I had seen before, but always in good-sized
+ships; and I owned to Snelling I would rather have handled any one
+of them, even with a lee-shore near, ten times over, than this
+schooner of ours in the present case. However, none of us were in
+any mood for speaking at the time, let alone the waste of breath it
+was. The best thing we had to do, after getting somewhat satisfied
+of her weathering it this way, was to have the grog served out
+to the men, swig off a stiff pannikin one's self, and make one's
+self as comfortable as possible with his pea-coat in the lee of
+something. The sight of the sea ridging up with a dim glimmer
+against the dark, kept your eye fixed to it: first you thought
+it would burst right aboard, crash down upon the decks; then she
+lifted with it, swelling broad under her, while the long steady
+sweep of the gale drove just over the bulwarks with a deep moan:
+for half a minute, perhaps, a shivering lull, when you heard the
+bulkheads and timbers creak and strain below from stem to stern,
+and the bilge-water yearning, as it were, to the water outside.
+Then, again, it was a howl and a shriek, a wide plunge of sea bore
+up her weather-bow, and the moment ere she came fairly to, one
+felt as if the schooner were going to pitch God knows where. Her
+whole bulwarks shook and shivered, the wind found out every chink
+in them, whistling round every different rope it split upon, while
+all the time, the loose wet dreary spars behind the long-boat kept
+slatting and clattering against each other in the lashings, like
+planks in a woodyard of a November night. This was the way we stuck
+till the morning watch showed it all in a drizzling, struggling
+sort of half light, blowing as hard as ever, the Cape seas rolling
+and heaving mountain-high, of a pale yesty hue, far and wide to the
+scud; the spray drifting from the crests, and washing over her bare
+forecastle, with now and then the white wings of a huge albatross to
+be seen aslant to windward, riding on the breast of a long wave down
+into the trough.
+
+Well, the whole blessed day did this sort of thing continue,
+only varied by now and then a huger sea than ordinary lifting
+close aboard of us, and we being hove up to get a glimpse of the
+long glaring streak of horizon through the troughs of the waves:
+sometimes an unluckier splash than usual over the bow and through
+the forechains, that made us look sharp lest the canvass of the
+foresail should go, or the schooner broach end-on to the sea.
+Otherwise, all we had to do was to watch the binnacle, hold on with
+one hand to a rope, and with the other to our caps; or turn out and
+in with each other down the booby-hatch for a snatch of sleep, and
+a bit of biscuit and cold beef, with a glass of grog. Mr Webb, the
+harbour officer, was to be seen below in his berth all this time,
+lying as peaceable as a child--whether he was dead sick, or only
+confoundedly afraid, I didn't know; but I must say I felt for the
+poor fellow when I heard him ask Snelling, in a weak voice, if he
+would get somebody to stand off the bull's-eye in the deck over
+his berth, as it always made him think there was a new hurricane
+coming on. "D--n it, you low skulking hound!" said the reefer, who
+had wonderfully little pity in his make, "it can't be worse--what
+d'ye want light for, eh?" "Only to see the opposite wall," said
+Webb, meekly; "do, sir--oh now!" "Oh, you lubber ye!" said Snelling,
+"don't you know a bulkhead from a wall yet? If you'd come on deck to
+bear a hand like others, you wouldn't need light; and _I_ thought
+you might do for a mate aboard, too--pah, you scum!" "Mr Snelling,"
+said I sharply, as he came through the cabin, "a worm will turn when
+it's trod upon, and so you may find yet, sir!" "Well, Mr Collins,"
+said he, as confidentially as if I hadn't meant to give him a set
+down, "I don't like the fellow's eye. I'll look after him, sir!"
+Not to mention the young rogue's power of face, which was beyond
+brass, he had a way of seeing you in two places at once with that
+upward squint of his, as if his eyes were the points of a pair of
+compasses, that made the officers of the Hebe always send him to the
+masthead directly, for fear it should take the frown out of them. In
+fact, when Snelling's twinkling weather-eye lighted on one's neck,
+without the other, you almost felt it tickle you, and as usual I
+turned away with a "pshaw!"
+
+On the second morning, the gale at last began to break, shifting
+southward; on which, as soon as the sea ran a little easier, I
+had the helm cautiously put up at a favourable moment, the reefed
+mainsail, fore-topmast-staysail, and square fore-topsail set as
+she got before the wind, and away the schooner went; rising on the
+wide deep-blue swells with a long roll in them, then shearing ahead
+through their breasts, wrinkled and seething pale-green, till she
+sank with the fall of the wave--the stump of her aftermast standing,
+and the fore one shortened by the to'gallant-mast. You may easily
+believe there was no one aboard more eager to get clear of this
+weather than myself; as in ordinary circumstances, with a craft like
+this, in two or three days more we might have been in a high enough
+latitude to begin looking out for the Indiaman. For my part, I can't
+deny that the wish for having Tom Westwood safe out of harm's way,
+and with me in the schooner, strong as it was, played second to
+the notion of seeing sweet Violet Hyde in any way again, if it was
+only the last time before she went out of reach altogether; for her
+getting amongst East India ways of doing, high-flying civilians and
+soldiers, shows, and sights, either in Calcutta or up-country, was
+equal to anything else, in my mind. Still, we had six or seven days
+longer of the heavy seas and hard gales, before north-easting enough
+could be made to take us beyond the Cape winter, just then coming
+on, and which the Seringapatam had very likely escaped by two or
+three days, so that she would have a considerable start of us.
+
+By this time we were standing well up for the Mozambique Channel,
+which I had heard the Indiamen intended to take in company; a
+piece of information that made me the more anxious to overtake
+the Seringapatam, at latest, by the time they reached open water
+again, where, being the only ship from Bombay, she would no doubt
+part from her consorts. We had a cruiser that year, as I knew, in
+the Mozambique, where there were some rumours of pirates after the
+war, so that in case of her happening to speak the Seringapatam
+close, and having got any word of Westwood's affair, he ran a chance
+of being picked off. However, that wasn't by any means the thing
+that troubled me most: somehow or other, whenever the picture of
+Violet's face brought the Indiaman's decks clear into my mind, with
+all about her, I couldn't get rid of the notion that some ill-luck
+would come across that ship before she got into port. If any pirate
+craft were to dodge the whole bevy of Indiamen up the head of the
+channel, as was pretty sure to be the case, he would probably wait
+for some signs of separating, and be down upon a single one not long
+after she cleared the Leychelles islands, where a lonely enough
+stretch of the Indian Ocean spreads in. The more I entered upon the
+thought of it, the more unsufferable it got; especially one day in
+the mouth of the Mozambique, when it fell a dead calm with a heavy
+up-and-down swell, fit to roll the sticks out of her; the high blue
+land of Madagascar being in sight, sometimes to starboard, sometimes
+to port, then astern, and the clear horizon lying away north-west,
+dark with a breeze from round the coast. As the hot sun blazed out
+above us, and the blue water came plunge up over the rail, blazing
+and flashing, first one side dipped, then the other, I could fancy
+the passengers on the Indiaman's poop in a light breeze with a
+suspicious lateen-rigged sail creeping up on her quarter. I thought
+I saw Violet Hyde's eyes sparkle against the glare of light, and
+her lips parting to speak--till I actually stamped on the deck, my
+fists clenched, and I made three strides to the very taffrail of the
+schooner. All at once I met my second mate's eye coolly fixed on
+me, which brought me to my senses in a moment, the more so as there
+was something about this man Jones I couldn't make out, and I had
+made up my mind to keep a sharp eye on him; though the fact was, it
+annoyed me most to feel him seeing into _me_, as it were, without
+troubling himself. "We shall have the breeze before long, sir, round
+Cape Mary yonder," said he, stepping forward. "So I expect, myself,
+Mr Jones," said I, "though you evidently know the coast better
+than I do." With that I gave him a careless side-look, but to all
+appearance there was nothing particular in his, as he told me he had
+seen it two or three times before.
+
+With the evening we were once more running sharp on a wind up
+channel; and when she did get her own way in a good breeze, the
+schooner's qualities came out. 'Twas a perfect luxury to look over
+the side and see the bubbles pass, her sharp bows sliding through it
+like a knife, she eating into the wind all the time in a way none
+but a fore-and-aft clipper could hope to do, with a glassy blue
+ripple sent back from her weather-bow as far as the forechains: then
+to wake of a morning and feel her bounding under you with a roll
+up to windward, while the water gushed through and through below
+the keel, and ran yearning and toppling away back along the outer
+timbers into her boiling wake, working with the moving rudder. And
+our man-o'-warsmen were quite delighted with the Young Hebe, as
+they still called her. Snelling was in his element while we were
+having the new spars sent up aloft--a set of longer sticks than
+before--till she had twice the air, as well as a knowing rake aft.
+Next thing was to get the long-brass nine-pounder amidships from
+under the boat, where the Frenchmen had kept it, besides which we
+found another in her hold; so that, added to six small carronades
+already on deck, we made a pretty show. Meanwhile, for my own
+part, I kept cracking on with every stitch of canvass that could
+be clapped upon the spars, including studding-sails. Jones himself
+didn't know better than I did by this time how to handle the craft,
+schooner though she was, in the way of making her use what weather
+we had to the best purpose. Variable as it proved, too, I was aware
+the Indiamen would have pretty much the same now as we had; so that,
+on going aloft with the glass, as I did every watch in the day, I
+soon began each time expecting one or other of them to heave in
+sight.
+
+As for the five hands from Cape Town, they seemed to have fallen
+in cheerfully enough with our own; and as soon as the fine weather
+came, the gang of Lascars were set to duty like the rest. Snelling
+would have them even trained to work the guns; although, if it blew
+at all hard, not one could be got to go aloft except their old
+_serang_, and the _tindal_, his mate. What surprised me most was
+the harbour officer himself at last asking, as Mr Snelling told
+me, to be put in a watch; but as the midshipman said there was no
+doubt Webb had made a voyage or two before, somewhere or other, I
+agreed to it at once. "I'm not sure, sir," added the midshipman,
+with one of his doubtful double looks, "but the gentleman may have
+seen blue-water the first time at Government expense, and not in
+the service either--he don't look fore and aft enough, Mr Collins,
+harbour officer though he be; but never mind, sir, I'll see after
+him!"--"Pooh," said I, laughing; "if he does turn to, Mr Snelling,
+it shan't be in the watch _you_ have to do with! Hand him over to Mr
+Jones." By this time I had changed the mid into my own watch, and
+given Jones charge of the other--so to him the harbour officer went.
+
+The main character aboard of us, to me at any rate, was this Jones
+himself. The fact was, at first I had my doubts of him altogether,
+partly owing to the queer way we got hold of him, partly on account
+of his getting the upper hand so much through chance, in the
+tremendous weather we had at the outset, till I wasn't sure but it
+might come into the fellow's head of itself, to be upon some drift
+or other that might cost me trouble, as things stood. However, I no
+sooner felt where I was, and got the craft under my own spoke, than
+I came to set him down for nothing but one of those strange hands
+you fall in with at sea sometimes, always sailing with a "purser's
+name," a regular wonder of a shipmate, and serving to quote every
+voyage after, by way of a clincher on all hard points, not to say
+an oracle one can't get beyond, and can't flow sky-high enough. To
+tell the truth, though, Jones was as thorough a seaman as ever I met
+with--never at a loss, never wanting on any hand; whether it was
+the little niceties we stood in need of for setting the schooner's
+rigging all right again, which none but a blue-water long-voyage
+sailor can touch, or, what comes to be still better in tropical
+latitudes, a cool head and a quick hold, with full experience for
+all sorts of weather, 'twas much the same to him. He was all over
+like iron, too, never seeming to stand in need of sleep, and seeing
+like a hawk. At any hour I came on deck in his watch, there was
+Jones, all awake and ready, till hearing him walk the planks over my
+head of a fine night made me at times keep my eyes open, listening
+to it and the wash of the water together. I fancied there was
+something restless in it, like the sea, with now and then an uneven
+sort of a start; and at last it would come to full stop, that gave
+me the notion of how he was standing quiet in the same spot; whether
+he was looking aloft, or thinking, or leaning over the side, or what
+he was going to do, troubled me wonderfully. The only want in his
+seamanship I noticed, he evidently wasn't used to handle a large
+ship; but craft of some kind I was pretty sure he had commanded in
+the course of his life. As for taking observations, he could do it
+better than I could then; while the knowledge he had on different
+heads, that came out by chance, made you think more of a Cambridge
+graduate than a common sailor, such as he had shipped for with us.
+The strangest part of all about him, though, was what I couldn't
+well name, not to this day: 'twas more grained in his manner, and
+the ring of his voice at particular moments, as well as his walk,
+though these were the smart seaman's no less; but one couldn't help
+thinking of a man that had known the world ashore some time or
+other, in a different enough station from now--ay, and in a way to
+bring out softer lines in his face than reefing topsails or seeing
+the main-tack ridden down would do. The nearest I could come to
+calling it, far apart as the two men stood, was to fancy he reminded
+me of Lord Frederick Bury himself; especially when he looked all
+of a sudden to the horizon in that wide, vacant kind of fashion,
+as if he expected it farther off than it was: only Jones's face
+was twice the age, like a man's that had had double the passions
+in it at the outset, and given them full swing since then; with a
+sleeping devil in his eye yet, besides, as I thought, which only
+wanted somewhat to rouse it. Only for that, I had a sort of leaning
+to Jones myself; but, as it was, I caught myself wishing, over and
+over, for something to make us fall regularly foul of each other,
+and get rid of this confounded doubtful state. One hitch of a word
+to take hold of, and, by Jove! I felt all the blood in my body would
+boil out in me to find how we stood, and show it; but nothing of the
+kind did Jones let pass--and as close as the sea itself he was in
+regard to his past life. As for the men from the frigate, at least,
+they seemingly looked on him with no great fondness, and a good deal
+of respect, in spite of themselves, for his seamanship; whereas,
+if he had been left in the forepeak in place of the cabin, I've no
+doubt in a short time it would have been no man but Jones. You light
+now and then upon a man afloat, indeed, that his shipmates hold off
+from, as healthy dogs do from a mad one; and you saw they had some
+sort of an inkling of the gloomy close nature Jones had in him, by
+the way they obeyed his orders. Webb's three Cape Dutchmen seemed
+to have a notion he was some being with mysterious powers, while
+the Lascars ran crouching at his very word--some of them being, as
+I found, Malays, and the rest Mussulmen from Chittagong; but Jones
+could send them about in their own language, Dutchmen and all--a
+part of the matter which did not tend to keep me less careful over
+him. Still I observed, since his coming aboard, that Jones never
+once touched liquor, which had plainly enough been his ruin ashore;
+whether on account of meaning to pull up once for all and mend, or
+only to have a wilder bout at next port, or else to keep himself
+steady for aught that might turn up, I couldn't settle in my own
+mind. Though deucedly doubtful of its being the first, the very idea
+of it made one feel for the man; and, in case of his doing well, I
+had no small hopes of something in the upshot to save a real sailor
+like him from going to the devil altogether, as he seemed doing.
+
+Now, after our getting clear of the rough Cape weather, and the
+dead-lights being taken out of the stern-windows, I had given a
+look, for the first time, into the schooner's after-cabins, which
+were pretty much as the people she belonged to before had left
+them, except for the rough work the gale had played. There were
+two of them, one opening into the other; and I must say it was a
+melancholy sight to meet the bright sunlight streaming into them
+from off the water astern, with all the little matters either just
+as if the owners were still inside, or else tumbled about at sixes
+and sevens. One drawer, in particular, had come out of a table,
+scattering what was in it on the deck: there was a half open letter
+in a woman's hand, all French, and showing a lock of hair, with
+a broken diamond cross of the French Legion of Honour, besides a
+sort of paper-book full of writing, and two printed ones bound in
+morocco. I picked up the letter and the cross, put them in again,
+and shoved the drawer back to its place, though I brought the books
+away with me to have a glance over. What struck me most, though, was
+a plaster figure of the French emperor himself, standing fastened on
+a shelf, with one hand in the breast of his great coat, and looking
+calmly out of the white sightless eyes; while right opposite hung
+a sort of curtain which you'd have thought they were fixed upon.
+When I hauled it aside, I started--there, on a shelf to match the
+other, was a beautiful smiling child's head to the shoulders, of
+pure white marble, as if it leant off the bulkhead like a cherub
+out of the clouds. Spite of all, however, the touch of likeness it
+had to the head I got such a glimpse of at Longwood, even when the
+hot sunlight showed it in my spy-glass so pale and terrible, was
+sufficient to tell me what _this_ was,--Napoleon's own little son,
+in fact, who was made king of Rome, as I remembered hearing at the
+time. The thought of the schooner's strange French captain, and his
+desperate scheme, came back on me so strong, joined to what I saw he
+had an eye to in fitting out his cabins, that, for my own part, I
+hadn't the heart to use them myself, and at first sight ordered the
+dead-lights to be shipped again, and the door locked.
+
+'Twas a good many days after this, of course, and we had made a
+pretty fast run up the Mozambique, in spite of the sharp navigation
+required, sighting nothing larger than the native and Arab craft to
+be seen thereabouts; we were beginning to clear out from amongst
+the clusters of islands and shoals at the channel head, when two
+large sail were made in open water to nor'-eastward. Next morning
+by daybreak we were to windward of the weathermost,--a fine large
+Indiaman she was, crowding a perfect tower of canvass. Shortly
+after, however, the schooner was within hail, slipping easily down
+upon her quarter, which seemed to give them a little uneasiness,
+plenty of troops as she seemed to have on board, and looming like a
+frigate. After some showing of keeping on, and apparently putting
+faith in the man-o'-war pennant I hoisted, she hove into the wind,
+when we found she was the Company's ship Warringford, and the other
+the something Castle, I forget which, both for Calcutta. The next
+thing, as soon as they found we were tender to his Majesty's frigate
+Hebe, was to ask after the Seringapatam; on which I was told she was
+three or four days sail ahead with the Mandarin, bound to China,
+neither of them having put in at Johanna Island to refresh. I was
+just ready to put our helm up again and bid good-bye, when the
+tiffin gong could be heard sounding on the Indiaman's quarterdeck,
+and the old white-haired captain politely asked me if I wouldn't
+come aboard with one or two of my officers to lunch. Mr Snelling
+gave me a wistful glance--there were a dozen pretty faces admiring
+our schooner out of the long white awnings: but even if the notion
+of bringing up Snelling himself as my first officer hadn't been
+too much for me, not to speak of either Jones or Webb, why the
+very thoughts that everything I saw recalled to me, made me the
+more eager to get in sight of the Seringapatam. "Thank you, sir,"
+answered I. "No--I must be off after the Bombay ship."--"Ah," hailed
+the old captain, "some of your Admiral's post-bags, I suppose. Well,
+keep as much northing as you can, sir, and I daresay you'll find her
+parted company. She's got a jury fore topmast up, for one she lost
+a week ago; so you can't mistake her for the Mandarin, with a good
+glass."--"Have you noticed any suspicious craft lately, sir?" asked
+I. "Why, to tell you the truth, lieutenant," sang out he, looking
+down off the high bulwarks at our long nine-pounders and the knot of
+Lascars, "none more so than we thought _you_, at first, sir!" The
+cadets on the poop roared with laughter, and an old lady with two
+daughters seemed to eye Snelling doubtfully through an opera-glass,
+as the reefer ogled both of them at once. "By the bye," sang out the
+captain of the Indiaman to me again, "I fancy the passengers in that
+ship must have got somehow uncomfortable--one of our Bengal grandees
+aboard of her wanted a berth to Calcutta with us, 'tother day in the
+Mozambique; but we're too full already!"--"Indeed, sir?" said I; but
+the schooner's mainboom was jibbing over, and with two or three more
+hails, wishing them a good voyage, and so on, away we slipped past
+their weather-bow. The Warringford got under weigh at her leisure,
+and in an hour or two her topsails were down to leeward of us. On
+I cracked with square and studding-sails to the quartering breeze,
+till the schooner's light hull jumped to it, and aloft she was all
+hung out of a side, like a dairyman's daughter carrying milk; with
+the pace she went at I could almost say to an hour when we should
+overhaul the chase.
+
+Still, after two or three days of the trade-wind, well out in the
+Indian Ocean, and not a spot to be seen, we had got so far up the
+Line as to make me sure we had overrun her. Accordingly the schooner
+was hauled sharp on a wind to cruise slowly down across what must
+be the Indiaman's track, judging as we could to a nicety, with a
+knowledge of the weather we had had. For my part I was so certain
+of sighting her soon, that I ordered the after-cabins to be set to
+rights, seeing a notion had taken hold of me of actually offering
+them to Sir Charles Hyde for the voyage to Calcutta--Fancy the
+thought! 'Twas too good to be likely; but Violet herself actually
+being in that little after-cabin and sleeping in it--the lively
+schooner heading away alone for India, and they and Westwood the
+sole passengers aboard--why, the idea of it was fit to drive me
+crazy with impatience.
+
+Well, one fine night, after being on deck all day, and the whole
+night before, almost, I had turned in to my cot to sleep. From
+where I lay I could see the moonshine off the water through the
+stern-light in that after-cabin, by the half-open door. I felt
+the schooner going easily through the water, with a rise and
+fall from the heave of the long Line-swell; so close my eyes I
+couldn't, especially as the midshipman could be heard snoring on
+the other side like the very deuce. Accordingly I turned out into
+the after-cabin, and got hold of one of the Frenchman's volumes to
+read, when, lo and behold, I found it was neither more nor less
+than Greek, all I knew being the sight of it. Next I commenced
+overhauling the bundle of handwriting, which I took at first for
+a French log of the schooner's voyage, and sat down on the locker
+to have a spell at it. So much as I could make out, in spite of
+the queer outlandish turn the letters had, and the quirks of the
+unnatural sort of language, it was curious enough--a regular story,
+in fact, about his own life, the war, and Buonaparte himself. At
+another time I'd have given a good deal to go through with it at odd
+hours--and a strange affair I found it was some time afterwards;
+but meanwhile I had only seen at the beginning that his name was
+_Le Compte Victor l'Allemand, Capitaine de la Marine Française_,
+and made out at the end how there was some scheme of his beyond
+what I knew before, to be carried out in India,--when it struck me
+there was no one on the quarterdeck above. I listened for a minute
+through the stern-window, and thought I heard some one speaking over
+the schooner's lee-quarter, as she surged along; so slipping on a
+jacket and cap, I went on deck at once.
+
+It was middle watch at the time; but as soon as I came up I saw all
+was quiet--Webb near the gangway talking to the old Lascar serang,
+and breaking the English wonderfully betwixt them; while the Lascars
+of the watch were sitting like tailors in a ring on the forecastle
+planks, each waiting for his turn of one cocoa-nut hookah, that kept
+hubble-bubbling away gravely under the smoker's nose, as he took a
+long suck at it, while the red cinder in the bowl lighted up his
+leathery Hindoo face and mustache like a firefly in the root of a
+banian, till he handed it, without even a wipe, to his neighbour.
+These fellows had begun to get much livelier as we made the tropics;
+and this same serang of theirs had put out his horns once or twice
+to Snelling lately, though he drew them in again the moment he saw
+me--a sulky old knotty-faced, yellow-eyed devil I thought him at any
+rate, while his dish-cloth of a turban, his long blue gown and red
+trousers, reminded you at sea in a gale of a dancing dervish. The
+day we spoke the Indiaman, in fact, I noticed there was something in
+the wind for a minute or two with him and his gang, which put it in
+my head at first to offer them to the captain for a couple of good
+English hands; and as I passed him and Webb this time, the serang
+stopped his talk, and sidled off.
+
+However, a beautiful night it was, as ever eye looked upon even in
+the blue Indian Ocean: the heavens cloudless, the full round moon
+shining high off our weather-beam again, the stars drawn up into her
+bright light, as it were, trembling through the films of it like
+dew-drops in gossamer of a summer morning: you saw the sea meet the
+sky on every hand, without a speck on the clear line of horizon,
+through the squares of our ratlins and betwixt the schooner's two
+long fore-and-aft booms. A pretty strongish breeze we had, too,
+blowing from east to west with a sweep through the emptiness aloft,
+and a wrinkling ripple over the long gentle swells, as deep in the
+hue as if fresh dye came from the bottom, and crisping into a small
+sparkle of foam wherever they caught it full. Something pleasant,
+one couldn't say what, was in the air; and every sheet being hauled
+taut to hold wind, the slant gush of it before her beam drove her
+slipping ahead toward the quarter it came from, with a dip down
+and a saucy lift of her jibs again, as if she were half balanced
+amidships, but little noise about it. I took a squint aloft and an
+overhaul all round, and nothing was to be seen. The size of the sky
+through the moonlight looked awful, as it were, and the strength
+of the breeze seemed to send a heavenly blue deep into the western
+quarter, till you saw a star in it. The night was so lovely, in
+fact, it somehow made one think of one's mother, and old times,
+when you used to say your prayers. Still I couldn't see the mate of
+the watch on the weather quarterdeck, which surprised the more in
+Jones's case, since he was always ready for me when I came up; and,
+to tell the truth, I shouldn't have been sorry to catch him napping
+for once, only to show he was like men in common. I walked aft by
+the weather side of the large mainsail, accordingly, till I saw him
+leaning with his head over the lee-bulwark, and heard him again, as
+I thought, apparently speaking to some one down the schooner's side;
+upon which I stepped across. Jones's back was to me as I looked over
+too; but owing to what he was busy with, I suppose, and the wash
+of the water, which was louder there than inboard, while you heard
+the plash from her bows every time she forged, he evidently didn't
+hear me. You may fancy my wonder to find he was reading loud out
+to himself from the other of the Frenchman's volumes, which I had
+no doubt left in the dining-cabin--the book open in both hands--he
+giving it forth in long staves, with a break between--and regular
+Greek it was, too: you'd have thought he timed them to the plash
+alongside; and I must say, as every string of long-tailed words
+flowed together like one, in Jones's deep voice, and the swell rose
+once or twice with its foam-bells near his very hands, I almost
+fancied I made a meaning of them--each like a wave, as it were,
+sweeping to a crest, and breaking. The gusto the man showed in it
+you can't conceive; and, what was more, I had no doubt he understood
+the sense of it, for all of a sudden, after twenty staves or so of
+the kind, he stopped.[8] "There!" said he, "there, old Homer--women,
+wine, and adventure--what could the devil ask more, blind old
+prater, with a sound in you like the sea? Ay, wash, wash, wash
+away, lying old blue-water, you cant wash _it_ out--and wine--no,
+not the strongest rum in Cape Town--can wash _you_ out!" With that
+Jones laid his head on his arms, with the book still in one hand,
+muttering to himself, and I listened in spite of me. "Still it
+rouses the old times in me!" said he. "Here comes this book across
+me, too. Ay, ay, and the Rector fancied, sitting teaching me Greek
+out of old wild Homer all week day--and--and his girl slipping out
+and in--'twould do to don the cassock of a Sunday and preach out of
+the pulpit against the world, the devil, and the flesh--then warn me
+against the sea--ha!" The laugh that came from him at that moment
+was more like a dog than a human being; but on he went muttering
+"Women, wine, and adventure, said ye, old Greek, and a goddess
+too; still he _was_ a good old man the Rector--no guile nor evil
+in him, with his books in the cases yonder, and the church-spire
+seen through the window over the garden, and his wife with--ah,
+the less of that. 'Twas in me, though, and all the blood--and in
+_her_ dark eyes, too, Mary, though she was! Damnation!" he broke
+out again, after a bit, as if he'd been arguing it with something
+under the side, "I didn't take her the first time I came home--nor
+the second--but--but--ay, I came _back_! Oh that parting-stile, in
+sight of the sea--and that packet-ship--but oh God! that night, that
+night with the schooner forging ahead through the blue--blue--" And
+he stopped with a groan that shook him as he leant over. "Hellish,
+hellish by God!" he said, suddenly standing upright and looking
+straight aloft, with his bare head and face to the wide empty sky,
+and the moonlight tipping the hair on his forehead, from over the
+high shadow on the lee-side of the mainsail, where it glistened
+along the gaff. "She was pure to the last!" I heard him say, though
+I had walked to the other side of the boom; "ay, though I rot to
+perdition for it!--Down, old fiend!" as he lifted his one hand with
+the book, and drove it alongside, seemingly watching it settle away
+astern.
+
+  [8] Looking into Homer's _Iliad_ here for a passage to correspond
+  with the account given by the naval man, one is somewhat at a loss;
+  but at the end of the second book of the _Odyssey_ there occur lines
+  which might not improbably have been those recited. They are such
+  as might well, in the original, excite longings after sea-life, and
+  revive feelings of the kind most natural to the seafaring character,
+  apparently known to Captain Collins only as "Jones." Will the
+  readers of Maga accept, illustratively, of a rough translation?--
+
+     Then to Telemachus glided on board divinest Athenè,
+     Where on the poop she sat, and near her Telemachus rested.
+     Then were the moorings loosed by the mariners coming aboard her,
+     Joyous coming on board, and seated apart on the benches.
+     A fair westerly breeze by the blue-eyed goddess was wafted,
+     Cheerfully rippling along, and over the deep-coloured ocean.
+     Now to his shipmates shouted Telemachus, while to the oar-blades
+     Leapt the impatient surge, till each at his order obeying,
+     Stepped they the pine-mast then in the mast-hole ready amidships,
+     Firmly staying it both ways down; and next by the well-twisted
+     hide-thongs, Snowily spreading abroad, the sails drew fluttering
+     downward. And in the sail-breast blew the bellying wind with a
+     murmur, The purple wave hissed from the prow of the bark in its
+     motion; Into the riotous wave she plunged, pursuing her voyage.
+     But when their oars they drew back to the galley securely,-- The
+     swift, dark-sided bark, as she full on her journey exulted--
+     Then to her foaming beak they brought the o'er-bubbling goblet
+     Of red-hued wine, and poured out on her head a libation To the
+     immortal gods, that dwell in the sky and in ocean, But to the
+     blue-eyed daughter of Jupiter mostly, Athené. All night then
+     they sailed, till the morning rose on their voyage.
+
+Now I had heard nothing from Jones that I couldn't have fancied
+before, and there was even a humour to my mind in the notion of
+clapping it all on old Homer, if Homer it was, and heaving him
+overboard with such a confoundedly complimentary burial-service. But
+some of the words that dropped from him shot through one's veins
+like icicles: and now there was something fearful in the sight of
+him standing straight again, with a look right into the heavens,
+as if he'd have searched them up and up--in that lovely night too,
+spread far and wide--the very rays of the moonlight sparkled down
+the weather side of the sail I was on, trembling on the leech-ropes
+and brails as they swayed, and into the hollows they made in the
+belly of the taut canvass: the long shining spot of it wavered
+and settled on the same two planks of the quarterdeck, beyond the
+shadow of the bulwark from the moon's eye, fast as the schooner
+moved through the water, and it was like a hand laid upon her,
+with the air and wind stretching between. Of a sudden I saw Jones
+wheel slowly round where he stood, like a man turned about by main
+strength, with his eyes fixed aloft, and his one arm raising from
+the shoulder till his forefinger pointed to something, as I thought,
+about the fore-to'gallant sail. His face was like ashes, his eye
+glaring, and I sprang across to him under the main-boom. "See!" said
+he, never turning his head, and the words hissed betwixt his teeth,
+"look at that!"
+
+"For heaven's sake, _what_, Mr Jones?" said I. "_Her--her_," was
+his answer, "coming against the wind--dead fore-and-aft in the
+shade of the sails!" On the lee-sides of them the high boom-sails
+made a sort of a thin shadow against the moonshine off the other
+beam, which came glimpsing through between them out of a world of
+air to the south-east, with a double of it flickering alongside
+on the water as it heaved past to leeward; and whether it was
+fancy, or whether it was but the reflection aloft from below, I
+thought, as I followed Jones's finger, I saw something like the
+shape of a woman's dress floating close in with the bonnet of the
+foretopmast-staysail, from the dusk it made to the breast of the
+fore-topsail, and even across the gush of white light under the
+yard--long and straight, as it were, like a thing lifted dripping
+out of water, and going, as he said, right against the schooner's
+course. "Now in the foresail!" whispered Jones, his eye moving as
+on a pivot, and a thrill ran through me at the notion, for I made
+out one single moment what I thought a face against the sky at the
+gaff-end, white as death, shooting aft toward the mainsail,--though
+next instant I saw it was but a block silvered by the moon as the
+schooner lifted. "Now the mainsail!" said he huskily, "and now--now,
+by the heavens--rising--rising to the gaff-topsail--away! Oh Christ!
+_Mary!_"
+
+He was leaning aft toward the width of the sky, with both hands
+clutched together before him, shuddering all over. For the first
+minute my own blood crept, I must say; but directly after I touched
+him on the shoulder. "This is strange, Mr Jones," said I, "what's
+the matter?" "Once in the Bermudas!" said he, still wildly, "once
+in the Pacific--and now! Does the sea give up its dead, though,
+think ye?"--"You've a strong fancy, Mr Jones, that's all," I said,
+sternly. "Fancy!" said he, though beginning to get the better of
+himself; "did ye ever fancy a face looking down--down at you in the
+utterest scorn--down sideways off the shoulder of the garment, as
+it sticks wet into every outline like life? All the time gliding on
+the other way, too, and the eyes like two stars a thousand miles
+away beyond, as kind as angels'--neither wind nor sea can stop it,
+till suddenly it rises to the very cope of heaven--still looking
+scornfully down at you!--No, sir, fancy it _you_ couldn't!" The
+glance he gave me was somehow or other such as I couldn't altogether
+stomach from the fellow, and he was turning to the side when I said
+quietly, "No, nor Homer either, I daresay!" Jones started and made a
+step towards me. "You heard me a little ago!" rapped out he, eyeing
+me. "Yes," I said; "by Jove! who could help being curious to hear a
+sailor spout Greek as you were doing, Mr Jones?"
+
+"The fact is, Mr Collins," answered he, changing his tone, "I
+was well brought up--the more shame to me for bringing myself to
+what you saw me. I had a sister drowned, too, on her passage to
+America one voyage, when I was mate of the ship myself. No wonder
+it keeps my nerves shaking sometimes, when I've had too long
+about shore."--"Well, well, Jones," said I, rather softening,
+"you've proved yourself a first-rate seaman, and I've got nothing
+to complain of--but I tell You fairly I had my doubts of you! So
+you'll remember you're under the Articles of War aboard here, sir,"
+added I, "which as long as I have this schooner under hand, I'll
+be hanged if I don't carry out!" All at once the thought struck me
+a little inconveniently, of my carrying off Webb and his people,
+and I fancied Jones's quick eye wandered to the Lascars forward.
+"I know it, sir," said he, looking me steadily in the face; "and
+what's more, Mr Collins, at any rate I couldn't forget you picked me
+out, confounded low as I looked, to come aft here! 'Tis not every
+captain afloat that has such a good eye for a seaman, as _I_ know!"
+"Oh well, no more about it," I said, walking forward on the weather
+side, and leaving him on the lee one as distinctly as Lord Frederick
+Bury could have done to myself in the frigate. Jones no doubt
+thought I didn't notice the slight wrinkle that gathered round his
+lee-eye when he gave me this touch of butter at the end; but I put
+it down for nothing more, gammon though it was.
+
+It was near the end of the watch, the moon beginning to set, while
+it still wanted three hours of daybreak in those latitudes, when
+the look-out on the top-gallant-yard, who was stationed there in
+man-o'-war cruising fashion, reported a sail to windward. Just then
+the midshipman came on deck to his watch, wonderfully early for him
+indeed: and on my remarking it was probably the Indiaman at last,
+Jones himself went aloft with the night-glass to make her out. "Mr
+Snelling," said I, "see the hands on deck ready for going about."
+Next minute I saw him rousing up the rest of the Lascars, who slept
+watch and watch on the forecastle. Only five or six of the Hebe's
+men were up; and all of them, save the man at the wheel, ran aloft
+to rig out stunsail-booms to windward, as soon as the schooner was
+fairly on the starboard tack, standing to nor'-eastward. Suddenly
+I saw a scuffle between the midshipman, and the tindal,[9] a stout
+dark-faced young Bengalee, with a jaunty scull-cap and frock, whom
+Snelling had probably helped along with a touch of a rope's end;
+and in a moment two or three more of them were upon him; while the
+reefer drew his dirk, and sung out to me, scarce before I was with
+him, the Lascars rolling into the lee-scuppers at two kicks of my
+foot. Webb and three of the men from Cape Town were hoisting a
+stunsail at the time, the smart man-o'-war'smen aloft singing out to
+them to bear a hand. What with the noise of the sail flapping, and
+its being betwixt my own men and the deck, they could know nothing
+of the matter; and the Lascars let go the halliards in a body,
+making a rush at Snelling and myself with everything they could pick
+up in the shape of a spar.
+
+  [9] Lascar boatswain's mate.
+
+This would have been nothing, as in two or three minutes more the
+men would have been down, and the cocoa-faced rascals dodged every
+way from the handspike I got hold of; but I just caught a glimpse
+on one side of the sly old serang shoving on the fire-scuttle to
+keep down the watch below; and on the other, of Webb looking round
+him, evidently to see how matters stood. Two Dutchmen seized the
+first sailor that came down the rigging, by the legs, and I saw
+the affair must be finished at once, it had so much the look of a
+regular plot on Webb's part, if Jones wasn't concerned in it too.
+I made one spring upon my Cape Town gentleman, and took him by the
+throat with one hand, while I hit the biggest Dutchman full behind
+the ear, felling him to the deck; on which the man-o'-war's man
+grappled his watchmate, and Webb was struggling with me sufficiently
+to keep both my hands full, when I had a pleasant inkling of a Malay
+Lascar slipping toward my back with a bare kreese in his fist. I
+just looked over my shoulder at his black eyes twinkling devilishly
+before he sprang, when some one came sliding fair down from the
+fore-top-mast-head by a backstay, and pitched in a twinkling on
+top of his head--a thing enough to break the neck of a monument.
+Directly after, I saw Jones himself hitting right and left with
+his night-glass, from the moonlight to the shadow of the foresail,
+while Snelling tumbled over a Lascar at every slap, standing up
+in boxer style. By the time the rest of the men came down all was
+settled--the Dutchmen sulking against the bulwarks, and Webb gasping
+after I let him go. "Boatswain," said I to one of the sailors, "clap
+that man in irons below. Mr Snelling, see the watch called, sir." "I
+'ad the law with me," said Webb gloomily. "You plotted it then, Mr
+Webb?" I said. "Didn't you carry us off illegally?" said he. "I only
+meant to recover the vessel--upon my honour, nothing more, sir; and
+if you're 'ard with me, you'll have to answer for it, I assure you!"
+Here he looked round to Jones in a strange way, as I fancied for a
+moment; but Jones turned on his heel with a sneer. "Why, Mr Webb,"
+answered I, "you lost that tack by offering yourself in a watch,
+which makes the thing neither more nor less than mutiny--so take him
+below, do ye hear, bo'sun!" And down he went.
+
+"Now, Mr Jones," said I, as soon as all hands were on deck, "you'll
+be so good as have half of these Lascars seized to the rigging here,
+one after the other, and see a good dozen given to each of their
+backs; then these two Dutchmen, each three dozen--then pipe down
+the watch, sir." Jones glanced at me, then at the fellows, then
+at me again. I thought he hung aback for an instant; but do it I
+was determined he should, for a reason I had; and I gave him back
+the look steady as stone. "Ay, ay, sir," said he at last, touching
+his hat. I walked aft to the capstan, and stood there till every
+mother's son of them had got his share, the Lascars wriggling and
+howling on the deck after it, and the Dutchmen twisting their backs
+as they walked off. 'Twas the first time I did that part of duty in
+command; and I felt, in the circumstances, I was in for carrying it
+out with a taut hand.
+
+By this time the moon was setting, and in the dusk we lost sight
+of the sail to windward; but as we were heading well up to weather
+upon her, and going at least ten knots, I turned in below for a
+little, leaving the midshipman. Accordingly, it wasn't very long
+before Snelling called me in broad daylight. "She's a large ship,
+Mr Collins," said he, "standing under all sail on a wind. I hope to
+goodness, sir, it's that confounded Indiaman at last!" I hurried on
+deck, took the glass aloft, and soon made out the jury-foretop-mast
+shorter than the main, as the old captain mentioned. Accordingly it
+was with somewhat of a flutter in me I came down again, watching the
+schooner's trim below and aloft, to see if I couldn't take an hour
+or so off the time betwixt that and once more setting eyes on the
+Judge's daughter.
+
+
+
+
+THE JEW BILL.
+
+
+The period at which this obnoxious measure has been brought forward,
+limits our present remarks to a few paragraphs. But we have so long
+fought for the Constitution, that We cannot suffer the month to
+pass without reprobating an intrigue, which we cannot but regard
+as most dangerous to the Empire. We are no bigots,--we demand
+no surrender of the rights of opinion,--we force no man to our
+altars,--we forbid no man's access to his own; but to avert public
+evil is a duty of every subject,--to strip hypocrisy is clearly an
+act of justice,--and to protect religion is only an act of supreme
+necessity. We solemnly believe, that to bring the Jew into the
+Parliament of England, would be at once injury to the Constitution,
+a peril to public principle, and an insult to Christianity.
+
+The attempt was made last year, and was defeated. It is now to
+be renewed, without the slightest additional ground, and the
+battle will have to be fought over again. Must we not ask, is this
+experiment to be again made on public patience? Is it meant to
+tell the people of England, that what common sense rejects, is to
+be forced on general weariness; that what manly principle repels,
+is to be gained by vulgar perseverance; and that which public
+judgement denounces, is to be made law by the united effect of
+disgust and disdain producing indifference? We trust that the common
+sense of England will speak such a language to the Legislature,
+as to extinguish the _prestige_ that obstinacy in the wrong is
+more effective than honesty in the right; that to be sickened of a
+struggle, is a legitimate reason for abandoning the contest; and
+that a great nation can be yawned out of the greatest interests in
+the world.
+
+The first question of all is, Can this admission of the Jew into
+a Christian legislature be compatible with the character of a
+Christian constitution? If we live in bad times, with the evidence
+of bad practices in important positions, and with a powerful
+propensity among influential classes to sacrifice everything to
+the moment, this consciousness should only be a stronger claim on
+the vigilance of honest men. However strangely it may sound in
+some ears, England is still a Christian country: however some may
+doubt, the country still demands a Christian legislature; and,
+notwithstanding all opinions on the subject, we believe that to
+worship God and Mammon is still as impossible as it was pronounced
+to be eighteen hundred years ago. We believe that it is only by
+national virtue that nations can retain the divine protection; that
+zeal for the divine honour is the supreme source of virtue; and
+that to sacrifice the honour of God to any earthly purpose, is only
+to bring divine desertion on a people. Must we not ask, is there
+any national demand, national necessity, or religious principle,
+connected with giving legislative power, at this time, to the Jew?
+
+Where is the national demand? If the Jew, in some instances, is
+rich, is mere money to be the qualification for giving legislative
+power? In the simplest point of view, must we not demand ability,
+personal honour, a personal interest in the country, and a personal
+evidence that the trustee will never betray or abandon his trust?
+But what is the Jew? He has _no_ country. By being equally a
+member of all countries, he is equally an alien in all; beyond the
+casual connexion of trade, he has no connexion with any kingdom
+of earth: his only country is his counting-house,--his only city
+is the Exchange. His world consists in his traffic; and if any
+calamity should fall on one of those kingdoms where he keeps his
+counting-house, he transfers himself, like a Bill of Exchange, to
+the next; and in whatever land is equally at home. The Jew gives
+no pledge to any country; he is no possessor of land, no leader of
+science, no professor of the liberal pursuits, no manufacturer, no
+merchant, no sailor, no soldier; as if some irresistible destination
+prohibited him from ever finally settling in any land, his property
+is always ready to take wing. Must we not ask, Is this fugitive the
+man who has a right to share the privileges of the Englishman,
+bound, as we are, to the soil by nature, and bound to its defence
+and prosperity by the indissoluble obligation of nature?
+
+In a political point of view, what security could we have for
+confiding in the Jew,--for intrusting our finances, our liberties,
+our councils, the guardianship of our country, to the Jew? The
+especial and perpetual object of his existence is money. Now,
+while every man knows that money is the great corrupter of the
+human mind, that, except in minds fully fortified by principle, it
+overwhelms all other objects, and that, in all the convulsions of
+the greatest war of Europe--the war of the French Revolution--the
+secrets of every Continental cabinet were at the mercy of the purse;
+do we desire to see this supremacy extended? Do we desire to see
+the principles of fraud and falsehood made a regular material in
+the market of public transactions, and lucre exalted into the sole
+object of existence?
+
+As to the practical effect of bringing the tribe of the money-dealer
+into Parliament, would any man, in the exercise of his experience,
+wish to see the finances of England in the hands of any Jew in
+existence? And let no man pretend that this conception is imaginary.
+Place a Jew in Parliament, giving him the power of making a party;
+give him the opportunity of working on the impulses, habits, or
+necessities of men; and in twelve months you may see him anything
+he desires,--even Chancellor of the Exchequer. But he is a man of
+honour; he will not sell the secrets of Council; he will not copy a
+despatch for the benefit of his partners; he will not raise or sink
+the stocks, though every movement may add a million to the coffers
+of his partnership. We hope not; but can we run the risk? But the
+fact is, that he is a man not to be judged of by the feelings of
+any other in the world; he differs from all other men. What is
+patriotism to the Jew? He knows nothing of it. Who ever heard of the
+Jew taking any part in those noble struggles which have saved the
+honour or secured the rights of any nation on earth? His business
+is gain, and it is the only business that he ever follows; from the
+man with ten firms and five hundred clerks, with a counting-house in
+every village from the Rhine to the Neva, down to the seller of old
+clothes, and the pedlar in dilapidated slippers, who ever heard of a
+Jew thinking of anything but to make money?
+
+But the view which must supersede all others, is the aspect of the
+measure as it relates to religion. Great Britain is certainly,
+on the whole, a religious country: it perhaps contains more true
+religion than all the earth besides; but its fault is, that, though
+reverent in the church, it does not sufficiently carry its reverence
+into the course of common life. If this were done, there would be
+no difficulties in public opinion. It is in no superstition that
+we say, the only question to be asked on any doubtful course of
+action is, "Will it please God? Is it for the honour of God?" This
+is what the Scripture calls "walking with God," and describes as
+the essential character of virtue. But the majority of mankind add
+to those questions, Will it benefit myself? The statesman asks,
+Shall I lose power by it?--the merchant, Shall I lose profit?--the
+tradesman, Shall I lose custom? And this question is the master-key
+to the diversities of opinion on points which, to the unbiassed
+mind, are as clear as the sun.
+
+Let us put the matter in a more every-day point of view. Let us
+suppose the question asked, Would you take for your friend a man
+who denied your God, who scoffed at your religion, and who declared
+yourself a dupe or a deceiver? Yet all this the Jew does openly
+by the profession of his own creed. Can you conceive it for the
+honour of your Redeemer, to give this man your confidence in the
+highest form in which it can be given by a subject? Or can you
+bring yourself to believe that you are doing your duty to Christ
+in declaring by your conduct, that to be hostile to Him makes no
+imaginable difference in your estimate of the character of any man?
+
+On those points it is wholly impossible that there can be any doubt
+whatever. The enemy of Christ cannot, without a crime, be favoured,
+still less patronised and promoted, by the friend of Christ. Now,
+this feeling is neither prejudice nor persecution: it merely takes
+the words of the Jew himself; and it would not force him, by the
+slightest personal injury, to change the slightest of his opinions.
+It is merely the conduct which all who were unbiassed by gain, or
+unperverted by personal objects, would follow in any common act of
+life. To give power to the Jew, from the motives of pelf, or party,
+or through indifference, is criminal; and it is against this crime
+that we protest, and that we desire to guard our fellow Christian.
+
+We must now rapidly pass through the leading points of the question.
+The Jew is a "condemned man." More than three thousand years ago,
+Moses, in pronouncing the future history of the people, declared
+that a teacher should finally be sent to their nation, like himself,
+a man; and mingling as such among men, to give them a law, not in
+clouds and thunders as at Sinai, nor written in tables of stone, nor
+fixed in stern ordinances, but written in the heart, and acting by
+the understanding: and that, if they rejected him, they should be
+made nationally to answer the national crime to the Almighty. Him
+they rejected, and the rejection has been answered by national ruin.
+The prophecy is before the eye of the world; the fulfilment is also
+before the eye of the world.
+
+The Jew is an undone being, if there be truth in the words of
+inspiration. "He that believeth in the Son hath everlasting life;
+and he that believeth not the Son, _shall not see life_; but the
+_wrath of God_ abideth on him." (John iii. 35, 36.) What right have
+we to dispense with such words? The declaration is unequivocal;
+and if there be a compassionate allowance for the barbarian, who
+has no Bible and whom the gospel has never reached, what allowance
+can there be for the Jew, possessing the Bible and living in the
+sound of the gospel? But this language is not alone. We have the
+declaration of ruin constantly expressed or implied, "Who is a liar,
+but he that _denieth that Jesus is the Christ_? Whosoever _denieth
+the Son_, the same _hath not the Father_." (1 John ii. 22)
+
+Are those deniers the men whom the Christian is to take into
+the very centre of his political favouritism? Are the brands of
+Scripture on the national forehead to be scorned by a people
+professing obedience to the Divine will? Can human conception supply
+a stronger proof of the reality of those brands than the condition
+of the Jews ever since their first fulfilment, in the fall of
+Jerusalem--the terrible reply to their own anathema, "His blood be
+on us, and on our children."
+
+What is the state of the Jew himself with respect to sacred things?
+Nothing but ignorance can speak of the _religion_ of the Jew. So far
+as belongs to worship, he has _none_. Sacrifice, the solemnisation
+of the three great festivals, the whole ceremonial of the temple,
+were _essential_ to Judaism. The Jew cannot perform a single public
+ceremonial of his religion. Sacrifice was supremely essential for
+nearly the atonement of every fault of man; but it could be offered
+only in the Temple. The Temple is gone. What now becomes of his
+atonement?
+
+A weak attempt is made to answer this tremendous question, by
+referring to the condition of the Jews in Babylon. But what
+comparison can exist between a captivity prophetically limited to
+years not exceeding a single life, passed under the protection of
+kings, and under the guardianship of the most illustrious man of
+Asia, the prophet Daniel, cheered by prophecy and miracle, and
+certain of return, and the eighteen hundred years' banishment of
+the Jew? What comparison between the temporary suspension of the
+national worship, and the undefined and hopeless duration which
+seems to lie before the Jewish exile; and which, when it shall close
+at last, will extinguish his Judiasm, will show him his folly only
+by stripping the superstition of the Rabbi and the Talmud from his
+eyes, and will awake him at once to the extent of his error, to the
+exercise of his understanding, and to the worship of Christianity?
+
+After considerations of this order, all others must be almost
+trivial. But the common declamation on the _natural right_ of the
+Jew to be represented in Parliament is verbiage. But the Jew is
+actually represented, as much as a multitude of other interests of
+superior importance are represented. Are the fifteen thousand clergy
+of the Church of England (a body worth all the Jews on the globe)
+personally represented? Are the millions of England under twenty-one
+represented? One might thus go through the great industrious classes
+of England, and find that, out of twenty millions, there are not
+one million electors. And what claim have a class--who come to this
+country only to make money, and who make nothing but money, and who,
+if they could make more money anywhere else on the earth, would go
+there to-morrow--to an equality of right with the manly, honest, and
+attached son of England, every day of whose life adds something to
+the comfort or the credit of the community?
+
+The whole and sole claim of the Jew is, that some of his party are
+rich. How they have made their riches, or how they spend them,
+is beneath us to inquire. But what are their national evidences,
+even of wealth, it might be difficult to discover. They exhibit no
+fruits here, nor anywhere. It has been often asked, with genuine
+astonishment, what signs of national liberality have ever been
+given by Jewish wealth in the world? What contribution does it
+make, or has it ever made, to the arts that decorate life, to the
+literature that enlightens it, or to those bold and commanding
+services by which nations are raised or restored? Where are the
+picture galleries, or the great libraries, the great institutions,
+erected by the wealth of the Jew? As to the genius which endows
+mankind, for generations to come, with noble inventions, or leaves
+its name behind in a track of glory to posterity, who ever heard of
+it among the Jews? Shopkeepers of London have planted its vicinity
+with great establishments, castles of charity, magnificent monuments
+of practical religion, to which all the works of Jewish bounty are
+molehills. The Jews have an hospital and a few schools,--and there
+the efflux of liberality stops, the stream stagnates, the river
+becomes a pond, and the pond dries away.
+
+It is remarkable, and may be a punitive consequence, that there
+is nothing so fugitive as the wealth of the Jew. There is perhaps
+no hereditary example of Jewish wealth in the world. In England
+we have seen opulent firms, but they have never had the principle
+of permanency. Supposed to be boundlessly wealthy, a blight came,
+and every leaf dropt off. One powerful firm now lords it over the
+loan-market of Europe. We have no desire to anticipate the future;
+but what has become of all its predecessors in this country? or what
+memorial have they all left, to make us regret their vanishing, or
+remember their existence?
+
+Of the sudden passion with which Ministers have snatched the
+Israelite to their bosom, we shall leave the explanation until
+their day of penitence. As poverty makes man submit to strange
+companionship, political necessity may make a Whig Cabinet stoop to
+the embrace of the Jew. The resource is desperate, but the exigency
+must be equally so. We hail the omen,--the grasp at straws shows
+nothing but the exhaustion of the swimmer.
+
+On one point more alone we shall touch. It is of a graver kind.
+It has been the source of a kind of ignorant consideration for
+the Jews, that prophecy speaks of their future restoration. But,
+as _Jews_ they will _never_ be restored. In the last days some
+powerful influence of the Holy Spirit will impel the surviving Jews
+to solicit an admission into Christianity. How many or how few will
+survive the predicted universal convulsion of these days, is not for
+man to tell; the terrible, or the splendid, catastrophes of those
+times are still hidden; but no Jew well ever dwell in the presence
+of the patriarchs, but as a "new creature"--a being cleared from the
+prejudices of his exiled fathers, and by supernatural interposition
+purified from the unbelief, to be rescued from the ruin, of his
+stiff-necked people.
+
+The measure must be thrown out by the awakened power of public
+opinion. We must not indulge our indolence in relying on the House
+of Lords. They _may_ do their duty, but _we must do ours_. The Jew
+_must not_ enter the Christian Legislature.
+
+
+
+
+THE PICTURES OF THE SEASON.
+
+
+The taste for pictorial art, if its progress may be measured by
+the opportunity afforded for its gratification, is decidedly upon
+the increase in this country. In London, especially, pictures of
+one class or other form, each successive year, a larger and more
+important item in the sum of public amusements. During the present
+season of 1850 there have been open, at one time, four exhibitions
+consisting chiefly of oil paintings, two numerous collections of
+water-colour drawings, and panoramas and dioramas in unprecedented
+number and of unusual excellence. These last, although pertaining
+to a lower walk of art, have strong claims on consideration for
+their scenic truthfulness and artistic skill, and are fairly to
+be included in an estimate of the state of public feeling for the
+pictorial. The four first exhibitions alone comprise upwards of
+three thousand works of art, now for the first time submitted to
+public inspection. As usual, the exhibition of the Royal Academy
+is the most important and deserving of attention. Numerically, the
+Society of British Artists claims the next place; but in point of
+interest it must yield precedence to the British Institution, now
+for some weeks closed, and also to the exhibition of an association
+of artists which has installed itself, upon a novel principle,
+and under the title of the National Institution, in a building
+constructed for its accommodation, and known as the Portland
+Gallery. It were for some reasons desirable--it certainly would
+be favourable to the comparative appreciation of merit--that, as
+at Paris, the whole of the annual harvest of pictures should be
+collected in one edifice, subject, of course, to such previous
+examination by a competent and impartial council, as should exclude
+those works unworthy of exhibition. But such a system, however
+pleasant it might be found by the public, could hardly be made
+agreeable to the artists. The most indulgent censorship, excluding
+none but the veriest daubs--nay, even the plan of open doors to
+all comers, which has lately clothed a portion of the walls of the
+Republican Louvre with canvass spoiled by ignorance and presumption,
+would fail to satisfy artists and their friends. In London, as in
+Paris under the old system, it is less the question of admission
+than the placing of the pictures that is the source of discontent.
+The excluded conceal their discomfiture; the misplaced grumble
+loudly, and not always without reason, especially as regards the
+Academy exhibition. The fault may be more in the rooms that contain,
+than in the men who place the pictures. Of course everybody whose
+work gets into the Octagon Room feels aggrieved, although it is
+evident that, as long as that ridiculous nook is used to contain
+pictures, some unlucky artists must fill it. The good places in
+the other rooms--limited as is the extent of these compared to
+the large number of pictures annually exhibited in them--cannot
+be very numerous, although they may be multiplied by the exercise
+of judgment, and by impartial attention to the requirements of
+each picture as regards light and elevation. The best possible
+arrangement, however, will fail to please everybody, and the
+persons to whom falls the difficult task of distributing a thousand
+or fifteen hundred pictures over the walls of a suite of rooms
+inadequate to their proper accommodation, must be prepared to endure
+some obloquy, and esteem themselves fortunate if the public acquit
+them of flagrant partiality or negligence. It is not our purpose
+to dilate on this oft-mooted and still vexed question. We have no
+polemical intention in the present paper, in which we shall not have
+too much space to note down a few of the thoughts that suggested
+themselves to us during our morning wanderings amongst the throng of
+pictures in four exhibitions.
+
+The great event of the artist's year, the opening of the Exhibition
+of the Royal Academy, is of course the signal for a Babel of
+opinions. The question which on all sides is heard: What sort of
+Exhibition is this? obtains the most conflicting replies. People
+are too apt to trust to their first impressions, and to indulge in
+sweeping censure or excessive encomium. We have heard this year's
+exhibition set down by some as first-rate, by others as exceedingly
+poor. Our own opinion, after careful examination and consideration,
+is, that it has rather less than the average amount of merit.
+This we believe to be also the opinion of the majority of those
+most competent to judge. There is certainly an unusually small
+number of pictures of striking excellence; nor is this atoned for
+by any marked improvement in those artists whose works can claim
+but a second rank. One circumstance unfavourable to the interest
+of the exhibition is the uncommonly large number of portraits,
+the majority of which are not very admirable either in subject or
+execution. The impression, as one walks through the rooms, is,
+that an extraordinary number of ugly or uninteresting persons have
+got themselves painted by careless or indifferent artists. Of
+landscapes there seem to be fewer than usual--certainly fewer good
+ones. Some of the best of this class of painters have contributed
+to other exhibitions. On the other hand, historical, scriptural,
+and dramatic subjects are numerous, but not in many cases have they
+been treated with very great success. One of the foremost pictures
+in the Exhibition--certainly the one about which most curiosity
+has been excited--is Edwin Landseer's _Dialogue at Waterloo_. We
+are unfeigned admirers of Mr Landseer's genius, but we do not
+think this one of his happiest efforts. There is much fashion in
+these matters; people are very apt to be led away by a name, and
+to fall into ecstasies before a picture simply because it is by a
+great painter. We believe it impossible for Edwin Landseer to paint
+anything that shall not have great merit, but he is certainly most
+felicitous when confining himself to what is strictly speaking his
+own style. We do not think him successful as a portrait painter.
+His Marchioness of Douro does less than justice to the beautiful
+original. As to the Duke of Wellington, it is a failure; especially
+if, as we are assured, it is intended to be his portrait as he
+now is. We certainly cannot admire the burly figure and swarthy
+complexion of Mr Landseer's Duke, which gives us the idea of a
+younger and more robust man than him it is intended to represent.
+We should be disposed to object to the strained appearance of the
+downward-pointing hand; but the gesture is said to be one habitual
+to the original, and of course the painter was right to preserve
+character, even at the cost of grace. The less prominent portion of
+the picture is the most to our taste--the peasants and child, the
+dogs and game, and the plough horses with their old driver. We are
+not quite clear as to what it all means; some of the objects seeming
+rather to have been dragged in than naturally to have come thither;
+the tablecloth spread in the ploughed field appearing rather out
+of character, and the left-hand corner of the picture having
+altogether somewhat of a crowded aspect: but these are trifles not
+worth dwelling upon. The painting is evidently unfinished. The
+subject of Mr Landseer's second picture, a shepherd digging the
+stragglers from his flock out of a snow-drift, is of less interest
+than that of his larger work; but, in an artistic point of view, it
+claims higher praise. His snow is admirable, the tender gray tints
+are full of light, and distributed with surpassing skill; and the
+earnest laborious face of the delving peasant is very vigorous and
+characteristic. Mr Landseer is so accurate an observer of brute
+nature that it is with extreme caution we venture to criticise his
+animals, but we must say that the wool of his sheep in this painting
+has a hard and cork-like look. Upon the whole it is a question with
+us, when we revert to some of this artist's former productions,
+whether he is painting as carefully as he used to do. Looking at
+his Waterloo Dialogue, we say no; but an affirmative starts to our
+lips when we examine his last and smallest picture in this year's
+Exhibition, Lady Murchison's dog. With this the most fastidious
+would be troubled to find fault. It is a gem of admirable finish.
+If Mr Landseer's power of drawing, in the grander contours of his
+designs, were equal to the skill he displays in the details, he
+would leave nothing to desire.
+
+Mr Maclise has two pictures in this exhibition. There is scarcely
+an English artist living concerning whom we are more embarrassed
+to make up our minds, than concerning the painter of _The Spirit
+of Justice_ and _The Gross of Green Spectacles_. His merits and
+defects are alike very great, and unfortunately he delays to amend
+the latter--if indeed it be in his power so to do. His first-named
+and larger picture, whilst it contains much to admire, leaves a
+great deal to be desired. To us it is a vexatious performance.
+We cannot look at it without admitting it to be the work of no
+ordinary artist, and we feel the more annoyed at the mannerism that
+detracts from its merit. Mr Maclise has fertility of invention
+and power of design, but there is a deficiency of true artistical
+feeling in his execution. We cannot coincide, besides, with the
+notion which he, in common with many others, seems to entertain,
+that fresco painting precludes chiaroscuro. In _The Spirit of
+Justice_ there are some good faces; but there are more that are
+unnecessarily ugly, and several of faulty expression. Justice has
+a fine countenance and altogether pleases us well. The widow's
+face is hard and unflesh-like; the accuser, who drags the murderer
+before the tribunal, and displays a bloody dagger as evidence of
+guilt, and the free citizen who unrolls the charter of liberty, are
+anything but admirable. The accuser looks more like an informer
+than an avenger. Nothing can be more unfavourable to the face than
+the sort of scrubby, colourless, thinly-sown stubble with which his
+chin is provided, as a contrast, we presume, with the dark hirsute
+countenance of the criminal, who, deducting the beard, might pass
+for a portrait of Mr Macready, of one of whose favourite attitudes
+the position of the head and shoulders particularly reminds us. With
+all its defects, however, this is by far the best of Mr Maclise's
+two pieces. _The Gross of Spectacles_ we consider a failure. It is
+a gross of spectacles, and little besides. The first thing that
+catches the eye is Moses' unlucky bargain. There they are, the
+twelve dozen, in green cases and with plated rims. We submit that
+the first thing which _should_ attract the eye is the countenances
+of the actors in the scene. Owing to their tameness of expression,
+these, which should be prominent, are almost subordinate to the
+inanimate details of the apartment. Unimportant as it is, we are
+inclined to prefer the recess, and the peep through the window, to
+any other part of the picture. There is an airiness and transparency
+in that corner of the canvass, which we in vain seek elsewhere. The
+general effect is very hard. The hair of Moses and the little boy is
+as unlike hair as it well can be: we remember to have seen something
+very like it upon a tea-tray. These are technical objections. But Mr
+Maclise may rely upon it that he lacks the keen perception of humour
+indispensable to the artist who would illustrate Goldsmith.
+
+Amongst the scriptural and mythological paintings, those of Mr
+Patten and Mr F. R. Pickersgill attract at least as much notice as
+they deserve. Besides portraits, Mr Patten has contributed three
+pictures. His _Susannah and the Elders_ is remarkable as being the
+most decidedly indecent picture exhibited this year. The subject
+is not a very pleasing one, and, to our thinking, has been painted
+quite often enough. But this is not the question. Mr Patten has
+put his version of it out of the pale of propriety by his mode of
+handling it. There is nothing classical in his treatment, nothing
+to redeem or elevate the nudity and associations of the subject.
+His Susannah is simply a naked English girl, with a pretty face, an
+immaculate cuticle, and something exceedingly voluptuous in the form
+and arrangement of her limbs. There is no novelty of conception in
+the picture, nor any particular merit except the colouring, which
+is good, but not equal to that in No. 446, _Bacchus discovering the
+Use of the Grape_. This is a pleasanter subject, cleverly treated,
+displaying more originality and much better taste. The flesh-tints
+are capital, and the picture altogether does credit to the painter.
+_Venus and Cupid_, by the same artist, is chiefly remarkable for
+a plaster-of-Paris dove of an extraordinarily brilliant and very
+unnatural effect. As to Mr F. R. Pickersgill, we should like his
+pictures better if he would not imitate poor Etty, whose memory,
+be it parenthetically observed, has been little regarded by those
+who have exhibited that most coarse and unpleasant picture, _The
+Toilet_, No. 276, a specimen of the deceased artist's worst manner.
+Mr Pickersgill's _Samson Betrayed_ is, there is no denying it, a
+very unsatisfactory composition. His red-haired Dalilah is graceless
+and characterless. Samson, recumbent in an attitude in which no man
+ever slept soundly, seems prevented only by a miracle from slipping
+off her knees. Two girls, instead of getting to a safe distance, are
+hugging each other in terror within reach of the giant's arm. There
+is scarcely an attitude in the picture that is not strained. In the
+conception there is an utter want of novelty of circumstance. The
+whole picture is deficient in originality. The eye wanders over it,
+seeking some feature of special interest or striking beauty whereon
+to dwell, and finds none. Mr Pickersgill has good qualities, but
+the spark of fancy and genius which alone can complete the great
+painter, is, we fear, wanting in his composition.
+
+We turn with pleasure to Leslie's pictures. Were we disposed to find
+fault with this very agreeable artist, our objections could only
+be technical. With want of imagination, and feeling for beauty,
+none can tax him. Two of his three pictures contain the sweetest
+female faces in this exhibition. How admirably has he interpreted
+Shakspeare's description of Beatrice stealing to the woodbine bower,
+to play the eavesdropper on Hero and Ursula.
+
+    "Look where Beatrice, like a lapwing, runs
+     Close by the ground."
+
+The painter has exactly rendered the poet's graceful idea. As she
+glides along, we seem to detect the slight flutter and palpitation
+attendant on the clandestine movement. Expression and attitude are
+alike charming. Sophia Western deserves even higher praise. She
+is indeed a lovely creature. Tom Jones bids her behold herself in
+the mirror, and say whether such a face and form do not guarantee
+his fidelity. It is altogether a most agreeable composition; and
+if we have any fault to find, it is with the face of the enamoured
+foundling, which wants refinement, and has a sort of overgrown
+schoolboy's ruddy fulness. Katherine of Arragon beseeching Capucius
+to convey to Henry VIII. her last recommendation of her daughter
+and servants to his goodness, is the most important of Mr Leslie's
+pictures; and although by many it will not be deemed the most
+attractive, none can deny it great merit and interest. The suffering
+countenance of Katherine, and the tearful faces of her attendants,
+are full of expression. The ambassador is rather tame, and one
+scarcely recognises in his face or bearing the energy with which he
+vows to do the bidding of the unhappy queen.
+
+Mr Eastlake has one scriptural and one historical picture in this
+year's exhibition. A passage from Sismondi, telling the escape of
+an Italian noble and his wife from the persecution of the Duke of
+Milan, has suggested the latter, which is painted for the Vernon
+Gallery. There is some good expression in the faces in this picture,
+which has more interest and novelty than its companion _The Good
+Samaritan_, and also greater vigour. Both show the hand of the
+experienced and skilful artist, although perhaps neither can be
+classed amongst the best things he has produced. We should gladly
+see a little more nerve in Mr Eastlake's style, and this we think
+might be advantageously combined with his beautiful transparency of
+colouring, and other excellent qualities as a painter. There is no
+diminution in the purity of style and thought which has always been
+one of his finest characteristics.
+
+Mr Frith is an improving artist. There is humour and progress in
+No. 543, a scene from Goldsmith's _Good-natured Man_. _Mr Honeywood
+introduces the bailiffs to Miss Richland as his friends._ He must
+beware, however, of running into caricature in subjects of this
+kind. The bailiffs are perhaps a little overdone. Miss Richland
+has a very pretty face, but she looks more like a _soubrette_ or
+smart actress than a woman of fashion. Mr Frith's other picture,
+Sancho proving to the duchess that Don Quixote is at the bottom
+of the table, is well painted, and, in a technical point of
+view, it must be spoken of with respect. He has not been quite so
+successful as we should have expected in the expression of the
+faces,--that of the duke excepted, which is a good and thoroughly
+Spanish countenance, with its habitual gravity disturbed by Sancho's
+quaint humour and his master's manifest distress. But painting
+ladies is not Mr Frith's forte. His duchess is pretty, but there
+is a want of aristocratic distinction in her face and bearing; and
+as to the ladies grouped behind her chair, they are cookmaids in
+masquerade. Very few living artists, besides Leslie, should venture
+upon Sancho. We will not say that Mr Frith is not one of those few,
+but his delineation of the shrewd esquire, although very humorous,
+is rather coarse, and he has made him ragged and filthy to an
+unnecessary degree. The vexation and embarrassment of Don Quixote
+are ludicrously portrayed.
+
+Four very small, very unpretending pictures by Thomas Webster, R.A.,
+must be sought for, but, when found, cannot fail to be admired. They
+are a feature, and a very charming one, of this year's Exhibition.
+High finish and truth to nature are their chief characteristics.
+Mr Webster is getting quite into the Ostade manner. His colouring,
+too, is admirable. No. 54 is a boy in a chimney corner, supping
+pottage, with an old woman knitting opposite to him. Both faces are
+excellent, and full of character. _A Cherry Seller_ is a perfect
+_bijou_--the woman weighing out the fruit; the boys, looking on with
+eager eyes and watering mouths; the fruit itself, with its Dutch
+nicety of finish:--altogether it is a most desirable picture, such
+as one can hardly pass, even for the twentieth time, without pausing
+for another view. _A Peasant's Home_ is upon the whole too gray,
+and perhaps the least attractive of the four; but in the _Farmhouse
+Kitchen_ are a couple of figures, a farmer and his dame, than which
+nothing can be better, either in colour or expression. Mr Webster
+shows great taste and judgment in adhering to a pleasing simplicity,
+without ever falling into quaintness or affectation. And it is a
+study for a young artist to observe the skill with which he throws
+his lights, and the transparency and absence of _paintyness_ (to
+borrow a term from the studio) which characterise his pictures.
+
+Mr Solomon Hart's _Kitchen Interior at Mayfield_ will not do after
+Webster. This, however, is one of the least important of his six
+pictures, which comprise two other interiors, two heads, and a
+Jewish festival. This last is perhaps the best picture he has
+painted. The MSS. of the Pentateuch are being carried round the
+synagogue at Leghorn, amidst chanting of hymns. There is a strong
+devotional character in many of the faces; and, as a work of art,
+the picture is more than respectable. The interest of the subject is
+a question of taste. For us, we confess, it possesses very little
+attraction; and the Jewish physiognomy, so strongly marked as it
+is in all the occupants of the synagogue, is, to our thinking,
+incompatible with beauty. We do not much admire either _A Virtuoso
+or Arnolfo di Lapo_. The latter is the best of the two: the former,
+carefully painted, is merely an ordinary-looking Jew.
+
+What can we say of Mr Turner? Perhaps we had better content
+ourselves with mentioning that he has four pictures in the
+Exhibition, all in his latest manner, all illustrative of that
+far-famed, but, unfortunately, unpublished poem, _The Fallacies of
+Hope_, and all proving the fallacy of the hope we annually cherish
+that he will abjure his eccentricities, and revert to the style
+which justly gained him his high reputation. It were absurd of us
+to attempt to criticise his present productions, for to us they are
+unintelligible; and, judging from the extremely puzzled looks we see
+fixed upon them, we suspect that not many of those who pause for
+their examination are more successful than ourselves in deciphering
+their meaning, and in appreciating the beauties which a few stanch
+adherents pretend to discover in those strange compounds of red,
+white, and yellow. What if Mr Turner were to seek his inspirations
+elsewhere than in the aforesaid MS.? Can it be that the poet's
+halting verse influences the painter's vagaries? From the specimens
+afforded us, we are not inclined to think highly of _The Fallacies_
+_of Hope_. Take the following, _exempli gratiâ_:--
+
+    "Beneath the morning mist
+     Mercury waited to tell him of his neglected fleet."
+
+And this--
+
+    "Fallacious Hope beneath the moon's pale crescent shone,
+     Dido listened to Troy being lost and won."
+
+Enough of such poetry, and enough, as far as we are concerned, of a
+great painter's unfortunate aberrations.
+
+Apropos of aberrations, we have a word to say, which may as well be
+said here as elsewhere. Affectation, however, is a more suitable
+word for the mountebank proceedings of a small number of artists,
+who, stimulated by their own conceit, and by the applause of a few
+foolish persons, are endeavouring to set up a school of their own.
+We allude, to the pre-Raphaelites. Let not Messrs Millais, Hunt,
+Rosetti, & Co. suppose, because we give them an early place in this
+imperfect review of the exhibitions, that we concede to them an
+undue importance. As to admiration, we shall presently make them
+aware how far we entertain that feeling towards them. Meanwhile,
+let them not plume themselves on a place amongst men of genius.
+Just as well might they experience an exaltation of their horns,
+because their absurd and pretentious productions get casually
+hung next to pictures by Landseer or Webster. It appears they
+have got into their wise heads certain notions that the ideal of
+expression is to be found in the works of the artists who flourished
+previously to Raphael. And they have accordingly set to work to
+imitate those early masters, not only in the earnestness of purpose
+visible in their productions, but in their errors, crudities, and
+imperfections--renouncing, in fact, the progress that since then
+has been made; rejecting the experience of centuries, to revert for
+models, not to art in its prime, but to art in its uncultivated
+infancy. And a nice business they make of it. Regardless of anatomy
+and drawing, they delight in ugliness and revel in diseased aspects.
+Mr Dante Rosetti, one of the high-priests of this retrograde school,
+exhibits at the Portland Gallery. Messrs Millais and Hunt favour the
+saloons of the Academy. Ricketty children, emaciation and deformity
+constitute their chief stock in trade. They apparently select bad
+models, and then exaggerate their badness till it is out of all
+nature. We can hardly imagine anything more ugly, graceless, and
+unpleasant than Mr Millais' picture of Christ in the carpenter's
+shop. Such a collection of splay feet, puffed joints, and misshapen
+limbs was assuredly never before made within so small a compass. We
+have great difficulty in believing a report that this unpleasing and
+atrociously affected picture has found a purchaser at a high price.
+Another specimen, from the same brush, inspires rather laughter than
+disgust. A Ferdinand of most ignoble physiognomy is being lured by a
+pea-green monster intended for Ariel; whilst a row of sprites, such
+as it takes a Millais to devise, watch the operation with turquoise
+eyes. It would occupy more room than the thing is worth to expose
+all the absurdity and impertinence of this work. Mr Hunt's picture
+of a Christian Missionary sheltered from Druid pursuit is in as
+ridiculous taste as any of the group.
+
+From such monstrosities it is a relief to turn to Mr Frank
+Stone's graceful creations. He also has taken a subject from the
+second scene in the _Tempest_, No. 342, Miranda's first sight of
+Ferdinand. Compared with Mr Millais' Ferdinand, that of Mr Stone
+is a demigod. Estimated by its intrinsic merits, it strikes us
+as a little theatrical--rather too much of the stage-player in
+the air and attitude. Miranda has a sweet and youthful face;
+Prospero is too young, and does not look his part. This is not
+one of Mr Stone's happiest efforts, but it is a nice picture, and
+we prefer it to his other in the same exhibition, _The Gardener's
+Daughter_, a young lady attitudinising under a rose-tree, with a
+pair of admiring swains in the distance. This artist is too apt
+to give his male lovers a sickly look, as if their love disagreed
+with them. The best picture he has shown this year is one in the
+British Institution--_Sympathy_--two very pretty maidens, with an
+expression of pleasing sentiment in their faces. Barring a little
+occasional mannerism, Mr Stone is a very delightful painter; and in
+our opinion, if he had had his deserts, he would some time since
+have been a member of the Academy. Were it not invidious, we could
+cite a few, who write _Associate_ after their names, who have less
+claim than he has to that honorary distinction. Mr Stone has a great
+deal of fancy, a fine feeling for the beautiful, and we are indebted
+to him for many charming compositions and lovely female faces. And
+certainly if popularity be a test of merit, which we admit is not
+always the case, he ought years ago to have figured in the list of
+Academicians.
+
+That very conscientious and careful artist, Mr Charles Landseer,
+has a pretty and well-painted _Girl in a Hop-garden_, and a larger
+and still better picture--perhaps the best he has for some years
+produced--of _Æsop_, surrounded by several of the animals celebrated
+in his fables. There is a great deal of quiet humour and nice
+finish in this picture: the figure and face of the hump-backed
+fabulist, and those of a girl, who seems admiringly to listen to
+his allegorical wisdom, are exceedingly good. Mr Dyce has only one
+picture, and really that had been as well away. An ugly Jacob is
+protruding his lips to kiss a vulgar Rachel. The colouring is hard
+and bad, and there is a pervading gray tint which is not natural.
+We hope Mr Dyce, R.A., can do better things than this. We prefer
+Mr Cope's _King Lear_, which has considerable merit. There is fine
+expression in the old monarch's head. Cordelia pleases us less;
+and perhaps, upon the whole, the best figures in the picture are
+those of the musicians and singers. There is a something in this
+painting that reminds us of Maclise. Of Mr Cope's other pictures,
+_Milton's Dream_ has a nice tone of colour; and the two sketches
+for fresco of Prince Henry's submission to Judge Gascoigne, and
+the Black Prince receiving the order of the Garter, are spirited
+and good. Mr Redgrave's principal picture is No. 233. _The Marquis
+having chosen patient Griselda for his wife, causes the court ladies
+to dress her in her father's cottage._ Griselda has a pretty face,
+and sits in an easy, graceful attitude: the ladies are coarse,
+and the expression of scorn upon their countenances is theatrical
+and affected. The heads of some of them are too big, and out of
+proportion with their bodies. _The Child's Prayer_, by the same
+artist, is a pleasing picture; well painted, particularly the
+woman's head and hand, which latter has a look of Rubens. Mr E. M.
+Ward has two pictures of very different subjects. _Isaac Walton
+Angling_ hardly claims any particular notice; _James II. receiving
+the News of the Landing of the Prince of Orange in 1688_, has more
+pretension and greater merit. It certainly contains good painting:
+the grouping of the figures and the expression of some of the faces
+are also praiseworthy; but yet it hardly satisfies us. The queen's
+face and attitude, as she advances, already sympathising with the
+agitation visible on his countenance, to her husband's side, are
+very charming. James's physiognomy is almost too much discomposed
+to accord with the passage from Dalrymple quoted by Mr Ward. And
+it strikes us, although this may seem hypercritical, that there
+is something ludicrous in the eternal suspension in the air of
+the letter that he has just allowed to escape from his fingers.
+Upon the whole, however, this is a clever picture, and, as far as
+we had opportunity of observing, it attracts a very full share of
+public attention; although that is no criterion of merit, so large
+a proportion of the loungers through an exhibition being more
+readily attracted by a piquant subject than by artistical skill. And
+probably no subjects are more generally popular than those that may
+be styled the homely-historical; scenes in the private apartments of
+royalty; the personal adventures and perils of princes, whether in
+the palace or the prison--on the steps of the throne or the verge
+of the scaffold. There is a fair sprinkling of such pictures in the
+four exhibitions now under notice; and as we have no pretension
+to be otherwise than exceedingly desultory in this article, whose
+limits, and the heterogeneous subject, preclude our being otherwise,
+we will at once dispose of such of them as deserve notice, and have
+not already received it, commencing, in order of catalogue, with
+Delaroche's picture of _Cromwell looking at the dead body of
+Charles I._ This is a picture concerning which the most conflicting
+opinions have been uttered. It has received fulsome praise and
+unwarranted abuse. Some have lauded it as perfection merely because
+it is by Paul Delaroche; others have decried it with a virulence
+and injustice warranting the suspicion that some envious brother
+of the brush had temporarily abandoned the palette for the pen,
+and applied himself to slander merit he himself was hopeless of
+equalling. We are aware but of two valid objections that can fairly
+be made to the picture. The subject is certainly ghastly and horrid;
+but, on the other hand, it has been rendered as little so as
+possible by the consummate skill and good taste of its treatment.
+And none, we think, but the very fastidious, will dwell upon this
+point. The other objection (technical only) is to the coppery tone
+of colouring of certain parts of the picture, particularly of the
+flesh. This premised, we are aware of little else that can fairly be
+alleged against this very fine picture. The countenance of Cromwell
+certainly does not agree with the most authentic portraits that
+have been handed down to us, or with the written and traditional
+accounts of his features. The artist has idealised his hero--has
+abridged his nose, increased his under jaw, and thrown nearly the
+whole expression of the face into and around the mouth. M. Delaroche
+having taken such liberties, we ought to be particularly grateful to
+him that he has not gone farther, and, in aiming at a great effect,
+fallen into exaggeration. Out of twenty French artists, nineteen,
+we suspect, would have given us, with the strong and dangerous
+temptation of so striking a subject, an unpleasant caricature.
+It has been objected that the face is deficient in character
+and expression, and would perfectly suit any one of Cromwell's
+Ironsides, who through curiosity should have lifted the lid of the
+deceased monarch's coffin. It is, to our thinking, an evidence of
+skill on the part of the painter thus to have left the expression
+doubtful--a matter of speculation to the beholder. We interpret it
+as merely meditative. Any emotion it includes is one of exultation
+at the great and important step the Usurper has made in his upward
+progress. Of pity or remorse there is no trace.
+
+The next picture in the Exhibition of the Academy, of the class
+at present under notice, that particularly caught our eye, is No.
+491, _The Burial of the two sons of Edward IV. in the Tower_, by
+Mr Cross, whose painting of Richard Coeur-de-Lion, exhibited at
+Westminster Hall, will be remembered by many of our readers. The
+present picture does not redeem the promise of its predecessor.
+It has a washy, fresco-like look, and a great want of light and
+shade, which is the more striking because the subject is one
+particularly favourable to the display of a Rembrandt-like vigour
+in that respect. The arrangement of the dead bodies is very bad,
+and they have an emaciated look which was quite uncalled for. On
+the other hand, the faces of two of the murderers, (one sustains
+the stone beneath which the grave is dug, and the other grasps the
+arm of one of the children,) and that of the turnkey, are very
+expressive. The chief of the gang and the grave-digger are rather
+strained and theatrical. Upon the whole, the picture disappoints us
+much. A report, however, has reached us, that it was painted under
+the disadvantage of ill health, so we will hope that Mr Cross may
+yet do better things. No. 569, _The Abdication of Mary Queen of
+Scots at Lochleven Castle_, by J. Severn, is a very tame affair.
+And we do not greatly admire Mr Lucy's _Parting of Charles I. with
+his Children_. The subject has been better treated before. But
+we delight in Mr Joy's conception of Cromwell coveting, and yet
+daring not to grasp, the crown of England. A bilious misanthrope,
+with flabby cheeks and lacklustre eye, is seated beside a table on
+which stands the crown, whose covering he has partly withdrawn.
+The notion is amusingly matter-of-fact. Does Mr Joy really suppose
+that such a man as Cromwell could find enjoyment in the deliberate
+physical contemplation of the jewelled bauble--the substantial
+crown--the mere emblem of the dignity and sway for which he
+thirsted? We cannot compliment this artist on either the conceit or
+the execution. We prefer his picture in the British Institution,
+although that is not very remarkable. The subject is the interview
+between James IV. of Scotland and the outlaw Murray on the banks
+of Yarrow. In this Exhibition we find another Cromwell, of a very
+different cast from the one just referred to. The Lord Protector
+of England dictates to John Milton his celebrated despatch in
+favour of the persecuted Piedmontese Protestants. Here there
+is a fire and energy mingled with the coarseness of Cromwell's
+physiognomy, which gives the character of the man as we read of
+him and believe him to have been. Milton's face wears a look of
+gentle enthusiasm and approval, as he admiringly weighs the words
+that fall from the lips of his great patron. In his eyes there is
+a sort of haziness that seems to foreshadow the darkness which
+later is to come over him. The picture does great credit to a very
+rising artist, Mr F. Newenham, who also exhibits a painting at the
+Portland Gallery, which we like quite as well as his Cromwell.
+The subject, _The Princes in the Tower_, is not a very new one,
+but there is imagination and novelty in its treatment. It is just
+the same point of time that Delaroche has chosen in his painting
+of this subject, but there is nothing like an imitation of the
+great Frenchman. Here the younger child still sleeps, whilst the
+elder, a princely-looking lad, roused by the noise at the door,
+gazes anxiously, rather than fearfully, at the shadow cast upon the
+wall by a hand bearing a lantern. The picture is suggestive and
+interesting, and in an artistic point of view, also, it merits high
+praise. In this Portland Gallery (which we may observe, by the way,
+is most excellently constructed and lighted for the advantageous
+exhibition of works of art) is a painting by Mr Claxton, _Marie
+Antoinette with her Children, escaping by the Secret Door from her
+apartment in Versailles, when the palace was attached by the mob_,
+which we mention rather on account of the interest of the subject
+than of its merits as a work of art, these being but of a negative
+description. Marie Antoinette, dressed rather like a fashionable of
+the year 1850, is accompanied by a terrified lady, who looks back
+at the door, half-masked by smoke, through whose broken pannel the
+bayonets of the rebels cross with those of the loyal grenadiers.
+Another picture from French history, but selected from a much
+remoter period, is that of _The Excommunication of Robert, King of
+France, and his Queen Bertha_, (No. 159 in the Portland Gallery.)
+which Mr Desanges has executed with some skill. The king, having
+married his cousin in defiance of the Pope, but with the sanction of
+three prelates of his kingdom, incurs the pontifical anathema, in
+common with the prelates and royal family. In the picture, the fiat
+has just been pronounced, and the extinction of their torches by the
+officiating priests symbolically completes their mission.
+
+This is not one of Mr Clarkson Stanfield's best years. We prefer
+this careful and able artist on a grander scale than that of the
+comparatively small pictures he this year exhibits. Nor do we
+think he has been particularly happy in his choice of subjects.
+His scene from Macbeth, viewed as a landscape--for we do not take
+into account the figures, which are insignificant, and might as
+well have been left out--is a good picture, but not in his happiest
+taste. We prefer his _Scene on the Maas_, and his _Bay of Baiæ_,
+which are both excellent. No. 288, _Near Foria_, is not a very good
+subject. But Mr Stanfield is a pleasant, natural painter, quite
+free from affectation, and a most excellent representative of the
+English school. Mr Roberts is another favourite of ours. Belgium and
+the East, Egyptian temples and Catholic shrines, furnish subjects
+for his seven pictures. What we particularly like in him is the
+strong impression of correctness and fidelity conveyed by his
+representations of distant scenes. Without having seen the places,
+one feels convinced of the accuracy of his delineations, and that he
+gives the real effect of the objects depicted--just as, in certain
+portraits, one feels certain of the resemblance without knowing the
+original. The subjects of his pictures this year do not demand
+any detailed criticism, and his good qualities are so universally
+appreciated as to render general commendation superfluous.
+
+Before passing on to landscapes and portraits we will glance at a
+few pictures of various classes, which happen to have attracted
+our attention, and which deserve better or worse than to be left
+unnoticed. Diving into the gloom of the Octagon, we are struck by
+the very remarkable merit of two pictures, which ought never to
+have been placed there. Only by kneeling or sitting upon the ground
+is it possible to examine Mr Van Schendel's poacher detected,
+No. 633, _Un Braconnier au moment qu'on vient le prendre_. Of
+ordinary visitors to the Exhibition, not one in five will notice
+the existence of the picture--not one in twenty, probably, will go
+through the painful contortions requisite to get even a bad view of
+it. Very few, if any, critics will have sought it out or written a
+comment on it. Yet this is a picture on which greater talent and
+labour have been expended than on dozens that hang in conspicuous
+places and good lights. A dark picture, too--a night scene--it
+required a strong light; and it was most unjust to put it thus in
+the very darkest nook, and in the lowest range of the whole Academy.
+For hospitality's sake to a foreigner, this excellent painting
+should have been differently placed. The only other picture which
+we noticed in the Octagon--there may be others of great merit, but
+we never have patience to linger long in the gloomy closet--is No.
+586, _Flowers and Fruit_, by T. Groenland--an artist far superior to
+Lance, who seems to us to fall off instead of improving. Fruit and
+flower pieces are things that few people care much to look at--and,
+for our part, we confess that we seldom afford them more than a
+very cursory glance; but our attention was seriously and pleasingly
+arrested by both of those exhibited this year by Mr Groenland,
+remarkable, as they are, not only for the accuracy with which he
+imitates the texture of the different fruits--whether pulpiness,
+bloom, or transparency be their chief characteristic--and for the
+admirable delicacy of his flower-painting, but also for his skill
+in elevating and giving interest to the walk of art he has chosen.
+This is strikingly the case in No. 1254, apropos of which we have
+another piece of injustice or carelessness--let them call it which
+they like--to notice on the part of the Hanging Committee. Of all
+the seven rooms of the Academy, not one is so little visited as that
+which, in the catalogue, is headed Architecture. Accordingly, the
+hangmen have placed at one end of it five as pleasing pictures--each
+in its own style--as any in the Exhibition. Here we have the _Vierge
+Route du Simplon_, a charming airy landscape by Harding; _Esther_,
+by O'Neil, one of the best, perhaps, he ever did; _The Port of
+Marseilles_, by E. W. Cooke, very like and very well painted, with
+excellent water; _A Winter Evening_, by H. Horsley, a most clever
+piece of snow scenery, with a cold look that makes one shiver, and
+a capital effect of setting sun through an archway; and, last in
+our enumeration, but not in merit, Mr Groenland's second fruit and
+flower piece, with a landscape background, a gorgeous and life-like
+peacock, a flush of rhododendrons, and painstaking and talent in
+every leaf and flower. Another picture in the same vicinity, by W.
+Fisher, _The Coulin_, a subject taken from Moore's melodies, is
+rather affected, but by no means destitute of merit.
+
+Mr Martin's picture, _The Last Man_, is far from one of his
+best. The subject is unpleasing, and there is a decided fault of
+perspective; the human corpses and carcasses of strange beasts, in
+the foreground, being much too small in proportion with the figure
+of the man, who stands on an elevation which is doubtless intended
+to be much in advance of, but which in reality is almost on a line
+with, the spot where they are spread pellmell in grisly confusion.
+Mr Hannah's _Lady Northumberland and Lady Percy dissuading the Earl
+from joining the wars against Henry IV._ is oddly coloured, and
+acquires a cold, insipid look from the profusion of blue and gray;
+but it is a good and clever picture. A similar class of subject has
+been selected by Mr T. J. Barker, from Professor Aytoun's ballad
+of _Edinburgh after Flodden_. Randolph Murray, bearing news of the
+defeat, is the centre of a throng anxious even to agony.
+
+    "Why art thou alone, unfollowed?
+       Is it weal, or is it woe?"
+
+Perched up as this picture is above the door in the West Room, it
+is difficult to arrive at a correct appreciation of it. As far as
+we could distinguish, it is not without merit, and the expression
+of exhaustion in the figure of Murray is pretty well rendered; but
+altogether it is hardly worthy of the nervous and admirable verse
+it is intended to illustrate. Mr Armitage's _Aholibah_ has a good
+deal of pretension, but we cannot compliment him on it in any one
+respect. In the first place the subject is disgusting, and shows
+wretched taste in the artist who would select it. Then the face of
+Aholibah is ugly and repulsive, and the expression coarse in the
+extreme: the drawing of the limbs under the drapery is faulty, and
+the gazelles are out of place and out of perspective. Mr Armitage
+can do better than this. We prefer his picture in the Portland
+Gallery, of Samson tying firebrands to the foxes' tails for the
+destruction of the Philistine crops; although the face is a great
+deal too black, and we cannot understand why Samson should allow a
+fox to bite into the muscle of his thigh, as one of those in his
+grasp appears to do. Why does Mr Armitage persist in his French
+style of painting? It is quite a mistake. Let him be natural, and
+rely upon his own taste and judgment, and we think he may do better
+things.
+
+Mr Hook's _Dream of Venice_, a clever imitation of Paul Veronese,
+is a very pleasant picture. Mr F. Williams' _Holy Maiden_ is a
+pretty head, full of sentiment. We are glad to see such good promise
+given by Mr Leslie, junior, in a very humorous picture entitled _A
+Sailor's Yarn_. A thoroughbred and unmistakeable Cockney greedily
+listens to some astounding narrative, whilst, behind the credulous
+landsman, a second sailor grins admiration of his messmate, and
+contempt for the "green hand." _The Young Student_, by W. Gush, is
+a very nice picture of a youthful painter, with an artist's eye and
+a pleasing Vandykish contour of face, and with carefully painted
+hands. One of the most comical pictures in the Exhibition is a wild
+boar by Wolf. The bristly forest-ranger is making its way through
+the deep snow, leaving a long furrow behind it, along which it has
+apparently been nuzzling for provender, for its snout is garnished
+with the snow, which, combined with the sudden fore-shortening of
+the body, produces a ludicrous effect. No. 121, _Autumn--Wounded
+Woodcock_, from the same hand, has mellow and natural tints.
+
+We have kept back, almost to the last, one of our chief favourites
+in the Exhibition of the Royal Academy. Mr Sidney Cooper is in
+great force this year. He has six pictures; four of them all his
+own, two painted in conjunction with Mr F. R. Lee, R.A. With all
+respect for this artist, to whose landscapes we shall refer in
+their place, we prefer Cooper alone to Cooper in partnership. The
+two styles do not blend well, nor does Lee put his best landscapes
+into Cooper's cattle-pieces. Take the first of their pictures--No.
+23--_Cattle crossing a Ford_. As a whole it is agreeable--and
+the cattle, we need hardly say, are worthy of the best English
+cattle-painter of the day; but the landscape is feeble. In No. 298,
+_The Watering-place_, the rather heavy paint of the foliage gives a
+thin washy look to the foreground. We advise Messrs Lee and Cooper
+to hang their pictures side by side, if they will, as excellent
+specimens of their respective walks of art, but not to associate
+themselves on the same canvass. People find fault with the landscape
+part of Cooper's pictures; but it is in good keeping with the rest,
+and moreover he improves in that respect, as in others. We will
+instance No. 278, _A Mountain Group--Evening_, some charming goats,
+where the background, bathed in soft light, harmonises admirably
+with the more prominent parts of the picture. No. 454, _A Group on
+the Welsh Mountains_, is most delicately finished, quite a gem;
+and _Fordwick Meadows--Sunset_, in a somewhat broader style, is
+equally excellent. Mr Cooper's is a class of art which strongly
+appeals to the domestic and rural tastes of Englishmen. He excels
+in it, and need fear no competitors, although several artists this
+year exhibit cattle-landscapes of some merit. And here we should
+perhaps say a word about Mr Ansdell, who has put some Brobdignagian
+sheep into a landscape by Mr Creswick, (British Institution, No.
+123, _Southdowns_,) and who has rather a pretty thing in the same
+exhibition--No. 40, _The Regretted Companion_--an old hawker
+perplexed and mournful beside the body of his dead ass. We would
+gladly see this artist cease to imitate Landseer. He sacrifices his
+originality without succeeding in catching the best points of his
+model.
+
+Nos. 80, 405, 407 in the catalogue of the Academy, are Mr Lee's
+landscapes--uncombined with Cooper's cattle. The second, _A Calm
+Morning_, is the one we prefer; and a very charming picture of
+repose it is. Mr Creswick is the next upon our list. His cold
+unnatural grayness of colouring greatly detracts from the merit of
+his pictures. We are quite aware that the same reproach has been
+repeatedly addressed to him, and we should hardly have referred
+to a fault which hitherto he has either obstinately clung to, or
+been unable to correct, did not one of his pictures in the Academy
+this year give us hopes that he is on the verge of a change. No.
+542, _A Forest Farm_, is the best picture of Creswick's, in point
+of colouring, that we remember to have seen. The _slaty_ look is
+replaced by an agreeable transparency. No. 289, _In the Forest_,
+is also warmer than usual. The others are in the old style. Mr
+Linnell is more to our taste, although we cannot approve his _Christ
+and the Woman of Samaria at Jacob's Well_. In the first place the
+colour seems unnatural, altogether too brown; at the same time it
+is just possible nature may assume that extraordinarily russet
+tint in Samaria--a country to which our travels have not extended.
+But we can more confidently object to the figure of the Saviour as
+altogether unpleasant, with a harsh darkly-bearded face, devoid
+alike of resemblance to the received type, and of any divine
+expression whatever. Mr Linnell is a landscape-painter, and should
+not attempt sacred subjects or portraits, things which are quite
+out of his line. No. 395, _Crossing the Brook_, is of a better tone
+of colour; and the same artist has two other pictures, of about
+his usual average of merit, in the British Institution. The chief
+fault with which we tax Mr Linnell, (whilst freely admitting his
+great talent,) and one which may also be imputed to Mr Creswick,
+and to other clever landscape-painters of the present day, is
+the undeviating smallness of their touch, which gives, to use a
+colloquialism, a niggled look to their pictures. Hobbima, and
+Ruysdael, and others of that class--in whose footsteps we presume
+no living landscape-painter is too proud to tread--avoided this
+fault, and proportioned the fulness of their touch to the size of
+their picture. We may select an example of what we mean from the
+works of an able and industrious artist, who figures advantageously
+this year in all four exhibitions, and who, in most instances, is
+very free from the defect we refer to. Mr Sidney Percy's _Woodland
+River_, No. 207, in the Portland Gallery, is a good picture, but to
+our thinking the touch is too small for the size. Mr Percy, however,
+is a man of talent and a rising painter. In the same gallery we call
+attention, as to one of the best landscapes exhibited this year,
+to his No. 277, _Welsh Mountains_. There is an effect of aërial
+perspective in this picture, especially in the grass valley, on
+the spectator's left hand, which deserves the very highest praise.
+Several others of his eighteen pictures for 1850 deserve much
+commendation; but we can only point out No. 576, in the Academy, _A
+Limpid Pool_, and 394, _A Quiet Vale_, in the British Artists'. The
+water in the last is very good,--otherwise it is hardly one of his
+best. We would have Mr Percy to beware of hardness of treatment,
+the fault to which he is most prone. His lines are apt to be too
+sharply defined, especially his distant outlines. He should guard
+himself against this defect, and with care he may expect to attain
+great eminence as a landscape-painter. If we mistake not, he is
+one of a talented family, which also comprises Messrs Boddington
+and Gilbert, and several artists of the name of Williams, all of
+whom, we believe, devote themselves chiefly, if not exclusively,
+to landscape-painting, and either by identity of name or affinity
+of style, form a most puzzling group for conscientious critics,
+desirous, like ourselves, to sort their works and fairly distribute
+praise. We can mention but a few of their pictures, taken, nearly
+at random, from amongst a number we have marked as of merit or
+promise. In the Academy, 344, _A Valley Lane_, by A. W. Williams, is
+a charming subject, excellently treated. In the Portland Gallery,
+where many good landscapes are to be found, most of them by this
+family, we were particularly attracted by No. 41, _Noon_, also by
+A. W. Williams, and by No. 65, _Medmenham Abbey--Evening_, by G. A.
+Williams. No. 161, _A Showery Afternoon in Sussex_, by A. Gilbert,
+is remarkable as an example of the admirable effect he knows how
+to produce by the judicious and little-understood application of
+the various gradations between opacity and perfect transparency of
+colour. Mr Boddington has two nice pictures in the Academy.
+
+We cannot compliment Mr F. Danby on either of the two specimens
+of his art that he this year displays. We find it impossible to
+comprehend his colouring. That of _A Golden Moment_ (British
+Institution) is surely unnatural. Certainly it is a very rare effect
+of sunset; and the background is too bright to be consistent with
+the sombre foreground. If we turn to his picture in the Academy,
+_Spring_, we are no better pleased. That sort of dusky glow is quite
+an exaggeration of nature. Of Mr Witherington's four pictures, we
+prefer _Coniston Lake_ and _The Mountain Road_. Mr Hering's _Porto
+Fesano_ (British Institution) is a pleasing picture, and improves
+on examination; and there is a great deal of light and some pretty
+colour in the same artist's _Ruins of Rome_ in the Academy. Mr J.
+Peel has rather a pretty _Canal view_ in the Portland Gallery, in
+which, oddly enough, he has thrown the shadow of a tree the wrong
+way; and in the same exhibition Mrs Oliver has a bit of Welsh
+scenery which is pretty in spite of its finical touch. Of Mr Linton,
+who has pictures both in the Academy and British Institution, we
+cannot but speak with respect, recognising the ability of his works,
+the study they evince, and his close observation of the aspect of
+places. But they are quite for distant effect; on near approach they
+look rough and granitic, and are not a very pleasing or popular
+class of pictures.
+
+We beg Mr Boxall not to think we have forgotten him. We were
+desirous to commence the brief paragraph we can afford to portraits,
+by praising his _Geraldine_, an undraped fancy portrait, which shows
+a capital feeling for colour, and is perhaps the best specimen of
+flesh-painting in the Exhibition. It wants finish; but even without
+that it is nearly the first thing that attracts the eye when we
+glance at that side of the Middle Room. There is good colour also in
+the same artist's portrait of Mr Cubitt.
+
+Proceeding, with this exception, in numerical rotation, we notice
+No. 6, _The Hon. Caroline Dawson_, by Dubufe. The arms are rather
+flat, but it is a nice portrait, well painted, and infinitely
+superior to the same artist's picture in the British Institution--a
+French grisette with a Jewish face and an ugly mouth, holding a
+rose; the motto "Wither one rose and let the other flourish,"--a
+poor conceit and very indifferently executed. No. 52 is Mr Francis
+Grant's, the first, but not the best, of seven which he exhibits. Mr
+Grant is getting very careless. Such hands and clothes as he gives
+his sitters are really not allowable. The only carefully finished
+portrait he exhibits this year is that of Lady Elizabeth Wells,
+after which that of Miss Grant is perhaps the best. The Countess
+Bruce has an odd sort of resemblance, in the attitude or something,
+to the same painter's picture of Mr Sidney Herbert. The Duke of
+Devonshire looks vulgar. Viscount Hardinge is feeble, for Grant,
+who can do so much better. We urge this artist to take a little
+more pains, or his high reputation will dwindle. His portrait of
+Sir George Grey, now on view at Colnaghi's, is another example of
+carelessness. The face is the only finished part. Mr Watson Gordon
+understands the portrait-painter's vocation after a different
+fashion, and is most conscientious in his practice. Apart from their
+striking resemblance, his portraits are admirable as carefully
+finished works of art. His sitters this year have been, upon the
+whole, less suited to make interesting or pleasing pictures than
+several of the persons who have sat to Mr Grant; but Watson Gordon
+has done his work far more carefully. Perhaps the best of his three
+portraits is that of a lady, No. 137. The child in the same picture
+pleases us rather less. No. 175, Daniel Vere, Esq. of Stonebyres, is
+a striking likeness of that gentleman; and nothing can be better,
+in all respects, than the portrait of the Lord Justice-General of
+Scotland. Mr Buckner is, we are sorry to say, retrograding sadly.
+He rose very suddenly into public favour, and if he does not take
+care, he will rapidly decline. His portrait of Miss Lane Fox is
+perhaps his best this year. Rachel is flattered. Lady Alfred Paget
+is badly coloured, and looks in an incipient stage of blue cholera.
+We do not like Mr Pickersgill's portraits this year. For those who
+do, there are seven in the Exhibition, besides an ugly thing called
+Nourmahal. Mr G. F. Watts has painted Miss Virginia Pattle. It is
+one of the most affected pictures in the whole Exhibition. The young
+lady is perched on a platform, her figure standing out against the
+blue sky, and her feet completely hidden under her dress, which
+latter circumstance gives her an unsteady appearance, and inspires
+dread lest she should be blown from her elevation. The flesh is very
+pasty, and the general effect of the picture jejune in the extreme.
+No. 282, _The Duke of Aumale_, is by V. Mottez, and presents a
+singular combination or monotony of colour, the artist having
+seemingly carefully avoided all tints that would give warmth to his
+picture. With the exception of the insipidly fair countenance of
+the Duke, the painting is nearly all blue. It is not a disagreeable
+picture, and it perhaps gains on repeated examination; but one
+cannot get rid of an unpleasant impression of coldness. Placed next
+to Boxall's Geraldine, the flesh looks like chalk. That coarse
+but clever painter Knight has eight portraits, including several
+celebrities of one kind or other--Buckstone the comedian, Keate
+the surgeon, Sir J. Duke the mayor, Cooper the cattle-painter, and
+Mrs Fitzwilliam the actress. The picture of Sir J. Duke (who is
+represented in all the glory of civic office) is well put together;
+Cooper is laughably like; Mrs Fitzwilliam is perhaps as delicate a
+female portrait as Knight ever painted--which is not saying much
+for the others. Mr Say's portrait of Guizot is softened down and
+idealised till the character of the man is lost. In the Portland
+Gallery, No. 1 and No. 70 are by an artist whose historical pictures
+we have already commended, Mr Newenham. The first is a full length,
+size of life, of Mr Ross, the engineer; the other, Mrs Gall, is
+a sweet female countenance. Both are very good; but Mr Newenham
+is always particularly successful--indeed we can call to mind no
+living painter who is more so--in his portraits of ladies. Whilst
+avoiding flattery, he still invariably paints pleasing as well as
+correct likenesses. Such at least is the case with all those of
+his lady-portraits we have had opportunities of comparing with the
+models. Middleton has some nice portraits in this exhibition, and Mr
+J. Lucas shows a pleasing one of a young lad. And one of the most
+lifelike and speaking portraits exhibited this year is No. 286,
+by R. S. Lauder, the likeness of our old friend and much-esteemed
+contributor, the Rev. James White. A more exact resemblance we never
+saw.
+
+We have not counted them, but we are informed, and have no
+difficulty in believing, that there are 450 portraits (or
+thereabouts) in this the eighty-second exhibition of the Royal
+Academy. A very large number, out of 1456 works of art. Adding
+the portraits in the three other exhibitions, we attain a total
+of which, even after deducting drawings and miniatures, it
+is impossible for us to notice one fourth-part. And we must
+particularly remark, with respect to portraits and landscapes, what
+also applies in a less degree to the less numerous classes of
+pictures, that we have unavoidably--on account of our limited space
+to deal with so compendious a subject, and also because we would
+not reduce this article to a mere catalogue--omitted notice of many
+artists and pictures whose claims are undoubted to mention more or
+less honourable; as we have also forborne, for the same reason, and
+much more willingly, certain censures which we should have been
+justified in inflicting. Concerning portraits, however, we would
+gladly have been rather more diffuse, had we not still to take some
+notice, within the compass of a very few pages, of those exhibitions
+to which as yet we have done little more than incidentally refer.
+
+The restoration to the galleries of purchasers and studios of
+painters, of the five hundred pictures exhibited this year by the
+British Institution, diminishes the interest now attaching to that
+exhibition, and induces us to be tolerably brief in our notice of
+some of its leading features. No. 52, _The Post Office_, by F.
+Goodall, is a pretty picture enough, but displays no genius, and the
+subject suggests a comparison with Wilkie, which is not favourable.
+Mr Bullock's _Venus and Cupid_, No. 124, is about as sickly a piece
+of blue and pink as we remember to have seen. Mr Sant's _Rivals_
+gives the impression of a copy from the lid of a French plum-box. We
+have surely seen the Frenchified group in some engraving of Louis
+XV's times. Mr Woolmer's _Syrens_ displays some imagination, but the
+colouring is very bad. The sky is exaggerated, and the water seems
+to have flowed from a cesspool, suggesting unsavoury ideas of the
+extent of its contamination by the dead bodies that float upon it.
+It is a picture, nevertheless, that one is apt to look at twice. T.
+Clark's _The Horses of Rhesus captured by Ulysses and Diomed_, has
+plenty of faults, certainly, but it has also boldness and spirit,
+and makes us think the painter may hereafter do better things. No.
+205, _Lance reproving his Dog_--left unfinished by the late Sir
+A. W. Callcott, and completed by J. Callcott Horsley--includes a
+pretty bit of landscape, and the dog is not bad; but, as a whole,
+the picture does not strike us as remarkable. No. 231, _A French
+Fishing Girl_, by T. K. Fairless, is a nice bit of colouring, very
+fresh and judicious; and R. M'Innes's _Detaining a Customer_, tells
+its story well, and is of careful finish, but insipid colouring.
+Lady Macbeth, by T. F. Dicksee, is repulsive and unnatural; not the
+murderess Shakspeare conceived and Siddons acted, but a saucer-eyed
+maniac standing under a gas-lamp. No. 290, _Our Saviour after the
+Temptation_, is by Sir George Hayter, who has bestowed great pains
+without producing, as a whole, a very satisfactory result. The
+picture has certainly good points, but it speaks against its general
+excellence that we are driven to praise details. All the hands
+are particularly well done--Sir George's experience as a portrait
+painter having here availed him. The colouring of Christ's dress is
+good, but generally there is an abuse of yellow in the picture. The
+angels have no backs to their heads, but this phrenological defect
+is perhaps intentional, to convey the artist's notion of an angel by
+indicating the absence of gross passions. G. Cole's _Don Quixote and
+Sancho Panza in Pedro's hut_ is humorous, but quite a caricature.
+The painter seems to have studied to establish a resemblance
+between the men and their respective beasts. Another laughable
+picture is Mrs C. Smith's _Irish Piper_, whose companion _The
+Irish Card-cutter_ is No. 206 in the British Artists'. As works of
+art, they have little merit, but one cannot help acknowledging and
+laughing at the vulgar humour and truth to nature they both contain.
+Mr Selous' _The First Impression_, Gutemberg showing to his wife
+his first experiment in printing from movable types, is perhaps the
+best picture in the South Room. There is an air of nature about Mr
+W. Wyld's _Smugglers' halt in the Sierra Morena_; but the figures,
+although well grouped, are on too small a scale for much interest,
+and the landscape lacks attraction. Our old friend George Cruikshank
+gives full scope to his rich humour in No. 100, _Sancho's surprise
+on seeing the Squire of the Wood's Nose_; and 455, _Disturbing the
+Congregation_. This last is inimitable--brimful of fun. A charity
+boy has let his peg-top fall during service, and the awful clatter
+upon the church pavement draws all eyes in the direction of the
+delinquent. This is a picture that must be seen, not described;
+but our readers will imagine all the fun Cruikshank would make of
+such a subject--the terrified face of the culprit, in vain affecting
+unconsciousness, and the awful countenance of the beadle. We must
+say a word of Mr J. F. Herring's _A Farmyard_, which contains some
+good horses; but he has huddled his objects too much together, his
+colouring is very opaque, and there is a want of air and perspective
+in the picture. There is the same defect of thick colour in Mr H.
+Jutsum's pretty composition, _Evening--coming home to the Farm_.
+
+We have already mentioned several pictures in the Portland Gallery,
+including a portrait by Mr R. S. Lauder, (the president of this
+new society,) which is perhaps the best, although one of the most
+unpretending, of the seven pictures he exhibits. We do not discern
+any very great merit in two carefully painted illustrations of
+Quentin Durward. We should like to know on what authority Mr Lauder
+makes a tall, large-limbed man of Louis XI., and how he intends to
+get him and the raw-boned Scot through the door in No. 166, without
+a most unkingly deviation from the perpendicular. There is here a
+fault of perspective. And Mr Lauder should beware of repetition.
+We remember the lady behind the tapestry in No. 45, in at least
+a dozen of his pictures. This, however, is the best of the pair,
+and there is good painting in it. His most important picture this
+year is that of _Christ appearing to two of his Disciples on the
+way to Emmaus_. This is certainly a fine work, although there is
+much opposition of opinion respecting it. There is undoubtedly a
+fine sentiment in the colouring, which is peculiarly applicable to
+the subject. Mr M'Ian is in great force here, with no less than
+ten pictures. We like this artist for the character and energy he
+infuses into his productions. His most attractive picture this
+year is No. 55, _Here's his health in Water!_ thus explained--"A
+Highland gentleman of 1715, in Carlisle prison, the day previous to
+his execution, receiving the last visit of his mother, wife, and
+children, and instilling into his son--the future Highland gentleman
+of 1745--the principles of loyalty." The face of the condemned
+Highlander is full of vigour and determination, as is also that of
+his mother, a resolute old lady, who seems to confirm his precepts
+to her grandchild. The countenances of the sorrowing wife and of
+the little girl, whose attention is distracted by the opening of
+the prison door, are natural and pleasing. The boy, a sturdy scion
+of the old stock, drinks King James's health out of the prison-mug
+of water. We will not omit to praise Mrs M'Ian's very well-painted
+picture of _Captivity and Liberty_--gipsies in prison, with swallows
+twittering in the loophole that affords them light. There is a
+nice feeling about this picture, which includes a handsome gipsy
+face; it is careful in its details, and very effective in point of
+chiaroscuro. No. 251, _A Jealous Man, disguised as a Priest, hears
+the confession of his Wife_, is a subject (from the _Decameron_)
+of which more might have been made than there has been by Mr D. W.
+Deane. The countenances lack decided expression. Several artists
+have this year painted scenes from the _Tempest_, and Mr A. Fussell
+is one of the number. It were to be wished he had abstained. His
+picture of _Caliban, Ariel, and his fellows_, is very bad indeed.
+He should be less ambitious in his subjects, or at least less
+fantastical in their treatment. It is unintelligible to us how
+this picture illustrates the passage quoted. Nos. 264-5 are Mr H.
+Barraud's pictures:--_Lord have mercy upon us_, and _We praise
+thee, O God!_ the engravings of which have for some time past been
+in every shop-window. We are really at a loss to comprehend the
+_engouement_ for these pictures, which seem to us as deficient in
+real sentiment as they are feeble in execution. They are pretty
+enough, certainly, but that is all the praise we are disposed to
+accord them. There is no great beauty in the faces; and one of the
+boys (on the spectator's right hand) is a mere lout, without any
+expression whatever. The Messrs Barraud have a great many pictures
+in this exhibition--amongst others, No. 199, _The Curfew_, their
+joint production, which is pretty, but in respect to which it
+strikes us that they have read Gray's poem wrong, for the light
+in their picture is not that of parting day, but of approaching
+sunset. Mr Rayner's _Beauchamp Chapel, Warwick_, is a good picture;
+Mr Niemann's _Kenilworth from the Tilt-yard_, and _Landscape_, No.
+72, also deserve praise; Mr Dighton is very effective in some of
+his landscapes and studies. Upon the whole, this young exhibition
+promises well.
+
+Driven to our utmost limits, we must conclude, without further
+mention than we have already here and there made of the Society of
+British Artists in Suffolk Street; and we do so with the less regret
+because that gallery contains but a small proportion of pictures
+of merit. Mr Anthony contributes a very large number of his odd
+paintings, some of which are rather effective at a distance; but it
+is not a style we admire. Finally, we have with pleasure noticed,
+during our many rambles through the different galleries, that the
+public not only visit but buy; and we trust that the year 1850 will
+prove profitable and satisfactory to British artists, in the same
+proportion that it undoubtedly is creditable to their industry,
+and, upon the whole, highly honourable to their talents. One word
+more we will say at parting. In this article we have written down
+opinions, formed neither hastily nor partially, of whose soundness,
+although critics will always differ, we venture to feel pretty
+confident. We have applied ourselves to point out merits rather
+than defects, and to distribute praise in preference to blame; but
+we should have failed in our duty to ourselves and the public, had
+we altogether abstained from the latter. We well know, however, the
+many difficulties and discouragements that beset the path of the
+painter. And it would be matter for sincere regret to us, if, in the
+freedom of our remarks, we had unwittingly hurt the feelings of any
+man who is honestly and earnestly striving in the pursuit of a very
+difficult art--although his success may as yet be incommensurate
+with his industry and zeal.
+
+
+
+
+THE YEAR OF SORROW.--IRELAND--1849.
+
+SPRING SONG.
+
+
+    Once more, through God's high will and grace,
+      Of Hours that each its task fulfils,
+    Heart-healing Spring resumes its place;--
+      The valley throngs and scales the hills,
+
+    In vain. From earth's deep heart o'ercharged,
+      The exulting life runs o'er in flowers;--
+    The slave unfed is unenlarged:
+      In darkness sleep a nation's powers.
+
+    Who knows not Spring? Who doubts, when blows
+      Her breath, that Spring is come indeed?
+    The swallow doubts not; nor the rose
+      That stirs, but wakes not, nor the weed.
+
+    I feel her near, but see her not,
+      For those with pain-uplifted eyes
+    Fall back repulsed; and vapours blot
+      The vision of the earth and skies.
+
+    I see her not; I feel her near,
+      As, charioted in mildest airs,
+    She sails through yon empyreal sphere,
+      And in her arms and bosom bears
+
+    That urn of flowers and lustral dews,
+      Whose sacred balm, o'er all things shed,
+    Revives the weak, the old renews,
+      And crowns with votive wreaths the dead.
+
+    Once more the cuckoo's call I hear;
+      I know, in many a glen profound,
+    The earliest violets of the year
+      Rise up like water from the ground.
+
+    The thorn I know once more is white;
+      And, far down many a forest dale,
+    The anemones in dubious light
+      Are trembling like a bridal veil.
+
+    By streams released that singing flow
+      From craggy shelf through sylvan glades,
+    The pale narcissus, well I know,
+      Smiles hour by hour on greener shades.
+
+    The honeyed cowslip tufts once more
+      The golden slopes;--with gradual ray
+    The primrose stars the rock, and o'er
+      The wood-path strews its milky way.
+
+    --From ruined huts and holes come forth
+      Old men, and look upon the sky!
+    The Power Divine is on the earth:--
+      Give thanks to God before ye die!
+
+    And ye, O children worn and weak,
+      Who care no more with flowers to play,
+    Lean on the grass your cold, thin cheek,
+      And those slight hands, and whispering, say,
+
+    "Stern Mother of a race unblest--
+      In promise kindly, cold in deed;
+    Take back, O Earth, into thy breast,
+      The children whom thou wilt not feed."
+
+
+
+
+IRELAND--1849.
+
+AUTUMNAL DIRGE.
+
+
+    Then die, thou Year--thy work is done:
+      The work ill done is done at last.
+    Far off, beyond that sinking sun,
+      Which sets in blood, I hear the blast
+
+    That sings thy dirge, and says--"Ascend,
+      And answer make amid thy peers,
+    (Since all things here must have an end,)
+      Thou latest of the famine years!"
+
+    I join that voice. No joy have I
+      In all thy purple and thy gold,
+    Nor in the nine-fold harmony
+      From forest on to forest rolled:
+
+    Nor in that stormy western fire,
+      Which burns on ocean's gloomy bed,
+    And hurls, as from a funeral pyre,
+      A glare that strikes the mountain's head;
+
+    And writes on low-hung clouds its lines
+      Of cyphered flame, with hurrying hand;
+    And flings amid the topmost pines
+      That crown the steep, a burning brand.
+
+    Make answer, Year, for all they dead,
+      Who found not rest in hallowed earth,
+    The widowed wife, the father fled,
+      The babe age-stricken from his birth.
+
+    Make answer, Year, for virtue lost;
+      For Faith, that vanquished fraud and force,
+    Now waning like a noontide ghost;
+      Affections poisoned at their source:
+
+    The labourer spurned his lying spade;
+      The yeoman spurned his useless plough;
+    The pauper spurned the unwholesome aid,
+      Obtruded once, exhausted now.
+
+    The weaver wove till all was dark,
+      And, long ere morning, bent and bowed
+    Above his work with fingers stark;
+      And made, nor knew he made, a shroud.
+
+    The roof-trees fall of hut and hall,
+      I hear them fall, and falling cry--
+    "One fate for each, one fate for all;
+      So wills the Law that willed a lie."
+
+    Dread power of Man! what spread the waste
+      In circles, hour by hour more wide,
+    And would not let the past be past?--
+      The Law that promised much, and lied.
+
+    Dread power of God! whom mortal years
+      Nor touch, nor tempt; who sitt'st sublime
+    In night of night,--O bid thy spheres
+      Resound at last a funeral chime.
+
+    Call up, at last, the afflicted Race
+      Whom Man not God abolished. Sore,
+    For centuries, their strife: the place
+      That knew them once shall know no more.
+
+
+
+
+IRELAND--1849.
+
+WINTER DIRGE.
+
+
+    Fall, Snow, and cease not! Flake by flake
+      The decent winding-sheet compose:
+    Thy task is just and pious; make
+      An end of blasphemies and woes.
+
+    Fall flake by flake: by thee alone,
+      Last friend, the sleeping draught is given:
+    Kind nurse, by thee the couch is strewn,
+      The couch whose covering is from heaven.
+
+    Descend and clasp the mountain's crest;
+      Possess wide plain and valley deep:--
+    This night, in thy maternal breast
+      Forsaken myriads die in sleep.
+
+    Lo! from the starry Temple gates
+      Death rides, and bears the flag of peace:
+    The combatants he separates;
+      He bids the wrath of ages cease.
+
+    Descend, benignant Power! But O,
+      Ye torrents, shake no more the vale;
+    Dark streams, in silence seaward flow;
+      Thou rising storm, remit thy wail.
+
+    Shake not, to-night, the cliffs of Moher,
+      Or Brandon's base, rough sea! Thou Isle,
+    The Rite proceeds:--from shore to shore
+      Hold in thy gathered breath the while.
+
+    Fall, snow! in stillness fall, like dew
+      On temple roof, and cedar's fan;
+    And mould thyself on pine and yew,
+      And on the awful face of man.
+
+    Without a sound, without a stir,
+      In streets and wolds, on rock and mound,
+    O omnipresent comforter,
+      By thee, this night, the lost are found.
+
+    On quaking moor, and mountain moss,
+      With eyes upstaring at the sky,
+    And arms extended like a cross,
+      The long-expectant sufferers lie.
+
+    Bend o'er them, white-robed Acolyte!
+      Put forth thine hand from cloud and mist,
+    And minister the last sad rite,
+      Where altar there is none, nor priest.
+
+    Touch thou the gates of soul and sense:
+      Touch darkening eyes and dying ears;
+    Touch stiffening hand and feet, and thence
+      Remove the trace of sin and tears.
+
+    And ere thou seal those filmed eyes,
+      Into God's urn thy fingers dip,
+    And lay, 'mid eucharistic sighs,
+      The sacred wafer on the lip.
+
+    This night the Absolver issues forth:
+      This night the Eternal Victim bleeds--
+    O winds and woods--O heaven and earth!
+      Be still this night. The Rite proceeds.
+
+
+
+
+LONDON AND EDINBURGH CHESS MATCH.
+
+
+If we pique ourselves on anything, it is on our invincible
+good-nature. We are as slow to be roused as a brown bear in the
+midst of its winter sleep; and, if we were let alone, we very much
+doubt whether, by any conceivable exertion, we could work ourselves
+into a downright passion. But, somehow or other, it constantly
+happens that people of a less tranquil mood step in to deprive
+us of the enjoyment of our untroubled repose. At one time some
+worthy fellow entreats us to take up the public cudgel and belabour
+a blatant Economist. At another, we are pathetically besought
+to administer due castigation to some literary sinner who has
+transgressed the first principles of decency, morality, and taste.
+One friend implores us, with tears in his eyes, to take up the case
+of the oppressed and injured washerwomen: a second puts a tomahawk
+into our hand, and benevolently suggests the severment of the skull
+of a charlatan: a third writes to us regarding a rowing match, in
+which he opines gross injustice has been done by the umpire to
+the Buffs, and he fervently prays for our powerful assistance in
+vindicating the honour of the Blues.
+
+In all national questions, it seems to be expected that we are to
+act with the devotion of a knight-errant. Whenever Scotland is
+assailed, the general impression is that we are bound to stand
+forth, and incontinently give battle to the enemy: and we believe
+it will be admitted that we have done so before now with no
+inconsiderable effect. It so happens that, at the present juncture,
+several of our most esteemed compatriots, feeling themselves deeply
+aggrieved by the _outrecuidance_ of the Southron, have laid the
+story of their wrongs before us; and, after a deliberate review of
+the whole circumstances of the case, we feel ourselves compelled to
+come forward in behalf of our countrymen. Let no man venture to say
+that Chess is an ignoble subject. It is, if properly considered, as
+recondite a science as mathematics. Kings, conquerors, and sages
+have not thought it beneath them to ponder over the chequered board;
+and it may be that the noble game has contributed in no light degree
+to the success of their most triumphant efforts. We know of no
+absorption more complete than that which possesses the mind of a
+true votary of chess. Watch him as he is contemplating his moves,
+and his countenance is a perfect study for the physiognomist. He
+may not perhaps be the most agreeable of companions, but we cannot
+expect loquacity from men of high intellect whilst engaged in
+deepest rumination.
+
+Let us, however, dispense as much as possible with preface, and
+come to the actual offence which has induced us to take up our
+pen in vindication of the national honour. Our attention has been
+called to what is undoubtedly a departure from the fair and liberal
+spirit which ought to actuate antagonists--in short, by an attempt
+to deprive the Edinburgh Chess Club of laurels which were fairly
+and honourably won. It is all very well for men who have been
+beaten to apply salves to their wounded vanity, and to persuade
+themselves that they have failed rather through misfortune than
+from any deficiency of skill. Napoleon used to amuse himself at
+St Helena by demonstrating that he _ought_ to have won the battle
+of Waterloo--a position in which, we doubt not, Count Montholon
+and General Bertrand entirely concurred, though, after a certain
+time, they must have been tolerably sick of the subject. But these
+affirmations of the Emperor did not serve the purpose of reinstating
+him on the throne of France; and, in like manner, opine that the
+writers who, at this time of day, are, applying themselves to the
+task of persuading the public that the great match at chess between
+Edinburgh and London, which was won by Edinburgh in 1828, ought to
+have terminated otherwise, are losing their labour, and, moreover,
+placing themselves in a very ridiculous position.
+
+We like to see a man take a beating in good part. The Southron
+may come here and vanquish us at cricket, and we shall submit to
+be bowled or caught out with the utmost equanimity--no member of
+the Grange Club will retire to the cloister in consequence. He may
+extinguish our renown at rackets, or even soar considerably above
+our mark in the altitude of the flying-leap. We shall not cavil at
+the result, should some Southron Robin Hood defeat the Queen's Body
+Guard in the toxophilite competition which is about to take place in
+this city. We shall not be jealous if the stranger beats us; and if,
+in return, we should extinguish him utterly at golf or throwing the
+hammer, we promise to crow as mildly as the plenitude of our lungs
+will permit. But we have no idea of pushing complaisance to such an
+extraordinary point, as to permit our real victories to be perverted
+and annulled at the hands of a defeated adversary. Hector _might_
+have beaten Achilles, but he did not; and the mere fact of a remote
+possibility having once existed, will not justify us in giving the
+lie to Homer. We make every allowance for testiness; still we cannot
+help thinking it extraordinary that those feelings of mortification,
+which might perhaps have been excusable in the defeated party at
+the moment of the antagonist's triumph, should manifest themselves
+as strongly as ever nearly a quarter of a century after the
+contest--and that, too, in persons who took no actual share in it,
+and are comparatively strangers to the views and opinions of those
+really concerned.
+
+English chess-players have the command of all the chess-periodicals,
+which emanate chiefly, if not exclusively, from the London press;
+and which have, for many years back, been made the vehicles of
+repeated observations intended to depreciate the triumph of
+Scotland. Of late these have been even more than usually frequent.
+And within the last year, the _Quarterly Review_, which, like the
+trunk of an elephant, is as ready to pick up a pin as to uproot a
+tree, has opened its pages for remarks on the chess match, conceived
+in no very handsome spirit towards the Scotch champions. This we
+do not consider to be justifiable conduct on the part of our bulky
+contemporary. In the accomplished editor--himself a Scot--it is
+in direct antagonism to the principles of Richie, the servitor of
+Nigel, who made so vigorous a stand for the credit of the Water of
+Leith; and we regret to observe so palpable a falling off from the
+fervid patriotism of the Moniplies. The uniform burden of the song
+is, that the event of the match was determined by an accident,--or
+by what they reckon as nearly equivalent to an accident--an
+oversight upon the part of the London Club, to which the best of
+players are liable, and which in this instance is said to have been
+rather ungenerously taken advantage of by Edinburgh. The Scottish
+players have hitherto said very little upon the subject, contenting
+themselves with a short but perfectly satisfactory answer, made
+immediately after the termination of the match, to some observations
+of Mr Lewis, in which, while they conclusively disposed of his views
+and inferences, they at the same time stated, that they were "far
+from begrudging to the London Club the usual consolation of a beaten
+adversary--of going back upon a game, and showing that, if they had
+played otherwise at a particular point, they could have won the
+game." The constant reiteration of the English statement, however,
+is calculated to produce an erroneous impression in the minds of
+those not acquainted with the merits of the question.
+
+The London and Edinburgh chess match, which was played by
+correspondence, was begun in the year 1824. It was the result of a
+challenge given by the Edinburgh Club, which was then only in its
+infancy. The terms agreed on were, that the match should consist
+of three won games; and that, in case of any game being drawn, a
+new one, begun by the same opener, should take its place. The match
+commenced on 23d April 1824. Two games were opened simultaneously.
+The first game was opened by the Edinburgh Club; and in sending
+their first answering move, the London Club also sent the first move
+of the second game. The first game, which consisted of 35 moves,
+was, on 14th December 1824, declared to be drawn. The second, which
+consisted of 52 moves, was resigned by the London Club on 23d
+February 1825. The third game--opened by the Edinburgh Club in place
+of the first game, which had been drawn--was begun on 20th December
+1824; it consisted of 99 moves, and was drawn on 18th March 1828.
+The fourth game, begun by the Edinburgh Club, on 26th February 1825,
+was resigned by them on 15th September 1826, at the 55th move. The
+fifth game, begun by the Edinburgh Club, on 6th October 1826, was
+resigned by the London Club on 31st July 1828, at the 60th move--and
+this determined the match in favour of Edinburgh.
+
+The simple statement of these details is sufficient altogether to
+exclude the idea that the result of the match was a mere accident,
+where manifestly inferior players profited by the unfortunate
+blunder of their superior antagonists. Though the Edinburgh Club
+had lost, instead of gaining, two out of the three games, it would
+still have been in vain to maintain that the play in the match
+showed them to be unquestionably inferior. The contest was a long
+and severe one. When the fifth and deciding game was proceeding,
+each party had gained one game, and there had been two drawn games,
+both of which were keenly disputed, without the least advantage in
+favour of London at any point of either; while, on the other hand,
+in the third game, Edinburgh had obtained an advantage, though
+not sufficient to enable them to checkmate their adversaries. It
+has never been pretended, by the most unscrupulous partisan of
+England, that the winning of the fifth game was ascribable to an
+oversight. On the contrary, their chess writers have, with most
+becoming fairness and candour, always referred to it as an instance
+of admirable play on the part of Edinburgh; and members of the
+London committee, who shortly after happened to visit Edinburgh,
+acknowledged that their committee were quite unable to discover the
+object of particular moves, the effect of which had been previously
+calculated, and reduced to demonstration by the Edinburgh players.
+Is there, in all this, such evidence of overwhelming superiority on
+the part of the English players, that their losing the match _must_
+have been an accident?
+
+But it is time to inquire a little more minutely into the so-called
+blunder, which the Englishmen say was the cause of their defeat. And
+here it is but fair to give their statement in their own words. The
+_Quarterly_ reviewer says--
+
+     "Perhaps the most remarkable instance on record of a strict
+     enforcement of the tenor of chess law occurred in the celebrated
+     match, by correspondence, between the London and Edinburgh
+     Clubs. At the 27th move of the second game, the London Club
+     threw a rook away. How they did so, Mr Lewis explains in the
+     following words:--'The 26th, 27th, and 28th moves were sent on
+     the same day to the Edinburgh Club. This was done to save time.
+     It so happened that the secretary, whose duty it was to write
+     the letters, had an engagement which compelled him to leave the
+     Club two hours earlier than usual--the letter was therefore
+     posted at three instead of five o'clock. In the mean time, one
+     of the members discovered that the 2d move (the 27th) had not
+     been sufficiently examined.[10] An application was immediately
+     made at the Post-office for the letter, which was refused. In
+     consequence, a second letter was transmitted by the same post to
+     the Edinburgh Club, retracting the 2d and 3d moves, and abiding
+     only by the first. The Edinburgh Club, in answer, gave it as
+     their decided opinion that the London Club were bound by their
+     letter, and that no move could be retracted: they therefore
+     insisted on the moves being played. The London Club conceded the
+     point, though they differed in opinion.'
+
+     "We cannot but think, under all the circumstances, the Edinburgh
+     Club were to blame. What rendered the mishap more vexatious to
+     the Londoners was, that whereas they had a won game before, they
+     now barely lost it, and thereby the match, which the winning
+     of this game would have decided in their favour. There can be
+     little doubt that the London Club (then comprising Messrs Lewis,
+     Fraser, and Cochrane) was the strongest of the two. On the part
+     of Edinburgh, we believe the lion's share of the work fell to
+     the late Mr Donaldson."
+
+
+  [10] It is of importance to keep in view that it never was asserted
+  that the _first_ move, the 26th, had not been sufficiently examined;
+  and it will be immediately seen that that move was adhered to, no
+  attempt being made to recall it. The truth is, that the London Club
+  could not have played a better move than their 27th. Their mistake,
+  as was first discovered by the Edinburgh Club, was in the 26th move,
+  the one adhered to _after examination_.
+
+In the remarks on the London and Amsterdam match, in Mr Staunton's
+periodical, (the _Chess-Player's Chronicle_,) for February 1850,
+there is the following passage:--
+
+     "If the relative skill of the competitors engaged on each side
+     were to be the gauge by which to estimate the probable result of
+     a contest like this, it would have been easy to predict to which
+     party victory would incline; and we should have wondered at the
+     daring gallantry that prompted the little band of Hollanders to
+     challenge the leviathans of London. Experience, however, has
+     shown that, in a match of chess by correspondence, the battle
+     is not always to the strong, and that foresight and profound
+     calculation are of infinitely less account, when the men may be
+     moved experimentally, than they are in ordinary chess, where
+     conclusions must be tried by the head, and not by the hand. Of
+     this, indeed, the archives of the London Club afford a memorable
+     instance. In March 1824, a proposal was made to this Club by the
+     Club at Edinburgh, to play a match at chess by correspondence
+     for a silver cup; the match to consist of three games,
+     (irrespective of drawn games;) two games to be played together,
+     and the winner of the first game to have the move in the third.
+     The London Club at this period was in the pride and plenitude
+     of its strength, and the committee appointed to conduct the
+     match comprised every name of note among the chess-players of
+     the metropolis. The Edinburgh Chess-Club, on the other hand, was
+     composed of amateurs comparatively unknown and inexperienced,
+     and possessed one player only--the late Mr Donaldson--capable of
+     making anything like a stand 'over the board' with any of the
+     London chiefs. In an ordinary contest, indeed, over the board,
+     it was the old odds of Lombard Street to a China orange! Maugre
+     all the advantages of superior skill and practice, however,
+     the Londoners lost the battle, and lost it by a blunder as
+     ridiculous as it was vexatious, at the very moment, too, when
+     the game was in their hands."
+
+The general remarks on playing by correspondence in this last
+passage are evidently made to furnish a pretence for introducing the
+notice of the London and Edinburgh match; and they share the fate of
+all such forced work. They are absolute nonsense. The probability
+that a decidedly superior will overcome an inferior player, is not
+at all diminished by the circumstance that the match is played by
+correspondence. On the contrary, we should rather be inclined to
+say that the chance of an inferior player's escape in a single
+game or so is almost extinguished where the match is played by
+correspondence; because the time given for deliberation increases
+the improbability of his antagonist's erring from carelessness, or
+not taking in the whole position of the game, which sometimes occurs
+in playing over the board. But there is an inconsequence in the
+whole argument which surprises us to find in anything sanctioned
+by a person of Mr Staunton's unquestionable powers of mind. The
+loss of the match by London is not to be wondered at, it is said,
+because it was a match by correspondence; and the immediate cause
+of their losing it was the commission of a ridiculous and vexatious
+blunder! To make this anything like logic, it would be necessary to
+hold that ridiculous and vexatious blunders are more likely to be
+committed when the player has time and opportunity to consider his
+moves, and to make experiments upon their effect, than where he is
+under the necessity of moving at once in presence of an adversary,
+and possibly of spectators, apt to get impatient at long delay. It
+is plain that the game's being played by correspondence was the
+very circumstance calculated to render the London Club's particular
+excuse for losing all the more untenable.
+
+It is quite true, however, that at a particular stage of the game
+opened by the London Club, (being one of the two games with which
+the match commenced,) the London Club might have won the game, by
+playing other moves than they did. This may be said of every game;
+but it is as unusual as it is unhandsome for the unsuccessful party,
+merely because he has missed such an opportunity of winning, to
+refuse all credit to his adversary for afterwards defeating him. In
+the third game, which was drawn, the Edinburgh Club would have won
+if they had played a different 51st move from that which they did.
+But this did not lead them to make depreciatory remarks about their
+antagonists: all that their report bears on this point is, that the
+London Club "conducted a difficult defence with great skill and
+dexterity, and finally succeeded in drawing the game."
+
+Further, the remarks above quoted are calculated to produce an
+erroneous idea respecting the situation and conduct of the two
+clubs in the second game. The sophistry consists in mixing up two
+entirely separate and unconnected things. In this same game in which
+the London Club failed to observe that they had a winning position,
+they applied to have two of their moves recalled after they were
+despatched, and the Edinburgh committee refused their request. Now
+the obvious tendency of all that the English writers say upon the
+subject is to create the impression that if the London Club had been
+allowed to recall these two moves, they would have retained their
+winning position. This is plainly the only construction that the
+passage in the _Quarterly Review_ is capable of bearing. It is the
+only construction which would justify his remarks, or make them at
+all intelligible. But it is quite incorrect. The only moves which
+the London committee wished to recall were the 27th and 28th; but
+they have never attempted to show that if they had been allowed to
+do so, they could have won the game. It has been demonstrated, over
+and over again, that they could not. In fact, the moves they wished
+to recall were as good as any others then in their power. They might
+have drawn the game if these moves had been played; and they could
+have done no more had they been allowed to recall them. This matter
+was set at rest while the match was still pending, by a proposal
+which emanated from the Edinburgh Club. When the Londoners lost the
+game, Mr Lewis insinuated, though he did not expressly state, that
+if they had not been held to the 27th and 28th moves, they would
+have won the game. A member of the Edinburgh Club then offered to
+play a back-game with any one or more of the London Club, in which
+the London players were to be allowed a new 27th move instead of
+the one they had made, and wished to recall; and also another
+back-game in which the Edinburgh player was to take the London side
+_at an earlier stage of the game_, with the view of showing that,
+by playing differently, the London Club might have won it. This
+proposal was under consideration of the London Club _for several
+weeks_, during which they satisfied themselves that the recall of
+the 27th and 28th moves would be of no use, and, accordingly, it was
+declined. It is surely not very uncharitable to surmise that it was
+during this period, and on the suggestion of their opponents, that
+they discovered that the error was not in the 27th move which they
+had proposed to recall, but in the 26th, which they had examined and
+adhered to. In his first publication of the games, Mr Lewis gives
+no back-game on this 26th move; and it is believed that no member
+of the London Club was aware, till the game was finished, that by
+playing differently at the 26th move they might have won it. But Mr
+Lewis admits that the game could not be won by a mere alteration
+of the 27th or 28th move; and any one who says that it could, is
+either speaking in ignorance of the subject, or is making a wilful
+misrepresentation. The likelihood of the remarks of the English
+writers producing an erroneous impression arises from their mixing
+up these two separate and distinct things: 1st, that at a previous
+stage of the game, the London Club had a winning position which they
+did not discover, and failed to avail themselves of; and, 2d, that
+the Edinburgh Club would not allow them to retract the 27th and
+28th moves. These two facts have no longer any possible connection
+with each other when it is known that, at the 27th move, the London
+Club had ceased to have a winning position, and that the recall
+of that move would have been of no use to them. The failure, at a
+previous stage of the game, to maintain the winning position which
+they had, is simply one among several illustrations which occurred
+in the match, of the truth that the London Club, "in the pride and
+plenitude of its strength," did not always play as well as it was
+possible to have done. How such things show that superiority on
+the part of London, which they are brought forward to establish, we
+confess ourselves unable to understand, unless we were to adopt the
+principle of the _Chess-Players' Chronicle_, that it is the best
+players who are most likely to commit errors in conducting a match
+by correspondence!!
+
+It seems to be a source of melancholy consolation to the English
+players, that their Club committed a "ridiculous and vexatious
+blunder." We are sorry that, in our strict regard for truth, we must
+deprive them even of that comfort. The losing of the disputed game
+was not a ridiculous blunder, however vexatious. On the contrary,
+the series of moves by which they lost the chance of winning, was
+at first a very promising attack, and had the additional temptation
+of appearing brilliant and enterprising. If any chess-player will
+set up the men at the 27th move of the London Club, or glance at
+the diagram given in Mr Staunton's periodical for May 1850, he will
+see that nothing but the utmost skill and caution on the part of
+Edinburgh could have successfully warded off the attack. The London
+Club had not contemplated the defence which they met with; and if,
+in these circumstances, they were seduced into an ingenious but
+unsound attack, it may be conceded that they manifested want of
+circumspection, an important qualification in a chess-player; but
+they cannot be accused of committing a ridiculous blunder. They
+talk of having "thrown away" a rook. They did no such thing. The
+rook was played not by mistake, but for the very purpose of being
+taken in the course of their dashing but unsuccessful attack. And in
+Mr Lewis's analyses, it will be found that many of his methods of
+winning, at previous stages of the game, involve this very sacrifice
+of the rook.
+
+The refusal of the Edinburgh Club to allow the recall of the 27th
+and 28th moves loses all its importance when it is known that it did
+not affect the fate of the game. But we should in any circumstances
+be sorry to believe that, in so refusing, they had done what
+deserved the censure bestowed on them by the _Quarterly_ reviewer.
+In considering the propriety of their conduct, there are only two
+lights in which the request may be viewed. They were either asked
+to do what the London Club had a right to demand, or they were
+asked to grant a favour to the London Club. We do not know that the
+former view is supported by any of the English writers. Even the
+_Quarterly_ reviewer does not say that the London Club had a _right_
+to recall the moves; and on this question of right it appears to
+us that there cannot be the least shadow of a doubt. The letter
+containing the moves was despatched to the Post-office. It was held
+by the Post-office for the party to whom it was addressed, and was
+entirely beyond the control of the party sending it. The piece,
+in every sense, was therefore "let go" by the player; and the 8th
+Article of Sarratt's laws of chess, by which it was agreed that the
+games should be played, provides that "as long as a player holds
+a piece, he is at liberty to play it where he chooses; but when
+he has _let it go_, he cannot recall his move." Accordingly, the
+London Club never attempted to contest the question of right. They
+stated that they had "no hesitation in acceding to the Edinburgh
+Committee's construction," and adhering to the moves. In fact, the
+construction put on the point by the Edinburgh Club was not only
+assented to by the London players at the time, but several members
+of the committee admitted afterwards, that it was unquestionably the
+right way of dealing with the case, and no member of the London Club
+ever hinted a complaint on the subject, except what was insinuated
+by Mr Lewis in the publication referred to.
+
+Were the Edinburgh Club "_to blame_" for not granting the favour
+which was asked of them? On this question we think there is quite
+as little doubt as the other. We have a strong and decided opinion
+as to the necessity of strict play in _all_ games. It is the only
+fair and rational system; for once allow indulgence, and it is
+impossible to fix the limit at which it should stop. But we think
+that the remark applies with peculiar force to the game of chess,
+in which rigour is absolutely essential to the acquisition of the
+habits fitted for the proper playing of the game. Above all, in an
+important match at chess, anything but the strict game is entirely
+out of the question. A high-spirited antagonist will scorn to ask
+a favour, or even to grumble about the commission of a blunder.
+He submits in silence, and plays on in the hope of retrieving his
+fault by redoubled care and attention. If, on the other hand, he
+were to be expected to grant favours to his blundering antagonist,
+it is plain that his very good qualities would be turned to his
+disadvantage in the match. The Edinburgh Club played in the belief
+that the rules of the game were to apply with equal strictness to
+both parties; and though there was more than one instance in which
+they would have been glad to recall a move, they never proposed
+this, or even spoke of the occasions for it, except in answer to Mr
+Lewis's observations on the proposed recall of the 27th move. In
+the very game in which this move was made, the Edinburgh committee
+had at a _previous_ point in the game made a move which they
+discovered to be unsound, or at least doubtful. Their report bears
+that "application was made to the Post-office to have the letter
+containing it restored, but without effect. Finding this to be the
+case, the letter was looked upon as delivered, the Post-office being
+regarded as holding it, not on behalf of the Club from which it had
+been sent, but on behalf of the Club to which it was addressed;
+and therefore no attempt was made to countermand the move, by
+transmitting another letter by the same post. The 8th article of
+the laws was considered to be too clear and explicit to warrant a
+recall." This conduct of the Edinburgh Club appears to us the manly
+and proper way of dealing with such a circumstance, and infinitely
+better than trying to make it the foundation of a complaint of
+rigorous procedure on the part of their opponents.
+
+The same thing happened again to the Edinburgh Club in the fourth
+game. In consequence of having put up the game erroneously, they
+sent an impossible move--that is to say, they directed a Knight to
+be moved to a square already occupied by their King. They discovered
+the mistake before the letter had left Edinburgh, but considered
+themselves as having incurred the penalty of playing an impossible
+move, which was, in the option of their adversary, either to move
+the Knight to some other square, or to move their King. Of these
+two, the move of the _King_ was infinitely the better play, and
+therefore, in order to save time, a note was written on the outside
+of the letter explaining the mistake, and stating that the Edinburgh
+committee held themselves bound to move the _Knight_, which it was
+presumed the London Club would enforce, as the more severe penalty.
+The London Club did so; and yet Mr Lewis, in his notes to this
+game, rather disingenuously, as it appears to us, represented the
+London Club as having yielded an advantage to their antagonists, in
+accepting the move of the Knight. This merely accidental blunder, on
+the part of the Edinburgh Club, was one cause of their loss of the
+fourth game.
+
+Seeing that the Edinburgh Club thus on all occasions subjected
+themselves to the most rigorous interpretation of the rules of the
+game, we cannot hold the _Quarterly Review_ as justified in saying
+that they were "to blame" in not allowing the London Club to retract
+a move. But we appeal from the _Quarterly_ reviewer as a partisan of
+England, to the _Quarterly_ reviewer, as an impartial enunciator of
+general propositions respecting the game of chess. Hear what he says
+about the absurdity of giving back moves:--
+
+     "Another advantage has arisen from the multiplication of clubs,
+     and consequent publication of accurate rules--viz., that the
+     strict game is now played, instead of those courteous surrenders
+     of advantages offered by a heedless adversary, which used often
+     to make winners of those who had received back two or three
+     leading pieces in the course of the game. These were a source
+     of endless unpleasant discussions, besides being in themselves
+     an absurdity. We confess we have no notion of rewarding an
+     opponent for his oversights. We would show him as little mercy
+     as Mr Smith O'Brien would to Lord Clarendon. Nay, we should be
+     moved hereto by a consideration of his benefit as well as our
+     own--for why should we teach him vacillation and heedlessness?"
+
+Again, among a portentous list of narrow-minded delusions, he gives
+as "Delusion the Fifth--
+
+     "'That it is illiberal to play the strict game.' To this we can
+     only reply, that other methods are but a miserable imitation.
+     People talk of the hardship of 'losing a game by an oversight,'
+     and so on. It is much harder to arrive at nothing but
+     'conclusions inconclusive,' and to have the game terminate in
+     an Irish discussion which of the two parties made the greatest
+     blunders."
+
+We agree in every word of this; and we only wonder that so sound a
+reasoner should himself fall under the delusion which he exposes--so
+severe a censor should commit the very offence which he condemns.
+
+On the whole, as regards the proposed recall of the 27th and 28th
+moves of the second game, we think these three propositions are
+conclusively established, 1. That neither according to the rules
+of the game, nor upon any other principle which does or ought to
+regulate the playing of matches, were the London Club entitled to
+have their proposal acceded to. 2. That though it had been acceded
+to, and these moves had been allowed to be recalled, the London
+Club could not have bettered their situation, as the opportunity of
+winning was already irretrievably lost in consequence of the 26th
+move, which was not asked to be recalled, but, on the contrary,
+was expressly adhered to. 3. That the impression which English
+chess-players have so industriously attempted to create, that the
+refusal on the part of Edinburgh to allow the 27th and 28th moves
+to be recalled was what prevented the London Club from winning the
+game, can only exist through a confusion between these moves and the
+previous one, which the London Club had adhered to after a renewed
+examination, not having even then discovered that it was unsound.
+
+Before leaving the second game, we have this last additional remark
+to make about it, that it is one of the erroneous assumptions and
+inferences of the English writers, that the winning of that game
+would have decided the match in their favour. It was the first won
+game; and though it is true that the London Club _subsequently_
+won the fourth game, which was the successor of the second, it
+is also the fact that the fourth game, which was opened by the
+Edinburgh Club, would not have been played if the second had
+been won by London, who in that case would have had the opening
+of the fourth. We do not mean to say that having to open was a
+disadvantage. All we assert is, that, in point of fact, the game,
+which the Edinburgh Club lost partly through a mistake in setting
+up the men, and through another blunder, not very different in its
+character, would not have been played at all if London had won the
+second game. Besides, the fourth game would, in other respects, have
+been played under very different circumstances. The opening of the
+second game by the London Club was one which none of the Edinburgh
+players had ever seen before, though, from this match, it now goes
+by the name of the Scotch opening. They believed, however, from
+their consideration of the second game, that the London Club had
+not availed themselves of all the capabilities of the opening, and
+they thought it would be a spirited thing to return it upon their
+antagonists. This they did in the _third_ game. The event rewarded
+their enterprising conduct. They gained a decided advantage; and
+during the greater part of the _fourth_ game they believed that it
+would never require to be finished, as they thought that by winning
+the _third_ game they would gain the match. This accounts for the
+carelessness with which they played the fourth game, though we
+think nothing can excuse carelessness in playing chess. They were
+ultimately disappointed in their expectation of gaining the third
+game, as the London Club succeeded in drawing it; and this rendered
+a fifth game necessary.
+
+Down to the fifth game it appears plain enough, from the above
+examination, that the Edinburgh Club had maintained, at the very
+least, an equal position to their antagonists. The first game had
+been drawn, with no advantage at any stage of it, in favour of
+either party. The second had been won by Edinburgh, but was subject
+to the observation that, at one point, London might have won had
+they played as well as they _afterwards_ discovered they might
+have done. The third game was drawn: but the advantage throughout
+had been in favour of Edinburgh, though not sufficiently so for
+winning; and, as was the case with London in the previous game,
+Edinburgh failed to perceive that by moving differently at a certain
+point, they would have been victorious. The fourth game was lost by
+Edinburgh, partly through an accidental and what may be called a
+mechanical blunder, and partly through another piece of carelessness
+of a similar character. After a contest thus maintained down to the
+commencement of the fifth game, it is beyond all question that the
+palm of superiority, in point of play, must rest with the victor
+in that game. And it was a game worthy to determine that question
+as well as the match. The Edinburgh Club had again returned upon
+their antagonists their own opening. In order to secure scope for
+the action of their pieces, they showed considerable intrepidity
+in disregarding the ordinary rules against doubled and isolated
+pawns; and so admirably had they analysed the game, that for a
+great many moves they knew that victory was certain, though all the
+while the London Club, according to the confession of some of their
+own members, were blind to the fate that was awaiting them; and
+believed, on the contrary, that the game was in their own hands.
+This fifth game will long be remembered by chess players as one
+of the most remarkable in the annals of chess; and appears to us
+conclusive, so far as regards the internal evidence derived from the
+games themselves, that the superiority, in point of play, lay with
+the Edinburgh Club, and that their winning the match was not a mere
+accident.
+
+It may be that there are other data for determining the relative
+superiority of the two Clubs; but we cannot admit the correctness
+of any of those mentioned by the _Quarterly_ reviewer or Mr
+Staunton. It is true, as these gentlemen say, that the Edinburgh
+Club was comparatively inexperienced. It had only been instituted
+in 1822, and the match was begun in 1824. It comprehended, almost
+exclusively, professional gentlemen actively engaged in business,
+who had not, generally speaking, much leisure or opportunity for
+seeking antagonists out of their own little circle of chess-players
+at home. On the other hand, it cannot be disputed that there is
+to be found in the metropolis of England, in greater abundance
+than anywhere else, that combination of leisure with intellectual
+power, which gives the promise of good chess-playing. But these
+circumstances do not lead our minds to the conclusion to which Mr
+Staunton and the _Quarterly_ reviewer have come, that the winning of
+the match by the Edinburgh Club was an accident. We should rather
+be inclined to hold, considering the character of the contest as
+explained by us above, that they are a proof of the greater natural
+chess-playing capacity of the members of the Club which won the
+match under such disadvantages. Again, Mr Staunton asks where are
+the previous exploits to which the Edinburgh players could point,
+such as those that the members of the London Club had performed? The
+answer is, None. They never had, and never sought the opportunity
+of performing any great chess exploit, except beating the London
+Club. But in so doing they made their own all the previous victories
+of the London Club. The event showed that they might, without
+presumption, have expressed the sentiment of Prince Henry--
+
+    "Percy is but my factor, good, my lord,
+    To engross up glorious deeds on my behalf;
+    And I will call him to so strict account,
+    That he shall render every glory up.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    And all the budding honours on his crest
+    I'd crop to make a garland for my head."
+
+With which valorous quotation we draw our remarks to a close,
+submitting that the members of the Edinburgh Club are bound to
+invite us to a special sitting at a board, which shall be garnished
+with some other material more soft and digestible than chessmen.
+
+
+
+
+THE INDUSTRY OF THE PEOPLE.
+
+
+The dismal efforts of the Free-trading party to maintain the credit
+of their unnatural and mischievous scheme, afford the surest
+indication of their own consciousness that they have committed a
+grievous error. In their attempts to make head against the symptoms
+of reaction which are everywhere apparent in the public mind, they
+exhibit no unity of purpose; they are not agreed even as to the
+facts from which their arguments should be drawn. A few months ago,
+we were told that the whole country was in a state of the greatest
+prosperity. The existence of agricultural distress was denied; the
+shipping interest was said to be in the most healthy and flourishing
+condition; the manufacturers had so many orders that their ability
+to execute was impeded; wages were rising--pauperism decreasing--in
+short, no one could recall to memory times of more general
+happiness and content. Such was the picture drawn by Ministerial
+limners, no further back than the opening of the present session
+of Parliament, and it is very much to be regretted that it should
+so soon have vanished like a dissolving view. Down to the present
+moment, we have been unable to discover the motive for so monstrous
+a fiction. Nobody believed it: nobody could believe it, for it
+ran counter to every man's knowledge of his own affairs, and his
+opinion as to those of his neighbour. The agriculturists declared
+it to be a falsehood in so far as they were concerned--so did the
+ship-owners--so did the shopkeepers--so did the manufacturers, whose
+circulars acknowledged depression for the present, and held out
+little hope for the future. The Ministerial averment answered no
+purpose, save to excite a general burst of disapprobation. Conceived
+in fraud, it was abandoned with cowardice. A lower tone was assumed.
+Distress was admitted--but only to a certain extent; and we may
+remark that such admissions are peculiarly convenient and innocuous
+to those who make them, inasmuch as the actual degree or prevalence
+of the suffering must still remain matter of debate. Indeed, no
+statistics, however ingenious or elaborated, can furnish data for
+determining so delicate a point. But to account for the existence
+of distress, even in a mitigated form, was no easy task for those
+who were resolved, at all hazards, to exclude the operation of free
+trade. Their prosperity balance-sheet stood awkwardly in the way.
+Pluming themselves upon increased exports, and a larger foreign
+trade than had been driven for some years, they were compelled to
+assign some reason for the remarkable depression at home. The old
+shift of railway calls would no longer suit their purpose. Sir
+Robert Peel, regardless of a certain personal passage of his life
+connected with the opening of the Trent Valley, was exceedingly fond
+of turning out that scape-goat into the wilderness; but the time
+had gone by; the calls were paid up or suspended; and it was no
+longer possible for effrontery to maintain that the great mass of
+the consumers of these kingdoms had been materially injured by their
+imprudent dalliance with scrip. There was no tightness in the money
+market; no external cause to interfere with the successful operation
+of industry, capital, or enterprise. Yet still there was distress;
+and, what was more remarkable, the complaint was universal. The
+value of produce had fallen, effecting thereby a corresponding
+decline in rents, and every kind of uncertain profit. Employment
+grew scarcer every day, whilst the number of applicants increased.
+The burden of taxation, however, still remained undiminished. The
+creditor could still exact the stipulated amount of money from his
+debtor, without deduction, although the labour of the debtor was
+reduced in point of value by at least a third. Such were, and are,
+the leading phenomena, to account for which the ingenuity of the
+Free-traders has been exercised.
+
+They have, we are bound to say, cut an exceedingly sorry figure
+in explanation. They have got in their mouths a few cant phrases,
+which, when assailed, they repeat over and over again, without the
+slightest reference to their meaning. One of these, and perhaps the
+most favourite, refers to the "transition state"--a peculiar phase
+of suffering, which they maintain to be the necessary consequence of
+every considerable change in the fiscal regulations of the empire.
+This "transition state," in politics, would appear to correspond to
+that which, in medicine, was favoured by Mr St John Long. In order
+to become better, it is necessary to make the patient, in the first
+instance, materially worse--to inflict artificial wounds and promote
+suppuration, in the hope that these may afterwards be healed. It is
+rather remarkable that none of our political doctors have as yet
+ventured to specify the nature of the curatory process. They leave
+us woefully in the dark as to the means which are to be adopted for
+remedying the evil; and they obstinately refuse to predict what
+kind of state is to follow upon this of transition. In truth, they
+are utterly at sea. They cannot shut their eyes to the extent of
+the mischief which they have wrought; they cannot find or invent an
+extraneous excuse, which will avail them, in the opinion even of the
+loosest thinker, to maintain the delusion that the present distress
+and stagnation are attributable to any other cause than that of low
+prices, occasioned by foreign competition; and they are attempting
+to conceal their chagrin and disappointment at the disastrous issue
+of their experiment under the cover of general terms and vague
+ambiguous phrases--a rhetorical expedient which is not likely to
+have much weight with those who have been made the victims of their
+rashness or vacillation.
+
+Latterly, indeed, some portions of the public press have shown
+symptoms of being more specific, and very glad should we be if
+Ministers would follow that example. We are told that present
+prices are merely exceptional, and that they must shortly improve.
+The mere adoption of this argument shows that such writers dissent
+from the doctrine that cheapness is an unqualified blessing--that
+they still believe in their hearts that it is impossible altogether
+to separate the interests of the producer and the consumer--and
+that they are still alive to the fundamental political axiom,
+that the wealth of a country depends mainly upon the value of its
+produce. Were it otherwise, they would be supporters of the most
+astounding paradox that was ever advanced. The price of the loaf
+must rise correspondingly with that of the quarter of wheat: beef
+and mutton are sold by the stone or by the pound, in proportion to
+the market value of the living animal. If wheat were to rise to
+56s., which is said to be the average cost of its production in
+this country, bread would become so much dearer, and, in that case,
+the working-man could be no better off than he was before the corn
+laws were repealed. We have heard it said, and we firmly believe
+it to be the case, that many of the public men, of both parties,
+who voted with Sir Robert Peel, did so under the full conviction
+that there could be no material decline--that they were misled by
+the onesided, imperfect, and fallacious reports as to the state,
+quality, and extent of the Continental harvests, which were laid
+before Parliament--and that they never would have consented to such
+a measure, had they foreseen the results which are now unhappily
+before us. We gather this, not merely from rumour, but from the
+tenor of the speeches delivered in the House of Commons in 1846. Sir
+James Graham and Lord John Russell both treated as visionary the
+notion of any material decline--Lord Palmerston went further; and
+we think it useful to lay before our readers the following excerpt
+from his speech, delivered on the occasion of the second reading
+of the Corn Importation Bill. Referring to the surplus quantity of
+Continental grain, he said--
+
+     "The surplus quantity now, or from time to time in existence,
+     is merely the superfluity of abundant seasons held for a
+     time in store to meet the alternate deficiency of bad years.
+     Till the bad years come, that corn is cheap, because it is a
+     supply exceeding the demand; but the moment we go into the
+     foreign market as buyers, to purchase up this surplus, _prices
+     abroad will rise_. Not only will the British demand, as a
+     new competition with foreign demand, naturally cause a rise
+     of prices, but our own merchants will compete against each
+     other, until, by a rise of prices abroad, the profit of their
+     importations shall have been brought down to the usual rate of
+     mercantile profit upon capital employed in other ways. There
+     is, therefore, very little probability that the importation of
+     the existing surplus quantity of corn in foreign markets will
+     materially lower prices in this country."
+
+We have nothing to say to the arguments of the noble
+Viscount--however singular these may appear to persons of ordinary
+understanding--we merely refer to his conclusion, which we think
+is plain enough, to the effect that free importations could not
+materially lower prices. Nay, we could extract from the speeches of
+Sir Robert Peel himself, passages which would go far to show that he
+entertained the same opinion, notwithstanding the extreme wariness
+which he exhibited when challenged by Lord George Bentinck to state
+his views as to the probable effects of the change on the value of
+agricultural produce. Well, then, if this be the case--if there was
+actually a strong conviction in the minds of the leading men who
+supported the repeal of the corn laws that the expressed fears of
+the agricultural party were unfounded--are we not entitled now to
+require that the question should be brought to a very narrow issue
+indeed? So far as experience has gone, our calculations have proved
+right--theirs entirely wrong. We maintained that, in consequence of
+the removal of protective duties, the price of grain in this country
+would decline to a point far below the cost of production; they
+averred that nothing of the kind would happen. Nearly a year and
+a half has elapsed since the new system came into full operation,
+and the general averages of wheat throughout the country have
+fallen, and have remained for many months below 40s. per quarter. In
+spite of the accurate and veracious information of writers in the
+_Economist_ and other Ministerial prints, who have been assuring
+us, for a long period of time, that the whole available supplies of
+grain have been pumped out of the Continent, importations continue
+undiminished. In May 1850 we receive from abroad the equivalent
+of a million quarters of grain; France pours in her flour, to the
+panic even of our millers; and, instead of diminution, there are
+unmistakeable symptoms of a greater deluge than before. Now, if the
+Free-traders, in or out of Parliament, are honest in their views--as
+many of them, we believe, undoubtedly are--they are bound to tell us
+how far and how long they intend this experiment to last? Of course,
+if it is no experiment at all, but an absolute rigorous finality,
+there is no need of entering into discussion. If everything is to be
+sacrificed for cheapness, let cheapness be the rule; only do not let
+us behold the anomaly of the advocates of that system prophesying
+a rise of prices as a general boon to the country. If otherwise,
+surely some tangible period should be assigned for the endurance
+of this _experimentum crucis_. We entirely coincide with Lord John
+Russell in his dislike to vacillating legislation, and we have no
+wish whatever to precipitate matters. We think it preferable, in
+every way, that the eyes of the country should be opened to a sense
+of its true condition by a process which, to be effectual, cannot
+be otherwise than painful. But we are greatly apprehensive of the
+consequences which may arise ere long, from the obstinate refusal
+of Ministers to give the slightest indication of their intentions,
+supposing that the present prices shall continue; or to indicate
+what relief, if any, can be given to the industry of the nation.
+
+As to the permanent nature of the fall under the operation of
+the present law, we entertain not the slightest doubt. There is
+no one symptom visible of its abatement; on the contrary, the
+experience of each succeeding month tends to fortify our previous
+impressions. The decline in the value of cattle is as great as in
+that of cereal produce. We have already, in a former paper, had
+occasion to state the extent of that fall down to the commencement
+of the present year: the accounts received of the state of the
+Dumbarton market, held in the beginning of June, are still more
+disastrous than before. Throughout a large portion of the Scottish
+Highlands--we do not know, indeed, whether we are entitled to make
+any exception--black cattle, the staple of the country, will not
+pay the expense of rearing. The enormous importation of provisions
+from America is annihilating this branch of produce, with what
+compensating benefit to the nation at large, it would be difficult
+for an economist to explain.
+
+This is a state of matters which cannot continue long without
+manifest danger even to the tranquillity of the country. It is quite
+plain that, at present rates, agriculture cannot be carried on as
+heretofore in Great Britain. The farmer has been the first sufferer;
+the turn of the landowner is approaching. Let us illustrate this
+shortly. There must be, on an average of ordinary years, a certain
+price at which wheat can be grown remuneratively in this country.
+Sir Robert Peel, no mean authority on the subject, has indicated his
+opinion that such price may be stated at or about 56s. per quarter.
+Mr James Wilson, rating it somewhat lower, fixes it at 52s. 2d. Let
+us suppose, that wheat for the future shall average over England
+39s. per quarter, and that the produce of the acre is twenty-four
+bushels, the loss on each acre of wheat hereafter raised will be,
+according to Sir Robert Peel, £2, 11s.--according to Mr Wilson, £1,
+19s. 6d. What deduction of rent can meet such a depreciation as
+this? Excluding Middlesex, which is clearly exceptional, the highest
+rented county of England, Leicester, is estimated at £1, 14s. 10d.
+per acre; Warwickshire, at £1, 11s. 6d.; and Lincolnshire at £1, 8s.
+Haddington and Fife, the highest rented counties of Scotland, are
+estimated at £1, 5s. 6d. per acre. This of course includes much land
+of an inferior description; but we believe that, for the best arable
+land, an average rent of 40s. per acre may be assumed. In that case,
+supposing the whole rent to be given up, the farmer would still be a
+loser by cultivation, if Sir Robert Peel is correct in his figures.
+
+Without presuming to offer an opinion as to the accuracy of
+either of the calculations submitted by these two Free-trading
+authorities, we think it is plain that the more favourable of them,
+taken in connection with present prices, is appalling enough to
+the agriculturist, whether he be landlord or tenant. We shall see,
+probably in a month or two, whether it is likely that even these
+prices can be maintained. We are clearly of opinion that the price
+of corn in this country must fall to the level of the cheapest
+market from which we can derive any considerable supplies; and in
+that case it is quite as likely that we may see wheat quoted at 32s.
+or 33s., as at 39s. or 40s. But the matter for our consideration is,
+that, ever since the repeal of the corn laws, the market price of
+grain has been greatly below the cost of its production; and that
+there are no symptoms of any amendment, but obviously the reverse.
+
+The inevitable result of the continuance of such a state of
+matters is too clear to admit of argument. The land must go out
+of cultivation. The process may be slow, but it will be sure. It
+may, doubtless, be retarded by remissions of rent not sufficient
+to cover the farmer's losses, but great enough to induce him to
+renew his efforts for another year with the like miserable result;
+until at length the tiller of the soil is made bankrupt, and the
+landowner occupies his place. We can hardly trust ourselves to
+depict the effect of such a social revolution. All the misery which
+has been already felt--and that is far greater than our rulers will
+permit themselves to believe--would be as nothing compared with the
+calamitous consummation of Free Trade.
+
+Yet it is towards that point that we are rapidly tending. Some
+of the fierce and more plain-spoken Radical journals are so far
+from contradicting our views, that they openly rejoice in the
+havoc which has been already made, and in the wider ruin which is
+impending. They say plainly, looking to the funds, that they see
+no method of escaping from the domination of the moneyed interest,
+except through the prostration of the landlords. Their meaning
+is quite distinct and undisguised. They want to get rid of the
+national debt, by reducing the value of produce so low, that the
+usual amount of taxation cannot possibly be levied; and their
+scheme, however nefarious, is by no means devoid of plausibility.
+There can be no doubt that the Currency Act of 1819 has operated
+most injuriously upon the industry of the nation, by enhancing the
+value of the claims of the creditor; and that these claims, along
+with the necessary expenses of government, must be paid, _ante
+omnia_, from the industrial produce of the year. The cheapening
+process, therefore, is one directly antagonistic to the maintenance
+of taxation. The anomaly in legislation of forcibly reducing the
+value of produce, and yet maintaining stringently an artificial
+standard of taxation, has been reserved for our times; yet, strange
+to say, though its effects are visible and confessed, few persons
+have courage or patience enough to grapple with the difficulty.
+Free Trade and a Fettered Currency are things that cannot possibly
+co-exist for any length of time; and our sole surprise is, that any
+statesman could be shortsighted enough to attempt to reconcile them.
+Taken singly, either of them is a great evil to a country situated
+like ours--taken together, they become absolutely intolerable. But
+we have no wish, at the present time, to depart from the point
+before us. We are merely taking the evidence of adversaries, to
+show that our views as to the position and prospects of the great
+productive classes of Britain are so far from exaggerated that they
+are acknowledged by the most strenuous advocates of Free Trade. The
+fundholder, nevertheless, may derive a useful lesson from these
+financial hints, which indicate an ulterior purpose.
+
+Such is the state of the agricultural interest throughout the
+three Kingdoms at this moment, and such are the prospects before
+us. The evidence, albeit not taken before a committee of either
+House of Parliament, is too unanimous to admit of a doubt; county
+after county, district after district, parish after parish
+throughout England, have testified to their melancholy condition.
+The _Times_ may talk of mendicity, and the _Economist_ may trump
+up figures to show that the farmers ought to be making a profit
+even at present prices; but neither irony nor fiction can avail to
+discredit or pervert facts so well authenticated as these. Of these
+facts parliament is fully cognisant--not only from the individual
+knowledge of members as to what is passing abroad--not only from the
+sentiments expressed at many hundred meetings, independent of the
+great demonstrations lately made at London and Liverpool--but from
+the petitions which have been presented to both Houses, praying for
+a reversal of that policy which has proved so detrimental to the
+interests of a large section of her Majesty's subjects. Yet still
+Parliament is silent, and the first Minister of the Crown refuses to
+sanction that appeal to the country, which the exigency of the case
+would seem to require, and which has been resorted to on occasions
+far less peremptory and pressing than this.
+
+Let us not be misunderstood. Our wish simply is to record the fact
+of such silence and refusal,--not to be rash in censure. We cannot,
+and do not forget the peculiar circumstances connected with the
+last general election--the political tergiversation which preceded
+it, the hopes and expectations which were then entertained by
+many, as to the working of the new system,--or the disorganisation
+of parties. Even the most strenuous opponents of the Free-Trade
+measures, since these had passed into a law, however iniquitously
+carried, were desirous that the experiment should have a fair trial,
+and that it should not be impeded in its progress, so long as, by
+the most liberal construction, it could be held to justify the
+anticipations of its authors. Many names of great weight, influence,
+and authority were found among the roll of those who consented to
+the new measures; and it was most natural that, throughout the
+country, a number of persons should be found willing to surrender
+their own judgment upon a matter yet untried, which had received
+so creditable a sanction. Therefore it was that the majority of
+members returned to the present House of Commons were Free-traders,
+bound to the system by the double ties of previous conviction and of
+pledge; and though recent elections, as well as the alarming posture
+of affairs, have contributed materially to alter the position of
+the two great parties in the House, it would be unreasonable as yet
+to look for a change, in a body so constituted, at least to that
+extent which a reversal of the adopted policy must imply.
+
+Neither can we rationally expect, that Lord John Russell will be
+forward to recognise a failure, where he confidently anticipated a
+triumph. We believe him to have been, far more than Sir Robert Peel,
+the dupe of those random assertions and presumptuous calculations
+which were thrust forward by men utterly unfit, from their previous
+habits and education, to pronounce an opinion upon subjects of such
+magnitude and intricacy. We should not be surprised if, even now,
+his Lordship had some lingering kind of faith in the prophecies of
+the member for Westbury. Men are slow to believe that the ground
+is crumbling from below their feet; that the political scaffolding
+which they assisted to rear has been pitched in a marshy quagmire.
+Self love, and that kind of pride which is so nearly allied to
+conceit that it often assumes the form of obstinacy, stand woefully
+in the way of recantation; and moreover in the present instance
+to recant is equivalent to resign. We remember well the profound
+and sagacious remark of Sir Walter Scott, that "the miscarriage
+of his experiment no more converts the political speculator, than
+the explosion of a retort undeceives an alchymist." Lord John
+Russell in all probability is not yet prepared, from conviction,
+to revise his opinions on a question in which he is so deeply
+committed. He has a majority in the House of Commons, and, according
+to the forms of the constitution, so long as he can command that
+majority, he is entitled to persevere. It is well that our friends,
+whatever pressing cause they may have for their impatience, should
+remember these things; and not be too forward in pressing wholesale
+accusations, either against a Parliament chosen under such peculiar
+circumstances, or a Minister who is simply adhering to the course
+long since avowed by himself, and acted on by his immediate
+predecessor. We may regret, and many of us do unquestionably most
+bitterly feel, the anomalous position in which we are placed. A
+more cruel, a more galling thought can hardly be imagined than the
+conviction which is very general abroad, and which is also ours,
+that the present Parliament does not represent the feelings or the
+desires of the people; that it is not consulting their welfare or
+protecting their interests; and that the duration of that Parliament
+alone prevents a vigorous and successful effort in the cause of
+British industry. Yet still, while we feel all this, let us not
+be unjust to others. We cannot coerce opinion. We cannot force
+honourable members at once to retrace their steps, or to give the
+lie to their acknowledged pledges. We cannot complain of open wrong
+if Ministers decline to accept our voices, in lieu of the voices
+of those whom we formerly sent as representatives. Their answer
+and vindication lies in the fact of their Parliamentary majority.
+Why Parliament should thus be placed in direct antagonism to the
+country, is a very different question. We need not go far in search
+of the reason. It is the direct consequence of that policy which Sir
+Robert Peel thought fit to adopt, not with regard to the abstract
+measures of Free Trade, but for the carrying of these measures
+into effect, without an appeal to the country, and by means which
+proved how closely deceit is allied to tyranny. Upon his head,
+if not the whole, at least the primary responsibility rests. He
+has accepted it, and let it abide with him. And let no man affirm
+that, in saying this, we are prolonging any rancorous feeling, or
+seeking to rub a sore which by this time should be wellnigh healed.
+The time for indignation and anger, if injury coupled with perfidy
+can ever provoke such sentiments, is not yet past; it is now in
+its fullest force. Had Sir Robert Peel acted as he ought to have
+done--had he played the part of a British statesman, sincerely
+desirous that in a matter of such magnitude the will of the country
+should be respected--the present Parliament, whatever might have
+been its decision as to Free Trade or Protection, would at least
+have represented the wishes of the electoral body; and if subsequent
+events had shown that these wishes were more sanguine than wise, the
+error would have been a national one, and no weight of individual
+responsibility would have been incurred. As it is, we are not only
+justified, but we are performing our duty, in indicating the real
+and sole originator of our present difficulties; and without wishing
+in any degree to trench upon his secret sources of consolation,
+we can hardly imagine that he will derive much comfort from the
+knowledge, that his tortuous policy has deprived the people in the
+hour of need of their best constitutional privilege and shield--the
+sympathy and co-operation of that House which is emphatically their
+own, and which, to the great detriment of the state, must lose its
+moral power the moment that it ceases to represent the will, and to
+protect the interests of the Commons.
+
+We are well aware that such reflections as these can bring but sorry
+comfort to the farmers. Their situation is one of unparalleled
+hardship, unrelieved by any consideration which can make the case of
+other sufferers more tolerable. We fully admit the vast extent of
+the powers which, since the Great Revolution, are held to be vested
+in Parliaments. We cannot gainsay the doctrine that these powers
+may, on occasion, be exerted to the uttermost; but we say, after
+the most careful and thoughtful deliberation, that the proceedings
+of the legislature with regard to the farmers of Great Britain are
+irreconcilable with the principles of justice, with the sacred
+laws of morality, which no legislative resolutions can abrogate
+or annul. The farmers are entitled to maintain that, in so far as
+regards them, the public faith has been broken. Such of them as
+hold leases had a distinct and unqualified guarantee given to them
+by the protective laws; and the allegation that the substitution
+of the sliding-scale for a fixed duty acted as a release for all
+former Parliamentary engagements, is a quibble so mean and wretched
+that the basest attorney would be ashamed to use it as a plea. The
+whole of the farmers' fixed and floating capital, estimated at
+the enormous sum of five hundred millions sterling, has been laid
+out on the faith of Protection; and yet when that Protection was
+furtively and treacherously withdrawn, no measure was introduced for
+the purpose of relieving them from engagements contracted under the
+older system, which were obviously incompatible with the lowered
+prices established by the formidable change. The public, we are
+afraid, are not aware of the extent of that depreciation which is
+still going on, _and which already exceeds the whole annual value
+of the manufacturing productions of Great Britain_. We borrow the
+following table from a late pamphlet by Mr Macqueen entitled,
+"Statistics of Agriculture, Manufactures, and Commerce, drawn up
+from Official and Authentic Documents;" and having tested it by
+every means in our power, we have no hesitation in adopting it. It
+is, in truth, a fearful commentary on the rashness and folly of our
+rulers.
+
+
+COMPARATIVE VALUES OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE.
+
+                              Protective     Depreciation.    Value 1850.
+                                value.
+  Grains, potatoes, &c.,     £237,543,750     £80,764,875    £156,778,875
+  Straw,                      100,700,000      30,210,000      70,490,000
+  Green crops, pasture, &c.,  222,404,786      66,721,435     155,683,351
+  Sundries,                     8,500,000       2,125,000       6,375,000
+  Wool, British,               15,400,000       1,540,000      13,860,000
+                             ------------    ------------    ------------
+                             £584,518,536    £181,361,310    £403,187,226
+
+But this is not all. We have still to deal with the depreciation or
+diminished value of the farmers' fixed capital, invested in live
+stock, &c., which at the rate of 25 per cent, (a most moderate
+calculation, and below the mark in so far as Scotland is concerned,)
+shows a loss on £504,833,730 of £126,208,432 _additional_!
+
+We put forward the case of the farmers thus prominently, because,
+in addition to the great public wrong which has been done to them,
+they have serious reason to complain of the general apathy of the
+landlords. We do not allude to the part which the landowners took in
+1846. We believe that the majority of them were sincerely disgusted
+by the conduct of the men who had climbed into office on their
+shoulders; and that they loathed and despised in their hearts the
+treachery of which they were made the tools. We know, moreover, that
+a great many of them abstained from taking part in the election of
+1847, not being able to see their way through the political chaos
+in which we were then involved, and having, naturally enough, lost
+confidence in the probity of public men, and despairing of the
+remodelment of a strong constitutional party. Such things were,
+perhaps, inevitable; and it may be argued with much show of reason,
+that no better line of conduct was open to the landlords, and that
+they did wisely in reserving themselves for a more favourable
+opportunity, when experience, that stern and unfailing monitor,
+should have exposed to the Free-traders the falsity of their wild
+expectations. But it is impossible for them now to plead that the
+opportunity has not arrived. The experiment has been made, and has
+failed--failed utterly and entirely, if the practical refutation of
+the views advanced by all its leading advocates is to be considered
+as equivalent to failure. The current of reaction has set in
+strong and steady, not only in the counties, but in the towns; not
+only among those who, from their position, must be the earliest
+sufferers, but among those who are connected with the trade and
+general commerce of Britain. The disorganised party has rallied
+and is reformed under leaders of great talent, tried skill, and
+most assured loyalty and honour. How is it that, in this posture
+of affairs, any considerable section of the landlords is still
+hanging back? Why is it that they do not place themselves, as is
+their duty, at the head of their tenantry, and enforce and encourage
+those appeals to public justice, and to public policy, which are
+now making themselves heard in every quarter of the kingdom? We
+confess that we are at a loss to know why any apathy should be
+shown. The conduct of the tenantry towards the landlords has been
+generous and considerate in the extreme. They were invited, in no
+equivocal terms, to join their cause with that of the Free-traders
+and financial reformers; and they were promised, in that event,
+the cordial assistance of the latter towards the adjustment of
+their rents, and the equalisation of their public burdens. We
+venture not an opinion whether such promise was ever intended to
+be kept. Still it was made; and no effort was left untried to
+convince the farmers that their cause was separate and apart from
+that of the owners of the land. Their refusal to enter into that
+unholy alliance was most honourable to the body of the tenantry,
+and entitles them, at the hands of the proprietors, to look not
+only for consideration and sympathy, but for the most active and
+energetic support. Very ill indeed shall we augur of the spirit and
+patriotism of the gentlemen of England, if they longer abstain from
+identifying themselves universally with a movement which is not
+only a national one, in the strictest sense of the word, but upon
+which depends the maintenance of their own interests and order.
+Surely they cannot have been so dull or so deaf to what is passing
+around them, as not to be aware that they were especially marked out
+as the victims of the Manchester confederacy! These are not times
+in which any man can afford to be apathetic, nor will any trivial
+excuse for languor or indifference be accepted. Exalted position,
+high character, the reputation for princely generosity, and the
+best of private reputations, will be no apology for inactivity in a
+crisis so momentous as this. Organisation, union, and energy are at
+all times the chief means for insuring success; and we trust that,
+henceforward, there may be less timidity shown by those who ought
+to take the foremost rank in a contest of such importance, and who
+cannot abstain longer from doing so without forfeiting their claim
+to that regard which has hitherto been readily accorded them.
+
+It will be observed that, as yet, we have put the case for
+Protection upon very narrow grounds. We have shown that, so far
+as the agricultural body is concerned, Free Trade has proved most
+injurious, and that it cannot be persisted in without bringing
+downright ruin to that section of the community. If we had nothing
+more to advance than this, still we should be entitled to maintain
+that enough has been adduced to show the necessity of retracing
+our steps. The annihilation of such an important body as the
+agriculturists of Britain, implies of itself a revolution as great
+as ever was effected in the world; and to that, assuredly, if the
+agriculturists stood alone, they would not tamely submit. When Mr
+Cobden or his satellites addressed the people of Manchester, through
+their League circulars, to the following effect, "If the Americans
+will only put down their monopolising manufacturers, and we put down
+our monopolising landowners here, when our election time comes, we
+will lay the Mississippi valley alongside of Manchester, and we
+will have a glorious trade then!"--and again, "Our doctrine is, let
+the working man ply his hammer, or his spindle, or his shuttle, and
+let the Kentucky or the Illinois farmer, by driving his plough in
+the richest land on the surface of the earth, feed this mechanic
+or this weaver, and let him send home his produce in exchange for
+the products of our operatives and artisans"--they seem to have
+forgotten the temper and mould of the men with whom they proposed
+to deal so summarily. It is not quite so easy to expatriate three
+millions of able-bodied men; nor do we opine that a power morally
+or physically adequate to the task of such removal exists in the
+manufacturing districts. But, in reality, of all idle talk that ever
+issued from the lips or the pen of an inflated demagogue, this is
+the silliest and the worst. It presupposes an amount of ignorance
+on the part of his audience anything but flattering to the calibre
+of the Manchester intellect: indeed we hardly know which is most
+to be admired--its intense and transparent folly or its astounding
+audacity. The home trade is a thing altogether kept out of account
+in the foregoing splendid vision of a calico millennium. Mr Cobden,
+it will be seen, contemplates no home consumption, except in so far
+as the operative may provide himself with his own shirtings. The
+whole production of Britain is to be limited to manufactures; the
+whole supplies are to be derived from the hands of the reciprocating
+foreigner!
+
+There does not exist in this great and populous country any one
+class the labour of which can be restricted, or the profits
+curtailed, without an injurious result to the interests of the whole
+community. This is not simply a maxim of political economy; it is
+a distinct physical fact, which no ingenuity can controvert. Yet,
+strange to say, our rulers have acted, and are acting, with regard
+to by far the most important class of the country, as if no such
+fact were known; and they now profess to be amazed at its speedy
+and inevitable consequence. That agricultural distress must react
+upon the manufacturer, the trader, shopkeeper, and artisan, is as
+necessary a consequence as is a failure in the supply of water
+after a long-continued drought. If our taxation is artificial, and
+our national establishments costly, it must not be forgotten that
+our private expenditure is generally on the same scale. We consume
+within the country a far greater amount of manufactures than we can
+ever hope to export, and the only limit to that consumption is the
+power of purchase. The profits of the landowner, which depend upon
+the value of produce, do not constitute a fund which is removed
+from public circulation. On the contrary, these profits furnish
+the means of labour and employment to the greater portion of the
+industrious classes, who otherwise would have no resource; and if
+they are violently curtailed, it must needs follow that a large
+amount of employment is withdrawn. That is precisely our case at the
+present moment. By the admission of foreign produce, which is in
+fact foreign labour, the value of agricultural production in this
+country has fallen very nearly thirty per cent, and the consequence
+is a greatly diminished expenditure, and a slackening of employment
+grievously felt by those who are supported by manual labour. How,
+indeed, is it possible that it can be otherwise? A very little
+thought must convince every one that all incomes in Britain must
+depend upon the amount and value of the national production, and
+that, by reducing and lowering that, a direct attack is made upon
+the profits of every kind of labour. It is singular that consequence
+so plain should ever have been overlooked; still more singular that
+statesmen should have been found to maintain an opposite theory. The
+only explanation we can suggest as to this singular departure from
+the leading principles of economical science is, that of late years
+Ministers have habitually consulted the interests of the capitalists
+rather than those of the people. Sir Robert Peel has invariably
+shown himself a capitalist legislator. At the outset of his career,
+and while under the Israelitish guidance of Ricardo, he succeeded
+in carrying those Currency measures which increased by nearly
+one-third the weight of the national obligations. Later in life we
+find him engaged in measures of arbitrary bank restriction, thereby
+occasioning commercial panics, and securing another rich harvest
+for the moneyed class. His tariffs and Free-trade measures exhibit
+precisely the same tendency. They are all constructed with a view
+to cheapness, or, what is the same thing, to the diminution of the
+value of labour, so that the fortune of the capitalist or fundholder
+is now virtually doubled: while the industrious classes, with a
+lowered rate of wage, are compelled to undergo the additional evil
+of unrestricted foreign competition.
+
+Let us now, for a brief space, proceed to consider the internal
+adjustment of the strength and industry of Britain. It is a
+subject well worthy of study, especially at the present moment,
+when a general feeling of perplexity prevails, and when those who
+unfortunately gave ear to the specious representations of the
+Free-traders are convinced of their error, but are yet in doubt
+whether it be possible to retrace our steps. It is a subject,
+moreover, upon which we are bound to enter, seeing that official
+cunning has been used to conceal the real posture of affairs in this
+country, and, by undervaluing the magnitude of some interests, to
+give a factitious and altogether imaginary importance to others.
+We trust that we shall be able to show, to the satisfaction of
+our readers, the gross extent to which this kind of delusion and
+imposture has been carried.
+
+Upon no subject whatever are more erroneous impressions entertained,
+than upon the relative importance and strength of the two great
+classes of the country. Of late it has been quietly assumed that
+the manufacturers are infinitely superior to the agriculturists,
+not only in point of numbers, but in respect of capital employed or
+available; and many people have been puzzled to understand why, if
+this should be the case, such vehement opposition should be made to
+any proposal for readjusting the direct and local taxation, which
+confessedly weighs most heavily upon the proprietors and occupiers
+of the land. We have been told, in as many words, that henceforward
+the voice of the towns is to dictate the policy of Britain--that the
+agriculturists are a worn-out class, scarce worth preserving--and
+the most influential of the Free-trade journals has not hesitated to
+recommend a wholesale emigration to the Antipodes, or any portion of
+the surface of the globe where corn can be cultivated cheaper than
+in England. We have been not only taunted, but threatened, whenever
+we presumed to expostulate. Reference was made to certain "masses,"
+who were ready to rise in defence of perennial cheapness; and Mr
+Cobden has warned us not to provoke the exercise of that power
+which is vested in himself, as dictator of the democracy. In short,
+we have been given to understand that, if protection to native
+industry, in any shape, should be re-introduced--which only can be
+done by the will and legitimate sanction of Parliament--physical
+force shall not be wanting on the other side.
+
+The use of such language argues great ignorance of the national
+temper. We have heard a good deal lately of what is termed the
+dogged Anglo-Saxon spirit, the main characteristic of which we
+take to be its decided antagonism to bullying, and its inveterate
+hatred of coercion. It is too much to expect that a controversy
+such as this should be conducted without some asperity of
+language, and therefore we make no clamorous complaint when Mr
+Cobden, or his friends, think proper to designate the British
+agriculturists as "ignorant clodpoles" and "horse-shoe idiots," or
+the landed proprietors as "a selfish and degraded faction," or the
+Protectionist press as the "hireling tools of oppression." These
+are very old and very harmless terms of rhetoric, and we are not
+sure that we can claim entire vindication from the charge of having
+retorted with tolerable energy. The real danger begins when men
+step beyond constitutional limits, and advocate resistance to the
+legislature by appealing to the passions, as they have pandered to
+the prejudices, of the mob.
+
+Having premised so much, we think no one can misinterpret our
+motives, if we set ourselves seriously to the task of refuting
+a great fallacy which has been hatched and propagated by the
+Free-traders. It is one so monstrous in itself that we hardly could
+have supposed that any man, who had reflected for a moment on the
+subject, could have yielded to the delusion: nevertheless, we
+believe it to be most common, and it has been over and over again
+repeated at public meetings, until it has lost its quality as an
+assertion, and been treated as a recognised fact. It is within the
+recollection of all of us, that, both within the walls of Parliament
+and at the great outward gatherings of the League, the superiority
+of the manufacturing over the agricultural interest of Great Britain
+was broadly asserted, and assumed as the basis of the leading
+argument of the Free-traders. Sir Robert Peel expressly adopted
+this view in 1846, while advocating the repeal of the policy, which
+he had hitherto professed to support; we say, _professed_, because
+no man now doubts--indeed, it is fairly admitted by himself, with
+something like a sneer of triumph--that for many years he had
+been practising a deliberate imposture on the public. This view
+necessarily must have had some foundation on authority, if not on
+fact; and we can trace that authority to a statistical writer, Mr
+Porter, on whose accuracy, and method of dealing with figures, far
+too much reliance has been placed by statesmen high in office.
+
+In dealing with the census of 1841, and compiling his tables with
+a view to show the relative occupations of the people, Mr Porter
+has adopted the ingenious plan of massing commerce, trade, and
+manufactures together, and exhibiting the aggregate of these in
+contradistinction to the purely agricultural interest! At page 55
+of the last edition of his _Progress of the Nation_ we find this
+statement--"The following more elaborate table of the occupations of
+the population of Great Britain, as ascertained in 1841, his been
+compiled from the Reports of the Census Commissioners. _It affords
+the best abstract_ that has hitherto been attainable upon this
+important branch of political arithmetic."
+
+We turn to the table indicated in this modest passage, and we find
+the following results for Great Britain alone:--
+
+  Persons engaged in commerce,}
+    trade, and manufacture,   }      3,092,787
+
+  Agriculture,                       1,490,785
+
+  Labour not agricultural,             758,495
+
+This, of course, is exclusive of the army, navy, learned
+professions, domestic servants, and various other employments,
+besides women and children. In another table, Mr Porter, estimating
+the male population of Great Britain, (excluding Ireland,) who were
+then upwards of twenty years of age, at 4,761,091, divides them
+thus:--
+
+  Agriculture,                   1,198,156
+  Trade, manufactures, &c.,      2,125,496
+  Other classes,                 1,437,439
+                                 ---------
+                                 4,761,091
+
+If, as Mr Spackman most properly observes in his excellent work,
+the _Analysis of the Occupations of the People_, one of the
+principal objects of taking the census is to trace the relative
+degree of dependence of one class upon another, how can this be
+done if all the trade and commerce of the country is to be mixed up
+with manufactures? "Mr Porter would have us to consider trade and
+commerce, _and manufactures_ as synonymous terms, and that together
+they only form one class; and he seems to be so thoroughly haunted
+with the numerical weakness of the manufacturing interest, that
+his fear of its being discovered peeps out in every paragraph; and,
+by mixing them up in every table in which they are mentioned in his
+book, with those engaged in trade and commerce, he has effectually
+succeeded in his object."
+
+As we propose to lay before our readers the results of Mr Spackman,
+it may be proper shortly to state the principles which have guided
+him in his classification of the official returns. He recognises
+but two great classes of the community engaged in the production
+of wealth, and upon these he justly considers the whole of the
+remainder to be dependent. The following extract from his preface
+will sufficiently explain his view:--
+
+     "Of the number of persons actually employed by the
+     agriculturists and manufacturers, no difference of opinion can
+     exist, as we have adopted the Government classification in
+     every instance, and copied the figures given in the returns. We
+     believe this classification to be correct in principle, and but
+     slightly erroneous in details.
+
+     "Political economists may exercise their ingenuity by calling in
+     question this classification, but we believe it is the only one
+     that accurately traces the dependence of an individual on the
+     one or the other interest; and, as this is the primary object
+     of all such matters, if it attains this end, it is sufficient
+     for all purposes. By the landed interest we mean not only
+     the proprietors of the soil, but all that are engaged in its
+     cultivation, and all the interests that are dependent on and
+     supported by both landlord and tenant. An agriculturist is one
+     who grows the raw material. The manufacturer changes the fabric
+     from cotton into calico, flax into linen, wool into cloth, raw
+     into manufactured silk, mineral ores into various combinations
+     of metals, and the skin of an animal into leather.
+
+     "All besides the agriculturists and the manufacturers are
+     auxiliaries, not principals. Thus the handicraftsman alters the
+     form, but not the substance, and adapts the article to the use
+     of the consumer,--so the miller, baker, and butcher; the tailor,
+     milliner, and shoemaker.
+
+     "There is also a very numerous class, who neither produce,
+     manufacture, nor alter the shape or substance of an article,
+     and these are called merchants, if they buy and sell in a
+     wholesale manner, or shopkeepers and retail dealers if they sell
+     by retail. The business of these is to distribute all articles
+     imported from abroad or produced at home, through every city,
+     town, and village, in the United Kingdom; and the Government
+     definition of all these auxiliaries is 'engaged in trade and
+     commerce.'
+
+     "The dependence of any particular class engaged in trade and
+     commerce, or in handicraft, is not upon the party who produces,
+     alters, or supplies the article, but on the individual who
+     consumes it; and if there is any tax whatever on the raw
+     material, or on anything used in its manufacture, adaptation, or
+     distribution, it is on him that all and every item of such tax,
+     together with all profits and charges, must ultimately fall.
+
+     "Inasmuch, however, as there is no wealth in this country of any
+     amount, but what has been derived either from agriculture or
+     manufactures, nor any of which the value is not determined by
+     the success of these, so again this consumer, whatever his rank
+     or position in society may be, is mainly dependent on them. The
+     rental of land, the income from houses, or investments in the
+     public funds, are merely the representatives of so much labour;
+     and the means necessary to pay them are principally drawn from
+     either agriculture or manufactures.
+
+     "Our annual creation of wealth may be thus stated:--
+
+  Agriculture,                       £250,000,000
+
+  Manufactures, deducting the  }
+    value of the raw material, }      127,000,000
+
+  Money interest,                      37,000,000
+
+  Colonial interest,                   18,000,000
+
+  Foreign commerce, (including }
+    shipping interest,) 10 per }       15,000,000
+    cent on amount of exports  }
+    and imports,}
+
+  Fisheries,                            3,000,000
+                                     ------------
+                                     £450,000,000"
+                                     ------------
+
+_And from one or other of these does every individual in the land
+derive his income or means of support._ The Peer of the realm,
+the landed proprietor, the Government annuitant, the clergyman,
+the medical and the legal adviser, with the banker, merchant,
+dealer, and handicraftsman of every class and kind,--derive what
+is necessary to support their state and condition, and their daily
+sustenance, from these spring-heads of national wealth. This is the
+substance of the nation, and what we call money consists merely
+of the counters we use to denote and measure the value of this
+substance as it passes from one to another.
+
+     "To do equal justice to all classes, the legislation of a
+     country ought, therefore, to keep steadily in view their
+     relative importance, not only as regards numbers, but also their
+     powers of production, and the proportion which they severally
+     bear of the national burdens. Unless this is the governing
+     principle, it strikes at the root of their prosperity, and the
+     injury inflicted on a class is evinced in the gradual decay of
+     the whole community."
+
+Acting upon these distinct, and, we submit, perfectly sound
+principles, Mr Spackman has compiled his tables in the following
+manner. The Government returns are quite explicit as to the number
+of those engaged directly in agriculture and in manufactures. Mr
+Spackman takes each county separately; and having set down the
+relative numbers of each class, he divides the remainder of the
+population between these according to their proportion. For example,
+let us instance his table of the county of Lanark, which is the
+great seat of Scottish manufactures. We find, from the official
+returns, that the following numbers are directly engaged:--
+
+  In Agriculture,                       13,169
+  In Manufactures of all kinds,         61,378
+
+The residue of the population being 352,425, he divides in the same
+proportion, and thus gives us as a result:--
+
+  Engaged in Agriculture,     13,169
+  Dependent on,               62,257
+                              ------    75,426
+  Engaged in Manufactures,    61,378
+  Dependent on,              290,168
+                             -------   351,546
+                                       -------
+                    Total of county,   426,972
+
+In the same way, by estimating the population of Perthshire directly
+employed in agriculture and manufactures, Mr Spackman forms his
+table thus,--
+
+  Engaged in Agriculture,     16,302
+  Dependent on,               64,233
+                              ------    80,535
+  Engaged in Manufactures,    11,509
+  Dependent on,               45,346
+                              ------    56,855
+                                        ------
+                    Total of County,   137,390
+
+The grand result for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
+is as follows:--
+
+  Engaged in, and dependent on
+    agriculture,                    18,734,468
+  Engaged in, and dependent on
+    manufactures,                    8,091,621
+                                    ----------
+  Population, exclusive of those
+    travelling on night of census,  26,826,089
+
+Lest it should be said that Mr Spackman has acted upon any wrong
+principle in framing these tables--for we know by experience that
+a certain class of political economists can see no virtue in any
+figures which are not of their own construction--let us turn to
+the Government reports, and extract from them the number of males
+_directly_ employed in the two great branches of production.
+
+
+AGRICULTURE.
+
+  Farmers and Graziers,                737,206
+  Agricultural Labourers,            2,312,388
+  Gardeners, Nurserymen, &c.            60,767
+  All others,                            9,196
+                                     ---------
+                    Total Males,     3,118,557
+
+
+MANUFACTURES.
+
+  Above 20,                            717,780
+  Under 20,                            168,964
+                                      --------
+                    Total Males,       886,744
+
+"It will thus be seen," says Mr Spackman, "that the farmers and
+graziers alone, as a body, are more in number than all the males
+above twenty years of age employed in manufactures, and only 150,000
+short of the whole number of males of all ages so employed. If we
+add the two and a quarter millions of labourers which these farmers
+and graziers give employment to, the _male_ population employed in
+agriculture are nearly as four to one compared with those employed
+in manufactures. The same remark will also apply as to age: those
+above twenty are four to one; those under twenty are nearly two to
+one."
+
+We put forward these statements with no other view than to exhibit
+to our readers the national importance of that agricultural interest
+which has been so bitterly assailed, and which is threatened still
+by a heavier accession of calamity. If the bastard system of Free
+Trade is to be considered according to its influence on the welfare
+of the majority of the people of Britain, there can be no doubt to
+which side the vast preponderance belongs. The "horse-shoe idiots,"
+though dull in intellect, are numerous in the flesh to an extent of
+which, perhaps, even Mr Cobden was little aware. It is quite true
+that the extended area over which they are disposed does not afford
+them the same means of combination which are within the reach of the
+inhabitants of the factories. The agriculturalists have no wish to
+interfere with their neighbours' livelihood, and little inclination
+to move at the bidding of mercenary demagogues. They seldom speak
+until suffering or a sense of injustice compels them to appeal
+to the legislature: and their unwillingness to join in agitation
+has, ere now, been made subject of taunt against them. Were it
+otherwise, we should not attach one half the importance which we do
+to the movement which is visible all over the face of agricultural
+England--a movement which the advocates of Free Trade may affect to
+despise, but which, in reality, has struck them with consternation.
+And no wonder that the movement should have been made. Let us pass
+from the mere numerical consideration, and look to the extent of
+property which is embarked on the one side and on the other.
+
+We have already stated the annual value of the agricultural
+production of these kingdoms to be £250,000,000, whilst that of
+manufactures is little more than £127,000,000. To this latter sum
+we must add about £50,000,000, being the estimated cost of the raw
+material, if we wish to calculate from the exports the importance
+of the home market compared with that which is to be found abroad.
+For example, if the declared value of the exports shall amount to
+69 millions, we are entitled to assume that about 117 millions are
+consumed at home in a year of ordinary prosperity. This, of course,
+is no more than an approximation to the truth, but it is the nearest
+which can be made from such documents, reports, and returns, as are
+accessible to the statist. Let us take Mr Spackman's estimate of
+the capital employed, referring our readers for the details to his
+exceedingly interesting work.
+
+
+AGRICULTURAL CAPITAL.
+
+  Value of the Land, at 25 years' purchase of the annual rental of
+    Great Britain and Ireland, amounting, to £58,753,615  £1,500,000,000
+
+  Farmers' capital, employed in the cultivation of the soil, independent
+    of the stock on hand, at all times, of cattle, grain, &c., £5 to
+    £6 per acre on 46,522,970 acres, about                   250,000,000
+
+  Stock in hand--
+    About  7,500,000 head of cattle,                   }
+      "   31,000,000 sheep and lambs,                  }
+      "    1,500,000 horses,                           }     250,000,000
+      "  £50,000,000 value of timber,                  }
+                                                       }
+  On an average, three months stock of grain, seeds,
+    hay, and other produce always on hand,             }
+                                                           -------------
+                    Estimated agricultural capital        £2,000,000,000
+                                                           -------------
+
+MANUFACTURING CAPITAL.
+
+  In Cotton,                              £24,500,000
+  " Woollen,                               16,500,000
+  " Linen,                                  7,000,000
+  " Silk,                                   4,000,000
+  " Lace,                                   2,000,000
+  " Hose,                                   1,000,000
+  All others,                              23,000,000
+                                          -----------
+    Estimated manufacturing capital,      £78,000,000
+                                          -----------
+
+The first reflection which must come home to the mind of every one
+who considers these tables, is the astounding audacity of those who
+have characterised the landlords as a grasping and rapacious class.
+Singular, nay, almost incredible as it may appear, the annual value
+of the production of manufactures is nearly double the amount of the
+whole capital invested. This fact sufficiently explains the manner
+in which so many colossal fortunes have been realised, while it
+also suggests very painful reflections as to the condition of the
+operatives who are the creators of all this wealth. But what are
+we to think of the conduct of the men who, not content with such
+enormous returns, have leagued together to swell them to a greater
+amount, by demanding the free importation of foreign produce, under
+the pretext that the people were oppressed by the continuance of a
+system which gave remunerative prices, continuous employment, and
+the means of livelihood to two-thirds of their aggregate number?
+We acquit many of the leading and most respectable manufacturers
+from being participators in any such scheme. Those connected with
+the home trade have very generally been opposed to the application
+of the Free-trade doctrines, the leading advocates of which were
+comprised of men who manufactured solely for exportation, and whose
+goods were neither intended nor adapted for British consumption.
+It was for the exclusive benefit, as at the instigation of the
+latter, that the Corn Laws were repealed. Few can be sorry--we
+confess we are not--that even they have been disappointed in their
+expectations. No tariffs have been relaxed in consequence of the
+ill-omened surrender; on the contrary, the Continental states,
+as well as the Americans, are protecting their own manufactures
+with increased vigilance; whilst, on the other hand, they are
+availing themselves of our folly, by deluging our market with their
+agricultural produce, securing by these means the double advantage
+of promoting both branches of industry. Never was there a vainer
+notion than the chimera that other states would abandon their rising
+manufactures to reciprocate with Great Britain, when that haughty
+power had deliberately deprived herself of the means of enforcing
+reciprocity. _The countries from which we import the largest amount
+of grain are not the countries which take the largest amount of our
+manufactures._ Even if the case were otherwise, we maintain that we
+should be heavy losers, and in no way gainers, by the transaction.
+Nationally, this is so clear that we need not waste words by arguing
+the point; but we go further and say that, even had other states
+reciprocated, the manufacturers, as a body, could not have been
+gainers by Free Trade, unless the relative proportions between the
+amount of home and foreign consumption had been entirely changed.
+For, so long as two-thirds of our whole manufactures are annually
+consumed in Britain, the condition of the consumers there, and their
+power of purchase, must be a matter of greater importance to the
+manufacturer than that of consumers abroad. The interest of the
+shopkeepers and of the artisans is almost entirely bound up with the
+home trade; and nothing can be more suicidal to the traders than
+to give any countenance to a system which strikes at the amount of
+their profits, by crippling the means of their customers.
+
+Were our object merely to show the glaring injustice which has
+been done to the landed interest, we could proceed much further in
+disentangling details from the confusion into which they have been
+purposely thrown, by such statistical writers as Mr Porter. But we
+apprehend that, in the present temper of the nation, there is little
+occasion for this. Men of all classes have had that opportunity
+which experience can alone give, of testing in their own individual
+case the advantages which were so confidently predicted by those
+who advocated the commercial change. Those who have benefited by it
+will, of course, remain Free traders. We are not unreasonable enough
+to expect that they will abandon that policy which is profitable to
+themselves, even though they should be convinced that it has proved
+the reverse of profitable to others. But we can conscientiously say,
+that we are acquainted with very few such persons. In the country
+they do not exist: in the towns, we hear of nothing except continued
+and weary depression. Almost every day fresh complaints of want of
+employment are thrust upon us. Establishments are reduced, because
+those who were considered wealthy, and those whose wealth depended
+upon produce, have no longer the means to support them as before:
+even professional incomes are declining: and no one ventures now
+to indulge in that expenditure which, four or five years ago, gave
+an impulse to the industry of the people. All this we believe to
+be acknowledged, and we have heard it from the lips of many whose
+political creed is quite at variance with our own.
+
+Most important testimony to the same effect was borne, at the
+recent meeting in Liverpool, by gentlemen who, from profession and
+connection, belong to the mercantile and trading classes of the
+community. It is no vague apprehension of coming evil, no slight
+or ephemeral touch of distress, which has elicited declarations of
+opinion so strong as were there expressed. The urgency of the case
+is felt and acknowledged; and ere long we have not the slightest
+doubt that demonstrations of similar magnitude and importance will
+take place in other of the English towns.
+
+From what we have already said, it will be gathered that we
+recommend no hasty or precipitate movement. Our strength lies
+in the justice of our cause, and in the palpable failure of the
+measures against which we have emphatically protested. This is not
+a question of mere sentiment, regarding which men can long continue
+to maintain divided opinions. It is a practical question, affecting
+not only the general welfare of the kingdom, but the property and
+means of every man who lives and thrives through his industry. It is
+essentially a labour question, and, as such, it cannot long remain
+without receiving a distinct solution. In the mean time, however,
+it is our duty to make preparation for the change which may arrive
+at no distant period. The various Protection societies which are
+everywhere organised, offer to those who condemn the present line of
+policy the best opportunity of concentrating their efforts, and of
+contributing to the ultimate triumph of the cause. These societies
+must be supported, for, under existing circumstances, they are
+of the utmost value. They present a ready channel through which
+the wishes and situation of the people can be communicated to the
+legislature or the throne; they establish and preserve communication
+between neighbouring districts; and they supply useful information,
+and disseminate sound principles, in quarters where good political
+knowledge is most especially required. We trust that no one who
+entertains opinions similar to our own, and who is deeply impressed
+with the necessity of a return to the just system of Protection,
+will be backward in lending his aid to these institutions. From the
+peculiar position of the agricultural party, such combinations are
+absolutely necessary, in order to arrive at a just estimate of our
+strength, and the true sentiments of the nation. Private efforts,
+however energetically made, are ineffectual in compassion with this
+system of union and of order; and although we know that agitation
+is in itself a thing distasteful to many, the emergency of the case
+is such that we are imperatively bound to adopt all legitimate
+means for the furtherance of our object. It may be that under no
+circumstances whatever can redress be obtained from the present
+Parliament. We have already adverted to the peculiar causes which
+would seem to render such an expectation at best a forlorn hope;
+yet still that furnishes no reason for relaxing in our efforts. The
+Whig Ministry--by the confession of men of all parties--has a most
+precarious tenure of office. Already the House of Peers has passed
+its gravest censure upon the course of foreign policy which has been
+pursued--a course of which it is difficult to say whether its most
+prominent feature is culpable recklessness or glaring dishonesty. We
+do not know what may be the decision of the House of Commons upon
+a point of such importance, or whether unscrupulous influence, and
+the dread of a dissolution, may not overcome the dictates of honour
+and the force of private judgement in the more popular assembly.
+But, whatever may be the fiat of the Commons, this at least is
+clear, that a severe blow has been given to the stability of the
+Whig Government. Beyond the walls of Parliament they have hardly
+any support upon a question which threatens to involve us in direct
+hostility with France; and nothing could have more effectually
+damaged them, even in this wretched business, than the acerbity of
+the tone assumed by Lord John Russell with regard to the European
+powers, who are most justly incensed at the paltering and bad faith
+of the political incendiary who, to the misfortune of this country,
+has been intrusted with the management of foreign affairs. Neither
+the honour nor the interests of Britain are safe in such hands.
+Therefore we say to the men of the Country Party--Be prepared to
+act, for no one can tell how soon the moment for action may arrive.
+Ours is a great cause, and it must not be imperilled by slothfulness
+or inactivity at a crisis which requires the exertion of all our
+energies, and the combination of all our powers. Let us but be true
+to ourselves, and ultimate success is certain. Delusions may for a
+time have taken hold of the public mind; but the endurance of all
+delusions is short, and the mist is rapidly dissipating. Let any man
+compare the state of public feeling as it exists now, with what it
+was but twelve months ago, and he cannot fail to be impressed with
+the amazing rapidity of the change. And yet, why should he wonder at
+it? The industry of the nation is at stake, and what marvel that the
+people should demand their own?
+
+That cheapness of itself is no blessing, even our opponents admit
+in the arguments which they try to direct against us. Read their
+accounts of the squalidness and poverty which prevail in the
+larger towns--the testimony which has been laboriously collected
+as to the lamentable fall of wages, and the diminished profits of
+thousands employed in the lower kinds of handicraft. Undoubtedly
+competition among themselves has contributed to this state of
+matters; but in no degree at all commensurate to the great decline
+which has taken place since we commenced the ruinous system of
+reducing customs duties. Mr Joseph Hume once ventured to maintain,
+in the House of Commons, "that England might exist and prosper as
+a purely manufacturing and commercial country, if it did not grow
+a single bushel of corn,--if, in exchange for its manufactures and
+minerals, it imported from the cheap corn-producing countries every
+quarter of wheat required in this country!" How far that statement
+is compatible with the ascertained sources of the national wealth,
+we leave our readers to decide. This much, however, we shall say,
+that England, so situated, would be a very different country from
+that which we have known; and that the wildernesses of the West
+would offer a place of abode infinitely preferable to that which we
+could enjoy here under the gentle sway of the Millocrats, and the
+enlightened legislation of the Economists.
+
+
+_Printed by William Blackwood & 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.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume
+68, No. 417, July, 1850, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE, JULY 1850 ***
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 68,
+No. 417, July, 1850, 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 68, No. 417, July, 1850
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: December 3, 2013 [EBook #44338]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE, JULY 1850 ***
+
+
+
+
+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" />
+
+
+<h1>
+BLACKWOOD'S<br />
+
+<span class="oldenglish">Edinburgh</span><br />
+
+MAGAZINE.</h1>
+
+<p class="center">VOL. LXVIII.</p>
+
+<p class="center">JULY-DECEMBER, 1850.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 125px;">
+<img src="images/buchanan.jpg" width="125" height="142" alt="Buchanan" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="center">WILLIAM BLACKWOOD &amp; SONS, EDINBURGH;<br />
+<span class="s05">AND</span><br />
+37 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.<br />
+&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;<br />
+1850.
+</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p class="center b15"><small>BLACKWOOD'S</small><br />
+EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+<span class="smcap">No. CCCCXVII.</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;JULY, 1850.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="smcap">Vol. LXVIII.</span><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 House of Guise</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">My Peninsular Medal. By an Old Peninsular. Conclusion</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_20">20</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">Chateaubriand's Memoirs</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Green Hand&mdash;A "Short" Yarn. Part XI.</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_48">48</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Jew Bill</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_73">73</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Pictures of the Season</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Year of Sorrow.&mdash;Ireland&mdash;1849</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">London and Edinburgh Chess Match</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Industry of the People</span>,</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_106">106</a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+<p class="center">EDINBURGH:</p>
+
+<p class="center">WILLIAM BLACKWOOD &amp; SONS, 45 GEORGE STREET;<br />
+AND 37 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.<br />
+
+<em>To whom all communications (post paid) must be addressed.</em><br />
+
+<small>SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM</small>.<br />
+
+&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;<br />
+<small>PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH.</small></p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+
+<h2>BLACKWOOD'S</h2>
+
+<h3>EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.</h3>
+
+<p class="center">
+<span class="smcap">No. CCCCXVII.</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;JULY, 1850.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="smcap">Vol. LXVIII.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">&nbsp;</a></span></p>
+<h2><br />THE HOUSE OF GUISE.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></h2>
+
+
+<p>Upon the page of history are inscribed
+the names of many great
+men, uncrowned, but more illustrious
+than most kings, whose biography
+essentially involves the records of
+their country and times. The cases
+are very rare in which this occurs of
+an entire lineage; when through
+several successive generations the
+same extraordinary qualities are
+transmitted, and the hero or statesman
+who perished yesterday, to-day
+and to-morrow seems to start again
+to life in the persons of descendants
+who rival and even eclipse his fame.
+These remarkable and most unfrequent
+instances are exemplified in
+the house of Guise, those puissant
+nobles of Lorraine, immigrant into
+and naturalised in France, who for
+eighty years led the armies and directed
+the councils of their adopted
+country. Great warriors, bold and
+profound politicians, unscrupulous and
+interested champions of Rome, alternately
+defenders of and competitors
+for thrones, they upheld their power
+and pretensions by the double lever of
+religious enthusiasm, and of skilful
+appeals to the sympathy of the people.
+Rich in glory, in wealth, in
+popularity, they were alternately indispensable
+and formidable to their
+sovereigns, and were virtually the
+last representatives of that energetic,
+able, and arrogant aristocracy, whose
+services to the state were often limited
+by the jealousy their power inspired,
+and whose patriotism was not unfrequently
+tarnished by their factious
+temper and unbounded ambition.
+From an early period of the sixteenth
+century, the influence of Guise was
+felt in France, for the most part
+paramount to that of royalty itself;
+until the might and glory of the house
+sank and disappeared beneath the daggers
+of assassins, and before the conquering
+sword of the Fourth Henry.</p>
+
+<p>The history of France during the
+sixteenth century necessarily comprises
+the public acts of the family
+of Guise, and the memoirs of the time
+abound in personal details of the
+members of that renowned house;
+but a work especially devoted to
+them was still a desideratum, until
+the appearance of that which M.
+Réné de Bouillé has just produced.
+One of the chief difficulties of his
+task must have been to avoid including
+the history of the century
+in that of the extraordinary men so
+intimately connected with its chief
+events. Whilst confining himself as
+much as possible to his immediate
+subject, he has yet, as he himself
+says, found his horizon of necessity
+extensive. And in order to assemble
+in one frame the various members of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span>
+that celebrated family, he has been
+compelled to admit with them a host
+of other personages, who in their turn
+have brought a retinue, and have insisted
+on at least a corner of the
+canvass being allotted to their deeds.
+The manner in which M. de Bouillé
+has treated this great historical
+picture, whose magnitude and difficulty
+must have deterred a less
+zealous and persevering artist, is
+most judicious. "I have been as
+sparing as possible of discussion," he
+says, "prodigal perhaps, on the
+other hand, of cotemporary evidence,
+of faithful quotations, of such details
+as bring facts into a stronger light,
+exhibit the actors on the stage in a
+more animated manner, and display
+and make known, of and by themselves,
+the personages, parties, manners
+and spirit of the times, and the
+character of the situations." M. de
+Bouillé claims, as a matter of justice,
+credit for conscientious application,
+and declares his whole aim will have
+been attained if his work be admitted
+to possess historical interest and
+utility. No impartial critic will
+refuse it these qualities. It is at
+once substantial and agreeable;
+valuable to the student, and attractive
+to those who consider histories
+of the Middle Ages as fascinating
+collections of strange adventures and
+romantic enterprises.</p>
+
+<p>Réné the Second, reigning duke of
+Lorraine&mdash;the same who fought and
+conquered with the Swiss at Morat,
+and defeated Charles the Bold at
+Nancy&mdash;desired to see one of his sons
+settled in France. He selected the
+fifth, Claude, to whom he left by will
+his various lordships in Normandy,
+Picardy, and other French provinces,
+causing him to be naturalised a
+Frenchman, and sending him at a
+very early age to the court of France,
+where he was presented as Count de
+Guise, a title derived from one of his
+domains. The young count found
+immediate favour with Louis XII.,
+to the hand of whose daughter Renée
+he was considered a likely aspirant.
+But he fell in love with Antoinette
+de Bourbon, daughter of Count de
+Vendôme, (the great-grandfather of
+Henry IV.,) asked and obtained her
+in marriage, and celebrated his wedding,
+when he was but sixteen years
+of age, in 1513, at Paris, in presence
+of the whole French court. The
+following year another wedding occurred,
+but this time youth was on
+one side only. In his infirm and
+declining age, Louis XII. took to
+wife the blooming sister of Harry
+VIII. of England, and honoured
+Guise by selecting him to go, in company
+with the Duke of Angoulême
+and other princes of the blood, to
+receive his bride at Boulogne. The
+wedding was quickly followed by a
+funeral, and Francis I. sat upon the
+throne. This chivalrous and warlike
+monarch at once took his young
+cousin of Guise into high favour, to
+which he had a fair claim, not only
+by reason of his birth, and of his
+alliance with the house of Bourbon,
+but on account of his eminent capacity,
+and of the martial qualities
+whose future utility Francis doubtless
+foresaw. To his triumphs in the
+field, Guise preluded by others less
+sanguinary, but in their kind as brilliant,
+in the lists and in the drawing
+room. His grace and magnificence
+were celebrated even at a court of
+which those were the distinguishing
+characteristics, thronged as it was
+with princes and nobles, most of
+them, like the king himself, in the first
+flush of youth, and with keen appetites
+for those enjoyments which their
+wealth gave them ample means to
+command. He gained great credit
+by his prowess at the jousts and
+tournament held at Paris on occasion
+of the coronation, and his conduct
+in another circumstance secured
+him the favour of the ladies of that
+gallant and voluptuous court. "One
+night," says his historian, "he accompanied
+Francis I. to the queen's circle,
+composed of those ladies most distinguished
+by their charms and
+amiability. Struck by the brilliancy
+and fascination of the scene, unusual
+at a time when custom, by assigning
+to women a sort of inferior position,
+or at least of reserve, interdicted their
+mingling in the conversation, and to
+a certain extent in the society of
+men, Guise communicated his impression
+to the king, who received it
+favourably, and at once decided that,
+throughout the whole kingdom,
+women should be freed from this
+unjust and undesirable constraint."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span>
+It will easily be conceived that such
+an emancipation insured Guise the
+suffrages of the fair and influential
+class who benefited by it. From his
+first arrival at the French court he
+seems to have made it his study to
+win universal favour; and he was so
+promptly successful that, at the end
+of a very few months, he had conquered
+the goodwill of both nobility
+and army. He took pains to study
+and adapt his conduct to the character
+of all with whom he came in
+contact, thus laying the foundation
+of the long popularity which he and
+his successors enjoyed in France.</p>
+
+<p>But courtly pleasures and diversions
+were quickly to be succeeded by the
+sterner business of war. At his death,
+Louis XII. had left all things prepared
+for an Italian campaign; and
+Francis, eager to signalise his accession
+by the recovery of the Milanese,
+moved southwards in the month of
+August 1515, at the head of the finest
+troops that had yet crossed the boundary
+line between France and Italy.
+His army consisted of fifteen thousand
+excellent cavalry, twenty-two thousand
+lansquenets, fourteen thousand
+French and Gascon infantry, besides
+pioneers and a numerous artillery.
+The Constable of Bourbon led the van,
+the Duke of Alençon commanded the
+rear; Francis himself headed the
+main body, accompanied by Duke
+Anthony of Lorraine, (eldest brother
+of Guise,) with Bayard for his lieutenant,
+and by the Duke of Gueldres,
+captain-general of the lansquenets,
+whose lieutenant was the Count de
+Guise. If the army was good, none,
+assuredly, ever reckoned greater warriors
+amongst its leaders. Guise, during
+the passage of the Alps&mdash;accomplished
+by extraordinary labour, and
+which completely surprised the enemy&mdash;made
+himself remarkable by his
+constancy and activity, by the wisdom
+of his counsels, and by his generosity
+to the soldiers, thus further augmenting
+the affection they already bore
+him. Bayard and other illustrious
+officers formed his habitual society;
+and in him they found the most cordial
+and affable of comrades, as well
+as the most zealous advocate of their
+interests with the king. Devoted to
+his sovereign, Guise, when Francis
+somewhat over-hastily promised the
+Swiss an exorbitant sum of money as
+the price of the Milanese, nobly offered
+to contribute to it to the extent of all
+he possessed. The treaty, however,
+was broken by the Swiss. Steel, not
+gold, was to settle the dispute; and
+the plains of Marignano already trembled
+at the approach of the hostile armies.
+At the age of eighteen, Guise
+found himself general-in-chief of
+twenty thousand men. The Duke of
+Gueldres, having been recalled to his
+dominions by an invasion of the Brabanters,
+transferred his command to
+his young lieutenant, at the unanimous
+entreaty of the lansquenets, and
+in preference to all the French princes
+there present. In the quickly ensuing
+battle, Guise showed himself worthy
+of his high post. In the course of the
+combat, when the Swiss, with lowered
+pikes and in stern silence, made one of
+those deadly charges which in the
+wars of the previous century had more
+than once disordered the array of Burgundy's
+chivalry, the lansquenets, who
+covered the French artillery, gave
+way. Claude of Lorraine, immovable
+in the front rank, shamed them by his
+example; they rallied; the guns, already
+nearly captured, were saved;
+the battle continued with greater
+fierceness than before, and ceased
+only with darkness. Daybreak was
+the signal for its resumption, and at
+last the Swiss were defeated. After
+breaking their battalions, Guise, over
+eager in pursuit, and already twice
+wounded, had his horse killed under
+him, was surrounded, overmatched,
+and left for dead, with twenty-two
+wounds. Nor would these have been
+all, but for the devotedness of an
+esquire, whose name Brantôme has
+handed down as a model of fidelity.
+Adam Fouvert of Nuremberg threw
+himself on his master's body, and was
+slain, serving as his shield. After the
+action, Guise was dragged out from
+amongst the dead, and conveyed by a
+Scottish gentleman to the tent of the
+Duke of Lorraine. He was scarcely
+recognisable, by reason of his wounds;
+he gave no sign of life, and his recovery
+was deemed hopeless. He did
+recover, however, thanks to great
+care, and still more to the vigorous
+constitution and energetic vitality
+which distinguished all of his house,
+and without which the career of most<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span>
+of them would have been very short.
+Scarcely one of the prominent members
+of that family but received, in the
+martial ardour of his youth, wounds
+whose severity made their cure resemble
+a miracle. A month after the
+battle of Marignano, Guise, although
+still suffering, was able to accompany
+Francis I. on his triumphant entry
+into Milan, "as captain-general of
+the lansquenets, with four lieutenants,
+all dressed in cloth of gold and white
+velvet." One of his arms was in a
+scarf, one of his thighs had to be supported
+by an esquire, but still, by his
+manly beauty and martial fame, he
+attracted the admiring gaze of both
+army and people. Francis, in his report
+to his mother of the battle, named
+Guise amongst the bravest, as well he
+might; and thenceforward his great
+esteem for the young hero was testified
+in various ways&mdash;amongst others,
+by intrusting to him several important
+and delicate diplomatic missions.
+At Bologna, on occasion of the interview
+between Francis and Leo X., the
+Pope addressed to Guise the most
+flattering eulogiums. "Your holiness,"
+replied the ardent soldier, in a
+prophetic spirit, "shall see that I am
+of Lorraine, if ever I have the happiness
+to draw sword in the Church's
+quarrel."</p>
+
+<p>Master of the Milanese, Francis I.
+returned to France and beheld his alliance
+courted by all the powers of
+Europe, when suddenly the death of
+the Emperor Maximilian (15th January
+1519) proved a brand of discord.
+Francis and Charles were the only
+serious candidates for the vacant dignity.
+Guise, with a secret view, perhaps,
+to the crown of Jerusalem for
+himself, strained every nerve, exerted
+all his influence, on behalf of
+the French King. But Charles, the
+more skilful intriguer, prevailed; and
+Francis, deeply wounded and humiliated
+by his failure, revolved in his
+mind projects of war. In these the
+king did not lose sight of the great
+assistance he might expect from
+Guise, brave, skilful, and prudent as
+he was; and the esteem in which the
+young chief was held at court increased
+so greatly, that the French
+nobles came to consider him almost
+the equal of the members of the royal
+family. Guise, on the other hand,
+by reason of his enormous fortune and
+high birth, and in his quality of a foreign
+prince, spared no effort to place
+himself on the footing of an ally rather
+than of a subject of the King of France.</p>
+
+<p>Pretexts for hostilities were not
+wanting; and soon we find Guise, at
+the head of his lansquenets, fighting
+victoriously over the very same ground
+upon which, in our day, French armies
+contended with very different
+results. Maya, Fontarabia, and the
+banks of the Bidassoa witnessed his
+prowess; he himself, a half-pike in
+his hand, led his men through the
+river, with water to his armpits, dislodging
+the enemy by the mere terror
+his audacity inspired. When he returned
+to Compiègne, where the court
+then was, the King hurried forth from
+his chamber to meet him, embraced
+him warmly, and gaily said, "that it
+was but fair he should go out to meet
+his old friend, who, on his part, always
+made such haste to meet and
+revenge him on his enemies." His
+summer triumphs in the Pyrenees
+were followed by a winter campaign
+in Picardy, where he succeeded in
+preventing the junction of the English
+and Imperialists, besides obtaining
+some advantages over the former, and
+harassing their retreat to the coast.
+He thus added to his popularity with
+the army, and acquired strong claims
+to the gratitude of the Parisians,
+deeply alarmed by the proximity of
+the enemy to the capital, and who
+viewed him as their saviour.</p>
+
+<p>The year 1523 opened under menacing
+auspices. Germany, Italy,
+England, were leagued against France,
+whose sole allies were Scotland, the
+Swiss, (the adhesion of these depending
+entirely on regular subsidies,) and
+the Duke of Savoy, whose chief merit
+was that he could facilitate the passage
+of the Alps. Undeterred, almost
+foolhardy, Francis, instead of prudently
+standing on the defensive, beheld,
+in each new opponent, only a
+fresh source of glory. Unhappily for
+him, at the very moment he had
+greatest need of skilful captains, the
+Constable of Bourbon, irritated and
+persecuted in France, courted and
+seduced by the astute Charles V.,
+entered into a treasonable combination
+with the Imperialists. It was discovered;
+he fled, and effected his escape.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span>
+Out of France, he was but one man
+the less, but that man was such a
+leader as could hardly be replaced,
+and Charles gave him command of his
+troops in the Milanese. The Constable's
+misconduct brought disfavour
+on the princes of the house of Bourbon,
+(of that of Valois none remained,)
+and this further increased the credit
+and importance of the Count of Guise.
+He was already governor of Champagne
+and Burgundy, provinces the
+Emperor was likely to attack. This
+command, however, was not the object
+of his desires; he would rather
+have gone to Italy, and applied to do
+so; but the King, rendered suspicious
+by the Constable's defection, began to
+consider, with some slight uneasiness,
+the position acquired by the Count of
+Guise; and it was probably on this
+account only that he would not confer
+on the Lorraine prince the direction
+of the Italian war. The glory of
+Guise lost nothing by the refusal,
+although that of France grievously
+suffered by the army of Italy being
+confided to the less capable hands of
+Admiral Bonnivet. Fortune soon
+afforded the younger general one of
+those opportunities of high distinction,
+of which no leader ever was more
+covetous or better knew how to take
+advantage. A large body of Imperialist
+infantry having made an irruption into
+Burgundy, he assembled the nobility of
+the province and about nine hundred
+men-at-arms, with which force he
+deemed himself able to keep the field
+against the twelve thousand lansquenets
+that Count Furstemberg led to
+meet him. By an odd accident, he had
+no infantry, his adversary no cavalry.
+By dividing his horsemen into small
+parties, and maintaining an incessant
+harassing warfare, Guise prevented the
+Germans from foraging; and at last,
+compelled by famine, they prepared
+to recross the Meuse, abandoning two
+forts they had captured, and carrying
+off a large amount of spoil. Thus encumbered,
+and vigorously pursued,
+their rearguard was cut to pieces, and
+their retreat converted into a rout.
+"With a feeling of chivalrous gallantry,"
+says M. de Bouillé, "Guise
+desired to procure the duchess his
+sister-in-law, Antoinette de Bourbon,
+and the ladies of the court of Lorraine,
+then assembled at Neufchâteau,
+the enjoyment of this spectacle, (the
+battle), to them so new. Warned by
+him, and stationed at windows, out of
+reach of danger, whence they looked
+out upon the plain, they had the pastime,
+and were able to recompense, by
+their applause and cries of joy, the
+courage of the troops whom their
+presence animated."</p>
+
+<p>But such partial successes, however
+glorious to him by whom they
+were achieved, were all insufficient to
+turn the tide of disaster that had set
+in against the French arms. The
+defeat of Bonnivet, the invasion of
+Provence by the Constable, were
+succeeded by that terrible day before
+the walls of Pavia, when Francis I.,
+vanquished, wounded, made prisoner
+by a rebellious subject, beheld his army
+destroyed, and the battle-field strewn
+with the bodies of his best generals,
+whilst, bleeding at his feet, slain in
+his defence, lay Francis of Lorraine,
+a younger brother of the Count of
+Guise, the second of that brave
+brotherhood who had fallen in arms
+under the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">fleur-de-lis</i>.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> When the
+brave but most imprudent monarch
+was carried into captivity, his mother,
+regent in his absence, placed her
+chief trust and dependence in Guise.
+Of these he proved himself worthy.
+He checked the ambition of the Duke
+of Vendôme, who, as first prince of
+the blood, showed a disposition to
+seize upon the regency; he advised
+the ransoming of the French prisoners
+taken at Pavia, and exercised altogether
+a most salutary influence upon
+the circumstances of that critical time.
+His good sword, as well as his precocious
+wisdom, was soon in request.
+A large body of German fanatics,
+proclaiming the doctrine of absolute
+equality, and the abolition of all
+human superiority, had swept over
+Suabia, Wurtemberg, and Franconia,
+burning churches and slaying priests,
+and threatened to carry the like
+excesses into Lorraine and Burgundy.
+By aid of his brothers, at much
+expense and with great difficulty,
+Guise got together ten thousand men,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span>
+four thousand of whom were cavalry.
+The double cross was the rallying
+sign of this little army. The time
+was come for Guise to perform his
+promise to Pope Leo, to fight stoutly
+in defence of the Church. And truly
+his hand was heavy upon the unfortunate
+and half frantic Lutherans,
+although to a certain extent he
+tempered its weight with mercy.
+Besieged in Saverne, the fanatics
+put to death the herald who summoned
+them to surrender. Learning
+that reinforcements from Germany
+were at hand, Guise hurried to meet
+them with three thousand men, and
+encountered them at the village of
+Lupstein, into which the Germans
+retreated, after a terrible conflict
+outside the place, and threw up a
+barricade as best they could, of carts,
+casks, and gabions. From the cover
+of these, and of the adjacent hedges,
+they kept up so obstinate a defence,
+that Guise, whose men fell fast,
+caused fire to be applied to the
+houses. But hardly had the flames
+begun their ravages, when the Count,
+seized with compassion, threw himself
+from his horse to assist in extinguishing
+them, and succeeded, at
+imminent risk to his own life, in
+saving upwards of four thousand
+persons of all ages. Nearly double
+that number perished; as many more
+at Saverne and in the mountains, to
+which the unfortunate Germans fled;
+and about fifteen thousand in a final
+engagement at Chenouville, which
+broke the strength of the fanatic host,
+and finally closed the campaign.
+During one of these battles, the
+soldiers of Guise beheld in the air
+the image of the Saviour attached to
+the cross, a phenomenon in which
+they saw assurance of victory.</p>
+
+<p>"Once more," says M. de Bouillé,
+"Guise had rendered a most important
+service to the kingdom; he
+had also assumed a peculiar and
+marked position, and had fixed a
+point of departure for himself and his
+descendants, by striking, of his own
+accord, and without instructions from
+the Government, the first blows that
+Protestantism received in France:
+a circumstance often recalled, with
+more or less exultation, by the panegyrists
+of that family, and which
+procured Claude de Lorraine the
+nickname of the <em>Great Butcher</em>, given
+him by the heretics, who were exasperated
+by the loss of nearly forty
+thousand men, caused them by his
+arms in that fatal expedition."</p>
+
+<p>Determined foes to the Reformed
+faith as both of them were, a distinction
+must yet be made between the
+Count of Guise assailing and slaughtering,
+with far inferior forces, a formidable
+body of armed and aggressive
+foreigners, and the fierce <em>Balafré</em>,
+wielding a murderous sword against
+his defenceless and inoffensive Huguenot
+countrymen, on the terrible night
+of St Bartholomew. If the amount
+of bloodshed at Saverne and Chenouville
+appears excessive, and implies
+that little quarter was given, it must yet
+be remembered that greater clemency
+to the vanquished might have had
+the most disastrous consequences to
+the handful of conquerors. The
+Council of Regency disapproved of
+Guise's conduct in the affair; taxing
+him with rashness in risking the
+whole of the small number of regular
+troops disposable for the defence of
+the kingdom. But there could hardly
+have been more pressing occasion to
+expose them; and Francis I., on
+returning from exile, recognised and
+rewarded that and other good services
+by elevating the county of Guise into
+a duchy and peerage&mdash;further enriching
+the newly-made duke with a
+portion of the crown domains. Such
+honours and advantages had previously
+been almost exclusively reserved
+for persons of the blood-royal.
+The Parliament remonstrated in vain;
+but Francis himself, before very long,
+repented what he had done. He took
+umbrage at the increasing popularity
+of the Duke of Guise, and gave ear
+to the calumnies and insinuations of
+the French nobles, who were irritated
+by the haughty bearing, great prosperity,
+and ambitious views of the
+house of Lorraine. The manner in
+which Francis testified his jealousy
+and distrust was unworthy of a
+monarch who has left a great name
+in history. He showed himself indulgent
+to those of his courtiers and
+officers who organised resistance to
+the influence and pretensions of the
+Guises. "One time, amongst others,"
+says M. de Bouillé, "the Duke of
+Guise, governor of Burgundy, wishing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span>
+to visit the castle of Auxonne,
+whose governorship was a charge
+distinct from that of the province,
+the titulary, Rouvray, a French
+gentleman, refused him admittance,
+which he would not have dared to do
+had Guise been recognised as prince.
+When the Duke complained of this
+treatment, the King, delighted, whilst
+taking advantage of his services, to
+see his pride and ambition thwarted,
+lauded the conduct of Rouvray, and
+laughed at him who had wished to play
+the prince of royal blood." For annoyances
+of this kind Guise sought compensation
+in popularity, thus tracing
+out for his descendants the line they
+should most advantageously follow.</p>
+
+<p>The partial disfavour into which
+the Guises had fallen, during an interval
+of peace when their services were
+not indispensable, was dissipated by
+the zeal and talents exhibited by the
+Duke's brother, John Cardinal of
+Lorraine, in a most difficult and
+delicate negotiation with Charles V.,
+and by the prompt good-will with
+which, when negotiation failed and
+war broke out, the Duke hurried to
+the relief of Peronne, accompanied by
+his eldest son, the Count of Aumale,
+then scarcely nineteen years old.
+Peronne la Pucelle was hard beset
+by the Count of Nassau, who pounded
+its ramparts with seventy-two
+pieces of cannon, and was defended
+with equal valour by Fleuranges,
+Marshal de la Marck, who repulsed
+an assault made simultaneously by
+two breaches, and destroyed a mine
+on which the enemy reckoned for
+his discomfiture. Want of supplies,
+and especially of powder, must soon,
+however, have compelled him to
+yield, but for a stratagem practised
+by Guise. That able commander
+selected four hundred resolute soldiers,
+loaded each of them with a
+bag containing ten pounds of powder,
+and set out, at six in the evening,
+from his headquarters at Ham, with
+the Count of Aumale, whose first
+experience of war this was, and to
+whom Guise, as he wrote to the
+King, "intended soon to give up his
+sword, as capable of doing better
+service in his young hands than in
+his own." Two hundred horsemen
+escorted them as far as the edge of
+the marshes of Peronne, and at
+midnight Guise, who had brought
+with him a large number of drummers
+and trumpeters, distributed these at
+different points around the besiegers'
+camp. Whilst they sounded and beat
+the charge, and the Imperialist generals,
+believing themselves attacked on
+all sides, hastily formed their troops
+for the combat, the powder-bearers,
+guided by a soldier of the garrison
+who had borne news of its distress
+from Fleuranges to Guise, crossed the
+marshes by means of a number of
+little roads and bridges, which the
+enemy himself had made to maintain
+his communications, and reached the
+moat, whence by means of ropes and
+ladders they entered the fortress. The
+last of them were just getting in when
+day broke, and the Count of Nassau
+discovered the trick that had been
+played him, and detached a body of
+cavalry to pursue Guise, then retreating
+with his drums and trumpets, and
+whose steady array discouraged attack.
+A few days later the Imperialists
+raised the siege, and Paris, which
+had been in consternation at the
+danger of Peronne, its last bulwark
+against the advancing foe, knew no
+bounds in its gratitude to the man to
+whom it thus, for the second time,
+was indebted for its salvation.
+Guise's great services in this and
+the following campaign rendered
+Francis I. indulgent to his still-recurring
+pretensions; to the arrogance
+which led him frequently to
+refuse obeying orders that did not
+emanate directly from the King, and
+to assume a sort of independence and
+irresponsibility in the exercise of his
+government. Looking back, through
+the clarifying medium of history, upon
+the character and conduct of Claude
+of Lorraine, we are disinclined to
+think that Francis had ever serious
+cause for mistrusting the loyalty of
+his powerful subject; whose encroachments,
+however, it cannot be denied,
+were sufficient grounds for jealousy
+and uneasiness. And on more than
+one occasion we find the royal anger&mdash;perhaps
+complete disgrace&mdash;averted
+from him only by the interest of his
+brother the Cardinal, to whom Francis
+could refuse nothing.</p>
+
+<p>As a diplomatist and patron of the
+arts, Cardinal John of Lorraine occupies
+almost as elevated a pedestal in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>
+the gallery of distinguished Frenchmen
+of the sixteenth century, as does
+his brother Claude in his more active
+capacity of general of armies and
+administrator of provinces. His
+courtly qualities, and a congeniality
+of tastes&mdash;some of which, although
+they might be held excusable in a
+king, were scarcely to be palliated in
+a prelate, even in that age of lax morality&mdash;endeared
+him to Francis, who
+associated with him on a footing of
+great familiarity. His generosity and
+charity were on such a scale as at
+times to resemble prodigality and
+ostentation; his love of pleasure and
+addiction to gallantry were in like
+manner excessive. "He was," says
+M. de Bouillé, "a very lettered prince,
+a splendid patron of learned men,
+whom he treated as friends, and in
+whose labours he associated himself.
+A writer named Bertrand de Vaux,
+having presented and read to him a
+critical work, containing low personality,
+awaited, notwithstanding its
+base character, the recompense which
+the Cardinal always granted to those
+authors with whose productions he
+was satisfied. The prelate accordingly
+handed him a golden etui. 'Take
+this, friend Bertrand,' he said; 'it is
+to pay the fatigue and salary of the
+reader. The writer must seek payment
+from some more malignant man
+than myself.'" The celebrated Erasmus,
+Clement Marot the poet, and
+Rabelais the satirist, all benefited by
+the patronage or enjoyed the intimacy
+of the Cardinal, who, conjointly with
+his nephew the Cardinal Charles of
+Lorraine, is believed by some to have
+been indicated by the witty priest of
+Meudon in the character of Panurge.
+Passionately fond of art, the prelate-prince
+gathered around him the men
+of genius whom the largesses and magnificence
+of Francis I. seduced from
+Italy to France. He showed particular
+favour to Benvenuto Cellini, who
+presented him with some of his works
+and received from him costly gifts.
+"When in full blaze of fortune and
+favour, he caused to be built and
+decorated, with blind prodigality,
+after the designs of Primaticcio and
+by the pupils of that famous artist,
+the superb chateau of Meudon, in
+whose park was constructed, amongst
+other costly ornaments, a grotto,
+'excellently fine and pleasant to save
+oneself from being wetted by the rain.'
+He had musicians in his service, and
+Arcadelt, a distinguished composer,
+some of whose works are still preserved
+and esteemed, was his <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">maître de
+chapelle</i>." His charity, although often
+too indiscriminate, sprang from real
+kindness of heart. Numerous children,
+belonging to poor families, were educated
+at his expense in the Paris
+schools. And his good grace in conferring
+favours doubled their value.
+The farmer of his abbey of Fécamp,
+having made the same receipt serve
+for three separate payments, and endeavouring
+to make it pass a fourth
+time, the Cardinal's receivers refused
+to admit it, and the case was referred
+to the prelate himself, who, having
+examined and recognised his signature,
+merely said, "Since John is
+there, John shall be believed," and
+ordered it to be definitively admitted.
+When he went abroad, "he usually,"
+says Brantôme, "carried a great
+pouch, which his <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">valet-de-chambre</i>,
+who had charge of the money for his
+petty expenses, failed not to fill each
+morning with three or four hundred
+crowns: and as many poor as he met
+he put his hand into the pouch and
+gave, without stint or consideration,
+whatever he drew forth." The story
+is well known of the blind mendicant,
+who, having implored an alms of him
+in the streets of Rome, exclaimed, on
+receiving a handful of gold: "<i lang="it" xml:lang="it">O tu
+sei Christo, o veramente il cardinal di
+Loriena</i>." By the light which these
+details throw upon his character, it is
+not difficult to discern that the magnificent
+cardinal must have been a
+welcome courtier to the sumptuous
+Francis, who, during the period of his
+favour, made him his constant companion
+and delighted to do him honour.
+He sat upon the King's left hand on
+occasion of the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">lit de justice</i> held at
+Paris on New Year's day 1537, at
+which Francis declared Charles of
+Austria attainted of rebellion and
+felony, and deprived of Artois, Flanders,
+and all the domains that he held
+<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">en mouvance</i> of the crown of France&mdash;a
+sentence more easily pronounced
+than enforced, and which of course
+entailed a war. Peace again concluded,
+in great measure by the diplomacy
+of the Cardinal, he it was,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>
+according to Du Bellay, who alone
+accompanied the King and Queen at
+dinner, on the day of Charles V.'s
+entrance into Paris. The friendship
+borne him by Francis, was the cause
+of his being charged to break to that
+monarch the death of his son, the
+Dauphin of France. Of the familiarity
+with which the King treated him, M.
+de Bouillé gives a specimen in a
+curious anecdote: "One day, at mass,
+the Cardinal did not perceive that a
+thief, who had managed to enter the
+chapel, had picked his pocket. The
+rogue, observing that the King had
+his eyes fixed upon him, with extraordinary
+coolness and audacity put
+his finger on his lips, looking at the
+same time significantly at Francis I.,
+who took the hint and said nothing,
+in order not to spoil what he imagined
+to be an adroit practical joke. Service
+over, however, he made an observation
+which induced the Cardinal to put
+his hand in his pocket, when he discovered
+his loss. When the King had
+amused himself at his surprise, he
+ordered that what had been stolen
+should be restored; but the thief, who
+was perfectly serious in his intentions,
+had made his escape, which greatly
+increased the mirth of the monarch,
+thus cleverly duped. 'On the word
+of a gentleman,' he exclaimed, 'the
+rogue has made me his accomplice!'"</p>
+
+<p>Powerfully supported at court by
+his brother, Claude of Lorraine was
+no less ably seconded in the field by
+his son Francis, Count of Aumale, a
+young hero destined ultimately to
+surpass even him in glory, and to raise
+the name of Guise to its apogee of
+splendour. The constantly-recurring
+wars with the Emperor yielded him
+abundant opportunities to display
+his prowess. In the campaign of
+1543 he did good service, until, at
+the siege of Luxemburg, he was
+dangerously wounded above the ankle
+by an arquebuse ball. "Carried,
+almost without hopes&mdash;on account of
+the fracture of the bones and the injury
+to the nerves&mdash;first to his tent
+and then to Longwy, five leagues in
+rear, he owed his recovery to the
+attention of the King, who sent him
+his own physicians, and to the care
+bestowed upon him by his father.
+And nevertheless, when he suffered
+signs of pain to escape him during the
+dressing, the Duke of Guise addressed
+to him reproaches by which it will be
+seen that he subsequently profited,
+saying to him&mdash;a noble and stoical
+maxim&mdash;'That persons of his rank
+ought not to feel their wounds, but, on
+the contrary, to take pleasure in building
+up their reputation on the ruin of
+their bodies.'" It was in no feather-bed
+school that the Guises were educated.
+Nearly at the same time that the Count
+d'Aumale was hit before Luxemburg,
+Gaspard de Coligny-Châtillon, then
+his rival in valour, and at a subsequent
+day his deadly foe, was severely
+wounded in the throat at the siege of
+Binche.</p>
+
+<p>In the war in which these incidents
+occurred, England was allied with the
+Emperor against France. Personal
+motives combined with political irritation
+to dispose the violent and
+uxorious Henry VIII. to a rupture
+with Francis I. Mary of Lorraine,
+daughter of the Duke of Guise, and
+widow of Louis of Orleans, duke of
+Longueville, had been given in marriage
+to James V. of Scotland, in
+preference to Henry, who, inflamed
+by the report of her beauty, had
+solicited her hand as a pledge of perpetual
+alliance with France. Dazzling
+as was the offer of so powerful a
+sovereign, his anti-catholic acts, and
+his evil reputation as a husband, deterred
+the Guises from entertaining it;
+and Francis I., obeying the dictates
+of feeling rather than those of prudence,
+extricated them from a dilemma
+by alleging a previous promise to the
+Scottish king. It is said that Henry
+would then gladly have espoused
+Louisa, second daughter of the Duke,
+and that, means being found to elude
+his pursuit, this second disappointment
+further augmented his rancorous feelings
+towards Francis and the house of
+Guise. However this may have been,
+the war with England continued subsequently
+to the conclusion of peace
+between Francis and Charles&mdash;chiefly
+in Picardy, around Boulogne, which
+Henry held, and in whose neighbourhood
+his army was encamped. Some
+severe skirmishes and partial engagements
+occurred, and in one of these
+the Count of Aumale received a
+wound, probably the severest ever
+survived by mortal man, from the
+lance of an English officer. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>
+weapon, according to the description
+of Ambrose Paré, entered "above the
+right eye, declining towards the nose,
+and piercing through on the other
+side, between the nape and the ear."
+So violent was the blow that the
+weapon broke in the head, into which
+it had penetrated more than half a
+foot, the entire lance-iron and two
+fingers' breadth of the staff remaining
+in the wound. Paré explains the
+possibility of such a wound, in an age
+when helmets and visors were in use,
+by mentioning that the Count always
+went into action with his face bare.</p>
+
+<p>"Terrible as was the shock," says
+M. de Bouillé, "it did not unhorse
+d'Aumale. He still made head against
+his foes, succeeded in forcing a passage
+through them, aided by his young and
+valiant brother Claude, and by de
+Vieilleville&mdash;who, alone of all, had
+not abandoned him&mdash;and rode gloriously
+into camp. His appearance
+was frightful; his face, armour, and
+clothes were deluged with blood. The
+surgeons, stupified by the depth and
+gravity of the wound, despaired of
+cure, and refused to inflict useless
+sufferings upon the patient. But
+Ambrose Paré, the King's surgeon,
+sent by Francis with orders to try
+every means of saving the hero's life,
+was not discouraged. Confiding in
+his skill, and in the firmness of the
+wounded man, he resolved to attempt
+an operation, terrible indeed, but
+admirable for those days, and worthy
+alone to insure celebrity to him who
+imagined it. The lance-head was
+broken off so short, that it was impossible
+to grasp it with the hand. Taking
+then a blacksmith's pincers, to
+draw it out with great force, and
+assisted, amongst others, by Master
+Nicolle Lavernan, a very experienced
+surgeon, he asked the Lorraine prince,
+in presence of a crowd of officers shuddering
+with horror, if he would submit
+to the employment of such means,
+and would suffer him to place his foot
+upon his face. 'I consent to everything;
+proceed,' replied d'Aumale.
+Nor did his fortitude abandon him for
+an instant during this cruel operation,
+which was not effected without fracture
+of bones, nerves, veins, and
+arteries, and other parts, and which
+he endured as if they had only pulled
+out a hair. The agony extorted from
+him but the single exclamation&mdash;'Ah!
+my God!' Transported afterwards in
+a litter to Pecquigny, he remained for
+three days in a hopeless state: early
+on the fifth day more favourable
+symptoms declared themselves, and
+nature made such powerful efforts,
+that the cure was completed without
+leaving the Count d'Aumale any trace
+of this astonishing wound, except a
+scar, equally glorious for him and for
+Ambrose Paré. That skilful surgeon
+was wont modestly to say, when
+speaking of the marvellous cure of
+Francis of Lorraine&mdash;'I dressed it,
+and God healed it.' As soon as he
+began to get better, the Count d'Aumale
+hastened to write to the King,
+with a hand still unsteady, the following
+note, characterised by a calmness
+remarkable in such circumstances:&mdash;'Sire,
+I take the liberty to inform you
+that I find myself well, hoping not to
+lose an eye. Your very humble
+servant, <span class="smcap">Le Guizard</span>.'" Admiring
+his energy, and in recompense of his
+services, Francis I. made him governor
+of Dauphiny; whilst the numerous
+partisans of the house of Guise
+attributed his cure to a miracle
+wrought by the prayers of his pious
+mother, Antoinette of Bourbon. This
+princess carefully preserved till her
+death the lance-point which had penetrated
+her son's head. The extent of
+the wound, as described by Paré,
+would be scarcely credible, but for the
+testimony of that learned and excellent
+man, and of other cotemporary
+writers quoted by M. de Bouillé. In
+a short time the heroic Count had forgotten
+his hurt, and was again in arms
+against the English, with whom, however,
+peace was shortly afterwards
+concluded.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding the frequent uneasiness
+occasioned him by the power
+and ambition of the family of Guise,
+Francis I. continued, almost to the
+close of his reign, to enrich and aggrandise
+them. The magnitude of
+their services, and their many great
+qualities, at intervals elicited his gratitude
+and generosity, to the oblivion
+of mistrust and apprehension. Thus,
+only three years prior to his death,
+he erected into a marquisate certain
+lands and lordships of the Duke
+of Guise, and immediately afterwards
+elevated the marquisate to a duchy,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>
+in consideration, said the letters
+patent, of the great, virtuous, and
+commendable services that the Duke
+of Guise had long rendered to king
+and country, without sparing his own
+person, his children, or goods; "and
+also that our said cousin Duke of
+Guise is of the house of Lorraine,
+descended by wife and alliance from
+the house of Anjou, and from our predecessors,
+kings of France." Thus
+was the title of Duke of Mayenne provided
+for a younger son of Claude of
+Lorraine. Such laudatory declarations
+as the one above cited were
+concurrent, however, with the systematic
+restriction of the Guises' direct
+influence on state affairs. And on his
+deathbed, when dividing his last
+hours upon earth between religious
+duties and sage counsels to his son,
+Francis enjoined this prince not to
+recall the Constable of Montmorency,
+or to admit to a share of government
+the princes of the house of Guise.
+Montmorency had incurred disgrace
+and banishment by exciting the King's
+conjugal jealousy. Henry II. showed
+slight regard to his father's dying
+injunctions. Scarcely had the earth
+closed over the deceased monarch,
+when those he had recommended to
+his son's favour were removed from
+their posts; Montmorency was recalled,
+and the Guises were taken into
+favour; the Count of Aumale, and
+Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine, dividing
+between them Henry's whole confidence.
+It must be admitted, that the
+means to which they resorted to
+secure and preserve this favour, were
+not of the most delicate description,
+although, doubtless, they would be
+very differently estimated then and
+now. They sustained their credit
+with Henry II. by their attentions to
+Diana of Poitiers, his all-powerful
+mistress, whose eldest daughter one
+of the brothers, Claude, Marquis of
+Mayenne, had just married. From
+this discreditable alliance Châtillon,
+afterwards the Admiral de Coligny,
+had tried to dissuade them, by pointing
+out, says Brantôme, in his Life of
+the Admiral, "that it was not very
+honourable for them, and that an inch
+of authority and favour with honour
+was better than an armful without."
+The Count of Aumale, up to that
+time the inseparable companion of
+Coligny, was but ill-pleased by the
+freedom of this advice, which, he
+said, was less that of a friend than of
+one envious of the good fortune such
+an alliance insured to his family. This
+difference, however, cast but a slight
+cloud over the intimacy which thereafter
+was exchanged for so bitter an
+enmity. Meanwhile the royal favour,
+lavished on the young Guises,
+was not extended to their father, who
+was excluded from the government
+which his sons freely exercised, and
+who, immediately after the coronation
+of Henry, left the court, to live in
+retirement in his castle of Joinville.
+The prudence and moderation of the
+elder Guise were probably less welcome
+to the young king than the
+bolder and more impetuous counsels
+of his sons. There were six of these,
+all pretty well provided for when
+Claude of Lorraine retired into private
+life: Francis, Count of Aumale;
+Claude, Marquis of Mayenne; Charles,
+Archbishop of Rheims; Louis, Bishop
+of Troyes, and Francis, Chevalier of
+Lorraine, afterwards grand-prior and
+general of the galleys of France.
+"During his stay at Paris, after the
+campaign of 1544, the Duke of Guise
+frequently went, accompanied by his
+six young sons, to pay his devoirs to
+the King, who always graciously received
+and congratulated him, saying
+'that he was six times fortunate in
+seeing himself live again, before his
+death, in a posterity of such great
+promise.' One day Charles, the
+second brother, who was intended for
+the church, presented to Francis I.
+some moral and theological theses,
+accompanying them with an eloquent
+and tasteful harangue. His promotion
+to the archbishopric of Rheims,
+the richest benefice in France, was,
+it is said, the munificent reward of
+this precocious ability." Henry II.
+received his crown from the hands
+of this youthful archbishop, upon
+whom the Pope, five days after the
+ceremony, conferred a cardinal's hat.
+Charles of Lorraine can have been
+but thirty or thirty-one years old,
+when he thus attained to the highest
+dignities of the church.</p>
+
+<p>A few days before the coronation,
+Henry II. sanctioned by his presence
+the celebrated judicial duel&mdash;which
+gave rise to a proverb still current in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>
+France&mdash;between Guy Chabot de
+Jarnac, and François de Vivonne.
+It took place in lists erected near the
+chateau of St Germains. Vivonne's
+second (or godfather, as it was then
+called) was the Count of Aumale,
+who attracted universal attention by
+the grandeur of his air and the lustre
+of his renown. "Towards half-past
+seven in the morning," says M. de
+Bouillé, "d'Aumale pronounced it
+time to bring the arms, and the combatants
+appeared in the lists, Vivonne
+conducted by d'Aumale; and, after
+the customary salutations and injunctions,
+the king-at-arms, Normandy,
+having thrice exclaimed&mdash;<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Laissez aller
+les bons combattants!</i> the combat
+commenced with skill and fury. In
+a few moments, however, by a blow,
+since proverbial, dealt and repeated
+on the left ham, Vivonne was prostrated
+by his adversary. The Count
+d'Aumale sprang to the assistance of
+the vanquished man, and to calm the
+rage which made him tear open his
+own wounds. But Vivonne survived
+only three days, and, after his death,
+d'Aumale had the following inscription
+engraved upon his tomb: 'A
+great prince <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Lorrain et François</i>, much
+grieved and afflicted by so unexpected
+an event, has dedicated this to the
+manes of a brave knight of Poitou.'
+In these few words was revealed a
+pretension constantly entertained by
+the house of Guise, and which then
+appeared surprising, but which received
+a sort of consecration from its
+silent toleration by the King." It was
+doubtless this toleration, combined
+with the sentiment of growing power
+and influence, which raised the arrogance
+of the Guises to such a pitch
+that, on occasion of Henry II.'s solemn
+entrance into Chambery, during
+a visit of inspection to his frontier
+fortresses, we find the Count of Aumale
+placing himself on the same
+line with the Duke of Vendôme,
+first prince of the blood, and afterwards
+King of Navarre. The angry
+dispute to which this gave rise was
+terminated by the King, who maintained
+Guise in the place he had
+audaciously assumed. Like his father,
+Henry was nurturing a pride which
+was afterwards to give him umbrage.
+Already d'Aumale's influence and
+popularity were so great as to make
+him courted by all classes, even to
+the highest, not excluding persons of
+blood-royal; and only a few months
+after the dispute at Chambery, we
+find the same King of Navarre thanking
+him, conjointly with the Cardinal
+of Bourbon, for services he had rendered
+to friends of theirs. The first
+nobles of the land had recourse to
+his protection and support, and strove
+to propitiate him by presents and
+flattering letters. From all quarters
+he received offerings of "wine, fruit,
+confections, ortolans, horses, dogs,
+hawks, and gerfalcons, the letters
+accompanying these very often containing
+a second paragraph, petitioning
+for pensions or grants from the
+King, or for places, even down to
+that of apothecary, or of barber to
+the Dauphin, &amp;c." The memoirs and
+manuscripts of the time furnish many
+curious particulars of this kind, especially
+the MSS. Gaignières, often
+referred to by M. de Bouillé. And
+they further show that d'Aumale,
+amidst his countless occupations,
+found leisure to listen to all petitioners,
+and means to content many.
+There exist the most flattering letters
+written to him by the hand of kings;
+the humblest supplications addressed
+to him by great state corporations, such
+as the parliaments of Paris, Bordeaux,
+and other cities; testimony of the
+profoundest deference from the nobles
+of the court&mdash;names such as Brézé
+and Brissac being affixed to fulsome
+protestations of service and
+thanks for favour shown. Such was
+the immense position of the Duke
+d'Aumale, (that county also had
+become a duchy,) who now openly
+affected the state and quality of
+prince of the blood. Then, as afterwards,
+(when he was duke of Guise,)
+he always received the title of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">monseigneur</i>,
+(except from the princes of
+the blood, who called him <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">monsieur</i>,)
+and that of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">vostre excellence or vostre
+seigneurie</i>. And in 1548 the nuns of
+Bonneuil addressed him a supplication
+as <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">vostre haulte et puissante
+majesté et seigneurie</i>. So great was
+his reputation for magnanimity, so
+popular his rule, that those provinces
+rejoiced over which he was appointed
+governor. And the affection borne
+him by the French people became at
+last so great "that it may be said it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>
+was carried to an excess, even to the
+point of making them forget their
+fidelity to the King." For a time the
+favour and confidence of the King
+kept pace with the love of the nation;
+and it was augmented by the ability
+with which d'Aumale pacified several
+revolted provinces, where his presence
+alone sufficed, for the most part, to
+calm angry passions and revive the
+loyalty of the population. Soon after
+this expedition, occurred his marriage
+with Anne d'Est, daughter of the
+Duke of Ferrara, a beautiful, virtuous,
+and well-dowered princess who
+had been sought in marriage by
+Sigismund, King of Poland, but
+whom an innate sympathy for France,
+combined with the able management
+of Cardinal de Guise, induced to give
+the preference to the Duke d'Aumale.</p>
+
+<p>In his castle of Joinville, on the
+12th April 1550, Claude, first duke of
+Guise, piously and resignedly terminated
+his illustrious and honourable
+career. His duchess, Antoinette de
+Bourbon, one of the most virtuous
+and amiable princesses of her time,
+his eldest son and the Marquis of
+Elbeuf, were beside his dying bed;
+and during his illness the King sent
+frequent expresses to inquire his
+state. His premature death, at the
+age of fifty-three, after a short but
+violent illness,&mdash;combined with some
+solemn and generous expressions he
+used a few minutes before breathing
+his last, to the effect that he heartily
+forgave the person, whosoever it
+might be, who had given him "<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">le
+morceau pour mourir</i>,"&mdash;gave rise to a
+belief, further accredited by his funeral
+oration and by the inscription on his
+tomb, that he had perished by poison.
+History has difficulty in confirming
+this popular notion, in support of
+which no evidence was ever produced,
+nor anything beyond a vague supposition
+that the author of the Duke's
+death was a Genoese, an agent of the
+Emperor, then in France to watch the
+measures taken by that republic to
+obtain from Henry II. means of
+resistance to the party of Ferdinand,
+in opposition to whom there was
+little doubt that Guise would advise
+the King to give his support to Genoa.
+Considering, however, that Claude
+of Lorraine lived away from court,
+where his son had succeeded to his
+influence, this is rather a far-fetched
+story; and the probability is that the
+Duke died of some unusual malady,
+misunderstood by, perhaps wholly
+unknown to, the imperfect medical
+science of those days. But natural
+deaths were rare in the house of
+Guise; and in the sixteenth century
+poison had no unimportant share in
+the bills of mortality. Some indeed
+have hinted its possible agency in the
+death of John, Cardinal of Lorraine,
+which occurred within forty days of
+that of his brother Claude. This
+prelate was on his way back from
+Rome, where he had been an unsuccessful
+aspirant to the papal tiara,
+when he was suddenly informed, on
+his passage through Lyons, of the
+Duke's decease. It was possibly the
+shock of this intelligence that brought
+on an attack of apoplexy under which
+he sank and shortly expired. "Providence,"
+says M. de Bouillé, "had
+perhaps resolved to consecrate, by an
+almost simultaneous death, the union
+which had so constantly and advantageously
+existed between him and
+his brother, and which the cotemporary
+writers characterise, in their
+mythological style, by comparing the
+two princes to Castor and Pollux.
+Their place was not to remain vacant,
+but was about to be even more than
+filled by two brothers, also 'the
+happiest pair of brothers that ever
+were seen;' one an accomplished
+warrior and magnanimous hero, the
+other a skilful and enterprising prelate,
+who, by renewing the example
+of a constant agreement of views, by
+putting in practice that useful and
+remarkable combination of the churchman
+and the man of the sword, peculiar
+to their family, and efficaciously
+applied by them to politics and ambition,
+realised an immense amount of
+favour and authority. The first generation
+of this dynasty&mdash;if not sovereign,
+at least so brilliantly episodical&mdash;had
+passed away, already almost surpassed
+in grandeur by its successor, destined
+to elevate itself in the inverse ratio of
+the wearer of that crown which gradually
+became almost illusory."</p>
+
+<p>Certain it is that the figure of
+Francis, second Duke of Guise, surnamed
+the Great, occupies, upon the
+canvass of French history, a far more
+remarkable and important place than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>
+that of any one of the three kings
+whose reigns were cotemporary with
+his power. Early distinguished in
+arms, his generosity, urbanity, and
+irresistible valour made him the idol
+of the army, whilst the prudence and
+precocious wisdom he inherited from
+his father, rendered him invaluable
+at the council board, and secured him
+the favour of his sovereign; to such
+a point that Henry II. had no secrets
+from him, but caused all important
+despatches to be communicated to
+him as punctually as they were to
+himself. Nor was his brother Charles
+inferior to him in talent, although
+their difference of profession rendered
+its display less striking in the cardinal.
+Both possessed of admirable tact and
+judgement in the conduct of public
+affairs, the one was not more terrible
+in the battle-field than the other was
+skilful and seductive in diplomatic
+negotiations, and in the graceful intercourse
+of private life. The cardinal's
+learning and eloquence, his fine countenance,
+his dignified bearing, his
+richly-stored memory, combined to
+exercise a powerful fascination upon
+all he met. "Had I the elegance of
+Monsieur le Cardinal de Lorraine,"
+said Theodore de Beze one day, when
+mounting his horse to leave Rheims,
+where he had had a conference with
+the accomplished prelate, "I should
+expect to convert half the persons in
+France to the religion I profess."</p>
+
+<p>At the date of the death of Claude
+of Lorraine, Charles V. was the sole
+survivor of the three remarkable
+sovereigns who had simultaneously
+filled the three most important European
+thrones. With him the Duke
+and Cardinal now impelled Henry II.
+into a war, which had for its real
+object the realisation of a bold and
+extensive scheme greatly to increase
+the authority of France in Europe,
+and at the same time to establish the
+omnipotence of the Guises in France.
+One of the most remarkable events
+of this war was the siege of Metz, in
+which large ill-fortified place the
+Duke, with a small number of men,
+was exposed to the assaults of an
+army consisting of one hundred thousand
+infantry, twenty-three thousand
+horse, and one hundred and twenty
+pieces of artillery. Guise displayed
+extraordinary skill and energy, leading
+sorties himself, and even issuing
+forth at the head of a mere handful of
+men to skirmish with the enemy.
+Fortunately he had had time to lay
+in good store of provisions; but his
+cannon were few in number and for
+the most part unserviceable, and he
+was fain to defend with falconets and
+other small guns, the breaches which
+the Imperialists soon made in his
+walls. In an action that occurred
+during the siege, in the neighbourhood
+of Nancy, Claude de Guise&mdash;that
+brother of the Duke who, when a mere
+youth, had powerfully and valiantly
+contributed to deliver him, in front of
+Boulogne, from an overwhelming
+number of assailants&mdash;was taken
+prisoner. Thrice wounded, and with
+his horse killed under him, he had no
+choice but to yield or die. This disaster
+deprived Metz of a gallant
+defender, and plunged Guise and the
+whole army into deep affliction; the
+Duke, however, consoling himself by
+the resolution to make the Emperor
+dearly pay for his brother's ransom,
+and by the reflection that d'Aumale
+had not yielded until he was knocked
+down and had a cocked pistol at his
+throat. The sorties continued with great
+vigour, but at the expense of many
+wounded men, of whom so large a
+proportion died, for want of efficient
+medical assistance, that a rumour
+gained credit that the drugs were
+poisoned. Guise begged the King to
+send him Ambrose Paré with a stock
+of fresh medicaments, and, by the
+connivance of an Italian officer in the
+Imperialist camp, that skilful leech
+was introduced at midnight into the
+town, with the apothecary Daigue
+and a horse-load of medical stores.
+Paré was bearer of a letter from the
+King, thanking Guise and the other
+princes and nobles for all they had
+done and were doing to preserve his
+town of Metz, and assuring them he
+would remember and reward their
+services. Thus encouraged, and confident
+in his troops, Guise wrote to
+the King, with whom he found means
+constantly to correspond in cypher,
+that Metz could hold out six months
+without succour. On the other hand
+the Imperialists redoubled their efforts
+for success. The Emperor, who lay
+at Thionville, sick of the gout and
+expectant of triumph, at last judged<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>
+his presence indispensable for the
+fortunate conclusion of the siege, and
+made his appearance in the camp,
+mounted on an Arab horse, "his face
+very pale and wasted, his eyes sunken,
+his head and beard white." His
+coming was the signal for so great a
+salvo of artillery and small arms, that
+the besieged flew to arms, expecting
+a general attack. Until the neighbouring
+castle of La Horgne could be
+prepared for his reception, he took up
+his quarters in a small wooden house,
+hastily constructed with the ruins of
+an abbey. "A fine palace," he said,
+"when I shall receive in it the keys
+of Metz." But the keys were long in
+coming, although the fierceness of the
+attack was redoubled&mdash;fourteen thousand
+cannon-shots being fired against
+the ramparts in one day, the noise of
+which was said to have been heard
+beyond the Rhine, at forty leagues
+from Metz. The constancy of the
+besieged was a match for the fury of
+the assailants. Breaches were diligently
+repaired, and sorties continued&mdash;the
+French actually seeking the
+Imperialists under their tents. Suddenly
+the latter changed the point of
+attack, and directed their cannonade
+against one of the very strongest parts
+of the rampart, behind which the
+besieged hastened to construct a
+second wall, also of great strength.
+The sudden change of plan is attributed
+by Ambrose Paré in his <cite>Voyage
+à Metz</cite>, to a stratagem employed by
+Guise. The Duke, according to
+the learned physician and chronicler,
+wrote a letter to Henry II. with the
+intention of its being intercepted by
+the enemy, in which he said, that if
+Charles V. persisted in his plan of
+attack, he would be compelled to
+raise the siege, but that a very different
+result was to be apprehended, if
+unfortunately the enemy directed his
+attention to a certain point, cunningly
+indicated in the despatch. Sewn,
+with an affectation of mystery, under
+the doublet of a clumsy peasant, this
+letter was destined for the perusal of
+the Duke of Alva, one of whose
+patrols did not fail to seize and search
+the unfortunate messenger, who was
+forthwith hanged. Misled by the information
+thus obtained, the besiegers
+changed the position of their batteries.
+In two days a breach was effected,
+the old wall crumbling into the ditch,
+amidst the acclamations of the assailants.
+But their joy was exchanged
+for rage and disgust when, upon the
+subsidence of the dust, they beheld a
+second wall in rear of the breach. The
+French began to scoff and abuse them,
+but Guise commanded silence, under
+pain of death, lest some traitor should
+take advantage of the tumult to convey
+information to the enemy; whereupon
+his soldiers fastened live cats to the
+end of their pikes, whose discordant
+cries mocked the enemy. The enthusiasm
+of the besieged now knew no
+bounds. Men, women, and young
+girls toiled day and night to strengthen
+the inner wall. Guise's gay and encouraging
+words gave confidence to
+all. Collecting his soldiers upon the
+breach, which was ninety feet wide:
+"I rejoice," he said, "that the enemy
+have at last overthrown this barrier,
+more useful to them than to you. You
+have so often visited them in their
+camp, that it is only just they should
+have an opportunity of reconnoitring
+the town upon whose capture they so
+boastfully reckoned." Charles ordered
+the assault; but when his troops
+saw the French crowning the breach,
+with Guise at their head, they recoiled
+as if already attacked, and neither
+entreaties nor threats could move
+them forward. "How is it," the
+Emperor had exclaimed with a great
+oath, when he saw the gaping breach,
+"that they do not enter? It is so
+large and level with the ditch; <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">vertu
+de Dieu!</i> what means this?" He
+had himself conveyed in a litter to
+the foremost ranks, to animate the
+soldiers by his presence. When he
+beheld their retreat, he mournfully
+desired to be carried back to his quarters.
+"Formerly," he said, "I was
+followed to the fight, but I see that I
+have now no men around me; I must
+bid adieu to empire and immure myself
+in a monastery; before three
+years are over, I will turn Franciscan."
+Finally, on the 26th December,
+provisions running short, and
+his army weakened one-third by sickness
+and the sword, Charles, with a
+sad heart, raised the siege, uttering,
+in the bitterness of his shame and disappointment,
+the well-known words,
+"I plainly see that Fortune, like a
+true woman, prefers a young king to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>
+an old emperor." The imperial
+camp and artillery crossed the
+Moselle, and in the night the Duke of
+Alva evacuated his position, leaving
+behind a quantity of stores and tents.
+Guise, who had expressed, that very
+evening, in a letter to his brother the
+Cardinal, his conviction that the Emperor
+would never endure the shame
+of abandoning the siege, was greatly
+astonished in the morning to find that
+the enemy had decamped. His skill
+and constancy had triumphed, and
+France was saved from invasion.
+When he reappeared at court, the
+King embraced him with transport,
+and called him his brother. "You
+have vanquished me as well as the
+Emperor," said Henry, "by the
+obligations you have laid me under."</p>
+
+<p>The Duke of Guise's humanity after
+the siege did him as much honour
+as his bravery during it. A large
+number of sick men remained in the
+Imperialist camp; the rearguard of
+the retreating army were in a pitiable
+state, and, unable to proceed, yielded
+themselves ready prisoners. The
+commander of a troop of Spanish
+cavalry, pursued by the Prince of <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">la
+Roche-sur-Yon</i>, who would fain have
+brought him to battle, suddenly faced
+about, exclaiming, "How should we
+have strength to defend ourselves,
+when you see we have not enough
+left to fly?" In the hospitals of
+Metz and Thionville, the sick and
+wounded Imperialists were carefully
+tended by order of Guise; non-combatant
+prisoners were sent back to
+the Duke of Alva, with the offer of
+covered boats to transport his exhausted
+soldiers; the bodies of the
+dead received suitable burial. The
+magnanimous general's courtesy and
+humanity bore their fruits. In the
+following campaign, when the town
+of Therouenne, in Picardy, was surprised
+by the Imperialists, the Germans
+and Flemings were putting inhabitants
+and garrison to the sword,
+without distinction of age or sex,
+when the Spanish officers, with a
+lively and grateful remembrance of
+the good treatment received from
+Guise and the French, united their
+voices and efforts to check the carnage.
+"<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Bonne guerre, compagnons,</i>"
+they cried; "<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">souvenez-vous de la courtoisie
+de Metz!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>It was during the following campaign
+(1554) that there occurred the
+first marked manifestations of discord
+between the Duke of Guise and the
+Admiral de Coligny. In the combat
+of Renty, near St Omer, Coligny
+commanded the infantry, in his quality
+of colonel-general of that arm. Victory
+declared itself for the French;
+already many trophies had been taken,
+and heavy loss inflicted on the Imperialists,
+who were on the brink of a
+general rout, when Guise "feeling"
+says M. de Bouillé, "that he was
+not supported by the Constable de
+Montmorency&mdash;the retreat also, according
+to a report current at the
+time, having been sounded <em>by the
+breath of envy</em>&mdash;was unable to follow
+up his advantage, and could but
+maintain himself on the field, whilst
+the Imperialists, although defeated,
+succeeded in entering the besieged
+fort." The chief merit of this imperfect
+victory was attributed by the
+Constable to his nephew Coligny, who,
+on his part, was said to have asserted
+that, during the heat of the fight, Guise
+had not been in his right place. This
+led, upon the evening of the action,
+to a violent altercation, which would
+have ended with drawn swords but
+for the intervention of the King, in
+whose tent it occurred. He compelled
+them to embrace; but the reconciliation
+was only skin-deep, and from
+that day forwards a rancorous dislike
+was substituted for the close intimacy
+which had existed in their youth between
+these two great soldiers, and
+which had been carried to such a
+point that they "could not live without
+each other, wearing the same
+colours, and dressing in the same
+manner." Henceforward they were
+constant antagonists, the chiefs of two
+parties under whose banners nobles,
+soldiers, and courtiers ranged themselves,
+according to the dictates of
+their sympathies or interests. And
+soon their rivalry for fame and influence
+was inflamed and envenomed
+by the ardour of religious passions,
+and of combats for their respective
+creeds.</p>
+
+<p>It is here impossible to trace, even
+in outline, the events that crowded
+the reign of Henry II., and in which
+the Duke, the Cardinal, and their brother
+d'Aumale played a most conspicuous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>
+part. It was a constant succession
+of battles and intrigues, for
+the most part terminating, in spite of
+formidable foes both in the field and
+at court, to the advantage of the
+Guises. And when, a few weeks
+after the battle of St Quintin, so disastrous
+to the French arms&mdash;where
+the Constable de Montmorency, who
+had boasted beforehand of victory,
+beheld his entire army slain or taken,
+and himself a prisoner&mdash;the Duke of
+Guise returned from Italy, "to save
+the state," as the King himself expressed
+it, he found himself at the
+utmost pinnacle of power a subject
+could possibly attain. On the very
+day of his arrival, Henry declared
+him lieutenant-general of the French
+armies, in and out of the kingdom;
+a temporary dignity, it is true, but
+one superior to that of Constable, and
+which usually was bestowed only in
+times of regency and minority. That
+nothing should be wanting to the
+exorbitant authority thus conferred
+upon the man to whom sovereign and
+nation alike were wont to turn in the
+day of danger and disaster, the King
+addressed to all the provincial authorities
+particular injunctions to obey
+the orders of the Duke of Guise as
+though they emanated from himself;
+and truly it was remarked, says
+Dauvigny in his <cite>Vies des Hommes
+Illustres</cite>, that never had monarch in
+France been obeyed more punctually
+and with greater zeal. The whole
+business of the country now rested
+upon the shoulders of Guise. But
+even whilst thus exalting him, Henry,
+conscious of his own weakness, and
+haunted, perhaps, by his father's
+dying injunction, was actually plotting
+how to lessen the power of his great
+subject, so soon as the period of peril
+should have passed, during which his
+services were indispensable. With
+strange infatuation, the feeble monarch
+expected to be able to clip at
+will the wings of that soaring influence,
+when victory over the foreigner
+and the liberation of the country
+should have confirmed its domination.</p>
+
+<p>Invested with his new dignities,
+whose importance his sagacity fully
+appreciated, Guise, with the least
+possible delay, set out for Compiègne,
+which, since the recent disasters of
+the French arms, was a frontier town.
+Those disasters, he felt, could be
+effectually repaired only by a brilliant
+feat of arms, at once useful to the
+state, and flattering to the national
+pride. Upon such a one he resolved.
+Calais, now upwards of two centuries
+in possession of the English, to the
+great humiliation of France, was the
+object of destined attack. Skilled in
+the stratagems of war, the Duke contrived,
+by a series of able man&oelig;uvres,
+to avert suspicion of his real design,
+until, on the 1st January 1558, he
+suddenly appeared before the ramparts
+of Calais. The siege that ensued has
+been often narrated. It terminated,
+after an obstinate resistance, in the
+capitulation of the garrison, which
+had scarcely been executed, when an
+English fleet appeared off the port,
+bearing succours that came too late.
+The triumph excited indescribable
+astonishment and joy throughout
+France. It was a splendid revenge
+for the defeat of St Quintin, and produced
+a marked change in the sentiments
+of several foreign potentates,
+who believed that reverse to have
+prostrated the French power for some
+time to come. The Grand Signior
+offered the co-operation of his fleet,
+and the German princes hastened,
+with redoubled good-will, the levies
+that had been demanded of them.
+Pope Paul IV., when congratulating
+the French ambassador, pronounced
+the highest eulogiums on Guise, and
+declared the conquest of Calais preferable
+to that of half England. At
+court, the partisans of the Constable
+were in dismay, and tried to lessen
+the merit of the victor by attributing
+its success to the adoption of a plan
+sketched by Coligny. But even if
+this were true, the merit of the execution
+was all the Duke's own. Upon
+the heels of this triumph, quickly followed
+the capture of Guines and the
+evacuation by the English of the
+castle of Hames, their last possession
+in the county of Oye. "In less
+than a month," says M. de Bouillé,
+"Francis of Lorraine had accomplished
+the patriotic but difficult
+enterprise so often and fruitlessly
+attempted during two centuries, and
+had cancelled the old proverb applied
+in France, in those days, to generals
+of slight merit, of whom it was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>
+derisively said, 'He will never drive
+the English out of France.'"</p>
+
+<p>Henry II., accompanied by the
+Dauphin, the Cardinals of Lorraine
+and Guise, and several nobles of the
+court, made a journey to Calais,
+which he entered with great pomp.
+The object of this expedition was to
+sustain the courage and zeal of the
+troops, who endured much fatigue
+and hardship, in that inclement
+season and in the midst of the
+marshes. The King also wished to
+testify his gratitude to his lieutenant-general,
+showing him great confidence,
+referring to him all who requested
+audience on business, and presenting
+him, in the most flattering terms,
+with a house in Calais. The Duke
+returned with Henry to Paris, where
+great feasts and rejoicings were held
+in his honour, and, on occasion of the
+Dauphin's marriage with Mary Queen
+of Scots, which shortly followed,
+Guise filled, in the absence of Montmorency,
+the office of grand-master,
+which he long had coveted. Concurrently,
+however, with this great
+apparent favour, Henry was secretly
+uneasy at the power and pretensions
+of the family of Guise, and
+maintained a constant and confidential
+correspondence with their inveterate
+enemy the Constable de Montmorency.
+On the other hand the
+Guises were on their guard, labouring
+to countermine and defeat
+the intrigues levelled against them.
+Urged on by his brother, and feeling
+that, in their position, if they did not
+advance they must recede, the Duke
+directed all his efforts to an effectual
+concentration in his own hands of the
+entire military power of the kingdom.
+Should he fail in this, he at least was
+resolved to leave none in those of his
+rivals. By this time the progress of
+the Reformed religion in France had
+attracted great attention. It was an
+abomination in the eyes of Henry;
+and of this the Duke and Cardinal
+took advantage to work the downfall
+of d'Andelot, brother of Coligny, and
+colonel-general of the French infantry,
+the only military commander who at
+that moment caused them any uneasiness.
+Accused of heresy, and summoned
+before the King, who received
+him kindly, and, expecting he would so
+reply as to disconcert his enemies,
+"commanded him to declare, in presence
+of all the court, his belief with
+respect to the holy sacrifice of mass;
+d'Andelot proudly replied that his
+gratitude for the King's favours doubtless
+rendered entire devotedness incumbent
+upon him, but that his soul
+belonged to God alone; that, enlightened
+by the torch of Scripture, he
+approved the doctrines of Calvin, and
+considered mass a horrible profanation
+and an abominable invention of
+man." Furious at what he deemed a
+blasphemy, the King, who was at
+supper, snatched a basin from the
+table and hurled it at d'Andelot; but
+it struck the Dauphin. He was then
+tempted, says one of his historians, to
+pierce the offender with his sword, but
+finally contented himself with sending
+him to prison, and the post of colonel-general
+was bestowed upon Montluc,
+an ex-page of Guise's grandfather,
+and a devoted partisan of the house
+of Lorraine. This brave Gascon
+officer at first scrupled to accept it, for
+he feared to incur the hatred of the
+Colignys and the Constable. Wily
+and wary, like most of his countrymen,
+he declared himself willing to
+serve as a private soldier under the
+Duke, but modestly declined the command
+offered him. The King insisting,
+he alleged a dysentery, as rendering
+him incapable of the needful
+activity. This and other objections
+being overruled, he took possession of
+his important command, and speedily
+proved himself worthy to hold it&mdash;notably
+at the siege of Thionville on
+the Moselle. This fortress, one of the
+strongest the Imperialists owned, was
+defended by Jean de Caderebbe, a
+brave gentleman of Brabant, at the
+head of three thousand picked men.
+The Dukes of Guise and Nevers, and
+Marshal Strozzi, were the leaders of the
+besieging army; Montluc joined them
+on the eve of the opening of the batteries,
+and did excellent service. On
+the fifteenth day of the siege, Guise
+was in the trenches, talking to Strozzi,
+on whose shoulder his hand rested,
+when the Marshal was struck by an
+arquebuse ball, a little above the
+heart. On feeling himself hit, "<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Ah!
+tête Dieu, Monsieur</i>," exclaimed this
+brave and able general, "the King
+loses to-day a good servant, and your
+Excellency also." He did himself no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>
+more than justice. Guise was deeply
+affected, but, repressing his emotion,
+he tried to fix Strozzi's thoughts on
+religion. The veteran's death was
+less exemplary than his life; he died
+in profession of unbelief; and Guise,
+much scandalised, but perhaps doubly
+furious at the thought that the soul as
+well as the body of his old comrade had
+perished by the sudden manner of his
+death, prosecuted the siege with fresh
+ardour, eager for revenge, and suppressing
+for the moment, as far as
+he was able, the disastrous news,
+which could not but produce a most
+unfavourable impression. Valiantly
+seconded by Montluc and Vieilleville,
+on the 22d June, two days after
+Strozzi's death, he received the capitulation
+of the garrison. His triumph
+was well earned. Besides the exhibition,
+throughout the siege, of the
+genius and inventive resource that
+constitute a general of the highest
+order, he had toiled and exposed himself
+like a mere subaltern, constantly
+under fire, personally superintending
+the pioneers and artillerymen, and
+rarely sleeping; so that it was no
+wonder (considering he had not had
+a single night's rest during the operations
+against Thionville) that on the
+1st July, when preparing for the siege
+of the rich little town of Arlon, he
+complained of being very drowsy, and
+left Montluc to invest the place&mdash;himself
+retiring to bed in a cottage, and
+giving orders to let him sleep till he
+awoke of himself. "It is very quick
+work," he observed, crossing himself,
+when he was the next day informed,
+in reply to his inquiry whether the
+batteries had opened fire, that Montluc
+had surprised and taken the place
+in the night.</p>
+
+<p>Whilst Guise was thus not only rendering
+great services himself, but
+bringing forward leaders whose exploits
+honoured the French arms, in
+other quarters affairs went less
+favourably for France. Near Dunkirk,
+Marshal Thermes was beaten and
+taken prisoner, and Guise, whose frequent
+lot it was to repair the blunders
+or misfortunes of less capable generals,
+marched to Picardy; on the
+frontier of which province, at a grand
+review passed by Henry II., the
+Duke's son and successor, Henry,
+Prince of Joinville, then but eight
+years old, appeared for the first time
+in public, with his cousin, the Count
+of St Vallier, son of the Duke
+d'Aumale. Accompanied by their
+preceptors and some other gentlemen,
+and mounted on ponies, they rode
+through the ranks, until they reached
+the troops commanded by Montluc.
+"<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Cà, çà</i>, my little princes," exclaimed
+that brave captain, "dismount;
+for I was brought up in
+the house of which you are issue,
+which is the house of Lorraine, where
+I was page, and I will be the first
+to put arms in your hands." The
+two cousins dismounted, and Montluc,
+taking off the little silken <em>robons</em>
+that covered their shoulders, placed
+a pike in the hand of each of them.
+"I hope," he said, "that God will
+give you grace to resemble your
+fathers, and that I shall have brought
+you good fortune by being the first
+to invest you with arms. To me
+they have hitherto been favourable.
+May God render you as brave as you
+are handsome, and sons of very good
+and generous fathers." After this
+species of martial baptism, the two
+children, conducted by Montluc,
+passed along the front of the troops,
+objects of the admiration and good
+wishes of men and officers. A few
+months later, one of them was dead;
+the other, heir to most of the great
+qualities, whether good or bad, that
+distinguished his race, lived to prosecute,
+and at one time almost to
+realise, the most ambitious designs
+his father and grandfather had conceived.
+The fair-haired boy of the
+review at Pierrepont, was the stern
+<em>Balafré</em> of the wars of the League.</p>
+
+<p>The spring of the year 1559 found
+the Guises in marked disfavour with
+the King. The great services of the
+Duke, the capture of Calais and Thionville,
+and the many other feats of
+arms by which he had reduced the
+power of the enemy, at moments when
+it was about to be fatal to France,
+were insufficient to counterbalance
+the alarm felt by Henry II. at his
+and the Cardinal's influence and ambition.
+The star of the Constable
+was in the ascendant. Chiefly by
+his intervention, a disadvantageous
+peace was concluded, and, at his request,
+d'Andelot was recalled to
+court. Montmorency and Coligny<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>
+triumphed. The efforts of the Protestants
+combined with court intrigues
+to ruin the credit of the house
+of Lorraine. The two brothers were
+attacked on all sides, and in every
+manner: epigram and satire furiously
+assailed them, and they were denounced
+as aspiring, one to the tiara,
+the other to the crown of France.
+However doubtful&mdash;or at least remote
+from maturity&mdash;these projects were,
+they were yet sufficiently probable for
+their denunciation to produce the
+desired effect on the mind of Henry,
+already writhing impatiently under
+the domination of the Guises, against
+whom he was further prejudiced by
+his mistress, the Duchess de Valentinois,
+(Diane de Poitiers,) still influential,
+in spite of her threescore winters.
+Never had circumstances been
+so menacing to the fortunes of the
+Guises; and perhaps it was only the
+subtle and temporising line of conduct
+they adopted in this critical conjuncture,
+that saved them from utter disgrace
+and downfall. Things had
+been but a short time in this state,
+and already, from the skilful man&oelig;uvres
+of the Cardinal, their side of
+the balance acquired an upward inclination,
+when the whole aspect of
+affairs was changed by the death of
+Henry II. With the reign of his
+feeble successor, there commenced for
+the restless princes of Lorraine a new
+epoch of power and renown.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2>MY PENINSULAR MEDAL.</h2>
+
+<h3>BY AN OLD PENINSULAR.</h3>
+
+
+<h4>PART VIII.&mdash;CHAPTER XIX.</h4>
+
+<p>Now for the fight. On the morning
+of the battle of Toulouse we left
+Grenade. It was known amongst us
+that the battle was coming off; and
+we started in the expectation of passing
+the night either in the city itself,
+or in its immediate vicinity. We
+ascended towards the city by the left
+bank of the Garonne, but reached a
+pontoon bridge, which enabled us to
+cross to the right bank, where the
+main body of our troops was posted.
+The fight had commenced. We heard
+the firing as we advanced; and while
+we approached the scene of action, it
+became gradually louder and more
+distinct. Immediately in the rear of
+the British lines we halted, not knowing
+the ground, and withdrew from the
+road into a field which was close at
+hand, in order that our numerous
+party might not prove an obstacle to
+passing troops, ammunition, or artillery.
+Our forces held the low ground,
+and closed, in a sort of semicircle,
+around the heights occupied by the
+French. As it so happened that I
+was not only at this battle, but in it,
+I here beg leave to relate the circumstances
+which led to my finding myself
+in a position where, as a civilian,
+I was so little wanted, and so much
+out of my ordinary sphere of duty.</p>
+
+<p>Sancho did it all. We were sitting
+upon our nags, speculating upon the
+fight, and seeing all that could be
+seen, till we began to think we knew
+something of what was going on. At
+this moment rode up from the rear,
+coming across the fields, an old officer
+of rank, a major-general, well known
+at headquarters, without aide-de-camp,
+orderly, or any kind of attendant.
+He inquired eagerly, "Where
+are the troops?&mdash;Where are the
+troops?" We pointed forward; little
+was visible but trees. He looked
+rather at a loss, but turned his horse's
+head in the direction we had indicated.
+That villain Sancho, seeing
+another horse go on, snorted, and
+pulled at the bridle. He was tired of
+standing still. I, ever indulgent to
+Sancho, followed the old general, and
+soon overtook him. "I believe I
+know the position of the troops, sir.
+Will you give me leave to show
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, sir, thank you," said
+he; "I shall really be much obliged."</p>
+
+<p>We rode on till we reached a British
+regiment, drawn up in line. With<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>
+renewed acknowledgments he then
+took his leave. The air was musical
+above our heads with whistling and
+humming missiles. I was now fairly
+upon the ground, and didn't like to go
+back.</p>
+
+<p>There was a lull in the fight. The
+spectacle was singular. Some firing
+was kept up on both sides, but not
+sufficient to obscure the view of the
+French position, which rose immediately
+in front, a bare range of hills,
+crowned by their redoubts. The
+atmosphere was bright; and though
+the skirmishers on the declivity were
+discoverable only by small white jets
+of smoke, as they fired from time to
+time, every movement of the enemy
+on the summit, with the sky for its
+background, was perfectly visible. I
+noticed a single horseman, probably
+an aide-de-camp bearing orders, as
+distinct and diminutive as if seen
+through the wrong end of a telescope.
+You might perceive the very action of
+his horse, that laborious up-and-down
+gallop of the French manége, which
+throws away so much of the animal's
+strength, and sacrifices speed without
+securing elegance.</p>
+
+<p>The combat, at this moment, was
+renewed, and our troops went to work
+in earnest. The Spanish army
+ascended the hill to assault the
+enemy's redoubts. This movement,
+at first, had all the regularity of a
+review. But the redoubts opened
+their fire; as the Spaniards moved
+up, the smoke rolled down; and,
+when the wind swept it away, their
+broken bands were seen in precipitate
+retreat, followed by a large body of
+the French, who swarmed out from
+their intrenchments. Instantly, and
+just in front of me, our artillery
+opened upon the pursuing foe. The
+round-shot plumped into their columns,
+knocking up clods as high as a
+house; and the enemy, not relishing
+this salutation, hastily fell back to
+their former position. Sancho now
+became a dreadful plague. He had
+for some time been getting unquiet,
+and, with the continual firing, he
+grew worse and worse. I believe
+this was his first battle, as it was
+mine. Not content with a little extra
+restiveness at every fresh discharge of
+artillery, he had worked himself into
+a state of chronic excitement, and,
+at intervals, attempted to bolt. It
+was clear I must get rid of Sancho,
+or see no more of the fight; so I
+deposited him in a stable, under care
+of a cottager, in the adjoining village.</p>
+
+<p>Still moving towards the left, along
+the base of the hill, I reached a part
+of the British position, where a number
+of our troops were waiting to
+storm the heights, when the flank
+movement against the enemy's right,
+which was his weakest point, should
+be sufficiently advanced. All at once
+I plumped upon "Cousin Tom," whom
+I had not met since he embarked, three
+years before, a raw subaltern, at Portsmouth.
+There he now stood, as large
+as life, rough and ugly, at the head of
+his regiment, a regular "Old Peninsular;"
+and on him had devolved the
+duty, as he gave me to understand,
+of "taking those fellows up the hill."
+This service, I thought, would have
+fallen to some officer of higher rank;
+but Tom explained. The regiment
+having been reduced, either by losses
+or detachment, its numbers in the field
+were small, and he, being the senior
+officer present, of course had to
+"carry them up." "Come," said he,
+"we are going to take a look at those
+monsieurs above there; you may as
+well go with us."</p>
+
+<p>The proposal was coolly made, so
+I took it coolly. "With all my
+heart," said I. "You know what is
+the feeling towards an amateur. If
+he makes an ass of himself, he's
+laughed at; and if he gets hit, they
+only say, it serves him right. If it's
+of any use, I'll go with pleasure."</p>
+
+<p>"Use?" said Tom; "the greatest
+use. Why, I want to ask you twenty
+questions about friends in England.
+Besides, you know, if I am knocked
+over, you can pick me up."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, then; and you can
+do the same for me."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no," said cousin Tom; "I
+don't promise that. Got my men to
+attend to. If I am hit, you must
+take care of me. If you are hit, you
+must take care of yoursel&mdash;&mdash;Oh,
+that's the signal. Come along." Away
+we went, up the hill.</p>
+
+<p>Rank and file&mdash;double-quick time&mdash;a
+capital pace for opening the
+chest. Tom took it easy, trotting on
+at a steady pace, and assailing me
+with a running fire of questions;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>
+while the row that had already commenced
+above prevented my returning
+categorical replies. "Is your
+father at sea now?"&mdash;Bang! from
+one of the big guns in the French
+batteries right over our heads. "Got
+any brandy?"&mdash;A shout from a thousand
+throats, in the rush and shock
+of a charge with bayonets. "Had
+breakfast this morning?"&mdash;Pop!
+pop! pop! a running fire of musketry.
+Pop! pop! pop! "Got any
+cigars?"&mdash;Bang! bang! the big guns
+at it again. "When did you hear
+from your mother?" A new sound,
+less loud and sudden, but, from its
+peculiarity, distinct amidst the din;
+a spiteful, whirling, whizzing noise,
+ten thousand skyrockets combined in
+one; not, though, like the skyrocket,
+first loud, then less audible&mdash;quite
+the contrary. Commencing with a
+faint and distant hiss, it grew louder
+and louder, came singing on, nearer
+and nearer, till a shell dropped a
+few yards in front of our column!
+The hiss was now an angry roar, like
+the blowing off of steam. There lay
+the bottled demon, full in our path,
+threatening instant destruction, and
+daring us to advance. Our column
+halted. "Hurra! my lads," cried
+Cousin Tom, waving his sword.
+"Come along, old Five-and-threepennies.
+Push by it at once, before
+it <em>spreads</em>." The game old Five-and-threepennies
+gave a shout&mdash;rushed
+forward&mdash;got by in time; each yelping
+and capering as he passed the
+fizzing foe. Bang went the shell.
+For a few seconds I was stone deaf.
+Never felt such an odd sensation.
+Not the deafness, but the return of
+hearing. First, perfect silence in the
+midst of the turmoil&mdash;then the crack!
+crack! bang! bang! as if you had
+suddenly flung open a door. Not a
+man of us was hurt. "Got an English
+paper?" said Tom.</p>
+
+<p>"I've got some intelligence for
+you, old chap, not in this morning's
+<cite>Times</cite>. Just look up there, in front."</p>
+
+<p>The view in front was striking and
+picturesque. Right above us, dimly
+visible through the smoke, on the
+verge of the platform or table-land
+which we were mounting to assault,
+appeared a regiment of French infantry,
+enough of them to eat us up,
+advancing upon us with an irregular
+fire, and led on by their colonel. He
+rode a showy horse; and, hat in
+hand, waved them on, while his
+white hairs streamed in the wind,
+and his whole bearing announced the
+brave old soldier. "We must form
+line," said Tom. It was done forthwith,
+with steadiness, order, and
+rapidity. "Make ready&mdash;present&mdash;fire."
+Crack! went all the muskets
+together. I saw the gallant old
+colonel, with outspread arms, tumbling
+from his horse.&mdash;"Charge!"
+We rushed upon the foe; but, when
+the smoke had cleared away, found
+no foe to fight withal. Nothing was
+visible, save their knapsacks in the
+distance, poppling up and down in
+the smoke, as they scampered off.
+We still continued advancing in pursuit,
+and now were fairly in for it,
+half choked with dust and sulphur.
+If it be asked, how far I personally
+contributed to the triumphs of that
+glorious day, I beg leave to answer:&mdash;Unquestionably
+my arm performed
+prodigies of valour; of that there
+neither is, nor can be, the shadow of
+a doubt. But as I should have felt
+it extremely difficult to give a distinct
+account of my exploits if questioned
+on the day, why, of course you
+won't expect it now, after the lapse
+of six-and-thirty years. Suffice it to
+say, we made good our footing on
+the platform, drove the enemy from
+their position, occupied it ourselves,
+took possession of their redoubts, and
+formed, with the rest of the British
+forces, on the summit of the heights.
+The day was our own. But there
+was one unfortunate circumstance to
+damp our exultation; Cousin Tom
+was missing. A sergeant now informed
+me he was wounded, and had
+gone to the rear.</p>
+
+
+<h4>CHAPTER XX. AND LAST.</h4>
+
+<p>As victory had crowned our efforts,
+and my valuable services were now
+no longer required, I determined to
+look for Cousin Tom, and walked
+down the hill for that purpose. At
+its base, I entered a long thicket or
+shrubbery. There, amongst the trees,
+I found several wounded men, whom<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>
+their comrades were removing off the
+ground. No one could give me the
+information that I sought; no one
+knew anything of Cousin Tom. Saw
+a sergeant sitting on a bank, who, I
+soon discovered, was also wounded.
+He knew no such officer; had seen
+no one answering the description.
+"What's your injury, sergeant?"</p>
+
+<p>"A musket-ball in my ankle, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, but hadn't I better help
+you to a place of shelter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Much obliged to you, sir; but I
+couldn't walk, even with your support.
+I'd rather wait till my turn
+comes to be carried, if you've no
+objections, sir. Much obliged to you,
+equally all the same, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"As you please. Can I render
+you any assistance? What can I do
+for you?"</p>
+
+<p>"If you'd have the kindness, sir,
+perhaps you'd be so good and take off
+my gaiter. I can't take it off myself,
+sir, though I've tried; it does hurt
+me so when I stoop forward. I'm
+afraid the bleeding will spoil it, sir;
+and then I shall be forced to take out
+a new pair."</p>
+
+<p>Having performed this office, and
+administered a little brandy both topically
+and constitutionally, I once
+more ascended the hill, thinking it
+possible Cousin Tom might be somewhere
+nearer the scene of action. I
+inquired and looked in every direction,
+but without success. Where
+are you, Cousin Tom? This time
+my steps brought me into one of the
+redoubts, which had been carried by
+our troops. When I entered, there
+were not a dozen men in it. Sunset
+was near, and everything over for
+the day. Yet just at that moment,
+for what reason I know not, perhaps
+for a freak, the enemy thought fit to
+open upon this all but unoccupied
+post, from their own lines nearer the
+city, with a heavy fire of shot and
+shell. Bang went a shell, knocking
+up bushels of earth and mire. Plump
+came a round-shot, into the mud
+parapet of the redoubt. It was no
+use moving; one place was as hot as
+another. So we had nothing to do
+for it but to stand still and exchange
+grins till the pelting was over. I
+then took my leave for the evening.
+The day indeed was drawing to a
+close as I descended the hill; and
+happily I succeeded in reaching the
+village, and finding the cottage where
+Sancho had been left in charge, just
+after it became pitch-dark. A cheering
+light streamed through the cottage
+window; and, on entering, I
+found comfortably seated by the
+blazing hearth a veterinary surgeon,
+who was there in charge of wounded
+horses. He very civilly informed me
+there were two good beds, so all was
+right with respect to accommodation;
+and, more civilly still, invited me to
+partake of his supper, which was
+boiling on the fire. Not having eaten
+a morsel since my early breakfast at
+Grenade, and having just discovered
+that I was enormously hungry, I
+accepted the invitation with glee,
+took my seat, and cast many a glance
+at the boiling, bubbling, and steaming
+kettle. Presently the contents were
+turned out into a large, old-fashioned
+tureen, and displayed to my eager
+gaze a compound of various materials,
+the chief of which were a fowl, and&mdash;what
+d'ye think?&mdash;a pig's heart.
+Supper excellent. Bed ditto.</p>
+
+<p>Next day early I resumed my
+search for Cousin Tom, but still, alas!
+without success. Went from village
+to village, inquired from house to
+house, searched the whole neighbourhood.
+Lots of wounded officers, but
+not the man I sought. Throughout
+the day my search was unsuccessful.
+Towards night I was passing through
+a street of scattered houses, a sort of
+hamlet, and was beginning to think
+of securing a lodging and a dinner.
+Wolves rouse at sunset; and I distinctly
+felt one gnawing at my
+stomach. At this painful juncture,
+much to my satisfaction, at the door
+of a cottage I discovered a jolly
+acquaintance, whom I beg to introduce
+as my "Fat Friend." He was
+one of the smartest clerks amongst
+our civilians, and probably the youngest;
+under, rather than over fifteen;
+in short, a chubby boy, who somehow
+or other had broken away from his
+mother's apron-strings, and obtained
+a post, which he filled in a way that
+did him credit. In one respect he
+was precocious; namely, that he soon
+proved himself up to all the waggery
+and villainy of headquarters. Moreover,
+he had a vast idea of maintaining
+his importance, and could take<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>
+his own part; was touchy in anything
+that affected his manhood; and,
+if you offended him, punched your
+head; brushed up to fine women,
+with a marked preference for a
+bouncer. Yet, after all, he was but
+an overgrown boy, and often afforded
+us sport by his mannish airs. "Ah,
+Fatty, is that you? Glad to see you.
+Got any room?"</p>
+
+<p>"Plenty, plenty," said Fatty;
+"good entertainment for man and
+horse. Glad to see you; and glad to
+see the pony. Here, Francisco, take
+Sancho, and give him some corn.
+Come in, old fellow. Sit down, and
+make yourself comfortable. Dreadful
+dull here&mdash;horrid! Left in charge
+of the departmental boxes."</p>
+
+<p>"I say, Fatty; have you dined?"</p>
+
+<p>"Dined? We dined an hour ago."
+Fatty saw his advantage, and was
+resolved to make the most of it.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what did you have for
+dinner? Got any cold beef?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, where have you been?"
+said Fatty; "haven't seen you these
+two days. Oh, I suppose you got
+into Toulouse. Lots of fine gals?"</p>
+
+<p>"Answer my question, and I'll answer
+yours."</p>
+
+<p>"Come out, old fellow. Let's take
+a turn through village before it gets
+dark. Dinner? Why, a turkey. Sorry
+you were not with us to partake.
+Not a morsel left. Picked the old
+gobbler clean, drumsticks and all."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you'd let me send your
+fellow for some beef."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes," said Fatty, "send him
+by all means. Sorry to inform you
+it's no use, though. Not a morsel of
+rations to be had; not a biscuit.
+What, haven't you <cite>dined</cite>?" I saw
+he meant to have his joke, so made no
+reply.</p>
+
+<p>There was a dodge, though; my
+remedy was in my pocket. Brought
+out a cigar, one of my choice grenadiers;
+struck a light, blew a fragrant
+cloud, took it easy. The rich odour
+diffused itself through the apartment.</p>
+
+<p>Fatty, knowing in cigars, soon discovered
+that mine was no common
+weed. He first drew a sniff; then
+gave utterance to his emotions in a
+coaxing and admiring "Oh!" I took
+no notice.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, old fellow," said Fatty;
+"hand out one of those."</p>
+
+<p>"Lost your cigar-case?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no; nonsense. Come, give
+us one; that's a good chap."</p>
+
+<p>Failing in his request, Fatty sat
+silent and fidgetty. The first finished,
+I lit a second.</p>
+
+<p>Fatty watched his opportunity;
+made a vicious grab at the case. I
+was too quick for him&mdash;knew his
+ways. Down he sat again; tried all
+the varieties of entreating, threatening,
+bullying, wheedling, till cigar the
+second was burnt out. When I extracted
+the third, Fatty could stand it
+no longer; made a rush, and commenced
+a ferocious assault, pitching it
+in, right and left. The punches came
+so fierce and fast, I was at length
+compelled, in self-defence, to administer
+a slight persuader, and Fatty found
+it convenient to resume his seat. He
+sat awhile, sulky and all but blubbering;
+then hastily rose, and stalked
+out of the room in high dudgeon. I
+presently found him stationed at the
+front door with his hands in his pocket,
+very pensive and dignified. Shortly
+after, he slipped into the house; Francisco
+appeared with the tablecloth and
+a bottle of wine; then came half a
+turkey and the cold beef. After dinner
+we clubbed our resources, and closed
+the evening with whisky punch and
+prime cigars.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning early, started afresh
+in search of Cousin Tom. Near Toulouse,
+fell in with Gingham&mdash;told him
+my difficulties. "Come up the hill,"
+said Gingham; "I'll go with you.
+There, no doubt, we shall find your
+cousin's regiment." On reaching the
+summit of the heights, we found our
+way in the first instance into the
+Colombette redoubt; the same in
+which, on the day of the fight, the
+brave Forty-second had been suddenly
+overwhelmed by a superior force, and
+had lost four-fifths of its numbers.
+Within the redoubt were standing two
+or three privates; they belonged to
+the Forty-second. The uniform at
+once reminded me of Corporal Fraser,
+the trusty companion of my march to
+headquarters. I asked one of the
+privates, did he know the Corporal.
+"He joined about three weeks ago,
+sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Hope he's well. Where is he
+now?"</p>
+
+<p>"He's there, sir," said the man,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>
+pointing to the parapet of the redoubt.
+I looked, but saw no one.</p>
+
+<p>"The earth," said Gingham,
+"seems to have been recently stirred
+there. That mound, I think, is not
+many days old." Then, addressing
+the soldier, "your regiment suffered a
+heavy loss. Is that where you buried
+after the action?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's the place, sir." The man
+then walked away, as if little disposed
+for conversation.</p>
+
+<p>We did not pause to calculate how
+many bodies would fill a space commensurate
+with the length, breadth,
+and altitude of the soil displaced.
+There lay the slain of a gallant regiment,
+in the redoubt they had so nobly
+won. There lay Corporal Fraser,
+who, in all the difficulties of our
+march, had shown himself trustworthy,
+fearless, intelligent, and energetic.
+He had longed to join ere the day of
+combat, and had found a soldier's
+grave.</p>
+
+<p>We discovered at length the sergeant
+who had informed me of my
+cousin's wound. He now pointed to
+a large house, near the thicket at the
+bottom of the hill. While searching
+for Cousin Tom on the day of the
+fight, I was close to that same house,
+but without seeing it. From our present
+elevated position it was distinctly
+visible, though not from the low
+ground, amongst trees and underwood.</p>
+
+<p>Our approach to the house led us
+through the thicket. While making
+our way among the trees, we both,
+Gingham and I, came to a halt at the
+same instant. The sight which arrested
+our steps was new to Gingham,
+not to me. I saw, on that spot, an
+object that I had seen two days before.
+The sergeant whom I had then
+found wounded was still sitting there,
+on the same bank, in the same attitude!
+There he had sat the whole
+time, overlooked by the bearers, and
+unable to move. Viewed at the distance
+of a few paces, his aspect
+scarcely appeared changed. It was
+the identical figure&mdash;I remembered
+him at once. But on a nearer inspection,
+the alteration was but too manifest.
+His eye was glazed, and half
+shut. His face was that of a corpse.
+He sat up, like a dead man galvanised.
+"What, still here, sergeant? Has
+nobody come to remove you yet."</p>
+
+<p>He attempted to speak&mdash;paused&mdash;at
+length found utterance. "Sorry I
+didn't accept your offer, sir." His
+voice was low and husky, but distinct.</p>
+
+<p>"Come," said Gingham, "you
+mustn't refuse this time. We'll soon
+carry you into the house just by."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, sir; thank you, gentlemen.
+Would you have the kindness
+though&mdash;I should be sorry to lose my
+gaiter."</p>
+
+<p>The gaiter secured, we prepared to
+lift the sufferer from his seat, and he
+on his part made a feeble effort to rise.
+The attempt brought on a gush of
+pain. For a moment, his features
+were distorted with intolerable anguish;
+the next, he fainted in our
+arms.</p>
+
+<p>"Now then," said Gingham, thrusting
+back into his sidepocket a small
+flask which he had just drawn out.
+"Now then; away with him at once,
+before he recovers. Come, Mr Y&mdash;&mdash;;
+you take his shoulders, I'll take his
+legs. It may save him further pain."</p>
+
+<p>We bore the sufferer, still senseless,
+to the house. Gingham, not having
+a hand to spare, banged at the door
+with his foot. It was opened by Mr
+Staff-surgeon Pledget, who bowed on
+recognising us, but looked rather perplexed
+at the unexpected addition to
+his duties.</p>
+
+<p>Pledget gave instant directions for
+the accommodation of the wounded
+man, and informed me, in reply to
+my inquiries for Cousin Tom, that he
+had an officer under his care, answering
+to my description. Pledget appeared
+bewildered, and stood with us
+in the passage a few moments, without
+speaking. At length he opened the
+door of a small chamber close by, and
+begged us to enter. He placed chairs
+for us, and seated himself on the bed.
+"I'm rather exhausted," said he.</p>
+
+<p>"I fear after such a fight," said
+Gingham, "your duties must be heavy
+indeed."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes," said Pledget, looking
+distressed and rather wild. "I have
+had much work, and little assistance;
+a long spell, too."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you began, I suppose," replied
+Gingham, "early on the day of
+the fight."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Pledget; "and I've
+been at it ever since. Let me see:
+two days and two nights, isn't it?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>
+Yes, and now going on for the third.
+Here have I been operating, bandaging,
+taking up arteries, taking off
+arms and legs, night and day, without
+time to lie down, almost without a
+moment to eat. In fact," said he,
+looking about the room like a man
+lost, "this is the first time I've sat
+down these eight-and-forty hours."</p>
+
+<p>Pledget's look bore full testimony
+to his toils. Three weeks' illness could
+hardly have wrought a greater change.
+Nor was his appearance mended by
+his garb. He wore a sort of operating
+gown similar to that employed
+in dissecting; a long pinafore with
+sleeves, protecting the whole person
+from the chin to the feet, tied round
+the middle, and closing with a fold
+behind. The front was spotted in
+every part with jets of blood from
+wounded arteries. Some of the stains
+had dried on, and blackened where
+they dried; others, more recent, were
+still moist and crimson. Blood was
+on his unshaven and haggard face;
+and on his hands, too, wore marks of
+blood.</p>
+
+<p>Gingham eyed him with a look of
+deep concern. "I really fear," said
+Gingham, "you've been quite overdone."</p>
+
+<p>"I did hope, before this," replied
+Pledget, "to be relieved by other
+gentlemen of my own department. I
+have but one medical assistant, and
+he, at this moment, can afford me no
+help, for I have been forced to leave
+him sitting with his finger on a
+wounded artery; and if he takes it
+off but for a few seconds, the major's
+a dead man."</p>
+
+<p>Pledget now looked like a man that
+can't remember what's next. "Oh,"
+said he, in all absent tone, "so peace
+is really concluded. Come, Mr Y&mdash;&mdash;,
+suppose we go and look for your
+cousin. His case, I'm happy to say,
+is not serious. The ball will be extracted
+this evening, and then, I hope,
+he will do well."</p>
+
+<p>Pledget spoke, but did not stir.
+"By the bye," he added, "you know
+Captain Gabion? I think you do.
+Oh yes, I recollect; we were all three
+fellow-passengers from Lisbon to Falmouth.
+No, no, what am I saying?
+From Falmouth to Lisbon. His case
+is past hope. He can hardly live
+through the night."</p>
+
+<p>Gingham and I rose at once from
+our seats. For the moment, the imminent
+danger of a man we so highly
+esteemed, expelled from my thoughts
+even Cousin Tom. Pledget also
+rose, as if to lead the way, but again
+lapsed into forgetfulness. His mind
+was evidently worn out, as well as
+his body. "Well," said he, "I'm
+glad we've got Toulouse.&mdash;Gentlemen,
+I beg your pardon. This way,
+if you please; up stairs."</p>
+
+<p>He led the way. Every open
+door, as we passed through the spacious
+mansion, discovered a room
+crowded with wounded and dying
+men, in beds, or on the ground. Or,
+if we saw not into the apartment,
+sounds were heard, which told of
+anguish and laceration within. We
+were conducted by Pledget into a
+large room on the first floor, filled,
+like the others, with every form of
+suffering. Some, slightly wounded,
+sat round the fire, on which cookery
+was proceeding in kettles of every
+size and shape. One officer, bandaged
+round the head, had become
+delirious. He alternately laughed
+and whimpered, muttered and sang.
+Another sat near him, moaning, with
+his arm in a sling. A spent cannon
+ball had smashed the bones from the
+elbow to the wrist, without inflicting
+an external wound. Every bed had
+an occupant; and many lay upon the
+floor, with only a blanket under
+them. My eye glanced round the
+apartment, and lighted on the pinched
+features and pallid visage of Captain
+Gabion.</p>
+
+<p>He lay on his back in bed. Death
+was legible in his aspect. His eyes
+were all but shut; but, from time to
+time, a convulsive twitching of the
+muscles suddenly expanded them to
+their full width. To all appearance,
+he was perfectly insensible. His
+breathing was irregular and laborious;
+but the expression of his countenance,
+except when disfigured by the spasms
+which occasionally shot through his
+frame, and jerked him from head to
+foot, was, as in health, calm and
+dignified. Strange indeed were the
+vicissitudes, strange was the contrast,
+between the rigid tranquillity of one
+moment, and the awful distortion of
+the next. Now, it was the quivering
+play of features pulled by muscular<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>
+contraction; now, the monumental
+repose of marble.</p>
+
+<p>"I fear," whispered Gingham
+to Pledget, "you view the case
+unfavourably." Pledget hopelessly
+raised his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"The Captain has been insensible,"
+said Pledget, "ever since he was
+brought in; and probably will continue
+so till he expires."</p>
+
+<p>We turned from this sad spectacle,
+without exchanging a syllable. A
+handkerchief was whisked in my
+face. I looked round; there was the
+man I wanted. In the next bed,
+tucked in, with smiling face, little
+changed since we parted, a splendid
+specimen of the ugly-handsome&mdash;those
+fellows that make the biggest
+holes in ladies' hearts&mdash;lay Cousin
+Tom. Gingham, my object attained,
+forthwith took a temporary leave&mdash;had
+urgent business in Toulouse&mdash;an
+appointment&mdash;would return as soon
+as possible.</p>
+
+<p>"Fine fellow, that" said Cousin
+Tom, craning round, and nodding at
+Captain Gabion.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Tom," said I; "what's the
+matter with <small>YOU</small>? What brought <small>YOU</small>
+here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, not much; nothing," replied
+Tom, curling out his lips contemptuously,
+like a disappointed man;
+"only a musket-shot. It won't get
+me a step, I'm afraid; no, nor a
+pension neither."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, but how was it? When
+was it? We lost you in a moment."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell you just how it happened,"
+said Tom. "You saw the
+old colonel knocked over. Ah!
+Don't touch the bed; that's a good
+fellow. Well. Directly after, you
+know, we charged. I was running
+on; felt a smart crack in the small
+of my leg. Thought it was a stone;
+took no notice. A few paces further,
+though, found I couldn't walk. The
+sergeant looked at my leg; said
+'You're wounded, sir.' Wounded I
+was, sure enough; and disabled, too.
+Got carried to the rear; placed myself
+in the doctor's&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Here Tom suddenly knit his brows.
+His colour changed in an instant
+from florid to livid; his whole face
+was distorted with pain. Clapping
+his handkerchief to his mouth, he
+chewed away at it with all his might,
+while big drops of sweat started out
+on his forehead, and he drew in
+breath till the bedclothes heaved.
+Next moment he was himself again.</p>
+
+<p>Once more Tom nodded at the
+next bed. "Known him long? The
+doctor knows him."</p>
+
+<p>"We came over from England, all
+three of us in a ship."</p>
+
+<p>"Doctor was out, though, in one
+thing," said Cousin Tom. "Told
+you he was insensible ever since he
+came in. No such thing; this morning
+he revived; for about an hour
+seemed quite himself. Told me how
+he got hit."</p>
+
+<p>"Then tell me. I must communicate
+with his friends in England."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," replied Tom, "the Captain
+wasn't on duty here at headquarters;
+was doing some field-works
+on the left bank of the river, to be
+ready for Soult in case of his bolting
+again for the south. He heard,
+though, that the fight was coming
+off; so rode in on the morning.
+Found out there was to be a flank
+movement to the left; thought he
+might as well explore the line of
+march; went forward alone. Passed
+through the thicket on foot; made his
+way from one end to the other.
+When he reached the further extremity,
+just where our men got such
+a pounding afterwards from the guns
+on the heights, he looked out for the
+enemy's skirmishers; saw no one;
+thought he might as well go a little
+further. Just then our batteries at
+the right opened on the French position;
+some of our shots flew too
+high, and came clean over the hill
+into the lane, just exactly where he
+was standing."&mdash;Indeed! I thought
+of Captain Gabion's dream.&mdash;"Well;
+he saw one coming; didn't trouble
+himself; it seemed spent. Just when
+he thought it was going to stop, it
+fetched a pitch; took him in the side.
+He was found when our troops advanced,
+and brought in here." At
+this moment the pain returned. Tom
+again made wry faces, took another
+chew at his handkerchief, and soon
+recovered as before.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Tom; I'm a leisure man.
+What can I do for you? Is there
+anything you want?&mdash;anything I can
+get you?"</p>
+
+<p>Cousin Tom looked very much as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>
+if there was something he did want,
+yet was backward to speak. "Why,"
+said he, "I suppose by this time you
+can get into Toulouse. I wish you
+would make inquiries; try and find
+me some&mdash;But never mind; it's of no
+use. The ball will be extracted this
+evening, and to-morrow I shall go in
+myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense, nonsense; I'll go this
+instant."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be too sure of that, though,"
+said Tom. "Yesterday morning I
+tried it. Told the servant to have my
+mule ready; got my things on while
+the doctor was sawing away on the
+other floor; slipped down stairs; gave
+him the go-by. Mounted&mdash;rode to
+the top of the hill&mdash;was riding down
+into the city&mdash;almost rode into a
+French piquet."</p>
+
+<p>"No fear of that now, Tom; the
+city is ours. I saw the French troops
+marching out. Come, tell us, old
+fellow. What is it you fancy? Anything
+the doctor sanctions, you know.
+A quarter of mutton?&mdash;a dozen of
+pigeons?&mdash;some prime French sausages?&mdash;a
+bushel or so of oysters?
+What do you say to a brace of
+biddies?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no!&mdash;oh, no!" said Tom, as
+if the very mention of biddies made
+him sick. "We were always in advance;
+got fowls and turkeys till we
+hated the sight of them."</p>
+
+<p>"Any dish from a French cuisine,
+then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no&mdash;oh, no! Nothing French,
+nothing Frenchified. What I want,
+if it's to be got at all, is not to be got
+good, except in England&mdash;or the West
+Indies."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, but, you know, Bordeaux
+is open; West India produce has come
+into the country by ship-loads. What
+is it? Come, just tell us, old chap,
+and I'll go and get it for you at once,
+if it's to be had in Toulouse."</p>
+
+<p>Tom was not so well as he looked;
+and there was evidently something
+for which, like other sick persons,
+he was inwardly pining. Now that
+I had held out a prospect of its
+attainment, his cheek flushed, and his
+eye gleamed with feverish eagerness.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then," said Tom, "I wish
+you would try and get me&mdash;but it's no
+use; it's a shame to bother you.&mdash;I
+say, though, can you spare the time?
+Have you really nothing to do? Upon
+your honour?&mdash;I've been longing for
+them, day and night, ever since I got
+here. Oh, if you could only get me&mdash;some
+tamarinds!"</p>
+
+<p>His eye, while he spoke, fixed full
+on mine. He watched my countenance
+with the anxiety of a dying man when
+he makes his last request. "I'll be
+off and try this instant," said I, though
+really fearing there was little chance
+of success.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, thank you&mdash;thank you!"
+cried Cousin Tom. I was going.
+"Here&mdash;here! Come back! I want
+to speak to you!" I returned. "Old
+fellow," said Tom, with a coaxing,
+eager grin, "make haste now, will
+you? Bring 'em directly&mdash;that's a
+good chap."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, but, you know&mdash;if tamarinds
+can't be had for love or money,
+is there nothing else?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, stupid&mdash;no! Tamarinds, I
+say; get me some tamarinds. What
+did I tell you? Didn't I tell you
+tamarinds? Now then; what are
+you waiting for? Cut away, and be
+hanged to you! Be off!&mdash;be off!"</p>
+
+<p>I entered the ancient and very interesting
+city of Toulouse, and rushed
+through streets choked with cars of
+wounded men, in search of tamarinds.
+The search was tedious, and far from
+satisfactory. I inquired at all the
+likeliest shops; found only two where
+they professed to sell tamarinds. The
+samples were similar: a made-up,
+sticky mess; a black, nauseous electuary,
+with a beastly pharmaceutical
+odour, and barely the flavour of
+tamarinds.</p>
+
+<p>It was no pleasant thought returning
+to poor Tom with a big gallipot of
+this filthy compound stowed in each
+of my coat pockets. Yet, though bad
+thus to baulk him, it was worse to
+keep him in suspense; so I started on
+my return with all speed, and, in my
+speed, came full butt against a passenger,
+who hugged me like a wrestler,
+to prevent a mutual capsize.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Mr Y&mdash;&mdash;! Glad to see you
+so active. Something of importance,
+no doubt: official duty, I suppose."</p>
+
+<p>It was Gingham! I told him my
+troubles, my pursuit in behalf of
+Cousin Tom, and my disappointment.
+Had searched all Toulouse, and could
+find no good tamarinds.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Shall be happy to supply you,"
+said Gingham, "in any quantity your
+cousin can require. Got a whole
+kegful&mdash;capital. Always take some
+with me when I visit the Continent.
+Got them on Fish-street Hill." We
+walked off forthwith to Gingham's
+quarters.</p>
+
+<p>I was speedily on my return to
+Cousin Tom, with Gingham for my
+companion, and a good jar of prime,
+sweet, wholesome, unsophisticated
+tamarinds. On approaching Tom's
+bed, I held up the jar in triumph.
+Tom raised himself without saying a
+word, tucked his handkerchief under
+his chin, and sat up, poor fellow, like
+a child, with eyes half-closed and
+mouth half-open, eager to be fed. In
+went a spoonful. The next instant&mdash;bolt!&mdash;it
+was gone! What a swallow!
+He sat as before, ready for another.
+A second allowance vanished with
+equal speed. Down it goes! Why,
+it's like feeding a young rook!&mdash;Tom
+now laid himself down again,
+exhausted. "Here," said he; and
+made me a present of a handful of
+tamarind stones. "Now put a good
+lot in that jug, and fill it up with
+water."</p>
+
+<p>While the drink was mixing, an
+unusual sound called our attention to
+the adjoining bed. Captain Gabion
+was fast sinking. His respiration,
+laborious from the first, had now
+become painfully audible; in fact, he
+did not breathe, he gasped. The
+convulsive movements had ceased.
+His face retained its natural expression;
+but there was that in his look
+which told us he was a dying man.
+I felt at the moment an impression,&mdash;He
+is not insensible! His lips moved.
+Surely he is trying to speak! He
+strove to fix his eyes on us, but could
+not. I stooped down, observing his
+lips again in motion. Yes, he was
+speaking. I caught only the words&mdash;"On
+the platform."</p>
+
+<p>"The Calvinet platform?" I whispered
+in reply. "Is that the spot
+where you wish&mdash;?"</p>
+
+<p>Feebly, tremulously he pressed my
+hand, which had just before taken his.
+I had caught his last request, then; a
+grave on the summit of Mount Rave,
+the key of the French position, where
+the table-land, crowned with redoubts,
+had been carried by our troops. His
+breathing became gradually feebler
+and less perceptible. The moment
+when it ceased entirely, no one present
+could determine. This only was
+evident:&mdash;a minute before, he had
+given signs of life; and now, he had
+passed into another world!</p>
+
+<p>Cousin Tom's bullet was extracted
+the same afternoon, with immediate
+relief to the patient. During the operation
+I was present, by Tom's request;
+and friendship, let me tell you,
+has more pleasing duties than that
+of attending on such emergencies.
+Tom, however, made it as agreeable
+as he could. Throughout the process
+he viciously stared me full in the face,
+grinning most horribly from time to
+time, half in agony, half in fun.
+When the forceps was produced, he
+caught a glimpse of that terrific implement,
+and twisted his ugly mug
+into such a comical grimace, that
+mine, spite of the solemnity of the
+occasion, was screwed into a smile.
+Tom thereupon clenched his fist, with
+a look that said ferociously, "Laugh
+again, and I'll punch your eye."</p>
+
+<p>The bullet, doctor, had lodged between
+the bones of the leg, a little
+above the ankle, and, I need not inform
+you, came out rather flattened.
+Tom kept it as a bijou, in a red morocco
+case made express by an artist
+in Toulouse. Tom called it his pill-box.
+Neither bone was broken; but
+the strain of this disagreeable visitant
+wedged in between them, and rending
+them apart, had occasioned from
+time to time those awful twinges,
+which Tom assuaged by taking a
+chew at his handkerchief. The
+enemy removed, he not only found
+himself in a state of comparative
+ease, but was relieved from the constitutional
+irritation which had begun
+to manifest itself by hardness of
+pulse, dryness of the mouth, parched
+lips, a dull, hectic, brickdust-coloured
+patch on each cheek, a feverish lustre
+of the eye, and an enormous appetite
+for tamarinds.</p>
+
+<p>The operation, though, I ought to
+have said, was not performed by
+Pledget, but by another army surgeon,
+who had arrived in the course
+of the day, not before he was wanted.
+Poor Pledget was quite done up.
+His powers, both mental and physical,
+had evidently been over-taxed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>
+He looked haggard and wild. Yet
+still, though relieved, anxious about
+his cases, he wandered from room to
+room, and fidgeted from one patient
+to another; standing a while in
+silence, with his hands behind him,
+first by an amputation, then by a
+wounded artery, then by a contusion,
+then by a broken head; while his
+care-worn countenance expressed
+pleasure or pain, according to the
+symptoms. As Cousin Tom was now
+in a dreadful fuss to be off for Toulouse,
+Gingham and I applied to the
+newly-arrived surgeon, and consulted
+him as to the removal.</p>
+
+<p>"I think, gentlemen," said he, "if
+no bad symptoms supervene in the
+night, it may safely be effected to-morrow;
+that is, of course, with
+proper care and precautions."</p>
+
+<p>"You are not afraid, sir," said
+Gingham, "that to-morrow may be
+too early a day, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, sir, to say the truth," replied
+the doctor, "if we had more
+room here, better accommodations,
+and a less vitiated atmosphere, I should
+say a later day would be better. But,
+under existing circumstances, less
+evil, I think, is likely to arise from
+the patient's removal, than from his
+remaining. In his case, what we now
+have most to look to, is the general
+health. Keep that right, and the
+wound, I hope, will do well. Therefore
+the sooner he is withdrawn from
+the bad air, and the associations
+which surround him here, the better
+for him." The doctor paused.&mdash;"Pray,
+sir," said he, looking Gingham
+full in the face, as though intuitively
+knowing he spoke to a real good
+fellow, "pray, sir, if you will permit
+me to ask the question, is Mr Pledget
+a friend of yours?"</p>
+
+<p>"There are few men, sir," replied
+Gingham, "for whom I have a higher
+regard, than for Mr Pledget."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, sir," said the doctor, "I
+feel rather uneasy about him. It's a
+delicate thing to speak about. But
+you yourself must have noticed how
+changed he is, by the labours of the
+last three days. In short, to speak
+plainly, he requires to be looked after;
+and just at this time, with so many
+wounded upon our hands, I hardly
+know whether we could possibly give
+him the attention here which his
+case requires. If it is neglected now,
+it may become serious. Would it be
+asking too much, if I requested you to
+take charge of him into Toulouse?"</p>
+
+<p>"Take him with us this instant,
+sir," said Gingham; "or when you
+please. If you approve, I'll have him
+with me in my own quarters."</p>
+
+<p>"I really, sir, feel obliged to you,"
+said the doctor. And the doctor
+looked as if he spoke from his heart.
+"Hope you understand, though, what
+it is you are taking on your shoulders.
+For a few days&mdash;not longer, I hope&mdash;he
+will require vigilant superintendence,
+and, possibly, slight control.
+His case demands firmness, and indulgence
+at the same time."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir, I understand," said
+Gingham. "Shall he go with us
+now?"</p>
+
+<p>"I would rather have him under
+my eye," said the doctor, "till to-morrow
+morning. Perhaps a night's
+rest may effect a favourable change.
+In the interval, too, I shall have time
+to prepare his mind for the removal."
+So it was settled.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning we returned to
+the chateau, for the purpose of bringing
+in Pledget and Cousin Tom.
+Tom's patience, though, had not lasted
+out till our arrival. At sunrise, again
+giving the doctor the go-by, he had
+got on his things, crept down stairs,
+mounted his mule, and taken himself
+off. In fact, he had got into Toulouse,
+obtained a billet, and, snugly located
+in a respectable French family, was
+prattling the vernacular, which he
+had at his fingers' ends, before we
+arrived at the chateau to fetch him.</p>
+
+<p>It only remained, therefore, to remove
+Pledget. He, poor man, though
+all the better for a night's rest and a
+clean shirt, still looked very unlike
+himself. He had rested, indeed, but
+he had not slept; and his medical
+colleague hinted to Gingham, ere we
+departed, that the case still required
+vigilance and care. The state of
+Pledget's mind, at this time, was singular;
+he had all at once become excessively
+ceremonious. When we
+reached the garden gate he drew up;
+insisted that we should both precede
+him in going out. Had Gingham and
+I been equally punctilious, we should
+not have reached Toulouse by dinner-time.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Gingham had a matter upon his
+mind. Captain Gabion having expressed
+a last wish respecting his
+funeral, Gingham had undertaken the
+whole details, and some arrangements
+had been necessary at the chateau, or
+our departed friend would speedily
+have been consigned, on the spot, to
+a ready-made grave. Gingham mentioned
+the subject as we rode along,
+and began stating what steps he had
+taken. Pledget, who was ambling
+side by side with us on his mule, suddenly
+fell behind. Coosey, previously
+admonished by Gingham, kept still
+further in the rear. We waited till
+Pledget came up.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Mr Pledget," said Gingham,
+"I thought we had lost you,
+sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse me, sir," said Pledget,
+with gravity; "you are making a
+confidential communication. Part of
+it I unintentionally overheard. For
+this, an apology is due to both of
+you. Gentlemen, I most humbly beg
+your pardon."</p>
+
+<p>We rode on. Presently, Pledget
+edged up alongside of me, as though
+he had something important to communicate.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr Y&mdash;&mdash;," said he, "I consider it
+the first duty which one gentleman
+owes another, to avoid giving him
+needless offence." Not exactly perceiving
+to what this observation tended,
+I could only bow my acquiescence.</p>
+
+<p>"But if," continued Pledget, "an
+offence is actually given, then I conceive
+the next duty is to make reparation
+by a humble apology." Apology,
+it was evident, was now the
+uppermost idea in poor Pledget's
+mind.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, sir," said I, seeking to
+divert his thoughts, "I think, in such
+a case, regard should be had to the
+feelings of both parties. And, judging
+by my own, I should say that, next
+to making an apology, there are few
+things one would more wish to avoid
+than receiving one."</p>
+
+<p>"And accordingly," said Gingham,
+"in the intercourse of gentlemen, it
+rarely, very rarely occurs, that an
+actual apology is deemed requisite. To
+signify an intention, to express a willingness
+to apologise, is in most cases
+thought amply satisfactory. Manly
+feeling forbids the rest; and honour
+itself exacts no more." Pledget rode
+on awhile, absorbed in thought.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr Y&mdash;&mdash;," he said at last, "I appreciate
+your sentiments, as well as
+Mr Gingham's; and I perceive their
+drift. Allow me to say it, your conduct
+is most generous. I really feel
+that you have just cause to complain
+of mine; and, if it would pain you to
+receive the apology, which is your
+due, allow me at least to express my
+<em>willingness</em>, and, believe me, it was
+my <em>intention</em>, to apologise."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr Pledget, my dear sir, what
+possible need of apology between you
+and me? What offence has been
+given or received? I know of none&mdash;never
+dreamt of any."</p>
+
+<p>"Very handsome of you to say so,
+Mr Y&mdash;&mdash;," replied Pledget. "But
+what could be more inconsiderate than
+my conduct yesterday morning? You
+<em>must</em> have felt it; I know you did.
+You came to me with an anxious
+inquiry respecting your wounded
+cousin; I spoke to you of Captain
+Gabion. It was wrong, I own. Nay,
+not merely wrong, it was unfeeling.
+I trust you will bear in mind my peculiar
+circumstances at the time. I was
+overwhelmed, perplexed, bewildered,
+I&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Gingham now saw it was high time
+to interpose, and with much adroitness
+gave a new turn to the conversation.
+But ere we were housed in
+Toulouse, Pledget, addressing us alternately,
+and continually discovering
+fresh grounds of self-accusation, had
+made two or three more apologies.</p>
+
+<p>For a few days, sedulously and most
+kindly tended by Gingham, who managed
+him admirably, and evinced
+equal tact and delicacy, Pledget continued
+in a state of alternate depression
+and excitement, with occasional
+hallucinations. He made apologies to
+all who came near him; and, ere he
+quitted Gingham's quarters, had
+begged pardon, again and again, of
+every servant in the household. From
+my first conversation with Gingham
+on the steps of the hotel at Falmouth,
+I always valued his acquaintance.
+But when I had seen him in this his
+new character as Pledget's nurse,
+wise, thoughtful, vigilant, and indulgent,
+I really grew proud of such a
+friend.</p>
+
+<p>Within a week Pledget was almost<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>
+himself again; and long before he
+quitted Toulouse, to embark for England
+at Bordeaux, he was fully and
+permanently restored.</p>
+
+<p>Cousin Tom's, though, was a business
+of more time. He begged or
+borrowed a formidable sapling, with a
+knob as big as his fist, and was soon able
+to hobble about Toulouse, very much
+to his own satisfaction. But the
+bones of his leg had been injured,
+though not broken; and it was long
+before the wound got well, if it ever
+did. I was with him many months
+after in London, when the Medical
+Board sat to award gratuities and
+pensions to the wounded and disabled
+officers of the Peninsular Army.
+Lucky, then, did the wight esteem
+himself who had lost a limb or an
+eye. Tom was waiting for his turn
+to go before the Board; I saw him
+two days previously. His, I feared,
+was only a case for a gratuity; but
+Tom was determined to go for a pension,
+and made sure of getting it. I
+ventured to express my doubts; Tom
+whipped off his half-boot, turned down
+his sock, and exclaimed triumphantly,
+"Look at that!" The wound was
+clean, but looked fresh; much, indeed,
+as it appeared two days after
+the fight when the bullet was extracted,
+and still big enough to re-admit it.
+"If the Board don't give me a pension,"
+cried Tom, "for such a punch
+as that, why, all I can say is, they
+deserve to be punched themselves."
+Saw him again after the inspection.
+"It's no go," said Tom; "I tried
+hard for it, too. Got up early in the
+morning&mdash;slapped twice round the
+Park at a swinging pace. When I
+went before them it was red all
+about, a couple of inches. The flinty-hearted
+villains gave me only a gratuity,
+though it bled while they were
+looking at it."</p>
+
+<p>At an early day after Pledget's and
+Tom's removal, we assembled at the
+chateau, on an occasion in which we
+all felt a melancholy interest&mdash;the
+funeral of Captain Gabion. The military
+arrangements, of course, did not
+rest with us; Gingham had made every
+provision which was left to his care
+with equal liberality and propriety.
+Gingham also, no chaplain being present,
+officiated at the grave. He read
+the service with great devoutness and
+solemnity. The procession was joined,
+as we ascended the hill, by a
+mounted officer, a major of the artillery,
+who, during the whole of the
+service, seemed lost in thought, and
+stood with his eyes fixed upon the
+coffin till it was lowered into the
+grave. The whole concluded, he
+approached and shook hands with
+Gingham and myself, spoke a few
+hurried words, took a hasty leave,
+mounted, and rode away. Gingham
+and I waited by the grave till all was
+filled in and made right; we then
+walked down together towards the
+city, both for some time silent. I
+spoke first.</p>
+
+<p>"Wouldn't it be right to communicate
+with the friends? I think they
+ought to know the exact position of
+the grave, and also the particulars
+which I got from my cousin."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes," said Gingham; "it
+would, I think, be as well to give
+them all the information you can. I
+have already written to the widow."</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CHATEAUBRIAND'S MEMOIRS.</h2>
+
+<p><cite>Mémoires d'outre Tombe.</cite> Par M. <span class="smcap">Le Vicomte de Chateaubriand</span>. Tom. v. vi.
+vii. viii. et ix. Paris: 1849.</p>
+
+
+<p>The great and honourable feature
+of Chateaubriand's mind, amidst some
+personal weaknesses, is its noble
+and disinterested character. It differs
+from what we see around us, but it
+differs chiefly in superior elevation.
+It united, to a degree which perhaps
+will never again be witnessed, the
+lofty feelings of chivalry, with the
+philanthropic visions of philosophy.
+In the tribune he was often a Liberal
+of the modern school; but in action
+he was always a paladin of the olden
+time. His fidelity was not to prosperity,
+but to adversity; his bond
+was not to the powerful, but to the unfortunate;
+reversing the revolutionary
+maxim, he brought the actions of public
+men to the test, not of success, but of
+disaster. He often irritated his friends
+when in power by the independence
+of his language, but he never failed to
+command the respect of his enemies
+when in adversity, by his constancy
+to misfortune. "Vive le roi quand-même,"
+ever became his principle
+when the gales of adversity blew, and
+the hollow-hearted support of the
+world began to fail. Prosperity often
+saw him intrepid, perhaps imprudent
+in expression, but misfortune never
+failed to exhibit him generous and
+faithful in action; and his fidelity to
+the cause of royalty was never so
+strikingly evinced as when that cause
+in France was most desperate. He
+was the very antipodes of the hideous
+revolutionary tergiversation of Fontainebleau.
+A pilgrim in this scene
+of trial, he was ever ready, after
+having attained the summit of worldly
+grandeur, to descend at the call of
+honour; and, resuming his staff and
+scrip, to set out afresh on the path of
+duty. He was fitted to be the object
+of jealousy and spite to kings and
+ministers in power, whose follies he
+disdained to flatter or to overlook their
+vices, and of eternal admiration to the
+great and the good in every future age,
+whose hearts his deeds not less than
+his words will cause to throb. Such
+a character might pass for fabulous or
+imaginary, were it not clearly evinced,
+not only by words, but actions; not
+only in the thoughts of genius, but in
+the deeds of honour. His life, and the
+feelings by which it was regulated, are
+well worth examining, although we fear
+he will find but few imitators in these
+days, and is more likely, in a utilitarian
+and money-seeking age, to be classed
+with the mammoth and mastodon,
+as a species of existence never again
+to be seen in this world.</p>
+
+<p>A character of this description
+naturally became enamoured of awful
+or heartstirring events, and was ever
+ready to find a friend in those capable
+of noble or heroic deeds in the ranks
+even of his enemies. Both qualities
+are evinced in the following graphic
+account of the appearance of the Grand
+Army when it arrived at Smolensko
+during the Moscow retreat:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"On the 9th November, the troops at
+length reached Smolensko. An order of
+Buonaparte forbade any one to enter
+before the posts had been intrusted to
+the Imperial Guard. The soldiers on the
+outside were grouped in great numbers
+round the foot of the walls: those within
+were under cover. The air resounded
+with the imprecations of those who were
+shut out. Clothed in dirty Cossack cloaks,
+horse-cloths, and worn-out blankets, with
+their heads covered with old carpets,
+broken helmets, ragged shakos, for the most
+part torn by shot, stained with blood, or
+hacked in pieces by sabre-cuts&mdash;with
+haggard and yet ferocious countenances,
+they looked up to the top of the ramparts
+gnashing their teeth, with the expression
+of those prisoners who, under Louis the
+Fat, bore in their right hand their left
+cut off: you would have taken them for
+infuriated <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">masques</i>, or famished madmen
+escaped from Bedlam. At length the
+Old and Young Guard arrived, they
+were quickly admitted into the place
+which had been wasted by conflagration
+on occasion of our first passage. Loud
+cries of indignation were immediately
+raised against the privileged corps. 'Is
+the army to be left nothing but what it
+leaves?' was heard on all sides. Meanwhile
+the household troops, who had been
+admitted, rushed in tumultuous crowds<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>
+to the magazines like an insurrection of
+spectres: the guards at the doors repulsed
+them; they fought in the streets:
+the dead, the wounded encumbered the
+pavements, the women, the children, the
+dying filled the waggons. The air was
+poisoned by the multitude of dead bodies;
+even old soldiers were seized with idiocy
+or madness; some whose hair stood on
+end with horror, blasphemed, or laughed
+with a ghastly air and fell dead. Napoleon
+let his wrath exhale in imprecations
+against a miserable commissary,
+none of the orders given to which had
+been executed.</p>
+
+<p>"The army, a hundred thousand strong
+when it left Moscow, now reduced to
+thirty thousand, was followed by a band
+of fifty thousand stragglers; there were
+not eighteen hundred horsemen mounted.
+Napoleon gave the command of them to
+M. de Latour Maubourg. That officer,
+who had led the cuirassiers to the assault
+of the great redoubt of Borodino, had
+had his head almost cleft asunder by
+the stroke of a sabre; he afterwards lost
+a leg at Dresden. Perceiving his servant
+in tears when the operation was over, he
+said to him, 'Why do you weep? you
+will have only one boot to clean.' That
+general, who remained faithful to misfortune,
+became the preceptor of Henry V.
+in the first years of the exile of that
+prince. I lift my hat in his presence, as
+in that of the Incarnation of Honour."&mdash;<cite>Memoirs</cite>,
+vi. p. 116, 118.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>As Chateaubriand had declined
+office, and narrowly escaped death in
+consequence, when Napoleon murdered
+the Duke d'Enghien, his life,
+from that period to the Restoration
+of the Bourbons, was one of retirement
+and observation. The important part
+which he took in the Restoration, by
+the publication of his celebrated pamphlet
+<cite>De Buonaparte et des Bourbons</cite>,
+restored him to political life. The
+effect produced by that work was
+immense, and the placing of the
+ancient race of monarchs on the
+throne was in a great degree owing
+to it; for, at a crisis when the
+intentions of the Allies were yet undecided,
+and Austria openly supported
+the strong party in France which
+inclined for a regency with Marie
+Louise at its head, it swelled immensely
+the numbers of the decided
+Royalists, and gave a definite and
+tangible object to their hitherto vague
+and divided aspirations. It was
+written with prodigious rapidity, and
+bears marks of the haste of its composition
+in the vehemence of its ideas
+and the occasional exaggeration of its
+assertions; but it was the very thing
+required for a national crisis of unexampled
+importance, when every hour
+was fraught with lasting consequences,
+and every effort of genius was required
+for laying the foundation of a new
+order in European society. Of the
+first conception and subsequent completion
+of this remarkable work he
+gives the following account:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"I had been permitted to return to my
+solitary valley. The earth trembled
+under the footsteps of stranger armies: I
+wrote like the last Roman, amidst the
+din of barbarian invasion. During the
+day, I traced lines as agitated as the
+events which were passing: at night,
+when the roar of cannon was no longer
+heard in my solitary woods, I returned to
+the silence of the years which sleep in
+the tomb, and to the peace of my earlier
+life. The agitated pages which I wrote
+during the day, became, when put together,
+my pamphlet <cite>On Buonaparte and
+the Bourbons</cite>. I had so high an idea of
+the genius of Napoleon, and the valour of
+our soldiers, that the idea of a foreign
+invasion, successful in its ultimate results,
+never entered into my imagination; but
+I thought that such an invasion, by making
+the French see the dangers to which
+the ambition of Napoleon had exposed
+them, would lead to an interior movement,
+and that the deliverance of the
+French would be the work of their own
+hands. It was under that impression that
+I wrote my notes, in order that, if our
+political assemblies should arrest the
+march of the Allies, and separate themselves
+from a great man who had become
+their scourge, they should know to what
+haven to turn. The harbour of refuge
+appeared to me to be in the ancient authority,
+under which our ancestors had
+lived during eight centuries, but modified
+according to the changes of time. During
+a tempest, when one finds himself at
+the gate of an old edifice, albeit in ruins,
+he is glad to seek its shelter."&mdash;Vol. vi.
+p. 196, 197.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Madame de Chateaubriand, in a
+note, has described the circumstances
+under which this memorable pamphlet
+was written, and the morbid anxiety
+with which she was devoured during
+its composition:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Had the pages of that pamphlet been
+seized by the police, the result could not
+have been a moment doubtful: the sentence
+was the scaffold. Nevertheless the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>
+author was inconceivably negligent about
+concealing it. Often, when he went out,
+he left the sheets on the table: at night
+he only placed them under his pillow,
+which he did in presence of his valet&mdash;an
+honest youth, it is true, but who
+might have betrayed him. For my part,
+I was in mortal agonies: whenever M. de
+Chateaubriand went out, I seized the manuscript,
+and concealed it on my person.
+One day, in crossing the Tuileries, I perceived
+I had it not upon me, and being
+sure I had it when I went out, I did not
+doubt that I had let it fall on the road.
+Already I beheld that fatal writing in
+the hands of the police, and M. de
+Chateaubriand arrested. I fell down in
+swoon in the garden, and some kind-hearted
+person carried me to my house,
+from which I had only got a short distance.
+What agony I endured when,
+ascending the stair, I floated between
+terror, which now amounted almost to a
+certainty, and a slight hope that I might
+have forgot the pamphlet. On reaching
+my husband's apartment, I felt again
+ready to faint: I approached the bed&mdash;I
+felt under the pillow; there was nothing
+there: I lifted the mattress, and there
+was the roll of paper! My heart still
+beats every time I think of it. Never in
+my life did I experience such a moment
+of joy. With truth can I say, my joy
+would not have been so great if I had
+been delivered at the foot of the scaffold,
+for it was one who was more dear to me
+than life itself whom I saw rescued from
+destruction."&mdash;Vol. vi. p. 206, 207.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>On the entrance of Louis XVIII.
+into Paris, on the 3d May 1814, the
+Allied sovereigns, from a feeling of
+delicacy to that monarch, gave orders
+that none but French troops should
+appear in the procession. The Old
+Guard lined the streets next the palace,
+and Chateaubriand gives the
+following account of the way in which
+they received him:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"A regiment of infantry of the Old
+Guard kept the ground, from the Pont
+Neuf to Notre Dame, along the Quai des
+Orfures. I do not believe that human
+figures ever expressed anything so menacing
+and so terrible. These grenadiers,
+covered with wounds, so long the terror
+of Europe, who had seen so many thousand
+bullets fly over their heads, who
+seemed to smell of fire and powder&mdash;these
+very men, deprived of their leader, were
+forced to salute an old king, enfeebled by
+time and not combats, guarded by an
+army of Russians, Austrians, and Prussians,
+in the conquered capital of Napoleon!
+Some, shaking their heads, made
+their huge bearskins fall down over their
+eyes, so as not to see what was passing:
+others lowered the extremities of their
+mouths, to express their contempt and
+rage: others, through their mustaches,
+let their teeth be seen, which they
+gnashed like tigers. When they presented
+arms, it was with a gesture of
+fury, as if they brought them down to the
+charge. The sound they made with the
+recover was like thunder. Never, it
+must be admitted, had men been subjected
+to such a trial, or suffered such a
+punishment. If, in that moment, they
+had been called to vengeance, they would
+have exterminated the last man, or
+perished in the attempt.</p>
+
+<p>"At the extremity of the line was a
+young hussar on horseback, with his
+drawn sabre in his hand; his whole body
+literally quivered with a convulsive
+movement of wrath. He was deadly
+pale; his eyes rolled round in the most
+frightful manner; he opened his mouth
+alternately and shut it, grinding his
+teeth, and uttering inarticulate cries of
+rage. He cast his eyes on a Russian
+officer: no words can express the look
+which he gave him. When the carriage
+of the King passed before him, he made
+his horse leap forward, it was easy to
+see that he withstood with difficulty the
+temptation to precipitate himself on his
+sovereign.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p>
+
+<p>"The Restoration, at its very outset,
+committed an irreparable fault. It
+should have disbanded the army, preserving
+only the marshals, generals, military
+governors, and officers, in their rank,
+pay, and appointments. The soldiers, in
+this manner, would have gradually re-entered
+their ranks, as they have since
+done into the Royal Guard; but they
+would have done so isolated from each
+other. The legitimate monarch would no
+longer have had arrayed against him the
+soldiers of the empire in regiments and
+brigades, as they had been during the
+days of their glory, for ever talking to
+each other of times past, and comparing
+the conquests of Napoleon with their inglorious
+inactivity under their new
+master.</p>
+
+<p>"The miserable attempt to reconstruct
+the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Maison Rouge</i>, that mixture of
+the military men of the old monarchy and
+the soldiers of the new empire, only augmented
+the evil. To suppose that veterans<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>
+famous on a hundred fields of
+battle should not be shocked at seeing
+young men&mdash;brave without doubt, but
+for the most part unaccustomed to the
+use of arms&mdash;to see them wear, without
+having earned or deserved, the marks of
+high military rank, was to be ignorant of
+the first principles of human nature."&mdash;Vol.
+vi. p. 311-313.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>These observations of Chateaubriand's
+are well founded, and the last, in
+particular, is very important; but it
+may well be doubted whether, by any
+measures that could have been adopted,
+the support of the army could have
+been secured, or the dynasty of the
+Bourbons established on a secure foundation.
+It was the fact of their having
+been replaced by the bayonets of the
+stranger which was the insurmountable
+difficulty; it was national subjugation,
+the capture of Paris, which
+had for ever stained the white flag.
+This original sin in its birth attended
+the Restoration through every subsequent
+year of its existence: it was the
+main cause of the revolution of 1830,
+and operated with equal force in
+bringing about the still more fatal one
+of 1848. Impatience of repose&mdash;a
+desire to precipitate themselves on
+foreign nations&mdash;an aversion to the
+employments and interests of peace,
+were the secret but principal causes of
+these convulsions. If either Louis
+XVIII. or Louis Philippe had been
+young and warlike princes, and the
+recollection of Leipsic and Waterloo,
+of the invasions of France, and the
+double capture of its capital, had not
+prevented them from engaging in the
+career of foreign warfare; if they
+had been enterprising and <em>victorious</em>,
+they would have secured the unanimous
+suffrages of the nation, and
+continued the honoured possessors
+of the throne of France. But this
+dazzling though perilous career was
+denied to Louis XVIII. To him
+there was left only the difficult, perhaps
+the impossible task, of reconciling
+irrevocable enmities, of closing
+irremediable wounds, of appeasing
+inextinguishable mortifications. They
+have been thus set forth in the eloquent
+words of genius:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"The house of Bourbon was placed in
+Paris at the Restoration as a trophy of
+the European confederation. The return
+of the ancient princes was inseparably
+associated, in the public mind, with
+the cession of extensive provinces, with
+the payment of an immense tribute, with
+the occupation of the kingdom by hostile
+armies, with the emptiness of those
+niches in which the gods of Athens and
+Rome had been the objects of a new
+idolatry, with the nakedness of those
+walls on which the Transfiguration had
+shone with a light as glorious as that
+which overhung Mount Thabor. They
+came back to a land in which they could
+recognise nothing. The Seven Sleepers
+of the legend, who closed their eyes when
+the Pagans were persecuting the Christians,
+and woke when the Christians
+were persecuting the Pagans, did not
+find themselves in a world more completely
+new to them. Twenty years had
+done the work of twenty generations.
+Events had come thick; men had lived
+fast. The old institutions and the old
+feelings had been torn up by the roots.
+There was a new church founded and
+endowed by the usurper; a new nobility,
+whose titles were taken from the fields
+of battle, disastrous to the ancient line;
+a new chivalry, whose crosses had been
+won by exploits which seemed likely to
+make the banishment of the Emigrants
+perpetual; a new code, administered by
+a new magistracy; a new body of proprietors,
+holding the soil by a new tenure;
+the most ancient local distinctions effaced,
+the most familiar names obsolete. There
+was no longer a Normandy, a Brittany,
+or a Guienne. The France of Louis XVI.
+had passed away as completely as one of
+the Preadamite worlds. Its fossil
+remains might now and then excite curiosity;
+but it was as impossible to put
+life into the old institutions as to animate
+the skeletons which are imbedded in the
+depths of primeval strata. The revolution
+in the laws and the form of government
+was but an outward sign of that
+mightier revolution which had taken
+place in the minds and hearts of men, and
+which affected every transaction and
+feeling of life. It was as absurd to think
+that France could again be placed under
+the feudal system, as that our globe could
+be overrun by mammoths. Louis might
+efface the initials of the Emperor, but he
+could not turn his eyes without seeing
+some object which reminded him he was
+a stranger in the palace of his fathers."<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<p>As a parallel to this splendid passage,
+though in an entirely different
+style, we gladly give place to a noble<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>
+burst of Chateaubriand, on that most
+marvellous of marvellous events, the
+return of Napoleon from Elba. It
+was natural that so memorable a
+revolution should strongly impress
+his imaginative mind; but he seems
+to have exceeded himself in the
+reflections to which it gives rise.
+We know not whether to award the
+prize to the Englishman or the
+Frenchman, in these parallel passages.
+They are both masterpieces in their
+way. Perhaps the correct view is,
+that Macaulay is superior in graphic
+force and the accumulation of sarcastic
+images; Chateaubriand in lofty
+thought and imaginative images.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"On the 1st March, at three o'clock
+in the morning, Napoleon approached the
+coast of France in the Gulf of Juan; he
+disembarked, walked along the shore,
+gathered a few violets, and bivouacked
+in an olive wood. The inhabitants withdrew
+in a state of stupefaction. He left
+Antibes to his left, and threw himself
+into the Mountains of Grasse in Dauphiny.
+At Sisterone the road passes
+a defile where twenty men might have
+stopped him; he did not meet a living
+soul. He advanced without opposition
+among the inhabitants who the year
+before had wished to murder him. Into
+the void which was formed around his
+gigantic shade, if a few soldiers entered,
+they straightway yielded to the attraction
+of his eagles. His fascinated enemies
+seek him and find him not; he
+shrowds himself in his glory, as the lion
+in the Sahara desert conceals himself in
+the rays of the sun to dazzle the eyes of
+his pursuers. Enveloped in a burning
+halo, the bloody phantoms of Arcola,
+Marengo, Austerlitz, Jena, Friedland,
+Eylau, the Moskwa, Lützen, and Bautzen,
+form his cortege amidst a million of the
+dead. From the midst of that column of
+smoke and flame, issue at the gates of
+towns some trumpet-notes mingled with
+tricolor standards, and the gates fly open.
+When Napoleon passed the Niemen, at
+the head of four hundred thousand foot,
+and a hundred thousand horse, to blow
+into the air the palace of the Czars at
+Moscow, he was less wonderful than
+when, breaking his ban, casting his fetters
+as a gauntlet in the face of kings, he
+came alone from Cannes to Paris, to sleep
+peaceably in the palace of the Tuileries."&mdash;Vol.
+vi. p. 359, 360.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>To a mind like that of Chateaubriand,
+reposing in solitude when
+Napoleon was acting with such marvellous
+effect in the world, the character
+and qualities of that wonderful
+man could not fail to be a constant
+object of solicitude and observation.
+It has been already noticed that he
+braved the Emperor in the plenitude
+of his power, and essentially contributed,
+in the crisis of his fate, to his
+dethronement, and the re-establishment
+of the ancient line of princes.
+But, as is not unusual with persons
+of his highly wrought and generous
+temper of mind, his hostility to the
+Emperor declined with the termination
+of his authority, and his admiration
+for his genius rose with the base
+desertion of the revolutionary crowd
+who had fawned upon him when on
+the throne. The following observations
+on the style of his writings,
+indicate the growth of this counter
+feeling, and are in themselves equally
+just and felicitous:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"His partisans have sought to make
+of Buonaparte a perfect being; a model
+of sentiment, of delicacy, of morality,
+and of justice&mdash;a writer like Cæsar and
+Thucydides, an orator like Demosthenes,
+a historian like Tacitus. The public
+discourses of Napoleon, his sonorous
+phrases in the tent and at the council
+board, are the less inspired by the spirit
+of prophecy, that many of the catastrophes
+which he announced have not
+been accomplished, while the warlike
+Isaiah himself has disappeared. Prophecies
+of doom which follow without
+reaching states become ridiculous. It is
+their accomplishment which renders them
+sublime. During sixteen years, Napoleon
+was the incarnation of destiny. Destiny
+now is mute, and he, too, should be so.
+Buonaparte was not a Cæsar; his education
+had neither been learnedly nor carefully
+conducted: half a stranger, he was
+ignorant of the first rules of our language,
+and could hardly spell it; but
+what did it signify, after all, that his
+expression was defective?&mdash;he gave the
+law to the universe. His bulletins have
+the most thrilling of all eloquence&mdash;that
+of victory. Sometimes, during the intoxications
+of success, they affected to be
+written on a drum-head: in the midst of
+the most lugubrious accents, something
+emerged which excites a smile. I have
+read all that Napoleon has written&mdash;the
+first manuscripts of his infancy, his love-letters
+to Josephine, the five volumes of
+his discourses, bulletins, and orders; but
+I have found nothing which so truly
+portrays the character of that great
+man, when in adversity, as the following
+autograph note left at Elba:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"'My heart refuses to share in ordinary
+joys as ordinary sorrows.</p>
+
+<p>"'Not having given myself life, I am
+not entitled to take it away.</p>
+
+<p>"'My bad genius appeared to me and
+announced my end; which I found at
+Leipsic.</p>
+
+<p>"'I have conjured up the terrible
+spirit of innovation, which will overrun
+the world.'</p>
+
+<p>"Certes, there is Napoleon to the very
+life. His bulletins and discourses have
+often great energy; but it was not his
+own; it belonged to the age; he only
+adopted it. It sprang from the revolutionary
+energy, which he only weakened
+by moving in opposition to it. Danton
+said, 'The metal is fused; if you do not
+watch over the furnace, you will be consumed.'
+St Just replied, '<em>Do it if you
+dare</em>.' These words contain the whole
+secret of our Revolution. Those who
+make revolutions by halves, do nothing
+but dig their own graves."&mdash;Vol. vii.
+p. 101.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Certes, there is Chateaubriand to
+the very life.</p>
+
+<p>Chateaubriand, as all the world
+knows, was Minister for Foreign
+Affairs to Louis XVIII. at Ghent;
+adhering thus to his ruling maxim
+throughout life, "Fidelity to misfortune."
+So great were the services
+rendered by him to the cause of
+European freedom, by the energetic
+series of papers which he poured
+forth with unwearied vigour every
+week, that there were serious thoughts,
+after the battle of Waterloo, of promoting
+him to the dignity of Prime
+Minister. Louis XVIII. openly inclined
+to it; and if his advice had
+prevailed, the catastrophe which
+fifteen years afterwards befel his
+family, would probably have been
+prevented. But the insuperable difficulty
+lay here: the pure and honourable
+mind of Chateaubriand revolted
+from the idea of forming a Ministry
+in conjunction with Talleyrand and
+Fouché; and yet their influence was
+such that the monarch, in the first
+instance at least, was compelled to
+court their assistance. Expedience,
+at least immediate expedience, seemed
+to counsel it; but Chateaubriand,
+animated by higher principles, and
+gifted with a more prophetic mind,
+anticipated no lasting advantage, but
+rather the reverse, from an alliance
+with the arch-regicide of Nantes, and
+the arch-traitor who had sworn allegiance
+to and betrayed <em>twelve</em> Governments
+in succession. But the chorus
+of "<em>base unanimities</em>," as he expresses
+it, with which the monarch was surrounded,
+proved too strong for any
+single individual, how gifted soever.
+Fouché and Talleyrand were taken
+into power, and Chateaubriand retired.
+Of the conversation with
+Louis XVIII., when this vital change
+was resolved on, he gives the following
+interesting account, which proves
+that that sagacious monarch at least
+was well aware of the consequences
+of the step to which he was thus involuntarily
+impelled:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Before quitting St Denis, on our
+way back to Paris, I had an audience of
+the King, and the following conversation
+ensued:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"'Well?' said Louis XVIII., opening
+the dialogue by that exclamation.</p>
+
+<p>"'Well, sire, you have taken the Duke
+of Otranto,' (Fouché.)</p>
+
+<p>"'I could not avoid it; from my
+brother to the bailie of Crussol, (and he
+at least is not suspected,) all said that
+we could not do otherwise&mdash;what think
+you?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Sire! the thing is done; I crave
+permission to remain silent.'</p>
+
+<p>"'No, no&mdash;speak out; you know how
+I resisted at Ghent.'</p>
+
+<p>"'In that case, sire, I must obey my
+orders. Pardon my fidelity: I think it
+is all over with the monarchy.'</p>
+
+<p>"The King remained some time silent.
+I began to tremble at my boldness, when
+his Majesty rejoined:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"'In truth, M. de Chateaubriand, I
+am of your opinion.'</p>
+
+<p>"I bowed and withdrew; and thus
+ended my connection with the Hundred
+Days."&mdash;Vol. vii. 70.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Manzoni has written an ode, known
+over all Europe, on the double fall of
+Napoleon: "The last poet," says
+Chateaubriand, "of the country of
+Virgil, sang the last warrior of the
+country of Cæsar.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Tutte ei provo, la gloria<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Maggior dopo il periglio,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">La fuga e la Vittoria,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">La reggia e il triste esiglio:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Due volte nella polvere,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Due volte sugli altar.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Ei se nomo: due secoli,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">L'un contro l'altro armato,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Sommessi a lui se volsero,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Come aspettando il fato:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Ei fe silenzio ed arbitro<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">S'assise in mezzo a loro.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span></p>
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"He proved everything; glory greater
+after danger, flight, and victory: Royalty
+and sad exile, twice in the dust, twice on
+the altar.</p>
+
+<p>"He announced himself: two ages,
+armed against each other, turned towards
+him, as if awaiting their fate; he proclaimed
+silence, and seated himself as
+arbiter between them."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding the vehemence of
+Chateaubriand's dissension with Napoleon,
+it cannot be expected that a
+man of his romantic and generous
+temperament would continue his hostility
+after death. No one, accordingly,
+has awarded a more heartfelt or
+magnanimous tribute to his memory.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"The solitude of the exile and of the
+tomb of Napoleon has shed an extraordinary
+interest, a sort of prestige, over
+his memory. Alexander did not die
+under the eyes of Greece, he disappeared
+amidst the distant wonders of Babylon.
+Buonaparte has not died under the eyes
+of France: he has been lost in the gloomy
+edge of the southern horizon. The grandeur
+of the silence which now surrounds
+him equals the immensity of the noise
+which his exploits formerly made. The
+nations are absent: the crowd of men
+has retired: the bird of the tropics,
+"harnessed," in Buffon's words, "to the
+chariot of the sun," has precipitated itself
+from the star of light&mdash;where does it now
+repose? It rests on the ashes of which
+the weight has all but subverted the
+globe."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>"Imposuerunt omnes sibi diademata
+post mortem ejus; et multiplicata
+sunt mala in terrâ."<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> "They all
+assumed diadems after his death, and
+evils were multiplied on the earth."
+Twenty years have hardly elapsed
+since the death of Napoleon, and
+already the French and Spanish
+monarchies are no more. The map of
+the world has undergone a change: a
+new geography is required: severed
+from their legitimate rulers, nations
+have been thrown against nations:
+renowned actors on the scene have
+given place to ignoble successors:
+eagles from the summits of the loftiest
+pines have plunged into the ocean,
+while frail shellfish have attached
+themselves to the sides of the trunk,
+which still stands erect.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"As in the last result everything advances
+to its end, '<em>the terrible spirit of
+innovation which overruns the world</em>', as
+the Emperor said, and to which he had
+opposed the barrier of his genius, has resumed
+its course. The institutions of the
+conqueror fail: he will be the last of
+great existences on the earth. Nothing
+hereafter will overshadow society, parcelled
+out and levelled: the shadow of
+Napoleon alone will be seen on the verge
+of the old world which has been destroyed,
+like the phantom of the deluge on the
+edge of its abyss. Distant posterity will
+discern that spectre through the gloom
+of passing events still erect above the
+gulf into which unknown ages have fallen,
+until the day marked out by Providence
+for the resurrection of social man."&mdash;Vol.
+vii. 169-171.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Assuredly no one can say that
+Chateaubriand's genius has declined
+with his advanced years.</p>
+
+<p>To a man viewing Napoleon with
+the feelings expressed in these eloquent
+words, the translation of his
+remains from their solitary resting-place
+under the willow at St Helena
+could not but be an object of regret.
+He thus expresses himself on that
+memorable event, and future ages will
+probably confirm his opinion:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"The removal of the remains of Napoleon
+from St Helena was a fault against
+his renown. A place of sepulchre in
+Paris can never equal the Valley of Slanes.
+Who would wish to see the Pillar of Pompey
+elsewhere than above the grave dug
+for his remains by his poor freedman,
+aided by the old legionary? What shall
+we do with those magnificent remains in
+the midst of our miseries? Can the
+hardest granite typify the everlasting
+duration of Napoleon's renown? Even
+if we possessed a Michael Angelo to design
+the statue on the grave, how should
+we fashion the mausoleum? Monuments
+are for little men, for the great a stone
+and a name. At least they should have
+suspended the coffin from the summit of
+the triumphal arch which records his exploits:
+nations from afar should have
+beheld their master borne aloft on the
+shoulders of his victories. Was not the
+urn which contained the ashes of
+Trajan placed at Rome, beneath his
+column? Napoleon at Paris will be
+lost amidst the crowd of unknown names.
+God forbid he should be exposed to
+the vicissitudes of our political changes,
+surrounded though he is by Louis XIV.,
+Vauban, and Turenne. Let a certain
+section of our revolutionists triumph, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>
+the ashes of the conqueror will be sent to
+join the ashes which our passions have
+dispersed. The conqueror will be forgotten
+in the oppressor of our liberties.
+The bones of Napoleon will not reproduce
+his genius; they will only teach his despotism
+to ignoble soldiers."&mdash;Vol. vii.
+184, 185.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>The Restoration did not immediately
+employ Chateaubriand. His
+anticipations were realised. The chorus
+of baseness and selfishness with which
+the court was surrounded, kept him
+at a distance. They were afraid of
+his genius: they were jealous of his
+reputation. Above all, they dreaded
+his independence. He was not sufficiently
+manageable. They were actuated,
+perhaps not altogether without
+reason, by the same feeling which
+made Lord North say, when urged to
+bring Dr Johnson into Parliament,
+whose great powers in the political
+warfare of pamphlets had been so signally
+evinced on the side of Government,
+"No, sir, he is an elephant, but
+a wild one, as likely to trample under
+foot his friends as his enemies." The
+veteran statesman, so well versed in
+the ways of men, was right. Genius
+is the fountain of thought: it ultimately
+rules the councils and destinies
+of men; but it generally requires
+to be tempered by time before it can
+be safely introduced into practice.</p>
+
+<p>Chateaubriand enlivens this period
+of his memoirs, which is neither signalised
+by political event nor remarkable
+literary effort, by a sort of biography
+of Madame Recamier, with whom he
+was on terms of intimate friendship.
+This remarkable person, who was
+beyond all question the most beautiful
+and attractive woman of her
+age in France, or perhaps in Europe,
+is now no more; and he appears to
+have obtained from her relatives, or
+perhaps from herself prior to her
+decease, not only many curious and
+highly interesting details concerning
+her early years and subsequent history,
+but a great variety of original
+letters from the most eminent men of
+the age, who were successively led captive
+by her charms, but none of whom
+appear to have impaired her reputation.
+In this country, where the lines
+of severance between the sexes are
+much more rigidly drawn, it would
+be impossible for a young and beautiful
+married woman to be in the habit of
+receiving the most ardent love-letters
+from a great variety of distinguished
+and fascinating admirers, without the
+jealousy of rivals being excited, and
+the breath of scandal fastening upon
+her as its natural prey. But it is
+otherwise on the Continent, where,
+although there is doubtless abundance
+of dissoluteness of manners in certain
+circles, yet in others such intimacies
+may exist, which are yet kept within
+due bounds, and cast no reflection on
+the fortunate fair one who sees all the
+world at her feet.</p>
+
+<p>Such, at least, appears to have
+been the case with Madame Recamier,
+the intimate friend of Madame de
+Stael, who said "She would willingly
+give all her talents for one half of her
+beauty;" and whose powers of fascination
+were such, that she not only inspired
+a vehement passion nearly at the
+same time, in La Harpe, Lucien Buonaparte,
+Murat, Moreau, Bernadotte,
+Marshal Massena, Benjamin Constant,
+Prince Augustus of Prussia, Prince
+Metternich, Chateaubriand, and a
+vast many others, but attracted the
+particular notice of Napoleon, and did
+not escape the vigilant and practised
+eye of the Duke of Wellington. The
+Prince of Prussia would have married
+her, if he could have effected her divorce
+from M. Recamier. It is one of the
+worst traits of the Emperor Napoleon's
+character, that he was not only
+so envious of the celebrity of her
+beauty that he banished her from
+Paris to extinguish its fame, but was
+inspired with such malignant feelings
+towards her, from her having rejected
+his advances, that he got a law passed
+which rendered the wives of persons
+engaged in commerce responsible in
+their separate estates for their husbands'
+debts; the effect of which was
+to involve Madame Recamier, whose
+husband, a great banker in Paris,
+failed, in almost total ruin, in the
+latter years of her life.</p>
+
+<p>Madame Recamier, whose birth,
+though respectable, gave her none of
+the advantages of rank or opulence,
+was bred up at the abbey of the
+<em>Desert</em>, near the confluence of the
+Rhone and the Saone at Lyons. Her
+parents, however, resided at Paris;
+and they having brought her home at
+the age of twelve years, she was at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>
+that tender age married to M. Recamier,
+a rich banker, almost four times
+her own age, whose immense transactions,
+which entirely absorbed his
+time and attention, left him no leisure
+to attend either to the education or
+occupations of his infantine and beautiful
+wife. But though thus left to
+herself, surrounded by admirers, and
+with every luxury which wealth could
+purchase at her command, she was
+never led astray. Benjamin Constant,
+who knew her well from her
+earliest years, has left the following
+interesting portrait of what may be
+called her infantine married life:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"She whom I paint emerged pure and
+brilliant from that corrupted atmosphere,
+which elsewhere withered where it did not
+actually corrupt. Infancy was at first her
+safeguard. Libertinism shrunk from approaching
+the asylum of so much innocence.
+Removed from the world in a solitude embellished
+by the arts, she spent her time in
+the sweet occupation of those charming
+and poetical studies which usually constitute
+the delight of a more advanced age.</p>
+
+<p>"Often, also, surrounded by her young
+companions, she abandoned herself to
+the amusements suited to her tender
+years. 'Swift as Atalanta in the race,'
+she outran all her companions: often, in
+playing Hide-and-seek, she bandaged
+those eyes which were destined one day
+to fascinate every beholder. Her look,
+now so expressive and penetrating, and
+which seems to indicate mysteries of
+which she herself is unconscious, then
+shone only with the animated and playful
+gaiety of childhood. Her beautiful
+hair, which could not be undone without
+causing emotion, fell in natural curls on
+her shoulders. A hearty and prolonged
+laugh often burst from these infantine
+circles, but already you could perceive in
+her that fine and rapid observation which
+seizes the salient points of ridicule&mdash;that
+sportive raillery which diverted itself
+without injuring any one: above all, that
+exquisite sense of elegance and propriety,
+of purity and taste, that true nobility
+of mind, which are given only to a
+few privileged beings.</p>
+
+<p>"Nevertheless Madame Recamier
+emerged occasionally from her retreat, to
+go to the theatre or to the public promenades;
+and in those places of general
+resort her rare appearance was quite an
+event. Every other object in those immense
+assemblages was forgotten: every
+one precipitated himself upon her steps.
+The fortunate cavalier who attended her
+could scarcely make his way through the
+crowds which she collected: her steps
+were at every instant impeded by the
+spectators who crowded around her. She
+enjoyed that success with the gaiety of
+an infant combined with the timidity of
+a young woman; but the gracious dignity
+which at home restrained the overflowing
+gaiety of her companions, inspired
+respect in public in the admiring crowd
+with which she was constantly environed.
+You would say that her air imposed restraint
+equally on her companions and on
+the public. Thus passed the first years
+of the married life of Madame Recamier,
+between poetical occupation, infantine
+amusements, and the triumph of beauty
+in the world.</p>
+
+<p>"But her expanding mind and capacious
+genius soon required other aliment.
+The instinctive love of the beautiful with
+which she was inspired from her earliest
+years, made her long for the society of
+men distinguished for the reputation of
+their talents or genius. M. de La
+Harpe was one of the first who appreciated
+the young woman, around whom
+were one day to be grouped all the celebrated
+characters of her age. The conversation
+of that young woman of fifteen
+had a thousand attractions for a man of
+his great acquirements, and whose excessive
+vanity, with the habit of conversing
+with the ablest men in France, had rendered
+exceedingly difficult to please.
+He delighted in being her guide: he was
+astonished at the rapidity with which
+her talent supplied the want of experience,
+and comprehended everything
+which he revealed to her of the world
+and of men. This was at the moment of
+his celebrated conversion to Christianity.
+The Revolution having rendered infidelity
+all-powerful, scepticism had lost the
+merit of being opposed to authority, and
+those whom vanity alone had rendered
+such could in good faith, and without compromising
+their reputation, avow their
+secret belief."&mdash;Vol. ix. 118, 121.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Of the unbounded devotion which
+Madame Recamier in a few years
+came to inspire in the breasts of the
+most distinguished men of her day,
+abundant proof is furnished in Chateaubriand's
+Memoirs. To give only
+a few examples, among a host of
+others which might be cited, Marshal
+Massena&mdash;a roturier by birth, and
+certainly not inheriting by descent
+any of the feelings of chivalry&mdash;yet
+even he asked a ribbon from Madame
+Recamier before he set out for
+the army of Italy, to take the command
+in Genoa, in the siege since so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>
+celebrated; and, having obtained it,
+he wrote to her the following note
+some weeks after:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"The charming ribbon given by Madame
+Recamier has been borne by General
+Massena in the battles and the
+blockades of Genoa: it has never left
+him, and been, in every instance, the harbinger
+of victory."&mdash;Vol. viii. 167.</p>
+
+<p>"There," as Chateaubriand justly
+observes "the ancient manners reappeared
+athwart the modern manners of which
+they formed the base. The gallantry of
+the noble chevalier shone forth in the plebeian
+soldier; the memory of the tournaments
+and of the crusades was concealed
+amidst the blaze of glory with
+which modern France has crowned its
+old victories."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Lucien Buonaparte, one of her
+first adorers, addressed her early in
+life in these terms:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Till within these few days, I knew
+you only by renown. I had seen you
+sometimes at church and in the theatres.
+I knew you were the most beautiful: a
+thousand voices repeated it; and your
+charms had struck without dazzling me.
+Why has the peace rendered me captive?
+it reigns in our families, but sorrow is in
+my heart.</p>
+
+<p>"I have seen you since: Jove seemed
+to smile on your steps. Seated on the
+edge of a fountain, motionless and
+dreamy, you gathered a rose. I addressed
+you alone: I thought I heard a sigh.
+Vain illusion! I soon saw the tranquil
+front of indifference seated between us.
+The passion which devoured me expressed
+itself in my words; while yours bore
+the cruel yet amiable stamp of infancy
+and sport.</p>
+
+<p>"Be severe, I implore you, for pity's
+sake. Banish me from your presence.
+Desire me to withdraw from your enchanting
+society: and if I can obey the
+order, remember only that my heart is
+for ever your own; that no one ever
+reigned over it as Juliette; and that he
+will ever live with her, at least in
+memory."&mdash;Vol. viii. 130.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>"For a man of <em>sangfroid</em>," says
+Chateaubriand, "all that is a little
+ridiculous." He is right: it is gallantry
+without passion which always
+appears <em>fade</em> and contemptible. It
+is vehemence and sincerity which
+makes sentiment interesting. The
+Buonapartes had nothing chivalrous in
+their breasts: Lucien's letter is very
+different from Massena wearing Madame
+Recamier's ribbon next his heart
+amidst the fire of the Austrian cannon.
+But Chateaubriand himself had the
+true spirit of chivalry in his bosom.
+He thus recounts one of the last moments
+which he spent in 1832, late in
+life, with Madame Recamier on the
+banks of the Lake of Constance:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"We wandered as chance guided our
+steps, and sat down beside the lake.
+From a pavilion in the woods arose a
+concert of the harp and the German
+horns, which ceased as we began to
+listen to them. It was a scene in a fairy
+tale. As the music did not recommence,
+I read to Madame Recamier my description
+of the St Gothard. She asked me
+to write something in her pocket-book.
+Immediately below the last words of
+Rousseau, which were there inscribed,
+'Open the windows, that I may again
+see the light of the sun,' I wrote, 'What
+I felt the want of on the Lake of Lucerne
+I have found on the Lake of Constance&mdash;the
+charm and the intelligence of beauty.
+I no longer wish to die like Rousseau;
+I wish, on the contrary, to live long, and
+behold the sun, if it is near you that I
+am to finish my life. May my days
+expire at your feet, as the waves of which
+you hear the murmur.' The azure light
+of the setting sun coloured the lake; on
+the horizon, to the south, the snowy alps
+of the Grisons reflected the ruddy glow;
+the breeze which swept the waves harmonised
+with their ceaseless murmur.
+We knew not where we were."&mdash;Vol. x.
+246, 247.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>With the accession of a more Liberal
+Administration under M. de Martignac,
+Chateaubriand was taken
+into power. In 1822 he was sent as
+ambassador to London; in 1823 he
+was made minister of foreign affairs,
+and directed the expedition into
+Spain in that year, which had so successful
+a result; and in 1824 he represented
+France at the Congress of
+Verona. He was again, however,
+chased from the helm by the jealousy
+of the Royalists, whose imbecility was
+rebuked by his genius; and it was
+not till 1828 that he was again taken
+into power, and appointed to the
+embassy at Rome. He was there
+when the Polignac Administration
+was appointed.</p>
+
+<p>We must hasten to the most
+brilliant and honourable period of
+Chateaubriand's life, that in which he
+stood almost alone amidst a nation's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>
+defection, and singly opposed the revolutionary
+torrent by which nearly
+all others had been swept away. The
+spectacle is at once animating and
+mournful: animating as evincing of
+what high resolves, of what heroic
+constancy, noble minds are capable
+even in the extremity of disaster:
+mournful, as exhibiting so bright a
+contrast to the tergiversation of later
+times, and suggesting the mournful
+reflection that, in these days of economists
+and material enjoyment, the
+days of chivalry are gone for ever.</p>
+
+<p>It is well known that Chateaubriand
+was esteemed not only a
+Liberal, but an ultra-Liberal, by the
+extreme Royalist party whom
+Charles X. summoned to his councils
+on his accession to the throne; and
+that, in consequence of his disagreement
+with Polignac and the leaders
+of that party, he retired from the
+ministry, and resigned his appointment
+as ambassador at Rome. His
+consternation was great on perceiving
+the extreme measures which the
+Polignac party were preparing to
+carry into execution, and the feeble
+preparations made for supporting
+them by military force, in the midst of
+a warlike and excited people. Of
+his first intelligence of the appointment
+of the Polignac Administration
+by the sovereign whom they were destined
+so soon to overthrow, he gives
+the following account:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Rumours of a change of Administration
+had already reached us at Rome.
+Well-informed persons had even gone so
+far as to speak of Prince Polignac, but I
+could not credit the reports. At length
+the journals arrive; I open them, and
+my eyes rest on the official ordinance
+calling him to the head of the ministry.
+I had experienced many vicissitudes of
+fortune in my journey through life, but
+never had I fallen from such an elevation.
+My evil destiny had again blown
+over my chimeras: that breath of fate
+had not only destroyed my illusions, but
+it had swept away the monarchy. The
+blow was fearful: for a moment I was
+in despair, but my part was soon taken.
+I felt that I must retire from power.
+The post brought me a multitude of
+letters; all recommended me to send in
+my resignation. Even persons to whom
+I was almost a stranger thought themselves
+obliged to counsel me to retire. I
+was in secret mortified at the officious
+interest thus evinced in my reputation.
+Thank God, I have never needed nor
+waited for counsels when the paths of
+honour and of interest lay before me.
+Falls from station have ever been to me
+ruin, for I possessed through life nothing
+but debts; so that when I resigned my
+appointments, I was reduced to live by
+my wits. In a word, I resigned a situation
+of 200,000 francs (£8000) a-year,
+and was reduced to nothing; but my
+choice was not doubtful. Cast to the
+winds, said I to myself, 200,000 francs
+(£8000) a-year of income, an appointment
+entirely suited to your taste, a
+high and magnificent office, the empire of
+the fine arts at Rome, the felicity, in fine,
+of having at length received the recompense
+for your long and laborious
+struggles. Honour is to be won, esteem
+preserved, at no other price."&mdash;Vol. ix.
+141, 142.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>On arriving at Paris after he had
+resigned his appointment as ambassador
+at Rome, Chateaubriand found
+that many of the kind and officious
+friends who had so strongly urged
+<em>him</em> to resign, had themselves quietly
+accepted appointments under the
+Polignac Administration! He withdrew,
+however, in pursuance of his
+resolution, into private life; and in
+order to avoid the expenses of Paris,
+which exceeded what his reduced
+income could bear, he retired to
+Dieppe in June 1830. When there
+he received the stunning intelligence
+of the Ordinances of July. His part
+was immediately taken. He returned
+with the utmost expedition to Paris,
+resolved to share the fate of his
+country whatever it might be, and to
+exert himself to the utmost to mitigate
+the calamities which he foresaw
+awaited it. His first step on arriving
+in the capital was to write a letter to
+the King, making a tender of his services
+to negotiate with the popular
+leaders who had got the command in
+the capital. The only answer he
+received was a verbal one, that M.
+de Montemart had been appointed to
+the head of the Ministry, and a reference
+to him. But M. de Montemart
+could not be found; and even if he had
+been, affairs had gone too far to admit
+of any remedy by individual efforts,
+how powerful soever. The nation
+would have a Revolution with its
+consequences, and it was doomed to
+have a Revolution with its consequences.
+But although Louis Philippe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>
+was successful, Chateaubriand foresaw
+that his throne was established on a
+rotten foundation: that the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">juste
+milieu</i>, resting neither on the attachment
+of a loyal, nor the passions of a
+conquering people, could not be of
+lasting endurance; and that, in default
+of all principles of honour whereon to
+rest a Government, those of interest
+alone remained. He has left the following
+memorable prophecy of the
+fate awaiting a monarchy cradled in
+treason and fostered by selfishness:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Louis Philippe, his Government, the
+whole of that impossible and contradictory
+combination, <em>will perish in a time
+more or less retarded by fortuitous events</em>,
+by complications of interests interior
+and exterior, by the apathy or corruption
+of individuals, by the levity of disposition,
+the indifference and want of nerve in
+characters. But be its duration long or
+short, the present dynasty will not exist
+long enough for the House of Orleans to
+strike its roots in the soil of France."&mdash;Vol.
+ix. 333.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p></blockquote>
+
+<p>It is not in public documents and
+actions that the real opinions of the
+actors on the stage of public events
+are to be discerned. It is their private
+conversation or correspondence
+that reveals their real sentiments; it
+is there that the mental struggles
+which preceded the most decisive
+steps, and the secret views by which
+they were actuated in adopting or
+rejecting them, are in truth disclosed.
+In this view, the following conversation
+between Chateaubriand and the
+Duchess of Orleans, immediately after
+the triumph of the Barricades, is peculiarly
+interesting&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"M. Arago spoke to me in the warmest
+terms of the intellectual superiority of
+Madame Adelaide; and the Count Analde
+de Montesquieu, having met me one
+morning at Madame Recamier's, informed
+me that the Duke and Duchess of Orleans
+would be charmed to see me. I went,
+accordingly, to the Palais Royal with the
+Chevalier d'Honneur of the future queen.
+I found the Duchess of Orleans and
+Madame Adelaide in their private boudoirs.
+I had previously had the honour
+of being presented to the duchess. She
+made me sit down near her, and immediately
+said&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"'Ah! M. de Chateaubriand, we are
+very unfortunate. If all parties would
+unite we might perhaps be saved, what
+think you of that?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Madame,' I replied, 'nothing is so
+easy. Charles X. and the Dauphin have
+both abdicated; Henry V. is now king;
+the Duke of Orleans is now Lieutenant-general
+of the kingdom; let him be Regent
+during the whole minority of Henry
+V., and all is accomplished.'</p>
+
+<p>"'But, M. de Chateaubriand, the people
+are extremely agitated; we should fall
+into anarchy.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Madame, may I venture to ask you
+what is the intention of the Duke of
+Orleans? will he accept the throne if it
+is offered to him?'</p>
+
+<p>"The two princesses hesitated to answer.
+After a short pause the Duchess
+of Orleans replied,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"'Consider, M. de Chateaubriand, the
+disasters which may ensue&mdash;you and all
+other men of honour require to unite to
+save us from a republic. At Rome, M.
+de Chateaubriand, you might render us
+essential service&mdash;or even here, if you did
+not wish to quit France.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Madame is not ignorant of my devotion
+to the young king and to his mother.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Ah! M. de Chateaubriand, how well
+they have rewarded your fidelity.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Your Royal Highness would not
+wish me to give the lie to my whole life.'</p>
+
+<p>"'M. de Chateaubriand, you do not
+know my niece; she is so inconsiderate,
+poor Caroline. I will send for the Duke
+of Orleans; I hope he may succeed in
+persuading you better than me.'</p>
+
+<p>"The princess gave her orders, and in
+a quarter of an hour Louis Philippe
+arrived. He was dressed in disorder,
+and looked extremely fatigued. I rose
+as he entered, and the Lieutenant-general
+of the kingdom said,&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"'The duchess has doubtless informed
+you how unfortunate we are.' And
+upon that he began a speech on the
+felicity which he enjoyed in the country,
+and the life, in the midst of his children,
+which was entirely according to his
+taste. I seized the opportunity of a
+momentary pause to repeat what I had
+said to the princess.</p>
+
+<p>"'Ah!' he exclaimed, 'that is just
+what I desire. How happy should I be to
+become the tutor and support of that infant!
+I think exactly as you do, M. de
+Chateaubriand: to take the Duke of
+Bordeaux would unquestionably be the
+wisest course that could be adopted. I
+only fear events are too strong for us.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Stronger than us, my Lord Duke!
+Are you not invested with all powers?
+Let us hasten to join Henry V. Summon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>
+the Chambers and the army to meet
+you out of Paris. At the first intelligence
+of your departure all that effervescence
+will subside, and all the world
+will seek shelter under your enlightened
+and protecting government.'</p>
+
+<p>"While I yet spoke, I kept my eyes
+fixed on Louis Philippe. I saw that my
+counsels gave him annoyance: I saw
+written on his forehead the desire to be
+king. 'M. de Chateaubriand,' said he,
+<em>without looking me in the face</em>, 'the thing
+is not so easy as you imagine: things do
+not go as you imagine. A furious mob
+may assail the Chambers, and we have,
+as yet, no military force on which we can
+rely for its defence.'</p>
+
+<p>"The last expression gave me pleasure,
+because it enabled me to bring forward
+a decisive reply. 'I feel the difficulty
+you mention, my Lord Duke; but
+there is a sure mode of obviating it. If
+you cannot rejoin Henry V., as I have
+just proposed, you may embrace another
+course. The session is about to open:
+on the first proposition made by the deputies,
+declare that the Chamber of Deputies
+has not the power to determine the
+form of government for France; that the
+<em>whole nation must be consulted</em>. Your
+Royal Highness will thus place yourself
+at the head of the popular party: the
+Republicans, who now constitute your
+danger, will laud you to the skies. In
+the two months which must elapse before
+the new legislature can assemble, you can
+organise a national guard; all your
+friends, and the friends of the young king,
+will exert themselves in the provinces.
+Let the deputies assemble, and let the
+cause I espouse be publicly pleaded before
+them. That cause, favoured in heart
+by you, supported by the great majority
+of the country electors, will be certain of
+success. The moment of anarchy being
+past, you will have nothing to fear from
+the violence of the Republicans. I even
+think you might win over, by such a
+course, General Lafayette and M. Lafitte
+to your side. What a part for you to
+play, my Lord Duke! You will reign fifteen
+years in the name of your young
+pupil; at the expiration of that time,
+repose will be a blessing to us all. You
+will earn the glory, unique in history, of
+having had the power to ascend the
+throne, and of having left it to the lawful
+heir. At the same time, you will have
+enjoyed the means of educating that heir
+abreast of the ideas of his age: you will
+have rendered him capable of reigning
+over France. One of your daughters
+may aid him to bear the weight of the
+crown.'</p>
+
+<p>"Louis Philippe looked around with a
+wandering eye and an absent air. 'I beg
+your pardon, M. de Chateaubriand,' said
+he; 'I left a deputation to converse with
+you, and I must return to it.' With
+these words, he bowed and withdrew."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>The advice thus given at the decisive
+moment by Chateaubriand was
+that of honour and loyalty; it
+dictated by the spirit of the chevalier
+<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">sans peur et sans reproche</i>. But it was
+not that of immediate or apparent
+interest; and therefore it was not
+adopted. The event has now proved,
+however, that in this, as in so many
+other instances in this world, the path
+of honour and duty would have been
+that of expedience. What Chateaubriand
+recommended to Louis Philippe
+was substantially what Louis
+Napoleon <em>did</em>; and the result proved
+that the great majority of the nation,
+differing widely from the revolutionary
+rabble of Paris, was not only Conservative,
+but Royalist in its dispositions.
+Had Louis Philippe followed
+this course, and taken only the regency
+till the majority of the Duke of
+Bordeaux, the two branches of the
+house of Bourbon would have been
+cordially united: no discord or jealousies
+would have weakened the
+Royalist party; the national will
+would have been decidedly pronounced
+for the monarchy before
+it had been rendered an object of
+contempt; the Revolution of 1848,
+with all its disastrous consequences,
+would probably have been prevented;
+and as the Duke de Bordeaux has no
+family, the Orleans dynasty, as the
+next heirs, would have ascended the
+throne in the natural order of succession&mdash;and
+not only without the bar
+sinister of treason on their escutcheon,
+but with a deed of unexampled magnanimity
+and honour to illustrate their
+accession!</p>
+
+<p>Louis Philippe, bent on the immediate
+possession of the throne, made
+another attempt to gain M. de Chateaubriand;
+and for this purpose the
+Duchess of Orleans and Madame Adelaide
+again sent for him.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Madame Adelaide was present as on
+the former occasion; and the duchess now
+described more specifically the favours
+with which the Duke of Orleans proposed
+to honour me. She dwelt on what
+she called my sway over public opinion;
+the sacrifices I had made, and the aversion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>
+which Charles X. and his family had
+always shown to me in spite of my services.
+She said to me, that if I would
+accept the portfolio of foreign affairs, his
+Royal Highness would be too happy to
+replace me in that situation; but that possibly
+I would prefer returning to Rome,
+and that she would greatly rejoice at that
+appointment, for the interests of our holy
+religion.</p>
+
+<p>"'Madam,' I answered with some degree
+of vivacity, 'I see that his Royal
+Highness has taken his line; that he has
+weighed the consequences; that he is prepared
+to meet the years of misery and
+perils he will have to traverse. I have
+therefore nothing to say on that head&mdash;I
+come not here to fail in respect to the
+blood of the Bourbons; I owe besides nothing
+but gratitude and respect to <em>Madame</em>.
+Leaving apart, then, those great
+objections, founded on reason and principle,
+I pray her Royal Highness to allow
+me to explain what personally concerns
+myself.</p>
+
+<p>"'She has had the condescension to
+speak of what she calls my power over
+general opinion. Well, if that power is
+well founded, on what is it founded? Is it
+on anything else but the public esteem:
+and should I not lose it the moment I
+changed my colours? The Duke of
+Orleans supposes he would in me acquire
+a support: instead of that he would gain
+only a miserable maker of phrases, whose
+voice would no longer be listened to&mdash;a
+renegade, on whom every one would have
+a right to throw dust and to spit in his
+face. To the hesitating words which he
+could pronounce in favour of Louis
+Philippe, they would oppose the entire
+volumes he had written in favour of the
+fallen family. Is it not I, Madam, who
+have written the pamphlet of <cite>Buonaparte
+and the Bourbons</cite>; the articles on the
+arrival of Louis XVIII. at Compiègne;
+the relation of the Royal Council at Ghent,
+and the <cite>History of the Life and Death of
+the Duke de Berri</cite>? I know not that I
+have written a single page where the
+name of our ancient kings is not either
+mentioned or alluded to, and where they
+are not environed by the protestations of
+my love and fidelity&mdash;a thing which
+marks strength of principle the more
+strongly, as<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Madame</i> knows that, as an
+individual, I put no faith in princes. At
+the thought even of desertion, the colour
+mounts to my cheeks. The day after my
+treachery, I should go to throw myself
+into the Seine. I implore <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Madame</i> to
+forgive the vehemence of my language:
+I am penetrated with her goodness: I
+shall ever preserve a profound and grateful
+remembrance of it; but she would
+not wish me to be dishonoured. Pity me,
+madam, pity me.'"</p>
+
+<p>"I was still standing; and bowing, I retired.
+Mademoiselle de Orleans, (the
+Princess Adelaide,) had not yet said anything.
+She rose up, and retiring said,
+'<em>I do not pity you, M. de Chateaubriand;
+I do not pity you</em>.' I was forcibly struck
+with the mournful accent with which she
+pronounced these words."&mdash;Vol. ix. 361,
+362.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>"Pity not me," said the dying
+Chevalier Bayard to the traitor Constable
+de Bourbon; "pity those who
+fight against their king, their country,
+and their oath." The feelings of
+honour are the same in all ages.</p>
+
+<p>We shall close this long line of
+honourable acts with an extract from
+Chateaubriand's noble speech in favour
+of Henry V., in the Chamber of Peers,
+on July 7, 1830.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"'Charles X. and his sons are dethroned
+or have abdicated; it signifies not which.
+The throne is <em>not vacant</em>&mdash;after them
+comes an infant; will you condemn the
+innocent?</p>
+
+<p>"'What blood now cries out against
+him? Can you say it is that of his father?
+That orphan educated in the school of
+his country, in attachment to a constitutional
+throne, and in the ideas of his age,
+will become a king in harmony with the
+cravings of the future. It is to the
+guardian of his infancy that you would
+first tender the oath to be faithful to it.
+Arrived at mature years, he would himself
+renew it. The king at this moment,
+the real king for a time, would be the
+Duke of Orleans, the regent of the kingdom;
+a prince who has lived near the
+people, and who knows that the monarchy
+now can only be a monarchy of concession
+and reason. That combination, so natural,
+so obvious, appears a main element in
+reconciliation, and would save France
+from the convulsions which are the consequence
+of violent changes in a state.</p>
+
+<p>"'To say that this infant, separated
+from his masters, would not have leisure
+to forget their precepts before becoming
+a man: to say that he would remain infatuated
+by certain dogmas of his birth,
+after a long popular education, after the
+terrible lesson which has discrowned two
+kings in two nights: is that reasonable?</p>
+
+<p>"'It is neither from a sentimental devotion,
+nor the affection of a nurse for the
+cradle of Henry IV., that I plead a cause
+where all would turn against me if it
+triumphed. I am neither influenced by
+the ideas of romance nor of chivalry: I
+do not desire the crown of martyrdom. I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>
+do not believe in the divine right of kings:
+I am alive to the power of revolutions,
+and the evidence of facts. I do not even
+invoke the charter: I ascend to a higher
+source. I draw my principles from the
+philosophic ideas of the age in which my
+life expires: I propose the Duke of Bordeaux
+simply as a necessity preferable to
+the Duke of Orleans.</p>
+
+<p>"'You proclaim the sovereignty of force.
+It is well. <em>Look carefully after it: guard
+it well; for, if it escapes you, who will
+pity your lot?</em> Such is human nature.
+The most enlightened minds are not always
+raised above the temptations of success.
+The <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">esprits forts</i> were the first to invoke
+the right of violence; they supported
+it by all the force of their talents; and at
+the moment when the truth of what they
+said is demonstrated by the abuse of that
+force, and its overthrow, the conquerors
+seize the weapon they have broken! Dangerous
+trophies, which may wound the
+hand which seized them.</p>
+
+<p>"'A useless Cassandra, I have fatigued
+the throne and the country sufficiently
+with my disdained predictions: it remains
+for me only to seat myself on the
+remains of the wreck which I have so
+often predicted. I recognise in misfortune
+every power except that of absolving
+us from our oaths. I must render my life
+uniform: after all I have written, said,
+and done for the Bourbons, I should be
+the basest of the base if I deserted them
+when for the third time they bend their
+steps into exile.</p>
+
+<p>"'Far from me be the thought of casting
+the seeds of division into France:
+thence it is that I have avoided in my discourse
+the language of the passions. If
+I had the firm conviction that an infant
+should be left in the obscure and tranquil
+ranks of life, to secure the repose of
+thirty-three millions of men, I should have
+regarded any opinion expressed against
+the declared wishes of the age as a crime.
+I have no such conviction. If I was entitled
+to dispose of the crown, I should
+willingly lay it at the feet of the Duke of
+Orleans. But I have no such right. I
+see no place vacant but a tomb at St Denis,
+and not a throne.</p>
+
+<p>"'Whatever destinies may attend the
+lieutenant-general of the kingdom, I shall
+never be his enemy, if he acts for the good
+of his country. I only ask to be allowed
+to preserve the freedom of my conscience,
+and to go and leave my bones where I
+shall find independence and repose. I
+vote against the motion.'"&mdash;Vol. ix. 386-388.</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Chateaubriand was as good as his
+word. He resigned all his appointments,
+even his pension of £600 a-year
+as Peer of France: he sold off
+all his effects, which scarcely paid his
+debts: he refused the offer of Charles
+X. to restore that pension out of the
+wreck of that Prince's own fortune: he
+set out again penniless on the pilgrimage
+of life: and till his death, in
+1848, supported himself entirely by
+his literary talents.</p>
+
+<p>Such was honour in the olden time.
+We do not say that it would not find
+imitators, on a similar crisis, on this
+side of the Channel: we believe it
+would find many. But this we do say,
+that it would find them only among
+those who are imbued with the ancient
+ideas, among whom, whether
+patrician or plebeian, the spirit of chivalry
+is not extinct. It will not be
+found among the worshippers of mammon,
+or the slaves of interest. Woe
+to the nation by whom such feelings
+are classed with the age of the mammoth
+and the mastodon! It has
+entered the gulf of destruction, for it
+deserves to be destroyed.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>THE GREEN HAND.</h2>
+
+<h3>A "SHORT" YARN.</h3>
+
+<h4>PART XI.</h4>
+
+
+<p>"Well, ma'am," continued our
+narrator, addressing himself, as usual,
+to his matronly relative in the chair,
+and with the accustomed catch-word,
+which was like the knotting together
+of his interrupted yarn: "well&mdash;it
+was between a fortnight and three
+weeks after losing sight of St Helena,
+that, being at last fairly in the latitude
+of the Cape, the frigate and schooner
+tacked in company, and stood close-hauled
+on a wind to the eastward. By
+the middle watch that night, when the
+moon set, we could make out the long
+flat top of Table Mountain heaving in
+sight off the horizon over against her.
+Next day, in fact, we were both of us
+quietly at anchor outside of the shipping
+in Table Bay; Cape Town glittering
+along on the green flat amongst
+the trees to southward, with the hills
+on each side of it like some big African
+lion lying on guard close by; while
+Table Mountain hove up, square-shouldered,
+blue to the left, four thousand
+feet high, as bare and steep as a
+wall, with the rocks and trees creeping
+up from the foot, and the wreaths of
+light cloud resting halfway, like nothing
+else but the very breakwater of
+the world's end. The sea stretched
+broad off to north and west, and a
+whole fleet of craft lay betwixt us and
+the land&mdash;half of them Indiamen&mdash;amongst
+which, you may be sure, I
+kept a pretty sharp look-out with the
+glass, to see if the Seringapatam were
+there still.</p>
+
+<p>I was soon saved further pains on
+this head, however, when shortly
+afterwards the frigate was beset by a
+whole squadron of bumboats, shoving
+against each other, and squabbling, in
+all sorts of Nigger tongues, who should
+be first: the chief of them being in
+evident command of a fat old Dutch
+Frouw, with an immense blue umbrella
+over her, two greasy-looking
+Hottentot rowers in blankets, and a
+round-faced Dutch boy, the picture of
+herself, steering the boat; as the old
+lady made a clear berth for herself,
+by laying about with her blue umbrella,
+till she was close under our
+quarter, sitting all the while with the
+broad round stern of her bright-coloured
+gown spread over a couple of beer-barrels,
+like a peacock's train. In two
+minutes more the little fellow was up
+the side, flourishing a bundle of papers
+under the first lieutenant's very nose,
+and asking the ship's custom, even
+whilst the sentries were ordering them
+all off. A midshipman took this youth
+by the cuff of the neck, and was handing
+him rather roughly along to the
+care of the purser's steward, when I
+stepped betwixt them; and a bumboat
+being the best directory on the point,
+of course, I soon found the old lady
+had had dealings with the Seringapatam,
+which her bluff-built little progeny
+described as a very good ship
+indeed, all having paid their bills,
+except one young officer, who had left
+a balance standing, for which he had
+given a letter to his brother in a ship
+that was to come after. As for the
+Indiaman herself, the Dutch boy said
+she had sailed about a week before
+our arrival, along with two others;
+and he was anxious to know if we
+were the vessel in question. I accordingly
+unfolded the open letter,
+which was addressed,&mdash;"Thomas
+Spoonbill Simm, Esquire, of His Britannic
+Majesty's ship Nincompoop,
+(or otherwise;") and it ran somehow
+thus:&mdash;"<em>Hon. East India Company's
+ship Seringapatam, Table Bay, September
+1, 1816.</em>&mdash;My dear Brother,
+This is to certify, that I have eaten
+four dozen and a half of eggs, supplied
+by the worthy Vrouw Dulcken, the
+bearer of this, whom I can recommend
+as an old screw, and am due her for
+the same the sum of nine shillings and
+sixpence sterling, which you will
+kindly pay her, taking her receipt or
+mark, unless you are willing to forfeit
+our family watch, herewith deposited
+by me in the hands of said Mother
+Dulcken. I may add that, in justice
+to the worthy Vrouw, three of the
+above-mentioned eggs ought to be
+charged as <em>fowls</em>, which, by the way,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>
+I did not consume; and, with love to
+all at home, remain your affectionate
+brother, <span class="smcap">John Simm</span>, H. E. I. C. S.&mdash;<em>P. S.</em>
+The watch I have discovered to
+be pinchbeck, and it does not go; so
+that a sad trick must have been originally
+played upon our venerated
+Uncle, from whom it descended. J. S."
+This precious epistle was, without
+doubt, a joke of the fat mid. Simm,
+who used to come such rigs over Ford
+the cadet, and that jumped overboard
+one night by mistake out of the Indiaman's
+quarter-boat, during the voyage.
+As for the existence of his brother
+Thomas, or the chance of his
+touching at that port, I set them down
+with the coming home of Vanderdecken;
+though the thought of this
+young scamp of a sea-lawyer breakfasting
+for a fortnight so comfortably,
+only a few feet distant from my charmer's
+state-room, sent me all abroad
+again, and right into the Indiaman's
+decks, by this time far out of sight of
+land. Piece of impudent roguery
+though it was, I was actually loath to
+part with the scrawl, which the reefer
+had fisted, no doubt, on the lid of his
+chest&mdash;probably with a pipe in his
+mouth at the time, it smelt so of tobacco&mdash;only
+seven days before. I could
+even see the grin on his fat face as he
+wrote it below in the steerage, with
+his chin up, and his eyes looking down
+past his pipe; while the little Dutch
+boy's round flat frontispiece glistened
+as he peered up at me, in the evident
+notion of my being the brother expected.
+In fact, ma'am, I was so
+soft as to intend paying the nine-and-sixpence
+myself, and keeping the
+letter, when I was startled to see
+the old lady herself had contrived to
+be hoisted on board amongst her cabbages;
+and having got wind of the
+thing, seemingly, she came waddling
+towards me to hand over Simm's
+watch to boot. In another half
+minute the letter was being read
+aloud in the midst of the whole
+gun-room officers, amongst roars of
+laughter; the honest old Dutchwoman
+holding aloft the precious article, and
+floundering through to find out the
+rightful owner, as every one claimed
+it and offered the nine-and-sixpence;
+while for my part I tried first to get
+down one hatchway, then another,
+and Lord Frederick himself came up
+on the starboard side of the quarterdeck
+in the height of the scene. Indeed,
+I believe it was a joke for
+months after in the Hebe, of a night,
+to say it was "the second lieutenant's
+watch;" the sole revenge I had being
+to leave Mother Dulcken and her boy
+to expect the "ship that was coming
+after."</p>
+
+<p>A Government boat came aboard
+in the afternoon, and as soon as it
+left us, Lord Frederick took his gig,
+and steered for a frigate lying some
+distance off, which had the harbour
+flag hoisted at her main, being the
+only man-o'-war besides ourselves,
+and commanded by a senior captain.
+Till it got dark I could see the crews
+of the nearest merchantmen looking
+over their bulwarks at us and our
+prize, apparently comparing the
+schooner with the frigate, and speculating
+on her character, as she lay a
+few fathoms off the Hebe's quarter,
+both of us rising and falling in turn
+on the long heave of the Cape swell
+from seaward. 'Twas hard to say, in
+fact, so far as their hulls went, which
+was the most beautiful sample of its
+kind; though the schooner's French-fashioned
+sticks and off-hand sort of
+rigging, showed rather like jury-gear
+beside the tall regular sticks aloft of
+the Hebe's decks, with all her hamper
+perfect to a tee. The Hebe's men
+very naturally considered their own
+ship a model for everything that
+floated, a sort of a Solomon's temple, in
+short; and to hear the merciless way
+they ran down the Indiamen all round,
+would have raised the whole homeward-bound
+fleet against us; whereas
+the schooner was our own, at any
+rate, and she was spoken of much in
+the manner one mentions an unfortunate
+orphan, as good as already christened
+by the name of "the Young
+Hebe." This our learned chaplain
+said was quite improper, and he gave
+another name in place of it&mdash;the
+"Aniceta"&mdash;which meant, as he observed,
+the Hebe's youngest daughter;
+so the Aniceta she was called, happening
+to be a title that went, according
+to the boatswain, full as sweetly
+through the sheave-hole.</p>
+
+<p>Next day the schooner had landed
+not only her passengers from St
+Helena, but the prisoners also, as we
+still understood the French and their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>
+Kroomen to be. Not long after that
+Lord Frederick came back from Cape
+Town, looking grave, and went
+straight down to his cabin, or "cabins,"
+as his lordship preferred to have it
+said. The first lieutenant dined that
+day with the captain; but they could
+scarcely have finished when the
+"young gentlemen" who had been as
+usual from the reefer's mess, came up
+with a message from the captain, that
+his lordship would be glad if I would
+join the first lieutenant and himself in
+a glass of wine. I found them sitting
+at the side of the table nearest the
+open port, with the decanters between
+them, and the broad bright bay in
+full sight to the shore and the foot of
+Table Mountain, which rose up blocking
+the port with the top of it beyond
+view; the sounds of the merchantmen
+clicking at their heavy windlasses,
+and hoisting in water-casks, floated
+slowly in from every side, while the
+schooner had hauled on her cable
+more abreast of the frigate, leaving
+the sight clear over the eddy round
+her low counter.</p>
+
+<p>"A lovely piece of workmanship,
+certainly!" observed Lord Frederick
+thoughtfully, as he leant back swinging
+his eyeglass round his finger, with
+the other hand in the breast of his
+waistcoat, and looking out at what
+was seen of the schooner. "And how
+one might have improved her spars,
+too!" said Mr Hall, wistfully. "I
+should have recommended longer
+lower-masts altogether, Lord Frederick,
+and a thorough overhaul, I may
+say, from the combings upwards!"
+"I would not have her hull touched
+for the world, Mr Hall!" said the
+captain; "'tis too&mdash;excessively provoking,
+at least! But pass the bottles
+to Mr Collins, if you please." I had
+taken a chair and quietly filled my
+glass, wondering what could be the
+matter, when his lordship turned to
+me and said, "Do you know, Mr Collins,
+this schooner of ours is likely to
+be laid up in Chancery, heaven knows
+how long. The Admiralty court ashore
+are doubtful of condemning her, apparently,
+and she must either be sent
+home or to Monte Video or somewhere,
+where the master of her claims
+to belong!" "Indeed, my lord," said
+I, setting down my glass, "that
+is curious." "Curious indeed, sir!"
+replied he, biting his lips, "though,
+after all, we really can scarce say
+what she is to be condemned for&mdash;only
+in the meantime I sail to-morrow
+for India." "She's French to
+the backbone, that I'll swear, Lord
+Frederick!" I said; "and what's
+more, she was"&mdash;&mdash;"Ah," broke in the
+captain, "I know, I know; but the
+less we say of that, in present circumstances,
+the better! Once get her
+entangled with politics, and we may
+give her up altogether." Lord Frederick
+twisted his eyeglass round his
+forefinger faster than before, still
+watching the schooner; the first lieutenant
+held up his claret betwixt himself
+and the light, and I sipped mine.
+"I tell you what, gentlemen," exclaimed
+his lordship suddenly, "I
+<em>must</em> have that schooner at any cost!&mdash;What
+is to be done, Mr Hall?"
+"She'd be of great service in the
+China seas, my lord, certainly," said
+the first lieutenant, looking thoughtfully
+into his empty glass; "a perfect
+treasure for light service, especially if
+new sparred and&mdash;" I noticed Lord
+Frederick glancing sideways at me, as
+I thought, with a slight gleam in his
+eye; and accordingly I suggested that
+he might buy her from the Frenchman
+himself; a very poor idea, no
+doubt, as both the captain and first
+luff seemed to think, and we all three
+kept eyeing her doubtfully through
+the port, without a word.</p>
+
+<p>At this time the schooner's counter
+had been slowly sheering toward the
+frigate's beam, owing to the ebb-tide,
+and her holding only by a single cable,
+till her stern began to show right
+opposite the cabin, I should say not
+twenty feet off. Lord Frederick put
+his glass to his eye, and was peering
+through it, when he remarked that
+they had brought up rather too near,
+leaving scarce room for the schooner
+to swing as she did, earlier than we,
+so that she would be in danger of getting
+foul of the frigate's cables. "The
+worst of it is, Lord Frederick," said I,
+"that in case of a gale from seaward
+here, she might have to slip and run
+upon very short warning, whereas the
+Hebe has plenty of ground-tackle to
+let her ride it out. Considering it
+was Table Bay, at this season, he
+ought to have kept her a clearer
+berth for herself, or else have gone<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>
+well outside!"&mdash;"Ah!" said Lord
+Frederick quickly, meeting my eye
+for half a minute, till the gleam came
+into his again; and somehow or other
+mine must have caught it, though I
+must say the notion that struck me
+then all at once wasn't in my head
+before. "Do you know, that's well
+thought of, Collins!" said his lordship.
+"You've weathered the Cape
+before, by the bye?"&mdash;"A dozen times,
+Lord Frederick," said I; when a
+regularly jovial roar of laughter broke
+fair through the port into the cabin,
+from over the schooner's taffrail, as
+she sheered end-on to the frigate's
+quarter, and Lord Frederick leant
+forward with the glass screwed into
+his right eye to see along their decks,
+which were covered aft with an awning
+like the open gable of a tent at a
+fair. "Singular!" said he; "by the
+lord Harry, who or what can that be
+Mr Hammond has got there?" Dangling
+over the French schooner's taffrail
+were to be seen the soles of two
+immense boots, with calves and knees
+to match, and a pair of tightish striped
+trousers worked up more than half
+way, 'till you saw the tops of the stockings;
+just beyond the knees was the
+face leaning back in the shade of the
+awning and a straw hat together, out
+of which a huge green cabbage-leaf
+hung like a flap over one eye, while
+the other kept gazing in a half-closed
+sleepy sort of way at the sky, and
+the red end of a cigar winked and
+glowed in the midst of the puffs of
+smoke lower down. The first lieutenant
+started up shocked at the sight,
+the noble captain of the Hebe sat with
+his eyeglass fixed, between amusement
+and wonder; for my own part,
+when the voice of this same prodigy
+broke all of a sudden on us out of the
+awning, in a mixture of stuttering,
+hiccuping, Yankee drawling, and puffs
+at the cigar, 'twas all I could do to
+hold on, with the knowledge of where
+I was. "W<em>a</em>ll now, general," said
+the American, as if he were talking to
+some one aloft or in the sky, "ye-you're
+qui-quite wrong&mdash;I ki-kick-calc'late
+I've fit a deal more be-be-battles
+than you have&mdash;I re-respect
+you, Ge-Ge-General Washington; but
+I ho-ho-hope you know who&mdash;hic&mdash;whom
+I am!" Here Mr Daniel Snout,
+who was in a state of beastly intoxication,
+swayed himself up bodily into
+the schooner's taffrail, and sat with
+his arms folded, his long legs swinging
+over the stern, and his head trying to
+keep steady, as he scowled solemnly
+aloft over the frigate's mizen-royal-masthead;
+while the third lieutenant,
+Mr Hammond, and the master's mate
+he had aboard with him, could be
+heard laughing at his back, as if they
+had gone mad&mdash;Hammond being a
+wild sprig of an Irishman, who would
+go any length for a piece of fun.</p>
+
+<p>Just then the American's one eye
+lighted on the side of the frigate, till
+it settled lazily on the port of the captain's
+cabin: first he seemed to notice
+Lord Frederick Bury, and then myself,
+the first lieutenant having just
+recovered himself enough to rush toward
+the door to get on deck. Daniel
+himself surveyed me scornfully for a
+moment, then with a sort of doubtful
+frown, and a gravity that passes me
+to describe, unless by the look of an
+old cock a-drinking&mdash;evidently trying
+to recollect me. "Hallo, mister!"
+shouted he suddenly, "you haven't
+touched those <em>notions</em> of mine, I hope."
+With that he made a spring off
+where he sat, as if to come towards
+us&mdash;no doubt thinking of the Seringapatam,
+and the valuables he had left
+aboard, without seeing the water between;
+and a pretty deep dive Mr
+Snout would have made of it, into an
+ebb-tide that would have swept him
+under the frigate's bottom, if Mr Hammond
+and the midshipman hadn't both
+sprung forward in time to catch him
+by the neck of the coat. There, accordingly,
+was the Yankee hanging
+like a spread eagle over the schooner's
+taffrail, yelling and turning round at
+the same time like a fowl on a spit&mdash;the
+third lieutenant's and the mate's
+faces, two pictures of dismay, as they
+held on, at finding for the first time
+where the schooner had shied them
+round to, with their two pairs of eyes
+fair in front of the captain's eyeglass,&mdash;while
+Mr Hall was singing out like
+thunder from the deck above us,
+"The schooner ahoy&mdash;d'ye see where
+you've got to, sir; haul ahead on
+that cable, d'ye hear, you lubbers,
+and keep clear of the ship!"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr Collins," said his lordship
+quietly to me, as soon as he could keep
+his countenance, and looking the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>
+sterner for the trouble he was put to in
+doing it, "you will get your things and
+go aboard the schooner directly&mdash;take
+her in charge, sir, and send Mr Hammond
+back here."&mdash;"Very well, my
+lord," said I, waiting in the doorway for
+something more, which, from something
+in Lord Frederick's look, I had reason
+to expect, knowing it of old. "I can
+only spare you a dozen of the men
+she has," added he; "but if you choose
+you can send ashore at once to pick
+up a few makeshifts, or anything you
+find!"&mdash;"Ay, ay, my lord," said I;
+"the best hand for that would be Mr
+Snelling, if I may take him, Lord
+Frederick?" "Oh, certainly," was
+the answer; "and harkye, Collins,
+you had better shift your berth a few
+cable-lengths farther off, or more, if
+you please."&mdash;"One thing, my lord,"
+said I, stooping down to see through
+the port, "I don't much like the heavy
+ground-swell that begins to meet the
+ebb, Lord Frederick; and I fancy it
+won't be long ere Table Mountain
+spread its supper-cloth&mdash;in which case
+I'd consider it necessary to slip cable
+and run out at once, though I mightn't
+get in again so easily. Am I to find
+the frigate here again, Lord Frederick?"&mdash;"Deuce
+take it, man&mdash;no!"
+said his lordship. He turned his back
+to hide the evident twinkle of his eye.
+"Should we part company, of course
+you make for the Bay of Bengal!
+You can't be sure of the Hebe, short
+of the Sandheads&mdash;and if not there,
+then opposite Fort William, at Calcutta."&mdash;"Very
+good, my lord," said
+I, and had made my bow to go on
+deck, when Lord Frederick called me
+back. "By the bye," said he hastily,
+"about that Indiaman of yours, Collins&mdash;she
+is here, no doubt?" "No,
+Lord Frederick," answered I, "I believe
+she sailed a week ago." "Dear
+me, the deuce!" exclaimed he, "why I
+meant to have sent to-morrow to have
+your friend Westwood arrested and
+brought aboard!" I started at this, on
+which his lordship explained that if
+Westwood got to Bombay, whither the
+Seringapatam was bound, the authorities
+there would have news of the thing
+by this time, and could send him overland
+at once to England, which would be
+far worse for him than being carried to
+Calcutta, where his uncle the Councillor's
+interest might do something for
+him. "The best thing you can do,
+Collins," added Lord Frederick, "if
+you <em>are</em> obliged to run out to sea, is to
+look after that Indiaman! With such
+a neat thing of a sea-boat under you,
+you might do anything you please;
+so cruise to windward or leeward in
+chase, find her out, and take out
+Westwood bodily&mdash;lose him afterwards
+in the Hoogley, if you like&mdash;carry
+away those old spars of hers,
+and send up new ones&mdash;only don't lose
+the schooner, I beg; so good bye to
+you, my dear fellow, lest we should
+not meet on this side the Line again!"&mdash;"Good
+bye, my lord!" said I cheerfully,
+and hurried on deck, understanding
+all he wanted as well as if I'd
+been ordered to set her jib that
+moment and heave up anchor. In
+ten minutes I was over the frigate's
+side, and in ten more Hammond was
+back in her, with the men who were
+to leave; while I sent my baggage
+below, set the hands to work shifting
+the schooner's berth, and by sun-down
+we were lying beyond hail of the ship,
+opposite the custom-house, and a long
+line of a main street in Cape Town,
+where we could see the people, the
+carriages, and the Dutch bullock-carts
+passing up and down; while Table
+Mountain hove away up off the steep
+Devil's Hill and the Lion's Rump, to
+the long level line a-top, as blue and
+bare as an iron monument, and throwing
+a shadow to the right over the
+peaks near at hand.</p>
+
+<p>Our friend from the United States
+being by this time in quite an oblivious
+condition, the first thing I did was to
+have him put quietly into the boat
+with which Mr Snelling was to go
+ashore for fresh hands, and I instructed
+the reefer to get clear of him anyhow
+he liked, if it was only above
+tide-mark. When they were gone I
+walked the schooner's little quarterdeck
+in the dusk by myself, till the
+half moon rose with a ghostly copper-like
+glare over the hollow in the Lion's
+Rump, streaking across the high face
+of Table Mountain, and bringing out
+all its rifts and wrinkles again. The
+land-breeze began to blow steadily
+with a long sighing sweep from the
+north-east, meeting the heavy swell
+that set into the broad bay; and the
+schooner, being a light crank little
+craft, got rather uneasy; whereas you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>
+could see the lights of the frigate
+heaving and settling leisurely, less
+than half a mile off. I had only six
+or seven good hands aboard altogether
+at the time, which, with those the
+midshipman had, were barely sufficient
+to work her in such seas; so
+with all I had to do, with the difficulty
+of getting men in the circumstances,
+a long voyage before us, and
+things that might turn up, as I hoped,
+to require a touch of the regular service,
+why the very pleasure of having
+a command made me a good deal
+anxious. Even of that I didn't feel
+sure; and I kept watching Table
+Mountain, eager for the least bit of
+haze to come across the top of it, as
+well as sorry I had sent Snelling
+ashore. "I'd give a hundred pounds
+at this moment," thought I, "to have
+had Bob Jacobs here!"</p>
+
+<p>As the moon got higher, I could see
+the swell washing up between the different
+merchantmen in sight, into
+their shadows, and heavy enough
+some of them seemed to roll round
+their cables, betwixt a breeze and a
+swell running the contrary ways;
+first one let go a second anchor, and
+then another, to help their heads
+shoreward; but still there was no
+danger, as things went. It wasn't
+long before I made out two boats
+coming from toward the town, round
+the stern of one of the ships, the frigate
+lying betwixt her and us, so that
+they took her by the way, and a good
+deal of hailing seemed to pass between
+them. I could even see epaulets
+glisten over the Hebe's quarter, as
+if there was a stir made aboard;
+after which the boats were plainly
+pulling for the schooner. What
+all this might mean, I couldn't very
+well conceive, unless it were either
+Snelling come back already, or
+else some hands Lord Frederick
+himself had provided before this, as
+I saw both boats were full of people.
+"Forward there!" I sung out, "hail
+those boats!"&mdash;"Ay, ay, the schooner
+ahoy!" was the answer, in a sharp
+voice from the headmost of them,
+"from the shore&mdash;all right! Stand
+by to heave us a line, will ye?"
+Next came a hail from Snelling, in
+our own gig; so I at once gave orders
+to heave them a rope and have both
+boats brought under the gangway,
+naturally supposing the sharp little
+fellow had come some marvellous
+good speed in shipping hands. As
+soon as he jumped on deck, I accordingly
+inquired how many men he had
+brought, when to my great surprise
+he informed me there was only one,
+"a scuffy sort of a swab," as he
+expressed it, "who would do for
+cook!"&mdash;"The devil he will, you
+young rascal," I broke out. "Hush,
+sir, for heaven's sake," said he, making
+some extraordinary sign which I
+didn't understand; "it'll all be right
+in the end, Mr Collins. Now then,
+sir," to some one in the boat alongside,
+as he carefully handed him the
+accommodation-ropes, "here you are&mdash;hold
+on, sir&mdash;so-o!" This was a
+rather youngish fellow in a huge pilot
+coat and a glazed cap, with some
+kind of uniform inside, and a large
+breastpin in his shirt, who handed me
+a paper the moment he stood firm on
+deck, without speaking a word;
+though, by the light of the deck-lantern,
+I didn't much like the look
+of his foxy sort of face, with the
+whiskers on it coming forward from
+both cheeks to his mouth, nor the
+glance he gave round the schooner
+with his pair of quick sharp little
+eyes. "Much more like a custom-house
+officer than a cook!" thought
+I, "unless we mean to have a French
+one;" but what was my astonishment,
+on opening the paper, to find
+him called "Gilbert Webb, harbour-master's
+assistant, hereby authorised
+by the Admiralty Court, sitting in Cape
+Town, to take charge of the doubtful
+vessel described in her papers as the
+'Ludovico,' belonging to Monte
+Video&mdash;from the officer commanding
+the prize crew of his Britannic
+Majesty's ship Hebe." My first
+thought was to have Mr Gilbert
+Webb pitched over into his boat
+again, when Lord Frederick's own
+signature met my eye at the bottom
+of the paper, addressed below to
+"Lieutenant Collins, of his Majesty's
+schooner Aniceta, <em>at sea</em>." A wonderfully
+mysterious squint from Snelling,
+behind the officer, was sufficient
+to clinch the matter in my own mind,
+showing that the reefer was as sharp
+as a needle: and I handed back the
+document to the harbour gentleman,
+with a "Very well, sir, that will do."<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>
+"I suppose I'd better have my men
+up, Lieutenant Collins?" said he,
+with a quick pert kind of accent,
+which made me set him down at once
+for a Londoner, while at the same
+time he seemed impatient, as I
+thought, to get the management.
+"Why, sir," said I, "I suppose you
+had."</p>
+
+<p>Hereupon up mounted four or five
+decent enough looking <em>stevedores</em><a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a>&mdash;one
+or two of whom had rather the
+air of sailors, the rest being broad-beamed,
+short-legged Dutchmen,
+with trousers like pillow-slips&mdash;followed
+by a whole string of fourteen
+or fifteen Indian Lascars, their bundles
+in their hands, and an ugly old <em>serdug</em>
+at their head; while the lame, broken-down,
+debauched-like fellow of a
+man-o'-warsman, that Snelling had
+found sitting on a timberhead ashore,
+got aboard with our own boat's crew.
+Our gangway was chokeful, to my
+fresh dismay, for to get rid of such a
+tagrag-and-bobtail, in case of running
+to sea, was impossible; even if
+they weren't odds against us, here
+was it likely to get a thick night, the
+swell growing under the schooner till
+she began to yerk at her anchor, head
+to wind, like a young filly at a
+manger; so that dropping them back
+into their boat when needful, as I
+intended at first, was out of the question
+for the present. I found from
+the harbour officer that the number
+of hands would all be required with
+the morning tide, when his orders
+were to have the schooner towed in
+opposite the Battery Dock, especially
+as there was much chance of the
+wind blowing strong from seaward
+next day. The swell on the water,
+he said, was such that, after putting
+off, he thought of going back again
+till the tide began to turn; if he had
+not been encouraged to stick to it
+and keep on by the midshipman,
+whom he fell in with near the quay.
+This piece of news was the finish to
+the rage I felt brewing in me, vexed
+as I naturally was to give up the
+notion of a free cruise, in command
+of a craft like the schooner; and, as
+soon as Mr Webb was comfortable
+in the cabin, over a tumbler of stiff
+grog and some cold beef, I sent for
+Snelling to my own cupboard of a
+state-room.</p>
+
+<p>"You cursed unlucky little imp
+you!" I burst out, the moment he
+made his appearance, "What's the
+meaning of this, sirrah? eh?"&mdash;"What
+is it, if you please, sir?"
+said Snelling, pretending to hold
+down his shock-head like a frightened
+schoolboy, and looking up all the
+time both at me and the lamp at
+once, while he swayed with the
+uneasy heave of the deck in such a
+way as made me grip him by the
+arm in a perfect fury, fancying he
+had got drunk ashore. "You young
+blackguard you!" said I, shaking
+him, "didn't I tell you to get hands&mdash;didn't
+you know I meant to&mdash;to&mdash;"
+"Oh yes, Mr Collins," gasped the
+reefer, "I did indeed&mdash;you meant to
+cut and run&mdash;I saw it by your eye,
+sir, and&mdash;don't shake me any more,
+sir, or you'll spoil my hair&mdash;and I
+don't deserve it&mdash;it's&mdash;all right!"
+And on my letting him go, the ugly
+little scamp sunk down on a chair
+with his eyes starting from his head,
+and a leer like a perfect demon incarnate;
+but so perfectly laughable it
+was, not to mention the air of complete
+confidence between us that he
+threw into it, that I sat down myself,
+ready to grin at my bad luck. "Well,
+Mister Snelling," said I, quietly,
+"you <em>are</em> a touch beyond me! Let's
+have the joke, at least&mdash;out with it,
+man, else another shake may be&mdash;"
+The reefer pointed with his thumb
+over his shoulder to the cabin, shoved
+his chin forward, and whispered,
+"Why, sir, I'm only doubtful whether
+you could make him third officer&mdash;but
+at any rate, he'll always be useful
+at a rope, Mr Collins&mdash;won't he,
+sir?" I gave Snelling one look,
+meant to be as grave as an Old
+Bailey chaplain's, but it wouldn't do&mdash;my
+conscience wouldn't stand it&mdash;in
+fact the very self-same notion seemed
+to me to have been creeping into my
+mind. "You&mdash;young&mdash;rascal!" was
+all I could manage to say, before
+making bolt to go on deck. "By the
+by, Mister Snelling," said I, turning
+and looking down from the hatchway,
+"you must want a glass of grog&mdash;tell
+the boy to let you have some&mdash;and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>
+go and keep the officer company,
+sir."</p>
+
+<p>By this time it was raining hard, the
+half-moon coming out at moments and
+shining through it with a sudden
+sharp gleam, in some gust of the wind
+off the land&mdash;showing the swell in as
+far as the wet white custom-house and
+the bare quays, the ships with their
+hazy lights all hither and thither,
+while Table Mountain was to be seen
+now and then peering half over the
+mist, first one corner and then another,
+of a colour like dead ashes. One time
+I looked down toward the dusky little
+cabin, where the midshipman, quite
+in his element, was sitting with the
+harbour officer, the lamp jerking and
+making wild swings betwixt them,
+while Snelling evidently egged on his
+companion to drink; then I gave a
+glance seaward, where there was
+nothing but a glimmer of rain and
+spray along the dark hollows of the
+water. I couldn't make up my mind,
+all I could do&mdash;it was too barefaced a
+thing to slip from the roadstead with
+a breeze blowing off-shore; but the
+worst of it was that I didn't feel easy
+at the idea of parting with an anchor
+in the circumstances, not to say carrying
+off the Government people, unless
+forced to it. I accordingly went below
+to mix myself a stiffener, and found
+the officer a cool head, for, in spite of
+all Snelling could do, the reefer himself
+had got provoked, whereas the sharp
+Mr Webb was only a little brisker
+than before. "A rough sort of night,"
+said I, nodding to him, as I knocked
+the water out of my cap. "Well, it
+seems," said he, free and easy.
+"S'pose I go on deck then, gentlemen&mdash;I've
+refreshed, I assure you, so you
+needn't trouble about this 'ere schooner
+no farther&mdash;glad to get quit of it and
+turn in, I desay, lieutenant?"&mdash;"No
+trouble in the world, Mr Webb," said
+I, going on with my mixture, "far
+from it; but sit down a minute, pray
+sir,&mdash;Mr Snelling here will take charge
+of the deck for us in the meantime;"
+and Snelling vanished at once, Mr
+Webb apparently flattered at my wishing
+his company. "Will that cable
+of yours hold, think ye, Lieutenant
+Collins?" asked he, filling up another
+glass. "Why," said I, almost laughing,
+"to tell you the truth, I begin to
+feel devilish doubtful of it." "What!"
+broke out the harbour officer, starting
+up, "then I must 'ave another put
+down immediately: why, what's the
+effect, sir&mdash;we'll be carried out to
+sea!" "You said it exactly, Mr
+Webb," I said "'twould have been
+much worse, I suppose, if we were
+driven ashore, though! Now look
+you, if I were to let go a second anchor
+at present, I couldn't light upon
+a better plan either to break her back,
+or lose both anchors in the end&mdash;from
+the difference of strain on the two
+cables, with this ground-swell. The
+fact is, my good fellow, you're evidently
+not fit to take charge at
+present." "D&mdash;n me, lieutenant!"
+said he, looking fierce and foolish at
+the same time, "here's strange lang'age
+to a Gov'ment officer, sir&mdash;I
+hask the meanin' off it <em>at</em> once, mister!"
+"But I depend a good deal on your
+knowledge of Table Bay weather," I
+continued, leaning back with my
+weather eye screwed to bear upon him.
+"D'ye think this wind likely to moderate
+soon, sir? come now."&mdash;"No,"
+replied he sulkily: "I'm sure it won't&mdash;and
+to-morrow it's certain to blow
+back ten times worse." "Then, Mr
+Webb," said I, rising, "you oughtn't
+to have come aboard to-night; as the
+short and the long of it is, I shall get
+the schooner an offing the first possible
+moment!" The officer stared at
+me in a bewildered manner; and as
+for the schooner, she seemed to be
+bolting and pitching in a way worse
+than before, with now and then a
+plunge of the swell on her broadside
+as if she had been under weigh. Suddenly
+Snelling lifted the skylight frame
+and screamed down into the cabin,
+"Mr Collins, Mr Collins! she's been
+dragging her anchor for the last ten
+minutes, sir!"</p>
+
+<p>I sprang on deck at two bounds&mdash;the
+schooner had somehow or other
+got her anchor out of hold at the time,
+the cable as taut as a fiddle-string.
+It was quite dark aloft, and
+not a vestige of Table Mountain to
+be seen, though the moonshine, low
+down to westward, brought out two or
+three tracks of light along the stretch
+of water, and you saw the lights in
+the ships slowly sweeping past.
+Where we happened to be, it blew
+two ways at once, as is often the case
+in Table Bay, round the bluffs of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>
+mountain, and as soon as she brought
+up again with a surge at the windlass,
+the heave of a long swell took her
+right on the quarter, lifting her in to
+her anchor again with a slack of the
+hawser, at which every second man
+sung out to "hold on!" Over she
+went to port, a sea washing up the starboard
+side, and throwing a few dozen
+bucketfuls at once fair into the companion,
+where our friend the harbour
+officer was sticking at the time; so
+down plumped Mr Webb along with
+it, and the booby hatch was shoved
+close after him, while the poor devils
+of Lascars were huddled together as
+wet as swabs in the lee of the caboose
+forward. "A hand to the wheel!"
+shouted I, as soon as I recovered myself;
+when to my great surprise I saw
+Snelling's new hand, poor creature as
+I'd thought him, standing with a
+spoke in each fist, as cool and steady
+as possible, and his eye fixed on me
+in the true knowing way which I felt
+could be trusted to. "Jib there!" I
+sung out, "see all clear to run up a
+few hanks of the jib&mdash;stand by to cut
+the cable at the bitts!"&mdash;"Ay, ay,
+sir," answered Snelling, who was
+working away with the harbour men,
+his bare head soaked, and altogether
+more like an imp than a young gentleman
+of the navy&mdash;"All's clear, sir."</p>
+
+<p>Five minutes I dare say we stood,
+every one in the same position, while
+I waited for a good moment in the
+run of the swell, looking into the
+binnacle: till she hung slack, as it
+were, in a wide seething trough of the
+sea, when I signed to the man behind
+me to put the helm gradually to starboard.
+I glanced at the fellow again,
+caught his sharp weatherly eye once
+more&mdash;then putting both hands to my
+mouth I sung out to bowse on the jib
+halliards. "Now&mdash;cut&mdash;the cable!"
+shouted I, springing forward in my
+anxiety. The schooner rose away
+from her anchor on the heavy roll of
+the sea; I saw two quick strokes of
+the axe on the instant, and she was
+spinning head off from the wind, heeling
+over betwixt the force of it and
+the ground-swell together, while the
+mass of black water was washing
+bodily away with us; the new helmsman
+showing down below me as he
+leant to the wheel, like somebody at
+the foot of a slide. If he hadn't
+helped her at the moment with a back
+turn of the spokes to port, t'would
+have been all up with us. As it was,
+the schooner fell off gallantly in his
+hands, with a sliding surge into the
+lee of the next swell, that buried her
+sharp bows in the green sea, till it
+foamed about our very shoulders as
+we hung on like grim death to the
+weather bulwark. She was just
+shaking herself free, and rising like a
+buoy over the broad tops of the waves,
+when Snelling, myself, and two or
+three of the men, staggered down to
+her mainmast to swig up the throat
+halliards, letting her feel a little of the
+boom mainsail; and we had scarce
+belayed, as the last glimpse of the
+frigate's lights was caught astern of
+us, heaving and setting, as she rode
+with her two bower anchors down;
+we had driven past close enough to
+have heard the creak of her hamper
+aloft. After that, I had the fore-stay-sail
+set on her, then the reefed mainsail,
+and the lively schooner yielded
+to the long rolling seas so well, as
+very soon to make her own weather
+of it&mdash;especially since, clear of the
+high land about Table Bay, it was
+blowing only a strong breeze, and the
+more I began to feel master of her,
+the more inclined I was to let her
+show her good qualities. Such a craft
+I never had had the full management
+of before in my life; and you may
+easily fancy how I felt at dividing the
+hands into the two watches, giving
+little Snelling command of one, as first
+mate, and picking out our men in
+turn. I looked round amongst mine,
+rather at a loss for one to make second
+mate for the cruise, though there were
+three prime enough man-o'-warsmen,
+and I had chosen one of the Government
+officer's gang for his activity.
+As for the Lascars, we slumped in
+half of the number to each of us, for
+make-weights&mdash;when Snelling's fresh
+hand, who had fallen to my share,
+caught my eye again as he stood at
+the wheel. Every half spoke he gave
+the schooner told; she was topping
+the heavy seas as they rose, and taking
+them just where they melted one to the
+other, with a long floating cleave, that
+carried her counter fairly free of the
+after-run, though nearly right before
+the wind: the main-boom had been
+guyed over to the lee-quarter, till a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>
+third of the sail hung clear of her hull,
+and the breeze swept into the hollow
+of it, thick with spray. The light from
+the little binnacle shone up distinctly
+on the man's face, and with all the
+desperate, used-up, marbled sort of
+look of it, like one getting the better
+of a long spree ashore, I thought there
+was something uncommonly promising
+about him, not to say greatly above
+the run of foremast men. The wet,
+the wind, and the work he was at, took
+off the seediness of his clothes; even
+the old rag of a handkerchief round
+his hairy neck had got a gloss to it,
+and he stood handling the wheel with
+a strange mixture of recklessness and
+care, as he glanced from the compass
+to the gaff of the mainsail against the
+scud, and down again. The very
+contrast between the man's manner
+and his outward rig was sufficient to
+strike one, though plenty of seamen
+are to be found in the like state
+ashore: but what fixed me to him
+above all, was the expression in those
+two keen, searching, <em>living</em> eyes of his,
+when they once or twice met mine on
+their way from aloft to the compass-boxes.
+'Twas as if they'd woke up
+since he came aboard out of a sleepy,
+maudlin condition, with the "blue-devils"
+or scarce fully out of 'em; like a
+sick man's in the lull of a fever, suddenly
+seen watching you out of the
+dusk of the bed, when one happens to
+glance up from the nurse's seat.</p>
+
+<p>"What's your name, my man?"
+asked I, stepping aft to the binnacle.
+"My name is Jones, sir," said he
+readily. "And your first name?"
+I said. "Jack," was the answer, in
+an off-hand way, with a hitch of one
+shoulder, and a weather-spoke to the
+wheel; spoken in an accent you'd
+have expected more in a West End
+drawing-room than from a common
+sailor. "Ah," said I, sharply, "Jack
+Jones? I wonder how many Jack
+Joneses there are afloat! An able
+seaman, I think, Jones?"&mdash;"Why
+sir," replied the man, "I never rate
+myself, sir&mdash;'tis all one to me, able,
+ordinary, landsman, or boy&mdash;I carry
+no papers, and leave my betters to
+rate me." "Where were you last,
+my man?" I asked; whereupon I met
+such a cool, steady, deep look out of
+the fellow's strange light-coloured
+eyes, bloodshot as they were with
+drinking, that I felt almost our very
+two souls jostle in it: as much as to
+say, To all eternity fathom me if ye
+can! "Well, I forget where, sir," said
+he, lowering his look to the compass-box
+again: "always the way with me,
+after a trip, a cruise, a voyage, or
+whatever it may be. I've got&mdash;ha!"
+and he yielded his body coolly to a
+jerk of the schooner's wheel. "A sweet
+craft this, sir, but a little ticklish!"
+"You've got what?" said I, not unwilling
+to wear out the time. "I've
+got&mdash;no memory!" Still there
+was somewhat so gloomy and mournful
+in the next glance aloft, I
+don't know how it was, but I
+felt inclined to offer him a mate's
+place on trial, and so I hinted, if he
+knew half as well how to handle a
+craft as he did of steering her. To my
+own surprise, Jones's wonder didn't
+seem to be roused at the notion, except
+that he gave me another quick
+glance from head to foot, with a queer
+smile that struck me as if I were
+being questioned, instead of <em>him</em>; then
+he looked down over his own outfit,
+judging by which you'd have said
+he'd been shipwrecked. "Well,"
+said I, "I daresay you've been hard
+put to it, somehow, Jones,&mdash;so as
+soon as you leave the wheel, you can
+go below to the steward, and get a
+seagoing suit of my own, till we see
+Calcutta, when your mate's wages
+will set you all right again." The
+man touched his battered old straw
+hat; but I noticed his eyes gleam for
+a moment by the binnacle light, and
+a strange twitch run round his mouth
+at the mention of the mate's wages:
+the only way I could account for it at
+the time being his late hard-up condition;
+and nothing to my mind was
+more deucedly pitiable, than to see
+the thought of a few paltry additional
+rupees light up a head like that, with
+the glistening sort of expression of a
+miser, as I fancied. The man had a
+head on him, in fact, when you eyed
+him, fit for a gentleman's shoulders,
+or more&mdash;his hair and his whiskers
+curly and dark, draggled though they
+were with the rain, not to say Cape
+Town mud&mdash;while the wearing away
+of the hair about the temples, and the
+red grog-streaks in the veins of his
+face, made him no doubt a dozen
+years older to appearance than he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>
+was. For my part I was quite convinced
+already, this same Jack Jones
+hadn't been sent out a cabin boy; there
+was not only a touch of high blood in
+him at bottom, but I'd have sworn he
+had been some time or other in the place
+of a gentleman, afloat or ashore, though
+plainly now "going to the devil."</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the breaking look of the
+clouds away on our larboard bow
+showed it wasn't far off dawn; so,
+sending another hand to the wheel,
+and finding a snug spot under a stern-grating
+for a snooze on deck, I told
+Jones to begin with taking charge of
+the deck for me. "One thing, sir,"
+said he, touching his hat again, as I
+lay down, "I've only shipped for the
+outward voyage, and leave at the
+first port."&mdash;"Why, what the deuce!"
+said I, lifting my head; "what do
+you mean to do there, eh?" "I&mdash;I
+want to go ashore," answered he,
+eagerly; "ay, if we're years on the
+cruise, so much the better, sir,&mdash;but
+so soon as she drops anchor off Calcutta,
+I'm my own master?"&mdash;"Have
+your own way, then," said I; "at
+any rate I'll try you in the meantime,&mdash;so
+Mister Jones, let's see how you
+mind the schooner till eight bells!"
+Whereupon I turned myself over to
+sleep, and it was as broad daylight
+as we had any likelihood of about the
+Cape, when I woke.</p>
+
+<p>It still blew a stiff breeze, but the
+waves rose with a length and a
+breadth in them you find in no other
+sea; deep-blue sparkling hills of
+water, with green gleams about the
+crests, of which every single wave had
+a hundred or so; and a long seething,
+simmering, glassy hollow of a still
+valley between, where the flecks of
+foam slid away glittering out of the
+shadow. But, Lord! it was glorious
+to feel the schooner rising quietly in
+the trough, with the mount of a
+wave, to the very ridge of it; then
+with a creak of all her timbers and
+bulk-heads below, a slight shake to
+windward, and a yerk at her bows,
+lean over to leeward again and go
+hissing through the breast of a huge
+sea, till you thought she'd go down
+into it; while there she was, however,
+lifting head up, with a swift
+flash of her cutwater, on the cross
+half wave that joined every first and
+third one&mdash;"billow" and "sea," as
+you may say. The breeze having
+drawn more easterly toward morning,
+Jones had braced her more upon a
+wind, with reefed main and foresails,
+and fore-staysail set, which brought
+out the Aniceta's weatherly qualities
+to a marvel; as notwithstanding
+almost a head-wind and a swelling
+sea, she went nearly as fast as the
+frigate would have done before the
+breeze, and not a sign of the land
+was to be seen from her crosstrees.</p>
+
+<p>It was not till the afternoon, when
+the midshipman and I had both been
+busy together seeing various things
+done about the rigging, as well as
+having preventer-braces and guys
+clapped on the booms and gaffs, that
+we had time to look about us; the
+schooner still driving along with the
+breeze strong abeam, and a floating
+plunge from one wide dark-blue sea
+to another, as if they handed her
+onward. Jones had got himself made
+decent below, as I told him, till what
+with different clothes and a shave
+together, besides refreshment from
+sea weather, he was quite a different
+man to look at. Even Snelling owned
+to his sailor-like appearance, though
+rather surprised at my notion of making
+him a mate; while as for the men,
+they didn't know but he had come
+aboard as such, and to tell the truth,
+he was having the mainstaysail got
+up and ready to bend at the time,
+like one accustomed to give orders.
+By this time I remembered the harbour
+officer, Webb, whom we'd
+carried off so unceremoniously, and
+found he was still in his "bunk"
+below, half sulky and half sick, consoling
+himself with brandy and water
+till we should get into Table Bay
+again, as he said. "Only put him
+into my watch, Mr Collins," said
+Snelling gravely, "and I'll work him
+up, sir." The reefer himself, in fact,
+had all of a sudden turned out in a
+laughably dignified style, to meet his
+new post&mdash;in full midshipman's rig,
+dirk and all, with his cocked hat,
+which I sent him down immediately
+to change; but he had brushed up his
+mop of hair, and begun to cultivate
+the down on his upper lip; while being
+a deep-shouldered, square-built, short-armed
+little fellow, as muscular as a
+monkey, you'd have thought from the
+back of his coat he was a man cut<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>
+shorter, and for his face, he had contrived
+to put such a sour effect into it&mdash;meant
+for great experience, no doubt&mdash;that
+it was only by his eyes one saw
+he was a boy of sixteen or so; and
+<em>they</em> were brimful of wild glee, as he
+jumped about wherever he was needed,
+doing the work of a couple of ordinary
+men, and actually delighted when a
+spray came over the weather bulwarks
+on top of him, seeing that,
+instead of the frigate, she was "our
+schooner" that did it.</p>
+
+<p>"I think she walks, Mr Collins!"
+observed Snelling, holding up his
+head stiffly, and looking aloft as we
+went aft, after shaking ourselves from
+one of these same sprays. "No
+denying that, Mr Snelling," said I as
+gravely; "I only wish your fond
+parents could see you just now, first
+mate of such a smart craft, Mister
+Snelling!" His father was a country
+baronet, who had sent him off to sea
+with an allowance&mdash;I daresay because
+his looks were no ornament, and there
+were plenty more coming; though
+Snelling always pretended his worthy
+progenitor was an old man. "Fond
+be blowed!" said he, starting; "I
+just see him at this moment at the
+foot of that blessed old mahogany,
+proposing my health before the ladies
+go, and&mdash;" Here the schooner rose
+on a sharp, short wave, making a
+plunge through it that sent the helmsman
+swinging to the lee-side of the
+wheel, while a sea washed up over
+her forecastle, and away aft with the
+tubs, buckets, and spars, knocking
+everybody right and left. Snelling
+and I held on by the weather main-rigging
+with our feet in a bath, till
+she lifted bodily through it, careering
+to her lee-gunnel. "By George,
+though!" broke out the reefer, smacking
+his lips as we drew breath, "I
+wish he <em>did</em> see me&mdash;wouldn't it
+cheer his declining years, when I'd
+got to hand the governor carefully
+below! And such a rough night as
+we're going to have of it, too, sir!"
+"You unfilial young dog!" said I;
+"but so I'm afraid we shall&mdash;and no
+joke either!" Jones was standing
+near us, watching the looks of the
+weather with evident uneasiness, and
+I asked him what he thought of it.
+"In my opinion, sir," said he,
+"you'll have some pretty sudden
+shift of wind ere long, of a kind I
+have seen more than once off the
+Cape before&mdash;and that as furious as
+a south-easter ordinarily is hereabouts.
+Look away yonder, sir!"</p>
+
+<p>It had got to a clear, dry, north-easterly
+gale, that shook our canvass
+every time she lifted, singing through
+the ropes, and bitter cold. Long and
+heavy as the roll of the sea was, the
+sky was as keen and clear as glass all
+round about and aloft, save the mist
+kicked up by the spray off a wave
+here and there. If a rag of white
+cloud appeared, it was blown away,
+and you saw the black wrinkled side
+of one wave at a time, a mile wide,
+you'd have said, freckled all over
+with spots of foam, and its ridge
+heaving against the eye of the blast.
+The waves had begun to break shorter.
+The schooner, buoyant as she was,
+and sharp as a dolphin, pitched and
+rolled at times like mad, and the men
+forward were standing by to let go
+the fore-halliards, throat and peak, to
+ease her a little: when Jones pointed
+out the bank of gray cloud ahead of
+us, scarce to be seen through the
+troughs of the water, except when
+she lifted well upon a swell of sea.
+The sun going down in a wild red
+glare to leeward of us, threw a terrible
+glitter across the huge slant of
+one single wave that rose stretching
+away far and wide from her very
+bow, then brought out the sulky
+wrinkled blue in it; the hissing green
+crests curled over to the very sunset,
+as it were, while we sunk slowly into
+the long dark lulling trough, and saw
+the broken shaft of a rainbow stand
+glimmering for a moment or two into
+a black hollow right ahead, when
+the gale drove it back upon us like an
+arrow, as the schooner urged through
+the breast of the next wave. I looked
+from Snelling to the new mate, who
+still held on by a belaying-pin and
+watched the clouds, giving me back a
+glance that showed he thought the
+matter more serious than ordinary.
+"The sooner we strip her to the
+storm-staysails," said I quickly, as we
+fell into the trough again, "the better,
+I think. If it blows harder, we
+must lie-to with her at once." My
+eye was anxiously fixed on Jones,
+for large as the schooner was, between
+two and three hundred tons, yet no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>
+craft in the world is so nice to bring
+to the wind in a gale, with a heavy
+sea running. Scudding before it might
+have done for the frigate, with her
+full bows, and spars high enough to
+keep her main-topsail full in spite of
+the troughs; but even that would
+have taken us out of our course after
+the Indiaman. Besides that, to tell
+the truth, I didn't sufficiently understand
+fore-and-aft rigged craft in all
+weathers yet, to be quite sure of what
+I did at a pinch like the present.
+"Yes, yes, sir," answered he; "but if you'll
+take an older man's advice,
+before that you'll wear her round on
+the other tack to it. We've the
+worst to come, or else I'm mistaken,
+sir."&mdash;"You're accustomed to
+schooners?" asked I firmly, and
+gazing him in the face. I saw his
+lips open in the sweep of the wind
+through our after-rigging, and he
+made a sign with his hand, while a
+gnawing sort of spasm, as it were,
+shot through the muscles of his jaw,
+and for a moment he gave me a
+devilishly fierce, keen glance, almost
+a glare, from under his strong straight
+eyebrows&mdash;then turned away. "Take
+the trumpet then, Mr Jones," said I,
+singing out into his ear; "I'll leave
+her to you, sir. Mr Snelling, let's
+see the hatches all fast!" And we
+scrambled along by the belaying-pins.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you all ready fore and aft?"
+came Jones's voice like thunder in
+the next dip she made, and he leapt
+up bareheaded on the breech of one
+of the small carronades aft, holding on
+with one hand by the weather main-shrouds,
+and watching the run of the
+waves as they glimmered off our lee-beam
+into the dusk, for full five
+minutes. I had hold of a rope near
+him, and his eye was as steady as if
+he were picking out hills in a view.
+I had full confidence in the man; but
+I must say it was a nervous moment
+to me, when I saw him lift the trumpet
+to his mouth&mdash;and furiously as
+the wind shook the schooner, you
+heard his hoarse cry, "Put your
+helm up&mdash;slack off the mainsheet&mdash;brail
+up the mainsail&mdash;ease down the
+weather boom-guy&mdash;main-staysail
+sheet&mdash;" And the rest was lost in
+the wild shriek of the north-east gale.
+We were hard at it, however, staggering
+as we hauled and held on,
+even to the poor half-drowned, terrified
+Lascars, whom the midshipman
+had roused out of the caboose
+and long-boat, shoving the ropes into
+their leathery hands. But I knew little
+else till I saw the schooner had payed
+off before the wind, shearing with a
+hiss like red-hot iron right through
+the ridge, betwixt two tremendous
+combing waves. It swelled green over
+her larboard bulwark as she heeled
+over, and she gave a heavy dead lurch
+with it, as if she would let the next
+sea break aboard. "Now! now!"
+shouted Jones, at a pitch of voice like
+no earthly sound; "aft the mainsheet,
+for your lives!" He jumped to the
+wheel himself, at a single bound. We
+were in two floundering heaps, as we
+dragged at the mainboom aft, and the
+head-sheets on the forecastle, while
+she came trembling up in the long
+bight of the sea, and took the gale
+steadily before her other beam. It
+was blowing harder than ever; and
+the awful "scud" of the sea rolled
+her bodily away, as she met it with
+her weather-bow, washing white over
+the headrail, with spray from cathead
+to bowsprit; the gale heaving her
+down on the lee-beam, till she plunged
+to the brim on that side, at every forward
+pitch, so that all hands on deck
+had to keep crowded together aft.
+Still it was keen starlight overhead,
+the gale dry, though it was bitter cold,
+and the seas long and pretty regular.
+The schooner behaved wonderfully,
+being as tight as a bottle; and at the
+same time we were not only lying our
+course either for the Mozambique or
+Indian Ocean, but instead of running
+farther into the gale, as before, and
+getting more into the wild Cape latitudes,
+why, at present she tended to
+clear out of them. I accordingly
+agreed with Jones to hold on with
+everything as long as possible, in spite
+of the way she was sometimes flung
+off with the crest of a wave, as it were,
+making a clear dive with her nose
+under water through a white seething
+sea that seemed to swell round the
+whole horizon: the black bank of
+cloud off our weather-beam towered
+like icebergs against the cold green
+sky to south-east, the stars glittering
+and twinkling over it, with little hazy
+rings round them, after a fashion that
+one of us liked no more than the other.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>About midnight, we had got everything
+off her to the two small storm-staysails,
+main and fore, the wind
+blowing great guns, and the half moon
+shining right over the long bank, as if
+the back of it were dead-white; while
+betwixt it and the washing glimmer
+of moonlight half-way, you'd have
+thought the black heave of the ridges
+vanished into a bulk of shadow ten
+times blacker, save for the heads of
+spray tossing dimly over in it here
+and there. All at once, in the very
+height of the gale, as the black floating
+clouds from the bank began to
+cross over the gray scud flying fast
+aloft, a blue flash of lightning shot
+zig-zag into the very comb of a wave
+ahead of us, then came the clap of
+thunder, loud enough to be heard
+above the wind, and in half a minute
+there was a sudden lull. You saw the
+fleecy rags of scud actually settling
+together under the dark vapour moving
+above them, and heard nothing
+but the vast washing welter of the billows
+rising and seething for miles
+round, as if the world were water,
+while the schooner rolled helplessly
+away, with her storm-staysails flapping,
+into the trough. The midshipman
+almost gasped as he looked to
+me&mdash;not from fear, but as much as to
+say, "What next?" Our strange
+mate stood against the fife-rail of the
+mainmast, apparently too intent on
+the sky and sea for speaking. For my
+own part, I let go of my belaying pin,
+and half tumbled to the wheel, almost
+knocking the sailor down in my haste
+to put the helm hard up&mdash;for I saw
+how the blast was to come, fairly before
+the beam, upon us. "Hard a-starboard
+with it!" shouted I; "haul
+down the main-staysail there&mdash;let her
+fall off as she rises!" The last words
+were never heard, for next moment
+there was another flash of lightning,
+this time a blaze all round into the
+troughs of the sea; I saw a body of
+mist coming down upon us from
+south-east, through which the gale
+struck her on the starboard beam,
+having suddenly shifted eight points or
+so. The heavy rolling swell from
+north-east was close aboard, and as
+soon as I knew what I was about,
+here she was leaning over to the full
+tremendous force of the storm, without
+power to surge ahead, though
+struggling to rise like a cart-horse down
+on his knees with a load uphill of him.
+'Twas by instinct, as they say, I found
+myself scrambling along to her weather
+main-channels, where I managed
+to get out on the side, slippery as it
+was, and drenched with the blinding
+showers of spray. I had got my knife
+at work, cutting the lanyards of the
+shrouds to let the mainmast go, when
+I saw Snelling creep after me, like a
+fearless little fellow as he was, dirk in
+hand; although what was come of
+Jones I couldn't see, unless he had
+lost heart and skulked. All at once,
+to my great joy, the main-staysail
+blew inway to leeward out of the bolt-ropes,
+like a scrap of paper, the main-topmast
+crashed at the cap and went
+alongside, when the schooner righted
+to her keel, with a wild bolt forward
+through the whole width of an immense
+wave&mdash;one of the "third waves" it
+was, commonly the last and the hugest
+in a single roll of the sea of the Cape,
+before you sink into a long gliding
+valley, with a sort of a lull in it. The
+scene was so terrible at the moment,
+though we bore up for full half a
+minute to the fair steady stroke of the
+awful gale, nothing but a yeast of
+mist, scud, and darkness ahead, the
+spray torn off the ridge of the wave
+and flying with us, while the triple
+run of the heavy seas astern was in
+danger of sweeping her decks from
+over the poop&mdash;that I felt we must
+try lying-to with her at once. Indeed,
+Snelling and I hardly knew whether
+we were holding on or not, as we were
+half washed inboard and half crawled
+round the rigging; but Jones had
+already seized the exact point, when
+she sank in the hollow, to have the
+helm eased down to leeward. Meanwhile
+he had got the reefed foresail
+balanced and set, with the sheet hauled
+aft beforehand&mdash;a tackle hooked on to
+the clue, and bowsed amidships&mdash;everything
+else was off her; and with
+this sail she came slowly up close to
+the wind on the slant of the next
+wave, lying-to nearly head toward the
+force of the sea, as her helm was kept
+fast, two or three points to leeward.
+I never had seen a craft of the kind
+hove-to in a gale before, and a very
+nice matter it is, too. We drew
+breath, scarce able to credit our eyes,
+while the schooner rode apparently<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>
+safe on a sea rolling mountain-high;
+rising and falling off from the breasts
+to the sides of the waves, so far as
+leeway went, and forging ahead a
+little at the same time through the
+fierce spray that showered out of the
+dark over her weather-bow.</p>
+
+<p>Cape weather as bad I had seen
+before, but always in good-sized
+ships; and I owned to Snelling I
+would rather have handled any one of
+them, even with a lee-shore near, ten
+times over, than this schooner of ours
+in the present case. However, none
+of us were in any mood for speaking
+at the time, let alone the waste of
+breath it was. The best thing we had
+to do, after getting somewhat satisfied
+of her weathering it this way,
+was to have the grog served out to
+the men, swig off a stiff pannikin one's
+self, and make one's self as comfortable
+as possible with his pea-coat in
+the lee of something. The sight of
+the sea ridging up with a dim glimmer
+against the dark, kept your eye
+fixed to it: first you thought it would
+burst right aboard, crash down upon
+the decks; then she lifted with it,
+swelling broad under her, while the
+long steady sweep of the gale drove
+just over the bulwarks with a deep
+moan: for half a minute, perhaps, a
+shivering lull, when you heard the
+bulkheads and timbers creak and
+strain below from stem to stern, and
+the bilge-water yearning, as it were,
+to the water outside. Then, again, it
+was a howl and a shriek, a wide
+plunge of sea bore up her weather-bow,
+and the moment ere she came
+fairly to, one felt as if the schooner
+were going to pitch God knows
+where. Her whole bulwarks shook
+and shivered, the wind found out
+every chink in them, whistling round
+every different rope it split upon,
+while all the time, the loose wet
+dreary spars behind the long-boat
+kept slatting and clattering against
+each other in the lashings, like planks
+in a woodyard of a November night.
+This was the way we stuck till the
+morning watch showed it all in a
+drizzling, struggling sort of half
+light, blowing as hard as ever, the
+Cape seas rolling and heaving mountain-high,
+of a pale yesty hue, far and
+wide to the scud; the spray drifting
+from the crests, and washing over her
+bare forecastle, with now and then
+the white wings of a huge albatross
+to be seen aslant to windward, riding
+on the breast of a long wave down
+into the trough.</p>
+
+<p>Well, the whole blessed day did
+this sort of thing continue, only varied
+by now and then a huger sea than
+ordinary lifting close aboard of us,
+and we being hove up to get a glimpse
+of the long glaring streak of horizon
+through the troughs of the waves:
+sometimes an unluckier splash than
+usual over the bow and through the
+forechains, that made us look sharp
+lest the canvass of the foresail should
+go, or the schooner broach end-on to
+the sea. Otherwise, all we had to
+do was to watch the binnacle, hold
+on with one hand to a rope, and with
+the other to our caps; or turn out and
+in with each other down the booby-hatch
+for a snatch of sleep, and a bit
+of biscuit and cold beef, with a glass
+of grog. Mr Webb, the harbour
+officer, was to be seen below in his
+berth all this time, lying as peaceable
+as a child&mdash;whether he was dead sick,
+or only confoundedly afraid, I didn't
+know; but I must say I felt for the
+poor fellow when I heard him ask
+Snelling, in a weak voice, if he would
+get somebody to stand off the bull's-eye
+in the deck over his berth, as it
+always made him think there was a
+new hurricane coming on. "D&mdash;n
+it, you low skulking hound!" said
+the reefer, who had wonderfully little
+pity in his make, "it can't be worse&mdash;what
+d'ye want light for, eh?"
+"Only to see the opposite wall,"
+said Webb, meekly; "do, sir&mdash;oh
+now!" "Oh, you lubber ye!" said
+Snelling, "don't you know a bulkhead
+from a wall yet? If you'd come on
+deck to bear a hand like others, you
+wouldn't need light; and <em>I</em> thought
+you might do for a mate aboard, too&mdash;pah,
+you scum!" "Mr Snelling,"
+said I sharply, as he came through the
+cabin, "a worm will turn when it's
+trod upon, and so you may find yet,
+sir!" "Well, Mr Collins," said he,
+as confidentially as if I hadn't meant to
+give him a set down, "I don't like the
+fellow's eye. I'll look after him,
+sir!" Not to mention the young
+rogue's power of face, which was
+beyond brass, he had a way of seeing
+you in two places at once with that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>
+upward squint of his, as if his eyes
+were the points of a pair of compasses,
+that made the officers of the
+Hebe always send him to the masthead
+directly, for fear it should take
+the frown out of them. In fact, when
+Snelling's twinkling weather-eye
+lighted on one's neck, without the
+other, you almost felt it tickle you,
+and as usual I turned away with a
+"pshaw!"</p>
+
+<p>On the second morning, the gale at
+last began to break, shifting southward;
+on which, as soon as the sea
+ran a little easier, I had the helm
+cautiously put up at a favourable
+moment, the reefed mainsail, fore-topmast-staysail,
+and square fore-topsail
+set as she got before the
+wind, and away the schooner went;
+rising on the wide deep-blue swells
+with a long roll in them, then shearing
+ahead through their breasts,
+wrinkled and seething pale-green, till
+she sank with the fall of the wave&mdash;the
+stump of her aftermast standing,
+and the fore one shortened by the
+to'gallant-mast. You may easily believe
+there was no one aboard more
+eager to get clear of this weather than
+myself; as in ordinary circumstances,
+with a craft like this, in two or
+three days more we might have been
+in a high enough latitude to begin
+looking out for the Indiaman. For
+my part, I can't deny that the wish
+for having Tom Westwood safe out of
+harm's way, and with me in the
+schooner, strong as it was, played
+second to the notion of seeing sweet
+Violet Hyde in any way again, if it
+was only the last time before she
+went out of reach altogether; for her
+getting amongst East India ways of
+doing, high-flying civilians and soldiers,
+shows, and sights, either in
+Calcutta or up-country, was equal to
+anything else, in my mind. Still, we
+had six or seven days longer of the
+heavy seas and hard gales, before
+north-easting enough could be made
+to take us beyond the Cape winter,
+just then coming on, and which the
+Seringapatam had very likely escaped
+by two or three days, so that she
+would have a considerable start of us.</p>
+
+<p>By this time we were standing well
+up for the Mozambique Channel,
+which I had heard the Indiamen
+intended to take in company; a piece
+of information that made me the more
+anxious to overtake the Seringapatam,
+at latest, by the time they
+reached open water again, where,
+being the only ship from Bombay, she
+would no doubt part from her consorts.
+We had a cruiser that year, as I knew,
+in the Mozambique, where there were
+some rumours of pirates after the war,
+so that in case of her happening to
+speak the Seringapatam close, and
+having got any word of Westwood's
+affair, he ran a chance of being picked
+off. However, that wasn't by any
+means the thing that troubled me
+most: somehow or other, whenever
+the picture of Violet's face brought the
+Indiaman's decks clear into my mind,
+with all about her, I couldn't get
+rid of the notion that some ill-luck
+would come across that ship before
+she got into port. If any pirate craft
+were to dodge the whole bevy of
+Indiamen up the head of the channel,
+as was pretty sure to be the case, he
+would probably wait for some signs
+of separating, and be down upon a
+single one not long after she cleared
+the Leychelles islands, where a lonely
+enough stretch of the Indian Ocean
+spreads in. The more I entered
+upon the thought of it, the more
+unsufferable it got; especially one
+day in the mouth of the Mozambique,
+when it fell a dead calm with a heavy
+up-and-down swell, fit to roll the
+sticks out of her; the high blue land
+of Madagascar being in sight, sometimes
+to starboard, sometimes to port,
+then astern, and the clear horizon
+lying away north-west, dark with a
+breeze from round the coast. As the
+hot sun blazed out above us, and the
+blue water came plunge up over the
+rail, blazing and flashing, first one
+side dipped, then the other, I could
+fancy the passengers on the Indiaman's
+poop in a light breeze with a
+suspicious lateen-rigged sail creeping
+up on her quarter. I thought I saw
+Violet Hyde's eyes sparkle against
+the glare of light, and her lips parting
+to speak&mdash;till I actually stamped on
+the deck, my fists clenched, and I
+made three strides to the very taffrail
+of the schooner. All at once I met
+my second mate's eye coolly fixed on
+me, which brought me to my senses
+in a moment, the more so as there
+was something about this man Jones<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>
+I couldn't make out, and I had made
+up my mind to keep a sharp eye on
+him; though the fact was, it annoyed
+me most to feel him seeing into <em>me</em>,
+as it were, without troubling himself.
+"We shall have the breeze before long,
+sir, round Cape Mary yonder," said
+he, stepping forward. "So I expect,
+myself, Mr Jones," said I, "though
+you evidently know the coast better
+than I do." With that I gave him a
+careless side-look, but to all appearance
+there was nothing particular in
+his, as he told me he had seen it two
+or three times before.</p>
+
+<p>With the evening we were once
+more running sharp on a wind up
+channel; and when she did get her
+own way in a good breeze, the
+schooner's qualities came out. 'Twas a
+perfect luxury to look over the side
+and see the bubbles pass, her sharp
+bows sliding through it like a knife,
+she eating into the wind all the time
+in a way none but a fore-and-aft
+clipper could hope to do, with a
+glassy blue ripple sent back from her
+weather-bow as far as the forechains:
+then to wake of a morning
+and feel her bounding under you with
+a roll up to windward, while the
+water gushed through and through
+below the keel, and ran yearning and
+toppling away back along the outer
+timbers into her boiling wake, working
+with the moving rudder. And
+our man-o'-warsmen were quite delighted
+with the Young Hebe, as they
+still called her. Snelling was in his
+element while we were having the
+new spars sent up aloft&mdash;a set of
+longer sticks than before&mdash;till she
+had twice the air, as well as a knowing
+rake aft. Next thing was to get the
+long-brass nine-pounder amidships
+from under the boat, where the
+Frenchmen had kept it, besides which
+we found another in her hold; so
+that, added to six small carronades
+already on deck, we made a pretty
+show. Meanwhile, for my own part,
+I kept cracking on with every stitch
+of canvass that could be clapped upon
+the spars, including studding-sails.
+Jones himself didn't know better than
+I did by this time how to handle the
+craft, schooner though she was, in the
+way of making her use what weather
+we had to the best purpose. Variable
+as it proved, too, I was aware the
+Indiamen would have pretty much
+the same now as we had; so that, on
+going aloft with the glass, as I did
+every watch in the day, I soon began
+each time expecting one or other of
+them to heave in sight.</p>
+
+<p>As for the five hands from Cape
+Town, they seemed to have fallen
+in cheerfully enough with our own;
+and as soon as the fine weather came,
+the gang of Lascars were set to duty
+like the rest. Snelling would have
+them even trained to work the guns;
+although, if it blew at all hard, not
+one could be got to go aloft except
+their old <em>serang</em>, and the <em>tindal</em>, his
+mate. What surprised me most was
+the harbour officer himself at last
+asking, as Mr Snelling told me, to be
+put in a watch; but as the midshipman
+said there was no doubt Webb
+had made a voyage or two before,
+somewhere or other, I agreed to it at
+once. "I'm not sure, sir," added the
+midshipman, with one of his doubtful
+double looks, "but the gentleman may
+have seen blue-water the first time at
+Government expense, and not in the
+service either&mdash;he don't look fore
+and aft enough, Mr Collins, harbour
+officer though he be; but never mind,
+sir, I'll see after him!"&mdash;"Pooh,"
+said I, laughing; "if he does turn to,
+Mr Snelling, it shan't be in the watch
+<em>you</em> have to do with! Hand him over
+to Mr Jones." By this time I had
+changed the mid into my own watch,
+and given Jones charge of the other&mdash;so
+to him the harbour officer went.</p>
+
+<p>The main character aboard of us,
+to me at any rate, was this Jones
+himself. The fact was, at first I had
+my doubts of him altogether, partly
+owing to the queer way we got hold
+of him, partly on account of his
+getting the upper hand so much
+through chance, in the tremendous
+weather we had at the outset, till I
+wasn't sure but it might come into the
+fellow's head of itself, to be upon
+some drift or other that might cost
+me trouble, as things stood. However,
+I no sooner felt where I was,
+and got the craft under my own spoke,
+than I came to set him down for nothing
+but one of those strange hands
+you fall in with at sea sometimes, always
+sailing with a "purser's name,"
+a regular wonder of a shipmate, and
+serving to quote every voyage after,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>
+by way of a clincher on all hard
+points, not to say an oracle one can't
+get beyond, and can't flow sky-high
+enough. To tell the truth, though,
+Jones was as thorough a seaman as
+ever I met with&mdash;never at a loss,
+never wanting on any hand; whether
+it was the little niceties we stood in
+need of for setting the schooner's rigging
+all right again, which none but a
+blue-water long-voyage sailor can
+touch, or, what comes to be still better
+in tropical latitudes, a cool head and
+a quick hold, with full experience for
+all sorts of weather, 'twas much the
+same to him. He was all over like
+iron, too, never seeming to stand in
+need of sleep, and seeing like a hawk.
+At any hour I came on deck in his
+watch, there was Jones, all awake
+and ready, till hearing him walk the
+planks over my head of a fine night
+made me at times keep my eyes open,
+listening to it and the wash of the
+water together. I fancied there was
+something restless in it, like the sea,
+with now and then an uneven sort of
+a start; and at last it would come to
+full stop, that gave me the notion of
+how he was standing quiet in the
+same spot; whether he was looking
+aloft, or thinking, or leaning over the
+side, or what he was going to do,
+troubled me wonderfully. The only
+want in his seamanship I noticed, he
+evidently wasn't used to handle a
+large ship; but craft of some kind I
+was pretty sure he had commanded
+in the course of his life. As for taking
+observations, he could do it better
+than I could then; while the knowledge
+he had on different heads, that
+came out by chance, made you think
+more of a Cambridge graduate than a
+common sailor, such as he had shipped
+for with us. The strangest part of
+all about him, though, was what I
+couldn't well name, not to this day:
+'twas more grained in his manner,
+and the ring of his voice at particular
+moments, as well as his walk,
+though these were the smart seaman's
+no less; but one couldn't help thinking
+of a man that had known the
+world ashore some time or other, in
+a different enough station from now&mdash;ay,
+and in a way to bring out softer
+lines in his face than reefing topsails
+or seeing the main-tack ridden down
+would do. The nearest I could come
+to calling it, far apart as the two men
+stood, was to fancy he reminded me of
+Lord Frederick Bury himself; especially
+when he looked all of a sudden
+to the horizon in that wide, vacant
+kind of fashion, as if he expected it
+farther off than it was: only Jones's
+face was twice the age, like a man's
+that had had double the passions in it
+at the outset, and given them full
+swing since then; with a sleeping
+devil in his eye yet, besides, as I
+thought, which only wanted somewhat
+to rouse it. Only for that, I had a
+sort of leaning to Jones myself; but,
+as it was, I caught myself wishing,
+over and over, for something to make
+us fall regularly foul of each other,
+and get rid of this confounded doubtful
+state. One hitch of a word to
+take hold of, and, by Jove! I felt all
+the blood in my body would boil out
+in me to find how we stood, and show
+it; but nothing of the kind did Jones
+let pass&mdash;and as close as the sea itself
+he was in regard to his past life. As
+for the men from the frigate, at least,
+they seemingly looked on him with no
+great fondness, and a good deal of respect,
+in spite of themselves, for his
+seamanship; whereas, if he had been
+left in the forepeak in place of the
+cabin, I've no doubt in a short time
+it would have been no man but Jones.
+You light now and then upon a man
+afloat, indeed, that his shipmates hold
+off from, as healthy dogs do from a
+mad one; and you saw they had
+some sort of an inkling of the gloomy
+close nature Jones had in him, by the
+way they obeyed his orders. Webb's
+three Cape Dutchmen seemed to have
+a notion he was some being with mysterious
+powers, while the Lascars ran
+crouching at his very word&mdash;some of
+them being, as I found, Malays, and
+the rest Mussulmen from Chittagong;
+but Jones could send them about in
+their own language, Dutchmen and
+all&mdash;a part of the matter which did
+not tend to keep me less careful over
+him. Still I observed, since his coming
+aboard, that Jones never once
+touched liquor, which had plainly
+enough been his ruin ashore; whether
+on account of meaning to pull up once
+for all and mend, or only to have a
+wilder bout at next port, or else to
+keep himself steady for aught that
+might turn up, I couldn't settle in my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>
+own mind. Though deucedly doubtful
+of its being the first, the very idea
+of it made one feel for the man; and,
+in case of his doing well, I had no
+small hopes of something in the upshot
+to save a real sailor like him from
+going to the devil altogether, as he
+seemed doing.</p>
+
+<p>Now, after our getting clear of the
+rough Cape weather, and the dead-lights
+being taken out of the stern-windows,
+I had given a look, for the
+first time, into the schooner's after-cabins,
+which were pretty much as the
+people she belonged to before had left
+them, except for the rough work the
+gale had played. There were two of
+them, one opening into the other; and
+I must say it was a melancholy sight
+to meet the bright sunlight streaming
+into them from off the water astern,
+with all the little matters either just
+as if the owners were still inside, or
+else tumbled about at sixes and sevens.
+One drawer, in particular, had come
+out of a table, scattering what was in
+it on the deck: there was a half open
+letter in a woman's hand, all French,
+and showing a lock of hair, with a
+broken diamond cross of the French
+Legion of Honour, besides a sort of
+paper-book full of writing, and two
+printed ones bound in morocco. I
+picked up the letter and the cross,
+put them in again, and shoved the
+drawer back to its place, though I
+brought the books away with me to
+have a glance over. What struck me
+most, though, was a plaster figure of
+the French emperor himself, standing
+fastened on a shelf, with one hand in
+the breast of his great coat, and looking
+calmly out of the white sightless
+eyes; while right opposite hung a
+sort of curtain which you'd have
+thought they were fixed upon. When
+I hauled it aside, I started&mdash;there, on
+a shelf to match the other, was a
+beautiful smiling child's head to the
+shoulders, of pure white marble, as
+if it leant off the bulkhead like a cherub
+out of the clouds. Spite of all, however,
+the touch of likeness it had to
+the head I got such a glimpse of at
+Longwood, even when the hot sunlight
+showed it in my spy-glass so pale
+and terrible, was sufficient to tell me
+what <em>this</em> was,&mdash;Napoleon's own little
+son, in fact, who was made king of
+Rome, as I remembered hearing at
+the time. The thought of the
+schooner's strange French captain,
+and his desperate scheme, came back
+on me so strong, joined to what I
+saw he had an eye to in fitting out his
+cabins, that, for my own part, I
+hadn't the heart to use them myself,
+and at first sight ordered the dead-lights
+to be shipped again, and the
+door locked.</p>
+
+<p>'Twas a good many days after this,
+of course, and we had made a pretty
+fast run up the Mozambique, in spite
+of the sharp navigation required,
+sighting nothing larger than the native
+and Arab craft to be seen thereabouts;
+we were beginning to clear out from
+amongst the clusters of islands and
+shoals at the channel head, when two
+large sail were made in open water to
+nor'-eastward. Next morning by daybreak
+we were to windward of the
+weathermost,&mdash;a fine large Indiaman
+she was, crowding a perfect tower of
+canvass. Shortly after, however, the
+schooner was within hail, slipping
+easily down upon her quarter, which
+seemed to give them a little uneasiness,
+plenty of troops as she seemed
+to have on board, and looming like a
+frigate. After some showing of keeping
+on, and apparently putting faith in
+the man-o'-war pennant I hoisted,
+she hove into the wind, when we
+found she was the Company's ship
+Warringford, and the other the something
+Castle, I forget which, both for
+Calcutta. The next thing, as soon
+as they found we were tender to his
+Majesty's frigate Hebe, was to ask
+after the Seringapatam; on which I
+was told she was three or four days
+sail ahead with the Mandarin, bound
+to China, neither of them having put
+in at Johanna Island to refresh. I
+was just ready to put our helm up
+again and bid good-bye, when the
+tiffin gong could be heard sounding on
+the Indiaman's quarterdeck, and the
+old white-haired captain politely
+asked me if I wouldn't come aboard
+with one or two of my officers to
+lunch. Mr Snelling gave me a wistful
+glance&mdash;there were a dozen pretty
+faces admiring our schooner out of the
+long white awnings: but even if the
+notion of bringing up Snelling himself
+as my first officer hadn't been
+too much for me, not to speak of
+either Jones or Webb, why the very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>
+thoughts that everything I saw recalled
+to me, made me the more
+eager to get in sight of the Seringapatam.
+"Thank you, sir," answered
+I. "No&mdash;I must be off after the Bombay
+ship."&mdash;"Ah," hailed the old
+captain, "some of your Admiral's
+post-bags, I suppose. Well, keep as
+much northing as you can, sir, and I
+daresay you'll find her parted company.
+She's got a jury fore topmast
+up, for one she lost a week ago;
+so you can't mistake her for the Mandarin,
+with a good glass."&mdash;"Have you
+noticed any suspicious craft lately,
+sir?" asked I. "Why, to tell you
+the truth, lieutenant," sang out he,
+looking down off the high bulwarks
+at our long nine-pounders and the
+knot of Lascars, "none more so
+than we thought <em>you</em>, at first, sir!"
+The cadets on the poop roared with
+laughter, and an old lady with two
+daughters seemed to eye Snelling
+doubtfully through an opera-glass, as
+the reefer ogled both of them at once.
+"By the bye," sang out the captain of
+the Indiaman to me again, "I fancy
+the passengers in that ship must have
+got somehow uncomfortable&mdash;one of
+our Bengal grandees aboard of her
+wanted a berth to Calcutta with us,
+'tother day in the Mozambique;
+but we're too full already!"&mdash;"Indeed,
+sir?" said I; but the schooner's mainboom
+was jibbing over, and with two
+or three more hails, wishing them a
+good voyage, and so on, away we
+slipped past their weather-bow. The
+Warringford got under weigh at her
+leisure, and in an hour or two her
+topsails were down to leeward of us.
+On I cracked with square and studding-sails
+to the quartering breeze,
+till the schooner's light hull jumped to
+it, and aloft she was all hung out of a
+side, like a dairyman's daughter
+carrying milk; with the pace she
+went at I could almost say to an hour
+when we should overhaul the chase.</p>
+
+<p>Still, after two or three days of the
+trade-wind, well out in the Indian
+Ocean, and not a spot to be seen, we
+had got so far up the Line as to make
+me sure we had overrun her.
+Accordingly the schooner was hauled
+sharp on a wind to cruise slowly down
+across what must be the Indiaman's
+track, judging as we could to a nicety,
+with a knowledge of the weather we had
+had. For my part I was so certain of
+sighting her soon, that I ordered the
+after-cabins to be set to rights, seeing
+a notion had taken hold of me of
+actually offering them to Sir Charles
+Hyde for the voyage to Calcutta&mdash;Fancy
+the thought! 'Twas too good to
+be likely; but Violet herself actually
+being in that little after-cabin and
+sleeping in it&mdash;the lively schooner
+heading away alone for India, and
+they and Westwood the sole passengers
+aboard&mdash;why, the idea of it was fit to
+drive me crazy with impatience.</p>
+
+<p>Well, one fine night, after being on
+deck all day, and the whole night
+before, almost, I had turned in to my
+cot to sleep. From where I lay I could
+see the moonshine off the water
+through the stern-light in that after-cabin,
+by the half-open door. I felt the
+schooner going easily through the
+water, with a rise and fall from the
+heave of the long Line-swell; so close
+my eyes I couldn't, especially as the
+midshipman could be heard snoring on
+the other side like the very deuce. Accordingly
+I turned out into the after-cabin,
+and got hold of one of the
+Frenchman's volumes to read, when,
+lo and behold, I found it was neither
+more nor less than Greek, all I knew
+being the sight of it. Next I commenced
+overhauling the bundle of
+handwriting, which I took at first for
+a French log of the schooner's voyage,
+and sat down on the locker to have a
+spell at it. So much as I could make
+out, in spite of the queer outlandish
+turn the letters had, and the quirks of
+the unnatural sort of language, it was
+curious enough&mdash;a regular story, in
+fact, about his own life, the war, and
+Buonaparte himself. At another time
+I'd have given a good deal to go
+through with it at odd hours&mdash;and a
+strange affair I found it was some time
+afterwards; but meanwhile I had
+only seen at the beginning that his
+name was <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Le Compte Victor l'Allemand,
+Capitaine de la Marine Française</i>,
+and made out at the end how
+there was some scheme of his beyond
+what I knew before, to be carried out
+in India,&mdash;when it struck me there
+was no one on the quarterdeck above.
+I listened for a minute through the
+stern-window, and thought I heard
+some one speaking over the schooner's
+lee-quarter, as she surged along; so<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>
+slipping on a jacket and cap, I went
+on deck at once.</p>
+
+<p>It was middle watch at the time;
+but as soon as I came up I saw all
+was quiet&mdash;Webb near the gangway
+talking to the old Lascar serang, and
+breaking the English wonderfully
+betwixt them; while the Lascars of
+the watch were sitting like tailors in a
+ring on the forecastle planks, each
+waiting for his turn of one cocoa-nut
+hookah, that kept hubble-bubbling
+away gravely under the smoker's nose,
+as he took a long suck at it, while the
+red cinder in the bowl lighted up his
+leathery Hindoo face and mustache
+like a firefly in the root of a banian, till
+he handed it, without even a wipe, to his
+neighbour. These fellows had begun
+to get much livelier as we made the
+tropics; and this same serang of theirs
+had put out his horns once or twice
+to Snelling lately, though he drew
+them in again the moment he saw me&mdash;a
+sulky old knotty-faced, yellow-eyed
+devil I thought him at any rate, while
+his dish-cloth of a turban, his long
+blue gown and red trousers, reminded
+you at sea in a gale of a dancing
+dervish. The day we spoke the
+Indiaman, in fact, I noticed there was
+something in the wind for a minute
+or two with him and his gang, which
+put it in my head at first to offer
+them to the captain for a couple of
+good English hands; and as I passed
+him and Webb this time, the serang
+stopped his talk, and sidled off.</p>
+
+<p>However, a beautiful night it was,
+as ever eye looked upon even in the
+blue Indian Ocean: the heavens
+cloudless, the full round moon shining
+high off our weather-beam again, the
+stars drawn up into her bright light,
+as it were, trembling through the films
+of it like dew-drops in gossamer of a
+summer morning: you saw the sea
+meet the sky on every hand, without
+a speck on the clear line of horizon,
+through the squares of our ratlins and
+betwixt the schooner's two long fore-and-aft
+booms. A pretty strongish
+breeze we had, too, blowing from east
+to west with a sweep through the
+emptiness aloft, and a wrinkling ripple
+over the long gentle swells, as deep in
+the hue as if fresh dye came from the
+bottom, and crisping into a small
+sparkle of foam wherever they caught
+it full. Something pleasant, one
+couldn't say what, was in the air; and
+every sheet being hauled taut to hold
+wind, the slant gush of it before her
+beam drove her slipping ahead toward
+the quarter it came from, with a dip
+down and a saucy lift of her jibs
+again, as if she were half balanced
+amidships, but little noise about it.
+I took a squint aloft and an overhaul
+all round, and nothing was to be seen.
+The size of the sky through the moonlight
+looked awful, as it were, and the
+strength of the breeze seemed to send
+a heavenly blue deep into the western
+quarter, till you saw a star in it. The
+night was so lovely, in fact, it somehow
+made one think of one's mother,
+and old times, when you used to say
+your prayers. Still I couldn't see the
+mate of the watch on the weather quarterdeck,
+which surprised the more in
+Jones's case, since he was always ready
+for me when I came up; and, to tell
+the truth, I shouldn't have been sorry
+to catch him napping for once, only to
+show he was like men in common. I
+walked aft by the weather side of the
+large mainsail, accordingly, till I saw
+him leaning with his head over the lee-bulwark,
+and heard him again, as I
+thought, apparently speaking to some
+one down the schooner's side; upon
+which I stepped across. Jones's back
+was to me as I looked over too; but
+owing to what he was busy with, I
+suppose, and the wash of the water,
+which was louder there than inboard,
+while you heard the plash from her
+bows every time she forged, he evidently
+didn't hear me. You may
+fancy my wonder to find he was reading
+loud out to himself from the other
+of the Frenchman's volumes, which I
+had no doubt left in the dining-cabin&mdash;the
+book open in both hands&mdash;he giving
+it forth in long staves, with a break
+between&mdash;and regular Greek it was,
+too: you'd have thought he timed
+them to the plash alongside; and I
+must say, as every string of long-tailed
+words flowed together like one,
+in Jones's deep voice, and the swell
+rose once or twice with its foam-bells
+near his very hands, I almost fancied
+I made a meaning of them&mdash;each like
+a wave, as it were, sweeping to a
+crest, and breaking. The gusto the
+man showed in it you can't conceive;
+and, what was more, I had no doubt
+he understood the sense of it, for all of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>
+a sudden, after twenty staves or so of
+the kind, he stopped.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> "There!"
+said he, "there, old Homer&mdash;women,
+wine, and adventure&mdash;what could the
+devil ask more, blind old prater, with
+a sound in you like the sea? Ay,
+wash, wash, wash away, lying old
+blue-water, you cant wash <em>it</em> out&mdash;and
+wine&mdash;no, not the strongest rum in
+Cape Town&mdash;can wash <em>you</em> out!"
+With that Jones laid his head on his
+arms, with the book still in one hand,
+muttering to himself, and I listened in
+spite of me. "Still it rouses the old
+times in me!" said he. "Here comes
+this book across me, too. Ay, ay, and
+the Rector fancied, sitting teaching me
+Greek out of old wild Homer all week
+day&mdash;and&mdash;and his girl slipping out
+and in&mdash;'twould do to don the cassock of
+a Sunday and preach out of the pulpit
+against the world, the devil, and the
+flesh&mdash;then warn me against the sea&mdash;ha!"
+The laugh that came from him
+at that moment was more like a dog
+than a human being; but on he went
+muttering "Women, wine, and adventure,
+said ye, old Greek, and a goddess
+too; still he <em>was</em> a good old man the
+Rector&mdash;no guile nor evil in him, with
+his books in the cases yonder, and the
+church-spire seen through the window
+over the garden, and his wife with&mdash;ah,
+the less of that. 'Twas in me,
+though, and all the blood&mdash;and in <i>her</i>
+dark eyes, too, Mary, though she
+was! Damnation!" he broke out
+again, after a bit, as if he'd been
+arguing it with something under the
+side, "I didn't take her the first time
+I came home&mdash;nor the second&mdash;but&mdash;but&mdash;ay,
+I came <em>back</em>! Oh that parting-stile,
+in sight of the sea&mdash;and that
+packet-ship&mdash;but oh God! that night,
+that night with the schooner forging
+ahead through the blue&mdash;blue&mdash;" And
+he stopped with a groan that shook
+him as he leant over. "Hellish, hellish
+by God!" he said, suddenly
+standing upright and looking straight
+aloft, with his bare head and face to
+the wide empty sky, and the moonlight
+tipping the hair on his forehead,
+from over the high shadow on the lee-side
+of the mainsail, where it glistened
+along the gaff. "She was pure to the
+last!" I heard him say, though I had
+walked to the other side of the boom;
+"ay, though I rot to perdition for it!&mdash;Down,
+old fiend!" as he lifted his
+one hand with the book, and drove it
+alongside, seemingly watching it settle
+away astern.</p>
+
+<p>Now I had heard nothing from
+Jones that I couldn't have fancied
+before, and there was even a humour<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>
+to my mind in the notion of clapping
+it all on old Homer, if Homer it was,
+and heaving him overboard with such
+a confoundedly complimentary burial-service.
+But some of the words that
+dropped from him shot through one's
+veins like icicles: and now there was
+something fearful in the sight of him
+standing straight again, with a look
+right into the heavens, as if he'd have
+searched them up and up&mdash;in that
+lovely night too, spread far and wide&mdash;the
+very rays of the moonlight
+sparkled down the weather side of the
+sail I was on, trembling on the leech-ropes
+and brails as they swayed, and
+into the hollows they made in the belly
+of the taut canvass: the long shining
+spot of it wavered and settled on the
+same two planks of the quarterdeck,
+beyond the shadow of the bulwark
+from the moon's eye, fast as the
+schooner moved through the water,
+and it was like a hand laid upon her,
+with the air and wind stretching
+between. Of a sudden I saw Jones
+wheel slowly round where he stood,
+like a man turned about by main
+strength, with his eyes fixed aloft,
+and his one arm raising from the shoulder
+till his forefinger pointed to something,
+as I thought, about the fore-to'gallant
+sail. His face was like
+ashes, his eye glaring, and I sprang
+across to him under the main-boom.
+"See!" said he, never turning his
+head, and the words hissed betwixt
+his teeth, "look at that!"</p>
+
+<p>"For heaven's sake, <em>what</em>, Mr
+Jones?" said I. "<em>Her&mdash;her</em>," was
+his answer, "coming against the wind&mdash;dead
+fore-and-aft in the shade of
+the sails!" On the lee-sides of them
+the high boom-sails made a sort of a
+thin shadow against the moonshine off
+the other beam, which came glimpsing
+through between them out of a world
+of air to the south-east, with a double
+of it flickering alongside on the water
+as it heaved past to leeward; and
+whether it was fancy, or whether it
+was but the reflection aloft from below,
+I thought, as I followed Jones's finger,
+I saw something like the shape of a
+woman's dress floating close in with
+the bonnet of the foretopmast-staysail,
+from the dusk it made to the
+breast of the fore-topsail, and even
+across the gush of white light under
+the yard&mdash;long and straight, as it were,
+like a thing lifted dripping out of
+water, and going, as he said, right
+against the schooner's course. "Now
+in the foresail!" whispered Jones, his
+eye moving as on a pivot, and a thrill
+ran through me at the notion, for I
+made out one single moment what I
+thought a face against the sky at the
+gaff-end, white as death, shooting aft
+toward the mainsail,&mdash;though next
+instant I saw it was but a block
+silvered by the moon as the schooner
+lifted. "Now the mainsail!" said he
+huskily, "and now&mdash;now, by the
+heavens&mdash;rising&mdash;rising to the gaff-topsail&mdash;away!
+Oh Christ! <em>Mary!</em>"</p>
+
+<p>He was leaning aft toward the
+width of the sky, with both hands
+clutched together before him, shuddering
+all over. For the first minute my
+own blood crept, I must say; but
+directly after I touched him on the
+shoulder. "This is strange, Mr
+Jones," said I, "what's the matter?"
+"Once in the Bermudas!" said he,
+still wildly, "once in the Pacific&mdash;and
+now! Does the sea give up its dead,
+though, think ye?"&mdash;"You've a
+strong fancy, Mr Jones, that's all," I
+said, sternly. "Fancy!" said he,
+though beginning to get the better of
+himself; "did ye ever fancy a face
+looking down&mdash;down at you in the
+utterest scorn&mdash;down sideways off the
+shoulder of the garment, as it sticks
+wet into every outline like life? All
+the time gliding on the other way, too,
+and the eyes like two stars a thousand
+miles away beyond, as kind as angels'&mdash;neither
+wind nor sea can stop it,
+till suddenly it rises to the very cope
+of heaven&mdash;still looking scornfully
+down at you!&mdash;No, sir, fancy it <em>you</em>
+couldn't!" The glance he gave me
+was somehow or other such as I
+couldn't altogether stomach from the
+fellow, and he was turning to the side
+when I said quietly, "No, nor Homer
+either, I daresay!" Jones started
+and made a step towards me. "You
+heard me a little ago!" rapped out he,
+eyeing me. "Yes," I said; "by Jove!
+who could help being curious to hear
+a sailor spout Greek as you were
+doing, Mr Jones?"</p>
+
+<p>"The fact is, Mr Collins," answered
+he, changing his tone, "I was well
+brought up&mdash;the more shame to me
+for bringing myself to what you saw
+me. I had a sister drowned, too, on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>
+her passage to America one voyage,
+when I was mate of the ship myself.
+No wonder it keeps my nerves shaking
+sometimes, when I've had too long
+about shore."&mdash;"Well, well, Jones,"
+said I, rather softening, "you've
+proved yourself a first-rate seaman,
+and I've got nothing to complain of&mdash;but
+I tell You fairly I had my doubts
+of you! So you'll remember you're
+under the Articles of War aboard here,
+sir," added I, "which as long as I
+have this schooner under hand, I'll be
+hanged if I don't carry out!" All at
+once the thought struck me a little
+inconveniently, of my carrying off
+Webb and his people, and I fancied
+Jones's quick eye wandered to the
+Lascars forward. "I know it, sir,"
+said he, looking me steadily in the
+face; "and what's more, Mr Collins,
+at any rate I couldn't forget you
+picked me out, confounded low as I
+looked, to come aft here! 'Tis not
+every captain afloat that has such a
+good eye for a seaman, as <em>I</em> know!"
+"Oh well, no more about it," I said,
+walking forward on the weather side,
+and leaving him on the lee one as distinctly
+as Lord Frederick Bury could
+have done to myself in the frigate.
+Jones no doubt thought I didn't notice
+the slight wrinkle that gathered round
+his lee-eye when he gave me this touch
+of butter at the end; but I put it down
+for nothing more, gammon though it
+was.</p>
+
+<p>It was near the end of the watch,
+the moon beginning to set, while it
+still wanted three hours of daybreak
+in those latitudes, when the look-out
+on the top-gallant-yard, who was
+stationed there in man-o'-war cruising
+fashion, reported a sail to windward.
+Just then the midshipman came on
+deck to his watch, wonderfully early
+for him indeed: and on my remarking
+it was probably the Indiaman at
+last, Jones himself went aloft with
+the night-glass to make her out.
+"Mr Snelling," said I, "see the
+hands on deck ready for going about."
+Next minute I saw him rousing up
+the rest of the Lascars, who slept
+watch and watch on the forecastle.
+Only five or six of the Hebe's men
+were up; and all of them, save the
+man at the wheel, ran aloft to rig out
+stunsail-booms to windward, as soon
+as the schooner was fairly on the
+starboard tack, standing to nor'-eastward.
+Suddenly I saw a scuffle
+between the midshipman, and the
+tindal,<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> a stout dark-faced young
+Bengalee, with a jaunty scull-cap and
+frock, whom Snelling had probably
+helped along with a touch of a rope's
+end; and in a moment two or three
+more of them were upon him; while the
+reefer drew his dirk, and sung out to
+me, scarce before I was with him, the
+Lascars rolling into the lee-scuppers at
+two kicks of my foot. Webb and
+three of the men from Cape Town
+were hoisting a stunsail at the time,
+the smart man-o'-war'smen aloft singing
+out to them to bear a hand. What
+with the noise of the sail flapping, and
+its being betwixt my own men and
+the deck, they could know nothing of
+the matter; and the Lascars let go the
+halliards in a body, making a rush at
+Snelling and myself with everything
+they could pick up in the shape of a
+spar.</p>
+
+<p>This would have been nothing, as
+in two or three minutes more the men
+would have been down, and the cocoa-faced
+rascals dodged every way from
+the handspike I got hold of; but I
+just caught a glimpse on one side of
+the sly old serang shoving on the fire-scuttle
+to keep down the watch below;
+and on the other, of Webb looking
+round him, evidently to see how
+matters stood. Two Dutchmen seized
+the first sailor that came down the
+rigging, by the legs, and I saw the
+affair must be finished at once, it had
+so much the look of a regular plot on
+Webb's part, if Jones wasn't concerned
+in it too. I made one spring
+upon my Cape Town gentleman, and
+took him by the throat with one
+hand, while I hit the biggest Dutchman
+full behind the ear, felling him
+to the deck; on which the man-o'-war's
+man grappled his watchmate,
+and Webb was struggling with me
+sufficiently to keep both my hands
+full, when I had a pleasant inkling of
+a Malay Lascar slipping toward my
+back with a bare kreese in his fist.
+I just looked over my shoulder at his
+black eyes twinkling devilishly before
+he sprang, when some one came<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>
+sliding fair down from the fore-top-mast-head
+by a backstay, and pitched
+in a twinkling on top of his head&mdash;a
+thing enough to break the neck of a
+monument. Directly after, I saw
+Jones himself hitting right and left
+with his night-glass, from the moonlight
+to the shadow of the foresail,
+while Snelling tumbled over a Lascar
+at every slap, standing up in boxer
+style. By the time the rest of the
+men came down all was settled&mdash;the
+Dutchmen sulking against the bulwarks,
+and Webb gasping after I let
+him go. "Boatswain," said I to one
+of the sailors, "clap that man in irons
+below. Mr Snelling, see the watch
+called, sir." "I 'ad the law with
+me," said Webb gloomily. "You
+plotted it then, Mr Webb?" I said.
+"Didn't you carry us off illegally?"
+said he. "I only meant to recover the
+vessel&mdash;upon my honour, nothing
+more, sir; and if you're 'ard with me,
+you'll have to answer for it, I assure
+you!" Here he looked round to Jones
+in a strange way, as I fancied for a
+moment; but Jones turned on his heel
+with a sneer. "Why, Mr Webb,"
+answered I, "you lost that tack by
+offering yourself in a watch, which
+makes the thing neither more nor less
+than mutiny&mdash;so take him below, do ye
+hear, bo'sun!" And down he went.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Mr Jones," said I, as soon
+as all hands were on deck, "you'll be
+so good as have half of these Lascars
+seized to the rigging here, one after
+the other, and see a good dozen given
+to each of their backs; then these
+two Dutchmen, each three dozen&mdash;then
+pipe down the watch, sir."
+Jones glanced at me, then at the
+fellows, then at me again. I thought
+he hung aback for an instant; but do
+it I was determined he should, for a
+reason I had; and I gave him back
+the look steady as stone. "Ay, ay,
+sir," said he at last, touching his hat.
+I walked aft to the capstan, and stood
+there till every mother's son of them
+had got his share, the Lascars wriggling
+and howling on the deck after
+it, and the Dutchmen twisting their
+backs as they walked off. 'Twas the
+first time I did that part of duty in
+command; and I felt, in the circumstances,
+I was in for carrying it out
+with a taut hand.</p>
+
+<p>By this time the moon was setting,
+and in the dusk we lost sight of the
+sail to windward; but as we were
+heading well up to weather upon her,
+and going at least ten knots, I turned
+in below for a little, leaving the midshipman.
+Accordingly, it wasn't very
+long before Snelling called me in broad
+daylight. "She's a large ship, Mr
+Collins," said he, "standing under all
+sail on a wind. I hope to goodness, sir,
+it's that confounded Indiaman at last!"
+I hurried on deck, took the glass aloft,
+and soon made out the jury-foretop-mast
+shorter than the main, as the
+old captain mentioned. Accordingly
+it was with somewhat of a flutter in
+me I came down again, watching the
+schooner's trim below and aloft, to
+see if I couldn't take an hour or so off
+the time betwixt that and once
+more setting eyes on the Judge's
+daughter.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>THE JEW BILL.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The period at which this obnoxious
+measure has been brought forward,
+limits our present remarks to a
+few paragraphs. But we have so
+long fought for the Constitution, that
+We cannot suffer the month to pass
+without reprobating an intrigue,
+which we cannot but regard as most
+dangerous to the Empire. We are no
+bigots,&mdash;we demand no surrender of
+the rights of opinion,&mdash;we force no man
+to our altars,&mdash;we forbid no man's
+access to his own; but to avert public
+evil is a duty of every subject,&mdash;to strip
+hypocrisy is clearly an act of justice,&mdash;and
+to protect religion is only an act
+of supreme necessity. We solemnly
+believe, that to bring the Jew into
+the Parliament of England, would be
+at once injury to the Constitution, a
+peril to public principle, and an insult
+to Christianity.</p>
+
+<p>The attempt was made last year,
+and was defeated. It is now to be
+renewed, without the slightest additional
+ground, and the battle will
+have to be fought over again. Must
+we not ask, is this experiment to
+be again made on public patience?
+Is it meant to tell the people of England,
+that what common sense rejects,
+is to be forced on general weariness;
+that what manly principle repels, is to
+be gained by vulgar perseverance; and
+that which public judgement denounces,
+is to be made law by the united effect
+of disgust and disdain producing indifference?
+We trust that the common
+sense of England will speak such a language
+to the Legislature, as to extinguish
+the <em>prestige</em> that obstinacy in the
+wrong is more effective than honesty
+in the right; that to be sickened of a
+struggle, is a legitimate reason for
+abandoning the contest; and that a
+great nation can be yawned out of the
+greatest interests in the world.</p>
+
+<p>The first question of all is, Can this
+admission of the Jew into a Christian
+legislature be compatible with the
+character of a Christian constitution?
+If we live in bad times, with the evidence
+of bad practices in important
+positions, and with a powerful propensity
+among influential classes to
+sacrifice everything to the moment,
+this consciousness should only be a
+stronger claim on the vigilance of
+honest men. However strangely it
+may sound in some ears, England is
+still a Christian country: however
+some may doubt, the country still
+demands a Christian legislature; and,
+notwithstanding all opinions on the
+subject, we believe that to worship
+God and Mammon is still as impossible
+as it was pronounced to be eighteen
+hundred years ago. We believe that it
+is only by national virtue that nations
+can retain the divine protection; that
+zeal for the divine honour is the supreme
+source of virtue; and that to
+sacrifice the honour of God to any
+earthly purpose, is only to bring divine
+desertion on a people. Must we not
+ask, is there any national demand,
+national necessity, or religious principle,
+connected with giving legislative
+power, at this time, to the Jew?</p>
+
+<p>Where is the national demand? If
+the Jew, in some instances, is rich,
+is mere money to be the qualification
+for giving legislative power? In the
+simplest point of view, must we not
+demand ability, personal honour, a
+personal interest in the country, and
+a personal evidence that the trustee
+will never betray or abandon his
+trust? But what is the Jew? He has
+<em>no</em> country. By being equally a member
+of all countries, he is equally an
+alien in all; beyond the casual connexion
+of trade, he has no connexion
+with any kingdom of earth: his only
+country is his counting-house,&mdash;his
+only city is the Exchange. His world
+consists in his traffic; and if any
+calamity should fall on one of those
+kingdoms where he keeps his counting-house,
+he transfers himself, like a Bill
+of Exchange, to the next; and in
+whatever land is equally at home. The
+Jew gives no pledge to any country;
+he is no possessor of land, no leader of
+science, no professor of the liberal pursuits,
+no manufacturer, no merchant,
+no sailor, no soldier; as if some irresistible
+destination prohibited him from
+ever finally settling in any land, his
+property is always ready to take
+wing. Must we not ask, Is this fugitive
+the man who has a right to share<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>
+the privileges of the Englishman,
+bound, as we are, to the soil by nature,
+and bound to its defence and prosperity
+by the indissoluble obligation
+of nature?</p>
+
+<p>In a political point of view, what
+security could we have for confiding
+in the Jew,&mdash;for intrusting our finances,
+our liberties, our councils, the
+guardianship of our country, to the
+Jew? The especial and perpetual
+object of his existence is money. Now,
+while every man knows that money is
+the great corrupter of the human
+mind, that, except in minds fully fortified
+by principle, it overwhelms all
+other objects, and that, in all the
+convulsions of the greatest war of
+Europe&mdash;the war of the French
+Revolution&mdash;the secrets of every Continental
+cabinet were at the mercy of
+the purse; do we desire to see this
+supremacy extended? Do we desire
+to see the principles of fraud and falsehood
+made a regular material in the
+market of public transactions, and
+lucre exalted into the sole object of
+existence?</p>
+
+<p>As to the practical effect of bringing
+the tribe of the money-dealer into
+Parliament, would any man, in the
+exercise of his experience, wish to see
+the finances of England in the hands of
+any Jew in existence? And let no
+man pretend that this conception is
+imaginary. Place a Jew in Parliament,
+giving him the power of making
+a party; give him the opportunity of
+working on the impulses, habits, or
+necessities of men; and in twelve
+months you may see him anything he
+desires,&mdash;even Chancellor of the Exchequer.
+But he is a man of honour;
+he will not sell the secrets of Council;
+he will not copy a despatch for the
+benefit of his partners; he will not
+raise or sink the stocks, though every
+movement may add a million to the
+coffers of his partnership. We hope
+not; but can we run the risk? But
+the fact is, that he is a man not to be
+judged of by the feelings of any other
+in the world; he differs from all other
+men. What is patriotism to the Jew?
+He knows nothing of it. Who ever
+heard of the Jew taking any part in
+those noble struggles which have saved
+the honour or secured the rights of
+any nation on earth? His business is
+gain, and it is the only business that
+he ever follows; from the man with
+ten firms and five hundred clerks, with
+a counting-house in every village from
+the Rhine to the Neva, down to the
+seller of old clothes, and the pedlar in
+dilapidated slippers, who ever heard
+of a Jew thinking of anything but to
+make money?</p>
+
+<p>But the view which must supersede
+all others, is the aspect of the measure
+as it relates to religion. Great Britain
+is certainly, on the whole, a religious
+country: it perhaps contains
+more true religion than all the earth
+besides; but its fault is, that, though
+reverent in the church, it does not
+sufficiently carry its reverence into the
+course of common life. If this were
+done, there would be no difficulties in
+public opinion. It is in no superstition
+that we say, the only question
+to be asked on any doubtful course of
+action is, "Will it please God? Is it
+for the honour of God?" This is what
+the Scripture calls "walking with
+God," and describes as the essential
+character of virtue. But the majority
+of mankind add to those questions,
+Will it benefit myself? The statesman
+asks, Shall I lose power by it?&mdash;the
+merchant, Shall I lose profit?&mdash;the
+tradesman, Shall I lose custom? And
+this question is the master-key to the
+diversities of opinion on points which,
+to the unbiassed mind, are as clear as
+the sun.</p>
+
+<p>Let us put the matter in a more
+every-day point of view. Let us suppose
+the question asked, Would you
+take for your friend a man who denied
+your God, who scoffed at your religion,
+and who declared yourself a dupe or a
+deceiver? Yet all this the Jew does
+openly by the profession of his own
+creed. Can you conceive it for the
+honour of your Redeemer, to give this
+man your confidence in the highest
+form in which it can be given by a
+subject? Or can you bring yourself to
+believe that you are doing your duty
+to Christ in declaring by your conduct,
+that to be hostile to Him makes
+no imaginable difference in your estimate
+of the character of any man?</p>
+
+<p>On those points it is wholly impossible
+that there can be any doubt
+whatever. The enemy of Christ cannot,
+without a crime, be favoured, still
+less patronised and promoted, by the
+friend of Christ. Now, this feeling is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>
+neither prejudice nor persecution: it
+merely takes the words of the Jew
+himself; and it would not force him,
+by the slightest personal injury, to
+change the slightest of his opinions.
+It is merely the conduct which all
+who were unbiassed by gain, or unperverted
+by personal objects, would
+follow in any common act of life. To
+give power to the Jew, from the motives
+of pelf, or party, or through
+indifference, is criminal; and it is
+against this crime that we protest,
+and that we desire to guard our fellow
+Christian.</p>
+
+<p>We must now rapidly pass through
+the leading points of the question.
+The Jew is a "condemned man."
+More than three thousand years ago,
+Moses, in pronouncing the future history
+of the people, declared that a
+teacher should finally be sent to their
+nation, like himself, a man; and
+mingling as such among men, to give
+them a law, not in clouds and thunders
+as at Sinai, nor written in tables of
+stone, nor fixed in stern ordinances, but
+written in the heart, and acting by the
+understanding: and that, if they rejected
+him, they should be made
+nationally to answer the national
+crime to the Almighty. Him they
+rejected, and the rejection has been
+answered by national ruin. The prophecy
+is before the eye of the world;
+the fulfilment is also before the eye
+of the world.</p>
+
+<p>The Jew is an undone being, if there
+be truth in the words of inspiration.
+"He that believeth in the Son hath
+everlasting life; and he that believeth
+not the Son, <em>shall not see life</em>; but the
+<em>wrath of God</em> abideth on him." (John
+iii. 35, 36.) What right have we to
+dispense with such words? The
+declaration is unequivocal; and if
+there be a compassionate allowance
+for the barbarian, who has no
+Bible and whom the gospel has
+never reached, what allowance can
+there be for the Jew, possessing the
+Bible and living in the sound of the
+gospel? But this language is not
+alone. We have the declaration of
+ruin constantly expressed or implied,
+"Who is a liar, but he that <em>denieth
+that Jesus is the Christ</em>? Whosoever
+<em>denieth the Son</em>, the same <em>hath not the
+Father</em>." (1 John ii. 22)</p>
+
+<p>Are those deniers the men whom
+the Christian is to take into the
+very centre of his political favouritism?
+Are the brands of Scripture on
+the national forehead to be scorned by
+a people professing obedience to the
+Divine will? Can human conception
+supply a stronger proof of the reality
+of those brands than the condition of
+the Jews ever since their first fulfilment,
+in the fall of Jerusalem&mdash;the
+terrible reply to their own anathema,
+"His blood be on us, and on our
+children."</p>
+
+<p>What is the state of the Jew himself
+with respect to sacred things?
+Nothing but ignorance can speak of
+the <em>religion</em> of the Jew. So far as
+belongs to worship, he has <em>none</em>.
+Sacrifice, the solemnisation of the
+three great festivals, the whole ceremonial
+of the temple, were <em>essential</em> to
+Judaism. The Jew cannot perform
+a single public ceremonial of his religion.
+Sacrifice was supremely essential
+for nearly the atonement of every
+fault of man; but it could be offered
+only in the Temple. The Temple is
+gone. What now becomes of his
+atonement?</p>
+
+<p>A weak attempt is made to answer
+this tremendous question, by referring
+to the condition of the Jews in Babylon.
+But what comparison can exist
+between a captivity prophetically
+limited to years not exceeding a single
+life, passed under the protection of
+kings, and under the guardianship of
+the most illustrious man of Asia, the
+prophet Daniel, cheered by prophecy
+and miracle, and certain of return, and
+the eighteen hundred years' banishment
+of the Jew? What comparison
+between the temporary suspension of
+the national worship, and the undefined
+and hopeless duration which
+seems to lie before the Jewish exile;
+and which, when it shall close at last,
+will extinguish his Judiasm, will show
+him his folly only by stripping the
+superstition of the Rabbi and the Talmud
+from his eyes, and will awake
+him at once to the extent of his
+error, to the exercise of his understanding,
+and to the worship of Christianity?</p>
+
+<p>After considerations of this order,
+all others must be almost trivial.
+But the common declamation on the
+<em>natural right</em> of the Jew to be represented
+in Parliament is verbiage.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>
+But the Jew is actually represented,
+as much as a multitude of
+other interests of superior importance
+are represented. Are the fifteen
+thousand clergy of the Church of
+England (a body worth all the Jews
+on the globe) personally represented?
+Are the millions of England under
+twenty-one represented? One might
+thus go through the great industrious
+classes of England, and find that, out
+of twenty millions, there are not one
+million electors. And what claim
+have a class&mdash;who come to this country
+only to make money, and who
+make nothing but money, and who,
+if they could make more money anywhere
+else on the earth, would go
+there to-morrow&mdash;to an equality of
+right with the manly, honest, and
+attached son of England, every day
+of whose life adds something to the
+comfort or the credit of the community?</p>
+
+<p>The whole and sole claim of the
+Jew is, that some of his party are
+rich. How they have made their
+riches, or how they spend them, is
+beneath us to inquire. But what
+are their national evidences, even of
+wealth, it might be difficult to discover.
+They exhibit no fruits here,
+nor anywhere. It has been often
+asked, with genuine astonishment,
+what signs of national liberality have
+ever been given by Jewish wealth in
+the world? What contribution does
+it make, or has it ever made, to the
+arts that decorate life, to the literature
+that enlightens it, or to those
+bold and commanding services by
+which nations are raised or restored?
+Where are the picture galleries, or the
+great libraries, the great institutions,
+erected by the wealth of the Jew?
+As to the genius which endows mankind,
+for generations to come, with
+noble inventions, or leaves its name
+behind in a track of glory to posterity,
+who ever heard of it among the Jews?
+Shopkeepers of London have planted
+its vicinity with great establishments,
+castles of charity, magnificent monuments
+of practical religion, to which
+all the works of Jewish bounty are
+molehills. The Jews have an hospital
+and a few schools,&mdash;and there the
+efflux of liberality stops, the stream
+stagnates, the river becomes a pond,
+and the pond dries away.</p>
+
+<p>It is remarkable, and may be a
+punitive consequence, that there is
+nothing so fugitive as the wealth of the
+Jew. There is perhaps no hereditary
+example of Jewish wealth in the
+world. In England we have seen
+opulent firms, but they have never
+had the principle of permanency.
+Supposed to be boundlessly wealthy, a
+blight came, and every leaf dropt off.
+One powerful firm now lords it over
+the loan-market of Europe. We have
+no desire to anticipate the future; but
+what has become of all its predecessors
+in this country? or what memorial
+have they all left, to make us regret
+their vanishing, or remember their
+existence?</p>
+
+<p>Of the sudden passion with which
+Ministers have snatched the Israelite
+to their bosom, we shall leave the explanation
+until their day of penitence.
+As poverty makes man submit to
+strange companionship, political necessity
+may make a Whig Cabinet stoop
+to the embrace of the Jew. The resource
+is desperate, but the exigency
+must be equally so. We hail the
+omen,&mdash;the grasp at straws shows
+nothing but the exhaustion of the
+swimmer.</p>
+
+<p>On one point more alone we shall
+touch. It is of a graver kind. It has
+been the source of a kind of ignorant
+consideration for the Jews, that prophecy
+speaks of their future restoration.
+But, as <em>Jews</em> they will <em>never</em> be
+restored. In the last days some
+powerful influence of the Holy Spirit
+will impel the surviving Jews to solicit
+an admission into Christianity.
+How many or how few will survive
+the predicted universal convulsion of
+these days, is not for man to tell; the
+terrible, or the splendid, catastrophes
+of those times are still hidden; but no
+Jew well ever dwell in the presence
+of the patriarchs, but as a "new
+creature"&mdash;a being cleared from the
+prejudices of his exiled fathers, and
+by supernatural interposition purified
+from the unbelief, to be rescued from
+the ruin, of his stiff-necked people.</p>
+
+<p>The measure must be thrown out
+by the awakened power of public
+opinion. We must not indulge our
+indolence in relying on the House of
+Lords. They <em>may</em> do their duty, but
+<em>we must do ours</em>. The Jew <em>must not</em>
+enter the Christian Legislature.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>THE PICTURES OF THE SEASON.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The taste for pictorial art, if its
+progress may be measured by the opportunity
+afforded for its gratification,
+is decidedly upon the increase in this
+country. In London, especially, pictures
+of one class or other form, each
+successive year, a larger and more
+important item in the sum of public
+amusements. During the present
+season of 1850 there have been open,
+at one time, four exhibitions consisting
+chiefly of oil paintings, two numerous
+collections of water-colour drawings,
+and panoramas and dioramas in
+unprecedented number and of unusual
+excellence. These last, although pertaining
+to a lower walk of art, have
+strong claims on consideration for
+their scenic truthfulness and artistic
+skill, and are fairly to be included in
+an estimate of the state of public
+feeling for the pictorial. The four
+first exhibitions alone comprise upwards
+of three thousand works of art,
+now for the first time submitted to
+public inspection. As usual, the exhibition
+of the Royal Academy is the
+most important and deserving of attention.
+Numerically, the Society of
+British Artists claims the next place;
+but in point of interest it must yield
+precedence to the British Institution,
+now for some weeks closed, and also
+to the exhibition of an association of
+artists which has installed itself, upon
+a novel principle, and under the title
+of the National Institution, in a building
+constructed for its accommodation,
+and known as the Portland Gallery.
+It were for some reasons desirable&mdash;it
+certainly would be favourable to the
+comparative appreciation of merit&mdash;that,
+as at Paris, the whole of the
+annual harvest of pictures should be
+collected in one edifice, subject, of
+course, to such previous examination
+by a competent and impartial council,
+as should exclude those works unworthy
+of exhibition. But such a
+system, however pleasant it might be
+found by the public, could hardly be
+made agreeable to the artists. The
+most indulgent censorship, excluding
+none but the veriest daubs&mdash;nay, even
+the plan of open doors to all comers,
+which has lately clothed a portion of
+the walls of the Republican Louvre with
+canvass spoiled by ignorance and presumption,
+would fail to satisfy artists
+and their friends. In London, as in
+Paris under the old system, it is less
+the question of admission than the placing
+of the pictures that is the source of
+discontent. The excluded conceal
+their discomfiture; the misplaced
+grumble loudly, and not always without
+reason, especially as regards the
+Academy exhibition. The fault may
+be more in the rooms that contain,
+than in the men who place the pictures.
+Of course everybody whose
+work gets into the Octagon Room feels
+aggrieved, although it is evident that,
+as long as that ridiculous nook is used
+to contain pictures, some unlucky
+artists must fill it. The good
+places in the other rooms&mdash;limited as
+is the extent of these compared to the
+large number of pictures annually
+exhibited in them&mdash;cannot be very
+numerous, although they may be multiplied
+by the exercise of judgment,
+and by impartial attention to the requirements
+of each picture as regards
+light and elevation. The best possible
+arrangement, however, will fail to
+please everybody, and the persons to
+whom falls the difficult task of distributing
+a thousand or fifteen hundred
+pictures over the walls of a suite of
+rooms inadequate to their proper
+accommodation, must be prepared to
+endure some obloquy, and esteem
+themselves fortunate if the public acquit
+them of flagrant partiality or
+negligence. It is not our purpose to
+dilate on this oft-mooted and still
+vexed question. We have no polemical
+intention in the present paper,
+in which we shall not have too much
+space to note down a few of the
+thoughts that suggested themselves to
+us during our morning wanderings
+amongst the throng of pictures in four
+exhibitions.</p>
+
+<p>The great event of the artist's
+year, the opening of the Exhibition
+of the Royal Academy, is of course
+the signal for a Babel of opinions.
+The question which on all sides is
+heard: What sort of Exhibition is
+this? obtains the most conflicting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>
+replies. People are too apt to trust to
+their first impressions, and to indulge
+in sweeping censure or excessive encomium.
+We have heard this year's exhibition
+set down by some as first-rate,
+by others as exceedingly poor. Our
+own opinion, after careful examination
+and consideration, is, that it has rather
+less than the average amount of merit.
+This we believe to be also the opinion
+of the majority of those most competent
+to judge. There is certainly an
+unusually small number of pictures of
+striking excellence; nor is this atoned
+for by any marked improvement in
+those artists whose works can claim
+but a second rank. One circumstance
+unfavourable to the interest of the
+exhibition is the uncommonly large
+number of portraits, the majority of
+which are not very admirable either
+in subject or execution. The impression,
+as one walks through the rooms,
+is, that an extraordinary number of
+ugly or uninteresting persons have got
+themselves painted by careless or indifferent
+artists. Of landscapes there
+seem to be fewer than usual&mdash;certainly
+fewer good ones. Some of the best
+of this class of painters have contributed
+to other exhibitions. On the
+other hand, historical, scriptural, and
+dramatic subjects are numerous, but
+not in many cases have they been
+treated with very great success.
+One of the foremost pictures in the
+Exhibition&mdash;certainly the one about
+which most curiosity has been excited&mdash;is
+Edwin Landseer's <cite>Dialogue at
+Waterloo</cite>. We are unfeigned admirers
+of Mr Landseer's genius, but we do
+not think this one of his happiest
+efforts. There is much fashion in
+these matters; people are very apt
+to be led away by a name, and to fall
+into ecstasies before a picture simply
+because it is by a great painter. We
+believe it impossible for Edwin Landseer
+to paint anything that shall not
+have great merit, but he is certainly
+most felicitous when confining himself
+to what is strictly speaking his own
+style. We do not think him successful
+as a portrait painter. His Marchioness
+of Douro does less than justice to the
+beautiful original. As to the Duke
+of Wellington, it is a failure; especially
+if, as we are assured, it is intended
+to be his portrait as he now
+is. We certainly cannot admire
+the burly figure and swarthy complexion
+of Mr Landseer's Duke, which
+gives us the idea of a younger and
+more robust man than him it is intended
+to represent. We should be disposed
+to object to the strained appearance
+of the downward-pointing hand;
+but the gesture is said to be one habitual
+to the original, and of course the
+painter was right to preserve character,
+even at the cost of grace. The
+less prominent portion of the picture
+is the most to our taste&mdash;the peasants
+and child, the dogs and game, and the
+plough horses with their old driver.
+We are not quite clear as to what it
+all means; some of the objects seeming
+rather to have been dragged in
+than naturally to have come thither;
+the tablecloth spread in the ploughed
+field appearing rather out of character,
+and the left-hand corner of the picture
+having altogether somewhat of a
+crowded aspect: but these are trifles
+not worth dwelling upon. The painting
+is evidently unfinished. The
+subject of Mr Landseer's second picture,
+a shepherd digging the stragglers
+from his flock out of a snow-drift, is
+of less interest than that of his larger
+work; but, in an artistic point of view,
+it claims higher praise. His snow is
+admirable, the tender gray tints are
+full of light, and distributed with
+surpassing skill; and the earnest
+laborious face of the delving peasant is
+very vigorous and characteristic. Mr
+Landseer is so accurate an observer of
+brute nature that it is with extreme
+caution we venture to criticise his
+animals, but we must say that the
+wool of his sheep in this painting has
+a hard and cork-like look. Upon the
+whole it is a question with us, when
+we revert to some of this artist's
+former productions, whether he is
+painting as carefully as he used to do.
+Looking at his Waterloo Dialogue, we
+say no; but an affirmative starts to
+our lips when we examine his last and
+smallest picture in this year's Exhibition,
+Lady Murchison's dog. With
+this the most fastidious would be
+troubled to find fault. It is a gem of
+admirable finish. If Mr Landseer's
+power of drawing, in the grander contours
+of his designs, were equal to the
+skill he displays in the details, he
+would leave nothing to desire.</p>
+
+<p>Mr Maclise has two pictures in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>
+this exhibition. There is scarcely an
+English artist living concerning whom
+we are more embarrassed to make
+up our minds, than concerning the
+painter of <em>The Spirit of Justice</em> and
+<em>The Gross of Green Spectacles</em>. His
+merits and defects are alike very
+great, and unfortunately he delays to
+amend the latter&mdash;if indeed it be in
+his power so to do. His first-named
+and larger picture, whilst it contains
+much to admire, leaves a great deal
+to be desired. To us it is a vexatious
+performance. We cannot look at
+it without admitting it to be the work
+of no ordinary artist, and we feel the
+more annoyed at the mannerism that
+detracts from its merit. Mr Maclise
+has fertility of invention and power of
+design, but there is a deficiency of
+true artistical feeling in his execution.
+We cannot coincide, besides, with the
+notion which he, in common with
+many others, seems to entertain, that
+fresco painting precludes chiaroscuro.
+In <em>The Spirit of Justice</em> there are some
+good faces; but there are more that
+are unnecessarily ugly, and several
+of faulty expression. Justice has a
+fine countenance and altogether pleases
+us well. The widow's face is hard
+and unflesh-like; the accuser, who
+drags the murderer before the tribunal,
+and displays a bloody dagger as evidence
+of guilt, and the free citizen
+who unrolls the charter of liberty, are
+anything but admirable. The accuser
+looks more like an informer than an
+avenger. Nothing can be more unfavourable
+to the face than the sort
+of scrubby, colourless, thinly-sown
+stubble with which his chin is provided,
+as a contrast, we presume,
+with the dark hirsute countenance of
+the criminal, who, deducting the
+beard, might pass for a portrait of Mr
+Macready, of one of whose favourite
+attitudes the position of the head and
+shoulders particularly reminds us.
+With all its defects, however, this is
+by far the best of Mr Maclise's two
+pieces. <em>The Gross of Spectacles</em> we
+consider a failure. It is a gross of
+spectacles, and little besides. The first
+thing that catches the eye is Moses'
+unlucky bargain. There they are, the
+twelve dozen, in green cases and with
+plated rims. We submit that the first
+thing which <em>should</em> attract the eye is
+the countenances of the actors in the
+scene. Owing to their tameness of
+expression, these, which should be
+prominent, are almost subordinate to
+the inanimate details of the apartment.
+Unimportant as it is, we are
+inclined to prefer the recess, and the
+peep through the window, to any
+other part of the picture. There is
+an airiness and transparency in that
+corner of the canvass, which we in
+vain seek elsewhere. The general
+effect is very hard. The hair of
+Moses and the little boy is as unlike
+hair as it well can be: we
+remember to have seen something
+very like it upon a tea-tray. These
+are technical objections. But Mr
+Maclise may rely upon it that he
+lacks the keen perception of humour
+indispensable to the artist who would
+illustrate Goldsmith.</p>
+
+<p>Amongst the scriptural and mythological
+paintings, those of Mr Patten
+and Mr F. R. Pickersgill attract at
+least as much notice as they deserve.
+Besides portraits, Mr Patten has contributed
+three pictures. His <em>Susannah
+and the Elders</em> is remarkable
+as being the most decidedly indecent
+picture exhibited this year. The
+subject is not a very pleasing one,
+and, to our thinking, has been painted
+quite often enough. But this is not
+the question. Mr Patten has put his
+version of it out of the pale of propriety
+by his mode of handling it.
+There is nothing classical in his treatment,
+nothing to redeem or elevate
+the nudity and associations of the
+subject. His Susannah is simply a
+naked English girl, with a pretty
+face, an immaculate cuticle, and something
+exceedingly voluptuous in the
+form and arrangement of her limbs.
+There is no novelty of conception in
+the picture, nor any particular merit
+except the colouring, which is good,
+but not equal to that in No. 446,
+<em>Bacchus discovering the Use of the
+Grape</em>. This is a pleasanter subject,
+cleverly treated, displaying more originality
+and much better taste. The
+flesh-tints are capital, and the picture
+altogether does credit to the painter.
+<em>Venus and Cupid</em>, by the same artist,
+is chiefly remarkable for a plaster-of-Paris
+dove of an extraordinarily brilliant
+and very unnatural effect. As
+to Mr F. R. Pickersgill, we should
+like his pictures better if he would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>
+not imitate poor Etty, whose memory,
+be it parenthetically observed, has
+been little regarded by those who
+have exhibited that most coarse and
+unpleasant picture, <em>The Toilet</em>, No.
+276, a specimen of the deceased
+artist's worst manner. Mr Pickersgill's
+<cite>Samson Betrayed</cite> is, there is no
+denying it, a very unsatisfactory composition.
+His red-haired Dalilah is
+graceless and characterless. Samson,
+recumbent in an attitude in which no
+man ever slept soundly, seems prevented
+only by a miracle from slipping
+off her knees. Two girls, instead
+of getting to a safe distance, are
+hugging each other in terror within
+reach of the giant's arm. There is
+scarcely an attitude in the picture
+that is not strained. In the conception
+there is an utter want of novelty
+of circumstance. The whole picture
+is deficient in originality. The eye
+wanders over it, seeking some feature
+of special interest or striking beauty
+whereon to dwell, and finds none.
+Mr Pickersgill has good qualities,
+but the spark of fancy and genius
+which alone can complete the great
+painter, is, we fear, wanting in his
+composition.</p>
+
+<p>We turn with pleasure to Leslie's
+pictures. Were we disposed to find
+fault with this very agreeable artist,
+our objections could only be technical.
+With want of imagination, and feeling
+for beauty, none can tax him. Two
+of his three pictures contain the sweetest
+female faces in this exhibition.
+How admirably has he interpreted
+Shakspeare's description of Beatrice
+stealing to the woodbine bower, to
+play the eavesdropper on Hero and
+Ursula.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Look where Beatrice, like a lapwing, runs<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Close by the ground."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p class="noind">The painter has exactly rendered the
+poet's graceful idea. As she glides
+along, we seem to detect the slight flutter
+and palpitation attendant on the
+clandestine movement. Expression
+and attitude are alike charming. Sophia
+Western deserves even higher praise.
+She is indeed a lovely creature. Tom
+Jones bids her behold herself in the
+mirror, and say whether such a face and
+form do not guarantee his fidelity. It is
+altogether a most agreeable composition;
+and if we have any fault to find,
+it is with the face of the enamoured
+foundling, which wants refinement, and
+has a sort of overgrown schoolboy's
+ruddy fulness. Katherine of Arragon
+beseeching Capucius to convey to
+Henry VIII. her last recommendation
+of her daughter and servants to his
+goodness, is the most important of Mr
+Leslie's pictures; and although by
+many it will not be deemed the most
+attractive, none can deny it great merit
+and interest. The suffering countenance
+of Katherine, and the tearful
+faces of her attendants, are full of
+expression. The ambassador is rather
+tame, and one scarcely recognises in
+his face or bearing the energy with
+which he vows to do the bidding of the
+unhappy queen.</p>
+
+<p>Mr Eastlake has one scriptural and
+one historical picture in this year's
+exhibition. A passage from Sismondi,
+telling the escape of an
+Italian noble and his wife from
+the persecution of the Duke of
+Milan, has suggested the latter,
+which is painted for the Vernon Gallery.
+There is some good expression
+in the faces in this picture, which has
+more interest and novelty than its
+companion <em>The Good Samaritan</em>, and
+also greater vigour. Both show the
+hand of the experienced and skilful
+artist, although perhaps neither can
+be classed amongst the best things he
+has produced. We should gladly see
+a little more nerve in Mr Eastlake's
+style, and this we think might be
+advantageously combined with his
+beautiful transparency of colouring,
+and other excellent qualities as a
+painter. There is no diminution in the
+purity of style and thought which has
+always been one of his finest characteristics.</p>
+
+<p>Mr Frith is an improving artist.
+There is humour and progress in No.
+543, a scene from Goldsmith's <em>Good-natured
+Man</em>. <em>Mr Honeywood introduces
+the bailiffs to Miss Richland as
+his friends.</em> He must beware, however,
+of running into caricature in
+subjects of this kind. The bailiffs
+are perhaps a little overdone. Miss
+Richland has a very pretty face, but
+she looks more like a <em>soubrette</em> or
+smart actress than a woman of fashion.
+Mr Frith's other picture, Sancho
+proving to the duchess that Don
+Quixote is at the bottom of the table,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>
+is well painted, and, in a technical
+point of view, it must be spoken of
+with respect. He has not been quite so
+successful as we should have expected
+in the expression of the faces,&mdash;that
+of the duke excepted, which is a good
+and thoroughly Spanish countenance,
+with its habitual gravity disturbed by
+Sancho's quaint humour and his
+master's manifest distress. But painting
+ladies is not Mr Frith's forte.
+His duchess is pretty, but there is a
+want of aristocratic distinction in her
+face and bearing; and as to the ladies
+grouped behind her chair, they are
+cookmaids in masquerade. Very few
+living artists, besides Leslie, should
+venture upon Sancho. We will not
+say that Mr Frith is not one of those
+few, but his delineation of the shrewd
+esquire, although very humorous, is
+rather coarse, and he has made him
+ragged and filthy to an unnecessary
+degree. The vexation and embarrassment
+of Don Quixote are ludicrously
+portrayed.</p>
+
+<p>Four very small, very unpretending
+pictures by Thomas Webster, R.A.,
+must be sought for, but, when found,
+cannot fail to be admired. They are
+a feature, and a very charming one,
+of this year's Exhibition. High finish
+and truth to nature are their chief
+characteristics. Mr Webster is getting
+quite into the Ostade manner.
+His colouring, too, is admirable. No.
+54 is a boy in a chimney corner,
+supping pottage, with an old woman
+knitting opposite to him. Both faces
+are excellent, and full of character.
+<em>A Cherry Seller</em> is a perfect <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">bijou</i>&mdash;the
+woman weighing out the fruit; the
+boys, looking on with eager eyes and
+watering mouths; the fruit itself, with
+its Dutch nicety of finish:&mdash;altogether
+it is a most desirable picture, such as
+one can hardly pass, even for the
+twentieth time, without pausing for
+another view. <em>A Peasant's Home</em> is
+upon the whole too gray, and perhaps
+the least attractive of the four; but in
+the <em>Farmhouse Kitchen</em> are a couple of
+figures, a farmer and his dame, than
+which nothing can be better, either
+in colour or expression. Mr Webster
+shows great taste and judgment in
+adhering to a pleasing simplicity,
+without ever falling into quaintness
+or affectation. And it is a study for
+a young artist to observe the skill
+with which he throws his lights, and
+the transparency and absence of
+<em>paintyness</em> (to borrow a term from the
+studio) which characterise his pictures.</p>
+
+<p>Mr Solomon Hart's <em>Kitchen Interior
+at Mayfield</em> will not do after Webster.
+This, however, is one of the least
+important of his six pictures, which
+comprise two other interiors, two
+heads, and a Jewish festival. This
+last is perhaps the best picture he has
+painted. The MSS. of the Pentateuch
+are being carried round the synagogue
+at Leghorn, amidst chanting
+of hymns. There is a strong devotional
+character in many of the faces;
+and, as a work of art, the picture is
+more than respectable. The interest
+of the subject is a question of taste.
+For us, we confess, it possesses very
+little attraction; and the Jewish physiognomy,
+so strongly marked as it is
+in all the occupants of the synagogue,
+is, to our thinking, incompatible with
+beauty. We do not much admire
+either <em>A Virtuoso or Arnolfo di Lapo</em>.
+The latter is the best of the two: the
+former, carefully painted, is merely an
+ordinary-looking Jew.</p>
+
+<p>What can we say of Mr Turner?
+Perhaps we had better content ourselves
+with mentioning that he has
+four pictures in the Exhibition, all in
+his latest manner, all illustrative of
+that far-famed, but, unfortunately,
+unpublished poem, <em>The Fallacies of
+Hope</em>, and all proving the fallacy of
+the hope we annually cherish that he
+will abjure his eccentricities, and revert
+to the style which justly gained
+him his high reputation. It were absurd
+of us to attempt to criticise his
+present productions, for to us they are
+unintelligible; and, judging from the
+extremely puzzled looks we see fixed
+upon them, we suspect that not many
+of those who pause for their examination
+are more successful than ourselves
+in deciphering their meaning,
+and in appreciating the beauties which
+a few stanch adherents pretend to discover
+in those strange compounds of
+red, white, and yellow. What if Mr
+Turner were to seek his inspirations
+elsewhere than in the aforesaid MS.?
+Can it be that the poet's halting verse
+influences the painter's vagaries? From
+the specimens afforded us, we are not
+inclined to think highly of <em>The Fallacies of Hope</em>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>
+ Take the following, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">exempli
+gratiâ</i>:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Beneath the morning mist<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Mercury waited to tell him of his neglected fleet."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p class="noind">And this&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Fallacious Hope beneath the moon's pale crescent shone,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Dido listened to Troy being lost and won."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Enough of such poetry, and enough,
+as far as we are concerned, of a great
+painter's unfortunate aberrations.</p>
+
+<p>Apropos of aberrations, we have a
+word to say, which may as well be
+said here as elsewhere. Affectation,
+however, is a more suitable word for
+the mountebank proceedings of a
+small number of artists, who, stimulated
+by their own conceit, and
+by the applause of a few foolish persons,
+are endeavouring to set up a
+school of their own. We allude,
+to the pre-Raphaelites. Let not
+Messrs Millais, Hunt, Rosetti, &amp;
+Co. suppose, because we give them
+an early place in this imperfect review
+of the exhibitions, that we concede to
+them an undue importance. As to
+admiration, we shall presently make
+them aware how far we entertain that
+feeling towards them. Meanwhile, let
+them not plume themselves on a place
+amongst men of genius. Just as well
+might they experience an exaltation
+of their horns, because their absurd and
+pretentious productions get casually
+hung next to pictures by Landseer or
+Webster. It appears they have got
+into their wise heads certain notions
+that the ideal of expression is to be
+found in the works of the artists who
+flourished previously to Raphael. And
+they have accordingly set to work to
+imitate those early masters, not only
+in the earnestness of purpose visible
+in their productions, but in their errors,
+crudities, and imperfections&mdash;renouncing,
+in fact, the progress that since
+then has been made; rejecting the experience
+of centuries, to revert for
+models, not to art in its prime, but to
+art in its uncultivated infancy. And a
+nice business they make of it. Regardless
+of anatomy and drawing,
+they delight in ugliness and revel in
+diseased aspects. Mr Dante Rosetti,
+one of the high-priests of this retrograde
+school, exhibits at the Portland
+Gallery. Messrs Millais and Hunt
+favour the saloons of the Academy.
+Ricketty children, emaciation and
+deformity constitute their chief stock
+in trade. They apparently select bad
+models, and then exaggerate their
+badness till it is out of all nature. We
+can hardly imagine anything more
+ugly, graceless, and unpleasant than
+Mr Millais' picture of Christ in the
+carpenter's shop. Such a collection
+of splay feet, puffed joints, and misshapen
+limbs was assuredly never before
+made within so small a compass.
+We have great difficulty in believing
+a report that this unpleasing and
+atrociously affected picture has found
+a purchaser at a high price. Another
+specimen, from the same brush, inspires
+rather laughter than disgust. A Ferdinand
+of most ignoble physiognomy
+is being lured by a pea-green monster
+intended for Ariel; whilst a row of
+sprites, such as it takes a Millais to
+devise, watch the operation with turquoise
+eyes. It would occupy more
+room than the thing is worth to expose
+all the absurdity and impertinence
+of this work. Mr Hunt's picture
+of a Christian Missionary sheltered
+from Druid pursuit is in as ridiculous
+taste as any of the group.</p>
+
+<p>From such monstrosities it is a
+relief to turn to Mr Frank Stone's
+graceful creations. He also has taken
+a subject from the second scene in the
+<em>Tempest</em>, No. 342, Miranda's first
+sight of Ferdinand. Compared with
+Mr Millais' Ferdinand, that of Mr
+Stone is a demigod. Estimated by its
+intrinsic merits, it strikes us as a little
+theatrical&mdash;rather too much of the
+stage-player in the air and attitude.
+Miranda has a sweet and youthful
+face; Prospero is too young, and does
+not look his part. This is not one of
+Mr Stone's happiest efforts, but it is
+a nice picture, and we prefer it to his
+other in the same exhibition, <em>The
+Gardener's Daughter</em>, a young lady
+attitudinising under a rose-tree, with
+a pair of admiring swains in the distance.
+This artist is too apt to give
+his male lovers a sickly look, as if their
+love disagreed with them. The best
+picture he has shown this year is one
+in the British Institution&mdash;<em>Sympathy</em>&mdash;two
+very pretty maidens, with an
+expression of pleasing sentiment in
+their faces. Barring a little occasional
+mannerism, Mr Stone is a very delightful
+painter; and in our opinion,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>
+if he had had his deserts, he would
+some time since have been a member
+of the Academy. Were it not invidious,
+we could cite a few, who write
+<em>Associate</em> after their names, who have
+less claim than he has to that honorary
+distinction. Mr Stone has a great
+deal of fancy, a fine feeling for the
+beautiful, and we are indebted to him
+for many charming compositions and
+lovely female faces. And certainly
+if popularity be a test of merit, which
+we admit is not always the case, he
+ought years ago to have figured in the
+list of Academicians.</p>
+
+<p>That very conscientious and careful
+artist, Mr Charles Landseer, has
+a pretty and well-painted <em>Girl in a
+Hop-garden</em>, and a larger and still
+better picture&mdash;perhaps the best he
+has for some years produced&mdash;of
+<em>Æsop</em>, surrounded by several of the
+animals celebrated in his fables.
+There is a great deal of quiet humour
+and nice finish in this picture: the
+figure and face of the hump-backed
+fabulist, and those of a girl, who
+seems admiringly to listen to his allegorical
+wisdom, are exceedingly
+good. Mr Dyce has only one picture,
+and really that had been as well
+away. An ugly Jacob is protruding
+his lips to kiss a vulgar Rachel.
+The colouring is hard and bad, and
+there is a pervading gray tint
+which is not natural. We hope Mr
+Dyce, R.A., can do better things
+than this. We prefer Mr Cope's
+<em>King Lear</em>, which has considerable
+merit. There is fine expression in
+the old monarch's head. Cordelia
+pleases us less; and perhaps, upon the
+whole, the best figures in the picture
+are those of the musicians and singers.
+There is a something in this painting
+that reminds us of Maclise. Of Mr
+Cope's other pictures, <em>Milton's Dream</em>
+has a nice tone of colour; and the
+two sketches for fresco of Prince
+Henry's submission to Judge Gascoigne,
+and the Black Prince receiving
+the order of the Garter, are spirited
+and good. Mr Redgrave's
+principal picture is No. 233. <em>The
+Marquis having chosen patient Griselda
+for his wife, causes the court
+ladies to dress her in her father's cottage.</em>
+Griselda has a pretty face, and
+sits in an easy, graceful attitude: the
+ladies are coarse, and the expression
+of scorn upon their countenances is
+theatrical and affected. The heads of
+some of them are too big, and out of
+proportion with their bodies. <em>The
+Child's Prayer</em>, by the same artist, is
+a pleasing picture; well painted, particularly
+the woman's head and hand,
+which latter has a look of Rubens.
+Mr E. M. Ward has two pictures of
+very different subjects. <em>Isaac Walton
+Angling</em> hardly claims any particular
+notice; <em>James II. receiving the News
+of the Landing of the Prince of Orange
+in 1688</em>, has more pretension and
+greater merit. It certainly contains
+good painting: the grouping of the
+figures and the expression of some of
+the faces are also praiseworthy; but
+yet it hardly satisfies us. The queen's
+face and attitude, as she advances,
+already sympathising with the agitation
+visible on his countenance, to
+her husband's side, are very charming.
+James's physiognomy is almost too
+much discomposed to accord with the
+passage from Dalrymple quoted by
+Mr Ward. And it strikes us, although
+this may seem hypercritical,
+that there is something ludicrous in
+the eternal suspension in the air of
+the letter that he has just allowed
+to escape from his fingers. Upon the
+whole, however, this is a clever picture,
+and, as far as we had opportunity
+of observing, it attracts a very
+full share of public attention; although
+that is no criterion of merit, so
+large a proportion of the loungers
+through an exhibition being more
+readily attracted by a piquant subject
+than by artistical skill. And
+probably no subjects are more generally
+popular than those that may be
+styled the homely-historical; scenes in
+the private apartments of royalty; the
+personal adventures and perils of
+princes, whether in the palace or the
+prison&mdash;on the steps of the throne or
+the verge of the scaffold. There is a
+fair sprinkling of such pictures in the
+four exhibitions now under notice; and
+as we have no pretension to be otherwise
+than exceedingly desultory in
+this article, whose limits, and the
+heterogeneous subject, preclude our
+being otherwise, we will at once dispose
+of such of them as deserve notice,
+and have not already received
+it, commencing, in order of catalogue,
+with Delaroche's picture of <em>Cromwell</em><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>
+<em>looking at the dead body of Charles I.</em>
+This is a picture concerning which the
+most conflicting opinions have been
+uttered. It has received fulsome
+praise and unwarranted abuse. Some
+have lauded it as perfection merely
+because it is by Paul Delaroche;
+others have decried it with a virulence
+and injustice warranting the
+suspicion that some envious brother
+of the brush had temporarily abandoned
+the palette for the pen, and
+applied himself to slander merit he
+himself was hopeless of equalling.
+We are aware but of two valid objections
+that can fairly be made to the
+picture. The subject is certainly
+ghastly and horrid; but, on the other
+hand, it has been rendered as little so
+as possible by the consummate skill
+and good taste of its treatment. And
+none, we think, but the very fastidious,
+will dwell upon this point. The
+other objection (technical only) is to
+the coppery tone of colouring of certain
+parts of the picture, particularly
+of the flesh. This premised, we are
+aware of little else that can fairly be
+alleged against this very fine picture.
+The countenance of Cromwell certainly
+does not agree with the most
+authentic portraits that have been
+handed down to us, or with the
+written and traditional accounts of
+his features. The artist has idealised
+his hero&mdash;has abridged his nose, increased
+his under jaw, and thrown
+nearly the whole expression of the
+face into and around the mouth. M.
+Delaroche having taken such liberties,
+we ought to be particularly
+grateful to him that he has not gone
+farther, and, in aiming at a great
+effect, fallen into exaggeration. Out
+of twenty French artists, nineteen,
+we suspect, would have given us,
+with the strong and dangerous temptation
+of so striking a subject, an
+unpleasant caricature. It has been
+objected that the face is deficient in
+character and expression, and would
+perfectly suit any one of Cromwell's
+Ironsides, who through curiosity
+should have lifted the lid of the
+deceased monarch's coffin. It is, to
+our thinking, an evidence of skill on
+the part of the painter thus to have
+left the expression doubtful&mdash;a matter
+of speculation to the beholder.
+We interpret it as merely meditative.
+Any emotion it includes is one of
+exultation at the great and important
+step the Usurper has made in his upward
+progress. Of pity or remorse
+there is no trace.</p>
+
+<p>The next picture in the Exhibition
+of the Academy, of the class at present
+under notice, that particularly
+caught our eye, is No. 491, <em>The
+Burial of the two sons of Edward IV.
+in the Tower</em>, by Mr Cross, whose
+painting of Richard C&oelig;ur-de-Lion,
+exhibited at Westminster Hall, will
+be remembered by many of our
+readers. The present picture does
+not redeem the promise of its predecessor.
+It has a washy, fresco-like
+look, and a great want of light and
+shade, which is the more striking because
+the subject is one particularly
+favourable to the display of a Rembrandt-like
+vigour in that respect. The
+arrangement of the dead bodies is
+very bad, and they have an emaciated
+look which was quite uncalled for.
+On the other hand, the faces of two
+of the murderers, (one sustains the
+stone beneath which the grave is dug,
+and the other grasps the arm of one
+of the children,) and that of the
+turnkey, are very expressive. The
+chief of the gang and the grave-digger
+are rather strained and theatrical.
+Upon the whole, the picture disappoints
+us much. A report, however,
+has reached us, that it was
+painted under the disadvantage of ill
+health, so we will hope that Mr
+Cross may yet do better things.
+No. 569, <em>The Abdication of Mary
+Queen of Scots at Lochleven Castle</em>, by
+J. Severn, is a very tame affair.
+And we do not greatly admire Mr
+Lucy's <em>Parting of Charles I. with his
+Children</em>. The subject has been better
+treated before. But we delight
+in Mr Joy's conception of Cromwell
+coveting, and yet daring not to
+grasp, the crown of England. A
+bilious misanthrope, with flabby
+cheeks and lacklustre eye, is seated
+beside a table on which stands the
+crown, whose covering he has partly
+withdrawn. The notion is amusingly
+matter-of-fact. Does Mr Joy really
+suppose that such a man as Cromwell
+could find enjoyment in the deliberate
+physical contemplation of the
+jewelled bauble&mdash;the substantial
+crown&mdash;the mere emblem of the dignity<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>
+and sway for which he thirsted?
+We cannot compliment this artist on
+either the conceit or the execution.
+We prefer his picture in the British
+Institution, although that is not very
+remarkable. The subject is the interview
+between James IV. of Scotland
+and the outlaw Murray on the
+banks of Yarrow. In this Exhibition
+we find another Cromwell, of a
+very different cast from the one just
+referred to. The Lord Protector of
+England dictates to John Milton his
+celebrated despatch in favour of the
+persecuted Piedmontese Protestants.
+Here there is a fire and energy mingled
+with the coarseness of Cromwell's
+physiognomy, which gives the
+character of the man as we read of him
+and believe him to have been. Milton's
+face wears a look of gentle enthusiasm
+and approval, as he admiringly
+weighs the words that fall from
+the lips of his great patron. In his
+eyes there is a sort of haziness that
+seems to foreshadow the darkness
+which later is to come over him. The
+picture does great credit to a very
+rising artist, Mr F. Newenham, who
+also exhibits a painting at the Portland
+Gallery, which we like quite
+as well as his Cromwell. The subject,
+<em>The Princes in the Tower</em>, is not
+a very new one, but there is imagination
+and novelty in its treatment.
+It is just the same point of time that
+Delaroche has chosen in his painting
+of this subject, but there is nothing
+like an imitation of the great Frenchman.
+Here the younger child still
+sleeps, whilst the elder, a princely-looking
+lad, roused by the noise at
+the door, gazes anxiously, rather than
+fearfully, at the shadow cast upon the
+wall by a hand bearing a lantern.
+The picture is suggestive and interesting,
+and in an artistic point of view,
+also, it merits high praise. In this
+Portland Gallery (which we may
+observe, by the way, is most excellently
+constructed and lighted for the
+advantageous exhibition of works of
+art) is a painting by Mr Claxton,
+<em>Marie Antoinette with her Children, escaping
+by the Secret Door from her
+apartment in Versailles, when the
+palace was attached by the mob</em>, which
+we mention rather on account of the
+interest of the subject than of its merits
+as a work of art, these being but of a
+negative description. Marie Antoinette,
+dressed rather like a fashionable
+of the year 1850, is accompanied
+by a terrified lady, who looks back at
+the door, half-masked by smoke,
+through whose broken pannel the
+bayonets of the rebels cross with those
+of the loyal grenadiers. Another
+picture from French history, but selected
+from a much remoter period, is
+that of <em>The Excommunication of Robert,
+King of France, and his Queen
+Bertha</em>, (No. 159 in the Portland
+Gallery.) which Mr Desanges has
+executed with some skill. The king,
+having married his cousin in defiance
+of the Pope, but with the sanction of
+three prelates of his kingdom, incurs
+the pontifical anathema, in common
+with the prelates and royal family.
+In the picture, the fiat has just been
+pronounced, and the extinction of
+their torches by the officiating priests
+symbolically completes their mission.</p>
+
+<p>This is not one of Mr Clarkson
+Stanfield's best years. We prefer
+this careful and able artist on a grander
+scale than that of the comparatively
+small pictures he this year exhibits.
+Nor do we think he has been particularly
+happy in his choice of subjects.
+His scene from Macbeth,
+viewed as a landscape&mdash;for we do not
+take into account the figures, which
+are insignificant, and might as well
+have been left out&mdash;is a good picture,
+but not in his happiest taste. We
+prefer his <em>Scene on the Maas</em>, and his
+<em>Bay of Baiæ</em>, which are both excellent.
+No. 288, <em>Near Foria</em>, is not a
+very good subject. But Mr Stanfield
+is a pleasant, natural painter, quite
+free from affectation, and a most excellent
+representative of the English
+school. Mr Roberts is another favourite
+of ours. Belgium and the East,
+Egyptian temples and Catholic
+shrines, furnish subjects for his seven
+pictures. What we particularly like
+in him is the strong impression of
+correctness and fidelity conveyed by
+his representations of distant scenes.
+Without having seen the places, one
+feels convinced of the accuracy of his
+delineations, and that he gives the
+real effect of the objects depicted&mdash;just
+as, in certain portraits, one feels
+certain of the resemblance without
+knowing the original. The subjects<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>
+of his pictures this year do not demand
+any detailed criticism, and his
+good qualities are so universally appreciated
+as to render general commendation
+superfluous.</p>
+
+<p>Before passing on to landscapes
+and portraits we will glance at a few
+pictures of various classes, which
+happen to have attracted our attention,
+and which deserve better or
+worse than to be left unnoticed.
+Diving into the gloom of the Octagon,
+we are struck by the very remarkable
+merit of two pictures, which ought
+never to have been placed there.
+Only by kneeling or sitting upon the
+ground is it possible to examine Mr
+Van Schendel's poacher detected,
+No. 633, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Un Braconnier au moment
+qu'on vient le prendre</i>. Of ordinary
+visitors to the Exhibition, not one in
+five will notice the existence of the
+picture&mdash;not one in twenty, probably,
+will go through the painful contortions
+requisite to get even a bad view
+of it. Very few, if any, critics will
+have sought it out or written a comment
+on it. Yet this is a picture on
+which greater talent and labour have
+been expended than on dozens that
+hang in conspicuous places and good
+lights. A dark picture, too&mdash;a night
+scene&mdash;it required a strong light; and
+it was most unjust to put it thus in
+the very darkest nook, and in the
+lowest range of the whole Academy.
+For hospitality's sake to a foreigner,
+this excellent painting should have
+been differently placed. The only
+other picture which we noticed in
+the Octagon&mdash;there may be others of
+great merit, but we never have patience
+to linger long in the gloomy
+closet&mdash;is No. 586, <i>Flowers and Fruit</i>,
+by T. Groenland&mdash;an artist far superior
+to Lance, who seems to us to fall
+off instead of improving. Fruit and
+flower pieces are things that few
+people care much to look at&mdash;and, for
+our part, we confess that we seldom
+afford them more than a very cursory
+glance; but our attention was seriously
+and pleasingly arrested by both
+of those exhibited this year by Mr
+Groenland, remarkable, as they are,
+not only for the accuracy with which
+he imitates the texture of the different
+fruits&mdash;whether pulpiness, bloom,
+or transparency be their chief characteristic&mdash;and
+for the admirable delicacy
+of his flower-painting, but also
+for his skill in elevating and giving
+interest to the walk of art he has
+chosen. This is strikingly the case in
+No. 1254, apropos of which we have
+another piece of injustice or carelessness&mdash;let
+them call it which they like&mdash;to
+notice on the part of the Hanging
+Committee. Of all the seven
+rooms of the Academy, not one is so
+little visited as that which, in the catalogue,
+is headed Architecture. Accordingly,
+the hangmen have placed at
+one end of it five as pleasing pictures&mdash;each
+in its own style&mdash;as any in
+the Exhibition. Here we have the
+<em>Vierge Route du Simplon</em>, a charming
+airy landscape by Harding;
+<em>Esther</em>, by O'Neil, one of the best,
+perhaps, he ever did; <em>The Port of
+Marseilles</em>, by E. W. Cooke, very
+like and very well painted, with excellent
+water; <em>A Winter Evening</em>, by
+H. Horsley, a most clever piece of
+snow scenery, with a cold look that
+makes one shiver, and a capital effect
+of setting sun through an archway;
+and, last in our enumeration, but
+not in merit, Mr Groenland's second
+fruit and flower piece, with a landscape
+background, a gorgeous and
+life-like peacock, a flush of rhododendrons,
+and painstaking and talent in
+every leaf and flower. Another picture
+in the same vicinity, by W.
+Fisher, <em>The Coulin</em>, a subject taken
+from Moore's melodies, is rather affected,
+but by no means destitute of
+merit.</p>
+
+<p>Mr Martin's picture, <em>The Last Man</em>,
+is far from one of his best. The subject
+is unpleasing, and there is a decided
+fault of perspective; the human
+corpses and carcasses of strange beasts,
+in the foreground, being much too
+small in proportion with the figure of
+the man, who stands on an elevation
+which is doubtless intended to be
+much in advance of, but which in
+reality is almost on a line with, the
+spot where they are spread pellmell
+in grisly confusion. Mr Hannah's
+<em>Lady Northumberland and Lady Percy
+dissuading the Earl from joining the
+wars against Henry IV.</em> is oddly
+coloured, and acquires a cold, insipid
+look from the profusion of blue and
+gray; but it is a good and clever picture.
+A similar class of subject has
+been selected by Mr T. J. Barker,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>
+from Professor Aytoun's ballad of
+<em>Edinburgh after Flodden</em>. Randolph
+Murray, bearing news of the defeat, is
+the centre of a throng anxious even
+to agony.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Why art thou alone, unfollowed?<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">Is it weal, or is it woe?"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p class="noind">Perched up as this picture is
+above the door in the West Room,
+it is difficult to arrive at a correct
+appreciation of it. As far as we
+could distinguish, it is not without
+merit, and the expression of exhaustion
+in the figure of Murray is
+pretty well rendered; but altogether
+it is hardly worthy of the nervous and
+admirable verse it is intended to illustrate.
+Mr Armitage's <em>Aholibah</em> has a
+good deal of pretension, but we cannot
+compliment him on it in any one
+respect. In the first place the subject
+is disgusting, and shows wretched
+taste in the artist who would select it.
+Then the face of Aholibah is ugly and
+repulsive, and the expression coarse in
+the extreme: the drawing of the
+limbs under the drapery is faulty, and
+the gazelles are out of place and out
+of perspective. Mr Armitage can do
+better than this. We prefer his picture
+in the Portland Gallery, of Samson
+tying firebrands to the foxes' tails
+for the destruction of the Philistine
+crops; although the face is a great
+deal too black, and we cannot understand
+why Samson should allow a
+fox to bite into the muscle of his
+thigh, as one of those in his grasp appears
+to do. Why does Mr Armitage
+persist in his French style of painting?
+It is quite a mistake. Let him
+be natural, and rely upon his own
+taste and judgment, and we think he
+may do better things.</p>
+
+<p>Mr Hook's <em>Dream of Venice</em>, a
+clever imitation of Paul Veronese, is
+a very pleasant picture. Mr F. Williams'
+<em>Holy Maiden</em> is a pretty head,
+full of sentiment. We are glad to see
+such good promise given by Mr Leslie,
+junior, in a very humorous picture
+entitled <em>A Sailor's Yarn</em>. A thoroughbred
+and unmistakeable Cockney
+greedily listens to some astounding
+narrative, whilst, behind the credulous
+landsman, a second sailor grins admiration
+of his messmate, and contempt
+for the "green hand." <em>The Young
+Student</em>, by W. Gush, is a very nice
+picture of a youthful painter, with an
+artist's eye and a pleasing Vandykish
+contour of face, and with carefully
+painted hands. One of the most
+comical pictures in the Exhibition is a
+wild boar by Wolf. The bristly
+forest-ranger is making its way
+through the deep snow, leaving a long
+furrow behind it, along which it has
+apparently been nuzzling for provender,
+for its snout is garnished with
+the snow, which, combined with the
+sudden fore-shortening of the body,
+produces a ludicrous effect. No. 121,
+<em>Autumn&mdash;Wounded Woodcock</em>, from
+the same hand, has mellow and natural
+tints.</p>
+
+<p>We have kept back, almost to the
+last, one of our chief favourites in the
+Exhibition of the Royal Academy.
+Mr Sidney Cooper is in great force
+this year. He has six pictures;
+four of them all his own, two painted
+in conjunction with Mr F. R. Lee,
+R.A. With all respect for this artist,
+to whose landscapes we shall refer in
+their place, we prefer Cooper alone
+to Cooper in partnership. The two
+styles do not blend well, nor does
+Lee put his best landscapes into
+Cooper's cattle-pieces. Take the first
+of their pictures&mdash;No. 23&mdash;<em>Cattle crossing
+a Ford</em>. As a whole it is agreeable&mdash;and
+the cattle, we need hardly say,
+are worthy of the best English cattle-painter
+of the day; but the landscape
+is feeble. In No. 298, <em>The Watering-place</em>,
+the rather heavy paint of the
+foliage gives a thin washy look to the
+foreground. We advise Messrs Lee
+and Cooper to hang their pictures
+side by side, if they will, as excellent
+specimens of their respective walks
+of art, but not to associate themselves
+on the same canvass. People find
+fault with the landscape part of
+Cooper's pictures; but it is in good
+keeping with the rest, and moreover
+he improves in that respect, as in
+others. We will instance No. 278,
+<em>A Mountain Group&mdash;Evening</em>, some
+charming goats, where the background,
+bathed in soft light, harmonises
+admirably with the more
+prominent parts of the picture. No.
+454, <em>A Group on the Welsh Mountains</em>,
+is most delicately finished, quite a
+gem; and <em>Fordwick Meadows&mdash;Sunset</em>,
+in a somewhat broader style, is equally
+excellent. Mr Cooper's is a class of art<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>
+which strongly appeals to the domestic
+and rural tastes of Englishmen. He
+excels in it, and need fear no competitors,
+although several artists this
+year exhibit cattle-landscapes of some
+merit. And here we should perhaps
+say a word about Mr Ansdell, who
+has put some Brobdignagian sheep
+into a landscape by Mr Creswick,
+(British Institution, No. 123, <em>Southdowns</em>,)
+and who has rather a pretty
+thing in the same exhibition&mdash;No. 40,
+<em>The Regretted Companion</em>&mdash;an old
+hawker perplexed and mournful
+beside the body of his dead ass. We
+would gladly see this artist cease to
+imitate Landseer. He sacrifices his
+originality without succeeding in
+catching the best points of his model.</p>
+
+<p>Nos. 80, 405, 407 in the catalogue
+of the Academy, are Mr Lee's landscapes&mdash;uncombined
+with Cooper's
+cattle. The second, <em>A Calm Morning</em>,
+is the one we prefer; and a very
+charming picture of repose it is. Mr
+Creswick is the next upon our list.
+His cold unnatural grayness of
+colouring greatly detracts from the
+merit of his pictures. We are quite
+aware that the same reproach has
+been repeatedly addressed to him,
+and we should hardly have referred
+to a fault which hitherto he has
+either obstinately clung to, or been
+unable to correct, did not one of his
+pictures in the Academy this year
+give us hopes that he is on the verge
+of a change. No. 542, <em>A Forest Farm</em>,
+is the best picture of Creswick's, in
+point of colouring, that we remember
+to have seen. The <em>slaty</em> look is
+replaced by an agreeable transparency.
+No. 289, <em>In the Forest</em>, is also warmer
+than usual. The others are in the
+old style. Mr Linnell is more to our
+taste, although we cannot approve his
+<em>Christ and the Woman of Samaria
+at Jacob's Well</em>. In the first place the
+colour seems unnatural, altogether
+too brown; at the same time it is
+just possible nature may assume that
+extraordinarily russet tint in Samaria&mdash;a
+country to which our travels
+have not extended. But we can
+more confidently object to the
+figure of the Saviour as altogether
+unpleasant, with a harsh darkly-bearded
+face, devoid alike of resemblance
+to the received type, and of
+any divine expression whatever.
+Mr Linnell is a landscape-painter,
+and should not attempt sacred subjects
+or portraits, things which are quite
+out of his line. No. 395, <em>Crossing
+the Brook</em>, is of a better tone of
+colour; and the same artist has two
+other pictures, of about his usual
+average of merit, in the British
+Institution. The chief fault with
+which we tax Mr Linnell, (whilst freely
+admitting his great talent,) and one
+which may also be imputed to Mr
+Creswick, and to other clever landscape-painters
+of the present day, is
+the undeviating smallness of their
+touch, which gives, to use a colloquialism,
+a niggled look to their
+pictures. Hobbima, and Ruysdael,
+and others of that class&mdash;in whose
+footsteps we presume no living
+landscape-painter is too proud to
+tread&mdash;avoided this fault, and proportioned
+the fulness of their touch
+to the size of their picture. We
+may select an example of what we
+mean from the works of an able and
+industrious artist, who figures advantageously
+this year in all four exhibitions,
+and who, in most instances, is
+very free from the defect we refer
+to. Mr Sidney Percy's <em>Woodland
+River</em>, No. 207, in the Portland
+Gallery, is a good picture, but to
+our thinking the touch is too small
+for the size. Mr Percy, however,
+is a man of talent and a rising
+painter. In the same gallery we
+call attention, as to one of the best
+landscapes exhibited this year, to his
+No. 277, <em>Welsh Mountains</em>. There is
+an effect of aërial perspective in this
+picture, especially in the grass valley,
+on the spectator's left hand, which
+deserves the very highest praise.
+Several others of his eighteen pictures
+for 1850 deserve much commendation;
+but we can only point out
+No. 576, in the Academy, <em>A Limpid
+Pool</em>, and 394, <em>A Quiet Vale</em>, in
+the British Artists'. The water in
+the last is very good,&mdash;otherwise it is
+hardly one of his best. We would
+have Mr Percy to beware of hardness
+of treatment, the fault to which he is
+most prone. His lines are apt to be
+too sharply defined, especially his
+distant outlines. He should guard
+himself against this defect, and with
+care he may expect to attain great
+eminence as a landscape-painter. If<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>
+we mistake not, he is one of a talented
+family, which also comprises Messrs
+Boddington and Gilbert, and several
+artists of the name of Williams, all
+of whom, we believe, devote themselves
+chiefly, if not exclusively, to
+landscape-painting, and either by
+identity of name or affinity of style,
+form a most puzzling group for conscientious
+critics, desirous, like ourselves,
+to sort their works and fairly
+distribute praise. We can mention
+but a few of their pictures, taken,
+nearly at random, from amongst a
+number we have marked as of merit
+or promise. In the Academy, 344,
+<em>A Valley Lane</em>, by A. W. Williams,
+is a charming subject, excellently
+treated. In the Portland Gallery,
+where many good landscapes are to
+be found, most of them by this
+family, we were particularly attracted
+by No. 41, <em>Noon</em>, also by A. W.
+Williams, and by No. 65, <em>Medmenham
+Abbey&mdash;Evening</em>, by G. A.
+Williams. No. 161, <em>A Showery Afternoon
+in Sussex</em>, by A. Gilbert, is
+remarkable as an example of the
+admirable effect he knows how to
+produce by the judicious and little-understood
+application of the various
+gradations between opacity and perfect
+transparency of colour. Mr
+Boddington has two nice pictures in
+the Academy.</p>
+
+<p>We cannot compliment Mr F.
+Danby on either of the two specimens
+of his art that he this year displays.
+We find it impossible to comprehend
+his colouring. That of <em>A Golden
+Moment</em> (British Institution) is surely
+unnatural. Certainly it is a very rare
+effect of sunset; and the background is
+too bright to be consistent with the
+sombre foreground. If we turn to his
+picture in the Academy, <em>Spring</em>, we
+are no better pleased. That sort of
+dusky glow is quite an exaggeration
+of nature. Of Mr Witherington's
+four pictures, we prefer <em>Coniston
+Lake</em> and <em>The Mountain Road</em>. Mr
+Hering's <em>Porto Fesano</em> (British Institution)
+is a pleasing picture, and
+improves on examination; and there
+is a great deal of light and some
+pretty colour in the same artist's
+<em>Ruins of Rome</em> in the Academy. Mr
+J. Peel has rather a pretty <em>Canal view</em>
+in the Portland Gallery, in which,
+oddly enough, he has thrown the shadow
+of a tree the wrong way; and
+in the same exhibition Mrs Oliver
+has a bit of Welsh scenery which
+is pretty in spite of its finical touch.
+Of Mr Linton, who has pictures both
+in the Academy and British Institution,
+we cannot but speak with respect,
+recognising the ability of his
+works, the study they evince, and his
+close observation of the aspect of
+places. But they are quite for distant
+effect; on near approach they look
+rough and granitic, and are not a very
+pleasing or popular class of pictures.</p>
+
+<p>We beg Mr Boxall not to think
+we have forgotten him. We were
+desirous to commence the brief paragraph
+we can afford to portraits, by
+praising his <em>Geraldine</em>, an undraped
+fancy portrait, which shows a capital
+feeling for colour, and is perhaps the
+best specimen of flesh-painting in the
+Exhibition. It wants finish; but
+even without that it is nearly the first
+thing that attracts the eye when we
+glance at that side of the Middle Room.
+There is good colour also in the same
+artist's portrait of Mr Cubitt.</p>
+
+<p>Proceeding, with this exception, in
+numerical rotation, we notice No. 6,
+<em>The Hon. Caroline Dawson</em>, by
+Dubufe. The arms are rather flat,
+but it is a nice portrait, well painted,
+and infinitely superior to the same
+artist's picture in the British Institution&mdash;a
+French grisette with a Jewish
+face and an ugly mouth, holding a
+rose; the motto "Wither one rose
+and let the other flourish,"&mdash;a poor
+conceit and very indifferently executed.
+No. 52 is Mr Francis Grant's,
+the first, but not the best, of seven
+which he exhibits. Mr Grant is getting
+very careless. Such hands and
+clothes as he gives his sitters are really
+not allowable. The only carefully
+finished portrait he exhibits this year
+is that of Lady Elizabeth Wells, after
+which that of Miss Grant is perhaps
+the best. The Countess Bruce has
+an odd sort of resemblance, in the
+attitude or something, to the same
+painter's picture of Mr Sidney Herbert.
+The Duke of Devonshire looks vulgar.
+Viscount Hardinge is feeble, for Grant,
+who can do so much better. We urge
+this artist to take a little more pains,
+or his high reputation will dwindle.
+His portrait of Sir George Grey, now
+on view at Colnaghi's, is another<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>
+example of carelessness. The face is
+the only finished part. Mr Watson
+Gordon understands the portrait-painter's
+vocation after a different
+fashion, and is most conscientious in
+his practice. Apart from their striking
+resemblance, his portraits are
+admirable as carefully finished works
+of art. His sitters this year have
+been, upon the whole, less suited to
+make interesting or pleasing pictures
+than several of the persons who have
+sat to Mr Grant; but Watson Gordon
+has done his work far more carefully.
+Perhaps the best of his three portraits
+is that of a lady, No. 137. The child
+in the same picture pleases us rather
+less. No. 175, Daniel Vere, Esq. of
+Stonebyres, is a striking likeness of
+that gentleman; and nothing can be
+better, in all respects, than the portrait
+of the Lord Justice-General of Scotland.
+Mr Buckner is, we are sorry to
+say, retrograding sadly. He rose
+very suddenly into public favour,
+and if he does not take care, he
+will rapidly decline. His portrait
+of Miss Lane Fox is perhaps his
+best this year. Rachel is flattered.
+Lady Alfred Paget is badly coloured,
+and looks in an incipient stage of blue
+cholera. We do not like Mr Pickersgill's
+portraits this year. For those
+who do, there are seven in the Exhibition,
+besides an ugly thing called
+Nourmahal. Mr G. F. Watts has
+painted Miss Virginia Pattle. It is
+one of the most affected pictures in
+the whole Exhibition. The young
+lady is perched on a platform, her
+figure standing out against the blue
+sky, and her feet completely hidden
+under her dress, which latter circumstance
+gives her an unsteady
+appearance, and inspires dread lest she
+should be blown from her elevation.
+The flesh is very pasty, and the
+general effect of the picture jejune in
+the extreme. No. 282, <em>The Duke
+of Aumale</em>, is by V. Mottez, and presents
+a singular combination or monotony
+of colour, the artist having seemingly
+carefully avoided all tints that
+would give warmth to his picture.
+With the exception of the insipidly
+fair countenance of the Duke, the
+painting is nearly all blue. It is
+not a disagreeable picture, and it
+perhaps gains on repeated examination;
+but one cannot get rid of an
+unpleasant impression of coldness.
+Placed next to Boxall's Geraldine, the
+flesh looks like chalk. That coarse
+but clever painter Knight has eight
+portraits, including several celebrities
+of one kind or other&mdash;Buckstone the
+comedian, Keate the surgeon, Sir J.
+Duke the mayor, Cooper the cattle-painter,
+and Mrs Fitzwilliam the
+actress. The picture of Sir J. Duke
+(who is represented in all the glory of
+civic office) is well put together;
+Cooper is laughably like; Mrs Fitzwilliam
+is perhaps as delicate a female
+portrait as Knight ever painted&mdash;which
+is not saying much for the others.
+Mr Say's portrait of Guizot is softened
+down and idealised till the character
+of the man is lost. In the Portland
+Gallery, No. 1 and No. 70 are by
+an artist whose historical pictures we
+have already commended, Mr Newenham.
+The first is a full length, size
+of life, of Mr Ross, the engineer; the
+other, Mrs Gall, is a sweet female
+countenance. Both are very good;
+but Mr Newenham is always particularly
+successful&mdash;indeed we can call to
+mind no living painter who is more so&mdash;in
+his portraits of ladies. Whilst
+avoiding flattery, he still invariably
+paints pleasing as well as correct likenesses.
+Such at least is the case with
+all those of his lady-portraits we have
+had opportunities of comparing with
+the models. Middleton has some nice
+portraits in this exhibition, and Mr J.
+Lucas shows a pleasing one of a young
+lad. And one of the most lifelike and
+speaking portraits exhibited this year
+is No. 286, by R. S. Lauder, the likeness
+of our old friend and much-esteemed
+contributor, the Rev. James
+White. A more exact resemblance
+we never saw.</p>
+
+<p>We have not counted them, but we
+are informed, and have no difficulty in
+believing, that there are 450 portraits
+(or thereabouts) in this the eighty-second
+exhibition of the Royal Academy.
+A very large number, out of
+1456 works of art. Adding the portraits
+in the three other exhibitions,
+we attain a total of which, even after
+deducting drawings and miniatures, it
+is impossible for us to notice one fourth-part.
+And we must particularly remark,
+with respect to portraits and
+landscapes, what also applies in a less
+degree to the less numerous classes of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>
+pictures, that we have unavoidably&mdash;on
+account of our limited space to
+deal with so compendious a subject,
+and also because we would not reduce
+this article to a mere catalogue&mdash;omitted
+notice of many artists and
+pictures whose claims are undoubted
+to mention more or less honourable;
+as we have also forborne, for the same
+reason, and much more willingly,
+certain censures which we should have
+been justified in inflicting. Concerning
+portraits, however, we would gladly
+have been rather more diffuse, had
+we not still to take some notice, within
+the compass of a very few pages, of
+those exhibitions to which as yet we
+have done little more than incidentally
+refer.</p>
+
+<p>The restoration to the galleries of
+purchasers and studios of painters, of
+the five hundred pictures exhibited this
+year by the British Institution, diminishes
+the interest now attaching to
+that exhibition, and induces us to be
+tolerably brief in our notice of some of
+its leading features. No. 52, <em>The Post
+Office</em>, by F. Goodall, is a pretty
+picture enough, but displays no genius,
+and the subject suggests a comparison
+with Wilkie, which is not favourable.
+Mr Bullock's <em>Venus and Cupid</em>, No.
+124, is about as sickly a piece of blue
+and pink as we remember to have seen.
+Mr Sant's <em>Rivals</em> gives the impression
+of a copy from the lid of a French
+plum-box. We have surely seen the
+Frenchified group in some engraving
+of Louis XV's times. Mr Woolmer's
+<em>Syrens</em> displays some imagination, but
+the colouring is very bad. The sky is
+exaggerated, and the water seems to
+have flowed from a cesspool, suggesting
+unsavoury ideas of the extent of its
+contamination by the dead bodies that
+float upon it. It is a picture, nevertheless,
+that one is apt to look at
+twice. T. Clark's <em>The Horses of
+Rhesus captured by Ulysses and
+Diomed</em>, has plenty of faults, certainly,
+but it has also boldness and spirit, and
+makes us think the painter may hereafter
+do better things. No. 205, <em>Lance
+reproving his Dog</em>&mdash;left unfinished by
+the late Sir A. W. Callcott, and completed
+by J. Callcott Horsley&mdash;includes
+a pretty bit of landscape, and the dog
+is not bad; but, as a whole, the picture
+does not strike us as remarkable. No.
+231, <em>A French Fishing Girl</em>, by T. K.
+Fairless, is a nice bit of colouring, very
+fresh and judicious; and R. M'Innes's
+<em>Detaining a Customer</em>, tells its story
+well, and is of careful finish, but insipid
+colouring. Lady Macbeth, by T. F.
+Dicksee, is repulsive and unnatural; not
+the murderess Shakspeare conceived
+and Siddons acted, but a saucer-eyed
+maniac standing under a gas-lamp.
+No. 290, <em>Our Saviour after the Temptation</em>,
+is by Sir George Hayter, who has
+bestowed great pains without producing,
+as a whole, a very satisfactory
+result. The picture has certainly good
+points, but it speaks against its general
+excellence that we are driven to praise
+details. All the hands are particularly
+well done&mdash;Sir George's experience as
+a portrait painter having here availed
+him. The colouring of Christ's dress
+is good, but generally there is an
+abuse of yellow in the picture. The
+angels have no backs to their heads,
+but this phrenological defect is perhaps
+intentional, to convey the artist's
+notion of an angel by indicating the
+absence of gross passions. G. Cole's
+<em>Don Quixote and Sancho Panza in
+Pedro's hut</em> is humorous, but quite a
+caricature. The painter seems to have
+studied to establish a resemblance
+between the men and their respective
+beasts. Another laughable picture is
+Mrs C. Smith's <em>Irish Piper</em>, whose
+companion <em>The Irish Card-cutter</em> is
+No. 206 in the British Artists'. As
+works of art, they have little merit, but
+one cannot help acknowledging and
+laughing at the vulgar humour and
+truth to nature they both contain.
+Mr Selous' <em>The First Impression</em>,
+Gutemberg showing to his wife his
+first experiment in printing from
+movable types, is perhaps the best
+picture in the South Room. There is
+an air of nature about Mr W. Wyld's
+<em>Smugglers' halt in the Sierra Morena</em>;
+but the figures, although well grouped,
+are on too small a scale for much
+interest, and the landscape lacks
+attraction. Our old friend George
+Cruikshank gives full scope to his rich
+humour in No. 100, <em>Sancho's surprise
+on seeing the Squire of the Wood's Nose</em>;
+and 455, <em>Disturbing the Congregation</em>.
+This last is inimitable&mdash;brimful of fun.
+A charity boy has let his peg-top fall
+during service, and the awful clatter
+upon the church pavement draws all
+eyes in the direction of the delinquent.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>
+This is a picture that must be seen,
+not described; but our readers will
+imagine all the fun Cruikshank would
+make of such a subject&mdash;the terrified
+face of the culprit, in vain affecting
+unconsciousness, and the awful countenance
+of the beadle. We must say
+a word of Mr J. F. Herring's <em>A Farmyard</em>,
+which contains some good
+horses; but he has huddled his
+objects too much together, his colouring
+is very opaque, and there is a
+want of air and perspective in the
+picture. There is the same defect
+of thick colour in Mr H. Jutsum's
+pretty composition, <em>Evening&mdash;coming
+home to the Farm</em>.</p>
+
+<p>We have already mentioned several
+pictures in the Portland Gallery, including
+a portrait by Mr R. S. Lauder,
+(the president of this new society,)
+which is perhaps the best, although
+one of the most unpretending, of the
+seven pictures he exhibits. We do
+not discern any very great merit in
+two carefully painted illustrations of
+Quentin Durward. We should like
+to know on what authority Mr Lauder
+makes a tall, large-limbed man of
+Louis XI., and how he intends to get
+him and the raw-boned Scot through
+the door in No. 166, without a most
+unkingly deviation from the perpendicular.
+There is here a fault of
+perspective. And Mr Lauder should
+beware of repetition. We remember
+the lady behind the tapestry in No.
+45, in at least a dozen of his pictures.
+This, however, is the best of the pair,
+and there is good painting in it. His
+most important picture this year is
+that of <em>Christ appearing to two of his
+Disciples on the way to Emmaus</em>. This
+is certainly a fine work, although
+there is much opposition of opinion
+respecting it. There is undoubtedly
+a fine sentiment in the colouring,
+which is peculiarly applicable to the
+subject. Mr M'Ian is in great force
+here, with no less than ten pictures.
+We like this artist for the character
+and energy he infuses into his productions.
+His most attractive picture
+this year is No. 55, <em>Here's his
+health in Water!</em> thus explained&mdash;"A
+Highland gentleman of 1715, in
+Carlisle prison, the day previous to
+his execution, receiving the last visit
+of his mother, wife, and children, and
+instilling into his son&mdash;the future
+Highland gentleman of 1745&mdash;the
+principles of loyalty." The face of
+the condemned Highlander is full of
+vigour and determination, as is also
+that of his mother, a resolute old
+lady, who seems to confirm his precepts
+to her grandchild. The countenances
+of the sorrowing wife and of
+the little girl, whose attention is distracted
+by the opening of the prison
+door, are natural and pleasing. The
+boy, a sturdy scion of the old stock,
+drinks King James's health out of the
+prison-mug of water. We will not
+omit to praise Mrs M'Ian's very well-painted
+picture of <em>Captivity and Liberty</em>&mdash;gipsies
+in prison, with swallows
+twittering in the loophole that affords
+them light. There is a nice feeling
+about this picture, which includes a
+handsome gipsy face; it is careful in its
+details, and very effective in point of
+chiaroscuro. No. 251, <em>A Jealous Man,
+disguised as a Priest, hears the confession
+of his Wife</em>, is a subject (from
+the <em>Decameron</em>) of which more might
+have been made than there has been
+by Mr D. W. Deane. The countenances
+lack decided expression.
+Several artists have this year painted
+scenes from the <em>Tempest</em>, and Mr
+A. Fussell is one of the number. It
+were to be wished he had abstained.
+His picture of <em>Caliban, Ariel, and his
+fellows</em>, is very bad indeed. He should
+be less ambitious in his subjects, or
+at least less fantastical in their treatment.
+It is unintelligible to us how
+this picture illustrates the passage
+quoted. Nos. 264-5 are Mr H. Barraud's
+pictures:&mdash;<em>Lord have mercy
+upon us</em>, and <em>We praise thee, O God!</em>
+the engravings of which have for
+some time past been in every shop-window.
+We are really at a loss to
+comprehend the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">engouement</i> for these
+pictures, which seem to us as deficient
+in real sentiment as they are feeble in
+execution. They are pretty enough,
+certainly, but that is all the praise we
+are disposed to accord them. There
+is no great beauty in the faces; and
+one of the boys (on the spectator's
+right hand) is a mere lout, without
+any expression whatever. The Messrs
+Barraud have a great many pictures
+in this exhibition&mdash;amongst others,
+No. 199, <em>The Curfew</em>, their joint production,
+which is pretty, but in respect
+to which it strikes us that they have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>
+read Gray's poem wrong, for the
+light in their picture is not that of
+parting day, but of approaching sunset.
+Mr Rayner's <em>Beauchamp Chapel,
+Warwick</em>, is a good picture; Mr Niemann's
+<em>Kenilworth from the Tilt-yard</em>,
+and <em>Landscape</em>, No. 72, also deserve
+praise; Mr Dighton is very effective
+in some of his landscapes and studies.
+Upon the whole, this young exhibition
+promises well.</p>
+
+<p>Driven to our utmost limits, we
+must conclude, without further mention
+than we have already here and
+there made of the Society of British
+Artists in Suffolk Street; and we do
+so with the less regret because that
+gallery contains but a small proportion
+of pictures of merit. Mr Anthony
+contributes a very large number of his
+odd paintings, some of which are
+rather effective at a distance; but it is
+not a style we admire. Finally, we
+have with pleasure noticed, during
+our many rambles through the
+different galleries, that the public not
+only visit but buy; and we trust that
+the year 1850 will prove profitable
+and satisfactory to British artists, in
+the same proportion that it undoubtedly
+is creditable to their industry,
+and, upon the whole, highly
+honourable to their talents. One
+word more we will say at parting.
+In this article we have written down
+opinions, formed neither hastily nor
+partially, of whose soundness, although
+critics will always differ, we venture
+to feel pretty confident. We have
+applied ourselves to point out merits
+rather than defects, and to distribute
+praise in preference to blame; but
+we should have failed in our duty
+to ourselves and the public, had
+we altogether abstained from the
+latter. We well know, however, the
+many difficulties and discouragements
+that beset the path of the painter.
+And it would be matter for sincere
+regret to us, if, in the freedom of our
+remarks, we had unwittingly hurt the
+feelings of any man who is honestly
+and earnestly striving in the pursuit
+of a very difficult art&mdash;although his
+success may as yet be incommensurate
+with his industry and zeal.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2>THE YEAR OF SORROW.&mdash;IRELAND&mdash;1849.</h2>
+
+<h3>SPRING SONG.</h3>
+
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Once more, through God's high will and grace,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Of Hours that each its task fulfils,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Heart-healing Spring resumes its place;&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The valley throngs and scales the hills,<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">In vain. From earth's deep heart o'ercharged,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The exulting life runs o'er in flowers;&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The slave unfed is unenlarged:<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">In darkness sleep a nation's powers.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Who knows not Spring? Who doubts, when blows<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Her breath, that Spring is come indeed?<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The swallow doubts not; nor the rose<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">That stirs, but wakes not, nor the weed.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">I feel her near, but see her not,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">For those with pain-uplifted eyes<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Fall back repulsed; and vapours blot<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The vision of the earth and skies.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">I see her not; I feel her near,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">As, charioted in mildest airs,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">She sails through yon empyreal sphere,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And in her arms and bosom bears<br /></span><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">That urn of flowers and lustral dews,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Whose sacred balm, o'er all things shed,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Revives the weak, the old renews,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And crowns with votive wreaths the dead.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Once more the cuckoo's call I hear;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">I know, in many a glen profound,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The earliest violets of the year<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Rise up like water from the ground.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">The thorn I know once more is white;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And, far down many a forest dale,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The anemones in dubious light<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Are trembling like a bridal veil.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">By streams released that singing flow<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">From craggy shelf through sylvan glades,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The pale narcissus, well I know,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Smiles hour by hour on greener shades.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">The honeyed cowslip tufts once more<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The golden slopes;&mdash;with gradual ray<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The primrose stars the rock, and o'er<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The wood-path strews its milky way.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&mdash;From ruined huts and holes come forth<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Old men, and look upon the sky!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The Power Divine is on the earth:&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Give thanks to God before ye die!<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">And ye, O children worn and weak,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Who care no more with flowers to play,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Lean on the grass your cold, thin cheek,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And those slight hands, and whispering, say,<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Stern Mother of a race unblest&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">In promise kindly, cold in deed;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Take back, O Earth, into thy breast,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The children whom thou wilt not feed."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2>IRELAND&mdash;1849.</h2>
+
+<h3>AUTUMNAL DIRGE.</h3>
+
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Then die, thou Year&mdash;thy work is done:<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The work ill done is done at last.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Far off, beyond that sinking sun,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Which sets in blood, I hear the blast<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">That sings thy dirge, and says&mdash;"Ascend,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And answer make amid thy peers,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">(Since all things here must have an end,)<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Thou latest of the famine years!"<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">I join that voice. No joy have I<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">In all thy purple and thy gold,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Nor in the nine-fold harmony<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">From forest on to forest rolled:<br /></span><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Nor in that stormy western fire,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Which burns on ocean's gloomy bed,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And hurls, as from a funeral pyre,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A glare that strikes the mountain's head;<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">And writes on low-hung clouds its lines<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Of cyphered flame, with hurrying hand;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And flings amid the topmost pines<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">That crown the steep, a burning brand.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Make answer, Year, for all they dead,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Who found not rest in hallowed earth,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The widowed wife, the father fled,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The babe age-stricken from his birth.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Make answer, Year, for virtue lost;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">For Faith, that vanquished fraud and force,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Now waning like a noontide ghost;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Affections poisoned at their source:<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">The labourer spurned his lying spade;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The yeoman spurned his useless plough;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The pauper spurned the unwholesome aid,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Obtruded once, exhausted now.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">The weaver wove till all was dark,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And, long ere morning, bent and bowed<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Above his work with fingers stark;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And made, nor knew he made, a shroud.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">The roof-trees fall of hut and hall,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">I hear them fall, and falling cry&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">"One fate for each, one fate for all;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">So wills the Law that willed a lie."<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Dread power of Man! what spread the waste<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">In circles, hour by hour more wide,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And would not let the past be past?&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The Law that promised much, and lied.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Dread power of God! whom mortal years<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Nor touch, nor tempt; who sitt'st sublime<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In night of night,&mdash;O bid thy spheres<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Resound at last a funeral chime.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Call up, at last, the afflicted Race<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Whom Man not God abolished. Sore,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">For centuries, their strife: the place<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">That knew them once shall know no more.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2>IRELAND&mdash;1849.</h2>
+
+<h3>WINTER DIRGE.</h3>
+
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Fall, Snow, and cease not! Flake by flake<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The decent winding-sheet compose:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Thy task is just and pious; make<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">An end of blasphemies and woes.<br /></span><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Fall flake by flake: by thee alone,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Last friend, the sleeping draught is given:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Kind nurse, by thee the couch is strewn,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The couch whose covering is from heaven.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Descend and clasp the mountain's crest;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Possess wide plain and valley deep:&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">This night, in thy maternal breast<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Forsaken myriads die in sleep.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Lo! from the starry Temple gates<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Death rides, and bears the flag of peace:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The combatants he separates;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">He bids the wrath of ages cease.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Descend, benignant Power! But O,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Ye torrents, shake no more the vale;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Dark streams, in silence seaward flow;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Thou rising storm, remit thy wail.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Shake not, to-night, the cliffs of Moher,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or Brandon's base, rough sea! Thou Isle,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The Rite proceeds:&mdash;from shore to shore<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Hold in thy gathered breath the while.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Fall, snow! in stillness fall, like dew<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">On temple roof, and cedar's fan;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And mould thyself on pine and yew,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And on the awful face of man.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Without a sound, without a stir,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">In streets and wolds, on rock and mound,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">O omnipresent comforter,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">By thee, this night, the lost are found.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">On quaking moor, and mountain moss,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">With eyes upstaring at the sky,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And arms extended like a cross,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The long-expectant sufferers lie.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Bend o'er them, white-robed Acolyte!<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Put forth thine hand from cloud and mist,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And minister the last sad rite,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Where altar there is none, nor priest.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Touch thou the gates of soul and sense:<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Touch darkening eyes and dying ears;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Touch stiffening hand and feet, and thence<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Remove the trace of sin and tears.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">And ere thou seal those filmed eyes,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Into God's urn thy fingers dip,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And lay, 'mid eucharistic sighs,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The sacred wafer on the lip.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">This night the Absolver issues forth:<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">This night the Eternal Victim bleeds&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">O winds and woods&mdash;O heaven and earth!<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Be still this night. The Rite proceeds.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<h2>LONDON AND EDINBURGH CHESS MATCH.</h2>
+
+
+<p>If we pique ourselves on anything,
+it is on our invincible good-nature.
+We are as slow to be roused as a
+brown bear in the midst of its winter
+sleep; and, if we were let alone, we
+very much doubt whether, by any
+conceivable exertion, we could work
+ourselves into a downright passion.
+But, somehow or other, it constantly
+happens that people of a less tranquil
+mood step in to deprive us of the
+enjoyment of our untroubled repose.
+At one time some worthy fellow
+entreats us to take up the public
+cudgel and belabour a blatant Economist.
+At another, we are pathetically
+besought to administer due castigation
+to some literary sinner who has
+transgressed the first principles of
+decency, morality, and taste. One
+friend implores us, with tears in his
+eyes, to take up the case of the
+oppressed and injured washerwomen:
+a second puts a tomahawk into our
+hand, and benevolently suggests the
+severment of the skull of a charlatan:
+a third writes to us regarding a rowing
+match, in which he opines gross
+injustice has been done by the umpire
+to the Buffs, and he fervently prays
+for our powerful assistance in vindicating
+the honour of the Blues.</p>
+
+<p>In all national questions, it seems
+to be expected that we are to act
+with the devotion of a knight-errant.
+Whenever Scotland is assailed, the
+general impression is that we are
+bound to stand forth, and incontinently
+give battle to the enemy: and
+we believe it will be admitted that
+we have done so before now with no
+inconsiderable effect. It so happens
+that, at the present juncture, several
+of our most esteemed compatriots,
+feeling themselves deeply aggrieved
+by the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">outrecuidance</i> of the Southron,
+have laid the story of their wrongs before
+us; and, after a deliberate review
+of the whole circumstances of the case,
+we feel ourselves compelled to come
+forward in behalf of our countrymen.
+Let no man venture to say that Chess
+is an ignoble subject. It is, if properly
+considered, as recondite a science
+as mathematics. Kings, conquerors,
+and sages have not thought it beneath
+them to ponder over the chequered
+board; and it may be that the
+noble game has contributed in no light
+degree to the success of their most
+triumphant efforts. We know of no
+absorption more complete than that
+which possesses the mind of a true
+votary of chess. Watch him as he is
+contemplating his moves, and his
+countenance is a perfect study for the
+physiognomist. He may not perhaps
+be the most agreeable of companions,
+but we cannot expect loquacity from
+men of high intellect whilst engaged
+in deepest rumination.</p>
+
+<p>Let us, however, dispense as much
+as possible with preface, and come to
+the actual offence which has induced
+us to take up our pen in vindication
+of the national honour. Our attention
+has been called to what is undoubtedly
+a departure from the fair and liberal
+spirit which ought to actuate antagonists&mdash;in
+short, by an attempt to
+deprive the Edinburgh Chess Club
+of laurels which were fairly and honourably
+won. It is all very well
+for men who have been beaten to
+apply salves to their wounded vanity,
+and to persuade themselves that
+they have failed rather through misfortune
+than from any deficiency of
+skill. Napoleon used to amuse himself
+at St Helena by demonstrating that
+he <em>ought</em> to have won the battle
+of Waterloo&mdash;a position in which,
+we doubt not, Count Montholon and
+General Bertrand entirely concurred,
+though, after a certain time, they
+must have been tolerably sick of the
+subject. But these affirmations of
+the Emperor did not serve the purpose
+of reinstating him on the throne
+of France; and, in like manner,
+opine that the writers who, at this
+time of day, are, applying themselves
+to the task of persuading the public
+that the great match at chess between
+Edinburgh and London, which was
+won by Edinburgh in 1828, ought to
+have terminated otherwise, are losing
+their labour, and, moreover, placing
+themselves in a very ridiculous position.</p>
+
+<p>We like to see a man take a beating
+in good part. The Southron may<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>
+come here and vanquish us at cricket,
+and we shall submit to be bowled or
+caught out with the utmost equanimity&mdash;no
+member of the Grange Club
+will retire to the cloister in consequence.
+He may extinguish our renown at
+rackets, or even soar considerably
+above our mark in the altitude of the
+flying-leap. We shall not cavil at
+the result, should some Southron
+Robin Hood defeat the Queen's Body
+Guard in the toxophilite competition
+which is about to take place in this
+city. We shall not be jealous if the
+stranger beats us; and if, in return, we
+should extinguish him utterly at golf
+or throwing the hammer, we promise
+to crow as mildly as the plenitude of
+our lungs will permit. But we have no
+idea of pushing complaisance to such
+an extraordinary point, as to permit
+our real victories to be perverted and
+annulled at the hands of a defeated
+adversary. Hector <em>might</em> have beaten
+Achilles, but he did not; and the
+mere fact of a remote possibility having
+once existed, will not justify us in
+giving the lie to Homer. We make
+every allowance for testiness; still we
+cannot help thinking it extraordinary
+that those feelings of mortification,
+which might perhaps have been
+excusable in the defeated party
+at the moment of the antagonist's
+triumph, should manifest themselves
+as strongly as ever nearly a quarter
+of a century after the contest&mdash;and
+that, too, in persons who took no
+actual share in it, and are comparatively
+strangers to the views and opinions
+of those really concerned.</p>
+
+<p>English chess-players have the command
+of all the chess-periodicals, which
+emanate chiefly, if not exclusively, from
+the London press; and which have,
+for many years back, been made the
+vehicles of repeated observations intended
+to depreciate the triumph of
+Scotland. Of late these have been
+even more than usually frequent.
+And within the last year, the <cite>Quarterly
+Review</cite>, which, like the trunk of
+an elephant, is as ready to pick up a
+pin as to uproot a tree, has opened
+its pages for remarks on the chess
+match, conceived in no very handsome
+spirit towards the Scotch champions.
+This we do not consider to be
+justifiable conduct on the part of our
+bulky contemporary. In the accomplished
+editor&mdash;himself a Scot&mdash;it is
+in direct antagonism to the principles
+of Richie, the servitor of Nigel, who
+made so vigorous a stand for the credit
+of the Water of Leith; and we regret
+to observe so palpable a falling off from
+the fervid patriotism of the Moniplies.
+The uniform burden of the song is,
+that the event of the match was determined
+by an accident,&mdash;or by what
+they reckon as nearly equivalent to
+an accident&mdash;an oversight upon the
+part of the London Club, to which
+the best of players are liable, and
+which in this instance is said to have
+been rather ungenerously taken advantage
+of by Edinburgh. The Scottish
+players have hitherto said very
+little upon the subject, contenting
+themselves with a short but perfectly
+satisfactory answer, made immediately
+after the termination of the
+match, to some observations of Mr
+Lewis, in which, while they conclusively
+disposed of his views and inferences,
+they at the same time stated,
+that they were "far from begrudging
+to the London Club the usual consolation
+of a beaten adversary&mdash;of going
+back upon a game, and showing that,
+if they had played otherwise at a
+particular point, they could have won
+the game." The constant reiteration
+of the English statement, however, is
+calculated to produce an erroneous
+impression in the minds of those not
+acquainted with the merits of the
+question.</p>
+
+<p>The London and Edinburgh chess
+match, which was played by correspondence,
+was begun in the year 1824.
+It was the result of a challenge given
+by the Edinburgh Club, which was
+then only in its infancy. The terms
+agreed on were, that the match should
+consist of three won games; and that,
+in case of any game being drawn, a
+new one, begun by the same opener,
+should take its place. The match
+commenced on 23d April 1824. Two
+games were opened simultaneously.
+The first game was opened by the
+Edinburgh Club; and in sending
+their first answering move, the London
+Club also sent the first move of
+the second game. The first game,
+which consisted of 35 moves, was, on
+14th December 1824, declared to be
+drawn. The second, which consisted
+of 52 moves, was resigned by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>
+London Club on 23d February 1825.
+The third game&mdash;opened by the Edinburgh
+Club in place of the first game,
+which had been drawn&mdash;was begun
+on 20th December 1824; it consisted
+of 99 moves, and was drawn on 18th
+March 1828. The fourth game,
+begun by the Edinburgh Club, on
+26th February 1825, was resigned by
+them on 15th September 1826, at the
+55th move. The fifth game, begun
+by the Edinburgh Club, on 6th October
+1826, was resigned by the London
+Club on 31st July 1828, at the 60th
+move&mdash;and this determined the match
+in favour of Edinburgh.</p>
+
+<p>The simple statement of these details
+is sufficient altogether to exclude
+the idea that the result of the match
+was a mere accident, where manifestly
+inferior players profited by the unfortunate
+blunder of their superior
+antagonists. Though the Edinburgh
+Club had lost, instead of gaining, two
+out of the three games, it would still
+have been in vain to maintain that
+the play in the match showed them
+to be unquestionably inferior. The
+contest was a long and severe one.
+When the fifth and deciding game
+was proceeding, each party had gained
+one game, and there had been two
+drawn games, both of which were
+keenly disputed, without the least
+advantage in favour of London at any
+point of either; while, on the other
+hand, in the third game, Edinburgh
+had obtained an advantage, though
+not sufficient to enable them to checkmate
+their adversaries. It has never
+been pretended, by the most unscrupulous
+partisan of England, that
+the winning of the fifth game was
+ascribable to an oversight. On the
+contrary, their chess writers have,
+with most becoming fairness and
+candour, always referred to it as an
+instance of admirable play on the
+part of Edinburgh; and members of
+the London committee, who shortly
+after happened to visit Edinburgh,
+acknowledged that their committee
+were quite unable to discover the
+object of particular moves, the effect
+of which had been previously calculated,
+and reduced to demonstration
+by the Edinburgh players. Is there,
+in all this, such evidence of overwhelming
+superiority on the part of the
+English players, that their losing the
+match <em>must</em> have been an accident?</p>
+
+<p>But it is time to inquire a little
+more minutely into the so-called
+blunder, which the Englishmen say
+was the cause of their defeat. And
+here it is but fair to give their statement
+in their own words. The
+<cite>Quarterly</cite> reviewer says&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Perhaps the most remarkable instance
+on record of a strict enforcement of the
+tenor of chess law occurred in the celebrated
+match, by correspondence, between
+the London and Edinburgh Clubs. At
+the 27th move of the second game, the
+London Club threw a rook away. How
+they did so, Mr Lewis explains in the
+following words:&mdash;'The 26th, 27th, and
+28th moves were sent on the same day to
+the Edinburgh Club. This was done to
+save time. It so happened that the secretary,
+whose duty it was to write the
+letters, had an engagement which compelled
+him to leave the Club two hours
+earlier than usual&mdash;the letter was therefore
+posted at three instead of five o'clock.
+In the mean time, one of the members
+discovered that the 2d move (the 27th)
+had not been sufficiently examined.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> An
+application was immediately made at the
+Post-office for the letter, which was
+refused. In consequence, a second letter
+was transmitted by the same post to the
+Edinburgh Club, retracting the 2d and
+3d moves, and abiding only by the first.
+The Edinburgh Club, in answer, gave it
+as their decided opinion that the London
+Club were bound by their letter, and that
+no move could be retracted: they therefore
+insisted on the moves being played.
+The London Club conceded the point,
+though they differed in opinion.'</p>
+
+<p>"We cannot but think, under all the
+circumstances, the Edinburgh Club were
+to blame. What rendered the mishap
+more vexatious to the Londoners was,
+that whereas they had a won game before,
+they now barely lost it, and thereby the
+match, which the winning of this game
+would have decided in their favour.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>
+There can be little doubt that the London
+Club (then comprising Messrs Lewis,
+Fraser, and Cochrane) was the strongest
+of the two. On the part of Edinburgh,
+we believe the lion's share of the work
+fell to the late Mr Donaldson."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>In the remarks on the London and
+Amsterdam match, in Mr Staunton's
+periodical, (the <cite>Chess-Player's Chronicle</cite>,)
+for February 1850, there is the
+following passage:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"If the relative skill of the competitors
+engaged on each side were to be the
+gauge by which to estimate the probable
+result of a contest like this, it would have
+been easy to predict to which party victory
+would incline; and we should have
+wondered at the daring gallantry that
+prompted the little band of Hollanders to
+challenge the leviathans of London. Experience,
+however, has shown that, in a
+match of chess by correspondence, the
+battle is not always to the strong, and
+that foresight and profound calculation
+are of infinitely less account, when the
+men may be moved experimentally, than
+they are in ordinary chess, where conclusions
+must be tried by the head, and not
+by the hand. Of this, indeed, the archives
+of the London Club afford a memorable
+instance. In March 1824, a proposal was
+made to this Club by the Club at Edinburgh,
+to play a match at chess by correspondence
+for a silver cup; the match
+to consist of three games, (irrespective of
+drawn games;) two games to be played
+together, and the winner of the first game
+to have the move in the third. The London
+Club at this period was in the pride
+and plenitude of its strength, and the
+committee appointed to conduct the match
+comprised every name of note among the
+chess-players of the metropolis. The
+Edinburgh Chess-Club, on the other hand,
+was composed of amateurs comparatively
+unknown and inexperienced, and possessed
+one player only&mdash;the late Mr Donaldson&mdash;capable
+of making anything like a
+stand 'over the board' with any of the
+London chiefs. In an ordinary contest,
+indeed, over the board, it was the old
+odds of Lombard Street to a China orange!
+Maugre all the advantages of superior
+skill and practice, however, the Londoners
+lost the battle, and lost it by a blunder
+as ridiculous as it was vexatious, at
+the very moment, too, when the game was
+in their hands."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>The general remarks on playing by
+correspondence in this last passage
+are evidently made to furnish a pretence
+for introducing the notice of the
+London and Edinburgh match; and
+they share the fate of all such forced
+work. They are absolute nonsense.
+The probability that a decidedly superior
+will overcome an inferior player,
+is not at all diminished by the circumstance
+that the match is played by
+correspondence. On the contrary,
+we should rather be inclined to say
+that the chance of an inferior player's
+escape in a single game or so is almost
+extinguished where the match is played
+by correspondence; because the
+time given for deliberation increases
+the improbability of his antagonist's
+erring from carelessness, or not taking
+in the whole position of the game,
+which sometimes occurs in playing
+over the board. But there is an inconsequence
+in the whole argument
+which surprises us to find in anything
+sanctioned by a person of Mr Staunton's
+unquestionable powers of mind.
+The loss of the match by London is
+not to be wondered at, it is said, because
+it was a match by correspondence;
+and the immediate cause of
+their losing it was the commission of
+a ridiculous and vexatious blunder!
+To make this anything like logic, it
+would be necessary to hold that ridiculous
+and vexatious blunders are
+more likely to be committed when the
+player has time and opportunity to
+consider his moves, and to make experiments
+upon their effect, than where
+he is under the necessity of moving at
+once in presence of an adversary, and
+possibly of spectators, apt to get impatient
+at long delay. It is plain that
+the game's being played by correspondence
+was the very circumstance calculated
+to render the London Club's
+particular excuse for losing all the
+more untenable.</p>
+
+<p>It is quite true, however, that at a
+particular stage of the game opened
+by the London Club, (being one of the
+two games with which the match commenced,)
+the London Club might have
+won the game, by playing other moves
+than they did. This may be said of
+every game; but it is as unusual as
+it is unhandsome for the unsuccessful
+party, merely because he has missed
+such an opportunity of winning, to
+refuse all credit to his adversary for
+afterwards defeating him. In the
+third game, which was drawn, the
+Edinburgh Club would have won if
+they had played a different 51st move<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>
+from that which they did. But this
+did not lead them to make depreciatory
+remarks about their antagonists:
+all that their report bears on this point
+is, that the London Club "conducted
+a difficult defence with great skill and
+dexterity, and finally succeeded in
+drawing the game."</p>
+
+<p>Further, the remarks above quoted
+are calculated to produce an erroneous
+idea respecting the situation and conduct
+of the two clubs in the second
+game. The sophistry consists in
+mixing up two entirely separate and
+unconnected things. In this same
+game in which the London Club failed
+to observe that they had a winning
+position, they applied to have two of
+their moves recalled after they were
+despatched, and the Edinburgh committee
+refused their request. Now
+the obvious tendency of all that the
+English writers say upon the subject
+is to create the impression that if the
+London Club had been allowed to
+recall these two moves, they would
+have retained their winning position.
+This is plainly the only construction
+that the passage in the <cite>Quarterly
+Review</cite> is capable of bearing. It is
+the only construction which would
+justify his remarks, or make them at
+all intelligible. But it is quite incorrect.
+The only moves which the
+London committee wished to recall
+were the 27th and 28th; but they
+have never attempted to show that if
+they had been allowed to do so, they
+could have won the game. It has
+been demonstrated, over and over
+again, that they could not. In fact,
+the moves they wished to recall were
+as good as any others then in their
+power. They might have drawn
+the game if these moves had been
+played; and they could have done no
+more had they been allowed to recall
+them. This matter was set at rest
+while the match was still pending, by
+a proposal which emanated from the
+Edinburgh Club. When the Londoners
+lost the game, Mr Lewis insinuated,
+though he did not expressly
+state, that if they had not been
+held to the 27th and 28th moves,
+they would have won the game.
+A member of the Edinburgh Club then
+offered to play a back-game with any
+one or more of the London Club, in
+which the London players were to be
+allowed a new 27th move instead of
+the one they had made, and wished
+to recall; and also another back-game
+in which the Edinburgh player was to
+take the London side <em>at an earlier stage
+of the game</em>, with the view of showing
+that, by playing differently, the London
+Club might have won it. This proposal
+was under consideration of the
+London Club <em>for several weeks</em>, during
+which they satisfied themselves that
+the recall of the 27th and 28th moves
+would be of no use, and, accordingly,
+it was declined. It is surely not
+very uncharitable to surmise that
+it was during this period, and on the
+suggestion of their opponents, that
+they discovered that the error was not
+in the 27th move which they had proposed
+to recall, but in the 26th, which
+they had examined and adhered to.
+In his first publication of the games,
+Mr Lewis gives no back-game on this
+26th move; and it is believed that no
+member of the London Club was
+aware, till the game was finished, that
+by playing differently at the 26th move
+they might have won it. But Mr
+Lewis admits that the game could not
+be won by a mere alteration of the
+27th or 28th move; and any one who
+says that it could, is either speaking
+in ignorance of the subject, or is
+making a wilful misrepresentation.
+The likelihood of the remarks of the
+English writers producing an erroneous
+impression arises from their
+mixing up these two separate and
+distinct things: 1st, that at a previous
+stage of the game, the London Club
+had a winning position which they
+did not discover, and failed to avail
+themselves of; and, 2d, that the
+Edinburgh Club would not allow them
+to retract the 27th and 28th moves.
+These two facts have no longer any
+possible connection with each other
+when it is known that, at the 27th
+move, the London Club had ceased to
+have a winning position, and that the
+recall of that move would have been
+of no use to them. The failure, at a
+previous stage of the game, to maintain
+the winning position which they
+had, is simply one among several
+illustrations which occurred in the
+match, of the truth that the London
+Club, "in the pride and plenitude of
+its strength," did not always play as
+well as it was possible to have done.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>
+How such things show that superiority
+on the part of London, which they are
+brought forward to establish, we confess
+ourselves unable to understand,
+unless we were to adopt the principle
+of the <cite>Chess-Players' Chronicle</cite>, that
+it is the best players who are most
+likely to commit errors in conducting
+a match by correspondence!!</p>
+
+<p>It seems to be a source of melancholy
+consolation to the English
+players, that their Club committed a
+"ridiculous and vexatious blunder."
+We are sorry that, in our strict regard
+for truth, we must deprive them even
+of that comfort. The losing of the
+disputed game was not a ridiculous
+blunder, however vexatious. On the
+contrary, the series of moves by which
+they lost the chance of winning, was
+at first a very promising attack, and
+had the additional temptation of
+appearing brilliant and enterprising.
+If any chess-player will set up the
+men at the 27th move of the London
+Club, or glance at the diagram given
+in Mr Staunton's periodical for May
+1850, he will see that nothing but the
+utmost skill and caution on the part
+of Edinburgh could have successfully
+warded off the attack. The London
+Club had not contemplated the defence
+which they met with; and if, in
+these circumstances, they were seduced
+into an ingenious but unsound attack,
+it may be conceded that they manifested
+want of circumspection, an
+important qualification in a chess-player;
+but they cannot be accused
+of committing a ridiculous blunder.
+They talk of having "thrown away"
+a rook. They did no such thing.
+The rook was played not by mistake,
+but for the very purpose of being
+taken in the course of their dashing
+but unsuccessful attack. And in Mr
+Lewis's analyses, it will be found
+that many of his methods of winning,
+at previous stages of the game,
+involve this very sacrifice of the
+rook.</p>
+
+<p>The refusal of the Edinburgh Club
+to allow the recall of the 27th and
+28th moves loses all its importance
+when it is known that it did not affect
+the fate of the game. But we should
+in any circumstances be sorry to
+believe that, in so refusing, they
+had done what deserved the censure
+bestowed on them by the
+<cite>Quarterly</cite> reviewer. In considering
+the propriety of their conduct, there
+are only two lights in which the
+request may be viewed. They were
+either asked to do what the London
+Club had a right to demand, or they
+were asked to grant a favour to the
+London Club. We do not know that
+the former view is supported by any
+of the English writers. Even the
+<cite>Quarterly</cite> reviewer does not say that
+the London Club had a <em>right</em> to recall
+the moves; and on this question of
+right it appears to us that there cannot
+be the least shadow of a doubt.
+The letter containing the moves was
+despatched to the Post-office. It
+was held by the Post-office for the
+party to whom it was addressed, and
+was entirely beyond the control of
+the party sending it. The piece, in
+every sense, was therefore "let go"
+by the player; and the 8th Article of
+Sarratt's laws of chess, by which it
+was agreed that the games should be
+played, provides that "as long as a
+player holds a piece, he is at liberty
+to play it where he chooses; but
+when he has <em>let it go</em>, he cannot
+recall his move." Accordingly, the
+London Club never attempted to
+contest the question of right. They
+stated that they had "no hesitation
+in acceding to the Edinburgh Committee's
+construction," and adhering
+to the moves. In fact, the construction
+put on the point by the Edinburgh
+Club was not only assented to by
+the London players at the time, but
+several members of the committee
+admitted afterwards, that it was
+unquestionably the right way of
+dealing with the case, and no member
+of the London Club ever hinted a
+complaint on the subject, except
+what was insinuated by Mr Lewis
+in the publication referred to.</p>
+
+<p>Were the Edinburgh Club "<em>to blame</em>"
+for not granting the favour which was
+asked of them? On this question
+we think there is quite as little doubt
+as the other. We have a strong and
+decided opinion as to the necessity
+of strict play in <em>all</em> games. It is the
+only fair and rational system; for
+once allow indulgence, and it is
+impossible to fix the limit at which it
+should stop. But we think that the
+remark applies with peculiar force to
+the game of chess, in which rigour is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>
+absolutely essential to the acquisition
+of the habits fitted for the proper
+playing of the game. Above all, in
+an important match at chess, anything
+but the strict game is entirely
+out of the question. A high-spirited
+antagonist will scorn to ask a favour,
+or even to grumble about the commission
+of a blunder. He submits in
+silence, and plays on in the hope of
+retrieving his fault by redoubled care
+and attention. If, on the other hand,
+he were to be expected to grant
+favours to his blundering antagonist,
+it is plain that his very good qualities
+would be turned to his disadvantage
+in the match. The Edinburgh Club
+played in the belief that the rules of
+the game were to apply with equal
+strictness to both parties; and though
+there was more than one instance in
+which they would have been glad to
+recall a move, they never proposed
+this, or even spoke of the occasions for
+it, except in answer to Mr Lewis's
+observations on the proposed recall of
+the 27th move. In the very game in
+which this move was made, the Edinburgh
+committee had at a <em>previous</em>
+point in the game made a move which
+they discovered to be unsound, or at
+least doubtful. Their report bears
+that "application was made to the
+Post-office to have the letter containing
+it restored, but without effect.
+Finding this to be the case, the letter
+was looked upon as delivered, the
+Post-office being regarded as holding
+it, not on behalf of the Club from
+which it had been sent, but on behalf
+of the Club to which it was addressed;
+and therefore no attempt was made to
+countermand the move, by transmitting
+another letter by the same post.
+The 8th article of the laws was considered
+to be too clear and explicit to
+warrant a recall." This conduct of
+the Edinburgh Club appears to us the
+manly and proper way of dealing
+with such a circumstance, and infinitely
+better than trying to make it
+the foundation of a complaint of rigorous
+procedure on the part of their
+opponents.</p>
+
+<p>The same thing happened again to
+the Edinburgh Club in the fourth
+game. In consequence of having put
+up the game erroneously, they sent
+an impossible move&mdash;that is to
+say, they directed a Knight to be
+moved to a square already occupied
+by their King. They discovered the
+mistake before the letter had left
+Edinburgh, but considered themselves
+as having incurred the penalty of
+playing an impossible move, which
+was, in the option of their adversary,
+either to move the Knight to some
+other square, or to move their King.
+Of these two, the move of the <em>King</em>
+was infinitely the better play, and
+therefore, in order to save time, a
+note was written on the outside of
+the letter explaining the mistake, and
+stating that the Edinburgh committee
+held themselves bound to move
+the <em>Knight</em>, which it was presumed
+the London Club would enforce, as
+the more severe penalty. The London
+Club did so; and yet Mr Lewis,
+in his notes to this game, rather
+disingenuously, as it appears to us,
+represented the London Club as
+having yielded an advantage to their
+antagonists, in accepting the move of
+the Knight. This merely accidental
+blunder, on the part of the Edinburgh
+Club, was one cause of their loss of
+the fourth game.</p>
+
+<p>Seeing that the Edinburgh Club
+thus on all occasions subjected themselves
+to the most rigorous interpretation
+of the rules of the game, we cannot
+hold the <cite>Quarterly Review</cite> as
+justified in saying that they were "to
+blame" in not allowing the London
+Club to retract a move. But we
+appeal from the <cite>Quarterly</cite> reviewer as
+a partisan of England, to the <cite>Quarterly</cite>
+reviewer, as an impartial enunciator
+of general propositions respecting the
+game of chess. Hear what he says
+about the absurdity of giving back
+moves:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Another advantage has arisen from
+the multiplication of clubs, and consequent
+publication of accurate rules&mdash;viz.,
+that the strict game is now played, instead
+of those courteous surrenders of
+advantages offered by a heedless adversary,
+which used often to make winners
+of those who had received back two or
+three leading pieces in the course of the
+game. These were a source of endless
+unpleasant discussions, besides being in
+themselves an absurdity. We confess
+we have no notion of rewarding an opponent
+for his oversights. We would show
+him as little mercy as Mr Smith O'Brien
+would to Lord Clarendon. Nay, we
+should be moved hereto by a consideration<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>
+of his benefit as well as our own&mdash;for
+why should we teach him vacillation
+and heedlessness?"</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Again, among a portentous list of
+narrow-minded delusions, he gives as
+"Delusion the Fifth&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"'That it is illiberal to play the strict
+game.' To this we can only reply, that
+other methods are but a miserable imitation.
+People talk of the hardship of
+'losing a game by an oversight,' and so
+on. It is much harder to arrive at nothing
+but 'conclusions inconclusive,' and
+to have the game terminate in an Irish
+discussion which of the two parties made
+the greatest blunders."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>We agree in every word of this;
+and we only wonder that so sound a
+reasoner should himself fall under the
+delusion which he exposes&mdash;so severe
+a censor should commit the very
+offence which he condemns.</p>
+
+<p>On the whole, as regards the proposed
+recall of the 27th and 28th
+moves of the second game, we think
+these three propositions are conclusively
+established, 1. That neither
+according to the rules of the game,
+nor upon any other principle which
+does or ought to regulate the playing
+of matches, were the London Club
+entitled to have their proposal acceded
+to. 2. That though it had been acceded
+to, and these moves had been allowed
+to be recalled, the London Club
+could not have bettered their situation,
+as the opportunity of winning
+was already irretrievably lost in consequence
+of the 26th move, which was
+not asked to be recalled, but, on the
+contrary, was expressly adhered to.
+3. That the impression which English
+chess-players have so industriously
+attempted to create, that the
+refusal on the part of Edinburgh to
+allow the 27th and 28th moves to be
+recalled was what prevented the London
+Club from winning the game, can
+only exist through a confusion between
+these moves and the previous one,
+which the London Club had adhered
+to after a renewed examination, not
+having even then discovered that it
+was unsound.</p>
+
+<p>Before leaving the second game, we
+have this last additional remark to
+make about it, that it is one of the erroneous
+assumptions and inferences of
+the English writers, that the winning
+of that game would have decided the
+match in their favour. It was the
+first won game; and though it is true
+that the London Club <em>subsequently</em> won
+the fourth game, which was the successor
+of the second, it is also the fact
+that the fourth game, which was
+opened by the Edinburgh Club, would
+not have been played if the second had
+been won by London, who in that case
+would have had the opening of the
+fourth. We do not mean to say that
+having to open was a disadvantage.
+All we assert is, that, in point of fact,
+the game, which the Edinburgh Club
+lost partly through a mistake in setting
+up the men, and through another blunder,
+not very different in its character,
+would not have been played at all if
+London had won the second game.
+Besides, the fourth game would, in
+other respects, have been played under
+very different circumstances. The
+opening of the second game by the
+London Club was one which none of
+the Edinburgh players had ever seen
+before, though, from this match, it
+now goes by the name of the Scotch
+opening. They believed, however,
+from their consideration of the second
+game, that the London Club had not
+availed themselves of all the capabilities
+of the opening, and they thought
+it would be a spirited thing to return
+it upon their antagonists. This they
+did in the <em>third</em> game. The event rewarded
+their enterprising conduct.
+They gained a decided advantage;
+and during the greater part of the
+<em>fourth</em> game they believed that it
+would never require to be finished, as
+they thought that by winning the <em>third</em>
+game they would gain the match.
+This accounts for the carelessness with
+which they played the fourth game,
+though we think nothing can excuse
+carelessness in playing chess. They
+were ultimately disappointed in their
+expectation of gaining the third game,
+as the London Club succeeded in drawing
+it; and this rendered a fifth game
+necessary.</p>
+
+<p>Down to the fifth game it appears
+plain enough, from the above examination,
+that the Edinburgh Club had
+maintained, at the very least, an
+equal position to their antagonists.
+The first game had been drawn, with
+no advantage at any stage of it, in
+favour of either party. The second
+had been won by Edinburgh, but was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>
+subject to the observation that, at one
+point, London might have won had
+they played as well as they <em>afterwards</em>
+discovered they might have done. The
+third game was drawn: but the advantage
+throughout had been in favour
+of Edinburgh, though not sufficiently
+so for winning; and, as was the case
+with London in the previous game,
+Edinburgh failed to perceive that by
+moving differently at a certain point,
+they would have been victorious. The
+fourth game was lost by Edinburgh,
+partly through an accidental and
+what may be called a mechanical blunder,
+and partly through another piece
+of carelessness of a similar character.
+After a contest thus maintained down
+to the commencement of the fifth
+game, it is beyond all question that
+the palm of superiority, in point of
+play, must rest with the victor in that
+game. And it was a game worthy to
+determine that question as well as the
+match. The Edinburgh Club had
+again returned upon their antagonists
+their own opening. In order to secure
+scope for the action of their pieces,
+they showed considerable intrepidity
+in disregarding the ordinary rules
+against doubled and isolated pawns;
+and so admirably had they analysed
+the game, that for a great many
+moves they knew that victory was
+certain, though all the while the
+London Club, according to the confession
+of some of their own members,
+were blind to the fate that was awaiting
+them; and believed, on the contrary,
+that the game was in their own hands.
+This fifth game will long be remembered
+by chess players as one of the
+most remarkable in the annals of
+chess; and appears to us conclusive,
+so far as regards the internal evidence
+derived from the games themselves,
+that the superiority, in point of play,
+lay with the Edinburgh Club, and
+that their winning the match was not
+a mere accident.</p>
+
+<p>It may be that there are other data
+for determining the relative superiority
+of the two Clubs; but we cannot admit
+the correctness of any of those mentioned
+by the <cite>Quarterly</cite> reviewer or
+Mr Staunton. It is true, as these gentlemen
+say, that the Edinburgh Club
+was comparatively inexperienced.
+It had only been instituted in 1822,
+and the match was begun in 1824.
+It comprehended, almost exclusively,
+professional gentlemen actively engaged
+in business, who had not,
+generally speaking, much leisure or
+opportunity for seeking antagonists
+out of their own little circle of chess-players
+at home. On the other hand,
+it cannot be disputed that there is to
+be found in the metropolis of England,
+in greater abundance than anywhere
+else, that combination of leisure with
+intellectual power, which gives the
+promise of good chess-playing. But
+these circumstances do not lead our
+minds to the conclusion to which Mr
+Staunton and the <cite>Quarterly</cite> reviewer
+have come, that the winning of the
+match by the Edinburgh Club was an
+accident. We should rather be inclined
+to hold, considering the character of the
+contest as explained by us above,
+that they are a proof of the greater
+natural chess-playing capacity of the
+members of the Club which won the
+match under such disadvantages.
+Again, Mr Staunton asks where are
+the previous exploits to which the
+Edinburgh players could point, such
+as those that the members of the
+London Club had performed? The
+answer is, None. They never had, and
+never sought the opportunity of
+performing any great chess exploit,
+except beating the London Club.
+But in so doing they made their own
+all the previous victories of the
+London Club. The event showed
+that they might, without presumption,
+have expressed the sentiment of
+Prince Henry&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Percy is but my factor, good, my lord,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To engross up glorious deeds on my behalf;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And I will call him to so strict account,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That he shall render every glory up.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*&nbsp;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And all the budding honours on his crest<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I'd crop to make a garland for my head."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p class="noind">With which valorous quotation we
+draw our remarks to a close,
+submitting that the members of the
+Edinburgh Club are bound to invite
+us to a special sitting at a board,
+which shall be garnished with some
+other material more soft and digestible
+than chessmen.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>THE INDUSTRY OF THE PEOPLE.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The dismal efforts of the Free-trading
+party to maintain the credit
+of their unnatural and mischievous
+scheme, afford the surest indication
+of their own consciousness that they
+have committed a grievous error. In
+their attempts to make head against
+the symptoms of reaction which are
+everywhere apparent in the public
+mind, they exhibit no unity of purpose;
+they are not agreed even as to
+the facts from which their arguments
+should be drawn. A few months ago,
+we were told that the whole country
+was in a state of the greatest prosperity.
+The existence of agricultural
+distress was denied; the shipping
+interest was said to be in the
+most healthy and flourishing condition;
+the manufacturers had so many
+orders that their ability to execute
+was impeded; wages were rising&mdash;pauperism
+decreasing&mdash;in short, no
+one could recall to memory times of
+more general happiness and content.
+Such was the picture drawn by Ministerial
+limners, no further back than
+the opening of the present session of
+Parliament, and it is very much to be
+regretted that it should so soon have
+vanished like a dissolving view.
+Down to the present moment, we
+have been unable to discover the
+motive for so monstrous a fiction.
+Nobody believed it: nobody could
+believe it, for it ran counter to every
+man's knowledge of his own affairs,
+and his opinion as to those of his
+neighbour. The agriculturists declared
+it to be a falsehood in so far as
+they were concerned&mdash;so did the ship-owners&mdash;so
+did the shopkeepers&mdash;so
+did the manufacturers, whose circulars
+acknowledged depression for the
+present, and held out little hope for
+the future. The Ministerial averment
+answered no purpose, save to excite
+a general burst of disapprobation.
+Conceived in fraud, it was abandoned
+with cowardice. A lower tone was
+assumed. Distress was admitted&mdash;but
+only to a certain extent; and we
+may remark that such admissions are
+peculiarly convenient and innocuous
+to those who make them, inasmuch
+as the actual degree or prevalence of
+the suffering must still remain matter
+of debate. Indeed, no statistics, however
+ingenious or elaborated, can furnish
+data for determining so delicate
+a point. But to account for the
+existence of distress, even in a mitigated
+form, was no easy task for
+those who were resolved, at all
+hazards, to exclude the operation of
+free trade. Their prosperity balance-sheet
+stood awkwardly in the way.
+Pluming themselves upon increased
+exports, and a larger foreign trade
+than had been driven for some years,
+they were compelled to assign some
+reason for the remarkable depression
+at home. The old shift of railway calls
+would no longer suit their purpose.
+Sir Robert Peel, regardless of a certain
+personal passage of his life connected
+with the opening of the Trent Valley,
+was exceedingly fond of turning out
+that scape-goat into the wilderness;
+but the time had gone by; the calls
+were paid up or suspended; and it
+was no longer possible for effrontery
+to maintain that the great mass of
+the consumers of these kingdoms had
+been materially injured by their
+imprudent dalliance with scrip. There
+was no tightness in the money
+market; no external cause to interfere
+with the successful operation of
+industry, capital, or enterprise. Yet
+still there was distress; and, what was
+more remarkable, the complaint was
+universal. The value of produce had
+fallen, effecting thereby a corresponding
+decline in rents, and every kind
+of uncertain profit. Employment
+grew scarcer every day, whilst the
+number of applicants increased. The
+burden of taxation, however, still
+remained undiminished. The creditor
+could still exact the stipulated amount
+of money from his debtor, without
+deduction, although the labour of the
+debtor was reduced in point of value
+by at least a third. Such were, and
+are, the leading phenomena, to account
+for which the ingenuity of the
+Free-traders has been exercised.</p>
+
+<p>They have, we are bound to say, cut
+an exceedingly sorry figure in explanation.
+They have got in their mouths a
+few cant phrases, which, when assailed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>
+they repeat over and over again, without
+the slightest reference to their
+meaning. One of these, and perhaps
+the most favourite, refers to the "transition
+state"&mdash;a peculiar phase of suffering,
+which they maintain to be the
+necessary consequence of every considerable
+change in the fiscal regulations
+of the empire. This "transition state,"
+in politics, would appear to correspond
+to that which, in medicine, was favoured
+by Mr St John Long. In
+order to become better, it is necessary
+to make the patient, in the first
+instance, materially worse&mdash;to inflict
+artificial wounds and promote
+suppuration, in the hope that these
+may afterwards be healed. It is
+rather remarkable that none of our
+political doctors have as yet ventured
+to specify the nature of the curatory
+process. They leave us woefully in
+the dark as to the means which are
+to be adopted for remedying the evil;
+and they obstinately refuse to predict
+what kind of state is to follow upon
+this of transition. In truth, they are
+utterly at sea. They cannot shut
+their eyes to the extent of the mischief
+which they have wrought; they
+cannot find or invent an extraneous
+excuse, which will avail them, in the
+opinion even of the loosest thinker, to
+maintain the delusion that the present
+distress and stagnation are attributable
+to any other cause than that of low
+prices, occasioned by foreign competition;
+and they are attempting to conceal
+their chagrin and disappointment
+at the disastrous issue of their experiment
+under the cover of general
+terms and vague ambiguous phrases&mdash;a
+rhetorical expedient which is not
+likely to have much weight with those
+who have been made the victims of
+their rashness or vacillation.</p>
+
+<p>Latterly, indeed, some portions of
+the public press have shown symptoms
+of being more specific, and very
+glad should we be if Ministers would
+follow that example. We are told
+that present prices are merely exceptional,
+and that they must shortly
+improve. The mere adoption of this
+argument shows that such writers
+dissent from the doctrine that cheapness
+is an unqualified blessing&mdash;that
+they still believe in their hearts that
+it is impossible altogether to separate
+the interests of the producer and the
+consumer&mdash;and that they are still
+alive to the fundamental political
+axiom, that the wealth of a country
+depends mainly upon the value of its
+produce. Were it otherwise, they
+would be supporters of the most
+astounding paradox that was ever
+advanced. The price of the loaf
+must rise correspondingly with that
+of the quarter of wheat: beef and
+mutton are sold by the stone or by
+the pound, in proportion to the market
+value of the living animal. If
+wheat were to rise to 56s., which is
+said to be the average cost of its
+production in this country, bread
+would become so much dearer, and,
+in that case, the working-man could
+be no better off than he was before
+the corn laws were repealed. We
+have heard it said, and we firmly
+believe it to be the case, that many
+of the public men, of both parties,
+who voted with Sir Robert Peel, did
+so under the full conviction that there
+could be no material decline&mdash;that
+they were misled by the onesided,
+imperfect, and fallacious reports as to
+the state, quality, and extent of the
+Continental harvests, which were laid
+before Parliament&mdash;and that they
+never would have consented to such a
+measure, had they foreseen the results
+which are now unhappily before us.
+We gather this, not merely from
+rumour, but from the tenor of the
+speeches delivered in the House of
+Commons in 1846. Sir James Graham
+and Lord John Russell both treated as
+visionary the notion of any material
+decline&mdash;Lord Palmerston went
+further; and we think it useful to lay
+before our readers the following excerpt
+from his speech, delivered on
+the occasion of the second reading of
+the Corn Importation Bill. Referring
+to the surplus quantity of Continental
+grain, he said&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"The surplus quantity now, or from
+time to time in existence, is merely the
+superfluity of abundant seasons held for
+a time in store to meet the alternate
+deficiency of bad years. Till the bad
+years come, that corn is cheap, because
+it is a supply exceeding the demand; but
+the moment we go into the foreign
+market as buyers, to purchase up this
+surplus, <em>prices abroad will rise</em>. Not
+only will the British demand, as a new
+competition with foreign demand, naturally
+cause a rise of prices, but our own<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>
+merchants will compete against each
+other, until, by a rise of prices abroad,
+the profit of their importations shall have
+been brought down to the usual rate of
+mercantile profit upon capital employed
+in other ways. There is, therefore, very
+little probability that the importation of
+the existing surplus quantity of corn in
+foreign markets will materially lower
+prices in this country."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>We have nothing to say to the
+arguments of the noble Viscount&mdash;however
+singular these may appear
+to persons of ordinary understanding&mdash;we
+merely refer to his conclusion,
+which we think is plain enough, to
+the effect that free importations could
+not materially lower prices. Nay,
+we could extract from the speeches of
+Sir Robert Peel himself, passages
+which would go far to show that he
+entertained the same opinion, notwithstanding
+the extreme wariness
+which he exhibited when challenged
+by Lord George Bentinck to state his
+views as to the probable effects of the
+change on the value of agricultural
+produce. Well, then, if this be the
+case&mdash;if there was actually a strong
+conviction in the minds of the leading
+men who supported the repeal of
+the corn laws that the expressed
+fears of the agricultural party were
+unfounded&mdash;are we not entitled now
+to require that the question should be
+brought to a very narrow issue indeed?
+So far as experience has gone,
+our calculations have proved right&mdash;theirs
+entirely wrong. We maintained
+that, in consequence of the
+removal of protective duties, the price
+of grain in this country would decline
+to a point far below the cost of production;
+they averred that nothing
+of the kind would happen. Nearly a
+year and a half has elapsed since the
+new system came into full operation,
+and the general averages of wheat
+throughout the country have fallen,
+and have remained for many months
+below 40s. per quarter. In spite of
+the accurate and veracious information
+of writers in the <cite>Economist</cite> and
+other Ministerial prints, who have
+been assuring us, for a long period of
+time, that the whole available supplies
+of grain have been pumped out
+of the Continent, importations continue
+undiminished. In May 1850
+we receive from abroad the equivalent
+of a million quarters of grain;
+France pours in her flour, to the panic
+even of our millers; and, instead of
+diminution, there are unmistakeable
+symptoms of a greater deluge than
+before. Now, if the Free-traders, in
+or out of Parliament, are honest in
+their views&mdash;as many of them, we
+believe, undoubtedly are&mdash;they are
+bound to tell us how far and how long
+they intend this experiment to last?
+Of course, if it is no experiment at
+all, but an absolute rigorous finality,
+there is no need of entering into discussion.
+If everything is to be sacrificed
+for cheapness, let cheapness be
+the rule; only do not let us behold the
+anomaly of the advocates of that system
+prophesying a rise of prices as a
+general boon to the country. If
+otherwise, surely some tangible period
+should be assigned for the endurance
+of this <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">experimentum crucis</i>. We
+entirely coincide with Lord John
+Russell in his dislike to vacillating
+legislation, and we have no wish
+whatever to precipitate matters. We
+think it preferable, in every way, that
+the eyes of the country should be
+opened to a sense of its true condition
+by a process which, to be effectual,
+cannot be otherwise than painful.
+But we are greatly apprehensive of
+the consequences which may arise
+ere long, from the obstinate refusal of
+Ministers to give the slightest indication
+of their intentions, supposing
+that the present prices shall continue;
+or to indicate what relief, if any, can
+be given to the industry of the nation.</p>
+
+<p>As to the permanent nature of the
+fall under the operation of the present
+law, we entertain not the slightest
+doubt. There is no one symptom
+visible of its abatement; on the contrary,
+the experience of each succeeding
+month tends to fortify our previous
+impressions. The decline in the
+value of cattle is as great as in that of
+cereal produce. We have already, in
+a former paper, had occasion to state
+the extent of that fall down to the
+commencement of the present year:
+the accounts received of the state
+of the Dumbarton market, held in the
+beginning of June, are still more disastrous
+than before. Throughout a
+large portion of the Scottish Highlands&mdash;we
+do not know, indeed,
+whether we are entitled to make any<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>
+exception&mdash;black cattle, the staple
+of the country, will not pay the expense
+of rearing. The enormous importation
+of provisions from America
+is annihilating this branch of produce,
+with what compensating benefit to
+the nation at large, it would be difficult
+for an economist to explain.</p>
+
+<p>This is a state of matters which
+cannot continue long without manifest
+danger even to the tranquillity of the
+country. It is quite plain that, at
+present rates, agriculture cannot be
+carried on as heretofore in Great
+Britain. The farmer has been the
+first sufferer; the turn of the landowner
+is approaching. Let us illustrate
+this shortly. There must be, on
+an average of ordinary years, a certain
+price at which wheat can be grown
+remuneratively in this country. Sir
+Robert Peel, no mean authority on
+the subject, has indicated his opinion
+that such price may be stated at or
+about 56s. per quarter. Mr James
+Wilson, rating it somewhat lower,
+fixes it at 52s. 2d. Let us suppose,
+that wheat for the future shall average
+over England 39s. per quarter, and
+that the produce of the acre is twenty-four
+bushels, the loss on each acre of
+wheat hereafter raised will be, according
+to Sir Robert Peel, £2, 11s.&mdash;according
+to Mr Wilson, £1, 19s. 6d.
+What deduction of rent can meet
+such a depreciation as this? Excluding
+Middlesex, which is clearly exceptional,
+the highest rented county
+of England, Leicester, is estimated at
+£1, 14s. 10d. per acre; Warwickshire,
+at £1, 11s. 6d.; and Lincolnshire at
+£1, 8s. Haddington and Fife, the
+highest rented counties of Scotland,
+are estimated at £1, 5s. 6d. per acre.
+This of course includes much land of an
+inferior description; but we believe
+that, for the best arable land, an average
+rent of 40s. per acre may be assumed.
+In that case, supposing the whole rent
+to be given up, the farmer would still
+be a loser by cultivation, if Sir Robert
+Peel is correct in his figures.</p>
+
+<p>Without presuming to offer an
+opinion as to the accuracy of either of
+the calculations submitted by these
+two Free-trading authorities, we think
+it is plain that the more favourable of
+them, taken in connection with present
+prices, is appalling enough to the
+agriculturist, whether he be landlord
+or tenant. We shall see, probably in
+a month or two, whether it is likely
+that even these prices can be maintained.
+We are clearly of opinion
+that the price of corn in this country
+must fall to the level of the cheapest
+market from which we can derive any
+considerable supplies; and in that
+case it is quite as likely that we may
+see wheat quoted at 32s. or 33s., as
+at 39s. or 40s. But the matter for
+our consideration is, that, ever since
+the repeal of the corn laws, the market
+price of grain has been greatly
+below the cost of its production; and
+that there are no symptoms of any
+amendment, but obviously the reverse.</p>
+
+<p>The inevitable result of the continuance
+of such a state of matters is
+too clear to admit of argument. The
+land must go out of cultivation. The
+process may be slow, but it will be
+sure. It may, doubtless, be retarded
+by remissions of rent not sufficient to
+cover the farmer's losses, but great
+enough to induce him to renew his
+efforts for another year with the like
+miserable result; until at length the
+tiller of the soil is made bankrupt,
+and the landowner occupies his place.
+We can hardly trust ourselves to
+depict the effect of such a social revolution.
+All the misery which has
+been already felt&mdash;and that is far
+greater than our rulers will permit
+themselves to believe&mdash;would be as
+nothing compared with the calamitous
+consummation of Free Trade.</p>
+
+<p>Yet it is towards that point that
+we are rapidly tending. Some of the
+fierce and more plain-spoken Radical
+journals are so far from contradicting
+our views, that they openly rejoice in
+the havoc which has been already
+made, and in the wider ruin which is
+impending. They say plainly, looking
+to the funds, that they see no
+method of escaping from the domination
+of the moneyed interest, except
+through the prostration of the landlords.
+Their meaning is quite distinct
+and undisguised. They want to get
+rid of the national debt, by reducing
+the value of produce so low, that the
+usual amount of taxation cannot possibly
+be levied; and their scheme, however
+nefarious, is by no means devoid
+of plausibility. There can be no doubt
+that the Currency Act of 1819 has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>
+operated most injuriously upon the
+industry of the nation, by enhancing
+the value of the claims of the creditor;
+and that these claims, along with the
+necessary expenses of government,
+must be paid, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">ante omnia</i>, from the
+industrial produce of the year. The
+cheapening process, therefore, is one
+directly antagonistic to the maintenance
+of taxation. The anomaly in
+legislation of forcibly reducing the
+value of produce, and yet maintaining
+stringently an artificial standard of
+taxation, has been reserved for our
+times; yet, strange to say, though its
+effects are visible and confessed, few
+persons have courage or patience
+enough to grapple with the difficulty.
+Free Trade and a Fettered Currency
+are things that cannot possibly co-exist
+for any length of time; and our
+sole surprise is, that any statesman
+could be shortsighted enough to
+attempt to reconcile them. Taken
+singly, either of them is a great evil
+to a country situated like ours&mdash;taken
+together, they become absolutely intolerable.
+But we have no wish, at
+the present time, to depart from the
+point before us. We are merely
+taking the evidence of adversaries, to
+show that our views as to the position
+and prospects of the great productive
+classes of Britain are so far from exaggerated
+that they are acknowledged
+by the most strenuous advocates of
+Free Trade. The fundholder, nevertheless,
+may derive a useful lesson
+from these financial hints, which indicate
+an ulterior purpose.</p>
+
+<p>Such is the state of the agricultural
+interest throughout the three Kingdoms
+at this moment, and such are
+the prospects before us. The evidence,
+albeit not taken before a committee
+of either House of Parliament, is too
+unanimous to admit of a doubt;
+county after county, district after
+district, parish after parish throughout
+England, have testified to their
+melancholy condition. The <cite>Times</cite>
+may talk of mendicity, and the <cite>Economist</cite>
+may trump up figures to show
+that the farmers ought to be making
+a profit even at present prices; but
+neither irony nor fiction can avail to
+discredit or pervert facts so well
+authenticated as these. Of these
+facts parliament is fully cognisant&mdash;not
+only from the individual knowledge
+of members as to what is passing
+abroad&mdash;not only from the sentiments
+expressed at many hundred
+meetings, independent of the great
+demonstrations lately made at London
+and Liverpool&mdash;but from the
+petitions which have been presented
+to both Houses, praying for a reversal
+of that policy which has proved so
+detrimental to the interests of a large
+section of her Majesty's subjects.
+Yet still Parliament is silent, and the
+first Minister of the Crown refuses
+to sanction that appeal to the country,
+which the exigency of the case would
+seem to require, and which has been
+resorted to on occasions far less peremptory
+and pressing than this.</p>
+
+<p>Let us not be misunderstood. Our
+wish simply is to record the fact of
+such silence and refusal,&mdash;not to be
+rash in censure. We cannot, and do
+not forget the peculiar circumstances
+connected with the last general election&mdash;the
+political tergiversation
+which preceded it, the hopes and
+expectations which were then entertained
+by many, as to the working of
+the new system,&mdash;or the disorganisation
+of parties. Even the most strenuous
+opponents of the Free-Trade
+measures, since these had passed into
+a law, however iniquitously carried,
+were desirous that the experiment
+should have a fair trial, and that it
+should not be impeded in its progress,
+so long as, by the most liberal construction,
+it could be held to justify the
+anticipations of its authors. Many
+names of great weight, influence, and
+authority were found among the roll
+of those who consented to the new
+measures; and it was most natural
+that, throughout the country, a number
+of persons should be found willing to
+surrender their own judgment upon
+a matter yet untried, which had
+received so creditable a sanction.
+Therefore it was that the majority of
+members returned to the present
+House of Commons were Free-traders,
+bound to the system by the double
+ties of previous conviction and of
+pledge; and though recent elections,
+as well as the alarming posture of
+affairs, have contributed materially
+to alter the position of the two great
+parties in the House, it would be unreasonable
+as yet to look for a change,
+in a body so constituted, at least to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>
+that extent which a reversal of the
+adopted policy must imply.</p>
+
+<p>Neither can we rationally expect,
+that Lord John Russell will be forward
+to recognise a failure, where he
+confidently anticipated a triumph.
+We believe him to have been, far
+more than Sir Robert Peel, the dupe
+of those random assertions and presumptuous
+calculations which were
+thrust forward by men utterly unfit,
+from their previous habits and education,
+to pronounce an opinion upon
+subjects of such magnitude and intricacy.
+We should not be surprised if,
+even now, his Lordship had some
+lingering kind of faith in the prophecies
+of the member for Westbury.
+Men are slow to believe that the
+ground is crumbling from below their
+feet; that the political scaffolding
+which they assisted to rear has been
+pitched in a marshy quagmire. Self
+love, and that kind of pride which is
+so nearly allied to conceit that it
+often assumes the form of obstinacy,
+stand woefully in the way of recantation;
+and moreover in the present
+instance to recant is equivalent to
+resign. We remember well the profound
+and sagacious remark of Sir
+Walter Scott, that "the miscarriage
+of his experiment no more converts
+the political speculator, than the
+explosion of a retort undeceives an
+alchymist." Lord John Russell in all
+probability is not yet prepared, from
+conviction, to revise his opinions on a
+question in which he is so deeply committed.
+He has a majority in the
+House of Commons, and, according to
+the forms of the constitution, so long
+as he can command that majority, he
+is entitled to persevere. It is well
+that our friends, whatever pressing
+cause they may have for their impatience,
+should remember these
+things; and not be too forward in
+pressing wholesale accusations, either
+against a Parliament chosen under
+such peculiar circumstances, or a
+Minister who is simply adhering to
+the course long since avowed by himself,
+and acted on by his immediate
+predecessor. We may regret, and
+many of us do unquestionably most
+bitterly feel, the anomalous position
+in which we are placed. A more
+cruel, a more galling thought can
+hardly be imagined than the conviction
+which is very general abroad,
+and which is also ours, that the present
+Parliament does not represent the
+feelings or the desires of the people;
+that it is not consulting their welfare
+or protecting their interests; and
+that the duration of that Parliament
+alone prevents a vigorous and successful
+effort in the cause of British
+industry. Yet still, while we feel all
+this, let us not be unjust to others.
+We cannot coerce opinion. We cannot
+force honourable members at once
+to retrace their steps, or to give the
+lie to their acknowledged pledges.
+We cannot complain of open wrong
+if Ministers decline to accept our
+voices, in lieu of the voices of those
+whom we formerly sent as representatives.
+Their answer and vindication
+lies in the fact of their Parliamentary
+majority. Why Parliament should
+thus be placed in direct antagonism
+to the country, is a very different
+question. We need not go far in
+search of the reason. It is the direct
+consequence of that policy which Sir
+Robert Peel thought fit to adopt,
+not with regard to the abstract
+measures of Free Trade, but for the
+carrying of these measures into effect,
+without an appeal to the country,
+and by means which proved how
+closely deceit is allied to tyranny.
+Upon his head, if not the whole, at
+least the primary responsibility rests.
+He has accepted it, and let it abide
+with him. And let no man affirm
+that, in saying this, we are prolonging
+any rancorous feeling, or seeking
+to rub a sore which by this time
+should be wellnigh healed. The
+time for indignation and anger, if
+injury coupled with perfidy can ever
+provoke such sentiments, is not yet
+past; it is now in its fullest force.
+Had Sir Robert Peel acted as he
+ought to have done&mdash;had he played
+the part of a British statesman,
+sincerely desirous that in a matter
+of such magnitude the will of the
+country should be respected&mdash;the
+present Parliament, whatever might
+have been its decision as to Free
+Trade or Protection, would at least
+have represented the wishes of the
+electoral body; and if subsequent
+events had shown that these wishes
+were more sanguine than wise, the
+error would have been a national one,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>
+and no weight of individual responsibility
+would have been incurred.
+As it is, we are not only justified,
+but we are performing our duty, in
+indicating the real and sole originator
+of our present difficulties; and without
+wishing in any degree to trench
+upon his secret sources of consolation,
+we can hardly imagine that he
+will derive much comfort from the
+knowledge, that his tortuous policy
+has deprived the people in the hour
+of need of their best constitutional
+privilege and shield&mdash;the sympathy
+and co-operation of that House
+which is emphatically their own,
+and which, to the great detriment of
+the state, must lose its moral power
+the moment that it ceases to represent
+the will, and to protect the
+interests of the Commons.</p>
+
+<p>We are well aware that such reflections
+as these can bring but sorry
+comfort to the farmers. Their situation
+is one of unparalleled hardship,
+unrelieved by any consideration
+which can make the case of other
+sufferers more tolerable. We fully
+admit the vast extent of the powers
+which, since the Great Revolution,
+are held to be vested in Parliaments.
+We cannot gainsay the doctrine that
+these powers may, on occasion, be
+exerted to the uttermost; but we
+say, after the most careful and
+thoughtful deliberation, that the proceedings
+of the legislature with regard
+to the farmers of Great Britain
+are irreconcilable with the principles
+of justice, with the sacred laws of
+morality, which no legislative resolutions
+can abrogate or annul. The
+farmers are entitled to maintain that,
+in so far as regards them, the public
+faith has been broken. Such of them
+as hold leases had a distinct and
+unqualified guarantee given to them
+by the protective laws; and the
+allegation that the substitution of
+the sliding-scale for a fixed duty
+acted as a release for all former
+Parliamentary engagements, is a
+quibble so mean and wretched that
+the basest attorney would be ashamed
+to use it as a plea. The whole of the
+farmers' fixed and floating capital,
+estimated at the enormous sum of five
+hundred millions sterling, has been
+laid out on the faith of Protection; and
+yet when that Protection was furtively
+and treacherously withdrawn, no
+measure was introduced for the purpose
+of relieving them from engagements
+contracted under the older
+system, which were obviously incompatible
+with the lowered prices
+established by the formidable change.
+The public, we are afraid, are not
+aware of the extent of that depreciation
+which is still going on, <em>and
+which already exceeds the whole annual
+value of the manufacturing productions
+of Great Britain</em>. We borrow
+the following table from a late
+pamphlet by Mr Macqueen entitled,
+"Statistics of Agriculture, Manufactures,
+and Commerce, drawn up from
+Official and Authentic Documents;"
+and having tested it by every means
+in our power, we have no hesitation
+in adopting it. It is, in truth, a fearful
+commentary on the rashness and
+folly of our rulers.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center">COMPARATIVE VALUES OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE.</p>
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="produce">
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="left">Protective value.</td><td align="left">Depreciation.</td><td align="left">Value 1850.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Grains, potatoes, &amp;c.,</td><td align="right">£237,543,750</td><td align="right">£80,764,875</td><td align="right">£156,778,875</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Straw,</td><td align="right">100,700,000</td><td align="right">30,210,000</td><td align="right">70,490,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Green crops, pasture, &amp;c.,</td><td align="right">222,404,786</td><td align="right">66,721,435</td><td align="right">155,683,351</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Sundries,</td><td align="right">8,500,000</td><td align="right">2,125,000</td><td align="right">6,375,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Wool, British,</td><td align="right">15,400,000</td><td align="right">1,540,000</td><td align="right">13,860,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" class="bt bb">£584,518,536</td><td align="right" class="bt bb">£181,361,310</td><td align="right" class="bt bb">£403,187,226</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p>But this is not all. We have still
+to deal with the depreciation or diminished
+value of the farmers' fixed
+capital, invested in live stock, &amp;c.,
+which at the rate of 25 per cent,
+(a most moderate calculation, and
+below the mark in so far as Scotland
+is concerned,) shows a loss
+on £504,833,730 of £126,208,432
+<em>additional</em>!</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>We put forward the case of the
+farmers thus prominently, because, in
+addition to the great public wrong
+which has been done to them, they
+have serious reason to complain of
+the general apathy of the landlords.
+We do not allude to the part which
+the landowners took in 1846. We
+believe that the majority of them
+were sincerely disgusted by the conduct
+of the men who had climbed
+into office on their shoulders; and that
+they loathed and despised in their
+hearts the treachery of which they
+were made the tools. We know,
+moreover, that a great many of them
+abstained from taking part in the
+election of 1847, not being able to
+see their way through the political
+chaos in which we were then involved,
+and having, naturally enough,
+lost confidence in the probity of public
+men, and despairing of the remodelment
+of a strong constitutional
+party. Such things were, perhaps,
+inevitable; and it may be argued with
+much show of reason, that no better
+line of conduct was open to the landlords,
+and that they did wisely in
+reserving themselves for a more favourable
+opportunity, when experience,
+that stern and unfailing monitor, should
+have exposed to the Free-traders
+the falsity of their wild expectations.
+But it is impossible for them now to
+plead that the opportunity has not
+arrived. The experiment has been
+made, and has failed&mdash;failed utterly
+and entirely, if the practical refutation
+of the views advanced by all its leading
+advocates is to be considered as
+equivalent to failure. The current of
+reaction has set in strong and steady,
+not only in the counties, but in the
+towns; not only among those who, from
+their position, must be the earliest
+sufferers, but among those who are
+connected with the trade and general
+commerce of Britain. The disorganised
+party has rallied and is reformed
+under leaders of great talent,
+tried skill, and most assured loyalty
+and honour. How is it that, in this
+posture of affairs, any considerable section
+of the landlords is still hanging
+back? Why is it that they do not
+place themselves, as is their duty, at
+the head of their tenantry, and enforce
+and encourage those appeals to public
+justice, and to public policy, which are
+now making themselves heard in every
+quarter of the kingdom? We confess
+that we are at a loss to know why
+any apathy should be shown. The conduct
+of the tenantry towards the landlords
+has been generous and considerate
+in the extreme. They were invited, in
+no equivocal terms, to join their cause
+with that of the Free-traders and financial
+reformers; and they were promised,
+in that event, the cordial assistance
+of the latter towards the adjustment
+of their rents, and the equalisation
+of their public burdens. We venture
+not an opinion whether such promise
+was ever intended to be kept. Still it
+was made; and no effort was left untried
+to convince the farmers that
+their cause was separate and apart
+from that of the owners of the land.
+Their refusal to enter into that unholy
+alliance was most honourable to the
+body of the tenantry, and entitles
+them, at the hands of the proprietors,
+to look not only for consideration and
+sympathy, but for the most active and
+energetic support. Very ill indeed
+shall we augur of the spirit and
+patriotism of the gentlemen of England,
+if they longer abstain from identifying
+themselves universally with a movement
+which is not only a national
+one, in the strictest sense of the word,
+but upon which depends the maintenance
+of their own interests and order.
+Surely they cannot have been so dull
+or so deaf to what is passing around
+them, as not to be aware that they
+were especially marked out as the
+victims of the Manchester confederacy!
+These are not times in which any man
+can afford to be apathetic, nor will
+any trivial excuse for languor or indifference
+be accepted. Exalted position,
+high character, the reputation
+for princely generosity, and the best
+of private reputations, will be no apology
+for inactivity in a crisis so momentous
+as this. Organisation, union,
+and energy are at all times the chief
+means for insuring success; and we
+trust that, henceforward, there may be
+less timidity shown by those who
+ought to take the foremost rank in a
+contest of such importance, and who
+cannot abstain longer from doing so
+without forfeiting their claim to that
+regard which has hitherto been readily
+accorded them.</p>
+
+<p>It will be observed that, as yet, we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>
+have put the case for Protection upon
+very narrow grounds. We have
+shown that, so far as the agricultural
+body is concerned, Free Trade has
+proved most injurious, and that it
+cannot be persisted in without bringing
+downright ruin to that section of
+the community. If we had nothing
+more to advance than this, still we
+should be entitled to maintain that
+enough has been adduced to show the
+necessity of retracing our steps. The
+annihilation of such an important
+body as the agriculturists of Britain,
+implies of itself a revolution as great
+as ever was effected in the world; and
+to that, assuredly, if the agriculturists
+stood alone, they would not tamely
+submit. When Mr Cobden or his
+satellites addressed the people of Manchester,
+through their League circulars,
+to the following effect, "If the Americans
+will only put down their monopolising
+manufacturers, and we put
+down our monopolising landowners
+here, when our election time comes,
+we will lay the Mississippi valley
+alongside of Manchester, and we will
+have a glorious trade then!"&mdash;and
+again, "Our doctrine is, let the working
+man ply his hammer, or his
+spindle, or his shuttle, and let the
+Kentucky or the Illinois farmer, by
+driving his plough in the richest land
+on the surface of the earth, feed this
+mechanic or this weaver, and let him
+send home his produce in exchange
+for the products of our operatives and
+artisans"&mdash;they seem to have forgotten
+the temper and mould of the men with
+whom they proposed to deal so summarily.
+It is not quite so easy to expatriate
+three millions of able-bodied
+men; nor do we opine that a power
+morally or physically adequate to the
+task of such removal exists in the
+manufacturing districts. But, in
+reality, of all idle talk that ever issued
+from the lips or the pen of an inflated
+demagogue, this is the silliest and the
+worst. It presupposes an amount of
+ignorance on the part of his audience
+anything but flattering to the calibre
+of the Manchester intellect: indeed
+we hardly know which is most to be
+admired&mdash;its intense and transparent
+folly or its astounding audacity. The
+home trade is a thing altogether kept
+out of account in the foregoing
+splendid vision of a calico millennium.
+Mr Cobden, it will be seen, contemplates
+no home consumption, except
+in so far as the operative may provide
+himself with his own shirtings.
+The whole production of Britain is to
+be limited to manufactures; the whole
+supplies are to be derived from the
+hands of the reciprocating foreigner!</p>
+
+<p>There does not exist in this great
+and populous country any one class
+the labour of which can be restricted,
+or the profits curtailed, without an
+injurious result to the interests of the
+whole community. This is not simply
+a maxim of political economy; it is
+a distinct physical fact, which no ingenuity
+can controvert. Yet, strange
+to say, our rulers have acted, and are
+acting, with regard to by far the most
+important class of the country, as if
+no such fact were known; and they
+now profess to be amazed at its speedy
+and inevitable consequence. That
+agricultural distress must react upon
+the manufacturer, the trader, shopkeeper,
+and artisan, is as necessary a
+consequence as is a failure in the
+supply of water after a long-continued
+drought. If our taxation is artificial,
+and our national establishments costly,
+it must not be forgotten that our private
+expenditure is generally on the
+same scale. We consume within the
+country a far greater amount of manufactures
+than we can ever hope to export,
+and the only limit to that consumption
+is the power of purchase.
+The profits of the landowner, which
+depend upon the value of produce, do
+not constitute a fund which is removed
+from public circulation. On the contrary,
+these profits furnish the means
+of labour and employment to the
+greater portion of the industrious
+classes, who otherwise would have no
+resource; and if they are violently
+curtailed, it must needs follow that
+a large amount of employment is withdrawn.
+That is precisely our case at
+the present moment. By the admission
+of foreign produce, which is in
+fact foreign labour, the value of agricultural
+production in this country has
+fallen very nearly thirty per cent, and
+the consequence is a greatly diminished
+expenditure, and a slackening
+of employment grievously felt by those
+who are supported by manual labour.
+How, indeed, is it possible that it can
+be otherwise? A very little thought<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>
+must convince every one that all incomes
+in Britain must depend upon
+the amount and value of the national
+production, and that, by reducing and
+lowering that, a direct attack is made
+upon the profits of every kind of
+labour. It is singular that consequence
+so plain should ever have been
+overlooked; still more singular that
+statesmen should have been found to
+maintain an opposite theory. The
+only explanation we can suggest as
+to this singular departure from the leading
+principles of economical science
+is, that of late years Ministers have
+habitually consulted the interests of
+the capitalists rather than those of the
+people. Sir Robert Peel has invariably
+shown himself a capitalist legislator.
+At the outset of his career,
+and while under the Israelitish guidance
+of Ricardo, he succeeded in carrying
+those Currency measures which
+increased by nearly one-third the
+weight of the national obligations.
+Later in life we find him engaged in
+measures of arbitrary bank restriction,
+thereby occasioning commercial panics,
+and securing another rich harvest for
+the moneyed class. His tariffs and
+Free-trade measures exhibit precisely
+the same tendency. They are all
+constructed with a view to cheapness,
+or, what is the same thing, to the
+diminution of the value of labour, so
+that the fortune of the capitalist or
+fundholder is now virtually doubled:
+while the industrious classes, with a
+lowered rate of wage, are compelled
+to undergo the additional evil of unrestricted
+foreign competition.</p>
+
+<p>Let us now, for a brief space, proceed
+to consider the internal adjustment
+of the strength and industry of
+Britain. It is a subject well worthy
+of study, especially at the present
+moment, when a general feeling of
+perplexity prevails, and when those
+who unfortunately gave ear to the
+specious representations of the Free-traders
+are convinced of their error,
+but are yet in doubt whether it be
+possible to retrace our steps. It is a
+subject, moreover, upon which we are
+bound to enter, seeing that official
+cunning has been used to conceal the
+real posture of affairs in this country,
+and, by undervaluing the magnitude
+of some interests, to give a factitious
+and altogether imaginary importance
+to others. We trust that we shall be
+able to show, to the satisfaction of
+our readers, the gross extent to which
+this kind of delusion and imposture
+has been carried.</p>
+
+<p>Upon no subject whatever are more
+erroneous impressions entertained,
+than upon the relative importance and
+strength of the two great classes of
+the country. Of late it has been
+quietly assumed that the manufacturers
+are infinitely superior to the
+agriculturists, not only in point of
+numbers, but in respect of capital employed
+or available; and many people
+have been puzzled to understand why,
+if this should be the case, such vehement
+opposition should be made to
+any proposal for readjusting the direct
+and local taxation, which confessedly
+weighs most heavily upon the proprietors
+and occupiers of the land.
+We have been told, in as many words,
+that henceforward the voice of the
+towns is to dictate the policy of Britain&mdash;that
+the agriculturists are a
+worn-out class, scarce worth preserving&mdash;and
+the most influential of the
+Free-trade journals has not hesitated
+to recommend a wholesale emigration
+to the Antipodes, or any portion of the
+surface of the globe where corn can be
+cultivated cheaper than in England.
+We have been not only taunted, but
+threatened, whenever we presumed to
+expostulate. Reference was made to
+certain "masses," who were ready to
+rise in defence of perennial cheapness;
+and Mr Cobden has warned us not to
+provoke the exercise of that power
+which is vested in himself, as dictator
+of the democracy. In short, we have
+been given to understand that, if protection
+to native industry, in any
+shape, should be re-introduced&mdash;which
+only can be done by the will and legitimate
+sanction of Parliament&mdash;physical
+force shall not be wanting on the
+other side.</p>
+
+<p>The use of such language argues
+great ignorance of the national
+temper. We have heard a good
+deal lately of what is termed the
+dogged Anglo-Saxon spirit, the main
+characteristic of which we take to be
+its decided antagonism to bullying,
+and its inveterate hatred of coercion.
+It is too much to expect that a controversy
+such as this should be conducted
+without some asperity of language,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>
+and therefore we make no clamorous
+complaint when Mr Cobden,
+or his friends, think proper to designate
+the British agriculturists as
+"ignorant clodpoles" and "horse-shoe
+idiots," or the landed proprietors
+as "a selfish and degraded faction,"
+or the Protectionist press as the
+"hireling tools of oppression." These
+are very old and very harmless terms
+of rhetoric, and we are not sure that
+we can claim entire vindication from
+the charge of having retorted with
+tolerable energy. The real danger
+begins when men step beyond constitutional
+limits, and advocate resistance
+to the legislature by appealing
+to the passions, as they have pandered
+to the prejudices, of the mob.</p>
+
+<p>Having premised so much, we think
+no one can misinterpret our motives,
+if we set ourselves seriously to the
+task of refuting a great fallacy which
+has been hatched and propagated by
+the Free-traders. It is one so monstrous
+in itself that we hardly could
+have supposed that any man, who had
+reflected for a moment on the subject,
+could have yielded to the delusion:
+nevertheless, we believe it to be most
+common, and it has been over and
+over again repeated at public meetings,
+until it has lost its quality as an
+assertion, and been treated as a recognised
+fact. It is within the recollection
+of all of us, that, both within the
+walls of Parliament and at the great
+outward gatherings of the League, the
+superiority of the manufacturing over
+the agricultural interest of Great Britain
+was broadly asserted, and assumed
+as the basis of the leading argument
+of the Free-traders. Sir Robert Peel
+expressly adopted this view in 1846,
+while advocating the repeal of the
+policy, which he had hitherto professed
+to support; we say, <em>professed</em>, because
+no man now doubts&mdash;indeed, it
+is fairly admitted by himself, with
+something like a sneer of triumph&mdash;that
+for many years he had been
+practising a deliberate imposture on
+the public. This view necessarily
+must have had some foundation on
+authority, if not on fact; and we can
+trace that authority to a statistical
+writer, Mr Porter, on whose accuracy,
+and method of dealing with figures,
+far too much reliance has been placed
+by statesmen high in office.</p>
+
+<p>In dealing with the census of 1841,
+and compiling his tables with a view
+to show the relative occupations of
+the people, Mr Porter has adopted
+the ingenious plan of massing commerce,
+trade, and manufactures together,
+and exhibiting the aggregate
+of these in contradistinction to the
+purely agricultural interest! At page
+55 of the last edition of his <cite>Progress
+of the Nation</cite> we find this statement&mdash;"The
+following more elaborate table
+of the occupations of the population
+of Great Britain, as ascertained in
+1841, his been compiled from the
+Reports of the Census Commissioners.
+<em>It affords the best abstract</em> that has
+hitherto been attainable upon this
+important branch of political arithmetic."</p>
+
+<p>We turn to the table indicated in
+this modest passage, and we find the
+following results for Great Britain
+alone:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="GB">
+<tr><td align="left">Persons engaged in commerce, trade, and manufacture,</td><td align="right">3,092,787</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Agriculture,</td><td align="right">1,490,785</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Labour not agricultural,</td><td align="right">758,495</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p>This, of course, is exclusive of the
+army, navy, learned professions,
+domestic servants, and various other
+employments, besides women and
+children. In another table, Mr Porter,
+estimating the male population of
+Great Britain, (excluding Ireland,)
+who were then upwards of twenty
+years of age, at 4,761,091, divides
+them thus:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="males">
+<tr><td align="left">Agriculture,</td><td align="left">1,198,156</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Trade, manufactures, &amp;c.,</td><td align="left">2,125,496</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Other classes,</td><td align="left">1,437,439</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="right" class="bt">4,761,091</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p>If, as Mr Spackman most properly
+observes in his excellent work, the
+<cite>Analysis of the Occupations of the
+People</cite>, one of the principal objects of
+taking the census is to trace the
+relative degree of dependence of one
+class upon another, how can this be
+done if all the trade and commerce of
+the country is to be mixed up with
+manufactures? "Mr Porter would
+have us to consider trade and commerce,
+<em>and manufactures</em> as synonymous
+terms, and that together they
+only form one class; and he seems to
+be so thoroughly haunted with the
+numerical weakness of the manufacturing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>
+interest, that his fear of its
+being discovered peeps out in every
+paragraph; and, by mixing them up in
+every table in which they are mentioned
+in his book, with those engaged
+in trade and commerce, he has
+effectually succeeded in his object."</p>
+
+<p>As we propose to lay before our
+readers the results of Mr Spackman,
+it may be proper shortly to state
+the principles which have guided
+him in his classification of the
+official returns. He recognises but
+two great classes of the community
+engaged in the production of wealth,
+and upon these he justly considers
+the whole of the remainder to be
+dependent. The following extract
+from his preface will sufficiently
+explain his view:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Of the number of persons actually employed
+by the agriculturists and manufacturers,
+no difference of opinion can exist,
+as we have adopted the Government classification
+in every instance, and copied the
+figures given in the returns. We believe
+this classification to be correct in principle,
+and but slightly erroneous in
+details.</p>
+
+<p>"Political economists may exercise
+their ingenuity by calling in question this
+classification, but we believe it is the
+only one that accurately traces the dependence
+of an individual on the one or
+the other interest; and, as this is the
+primary object of all such matters, if it
+attains this end, it is sufficient for all
+purposes. By the landed interest we
+mean not only the proprietors of the soil,
+but all that are engaged in its cultivation,
+and all the interests that are
+dependent on and supported by both
+landlord and tenant. An agriculturist
+is one who grows the raw material. The
+manufacturer changes the fabric from
+cotton into calico, flax into linen, wool
+into cloth, raw into manufactured silk,
+mineral ores into various combinations
+of metals, and the skin of an animal into
+leather.</p>
+
+<p>"All besides the agriculturists and
+the manufacturers are auxiliaries, not
+principals. Thus the handicraftsman
+alters the form, but not the substance,
+and adapts the article to the use of the
+consumer,&mdash;so the miller, baker, and
+butcher; the tailor, milliner, and shoemaker.</p>
+
+<p>"There is also a very numerous class,
+who neither produce, manufacture, nor
+alter the shape or substance of an article,
+and these are called merchants, if they
+buy and sell in a wholesale manner, or
+shopkeepers and retail dealers if they
+sell by retail. The business of these is
+to distribute all articles imported from
+abroad or produced at home, through
+every city, town, and village, in the
+United Kingdom; and the Government
+definition of all these auxiliaries is
+'engaged in trade and commerce.'</p>
+
+<p>"The dependence of any particular
+class engaged in trade and commerce, or
+in handicraft, is not upon the party who
+produces, alters, or supplies the article,
+but on the individual who consumes it;
+and if there is any tax whatever on the
+raw material, or on anything used in its
+manufacture, adaptation, or distribution,
+it is on him that all and every item of
+such tax, together with all profits and
+charges, must ultimately fall.</p>
+
+<p>"Inasmuch, however, as there is no
+wealth in this country of any amount, but
+what has been derived either from agriculture
+or manufactures, nor any of
+which the value is not determined by
+the success of these, so again this consumer,
+whatever his rank or position in
+society may be, is mainly dependent on
+them. The rental of land, the income
+from houses, or investments in the public
+funds, are merely the representatives of
+so much labour; and the means necessary
+to pay them are principally drawn from
+either agriculture or manufactures.</p>
+
+<p>"Our annual creation of wealth may
+be thus stated:&mdash;</p></blockquote>
+
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="annual">
+<tr><td align="left">Agriculture,</td><td align="right">£250,000,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Manufactures, deducting the value of the raw material,</td><td align="right">127,000,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Money interest,</td><td align="right">37,000,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Colonial interest,</td><td align="right">18,000,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Foreign commerce, (including shipping interest,) 10 per cent on amount of exports and imports,</td><td align="right">15,000,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Fisheries,</td><td align="right">3,000,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="right" class="bt">£450,000,000"</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p><em>And from one or other of these does
+every individual in the land derive his income
+or means of support.</em> The Peer
+of the realm, the landed proprietor,
+the Government annuitant, the clergyman,
+the medical and the legal adviser,
+with the banker, merchant, dealer, and
+handicraftsman of every class and
+kind,&mdash;derive what is necessary to
+support their state and condition, and
+their daily sustenance, from these
+spring-heads of national wealth.
+This is the substance of the nation,
+and what we call money consists
+merely of the counters we use to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>
+denote and measure the value of this
+substance as it passes from one to
+another.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"To do equal justice to all classes, the
+legislation of a country ought, therefore,
+to keep steadily in view their relative
+importance, not only as regards numbers,
+but also their powers of production, and
+the proportion which they severally bear
+of the national burdens. Unless this is
+the governing principle, it strikes at the
+root of their prosperity, and the injury
+inflicted on a class is evinced in the
+gradual decay of the whole community."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Acting upon these distinct, and, we
+submit, perfectly sound principles,
+Mr Spackman has compiled his tables
+in the following manner. The Government
+returns are quite explicit as to
+the number of those engaged directly
+in agriculture and in manufactures.
+Mr Spackman takes each county
+separately; and having set down the
+relative numbers of each class, he
+divides the remainder of the population
+between these according to their proportion.
+For example, let us instance
+his table of the county of Lanark,
+which is the great seat of Scottish
+manufactures. We find, from the
+official returns, that the following
+numbers are directly engaged:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="divided">
+<tr><td align="left">In Agriculture,</td><td align="right">13,169</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">In Manufactures of all kinds,</td><td align="right">61,378</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p>The residue of the population being
+352,425, he divides in the same
+proportion, and thus gives us as a
+result:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="left">Engaged in Agriculture,</td><td align="right">13,169</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Dependent on,</td><td align="right" class="bb">62,257</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="right">75,426</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Engaged in Manufactures,</td><td align="right">61,378</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Dependent on,</td><td align="right" class="bb">290,168</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" class="bb">351,546</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">Total of county,</td><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="right">426,972</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p>In the same way, by estimating the
+population of Perthshire directly
+employed in agriculture and manufactures,
+Mr Spackman forms his
+table thus,&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="engaged">
+<tr><td align="left">Engaged in Agriculture,</td><td align="right">16,302</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Dependent on,</td><td align="right" class="bb">64,233</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="right">80,535</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Engaged in Manufactures,</td><td align="right">11,509</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Dependent on,</td><td align="right" class="bb">45,346</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" class="bb">56,855</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">Total of County,</td><td align="left">&nbsp;</td><td align="right">137,390</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p>The grand result for the United
+Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
+is as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="grand result">
+<tr><td align="left">Engaged in, and dependent on agriculture,</td><td align="right">18,734,468</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Engaged in, and dependent on manufactures,</td><td align="right">8,091,621</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Population, exclusive of those travelling on night of census,</td><td align="right" class="bt">26,826,089</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p>Lest it should be said that Mr
+Spackman has acted upon any wrong
+principle in framing these tables&mdash;for
+we know by experience that a certain
+class of political economists can see no
+virtue in any figures which are not of
+their own construction&mdash;let us turn to
+the Government reports, and extract
+from them the number of males <em>directly</em>
+employed in the two great branches of
+production.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center"><br /><span class="smcap">Agriculture.</span></p>
+
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="agriculture">
+<tr><td align="left">Farmers and Graziers,</td><td align="right">737,206</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Agricultural Labourers,</td><td align="right">2,312,388</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Gardeners, Nurserymen, &amp;c.</td><td align="right">60,767</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">All others,</td><td align="right">9,196</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">Total Males,</td><td align="right" class="bt">3,118,557</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+<p class="center"><br /><span class="smcap">Manufactures.</span></p>
+
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="manufactures">
+<tr><td align="left">Above 20,</td><td align="right">717,780</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Under 20,</td><td align="right">168,964</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">Total Males,</td><td align="right" class="bt">886,744</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+<p>"It will thus be seen," says Mr
+Spackman, "that the farmers and
+graziers alone, as a body, are more
+in number than all the males above
+twenty years of age employed in
+manufactures, and only 150,000 short
+of the whole number of males of all
+ages so employed. If we add the two
+and a quarter millions of labourers
+which these farmers and graziers give
+employment to, the <em>male</em> population
+employed in agriculture are nearly as
+four to one compared with those employed
+in manufactures. The same
+remark will also apply as to age: those
+above twenty are four to one; those
+under twenty are nearly two to one."</p>
+
+<p>We put forward these statements<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>
+with no other view than to exhibit to
+our readers the national importance
+of that agricultural interest which has
+been so bitterly assailed, and which
+is threatened still by a heavier accession
+of calamity. If the bastard system
+of Free Trade is to be considered
+according to its influence on the welfare
+of the majority of the people of
+Britain, there can be no doubt to
+which side the vast preponderance
+belongs. The "horse-shoe idiots,"
+though dull in intellect, are numerous
+in the flesh to an extent of which,
+perhaps, even Mr Cobden was little
+aware. It is quite true that the extended
+area over which they are disposed
+does not afford them the same
+means of combination which are within
+the reach of the inhabitants of the
+factories. The agriculturalists have no
+wish to interfere with their neighbours'
+livelihood, and little inclination to
+move at the bidding of mercenary demagogues.
+They seldom speak until
+suffering or a sense of injustice compels
+them to appeal to the legislature:
+and their unwillingness to join in
+agitation has, ere now, been made
+subject of taunt against them. Were
+it otherwise, we should not attach
+one half the importance which we do
+to the movement which is visible all
+over the face of agricultural England&mdash;a
+movement which the advocates
+of Free Trade may affect to despise,
+but which, in reality, has struck them
+with consternation. And no wonder
+that the movement should have been
+made. Let us pass from the mere
+numerical consideration, and look to the
+extent of property which is embarked
+on the one side and on the other.</p>
+
+<p>We have already stated the annual
+value of the agricultural production of
+these kingdoms to be £250,000,000,
+whilst that of manufactures is little
+more than £127,000,000. To
+this latter sum we must add about
+£50,000,000, being the estimated cost
+of the raw material, if we wish to calculate
+from the exports the importance
+of the home market compared with
+that which is to be found abroad.
+For example, if the declared value of
+the exports shall amount to 69 millions,
+we are entitled to assume that
+about 117 millions are consumed at
+home in a year of ordinary prosperity.
+This, of course, is no more than an
+approximation to the truth, but it is
+the nearest which can be made from
+such documents, reports, and returns,
+as are accessible to the statist. Let
+us take Mr Spackman's estimate of
+the capital employed, referring our
+readers for the details to his exceedingly
+interesting work.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center"><br /><span class="smcap">Agricultural Capital.</span></p>
+
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="capital">
+<tr><td align="left">Value of the Land, at 25 years' purchase of the annual rental of Great Britain and Ireland, amounting, to £58,753,615</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="left">£1,500,000,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Farmers' capital, employed in the cultivation of the soil, independent of the stock on hand, at all times, of cattle, grain, &amp;c., £5 to £6 per acre on 46,522,970 acres, about</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="left">250,000,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Stock in hand&mdash;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">About 7,500,000 head of cattle,</td><td align="left">}</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">About 31,000,000 sheep and lambs,</td><td align="left">}</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">About 1,500,000 horses,</td><td align="left">}</td><td align="right">250,000,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">About £50,000,000 value of timber,</td><td align="left">}</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">On an average, three months stock of grain, seeds, hay, and other produce always on hand,</td><td align="left">}</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">Estimated agricultural capital</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td align="right" class="bt bb">£2,000,000,000</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p class="center"><br /><span class="smcap">Manufacturing Capital.</span></p>
+
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Manufacturing Capital">
+<tr><td align="left">In Cotton,</td><td align="right">£24,500,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;&nbsp;" Woollen,</td><td align="right">16,500,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;&nbsp;" Linen,</td><td align="right">7,000,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;&nbsp;" Silk,</td><td align="right">4,000,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;&nbsp;" Lace,</td><td align="right">2,000,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">&nbsp;&nbsp;" Hose,</td><td align="right">1,000,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">All others,</td><td align="right">23,000,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right">Estimated manufacturing capital,</td><td align="right" class="bt bb">£78,000,000</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The first reflection which must
+come home to the mind of every one
+who considers these tables, is the
+astounding audacity of those who
+have characterised the landlords as a
+grasping and rapacious class. Singular,
+nay, almost incredible as it
+may appear, the annual value of the
+production of manufactures is nearly
+double the amount of the whole capital
+invested. This fact sufficiently
+explains the manner in which so
+many colossal fortunes have been
+realised, while it also suggests very
+painful reflections as to the condition
+of the operatives who are the creators
+of all this wealth. But what are we
+to think of the conduct of the men
+who, not content with such enormous
+returns, have leagued together to
+swell them to a greater amount, by
+demanding the free importation of
+foreign produce, under the pretext
+that the people were oppressed by the
+continuance of a system which gave
+remunerative prices, continuous employment,
+and the means of livelihood
+to two-thirds of their aggregate
+number? We acquit many of the
+leading and most respectable manufacturers
+from being participators in
+any such scheme. Those connected
+with the home trade have very generally
+been opposed to the application
+of the Free-trade doctrines, the
+leading advocates of which were
+comprised of men who manufactured
+solely for exportation, and whose
+goods were neither intended nor
+adapted for British consumption. It
+was for the exclusive benefit, as at
+the instigation of the latter, that the
+Corn Laws were repealed. Few can
+be sorry&mdash;we confess we are not&mdash;that
+even they have been disappointed
+in their expectations. No tariffs have
+been relaxed in consequence of the
+ill-omened surrender; on the contrary,
+the Continental states, as well
+as the Americans, are protecting their
+own manufactures with increased
+vigilance; whilst, on the other hand,
+they are availing themselves of our
+folly, by deluging our market with
+their agricultural produce, securing
+by these means the double advantage
+of promoting both branches of industry.
+Never was there a vainer
+notion than the chimera that other
+states would abandon their rising
+manufactures to reciprocate with
+Great Britain, when that haughty
+power had deliberately deprived herself
+of the means of enforcing reciprocity.
+<em>The countries from which we
+import the largest amount of grain are
+not the countries which take the largest
+amount of our manufactures.</em> Even
+if the case were otherwise, we maintain
+that we should be heavy losers,
+and in no way gainers, by the transaction.
+Nationally, this is so clear
+that we need not waste words by
+arguing the point; but we go further
+and say that, even had other states
+reciprocated, the manufacturers, as a
+body, could not have been gainers by
+Free Trade, unless the relative proportions
+between the amount of
+home and foreign consumption had
+been entirely changed. For, so long
+as two-thirds of our whole manufactures
+are annually consumed in Britain,
+the condition of the consumers
+there, and their power of purchase,
+must be a matter of greater importance
+to the manufacturer than that of
+consumers abroad. The interest of
+the shopkeepers and of the artisans is
+almost entirely bound up with the home
+trade; and nothing can be more suicidal
+to the traders than to give
+any countenance to a system which
+strikes at the amount of their profits,
+by crippling the means of their customers.</p>
+
+<p>Were our object merely to show
+the glaring injustice which has been
+done to the landed interest, we could
+proceed much further in disentangling
+details from the confusion into which
+they have been purposely thrown, by
+such statistical writers as Mr Porter.
+But we apprehend that, in the present
+temper of the nation, there is little
+occasion for this. Men of all classes
+have had that opportunity which experience
+can alone give, of testing in
+their own individual case the advantages
+which were so confidently predicted
+by those who advocated the
+commercial change. Those who have
+benefited by it will, of course, remain
+Free traders. We are not unreasonable
+enough to expect that they will
+abandon that policy which is profitable
+to themselves, even though they
+should be convinced that it has proved
+the reverse of profitable to others.
+But we can conscientiously say, that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>
+we are acquainted with very few such
+persons. In the country they do not
+exist: in the towns, we hear of nothing
+except continued and weary depression.
+Almost every day fresh complaints of
+want of employment are thrust upon
+us. Establishments are reduced, because
+those who were considered
+wealthy, and those whose wealth depended
+upon produce, have no longer the
+means to support them as before:
+even professional incomes are declining:
+and no one ventures now to
+indulge in that expenditure which,
+four or five years ago, gave an impulse
+to the industry of the people.
+All this we believe to be acknowledged,
+and we have heard it from
+the lips of many whose political
+creed is quite at variance with our
+own.</p>
+
+<p>Most important testimony to the
+same effect was borne, at the recent
+meeting in Liverpool, by gentlemen
+who, from profession and connection,
+belong to the mercantile and trading classes
+of the community. It is no
+vague apprehension of coming evil,
+no slight or ephemeral touch of distress,
+which has elicited declarations
+of opinion so strong as were there
+expressed. The urgency of the case
+is felt and acknowledged; and ere
+long we have not the slightest doubt
+that demonstrations of similar magnitude
+and importance will take place
+in other of the English towns.</p>
+
+<p>From what we have already said,
+it will be gathered that we recommend
+no hasty or precipitate movement.
+Our strength lies in the justice
+of our cause, and in the palpable
+failure of the measures against which
+we have emphatically protested.
+This is not a question of mere sentiment,
+regarding which men can long
+continue to maintain divided opinions.
+It is a practical question, affecting not
+only the general welfare of the kingdom,
+but the property and means of
+every man who lives and thrives
+through his industry. It is essentially
+a labour question, and, as such, it
+cannot long remain without receiving
+a distinct solution. In the mean
+time, however, it is our duty to make
+preparation for the change which may
+arrive at no distant period. The
+various Protection societies which
+are everywhere organised, offer to
+those who condemn the present line of
+policy the best opportunity of concentrating
+their efforts, and of contributing
+to the ultimate triumph of
+the cause. These societies must be
+supported, for, under existing
+circumstances, they are of the utmost value.
+They present a ready channel through
+which the wishes and situation of the
+people can be communicated to the legislature
+or the throne; they establish
+and preserve communication between
+neighbouring districts; and
+they supply useful information, and
+disseminate sound principles, in quarters
+where good political knowledge is
+most especially required. We trust
+that no one who entertains opinions
+similar to our own, and who is deeply
+impressed with the necessity of a return
+to the just system of Protection,
+will be backward in lending his aid to
+these institutions. From the peculiar
+position of the agricultural party, such
+combinations are absolutely necessary,
+in order to arrive at a just estimate of
+our strength, and the true sentiments
+of the nation. Private efforts, however
+energetically made, are ineffectual
+in compassion with this system of
+union and of order; and although we
+know that agitation is in itself a thing
+distasteful to many, the emergency of
+the case is such that we are imperatively
+bound to adopt all legitimate
+means for the furtherance of our
+object. It may be that under no
+circumstances whatever can redress be
+obtained from the present Parliament.
+We have already adverted to the
+peculiar causes which would seem to
+render such an expectation at best a
+forlorn hope; yet still that furnishes
+no reason for relaxing in our efforts.
+The Whig Ministry&mdash;by the confession
+of men of all parties&mdash;has a most
+precarious tenure of office. Already
+the House of Peers has passed its
+gravest censure upon the course of
+foreign policy which has been pursued&mdash;a
+course of which it is difficult
+to say whether its most prominent
+feature is culpable recklessness or
+glaring dishonesty. We do not know
+what may be the decision of the House
+of Commons upon a point of such
+importance, or whether unscrupulous
+influence, and the dread of a dissolution,
+may not overcome the dictates of
+honour and the force of private judgement<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>
+in the more popular assembly.
+But, whatever may be the fiat of the
+Commons, this at least is clear, that
+a severe blow has been given to the
+stability of the Whig Government. Beyond
+the walls of Parliament they
+have hardly any support upon a question
+which threatens to involve us
+in direct hostility with France; and
+nothing could have more effectually
+damaged them, even in this wretched
+business, than the acerbity of the tone
+assumed by Lord John Russell with
+regard to the European powers, who
+are most justly incensed at the paltering
+and bad faith of the political incendiary
+who, to the misfortune of
+this country, has been intrusted
+with the management of foreign
+affairs. Neither the honour nor the
+interests of Britain are safe in such
+hands. Therefore we say to the men
+of the Country Party&mdash;Be prepared to
+act, for no one can tell how soon the
+moment for action may arrive. Ours
+is a great cause, and it must not be
+imperilled by slothfulness or inactivity
+at a crisis which requires the
+exertion of all our energies, and the
+combination of all our powers. Let
+us but be true to ourselves, and
+ultimate success is certain. Delusions
+may for a time have taken hold
+of the public mind; but the endurance
+of all delusions is short, and the mist
+is rapidly dissipating. Let any man
+compare the state of public feeling as
+it exists now, with what it was but
+twelve months ago, and he cannot fail
+to be impressed with the amazing
+rapidity of the change. And yet, why
+should he wonder at it? The industry
+of the nation is at stake, and what
+marvel that the people should demand
+their own?</p>
+
+<p>That cheapness of itself is no blessing,
+even our opponents admit in the
+arguments which they try to direct
+against us. Read their accounts of
+the squalidness and poverty which
+prevail in the larger towns&mdash;the testimony
+which has been laboriously collected
+as to the lamentable fall of
+wages, and the diminished profits of
+thousands employed in the lower kinds
+of handicraft. Undoubtedly competition
+among themselves has contributed
+to this state of matters; but in no
+degree at all commensurate to the
+great decline which has taken place
+since we commenced the ruinous system
+of reducing customs duties. Mr
+Joseph Hume once ventured to maintain,
+in the House of Commons, "that
+England might exist and prosper as a
+purely manufacturing and commercial
+country, if it did not grow a single
+bushel of corn,&mdash;if, in exchange for its
+manufactures and minerals, it imported
+from the cheap corn-producing
+countries every quarter of wheat required
+in this country!" How far
+that statement is compatible with the
+ascertained sources of the national
+wealth, we leave our readers to decide.
+This much, however, we shall say, that
+England, so situated, would be a very
+different country from that which we
+have known; and that the wildernesses
+of the West would offer a place of abode
+infinitely preferable to that which we
+could enjoy here under the gentle sway
+of the Millocrats, and the enlightened
+legislation of the Economists.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center space-above"><em>Printed by William Blackwood &amp; 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> <cite>Histoire des Ducs de Guise.</cite> Par <span class="smcap">Réné de
+Bouillé</span>, ancien ministre plénipotentiaire.
+Volume the First. Paris: 1849.</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> Francis of Lorraine was eighteen years old when slain at Pavia. One of his
+brothers had fallen, at about the same age, at the battle of Marignano.</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> Having ourselves seen the Old Guard on this trying occasion, we can vouch for
+the general fidelity of Chateaubriand's narrative.</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">Macaulay's</span> <cite>Essays</cite>, ii. 230.</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">Machabies.</span></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> M. de Chateaubriand died in 1847, before the Revolution of 1848.</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> Men employed in the stowing of ships' cargoes.</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> Looking into Homer's <cite>Iliad</cite> here for a passage to correspond with the account
+given by the naval man, one is somewhat at a loss; but at the end of the second
+book of the <cite>Odyssey</cite> there occur lines which might not improbably have been those
+recited. They are such as might well, in the original, excite longings after sea-life,
+and revive feelings of the kind most natural to the seafaring character, apparently
+known to Captain Collins only as "Jones." Will the readers of Maga accept, illustratively,
+of a rough translation?&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Then to Telemachus glided on board divinest Athenè,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Where on the poop she sat, and near her Telemachus rested.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Then were the moorings loosed by the mariners coming aboard her,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Joyous coming on board, and seated apart on the benches.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A fair westerly breeze by the blue-eyed goddess was wafted,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Cheerfully rippling along, and over the deep-coloured ocean.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Now to his shipmates shouted Telemachus, while to the oar-blades<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Leapt the impatient surge, till each at his order obeying,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Stepped they the pine-mast then in the mast-hole ready amidships,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Firmly staying it both ways down; and next by the well-twisted hide-thongs,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Snowily spreading abroad, the sails drew fluttering downward.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And in the sail-breast blew the bellying wind with a murmur,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The purple wave hissed from the prow of the bark in its motion;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Into the riotous wave she plunged, pursuing her voyage.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But when their oars they drew back to the galley securely,&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The swift, dark-sided bark, as she full on her journey exulted&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Then to her foaming beak they brought the o'er-bubbling goblet<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of red-hued wine, and poured out on her head a libation<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To the immortal gods, that dwell in the sky and in ocean,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But to the blue-eyed daughter of Jupiter mostly, Athené.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">All night then they sailed, till the morning rose on their voyage.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+</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> Lascar boatswain's mate.</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> It is of importance to keep in view that it never was asserted that the <em>first</em> move,
+the 26th, had not been sufficiently examined; and it will be immediately seen that
+that move was adhered to, no attempt being made to recall it. The truth is, that the
+London Club could not have played a better move than their 27th. Their mistake,
+as was first discovered by the Edinburgh Club, was in the 26th move, the one
+adhered to <em>after examination</em>.</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>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume
+68, No. 417, July, 1850, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE, JULY 1850 ***
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 68,
+No. 417, July, 1850, 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 68, No. 417, July, 1850
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: December 3, 2013 [EBook #44338]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE, JULY 1850 ***
+
+
+
+
+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.
+
+  VOL. LXVIII.
+
+  JULY-DECEMBER, 1850.
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+  WILLIAM BLACKWOOD & SONS, EDINBURGH;
+
+  AND
+
+  37 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.
+
+  1850.
+
+
+
+
+BLACKWOOD'S
+
+EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.
+
+  NO. CCCCXVII.       JULY, 1850.       VOL. LXVIII.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+  THE HOUSE OF GUISE,                                          1
+
+  MY PENINSULAR MEDAL. BY AN OLD PENINSULAR. CONCLUSION,      20
+
+  CHATEAUBRIAND'S MEMOIRS,                                    33
+
+  THE GREEN HAND--A "SHORT" YARN. PART XI.,                   48
+
+  THE JEW BILL,                                               73
+
+  THE PICTURES OF THE SEASON,                                 77
+
+  THE YEAR OF SORROW.--IRELAND--1849,                         93
+
+  LONDON AND EDINBURGH CHESS MATCH,                           97
+
+  THE INDUSTRY OF THE PEOPLE,                                106
+
+
+EDINBURGH:
+
+WILLIAM BLACKWOOD & 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. CCCCXVII.       JULY, 1850.       VOL. LXVIII.
+
+
+
+
+THE HOUSE OF GUISE.[1]
+
+  [1] _Histoire des Ducs de Guise._ Par RENE DE BOUILLE, ancien
+  ministre plenipotentiaire. Volume the First. Paris: 1849.
+
+
+Upon the page of history are inscribed the names of many great men,
+uncrowned, but more illustrious than most kings, whose biography
+essentially involves the records of their country and times. The
+cases are very rare in which this occurs of an entire lineage;
+when through several successive generations the same extraordinary
+qualities are transmitted, and the hero or statesman who perished
+yesterday, to-day and to-morrow seems to start again to life in the
+persons of descendants who rival and even eclipse his fame. These
+remarkable and most unfrequent instances are exemplified in the
+house of Guise, those puissant nobles of Lorraine, immigrant into
+and naturalised in France, who for eighty years led the armies and
+directed the councils of their adopted country. Great warriors, bold
+and profound politicians, unscrupulous and interested champions of
+Rome, alternately defenders of and competitors for thrones, they
+upheld their power and pretensions by the double lever of religious
+enthusiasm, and of skilful appeals to the sympathy of the people.
+Rich in glory, in wealth, in popularity, they were alternately
+indispensable and formidable to their sovereigns, and were virtually
+the last representatives of that energetic, able, and arrogant
+aristocracy, whose services to the state were often limited by
+the jealousy their power inspired, and whose patriotism was not
+unfrequently tarnished by their factious temper and unbounded
+ambition. From an early period of the sixteenth century, the
+influence of Guise was felt in France, for the most part paramount
+to that of royalty itself; until the might and glory of the house
+sank and disappeared beneath the daggers of assassins, and before
+the conquering sword of the Fourth Henry.
+
+The history of France during the sixteenth century necessarily
+comprises the public acts of the family of Guise, and the memoirs
+of the time abound in personal details of the members of that
+renowned house; but a work especially devoted to them was still
+a desideratum, until the appearance of that which M. Rene de
+Bouille has just produced. One of the chief difficulties of his
+task must have been to avoid including the history of the century
+in that of the extraordinary men so intimately connected with its
+chief events. Whilst confining himself as much as possible to his
+immediate subject, he has yet, as he himself says, found his horizon
+of necessity extensive. And in order to assemble in one frame the
+various members of that celebrated family, he has been compelled
+to admit with them a host of other personages, who in their turn
+have brought a retinue, and have insisted on at least a corner of
+the canvass being allotted to their deeds. The manner in which M. de
+Bouille has treated this great historical picture, whose magnitude
+and difficulty must have deterred a less zealous and persevering
+artist, is most judicious. "I have been as sparing as possible of
+discussion," he says, "prodigal perhaps, on the other hand, of
+cotemporary evidence, of faithful quotations, of such details as
+bring facts into a stronger light, exhibit the actors on the stage
+in a more animated manner, and display and make known, of and by
+themselves, the personages, parties, manners and spirit of the
+times, and the character of the situations." M. de Bouille claims,
+as a matter of justice, credit for conscientious application, and
+declares his whole aim will have been attained if his work be
+admitted to possess historical interest and utility. No impartial
+critic will refuse it these qualities. It is at once substantial
+and agreeable; valuable to the student, and attractive to those who
+consider histories of the Middle Ages as fascinating collections of
+strange adventures and romantic enterprises.
+
+Rene the Second, reigning duke of Lorraine--the same who fought and
+conquered with the Swiss at Morat, and defeated Charles the Bold at
+Nancy--desired to see one of his sons settled in France. He selected
+the fifth, Claude, to whom he left by will his various lordships in
+Normandy, Picardy, and other French provinces, causing him to be
+naturalised a Frenchman, and sending him at a very early age to the
+court of France, where he was presented as Count de Guise, a title
+derived from one of his domains. The young count found immediate
+favour with Louis XII., to the hand of whose daughter Renee he was
+considered a likely aspirant. But he fell in love with Antoinette
+de Bourbon, daughter of Count de Vendome, (the great-grandfather of
+Henry IV.,) asked and obtained her in marriage, and celebrated his
+wedding, when he was but sixteen years of age, in 1513, at Paris,
+in presence of the whole French court. The following year another
+wedding occurred, but this time youth was on one side only. In his
+infirm and declining age, Louis XII. took to wife the blooming
+sister of Harry VIII. of England, and honoured Guise by selecting
+him to go, in company with the Duke of Angouleme and other princes
+of the blood, to receive his bride at Boulogne. The wedding was
+quickly followed by a funeral, and Francis I. sat upon the throne.
+This chivalrous and warlike monarch at once took his young cousin of
+Guise into high favour, to which he had a fair claim, not only by
+reason of his birth, and of his alliance with the house of Bourbon,
+but on account of his eminent capacity, and of the martial qualities
+whose future utility Francis doubtless foresaw. To his triumphs in
+the field, Guise preluded by others less sanguinary, but in their
+kind as brilliant, in the lists and in the drawing room. His grace
+and magnificence were celebrated even at a court of which those were
+the distinguishing characteristics, thronged as it was with princes
+and nobles, most of them, like the king himself, in the first flush
+of youth, and with keen appetites for those enjoyments which their
+wealth gave them ample means to command. He gained great credit by
+his prowess at the jousts and tournament held at Paris on occasion
+of the coronation, and his conduct in another circumstance secured
+him the favour of the ladies of that gallant and voluptuous court.
+"One night," says his historian, "he accompanied Francis I. to the
+queen's circle, composed of those ladies most distinguished by their
+charms and amiability. Struck by the brilliancy and fascination of
+the scene, unusual at a time when custom, by assigning to women a
+sort of inferior position, or at least of reserve, interdicted their
+mingling in the conversation, and to a certain extent in the society
+of men, Guise communicated his impression to the king, who received
+it favourably, and at once decided that, throughout the whole
+kingdom, women should be freed from this unjust and undesirable
+constraint." It will easily be conceived that such an emancipation
+insured Guise the suffrages of the fair and influential class who
+benefited by it. From his first arrival at the French court he seems
+to have made it his study to win universal favour; and he was so
+promptly successful that, at the end of a very few months, he had
+conquered the goodwill of both nobility and army. He took pains to
+study and adapt his conduct to the character of all with whom he
+came in contact, thus laying the foundation of the long popularity
+which he and his successors enjoyed in France.
+
+But courtly pleasures and diversions were quickly to be succeeded
+by the sterner business of war. At his death, Louis XII. had left
+all things prepared for an Italian campaign; and Francis, eager
+to signalise his accession by the recovery of the Milanese, moved
+southwards in the month of August 1515, at the head of the finest
+troops that had yet crossed the boundary line between France and
+Italy. His army consisted of fifteen thousand excellent cavalry,
+twenty-two thousand lansquenets, fourteen thousand French and
+Gascon infantry, besides pioneers and a numerous artillery. The
+Constable of Bourbon led the van, the Duke of Alencon commanded the
+rear; Francis himself headed the main body, accompanied by Duke
+Anthony of Lorraine, (eldest brother of Guise,) with Bayard for his
+lieutenant, and by the Duke of Gueldres, captain-general of the
+lansquenets, whose lieutenant was the Count de Guise. If the army
+was good, none, assuredly, ever reckoned greater warriors amongst
+its leaders. Guise, during the passage of the Alps--accomplished by
+extraordinary labour, and which completely surprised the enemy--made
+himself remarkable by his constancy and activity, by the wisdom of
+his counsels, and by his generosity to the soldiers, thus further
+augmenting the affection they already bore him. Bayard and other
+illustrious officers formed his habitual society; and in him they
+found the most cordial and affable of comrades, as well as the most
+zealous advocate of their interests with the king. Devoted to his
+sovereign, Guise, when Francis somewhat over-hastily promised the
+Swiss an exorbitant sum of money as the price of the Milanese, nobly
+offered to contribute to it to the extent of all he possessed. The
+treaty, however, was broken by the Swiss. Steel, not gold, was to
+settle the dispute; and the plains of Marignano already trembled at
+the approach of the hostile armies. At the age of eighteen, Guise
+found himself general-in-chief of twenty thousand men. The Duke of
+Gueldres, having been recalled to his dominions by an invasion of
+the Brabanters, transferred his command to his young lieutenant, at
+the unanimous entreaty of the lansquenets, and in preference to all
+the French princes there present. In the quickly ensuing battle,
+Guise showed himself worthy of his high post. In the course of the
+combat, when the Swiss, with lowered pikes and in stern silence,
+made one of those deadly charges which in the wars of the previous
+century had more than once disordered the array of Burgundy's
+chivalry, the lansquenets, who covered the French artillery, gave
+way. Claude of Lorraine, immovable in the front rank, shamed them
+by his example; they rallied; the guns, already nearly captured,
+were saved; the battle continued with greater fierceness than
+before, and ceased only with darkness. Daybreak was the signal
+for its resumption, and at last the Swiss were defeated. After
+breaking their battalions, Guise, over eager in pursuit, and already
+twice wounded, had his horse killed under him, was surrounded,
+overmatched, and left for dead, with twenty-two wounds. Nor would
+these have been all, but for the devotedness of an esquire, whose
+name Brantome has handed down as a model of fidelity. Adam Fouvert
+of Nuremberg threw himself on his master's body, and was slain,
+serving as his shield. After the action, Guise was dragged out
+from amongst the dead, and conveyed by a Scottish gentleman to the
+tent of the Duke of Lorraine. He was scarcely recognisable, by
+reason of his wounds; he gave no sign of life, and his recovery was
+deemed hopeless. He did recover, however, thanks to great care,
+and still more to the vigorous constitution and energetic vitality
+which distinguished all of his house, and without which the career
+of most of them would have been very short. Scarcely one of the
+prominent members of that family but received, in the martial
+ardour of his youth, wounds whose severity made their cure resemble
+a miracle. A month after the battle of Marignano, Guise, although
+still suffering, was able to accompany Francis I. on his triumphant
+entry into Milan, "as captain-general of the lansquenets, with four
+lieutenants, all dressed in cloth of gold and white velvet." One
+of his arms was in a scarf, one of his thighs had to be supported
+by an esquire, but still, by his manly beauty and martial fame, he
+attracted the admiring gaze of both army and people. Francis, in his
+report to his mother of the battle, named Guise amongst the bravest,
+as well he might; and thenceforward his great esteem for the young
+hero was testified in various ways--amongst others, by intrusting to
+him several important and delicate diplomatic missions. At Bologna,
+on occasion of the interview between Francis and Leo X., the Pope
+addressed to Guise the most flattering eulogiums. "Your holiness,"
+replied the ardent soldier, in a prophetic spirit, "shall see that
+I am of Lorraine, if ever I have the happiness to draw sword in the
+Church's quarrel."
+
+Master of the Milanese, Francis I. returned to France and beheld
+his alliance courted by all the powers of Europe, when suddenly the
+death of the Emperor Maximilian (15th January 1519) proved a brand
+of discord. Francis and Charles were the only serious candidates
+for the vacant dignity. Guise, with a secret view, perhaps, to
+the crown of Jerusalem for himself, strained every nerve, exerted
+all his influence, on behalf of the French King. But Charles, the
+more skilful intriguer, prevailed; and Francis, deeply wounded and
+humiliated by his failure, revolved in his mind projects of war.
+In these the king did not lose sight of the great assistance he
+might expect from Guise, brave, skilful, and prudent as he was; and
+the esteem in which the young chief was held at court increased so
+greatly, that the French nobles came to consider him almost the
+equal of the members of the royal family. Guise, on the other hand,
+by reason of his enormous fortune and high birth, and in his quality
+of a foreign prince, spared no effort to place himself on the
+footing of an ally rather than of a subject of the King of France.
+
+Pretexts for hostilities were not wanting; and soon we find Guise,
+at the head of his lansquenets, fighting victoriously over the
+very same ground upon which, in our day, French armies contended
+with very different results. Maya, Fontarabia, and the banks of
+the Bidassoa witnessed his prowess; he himself, a half-pike in his
+hand, led his men through the river, with water to his armpits,
+dislodging the enemy by the mere terror his audacity inspired. When
+he returned to Compiegne, where the court then was, the King hurried
+forth from his chamber to meet him, embraced him warmly, and gaily
+said, "that it was but fair he should go out to meet his old friend,
+who, on his part, always made such haste to meet and revenge him
+on his enemies." His summer triumphs in the Pyrenees were followed
+by a winter campaign in Picardy, where he succeeded in preventing
+the junction of the English and Imperialists, besides obtaining
+some advantages over the former, and harassing their retreat to the
+coast. He thus added to his popularity with the army, and acquired
+strong claims to the gratitude of the Parisians, deeply alarmed by
+the proximity of the enemy to the capital, and who viewed him as
+their saviour.
+
+The year 1523 opened under menacing auspices. Germany, Italy,
+England, were leagued against France, whose sole allies were
+Scotland, the Swiss, (the adhesion of these depending entirely
+on regular subsidies,) and the Duke of Savoy, whose chief merit
+was that he could facilitate the passage of the Alps. Undeterred,
+almost foolhardy, Francis, instead of prudently standing on the
+defensive, beheld, in each new opponent, only a fresh source of
+glory. Unhappily for him, at the very moment he had greatest need
+of skilful captains, the Constable of Bourbon, irritated and
+persecuted in France, courted and seduced by the astute Charles V.,
+entered into a treasonable combination with the Imperialists. It was
+discovered; he fled, and effected his escape. Out of France, he
+was but one man the less, but that man was such a leader as could
+hardly be replaced, and Charles gave him command of his troops in
+the Milanese. The Constable's misconduct brought disfavour on the
+princes of the house of Bourbon, (of that of Valois none remained,)
+and this further increased the credit and importance of the Count
+of Guise. He was already governor of Champagne and Burgundy,
+provinces the Emperor was likely to attack. This command, however,
+was not the object of his desires; he would rather have gone to
+Italy, and applied to do so; but the King, rendered suspicious by
+the Constable's defection, began to consider, with some slight
+uneasiness, the position acquired by the Count of Guise; and it
+was probably on this account only that he would not confer on the
+Lorraine prince the direction of the Italian war. The glory of Guise
+lost nothing by the refusal, although that of France grievously
+suffered by the army of Italy being confided to the less capable
+hands of Admiral Bonnivet. Fortune soon afforded the younger general
+one of those opportunities of high distinction, of which no leader
+ever was more covetous or better knew how to take advantage. A large
+body of Imperialist infantry having made an irruption into Burgundy,
+he assembled the nobility of the province and about nine hundred
+men-at-arms, with which force he deemed himself able to keep the
+field against the twelve thousand lansquenets that Count Furstemberg
+led to meet him. By an odd accident, he had no infantry, his
+adversary no cavalry. By dividing his horsemen into small parties,
+and maintaining an incessant harassing warfare, Guise prevented
+the Germans from foraging; and at last, compelled by famine, they
+prepared to recross the Meuse, abandoning two forts they had
+captured, and carrying off a large amount of spoil. Thus encumbered,
+and vigorously pursued, their rearguard was cut to pieces, and
+their retreat converted into a rout. "With a feeling of chivalrous
+gallantry," says M. de Bouille, "Guise desired to procure the
+duchess his sister-in-law, Antoinette de Bourbon, and the ladies of
+the court of Lorraine, then assembled at Neufchateau, the enjoyment
+of this spectacle, (the battle), to them so new. Warned by him, and
+stationed at windows, out of reach of danger, whence they looked out
+upon the plain, they had the pastime, and were able to recompense,
+by their applause and cries of joy, the courage of the troops whom
+their presence animated."
+
+But such partial successes, however glorious to him by whom they
+were achieved, were all insufficient to turn the tide of disaster
+that had set in against the French arms. The defeat of Bonnivet,
+the invasion of Provence by the Constable, were succeeded by that
+terrible day before the walls of Pavia, when Francis I., vanquished,
+wounded, made prisoner by a rebellious subject, beheld his army
+destroyed, and the battle-field strewn with the bodies of his best
+generals, whilst, bleeding at his feet, slain in his defence, lay
+Francis of Lorraine, a younger brother of the Count of Guise, the
+second of that brave brotherhood who had fallen in arms under the
+_fleur-de-lis_.[2] When the brave but most imprudent monarch was
+carried into captivity, his mother, regent in his absence, placed
+her chief trust and dependence in Guise. Of these he proved himself
+worthy. He checked the ambition of the Duke of Vendome, who, as
+first prince of the blood, showed a disposition to seize upon the
+regency; he advised the ransoming of the French prisoners taken
+at Pavia, and exercised altogether a most salutary influence upon
+the circumstances of that critical time. His good sword, as well
+as his precocious wisdom, was soon in request. A large body of
+German fanatics, proclaiming the doctrine of absolute equality,
+and the abolition of all human superiority, had swept over Suabia,
+Wurtemberg, and Franconia, burning churches and slaying priests, and
+threatened to carry the like excesses into Lorraine and Burgundy.
+By aid of his brothers, at much expense and with great difficulty,
+Guise got together ten thousand men, four thousand of whom were
+cavalry. The double cross was the rallying sign of this little
+army. The time was come for Guise to perform his promise to Pope
+Leo, to fight stoutly in defence of the Church. And truly his hand
+was heavy upon the unfortunate and half frantic Lutherans, although
+to a certain extent he tempered its weight with mercy. Besieged
+in Saverne, the fanatics put to death the herald who summoned
+them to surrender. Learning that reinforcements from Germany were
+at hand, Guise hurried to meet them with three thousand men, and
+encountered them at the village of Lupstein, into which the Germans
+retreated, after a terrible conflict outside the place, and threw
+up a barricade as best they could, of carts, casks, and gabions.
+From the cover of these, and of the adjacent hedges, they kept up
+so obstinate a defence, that Guise, whose men fell fast, caused
+fire to be applied to the houses. But hardly had the flames begun
+their ravages, when the Count, seized with compassion, threw himself
+from his horse to assist in extinguishing them, and succeeded, at
+imminent risk to his own life, in saving upwards of four thousand
+persons of all ages. Nearly double that number perished; as many
+more at Saverne and in the mountains, to which the unfortunate
+Germans fled; and about fifteen thousand in a final engagement
+at Chenouville, which broke the strength of the fanatic host,
+and finally closed the campaign. During one of these battles,
+the soldiers of Guise beheld in the air the image of the Saviour
+attached to the cross, a phenomenon in which they saw assurance of
+victory.
+
+  [2] Francis of Lorraine was eighteen years old when slain at Pavia.
+  One of his brothers had fallen, at about the same age, at the battle
+  of Marignano.
+
+"Once more," says M. de Bouille, "Guise had rendered a most
+important service to the kingdom; he had also assumed a peculiar
+and marked position, and had fixed a point of departure for himself
+and his descendants, by striking, of his own accord, and without
+instructions from the Government, the first blows that Protestantism
+received in France: a circumstance often recalled, with more or less
+exultation, by the panegyrists of that family, and which procured
+Claude de Lorraine the nickname of the _Great Butcher_, given him
+by the heretics, who were exasperated by the loss of nearly forty
+thousand men, caused them by his arms in that fatal expedition."
+
+Determined foes to the Reformed faith as both of them were, a
+distinction must yet be made between the Count of Guise assailing
+and slaughtering, with far inferior forces, a formidable body of
+armed and aggressive foreigners, and the fierce _Balafre_, wielding
+a murderous sword against his defenceless and inoffensive Huguenot
+countrymen, on the terrible night of St Bartholomew. If the amount
+of bloodshed at Saverne and Chenouville appears excessive, and
+implies that little quarter was given, it must yet be remembered
+that greater clemency to the vanquished might have had the most
+disastrous consequences to the handful of conquerors. The Council
+of Regency disapproved of Guise's conduct in the affair; taxing him
+with rashness in risking the whole of the small number of regular
+troops disposable for the defence of the kingdom. But there could
+hardly have been more pressing occasion to expose them; and Francis
+I., on returning from exile, recognised and rewarded that and other
+good services by elevating the county of Guise into a duchy and
+peerage--further enriching the newly-made duke with a portion of
+the crown domains. Such honours and advantages had previously been
+almost exclusively reserved for persons of the blood-royal. The
+Parliament remonstrated in vain; but Francis himself, before very
+long, repented what he had done. He took umbrage at the increasing
+popularity of the Duke of Guise, and gave ear to the calumnies
+and insinuations of the French nobles, who were irritated by the
+haughty bearing, great prosperity, and ambitious views of the house
+of Lorraine. The manner in which Francis testified his jealousy and
+distrust was unworthy of a monarch who has left a great name in
+history. He showed himself indulgent to those of his courtiers and
+officers who organised resistance to the influence and pretensions
+of the Guises. "One time, amongst others," says M. de Bouille, "the
+Duke of Guise, governor of Burgundy, wishing to visit the castle
+of Auxonne, whose governorship was a charge distinct from that of
+the province, the titulary, Rouvray, a French gentleman, refused
+him admittance, which he would not have dared to do had Guise been
+recognised as prince. When the Duke complained of this treatment,
+the King, delighted, whilst taking advantage of his services, to see
+his pride and ambition thwarted, lauded the conduct of Rouvray, and
+laughed at him who had wished to play the prince of royal blood."
+For annoyances of this kind Guise sought compensation in popularity,
+thus tracing out for his descendants the line they should most
+advantageously follow.
+
+The partial disfavour into which the Guises had fallen, during
+an interval of peace when their services were not indispensable,
+was dissipated by the zeal and talents exhibited by the Duke's
+brother, John Cardinal of Lorraine, in a most difficult and delicate
+negotiation with Charles V., and by the prompt good-will with
+which, when negotiation failed and war broke out, the Duke hurried
+to the relief of Peronne, accompanied by his eldest son, the Count
+of Aumale, then scarcely nineteen years old. Peronne la Pucelle
+was hard beset by the Count of Nassau, who pounded its ramparts
+with seventy-two pieces of cannon, and was defended with equal
+valour by Fleuranges, Marshal de la Marck, who repulsed an assault
+made simultaneously by two breaches, and destroyed a mine on which
+the enemy reckoned for his discomfiture. Want of supplies, and
+especially of powder, must soon, however, have compelled him to
+yield, but for a stratagem practised by Guise. That able commander
+selected four hundred resolute soldiers, loaded each of them with
+a bag containing ten pounds of powder, and set out, at six in the
+evening, from his headquarters at Ham, with the Count of Aumale,
+whose first experience of war this was, and to whom Guise, as he
+wrote to the King, "intended soon to give up his sword, as capable
+of doing better service in his young hands than in his own." Two
+hundred horsemen escorted them as far as the edge of the marshes of
+Peronne, and at midnight Guise, who had brought with him a large
+number of drummers and trumpeters, distributed these at different
+points around the besiegers' camp. Whilst they sounded and beat
+the charge, and the Imperialist generals, believing themselves
+attacked on all sides, hastily formed their troops for the combat,
+the powder-bearers, guided by a soldier of the garrison who had
+borne news of its distress from Fleuranges to Guise, crossed the
+marshes by means of a number of little roads and bridges, which the
+enemy himself had made to maintain his communications, and reached
+the moat, whence by means of ropes and ladders they entered the
+fortress. The last of them were just getting in when day broke, and
+the Count of Nassau discovered the trick that had been played him,
+and detached a body of cavalry to pursue Guise, then retreating with
+his drums and trumpets, and whose steady array discouraged attack.
+A few days later the Imperialists raised the siege, and Paris,
+which had been in consternation at the danger of Peronne, its last
+bulwark against the advancing foe, knew no bounds in its gratitude
+to the man to whom it thus, for the second time, was indebted for
+its salvation. Guise's great services in this and the following
+campaign rendered Francis I. indulgent to his still-recurring
+pretensions; to the arrogance which led him frequently to refuse
+obeying orders that did not emanate directly from the King, and
+to assume a sort of independence and irresponsibility in the
+exercise of his government. Looking back, through the clarifying
+medium of history, upon the character and conduct of Claude of
+Lorraine, we are disinclined to think that Francis had ever serious
+cause for mistrusting the loyalty of his powerful subject; whose
+encroachments, however, it cannot be denied, were sufficient grounds
+for jealousy and uneasiness. And on more than one occasion we find
+the royal anger--perhaps complete disgrace--averted from him only
+by the interest of his brother the Cardinal, to whom Francis could
+refuse nothing.
+
+As a diplomatist and patron of the arts, Cardinal John of
+Lorraine occupies almost as elevated a pedestal in the gallery
+of distinguished Frenchmen of the sixteenth century, as does his
+brother Claude in his more active capacity of general of armies
+and administrator of provinces. His courtly qualities, and a
+congeniality of tastes--some of which, although they might be
+held excusable in a king, were scarcely to be palliated in a
+prelate, even in that age of lax morality--endeared him to Francis,
+who associated with him on a footing of great familiarity. His
+generosity and charity were on such a scale as at times to resemble
+prodigality and ostentation; his love of pleasure and addiction
+to gallantry were in like manner excessive. "He was," says M. de
+Bouille, "a very lettered prince, a splendid patron of learned men,
+whom he treated as friends, and in whose labours he associated
+himself. A writer named Bertrand de Vaux, having presented and
+read to him a critical work, containing low personality, awaited,
+notwithstanding its base character, the recompense which the
+Cardinal always granted to those authors with whose productions he
+was satisfied. The prelate accordingly handed him a golden etui.
+'Take this, friend Bertrand,' he said; 'it is to pay the fatigue and
+salary of the reader. The writer must seek payment from some more
+malignant man than myself.'" The celebrated Erasmus, Clement Marot
+the poet, and Rabelais the satirist, all benefited by the patronage
+or enjoyed the intimacy of the Cardinal, who, conjointly with his
+nephew the Cardinal Charles of Lorraine, is believed by some to
+have been indicated by the witty priest of Meudon in the character
+of Panurge. Passionately fond of art, the prelate-prince gathered
+around him the men of genius whom the largesses and magnificence
+of Francis I. seduced from Italy to France. He showed particular
+favour to Benvenuto Cellini, who presented him with some of his
+works and received from him costly gifts. "When in full blaze of
+fortune and favour, he caused to be built and decorated, with blind
+prodigality, after the designs of Primaticcio and by the pupils
+of that famous artist, the superb chateau of Meudon, in whose
+park was constructed, amongst other costly ornaments, a grotto,
+'excellently fine and pleasant to save oneself from being wetted
+by the rain.' He had musicians in his service, and Arcadelt, a
+distinguished composer, some of whose works are still preserved and
+esteemed, was his _maitre de chapelle_." His charity, although often
+too indiscriminate, sprang from real kindness of heart. Numerous
+children, belonging to poor families, were educated at his expense
+in the Paris schools. And his good grace in conferring favours
+doubled their value. The farmer of his abbey of Fecamp, having made
+the same receipt serve for three separate payments, and endeavouring
+to make it pass a fourth time, the Cardinal's receivers refused
+to admit it, and the case was referred to the prelate himself,
+who, having examined and recognised his signature, merely said,
+"Since John is there, John shall be believed," and ordered it to
+be definitively admitted. When he went abroad, "he usually," says
+Brantome, "carried a great pouch, which his _valet-de-chambre_, who
+had charge of the money for his petty expenses, failed not to fill
+each morning with three or four hundred crowns: and as many poor
+as he met he put his hand into the pouch and gave, without stint
+or consideration, whatever he drew forth." The story is well known
+of the blind mendicant, who, having implored an alms of him in the
+streets of Rome, exclaimed, on receiving a handful of gold: "_O tu
+sei Christo, o veramente il cardinal di Loriena_." By the light
+which these details throw upon his character, it is not difficult
+to discern that the magnificent cardinal must have been a welcome
+courtier to the sumptuous Francis, who, during the period of his
+favour, made him his constant companion and delighted to do him
+honour. He sat upon the King's left hand on occasion of the _lit
+de justice_ held at Paris on New Year's day 1537, at which Francis
+declared Charles of Austria attainted of rebellion and felony, and
+deprived of Artois, Flanders, and all the domains that he held _en
+mouvance_ of the crown of France--a sentence more easily pronounced
+than enforced, and which of course entailed a war. Peace again
+concluded, in great measure by the diplomacy of the Cardinal, he it
+was, according to Du Bellay, who alone accompanied the King and
+Queen at dinner, on the day of Charles V.'s entrance into Paris.
+The friendship borne him by Francis, was the cause of his being
+charged to break to that monarch the death of his son, the Dauphin
+of France. Of the familiarity with which the King treated him, M.
+de Bouille gives a specimen in a curious anecdote: "One day, at
+mass, the Cardinal did not perceive that a thief, who had managed to
+enter the chapel, had picked his pocket. The rogue, observing that
+the King had his eyes fixed upon him, with extraordinary coolness
+and audacity put his finger on his lips, looking at the same time
+significantly at Francis I., who took the hint and said nothing,
+in order not to spoil what he imagined to be an adroit practical
+joke. Service over, however, he made an observation which induced
+the Cardinal to put his hand in his pocket, when he discovered his
+loss. When the King had amused himself at his surprise, he ordered
+that what had been stolen should be restored; but the thief, who
+was perfectly serious in his intentions, had made his escape, which
+greatly increased the mirth of the monarch, thus cleverly duped. 'On
+the word of a gentleman,' he exclaimed, 'the rogue has made me his
+accomplice!'"
+
+Powerfully supported at court by his brother, Claude of Lorraine
+was no less ably seconded in the field by his son Francis, Count
+of Aumale, a young hero destined ultimately to surpass even him in
+glory, and to raise the name of Guise to its apogee of splendour.
+The constantly-recurring wars with the Emperor yielded him abundant
+opportunities to display his prowess. In the campaign of 1543 he did
+good service, until, at the siege of Luxemburg, he was dangerously
+wounded above the ankle by an arquebuse ball. "Carried, almost
+without hopes--on account of the fracture of the bones and the
+injury to the nerves--first to his tent and then to Longwy, five
+leagues in rear, he owed his recovery to the attention of the King,
+who sent him his own physicians, and to the care bestowed upon him
+by his father. And nevertheless, when he suffered signs of pain
+to escape him during the dressing, the Duke of Guise addressed
+to him reproaches by which it will be seen that he subsequently
+profited, saying to him--a noble and stoical maxim--'That persons
+of his rank ought not to feel their wounds, but, on the contrary,
+to take pleasure in building up their reputation on the ruin of
+their bodies.'" It was in no feather-bed school that the Guises were
+educated. Nearly at the same time that the Count d'Aumale was hit
+before Luxemburg, Gaspard de Coligny-Chatillon, then his rival in
+valour, and at a subsequent day his deadly foe, was severely wounded
+in the throat at the siege of Binche.
+
+In the war in which these incidents occurred, England was allied
+with the Emperor against France. Personal motives combined with
+political irritation to dispose the violent and uxorious Henry VIII.
+to a rupture with Francis I. Mary of Lorraine, daughter of the Duke
+of Guise, and widow of Louis of Orleans, duke of Longueville, had
+been given in marriage to James V. of Scotland, in preference to
+Henry, who, inflamed by the report of her beauty, had solicited her
+hand as a pledge of perpetual alliance with France. Dazzling as
+was the offer of so powerful a sovereign, his anti-catholic acts,
+and his evil reputation as a husband, deterred the Guises from
+entertaining it; and Francis I., obeying the dictates of feeling
+rather than those of prudence, extricated them from a dilemma by
+alleging a previous promise to the Scottish king. It is said that
+Henry would then gladly have espoused Louisa, second daughter of the
+Duke, and that, means being found to elude his pursuit, this second
+disappointment further augmented his rancorous feelings towards
+Francis and the house of Guise. However this may have been, the
+war with England continued subsequently to the conclusion of peace
+between Francis and Charles--chiefly in Picardy, around Boulogne,
+which Henry held, and in whose neighbourhood his army was encamped.
+Some severe skirmishes and partial engagements occurred, and in one
+of these the Count of Aumale received a wound, probably the severest
+ever survived by mortal man, from the lance of an English officer.
+The weapon, according to the description of Ambrose Pare, entered
+"above the right eye, declining towards the nose, and piercing
+through on the other side, between the nape and the ear." So violent
+was the blow that the weapon broke in the head, into which it had
+penetrated more than half a foot, the entire lance-iron and two
+fingers' breadth of the staff remaining in the wound. Pare explains
+the possibility of such a wound, in an age when helmets and visors
+were in use, by mentioning that the Count always went into action
+with his face bare.
+
+"Terrible as was the shock," says M. de Bouille, "it did not unhorse
+d'Aumale. He still made head against his foes, succeeded in forcing
+a passage through them, aided by his young and valiant brother
+Claude, and by de Vieilleville--who, alone of all, had not abandoned
+him--and rode gloriously into camp. His appearance was frightful;
+his face, armour, and clothes were deluged with blood. The surgeons,
+stupified by the depth and gravity of the wound, despaired of cure,
+and refused to inflict useless sufferings upon the patient. But
+Ambrose Pare, the King's surgeon, sent by Francis with orders to
+try every means of saving the hero's life, was not discouraged.
+Confiding in his skill, and in the firmness of the wounded man, he
+resolved to attempt an operation, terrible indeed, but admirable for
+those days, and worthy alone to insure celebrity to him who imagined
+it. The lance-head was broken off so short, that it was impossible
+to grasp it with the hand. Taking then a blacksmith's pincers, to
+draw it out with great force, and assisted, amongst others, by
+Master Nicolle Lavernan, a very experienced surgeon, he asked the
+Lorraine prince, in presence of a crowd of officers shuddering
+with horror, if he would submit to the employment of such means,
+and would suffer him to place his foot upon his face. 'I consent
+to everything; proceed,' replied d'Aumale. Nor did his fortitude
+abandon him for an instant during this cruel operation, which was
+not effected without fracture of bones, nerves, veins, and arteries,
+and other parts, and which he endured as if they had only pulled out
+a hair. The agony extorted from him but the single exclamation--'Ah!
+my God!' Transported afterwards in a litter to Pecquigny, he
+remained for three days in a hopeless state: early on the fifth day
+more favourable symptoms declared themselves, and nature made such
+powerful efforts, that the cure was completed without leaving the
+Count d'Aumale any trace of this astonishing wound, except a scar,
+equally glorious for him and for Ambrose Pare. That skilful surgeon
+was wont modestly to say, when speaking of the marvellous cure of
+Francis of Lorraine--'I dressed it, and God healed it.' As soon as
+he began to get better, the Count d'Aumale hastened to write to the
+King, with a hand still unsteady, the following note, characterised
+by a calmness remarkable in such circumstances:--'Sire, I take the
+liberty to inform you that I find myself well, hoping not to lose an
+eye. Your very humble servant, LE GUIZARD.'" Admiring his energy,
+and in recompense of his services, Francis I. made him governor
+of Dauphiny; whilst the numerous partisans of the house of Guise
+attributed his cure to a miracle wrought by the prayers of his pious
+mother, Antoinette of Bourbon. This princess carefully preserved
+till her death the lance-point which had penetrated her son's head.
+The extent of the wound, as described by Pare, would be scarcely
+credible, but for the testimony of that learned and excellent man,
+and of other cotemporary writers quoted by M. de Bouille. In a
+short time the heroic Count had forgotten his hurt, and was again
+in arms against the English, with whom, however, peace was shortly
+afterwards concluded.
+
+Notwithstanding the frequent uneasiness occasioned him by the power
+and ambition of the family of Guise, Francis I. continued, almost to
+the close of his reign, to enrich and aggrandise them. The magnitude
+of their services, and their many great qualities, at intervals
+elicited his gratitude and generosity, to the oblivion of mistrust
+and apprehension. Thus, only three years prior to his death, he
+erected into a marquisate certain lands and lordships of the Duke
+of Guise, and immediately afterwards elevated the marquisate to a
+duchy, in consideration, said the letters patent, of the great,
+virtuous, and commendable services that the Duke of Guise had long
+rendered to king and country, without sparing his own person, his
+children, or goods; "and also that our said cousin Duke of Guise
+is of the house of Lorraine, descended by wife and alliance from
+the house of Anjou, and from our predecessors, kings of France."
+Thus was the title of Duke of Mayenne provided for a younger son of
+Claude of Lorraine. Such laudatory declarations as the one above
+cited were concurrent, however, with the systematic restriction of
+the Guises' direct influence on state affairs. And on his deathbed,
+when dividing his last hours upon earth between religious duties and
+sage counsels to his son, Francis enjoined this prince not to recall
+the Constable of Montmorency, or to admit to a share of government
+the princes of the house of Guise. Montmorency had incurred disgrace
+and banishment by exciting the King's conjugal jealousy. Henry II.
+showed slight regard to his father's dying injunctions. Scarcely
+had the earth closed over the deceased monarch, when those he had
+recommended to his son's favour were removed from their posts;
+Montmorency was recalled, and the Guises were taken into favour;
+the Count of Aumale, and Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine, dividing
+between them Henry's whole confidence. It must be admitted, that the
+means to which they resorted to secure and preserve this favour,
+were not of the most delicate description, although, doubtless,
+they would be very differently estimated then and now. They
+sustained their credit with Henry II. by their attentions to Diana
+of Poitiers, his all-powerful mistress, whose eldest daughter one
+of the brothers, Claude, Marquis of Mayenne, had just married. From
+this discreditable alliance Chatillon, afterwards the Admiral de
+Coligny, had tried to dissuade them, by pointing out, says Brantome,
+in his Life of the Admiral, "that it was not very honourable for
+them, and that an inch of authority and favour with honour was
+better than an armful without." The Count of Aumale, up to that
+time the inseparable companion of Coligny, was but ill-pleased by
+the freedom of this advice, which, he said, was less that of a
+friend than of one envious of the good fortune such an alliance
+insured to his family. This difference, however, cast but a slight
+cloud over the intimacy which thereafter was exchanged for so
+bitter an enmity. Meanwhile the royal favour, lavished on the young
+Guises, was not extended to their father, who was excluded from the
+government which his sons freely exercised, and who, immediately
+after the coronation of Henry, left the court, to live in retirement
+in his castle of Joinville. The prudence and moderation of the
+elder Guise were probably less welcome to the young king than the
+bolder and more impetuous counsels of his sons. There were six of
+these, all pretty well provided for when Claude of Lorraine retired
+into private life: Francis, Count of Aumale; Claude, Marquis of
+Mayenne; Charles, Archbishop of Rheims; Louis, Bishop of Troyes, and
+Francis, Chevalier of Lorraine, afterwards grand-prior and general
+of the galleys of France. "During his stay at Paris, after the
+campaign of 1544, the Duke of Guise frequently went, accompanied
+by his six young sons, to pay his devoirs to the King, who always
+graciously received and congratulated him, saying 'that he was six
+times fortunate in seeing himself live again, before his death, in
+a posterity of such great promise.' One day Charles, the second
+brother, who was intended for the church, presented to Francis
+I. some moral and theological theses, accompanying them with an
+eloquent and tasteful harangue. His promotion to the archbishopric
+of Rheims, the richest benefice in France, was, it is said, the
+munificent reward of this precocious ability." Henry II. received
+his crown from the hands of this youthful archbishop, upon whom the
+Pope, five days after the ceremony, conferred a cardinal's hat.
+Charles of Lorraine can have been but thirty or thirty-one years
+old, when he thus attained to the highest dignities of the church.
+
+A few days before the coronation, Henry II. sanctioned by his
+presence the celebrated judicial duel--which gave rise to a proverb
+still current in France--between Guy Chabot de Jarnac, and Francois
+de Vivonne. It took place in lists erected near the chateau of St
+Germains. Vivonne's second (or godfather, as it was then called)
+was the Count of Aumale, who attracted universal attention by the
+grandeur of his air and the lustre of his renown. "Towards half-past
+seven in the morning," says M. de Bouille, "d'Aumale pronounced
+it time to bring the arms, and the combatants appeared in the
+lists, Vivonne conducted by d'Aumale; and, after the customary
+salutations and injunctions, the king-at-arms, Normandy, having
+thrice exclaimed--_Laissez aller les bons combattants!_ the combat
+commenced with skill and fury. In a few moments, however, by a
+blow, since proverbial, dealt and repeated on the left ham, Vivonne
+was prostrated by his adversary. The Count d'Aumale sprang to the
+assistance of the vanquished man, and to calm the rage which made
+him tear open his own wounds. But Vivonne survived only three
+days, and, after his death, d'Aumale had the following inscription
+engraved upon his tomb: 'A great prince _Lorrain et Francois_, much
+grieved and afflicted by so unexpected an event, has dedicated
+this to the manes of a brave knight of Poitou.' In these few words
+was revealed a pretension constantly entertained by the house of
+Guise, and which then appeared surprising, but which received a sort
+of consecration from its silent toleration by the King." It was
+doubtless this toleration, combined with the sentiment of growing
+power and influence, which raised the arrogance of the Guises to
+such a pitch that, on occasion of Henry II.'s solemn entrance into
+Chambery, during a visit of inspection to his frontier fortresses,
+we find the Count of Aumale placing himself on the same line with
+the Duke of Vendome, first prince of the blood, and afterwards King
+of Navarre. The angry dispute to which this gave rise was terminated
+by the King, who maintained Guise in the place he had audaciously
+assumed. Like his father, Henry was nurturing a pride which was
+afterwards to give him umbrage. Already d'Aumale's influence and
+popularity were so great as to make him courted by all classes, even
+to the highest, not excluding persons of blood-royal; and only a
+few months after the dispute at Chambery, we find the same King of
+Navarre thanking him, conjointly with the Cardinal of Bourbon, for
+services he had rendered to friends of theirs. The first nobles of
+the land had recourse to his protection and support, and strove to
+propitiate him by presents and flattering letters. From all quarters
+he received offerings of "wine, fruit, confections, ortolans,
+horses, dogs, hawks, and gerfalcons, the letters accompanying
+these very often containing a second paragraph, petitioning for
+pensions or grants from the King, or for places, even down to that
+of apothecary, or of barber to the Dauphin, &c." The memoirs and
+manuscripts of the time furnish many curious particulars of this
+kind, especially the MSS. Gaignieres, often referred to by M. de
+Bouille. And they further show that d'Aumale, amidst his countless
+occupations, found leisure to listen to all petitioners, and means
+to content many. There exist the most flattering letters written to
+him by the hand of kings; the humblest supplications addressed to
+him by great state corporations, such as the parliaments of Paris,
+Bordeaux, and other cities; testimony of the profoundest deference
+from the nobles of the court--names such as Breze and Brissac being
+affixed to fulsome protestations of service and thanks for favour
+shown. Such was the immense position of the Duke d'Aumale, (that
+county also had become a duchy,) who now openly affected the state
+and quality of prince of the blood. Then, as afterwards, (when he
+was duke of Guise,) he always received the title of _monseigneur_,
+(except from the princes of the blood, who called him _monsieur_,)
+and that of _vostre excellence or vostre seigneurie_. And in 1548
+the nuns of Bonneuil addressed him a supplication as _vostre haulte
+et puissante majeste et seigneurie_. So great was his reputation for
+magnanimity, so popular his rule, that those provinces rejoiced over
+which he was appointed governor. And the affection borne him by the
+French people became at last so great "that it may be said it was
+carried to an excess, even to the point of making them forget their
+fidelity to the King." For a time the favour and confidence of the
+King kept pace with the love of the nation; and it was augmented by
+the ability with which d'Aumale pacified several revolted provinces,
+where his presence alone sufficed, for the most part, to calm angry
+passions and revive the loyalty of the population. Soon after this
+expedition, occurred his marriage with Anne d'Est, daughter of the
+Duke of Ferrara, a beautiful, virtuous, and well-dowered princess
+who had been sought in marriage by Sigismund, King of Poland,
+but whom an innate sympathy for France, combined with the able
+management of Cardinal de Guise, induced to give the preference to
+the Duke d'Aumale.
+
+In his castle of Joinville, on the 12th April 1550, Claude, first
+duke of Guise, piously and resignedly terminated his illustrious and
+honourable career. His duchess, Antoinette de Bourbon, one of the
+most virtuous and amiable princesses of her time, his eldest son
+and the Marquis of Elbeuf, were beside his dying bed; and during
+his illness the King sent frequent expresses to inquire his state.
+His premature death, at the age of fifty-three, after a short but
+violent illness,--combined with some solemn and generous expressions
+he used a few minutes before breathing his last, to the effect
+that he heartily forgave the person, whosoever it might be, who
+had given him "_le morceau pour mourir_,"--gave rise to a belief,
+further accredited by his funeral oration and by the inscription on
+his tomb, that he had perished by poison. History has difficulty
+in confirming this popular notion, in support of which no evidence
+was ever produced, nor anything beyond a vague supposition that the
+author of the Duke's death was a Genoese, an agent of the Emperor,
+then in France to watch the measures taken by that republic to
+obtain from Henry II. means of resistance to the party of Ferdinand,
+in opposition to whom there was little doubt that Guise would
+advise the King to give his support to Genoa. Considering, however,
+that Claude of Lorraine lived away from court, where his son had
+succeeded to his influence, this is rather a far-fetched story;
+and the probability is that the Duke died of some unusual malady,
+misunderstood by, perhaps wholly unknown to, the imperfect medical
+science of those days. But natural deaths were rare in the house of
+Guise; and in the sixteenth century poison had no unimportant share
+in the bills of mortality. Some indeed have hinted its possible
+agency in the death of John, Cardinal of Lorraine, which occurred
+within forty days of that of his brother Claude. This prelate was on
+his way back from Rome, where he had been an unsuccessful aspirant
+to the papal tiara, when he was suddenly informed, on his passage
+through Lyons, of the Duke's decease. It was possibly the shock of
+this intelligence that brought on an attack of apoplexy under which
+he sank and shortly expired. "Providence," says M. de Bouille, "had
+perhaps resolved to consecrate, by an almost simultaneous death, the
+union which had so constantly and advantageously existed between him
+and his brother, and which the cotemporary writers characterise, in
+their mythological style, by comparing the two princes to Castor
+and Pollux. Their place was not to remain vacant, but was about to
+be even more than filled by two brothers, also 'the happiest pair
+of brothers that ever were seen;' one an accomplished warrior and
+magnanimous hero, the other a skilful and enterprising prelate,
+who, by renewing the example of a constant agreement of views, by
+putting in practice that useful and remarkable combination of the
+churchman and the man of the sword, peculiar to their family, and
+efficaciously applied by them to politics and ambition, realised an
+immense amount of favour and authority. The first generation of this
+dynasty--if not sovereign, at least so brilliantly episodical--had
+passed away, already almost surpassed in grandeur by its successor,
+destined to elevate itself in the inverse ratio of the wearer of
+that crown which gradually became almost illusory."
+
+Certain it is that the figure of Francis, second Duke of Guise,
+surnamed the Great, occupies, upon the canvass of French history,
+a far more remarkable and important place than that of any one of
+the three kings whose reigns were cotemporary with his power. Early
+distinguished in arms, his generosity, urbanity, and irresistible
+valour made him the idol of the army, whilst the prudence and
+precocious wisdom he inherited from his father, rendered him
+invaluable at the council board, and secured him the favour of his
+sovereign; to such a point that Henry II. had no secrets from him,
+but caused all important despatches to be communicated to him as
+punctually as they were to himself. Nor was his brother Charles
+inferior to him in talent, although their difference of profession
+rendered its display less striking in the cardinal. Both possessed
+of admirable tact and judgement in the conduct of public affairs,
+the one was not more terrible in the battle-field than the other
+was skilful and seductive in diplomatic negotiations, and in the
+graceful intercourse of private life. The cardinal's learning
+and eloquence, his fine countenance, his dignified bearing, his
+richly-stored memory, combined to exercise a powerful fascination
+upon all he met. "Had I the elegance of Monsieur le Cardinal de
+Lorraine," said Theodore de Beze one day, when mounting his horse to
+leave Rheims, where he had had a conference with the accomplished
+prelate, "I should expect to convert half the persons in France to
+the religion I profess."
+
+At the date of the death of Claude of Lorraine, Charles V. was
+the sole survivor of the three remarkable sovereigns who had
+simultaneously filled the three most important European thrones.
+With him the Duke and Cardinal now impelled Henry II. into a
+war, which had for its real object the realisation of a bold and
+extensive scheme greatly to increase the authority of France in
+Europe, and at the same time to establish the omnipotence of the
+Guises in France. One of the most remarkable events of this war was
+the siege of Metz, in which large ill-fortified place the Duke,
+with a small number of men, was exposed to the assaults of an army
+consisting of one hundred thousand infantry, twenty-three thousand
+horse, and one hundred and twenty pieces of artillery. Guise
+displayed extraordinary skill and energy, leading sorties himself,
+and even issuing forth at the head of a mere handful of men to
+skirmish with the enemy. Fortunately he had had time to lay in good
+store of provisions; but his cannon were few in number and for the
+most part unserviceable, and he was fain to defend with falconets
+and other small guns, the breaches which the Imperialists soon made
+in his walls. In an action that occurred during the siege, in the
+neighbourhood of Nancy, Claude de Guise--that brother of the Duke
+who, when a mere youth, had powerfully and valiantly contributed
+to deliver him, in front of Boulogne, from an overwhelming number
+of assailants--was taken prisoner. Thrice wounded, and with his
+horse killed under him, he had no choice but to yield or die. This
+disaster deprived Metz of a gallant defender, and plunged Guise and
+the whole army into deep affliction; the Duke, however, consoling
+himself by the resolution to make the Emperor dearly pay for his
+brother's ransom, and by the reflection that d'Aumale had not
+yielded until he was knocked down and had a cocked pistol at his
+throat. The sorties continued with great vigour, but at the expense
+of many wounded men, of whom so large a proportion died, for want
+of efficient medical assistance, that a rumour gained credit that
+the drugs were poisoned. Guise begged the King to send him Ambrose
+Pare with a stock of fresh medicaments, and, by the connivance of
+an Italian officer in the Imperialist camp, that skilful leech was
+introduced at midnight into the town, with the apothecary Daigue
+and a horse-load of medical stores. Pare was bearer of a letter
+from the King, thanking Guise and the other princes and nobles for
+all they had done and were doing to preserve his town of Metz, and
+assuring them he would remember and reward their services. Thus
+encouraged, and confident in his troops, Guise wrote to the King,
+with whom he found means constantly to correspond in cypher, that
+Metz could hold out six months without succour. On the other hand
+the Imperialists redoubled their efforts for success. The Emperor,
+who lay at Thionville, sick of the gout and expectant of triumph,
+at last judged his presence indispensable for the fortunate
+conclusion of the siege, and made his appearance in the camp,
+mounted on an Arab horse, "his face very pale and wasted, his eyes
+sunken, his head and beard white." His coming was the signal for
+so great a salvo of artillery and small arms, that the besieged
+flew to arms, expecting a general attack. Until the neighbouring
+castle of La Horgne could be prepared for his reception, he took
+up his quarters in a small wooden house, hastily constructed with
+the ruins of an abbey. "A fine palace," he said, "when I shall
+receive in it the keys of Metz." But the keys were long in coming,
+although the fierceness of the attack was redoubled--fourteen
+thousand cannon-shots being fired against the ramparts in one day,
+the noise of which was said to have been heard beyond the Rhine, at
+forty leagues from Metz. The constancy of the besieged was a match
+for the fury of the assailants. Breaches were diligently repaired,
+and sorties continued--the French actually seeking the Imperialists
+under their tents. Suddenly the latter changed the point of attack,
+and directed their cannonade against one of the very strongest parts
+of the rampart, behind which the besieged hastened to construct a
+second wall, also of great strength. The sudden change of plan is
+attributed by Ambrose Pare in his _Voyage a Metz_, to a stratagem
+employed by Guise. The Duke, according to the learned physician and
+chronicler, wrote a letter to Henry II. with the intention of its
+being intercepted by the enemy, in which he said, that if Charles V.
+persisted in his plan of attack, he would be compelled to raise the
+siege, but that a very different result was to be apprehended, if
+unfortunately the enemy directed his attention to a certain point,
+cunningly indicated in the despatch. Sewn, with an affectation of
+mystery, under the doublet of a clumsy peasant, this letter was
+destined for the perusal of the Duke of Alva, one of whose patrols
+did not fail to seize and search the unfortunate messenger, who
+was forthwith hanged. Misled by the information thus obtained, the
+besiegers changed the position of their batteries. In two days a
+breach was effected, the old wall crumbling into the ditch, amidst
+the acclamations of the assailants. But their joy was exchanged
+for rage and disgust when, upon the subsidence of the dust, they
+beheld a second wall in rear of the breach. The French began to
+scoff and abuse them, but Guise commanded silence, under pain of
+death, lest some traitor should take advantage of the tumult to
+convey information to the enemy; whereupon his soldiers fastened
+live cats to the end of their pikes, whose discordant cries mocked
+the enemy. The enthusiasm of the besieged now knew no bounds. Men,
+women, and young girls toiled day and night to strengthen the inner
+wall. Guise's gay and encouraging words gave confidence to all.
+Collecting his soldiers upon the breach, which was ninety feet
+wide: "I rejoice," he said, "that the enemy have at last overthrown
+this barrier, more useful to them than to you. You have so often
+visited them in their camp, that it is only just they should have
+an opportunity of reconnoitring the town upon whose capture they
+so boastfully reckoned." Charles ordered the assault; but when his
+troops saw the French crowning the breach, with Guise at their
+head, they recoiled as if already attacked, and neither entreaties
+nor threats could move them forward. "How is it," the Emperor had
+exclaimed with a great oath, when he saw the gaping breach, "that
+they do not enter? It is so large and level with the ditch; _vertu
+de Dieu!_ what means this?" He had himself conveyed in a litter to
+the foremost ranks, to animate the soldiers by his presence. When he
+beheld their retreat, he mournfully desired to be carried back to
+his quarters. "Formerly," he said, "I was followed to the fight, but
+I see that I have now no men around me; I must bid adieu to empire
+and immure myself in a monastery; before three years are over, I
+will turn Franciscan." Finally, on the 26th December, provisions
+running short, and his army weakened one-third by sickness and
+the sword, Charles, with a sad heart, raised the siege, uttering,
+in the bitterness of his shame and disappointment, the well-known
+words, "I plainly see that Fortune, like a true woman, prefers a
+young king to an old emperor." The imperial camp and artillery
+crossed the Moselle, and in the night the Duke of Alva evacuated his
+position, leaving behind a quantity of stores and tents. Guise, who
+had expressed, that very evening, in a letter to his brother the
+Cardinal, his conviction that the Emperor would never endure the
+shame of abandoning the siege, was greatly astonished in the morning
+to find that the enemy had decamped. His skill and constancy had
+triumphed, and France was saved from invasion. When he reappeared
+at court, the King embraced him with transport, and called him his
+brother. "You have vanquished me as well as the Emperor," said
+Henry, "by the obligations you have laid me under."
+
+The Duke of Guise's humanity after the siege did him as much honour
+as his bravery during it. A large number of sick men remained in
+the Imperialist camp; the rearguard of the retreating army were in
+a pitiable state, and, unable to proceed, yielded themselves ready
+prisoners. The commander of a troop of Spanish cavalry, pursued
+by the Prince of _la Roche-sur-Yon_, who would fain have brought
+him to battle, suddenly faced about, exclaiming, "How should we
+have strength to defend ourselves, when you see we have not enough
+left to fly?" In the hospitals of Metz and Thionville, the sick
+and wounded Imperialists were carefully tended by order of Guise;
+non-combatant prisoners were sent back to the Duke of Alva, with
+the offer of covered boats to transport his exhausted soldiers;
+the bodies of the dead received suitable burial. The magnanimous
+general's courtesy and humanity bore their fruits. In the following
+campaign, when the town of Therouenne, in Picardy, was surprised by
+the Imperialists, the Germans and Flemings were putting inhabitants
+and garrison to the sword, without distinction of age or sex,
+when the Spanish officers, with a lively and grateful remembrance
+of the good treatment received from Guise and the French, united
+their voices and efforts to check the carnage. "_Bonne guerre,
+compagnons,_" they cried; "_souvenez-vous de la courtoisie de Metz!_"
+
+It was during the following campaign (1554) that there occurred the
+first marked manifestations of discord between the Duke of Guise
+and the Admiral de Coligny. In the combat of Renty, near St Omer,
+Coligny commanded the infantry, in his quality of colonel-general
+of that arm. Victory declared itself for the French; already
+many trophies had been taken, and heavy loss inflicted on the
+Imperialists, who were on the brink of a general rout, when Guise
+"feeling" says M. de Bouille, "that he was not supported by
+the Constable de Montmorency--the retreat also, according to a
+report current at the time, having been sounded _by the breath of
+envy_--was unable to follow up his advantage, and could but maintain
+himself on the field, whilst the Imperialists, although defeated,
+succeeded in entering the besieged fort." The chief merit of this
+imperfect victory was attributed by the Constable to his nephew
+Coligny, who, on his part, was said to have asserted that, during
+the heat of the fight, Guise had not been in his right place. This
+led, upon the evening of the action, to a violent altercation, which
+would have ended with drawn swords but for the intervention of the
+King, in whose tent it occurred. He compelled them to embrace; but
+the reconciliation was only skin-deep, and from that day forwards a
+rancorous dislike was substituted for the close intimacy which had
+existed in their youth between these two great soldiers, and which
+had been carried to such a point that they "could not live without
+each other, wearing the same colours, and dressing in the same
+manner." Henceforward they were constant antagonists, the chiefs
+of two parties under whose banners nobles, soldiers, and courtiers
+ranged themselves, according to the dictates of their sympathies
+or interests. And soon their rivalry for fame and influence was
+inflamed and envenomed by the ardour of religious passions, and of
+combats for their respective creeds.
+
+It is here impossible to trace, even in outline, the events that
+crowded the reign of Henry II., and in which the Duke, the Cardinal,
+and their brother d'Aumale played a most conspicuous part. It was
+a constant succession of battles and intrigues, for the most part
+terminating, in spite of formidable foes both in the field and at
+court, to the advantage of the Guises. And when, a few weeks after
+the battle of St Quintin, so disastrous to the French arms--where
+the Constable de Montmorency, who had boasted beforehand of victory,
+beheld his entire army slain or taken, and himself a prisoner--the
+Duke of Guise returned from Italy, "to save the state," as the
+King himself expressed it, he found himself at the utmost pinnacle
+of power a subject could possibly attain. On the very day of his
+arrival, Henry declared him lieutenant-general of the French armies,
+in and out of the kingdom; a temporary dignity, it is true, but
+one superior to that of Constable, and which usually was bestowed
+only in times of regency and minority. That nothing should be
+wanting to the exorbitant authority thus conferred upon the man
+to whom sovereign and nation alike were wont to turn in the day
+of danger and disaster, the King addressed to all the provincial
+authorities particular injunctions to obey the orders of the Duke
+of Guise as though they emanated from himself; and truly it was
+remarked, says Dauvigny in his _Vies des Hommes Illustres_, that
+never had monarch in France been obeyed more punctually and with
+greater zeal. The whole business of the country now rested upon
+the shoulders of Guise. But even whilst thus exalting him, Henry,
+conscious of his own weakness, and haunted, perhaps, by his father's
+dying injunction, was actually plotting how to lessen the power
+of his great subject, so soon as the period of peril should have
+passed, during which his services were indispensable. With strange
+infatuation, the feeble monarch expected to be able to clip at
+will the wings of that soaring influence, when victory over the
+foreigner and the liberation of the country should have confirmed
+its domination.
+
+Invested with his new dignities, whose importance his sagacity fully
+appreciated, Guise, with the least possible delay, set out for
+Compiegne, which, since the recent disasters of the French arms,
+was a frontier town. Those disasters, he felt, could be effectually
+repaired only by a brilliant feat of arms, at once useful to the
+state, and flattering to the national pride. Upon such a one he
+resolved. Calais, now upwards of two centuries in possession of
+the English, to the great humiliation of France, was the object
+of destined attack. Skilled in the stratagems of war, the Duke
+contrived, by a series of able manoeuvres, to avert suspicion of his
+real design, until, on the 1st January 1558, he suddenly appeared
+before the ramparts of Calais. The siege that ensued has been often
+narrated. It terminated, after an obstinate resistance, in the
+capitulation of the garrison, which had scarcely been executed, when
+an English fleet appeared off the port, bearing succours that came
+too late. The triumph excited indescribable astonishment and joy
+throughout France. It was a splendid revenge for the defeat of St
+Quintin, and produced a marked change in the sentiments of several
+foreign potentates, who believed that reverse to have prostrated the
+French power for some time to come. The Grand Signior offered the
+co-operation of his fleet, and the German princes hastened, with
+redoubled good-will, the levies that had been demanded of them. Pope
+Paul IV., when congratulating the French ambassador, pronounced the
+highest eulogiums on Guise, and declared the conquest of Calais
+preferable to that of half England. At court, the partisans of the
+Constable were in dismay, and tried to lessen the merit of the
+victor by attributing its success to the adoption of a plan sketched
+by Coligny. But even if this were true, the merit of the execution
+was all the Duke's own. Upon the heels of this triumph, quickly
+followed the capture of Guines and the evacuation by the English of
+the castle of Hames, their last possession in the county of Oye. "In
+less than a month," says M. de Bouille, "Francis of Lorraine had
+accomplished the patriotic but difficult enterprise so often and
+fruitlessly attempted during two centuries, and had cancelled the
+old proverb applied in France, in those days, to generals of slight
+merit, of whom it was derisively said, 'He will never drive the
+English out of France.'"
+
+Henry II., accompanied by the Dauphin, the Cardinals of Lorraine and
+Guise, and several nobles of the court, made a journey to Calais,
+which he entered with great pomp. The object of this expedition was
+to sustain the courage and zeal of the troops, who endured much
+fatigue and hardship, in that inclement season and in the midst
+of the marshes. The King also wished to testify his gratitude to
+his lieutenant-general, showing him great confidence, referring to
+him all who requested audience on business, and presenting him,
+in the most flattering terms, with a house in Calais. The Duke
+returned with Henry to Paris, where great feasts and rejoicings
+were held in his honour, and, on occasion of the Dauphin's marriage
+with Mary Queen of Scots, which shortly followed, Guise filled, in
+the absence of Montmorency, the office of grand-master, which he
+long had coveted. Concurrently, however, with this great apparent
+favour, Henry was secretly uneasy at the power and pretensions of
+the family of Guise, and maintained a constant and confidential
+correspondence with their inveterate enemy the Constable de
+Montmorency. On the other hand the Guises were on their guard,
+labouring to countermine and defeat the intrigues levelled against
+them. Urged on by his brother, and feeling that, in their position,
+if they did not advance they must recede, the Duke directed all
+his efforts to an effectual concentration in his own hands of the
+entire military power of the kingdom. Should he fail in this, he at
+least was resolved to leave none in those of his rivals. By this
+time the progress of the Reformed religion in France had attracted
+great attention. It was an abomination in the eyes of Henry; and of
+this the Duke and Cardinal took advantage to work the downfall of
+d'Andelot, brother of Coligny, and colonel-general of the French
+infantry, the only military commander who at that moment caused
+them any uneasiness. Accused of heresy, and summoned before the
+King, who received him kindly, and, expecting he would so reply as
+to disconcert his enemies, "commanded him to declare, in presence
+of all the court, his belief with respect to the holy sacrifice of
+mass; d'Andelot proudly replied that his gratitude for the King's
+favours doubtless rendered entire devotedness incumbent upon him,
+but that his soul belonged to God alone; that, enlightened by
+the torch of Scripture, he approved the doctrines of Calvin, and
+considered mass a horrible profanation and an abominable invention
+of man." Furious at what he deemed a blasphemy, the King, who
+was at supper, snatched a basin from the table and hurled it at
+d'Andelot; but it struck the Dauphin. He was then tempted, says
+one of his historians, to pierce the offender with his sword, but
+finally contented himself with sending him to prison, and the post
+of colonel-general was bestowed upon Montluc, an ex-page of Guise's
+grandfather, and a devoted partisan of the house of Lorraine. This
+brave Gascon officer at first scrupled to accept it, for he feared
+to incur the hatred of the Colignys and the Constable. Wily and
+wary, like most of his countrymen, he declared himself willing to
+serve as a private soldier under the Duke, but modestly declined the
+command offered him. The King insisting, he alleged a dysentery,
+as rendering him incapable of the needful activity. This and other
+objections being overruled, he took possession of his important
+command, and speedily proved himself worthy to hold it--notably at
+the siege of Thionville on the Moselle. This fortress, one of the
+strongest the Imperialists owned, was defended by Jean de Caderebbe,
+a brave gentleman of Brabant, at the head of three thousand picked
+men. The Dukes of Guise and Nevers, and Marshal Strozzi, were the
+leaders of the besieging army; Montluc joined them on the eve of
+the opening of the batteries, and did excellent service. On the
+fifteenth day of the siege, Guise was in the trenches, talking
+to Strozzi, on whose shoulder his hand rested, when the Marshal
+was struck by an arquebuse ball, a little above the heart. On
+feeling himself hit, "_Ah! tete Dieu, Monsieur_," exclaimed this
+brave and able general, "the King loses to-day a good servant,
+and your Excellency also." He did himself no more than justice.
+Guise was deeply affected, but, repressing his emotion, he tried
+to fix Strozzi's thoughts on religion. The veteran's death was
+less exemplary than his life; he died in profession of unbelief;
+and Guise, much scandalised, but perhaps doubly furious at the
+thought that the soul as well as the body of his old comrade had
+perished by the sudden manner of his death, prosecuted the siege
+with fresh ardour, eager for revenge, and suppressing for the
+moment, as far as he was able, the disastrous news, which could not
+but produce a most unfavourable impression. Valiantly seconded by
+Montluc and Vieilleville, on the 22d June, two days after Strozzi's
+death, he received the capitulation of the garrison. His triumph
+was well earned. Besides the exhibition, throughout the siege, of
+the genius and inventive resource that constitute a general of
+the highest order, he had toiled and exposed himself like a mere
+subaltern, constantly under fire, personally superintending the
+pioneers and artillerymen, and rarely sleeping; so that it was no
+wonder (considering he had not had a single night's rest during the
+operations against Thionville) that on the 1st July, when preparing
+for the siege of the rich little town of Arlon, he complained of
+being very drowsy, and left Montluc to invest the place--himself
+retiring to bed in a cottage, and giving orders to let him sleep
+till he awoke of himself. "It is very quick work," he observed,
+crossing himself, when he was the next day informed, in reply to
+his inquiry whether the batteries had opened fire, that Montluc had
+surprised and taken the place in the night.
+
+Whilst Guise was thus not only rendering great services himself, but
+bringing forward leaders whose exploits honoured the French arms,
+in other quarters affairs went less favourably for France. Near
+Dunkirk, Marshal Thermes was beaten and taken prisoner, and Guise,
+whose frequent lot it was to repair the blunders or misfortunes
+of less capable generals, marched to Picardy; on the frontier of
+which province, at a grand review passed by Henry II., the Duke's
+son and successor, Henry, Prince of Joinville, then but eight years
+old, appeared for the first time in public, with his cousin, the
+Count of St Vallier, son of the Duke d'Aumale. Accompanied by their
+preceptors and some other gentlemen, and mounted on ponies, they
+rode through the ranks, until they reached the troops commanded
+by Montluc. "_Ca, ca_, my little princes," exclaimed that brave
+captain, "dismount; for I was brought up in the house of which you
+are issue, which is the house of Lorraine, where I was page, and
+I will be the first to put arms in your hands." The two cousins
+dismounted, and Montluc, taking off the little silken _robons_
+that covered their shoulders, placed a pike in the hand of each of
+them. "I hope," he said, "that God will give you grace to resemble
+your fathers, and that I shall have brought you good fortune by
+being the first to invest you with arms. To me they have hitherto
+been favourable. May God render you as brave as you are handsome,
+and sons of very good and generous fathers." After this species of
+martial baptism, the two children, conducted by Montluc, passed
+along the front of the troops, objects of the admiration and good
+wishes of men and officers. A few months later, one of them was
+dead; the other, heir to most of the great qualities, whether good
+or bad, that distinguished his race, lived to prosecute, and at one
+time almost to realise, the most ambitious designs his father and
+grandfather had conceived. The fair-haired boy of the review at
+Pierrepont, was the stern _Balafre_ of the wars of the League.
+
+The spring of the year 1559 found the Guises in marked disfavour
+with the King. The great services of the Duke, the capture of
+Calais and Thionville, and the many other feats of arms by which he
+had reduced the power of the enemy, at moments when it was about
+to be fatal to France, were insufficient to counterbalance the
+alarm felt by Henry II. at his and the Cardinal's influence and
+ambition. The star of the Constable was in the ascendant. Chiefly
+by his intervention, a disadvantageous peace was concluded, and,
+at his request, d'Andelot was recalled to court. Montmorency and
+Coligny triumphed. The efforts of the Protestants combined with
+court intrigues to ruin the credit of the house of Lorraine. The
+two brothers were attacked on all sides, and in every manner:
+epigram and satire furiously assailed them, and they were denounced
+as aspiring, one to the tiara, the other to the crown of France.
+However doubtful--or at least remote from maturity--these projects
+were, they were yet sufficiently probable for their denunciation to
+produce the desired effect on the mind of Henry, already writhing
+impatiently under the domination of the Guises, against whom he was
+further prejudiced by his mistress, the Duchess de Valentinois,
+(Diane de Poitiers,) still influential, in spite of her threescore
+winters. Never had circumstances been so menacing to the fortunes of
+the Guises; and perhaps it was only the subtle and temporising line
+of conduct they adopted in this critical conjuncture, that saved
+them from utter disgrace and downfall. Things had been but a short
+time in this state, and already, from the skilful manoeuvres of the
+Cardinal, their side of the balance acquired an upward inclination,
+when the whole aspect of affairs was changed by the death of Henry
+II. With the reign of his feeble successor, there commenced for the
+restless princes of Lorraine a new epoch of power and renown.
+
+
+
+
+MY PENINSULAR MEDAL.
+
+BY AN OLD PENINSULAR.
+
+
+PART VIII.--CHAPTER XIX.
+
+Now for the fight. On the morning of the battle of Toulouse we left
+Grenade. It was known amongst us that the battle was coming off; and
+we started in the expectation of passing the night either in the
+city itself, or in its immediate vicinity. We ascended towards the
+city by the left bank of the Garonne, but reached a pontoon bridge,
+which enabled us to cross to the right bank, where the main body of
+our troops was posted. The fight had commenced. We heard the firing
+as we advanced; and while we approached the scene of action, it
+became gradually louder and more distinct. Immediately in the rear
+of the British lines we halted, not knowing the ground, and withdrew
+from the road into a field which was close at hand, in order that
+our numerous party might not prove an obstacle to passing troops,
+ammunition, or artillery. Our forces held the low ground, and
+closed, in a sort of semicircle, around the heights occupied by the
+French. As it so happened that I was not only at this battle, but
+in it, I here beg leave to relate the circumstances which led to my
+finding myself in a position where, as a civilian, I was so little
+wanted, and so much out of my ordinary sphere of duty.
+
+Sancho did it all. We were sitting upon our nags, speculating upon
+the fight, and seeing all that could be seen, till we began to
+think we knew something of what was going on. At this moment rode
+up from the rear, coming across the fields, an old officer of rank,
+a major-general, well known at headquarters, without aide-de-camp,
+orderly, or any kind of attendant. He inquired eagerly, "Where are
+the troops?--Where are the troops?" We pointed forward; little
+was visible but trees. He looked rather at a loss, but turned his
+horse's head in the direction we had indicated. That villain Sancho,
+seeing another horse go on, snorted, and pulled at the bridle. He
+was tired of standing still. I, ever indulgent to Sancho, followed
+the old general, and soon overtook him. "I believe I know the
+position of the troops, sir. Will you give me leave to show you?"
+
+"Thank you, sir, thank you," said he; "I shall really be much
+obliged."
+
+We rode on till we reached a British regiment, drawn up in line.
+With renewed acknowledgments he then took his leave. The air was
+musical above our heads with whistling and humming missiles. I was
+now fairly upon the ground, and didn't like to go back.
+
+There was a lull in the fight. The spectacle was singular. Some
+firing was kept up on both sides, but not sufficient to obscure
+the view of the French position, which rose immediately in front,
+a bare range of hills, crowned by their redoubts. The atmosphere
+was bright; and though the skirmishers on the declivity were
+discoverable only by small white jets of smoke, as they fired from
+time to time, every movement of the enemy on the summit, with the
+sky for its background, was perfectly visible. I noticed a single
+horseman, probably an aide-de-camp bearing orders, as distinct
+and diminutive as if seen through the wrong end of a telescope.
+You might perceive the very action of his horse, that laborious
+up-and-down gallop of the French manege, which throws away so much
+of the animal's strength, and sacrifices speed without securing
+elegance.
+
+The combat, at this moment, was renewed, and our troops went to
+work in earnest. The Spanish army ascended the hill to assault the
+enemy's redoubts. This movement, at first, had all the regularity
+of a review. But the redoubts opened their fire; as the Spaniards
+moved up, the smoke rolled down; and, when the wind swept it away,
+their broken bands were seen in precipitate retreat, followed by a
+large body of the French, who swarmed out from their intrenchments.
+Instantly, and just in front of me, our artillery opened upon the
+pursuing foe. The round-shot plumped into their columns, knocking
+up clods as high as a house; and the enemy, not relishing this
+salutation, hastily fell back to their former position. Sancho
+now became a dreadful plague. He had for some time been getting
+unquiet, and, with the continual firing, he grew worse and worse. I
+believe this was his first battle, as it was mine. Not content with
+a little extra restiveness at every fresh discharge of artillery,
+he had worked himself into a state of chronic excitement, and, at
+intervals, attempted to bolt. It was clear I must get rid of Sancho,
+or see no more of the fight; so I deposited him in a stable, under
+care of a cottager, in the adjoining village.
+
+Still moving towards the left, along the base of the hill, I reached
+a part of the British position, where a number of our troops were
+waiting to storm the heights, when the flank movement against the
+enemy's right, which was his weakest point, should be sufficiently
+advanced. All at once I plumped upon "Cousin Tom," whom I had not
+met since he embarked, three years before, a raw subaltern, at
+Portsmouth. There he now stood, as large as life, rough and ugly,
+at the head of his regiment, a regular "Old Peninsular;" and on him
+had devolved the duty, as he gave me to understand, of "taking those
+fellows up the hill." This service, I thought, would have fallen
+to some officer of higher rank; but Tom explained. The regiment
+having been reduced, either by losses or detachment, its numbers in
+the field were small, and he, being the senior officer present, of
+course had to "carry them up." "Come," said he, "we are going to
+take a look at those monsieurs above there; you may as well go with
+us."
+
+The proposal was coolly made, so I took it coolly. "With all my
+heart," said I. "You know what is the feeling towards an amateur.
+If he makes an ass of himself, he's laughed at; and if he gets hit,
+they only say, it serves him right. If it's of any use, I'll go with
+pleasure."
+
+"Use?" said Tom; "the greatest use. Why, I want to ask you twenty
+questions about friends in England. Besides, you know, if I am
+knocked over, you can pick me up."
+
+"Very well, then; and you can do the same for me."
+
+"No, no," said cousin Tom; "I don't promise that. Got my men to
+attend to. If I am hit, you must take care of me. If you are hit,
+you must take care of yoursel----Oh, that's the signal. Come along."
+Away we went, up the hill.
+
+Rank and file--double-quick time--a capital pace for opening the
+chest. Tom took it easy, trotting on at a steady pace, and assailing
+me with a running fire of questions; while the row that had already
+commenced above prevented my returning categorical replies. "Is
+your father at sea now?"--Bang! from one of the big guns in the
+French batteries right over our heads. "Got any brandy?"--A shout
+from a thousand throats, in the rush and shock of a charge with
+bayonets. "Had breakfast this morning?"--Pop! pop! pop! a running
+fire of musketry. Pop! pop! pop! "Got any cigars?"--Bang! bang! the
+big guns at it again. "When did you hear from your mother?" A new
+sound, less loud and sudden, but, from its peculiarity, distinct
+amidst the din; a spiteful, whirling, whizzing noise, ten thousand
+skyrockets combined in one; not, though, like the skyrocket, first
+loud, then less audible--quite the contrary. Commencing with a
+faint and distant hiss, it grew louder and louder, came singing on,
+nearer and nearer, till a shell dropped a few yards in front of our
+column! The hiss was now an angry roar, like the blowing off of
+steam. There lay the bottled demon, full in our path, threatening
+instant destruction, and daring us to advance. Our column halted.
+"Hurra! my lads," cried Cousin Tom, waving his sword. "Come along,
+old Five-and-threepennies. Push by it at once, before it _spreads_."
+The game old Five-and-threepennies gave a shout--rushed forward--got
+by in time; each yelping and capering as he passed the fizzing foe.
+Bang went the shell. For a few seconds I was stone deaf. Never felt
+such an odd sensation. Not the deafness, but the return of hearing.
+First, perfect silence in the midst of the turmoil--then the crack!
+crack! bang! bang! as if you had suddenly flung open a door. Not a
+man of us was hurt. "Got an English paper?" said Tom.
+
+"I've got some intelligence for you, old chap, not in this morning's
+_Times_. Just look up there, in front."
+
+The view in front was striking and picturesque. Right above us,
+dimly visible through the smoke, on the verge of the platform or
+table-land which we were mounting to assault, appeared a regiment
+of French infantry, enough of them to eat us up, advancing upon
+us with an irregular fire, and led on by their colonel. He rode a
+showy horse; and, hat in hand, waved them on, while his white hairs
+streamed in the wind, and his whole bearing announced the brave old
+soldier. "We must form line," said Tom. It was done forthwith, with
+steadiness, order, and rapidity. "Make ready--present--fire." Crack!
+went all the muskets together. I saw the gallant old colonel, with
+outspread arms, tumbling from his horse.--"Charge!" We rushed upon
+the foe; but, when the smoke had cleared away, found no foe to fight
+withal. Nothing was visible, save their knapsacks in the distance,
+poppling up and down in the smoke, as they scampered off. We still
+continued advancing in pursuit, and now were fairly in for it, half
+choked with dust and sulphur. If it be asked, how far I personally
+contributed to the triumphs of that glorious day, I beg leave to
+answer:--Unquestionably my arm performed prodigies of valour; of
+that there neither is, nor can be, the shadow of a doubt. But as I
+should have felt it extremely difficult to give a distinct account
+of my exploits if questioned on the day, why, of course you won't
+expect it now, after the lapse of six-and-thirty years. Suffice it
+to say, we made good our footing on the platform, drove the enemy
+from their position, occupied it ourselves, took possession of
+their redoubts, and formed, with the rest of the British forces,
+on the summit of the heights. The day was our own. But there was
+one unfortunate circumstance to damp our exultation; Cousin Tom was
+missing. A sergeant now informed me he was wounded, and had gone to
+the rear.
+
+
+CHAPTER XX. AND LAST.
+
+As victory had crowned our efforts, and my valuable services were
+now no longer required, I determined to look for Cousin Tom, and
+walked down the hill for that purpose. At its base, I entered a long
+thicket or shrubbery. There, amongst the trees, I found several
+wounded men, whom their comrades were removing off the ground.
+No one could give me the information that I sought; no one knew
+anything of Cousin Tom. Saw a sergeant sitting on a bank, who, I
+soon discovered, was also wounded. He knew no such officer; had seen
+no one answering the description. "What's your injury, sergeant?"
+
+"A musket-ball in my ankle, sir."
+
+"Well, but hadn't I better help you to a place of shelter?"
+
+"Much obliged to you, sir; but I couldn't walk, even with your
+support. I'd rather wait till my turn comes to be carried, if you've
+no objections, sir. Much obliged to you, equally all the same, sir."
+
+"As you please. Can I render you any assistance? What can I do for
+you?"
+
+"If you'd have the kindness, sir, perhaps you'd be so good and take
+off my gaiter. I can't take it off myself, sir, though I've tried;
+it does hurt me so when I stoop forward. I'm afraid the bleeding
+will spoil it, sir; and then I shall be forced to take out a new
+pair."
+
+Having performed this office, and administered a little brandy both
+topically and constitutionally, I once more ascended the hill,
+thinking it possible Cousin Tom might be somewhere nearer the scene
+of action. I inquired and looked in every direction, but without
+success. Where are you, Cousin Tom? This time my steps brought me
+into one of the redoubts, which had been carried by our troops.
+When I entered, there were not a dozen men in it. Sunset was near,
+and everything over for the day. Yet just at that moment, for what
+reason I know not, perhaps for a freak, the enemy thought fit to
+open upon this all but unoccupied post, from their own lines nearer
+the city, with a heavy fire of shot and shell. Bang went a shell,
+knocking up bushels of earth and mire. Plump came a round-shot,
+into the mud parapet of the redoubt. It was no use moving; one
+place was as hot as another. So we had nothing to do for it but to
+stand still and exchange grins till the pelting was over. I then
+took my leave for the evening. The day indeed was drawing to a
+close as I descended the hill; and happily I succeeded in reaching
+the village, and finding the cottage where Sancho had been left in
+charge, just after it became pitch-dark. A cheering light streamed
+through the cottage window; and, on entering, I found comfortably
+seated by the blazing hearth a veterinary surgeon, who was there in
+charge of wounded horses. He very civilly informed me there were
+two good beds, so all was right with respect to accommodation;
+and, more civilly still, invited me to partake of his supper,
+which was boiling on the fire. Not having eaten a morsel since my
+early breakfast at Grenade, and having just discovered that I was
+enormously hungry, I accepted the invitation with glee, took my
+seat, and cast many a glance at the boiling, bubbling, and steaming
+kettle. Presently the contents were turned out into a large,
+old-fashioned tureen, and displayed to my eager gaze a compound of
+various materials, the chief of which were a fowl, and--what d'ye
+think?--a pig's heart. Supper excellent. Bed ditto.
+
+Next day early I resumed my search for Cousin Tom, but still,
+alas! without success. Went from village to village, inquired
+from house to house, searched the whole neighbourhood. Lots of
+wounded officers, but not the man I sought. Throughout the day my
+search was unsuccessful. Towards night I was passing through a
+street of scattered houses, a sort of hamlet, and was beginning to
+think of securing a lodging and a dinner. Wolves rouse at sunset;
+and I distinctly felt one gnawing at my stomach. At this painful
+juncture, much to my satisfaction, at the door of a cottage I
+discovered a jolly acquaintance, whom I beg to introduce as my "Fat
+Friend." He was one of the smartest clerks amongst our civilians,
+and probably the youngest; under, rather than over fifteen; in
+short, a chubby boy, who somehow or other had broken away from his
+mother's apron-strings, and obtained a post, which he filled in a
+way that did him credit. In one respect he was precocious; namely,
+that he soon proved himself up to all the waggery and villainy
+of headquarters. Moreover, he had a vast idea of maintaining his
+importance, and could take his own part; was touchy in anything
+that affected his manhood; and, if you offended him, punched your
+head; brushed up to fine women, with a marked preference for a
+bouncer. Yet, after all, he was but an overgrown boy, and often
+afforded us sport by his mannish airs. "Ah, Fatty, is that you? Glad
+to see you. Got any room?"
+
+"Plenty, plenty," said Fatty; "good entertainment for man and horse.
+Glad to see you; and glad to see the pony. Here, Francisco, take
+Sancho, and give him some corn. Come in, old fellow. Sit down, and
+make yourself comfortable. Dreadful dull here--horrid! Left in
+charge of the departmental boxes."
+
+"I say, Fatty; have you dined?"
+
+"Dined? We dined an hour ago." Fatty saw his advantage, and was
+resolved to make the most of it.
+
+"Well, what did you have for dinner? Got any cold beef?"
+
+"Why, where have you been?" said Fatty; "haven't seen you these two
+days. Oh, I suppose you got into Toulouse. Lots of fine gals?"
+
+"Answer my question, and I'll answer yours."
+
+"Come out, old fellow. Let's take a turn through village before it
+gets dark. Dinner? Why, a turkey. Sorry you were not with us to
+partake. Not a morsel left. Picked the old gobbler clean, drumsticks
+and all."
+
+"I wish you'd let me send your fellow for some beef."
+
+"Oh yes," said Fatty, "send him by all means. Sorry to inform you
+it's no use, though. Not a morsel of rations to be had; not a
+biscuit. What, haven't you _dined_?" I saw he meant to have his
+joke, so made no reply.
+
+There was a dodge, though; my remedy was in my pocket. Brought out a
+cigar, one of my choice grenadiers; struck a light, blew a fragrant
+cloud, took it easy. The rich odour diffused itself through the
+apartment.
+
+Fatty, knowing in cigars, soon discovered that mine was no common
+weed. He first drew a sniff; then gave utterance to his emotions in
+a coaxing and admiring "Oh!" I took no notice.
+
+"Come, old fellow," said Fatty; "hand out one of those."
+
+"Lost your cigar-case?"
+
+"No, no; nonsense. Come, give us one; that's a good chap."
+
+Failing in his request, Fatty sat silent and fidgetty. The first
+finished, I lit a second.
+
+Fatty watched his opportunity; made a vicious grab at the case. I
+was too quick for him--knew his ways. Down he sat again; tried all
+the varieties of entreating, threatening, bullying, wheedling, till
+cigar the second was burnt out. When I extracted the third, Fatty
+could stand it no longer; made a rush, and commenced a ferocious
+assault, pitching it in, right and left. The punches came so fierce
+and fast, I was at length compelled, in self-defence, to administer
+a slight persuader, and Fatty found it convenient to resume his
+seat. He sat awhile, sulky and all but blubbering; then hastily
+rose, and stalked out of the room in high dudgeon. I presently found
+him stationed at the front door with his hands in his pocket, very
+pensive and dignified. Shortly after, he slipped into the house;
+Francisco appeared with the tablecloth and a bottle of wine; then
+came half a turkey and the cold beef. After dinner we clubbed our
+resources, and closed the evening with whisky punch and prime cigars.
+
+Next morning early, started afresh in search of Cousin Tom. Near
+Toulouse, fell in with Gingham--told him my difficulties. "Come up
+the hill," said Gingham; "I'll go with you. There, no doubt, we
+shall find your cousin's regiment." On reaching the summit of the
+heights, we found our way in the first instance into the Colombette
+redoubt; the same in which, on the day of the fight, the brave
+Forty-second had been suddenly overwhelmed by a superior force,
+and had lost four-fifths of its numbers. Within the redoubt were
+standing two or three privates; they belonged to the Forty-second.
+The uniform at once reminded me of Corporal Fraser, the trusty
+companion of my march to headquarters. I asked one of the privates,
+did he know the Corporal. "He joined about three weeks ago, sir."
+
+"Hope he's well. Where is he now?"
+
+"He's there, sir," said the man, pointing to the parapet of the
+redoubt. I looked, but saw no one.
+
+"The earth," said Gingham, "seems to have been recently stirred
+there. That mound, I think, is not many days old." Then, addressing
+the soldier, "your regiment suffered a heavy loss. Is that where you
+buried after the action?"
+
+"That's the place, sir." The man then walked away, as if little
+disposed for conversation.
+
+We did not pause to calculate how many bodies would fill a space
+commensurate with the length, breadth, and altitude of the soil
+displaced. There lay the slain of a gallant regiment, in the redoubt
+they had so nobly won. There lay Corporal Fraser, who, in all the
+difficulties of our march, had shown himself trustworthy, fearless,
+intelligent, and energetic. He had longed to join ere the day of
+combat, and had found a soldier's grave.
+
+We discovered at length the sergeant who had informed me of my
+cousin's wound. He now pointed to a large house, near the thicket at
+the bottom of the hill. While searching for Cousin Tom on the day of
+the fight, I was close to that same house, but without seeing it.
+From our present elevated position it was distinctly visible, though
+not from the low ground, amongst trees and underwood.
+
+Our approach to the house led us through the thicket. While making
+our way among the trees, we both, Gingham and I, came to a halt at
+the same instant. The sight which arrested our steps was new to
+Gingham, not to me. I saw, on that spot, an object that I had seen
+two days before. The sergeant whom I had then found wounded was
+still sitting there, on the same bank, in the same attitude! There
+he had sat the whole time, overlooked by the bearers, and unable to
+move. Viewed at the distance of a few paces, his aspect scarcely
+appeared changed. It was the identical figure--I remembered him
+at once. But on a nearer inspection, the alteration was but too
+manifest. His eye was glazed, and half shut. His face was that of a
+corpse. He sat up, like a dead man galvanised. "What, still here,
+sergeant? Has nobody come to remove you yet."
+
+He attempted to speak--paused--at length found utterance. "Sorry I
+didn't accept your offer, sir." His voice was low and husky, but
+distinct.
+
+"Come," said Gingham, "you mustn't refuse this time. We'll soon
+carry you into the house just by."
+
+"Thank you, sir; thank you, gentlemen. Would you have the kindness
+though--I should be sorry to lose my gaiter."
+
+The gaiter secured, we prepared to lift the sufferer from his seat,
+and he on his part made a feeble effort to rise. The attempt brought
+on a gush of pain. For a moment, his features were distorted with
+intolerable anguish; the next, he fainted in our arms.
+
+"Now then," said Gingham, thrusting back into his sidepocket a small
+flask which he had just drawn out. "Now then; away with him at once,
+before he recovers. Come, Mr Y----; you take his shoulders, I'll
+take his legs. It may save him further pain."
+
+We bore the sufferer, still senseless, to the house. Gingham, not
+having a hand to spare, banged at the door with his foot. It was
+opened by Mr Staff-surgeon Pledget, who bowed on recognising us, but
+looked rather perplexed at the unexpected addition to his duties.
+
+Pledget gave instant directions for the accommodation of the wounded
+man, and informed me, in reply to my inquiries for Cousin Tom, that
+he had an officer under his care, answering to my description.
+Pledget appeared bewildered, and stood with us in the passage a few
+moments, without speaking. At length he opened the door of a small
+chamber close by, and begged us to enter. He placed chairs for us,
+and seated himself on the bed. "I'm rather exhausted," said he.
+
+"I fear after such a fight," said Gingham, "your duties must be
+heavy indeed."
+
+"Oh yes," said Pledget, looking distressed and rather wild. "I have
+had much work, and little assistance; a long spell, too."
+
+"Why, you began, I suppose," replied Gingham, "early on the day of
+the fight."
+
+"Yes," said Pledget; "and I've been at it ever since. Let me see:
+two days and two nights, isn't it? Yes, and now going on for the
+third. Here have I been operating, bandaging, taking up arteries,
+taking off arms and legs, night and day, without time to lie down,
+almost without a moment to eat. In fact," said he, looking about the
+room like a man lost, "this is the first time I've sat down these
+eight-and-forty hours."
+
+Pledget's look bore full testimony to his toils. Three weeks'
+illness could hardly have wrought a greater change. Nor was his
+appearance mended by his garb. He wore a sort of operating gown
+similar to that employed in dissecting; a long pinafore with
+sleeves, protecting the whole person from the chin to the feet, tied
+round the middle, and closing with a fold behind. The front was
+spotted in every part with jets of blood from wounded arteries. Some
+of the stains had dried on, and blackened where they dried; others,
+more recent, were still moist and crimson. Blood was on his unshaven
+and haggard face; and on his hands, too, wore marks of blood.
+
+Gingham eyed him with a look of deep concern. "I really fear," said
+Gingham, "you've been quite overdone."
+
+"I did hope, before this," replied Pledget, "to be relieved by other
+gentlemen of my own department. I have but one medical assistant,
+and he, at this moment, can afford me no help, for I have been
+forced to leave him sitting with his finger on a wounded artery; and
+if he takes it off but for a few seconds, the major's a dead man."
+
+Pledget now looked like a man that can't remember what's next. "Oh,"
+said he, in all absent tone, "so peace is really concluded. Come, Mr
+Y----, suppose we go and look for your cousin. His case, I'm happy
+to say, is not serious. The ball will be extracted this evening, and
+then, I hope, he will do well."
+
+Pledget spoke, but did not stir. "By the bye," he added, "you know
+Captain Gabion? I think you do. Oh yes, I recollect; we were all
+three fellow-passengers from Lisbon to Falmouth. No, no, what am
+I saying? From Falmouth to Lisbon. His case is past hope. He can
+hardly live through the night."
+
+Gingham and I rose at once from our seats. For the moment, the
+imminent danger of a man we so highly esteemed, expelled from my
+thoughts even Cousin Tom. Pledget also rose, as if to lead the way,
+but again lapsed into forgetfulness. His mind was evidently worn
+out, as well as his body. "Well," said he, "I'm glad we've got
+Toulouse.--Gentlemen, I beg your pardon. This way, if you please; up
+stairs."
+
+He led the way. Every open door, as we passed through the spacious
+mansion, discovered a room crowded with wounded and dying men, in
+beds, or on the ground. Or, if we saw not into the apartment, sounds
+were heard, which told of anguish and laceration within. We were
+conducted by Pledget into a large room on the first floor, filled,
+like the others, with every form of suffering. Some, slightly
+wounded, sat round the fire, on which cookery was proceeding in
+kettles of every size and shape. One officer, bandaged round the
+head, had become delirious. He alternately laughed and whimpered,
+muttered and sang. Another sat near him, moaning, with his arm in
+a sling. A spent cannon ball had smashed the bones from the elbow
+to the wrist, without inflicting an external wound. Every bed had
+an occupant; and many lay upon the floor, with only a blanket under
+them. My eye glanced round the apartment, and lighted on the pinched
+features and pallid visage of Captain Gabion.
+
+He lay on his back in bed. Death was legible in his aspect. His eyes
+were all but shut; but, from time to time, a convulsive twitching
+of the muscles suddenly expanded them to their full width. To all
+appearance, he was perfectly insensible. His breathing was irregular
+and laborious; but the expression of his countenance, except when
+disfigured by the spasms which occasionally shot through his frame,
+and jerked him from head to foot, was, as in health, calm and
+dignified. Strange indeed were the vicissitudes, strange was the
+contrast, between the rigid tranquillity of one moment, and the
+awful distortion of the next. Now, it was the quivering play of
+features pulled by muscular contraction; now, the monumental repose
+of marble.
+
+"I fear," whispered Gingham to Pledget, "you view the case
+unfavourably." Pledget hopelessly raised his eyes.
+
+"The Captain has been insensible," said Pledget, "ever since he was
+brought in; and probably will continue so till he expires."
+
+We turned from this sad spectacle, without exchanging a syllable.
+A handkerchief was whisked in my face. I looked round; there
+was the man I wanted. In the next bed, tucked in, with smiling
+face, little changed since we parted, a splendid specimen of the
+ugly-handsome--those fellows that make the biggest holes in ladies'
+hearts--lay Cousin Tom. Gingham, my object attained, forthwith
+took a temporary leave--had urgent business in Toulouse--an
+appointment--would return as soon as possible.
+
+"Fine fellow, that" said Cousin Tom, craning round, and nodding at
+Captain Gabion.
+
+"Well, Tom," said I; "what's the matter with YOU? What brought YOU
+here?"
+
+"Oh, not much; nothing," replied Tom, curling out his lips
+contemptuously, like a disappointed man; "only a musket-shot. It
+won't get me a step, I'm afraid; no, nor a pension neither."
+
+"Well, but how was it? When was it? We lost you in a moment."
+
+"I'll tell you just how it happened," said Tom. "You saw the old
+colonel knocked over. Ah! Don't touch the bed; that's a good fellow.
+Well. Directly after, you know, we charged. I was running on; felt
+a smart crack in the small of my leg. Thought it was a stone; took
+no notice. A few paces further, though, found I couldn't walk. The
+sergeant looked at my leg; said 'You're wounded, sir.' Wounded I
+was, sure enough; and disabled, too. Got carried to the rear; placed
+myself in the doctor's--"
+
+Here Tom suddenly knit his brows. His colour changed in an instant
+from florid to livid; his whole face was distorted with pain.
+Clapping his handkerchief to his mouth, he chewed away at it with
+all his might, while big drops of sweat started out on his forehead,
+and he drew in breath till the bedclothes heaved. Next moment he was
+himself again.
+
+Once more Tom nodded at the next bed. "Known him long? The doctor
+knows him."
+
+"We came over from England, all three of us in a ship."
+
+"Doctor was out, though, in one thing," said Cousin Tom. "Told you
+he was insensible ever since he came in. No such thing; this morning
+he revived; for about an hour seemed quite himself. Told me how he
+got hit."
+
+"Then tell me. I must communicate with his friends in England."
+
+"Well," replied Tom, "the Captain wasn't on duty here at
+headquarters; was doing some field-works on the left bank of the
+river, to be ready for Soult in case of his bolting again for the
+south. He heard, though, that the fight was coming off; so rode
+in on the morning. Found out there was to be a flank movement to
+the left; thought he might as well explore the line of march; went
+forward alone. Passed through the thicket on foot; made his way
+from one end to the other. When he reached the further extremity,
+just where our men got such a pounding afterwards from the guns
+on the heights, he looked out for the enemy's skirmishers; saw no
+one; thought he might as well go a little further. Just then our
+batteries at the right opened on the French position; some of our
+shots flew too high, and came clean over the hill into the lane,
+just exactly where he was standing."--Indeed! I thought of Captain
+Gabion's dream.--"Well; he saw one coming; didn't trouble himself;
+it seemed spent. Just when he thought it was going to stop, it
+fetched a pitch; took him in the side. He was found when our troops
+advanced, and brought in here." At this moment the pain returned.
+Tom again made wry faces, took another chew at his handkerchief, and
+soon recovered as before.
+
+"Well, Tom; I'm a leisure man. What can I do for you? Is there
+anything you want?--anything I can get you?"
+
+Cousin Tom looked very much as if there was something he did want,
+yet was backward to speak. "Why," said he, "I suppose by this time
+you can get into Toulouse. I wish you would make inquiries; try
+and find me some--But never mind; it's of no use. The ball will be
+extracted this evening, and to-morrow I shall go in myself."
+
+"Nonsense, nonsense; I'll go this instant."
+
+"Don't be too sure of that, though," said Tom. "Yesterday morning
+I tried it. Told the servant to have my mule ready; got my things
+on while the doctor was sawing away on the other floor; slipped
+down stairs; gave him the go-by. Mounted--rode to the top of the
+hill--was riding down into the city--almost rode into a French
+piquet."
+
+"No fear of that now, Tom; the city is ours. I saw the French troops
+marching out. Come, tell us, old fellow. What is it you fancy?
+Anything the doctor sanctions, you know. A quarter of mutton?--a
+dozen of pigeons?--some prime French sausages?--a bushel or so of
+oysters? What do you say to a brace of biddies?"
+
+"Oh, no!--oh, no!" said Tom, as if the very mention of biddies made
+him sick. "We were always in advance; got fowls and turkeys till we
+hated the sight of them."
+
+"Any dish from a French cuisine, then?"
+
+"Oh, no--oh, no! Nothing French, nothing Frenchified. What I
+want, if it's to be got at all, is not to be got good, except in
+England--or the West Indies."
+
+"Well, but, you know, Bordeaux is open; West India produce has come
+into the country by ship-loads. What is it? Come, just tell us, old
+chap, and I'll go and get it for you at once, if it's to be had in
+Toulouse."
+
+Tom was not so well as he looked; and there was evidently something
+for which, like other sick persons, he was inwardly pining. Now that
+I had held out a prospect of its attainment, his cheek flushed, and
+his eye gleamed with feverish eagerness.
+
+"Well, then," said Tom, "I wish you would try and get me--but it's
+no use; it's a shame to bother you.--I say, though, can you spare
+the time? Have you really nothing to do? Upon your honour?--I've
+been longing for them, day and night, ever since I got here. Oh, if
+you could only get me--some tamarinds!"
+
+His eye, while he spoke, fixed full on mine. He watched my
+countenance with the anxiety of a dying man when he makes his last
+request. "I'll be off and try this instant," said I, though really
+fearing there was little chance of success.
+
+"Oh, thank you--thank you!" cried Cousin Tom. I was going.
+"Here--here! Come back! I want to speak to you!" I returned. "Old
+fellow," said Tom, with a coaxing, eager grin, "make haste now, will
+you? Bring 'em directly--that's a good chap."
+
+"Well, but, you know--if tamarinds can't be had for love or money,
+is there nothing else?"
+
+"No, stupid--no! Tamarinds, I say; get me some tamarinds. What did
+I tell you? Didn't I tell you tamarinds? Now then; what are you
+waiting for? Cut away, and be hanged to you! Be off!--be off!"
+
+I entered the ancient and very interesting city of Toulouse, and
+rushed through streets choked with cars of wounded men, in search
+of tamarinds. The search was tedious, and far from satisfactory.
+I inquired at all the likeliest shops; found only two where
+they professed to sell tamarinds. The samples were similar: a
+made-up, sticky mess; a black, nauseous electuary, with a beastly
+pharmaceutical odour, and barely the flavour of tamarinds.
+
+It was no pleasant thought returning to poor Tom with a big gallipot
+of this filthy compound stowed in each of my coat pockets. Yet,
+though bad thus to baulk him, it was worse to keep him in suspense;
+so I started on my return with all speed, and, in my speed, came
+full butt against a passenger, who hugged me like a wrestler, to
+prevent a mutual capsize.
+
+"Well, Mr Y----! Glad to see you so active. Something of importance,
+no doubt: official duty, I suppose."
+
+It was Gingham! I told him my troubles, my pursuit in behalf of
+Cousin Tom, and my disappointment. Had searched all Toulouse, and
+could find no good tamarinds.
+
+"Shall be happy to supply you," said Gingham, "in any quantity your
+cousin can require. Got a whole kegful--capital. Always take some
+with me when I visit the Continent. Got them on Fish-street Hill."
+We walked off forthwith to Gingham's quarters.
+
+I was speedily on my return to Cousin Tom, with Gingham for
+my companion, and a good jar of prime, sweet, wholesome,
+unsophisticated tamarinds. On approaching Tom's bed, I held up the
+jar in triumph. Tom raised himself without saying a word, tucked his
+handkerchief under his chin, and sat up, poor fellow, like a child,
+with eyes half-closed and mouth half-open, eager to be fed. In went
+a spoonful. The next instant--bolt!--it was gone! What a swallow! He
+sat as before, ready for another. A second allowance vanished with
+equal speed. Down it goes! Why, it's like feeding a young rook!--Tom
+now laid himself down again, exhausted. "Here," said he; and made me
+a present of a handful of tamarind stones. "Now put a good lot in
+that jug, and fill it up with water."
+
+While the drink was mixing, an unusual sound called our attention to
+the adjoining bed. Captain Gabion was fast sinking. His respiration,
+laborious from the first, had now become painfully audible; in
+fact, he did not breathe, he gasped. The convulsive movements had
+ceased. His face retained its natural expression; but there was that
+in his look which told us he was a dying man. I felt at the moment
+an impression,--He is not insensible! His lips moved. Surely he is
+trying to speak! He strove to fix his eyes on us, but could not.
+I stooped down, observing his lips again in motion. Yes, he was
+speaking. I caught only the words--"On the platform."
+
+"The Calvinet platform?" I whispered in reply. "Is that the spot
+where you wish--?"
+
+Feebly, tremulously he pressed my hand, which had just before taken
+his. I had caught his last request, then; a grave on the summit of
+Mount Rave, the key of the French position, where the table-land,
+crowned with redoubts, had been carried by our troops. His breathing
+became gradually feebler and less perceptible. The moment when it
+ceased entirely, no one present could determine. This only was
+evident:--a minute before, he had given signs of life; and now, he
+had passed into another world!
+
+Cousin Tom's bullet was extracted the same afternoon, with immediate
+relief to the patient. During the operation I was present, by Tom's
+request; and friendship, let me tell you, has more pleasing duties
+than that of attending on such emergencies. Tom, however, made it as
+agreeable as he could. Throughout the process he viciously stared
+me full in the face, grinning most horribly from time to time, half
+in agony, half in fun. When the forceps was produced, he caught a
+glimpse of that terrific implement, and twisted his ugly mug into
+such a comical grimace, that mine, spite of the solemnity of the
+occasion, was screwed into a smile. Tom thereupon clenched his fist,
+with a look that said ferociously, "Laugh again, and I'll punch your
+eye."
+
+The bullet, doctor, had lodged between the bones of the leg, a
+little above the ankle, and, I need not inform you, came out
+rather flattened. Tom kept it as a bijou, in a red morocco case
+made express by an artist in Toulouse. Tom called it his pill-box.
+Neither bone was broken; but the strain of this disagreeable
+visitant wedged in between them, and rending them apart, had
+occasioned from time to time those awful twinges, which Tom assuaged
+by taking a chew at his handkerchief. The enemy removed, he not only
+found himself in a state of comparative ease, but was relieved from
+the constitutional irritation which had begun to manifest itself
+by hardness of pulse, dryness of the mouth, parched lips, a dull,
+hectic, brickdust-coloured patch on each cheek, a feverish lustre of
+the eye, and an enormous appetite for tamarinds.
+
+The operation, though, I ought to have said, was not performed
+by Pledget, but by another army surgeon, who had arrived in the
+course of the day, not before he was wanted. Poor Pledget was quite
+done up. His powers, both mental and physical, had evidently been
+over-taxed. He looked haggard and wild. Yet still, though relieved,
+anxious about his cases, he wandered from room to room, and fidgeted
+from one patient to another; standing a while in silence, with his
+hands behind him, first by an amputation, then by a wounded artery,
+then by a contusion, then by a broken head; while his care-worn
+countenance expressed pleasure or pain, according to the symptoms.
+As Cousin Tom was now in a dreadful fuss to be off for Toulouse,
+Gingham and I applied to the newly-arrived surgeon, and consulted
+him as to the removal.
+
+"I think, gentlemen," said he, "if no bad symptoms supervene in the
+night, it may safely be effected to-morrow; that is, of course, with
+proper care and precautions."
+
+"You are not afraid, sir," said Gingham, "that to-morrow may be too
+early a day, then?"
+
+"Why, sir, to say the truth," replied the doctor, "if we had more
+room here, better accommodations, and a less vitiated atmosphere,
+I should say a later day would be better. But, under existing
+circumstances, less evil, I think, is likely to arise from the
+patient's removal, than from his remaining. In his case, what we
+now have most to look to, is the general health. Keep that right,
+and the wound, I hope, will do well. Therefore the sooner he is
+withdrawn from the bad air, and the associations which surround him
+here, the better for him." The doctor paused.--"Pray, sir," said he,
+looking Gingham full in the face, as though intuitively knowing he
+spoke to a real good fellow, "pray, sir, if you will permit me to
+ask the question, is Mr Pledget a friend of yours?"
+
+"There are few men, sir," replied Gingham, "for whom I have a higher
+regard, than for Mr Pledget."
+
+"Well, sir," said the doctor, "I feel rather uneasy about him. It's
+a delicate thing to speak about. But you yourself must have noticed
+how changed he is, by the labours of the last three days. In short,
+to speak plainly, he requires to be looked after; and just at this
+time, with so many wounded upon our hands, I hardly know whether we
+could possibly give him the attention here which his case requires.
+If it is neglected now, it may become serious. Would it be asking
+too much, if I requested you to take charge of him into Toulouse?"
+
+"Take him with us this instant, sir," said Gingham; "or when you
+please. If you approve, I'll have him with me in my own quarters."
+
+"I really, sir, feel obliged to you," said the doctor. And the
+doctor looked as if he spoke from his heart. "Hope you understand,
+though, what it is you are taking on your shoulders. For a few
+days--not longer, I hope--he will require vigilant superintendence,
+and, possibly, slight control. His case demands firmness, and
+indulgence at the same time."
+
+"Yes, sir, I understand," said Gingham. "Shall he go with us now?"
+
+"I would rather have him under my eye," said the doctor, "till
+to-morrow morning. Perhaps a night's rest may effect a favourable
+change. In the interval, too, I shall have time to prepare his mind
+for the removal." So it was settled.
+
+The next morning we returned to the chateau, for the purpose of
+bringing in Pledget and Cousin Tom. Tom's patience, though, had not
+lasted out till our arrival. At sunrise, again giving the doctor
+the go-by, he had got on his things, crept down stairs, mounted his
+mule, and taken himself off. In fact, he had got into Toulouse,
+obtained a billet, and, snugly located in a respectable French
+family, was prattling the vernacular, which he had at his fingers'
+ends, before we arrived at the chateau to fetch him.
+
+It only remained, therefore, to remove Pledget. He, poor man, though
+all the better for a night's rest and a clean shirt, still looked
+very unlike himself. He had rested, indeed, but he had not slept;
+and his medical colleague hinted to Gingham, ere we departed, that
+the case still required vigilance and care. The state of Pledget's
+mind, at this time, was singular; he had all at once become
+excessively ceremonious. When we reached the garden gate he drew up;
+insisted that we should both precede him in going out. Had Gingham
+and I been equally punctilious, we should not have reached Toulouse
+by dinner-time.
+
+Gingham had a matter upon his mind. Captain Gabion having expressed
+a last wish respecting his funeral, Gingham had undertaken the whole
+details, and some arrangements had been necessary at the chateau,
+or our departed friend would speedily have been consigned, on the
+spot, to a ready-made grave. Gingham mentioned the subject as we
+rode along, and began stating what steps he had taken. Pledget, who
+was ambling side by side with us on his mule, suddenly fell behind.
+Coosey, previously admonished by Gingham, kept still further in the
+rear. We waited till Pledget came up.
+
+"Why, Mr Pledget," said Gingham, "I thought we had lost you, sir."
+
+"Excuse me, sir," said Pledget, with gravity; "you are making a
+confidential communication. Part of it I unintentionally overheard.
+For this, an apology is due to both of you. Gentlemen, I most humbly
+beg your pardon."
+
+We rode on. Presently, Pledget edged up alongside of me, as though
+he had something important to communicate.
+
+"Mr Y----," said he, "I consider it the first duty which one
+gentleman owes another, to avoid giving him needless offence." Not
+exactly perceiving to what this observation tended, I could only bow
+my acquiescence.
+
+"But if," continued Pledget, "an offence is actually given, then I
+conceive the next duty is to make reparation by a humble apology."
+Apology, it was evident, was now the uppermost idea in poor
+Pledget's mind.
+
+"Well, sir," said I, seeking to divert his thoughts, "I think, in
+such a case, regard should be had to the feelings of both parties.
+And, judging by my own, I should say that, next to making an
+apology, there are few things one would more wish to avoid than
+receiving one."
+
+"And accordingly," said Gingham, "in the intercourse of gentlemen,
+it rarely, very rarely occurs, that an actual apology is deemed
+requisite. To signify an intention, to express a willingness to
+apologise, is in most cases thought amply satisfactory. Manly
+feeling forbids the rest; and honour itself exacts no more." Pledget
+rode on awhile, absorbed in thought.
+
+"Mr Y----," he said at last, "I appreciate your sentiments, as well
+as Mr Gingham's; and I perceive their drift. Allow me to say it,
+your conduct is most generous. I really feel that you have just
+cause to complain of mine; and, if it would pain you to receive
+the apology, which is your due, allow me at least to express my
+_willingness_, and, believe me, it was my _intention_, to apologise."
+
+"Mr Pledget, my dear sir, what possible need of apology between
+you and me? What offence has been given or received? I know of
+none--never dreamt of any."
+
+"Very handsome of you to say so, Mr Y----," replied Pledget. "But
+what could be more inconsiderate than my conduct yesterday morning?
+You _must_ have felt it; I know you did. You came to me with an
+anxious inquiry respecting your wounded cousin; I spoke to you of
+Captain Gabion. It was wrong, I own. Nay, not merely wrong, it was
+unfeeling. I trust you will bear in mind my peculiar circumstances
+at the time. I was overwhelmed, perplexed, bewildered, I----"
+
+Gingham now saw it was high time to interpose, and with much
+adroitness gave a new turn to the conversation. But ere we were
+housed in Toulouse, Pledget, addressing us alternately, and
+continually discovering fresh grounds of self-accusation, had made
+two or three more apologies.
+
+For a few days, sedulously and most kindly tended by Gingham, who
+managed him admirably, and evinced equal tact and delicacy, Pledget
+continued in a state of alternate depression and excitement, with
+occasional hallucinations. He made apologies to all who came near
+him; and, ere he quitted Gingham's quarters, had begged pardon,
+again and again, of every servant in the household. From my first
+conversation with Gingham on the steps of the hotel at Falmouth, I
+always valued his acquaintance. But when I had seen him in this his
+new character as Pledget's nurse, wise, thoughtful, vigilant, and
+indulgent, I really grew proud of such a friend.
+
+Within a week Pledget was almost himself again; and long before he
+quitted Toulouse, to embark for England at Bordeaux, he was fully
+and permanently restored.
+
+Cousin Tom's, though, was a business of more time. He begged or
+borrowed a formidable sapling, with a knob as big as his fist,
+and was soon able to hobble about Toulouse, very much to his own
+satisfaction. But the bones of his leg had been injured, though not
+broken; and it was long before the wound got well, if it ever did.
+I was with him many months after in London, when the Medical Board
+sat to award gratuities and pensions to the wounded and disabled
+officers of the Peninsular Army. Lucky, then, did the wight esteem
+himself who had lost a limb or an eye. Tom was waiting for his
+turn to go before the Board; I saw him two days previously. His, I
+feared, was only a case for a gratuity; but Tom was determined to go
+for a pension, and made sure of getting it. I ventured to express
+my doubts; Tom whipped off his half-boot, turned down his sock, and
+exclaimed triumphantly, "Look at that!" The wound was clean, but
+looked fresh; much, indeed, as it appeared two days after the fight
+when the bullet was extracted, and still big enough to re-admit
+it. "If the Board don't give me a pension," cried Tom, "for such a
+punch as that, why, all I can say is, they deserve to be punched
+themselves." Saw him again after the inspection. "It's no go," said
+Tom; "I tried hard for it, too. Got up early in the morning--slapped
+twice round the Park at a swinging pace. When I went before them it
+was red all about, a couple of inches. The flinty-hearted villains
+gave me only a gratuity, though it bled while they were looking at
+it."
+
+At an early day after Pledget's and Tom's removal, we assembled
+at the chateau, on an occasion in which we all felt a melancholy
+interest--the funeral of Captain Gabion. The military arrangements,
+of course, did not rest with us; Gingham had made every provision
+which was left to his care with equal liberality and propriety.
+Gingham also, no chaplain being present, officiated at the grave. He
+read the service with great devoutness and solemnity. The procession
+was joined, as we ascended the hill, by a mounted officer, a major
+of the artillery, who, during the whole of the service, seemed lost
+in thought, and stood with his eyes fixed upon the coffin till it
+was lowered into the grave. The whole concluded, he approached and
+shook hands with Gingham and myself, spoke a few hurried words, took
+a hasty leave, mounted, and rode away. Gingham and I waited by the
+grave till all was filled in and made right; we then walked down
+together towards the city, both for some time silent. I spoke first.
+
+"Wouldn't it be right to communicate with the friends? I think
+they ought to know the exact position of the grave, and also the
+particulars which I got from my cousin."
+
+"Why, yes," said Gingham; "it would, I think, be as well to give
+them all the information you can. I have already written to the
+widow."
+
+
+
+
+CHATEAUBRIAND'S MEMOIRS.
+
+_Memoires d'outre Tombe._ Par M. LE VICOMTE DE CHATEAUBRIAND. Tom.
+v. vi. vii. viii. et ix. Paris: 1849.
+
+
+The great and honourable feature of Chateaubriand's mind, amidst
+some personal weaknesses, is its noble and disinterested character.
+It differs from what we see around us, but it differs chiefly in
+superior elevation. It united, to a degree which perhaps will
+never again be witnessed, the lofty feelings of chivalry, with the
+philanthropic visions of philosophy. In the tribune he was often a
+Liberal of the modern school; but in action he was always a paladin
+of the olden time. His fidelity was not to prosperity, but to
+adversity; his bond was not to the powerful, but to the unfortunate;
+reversing the revolutionary maxim, he brought the actions of public
+men to the test, not of success, but of disaster. He often irritated
+his friends when in power by the independence of his language,
+but he never failed to command the respect of his enemies when in
+adversity, by his constancy to misfortune. "Vive le roi quand-meme,"
+ever became his principle when the gales of adversity blew, and the
+hollow-hearted support of the world began to fail. Prosperity often
+saw him intrepid, perhaps imprudent in expression, but misfortune
+never failed to exhibit him generous and faithful in action; and
+his fidelity to the cause of royalty was never so strikingly
+evinced as when that cause in France was most desperate. He was
+the very antipodes of the hideous revolutionary tergiversation of
+Fontainebleau. A pilgrim in this scene of trial, he was ever ready,
+after having attained the summit of worldly grandeur, to descend
+at the call of honour; and, resuming his staff and scrip, to set
+out afresh on the path of duty. He was fitted to be the object of
+jealousy and spite to kings and ministers in power, whose follies
+he disdained to flatter or to overlook their vices, and of eternal
+admiration to the great and the good in every future age, whose
+hearts his deeds not less than his words will cause to throb. Such a
+character might pass for fabulous or imaginary, were it not clearly
+evinced, not only by words, but actions; not only in the thoughts of
+genius, but in the deeds of honour. His life, and the feelings by
+which it was regulated, are well worth examining, although we fear
+he will find but few imitators in these days, and is more likely, in
+a utilitarian and money-seeking age, to be classed with the mammoth
+and mastodon, as a species of existence never again to be seen in
+this world.
+
+A character of this description naturally became enamoured of awful
+or heartstirring events, and was ever ready to find a friend in
+those capable of noble or heroic deeds in the ranks even of his
+enemies. Both qualities are evinced in the following graphic account
+of the appearance of the Grand Army when it arrived at Smolensko
+during the Moscow retreat:--
+
+     "On the 9th November, the troops at length reached Smolensko.
+     An order of Buonaparte forbade any one to enter before the
+     posts had been intrusted to the Imperial Guard. The soldiers
+     on the outside were grouped in great numbers round the foot of
+     the walls: those within were under cover. The air resounded
+     with the imprecations of those who were shut out. Clothed in
+     dirty Cossack cloaks, horse-cloths, and worn-out blankets, with
+     their heads covered with old carpets, broken helmets, ragged
+     shakos, for the most part torn by shot, stained with blood, or
+     hacked in pieces by sabre-cuts--with haggard and yet ferocious
+     countenances, they looked up to the top of the ramparts gnashing
+     their teeth, with the expression of those prisoners who, under
+     Louis the Fat, bore in their right hand their left cut off: you
+     would have taken them for infuriated _masques_, or famished
+     madmen escaped from Bedlam. At length the Old and Young Guard
+     arrived, they were quickly admitted into the place which had
+     been wasted by conflagration on occasion of our first passage.
+     Loud cries of indignation were immediately raised against the
+     privileged corps. 'Is the army to be left nothing but what it
+     leaves?' was heard on all sides. Meanwhile the household troops,
+     who had been admitted, rushed in tumultuous crowds to the
+     magazines like an insurrection of spectres: the guards at the
+     doors repulsed them; they fought in the streets: the dead, the
+     wounded encumbered the pavements, the women, the children, the
+     dying filled the waggons. The air was poisoned by the multitude
+     of dead bodies; even old soldiers were seized with idiocy or
+     madness; some whose hair stood on end with horror, blasphemed,
+     or laughed with a ghastly air and fell dead. Napoleon let his
+     wrath exhale in imprecations against a miserable commissary,
+     none of the orders given to which had been executed.
+
+     "The army, a hundred thousand strong when it left Moscow, now
+     reduced to thirty thousand, was followed by a band of fifty
+     thousand stragglers; there were not eighteen hundred horsemen
+     mounted. Napoleon gave the command of them to M. de Latour
+     Maubourg. That officer, who had led the cuirassiers to the
+     assault of the great redoubt of Borodino, had had his head
+     almost cleft asunder by the stroke of a sabre; he afterwards
+     lost a leg at Dresden. Perceiving his servant in tears when
+     the operation was over, he said to him, 'Why do you weep? you
+     will have only one boot to clean.' That general, who remained
+     faithful to misfortune, became the preceptor of Henry V. in the
+     first years of the exile of that prince. I lift my hat in his
+     presence, as in that of the Incarnation of Honour."--_Memoirs_,
+     vi. p. 116, 118.
+
+As Chateaubriand had declined office, and narrowly escaped death in
+consequence, when Napoleon murdered the Duke d'Enghien, his life,
+from that period to the Restoration of the Bourbons, was one of
+retirement and observation. The important part which he took in
+the Restoration, by the publication of his celebrated pamphlet _De
+Buonaparte et des Bourbons_, restored him to political life. The
+effect produced by that work was immense, and the placing of the
+ancient race of monarchs on the throne was in a great degree owing
+to it; for, at a crisis when the intentions of the Allies were yet
+undecided, and Austria openly supported the strong party in France
+which inclined for a regency with Marie Louise at its head, it
+swelled immensely the numbers of the decided Royalists, and gave a
+definite and tangible object to their hitherto vague and divided
+aspirations. It was written with prodigious rapidity, and bears
+marks of the haste of its composition in the vehemence of its ideas
+and the occasional exaggeration of its assertions; but it was the
+very thing required for a national crisis of unexampled importance,
+when every hour was fraught with lasting consequences, and every
+effort of genius was required for laying the foundation of a new
+order in European society. Of the first conception and subsequent
+completion of this remarkable work he gives the following account:--
+
+     "I had been permitted to return to my solitary valley. The earth
+     trembled under the footsteps of stranger armies: I wrote like
+     the last Roman, amidst the din of barbarian invasion. During
+     the day, I traced lines as agitated as the events which were
+     passing: at night, when the roar of cannon was no longer heard
+     in my solitary woods, I returned to the silence of the years
+     which sleep in the tomb, and to the peace of my earlier life.
+     The agitated pages which I wrote during the day, became, when
+     put together, my pamphlet _On Buonaparte and the Bourbons_. I
+     had so high an idea of the genius of Napoleon, and the valour of
+     our soldiers, that the idea of a foreign invasion, successful
+     in its ultimate results, never entered into my imagination; but
+     I thought that such an invasion, by making the French see the
+     dangers to which the ambition of Napoleon had exposed them,
+     would lead to an interior movement, and that the deliverance of
+     the French would be the work of their own hands. It was under
+     that impression that I wrote my notes, in order that, if our
+     political assemblies should arrest the march of the Allies,
+     and separate themselves from a great man who had become their
+     scourge, they should know to what haven to turn. The harbour
+     of refuge appeared to me to be in the ancient authority, under
+     which our ancestors had lived during eight centuries, but
+     modified according to the changes of time. During a tempest,
+     when one finds himself at the gate of an old edifice, albeit in
+     ruins, he is glad to seek its shelter."--Vol. vi. p. 196, 197.
+
+Madame de Chateaubriand, in a note, has described the circumstances
+under which this memorable pamphlet was written, and the morbid
+anxiety with which she was devoured during its composition:--
+
+     "Had the pages of that pamphlet been seized by the police, the
+     result could not have been a moment doubtful: the sentence
+     was the scaffold. Nevertheless the author was inconceivably
+     negligent about concealing it. Often, when he went out, he left
+     the sheets on the table: at night he only placed them under his
+     pillow, which he did in presence of his valet--an honest youth,
+     it is true, but who might have betrayed him. For my part, I
+     was in mortal agonies: whenever M. de Chateaubriand went out,
+     I seized the manuscript, and concealed it on my person. One
+     day, in crossing the Tuileries, I perceived I had it not upon
+     me, and being sure I had it when I went out, I did not doubt
+     that I had let it fall on the road. Already I beheld that fatal
+     writing in the hands of the police, and M. de Chateaubriand
+     arrested. I fell down in swoon in the garden, and some
+     kind-hearted person carried me to my house, from which I had
+     only got a short distance. What agony I endured when, ascending
+     the stair, I floated between terror, which now amounted almost
+     to a certainty, and a slight hope that I might have forgot the
+     pamphlet. On reaching my husband's apartment, I felt again ready
+     to faint: I approached the bed--I felt under the pillow; there
+     was nothing there: I lifted the mattress, and there was the
+     roll of paper! My heart still beats every time I think of it.
+     Never in my life did I experience such a moment of joy. With
+     truth can I say, my joy would not have been so great if I had
+     been delivered at the foot of the scaffold, for it was one who
+     was more dear to me than life itself whom I saw rescued from
+     destruction."--Vol. vi. p. 206, 207.
+
+On the entrance of Louis XVIII. into Paris, on the 3d May 1814, the
+Allied sovereigns, from a feeling of delicacy to that monarch, gave
+orders that none but French troops should appear in the procession.
+The Old Guard lined the streets next the palace, and Chateaubriand
+gives the following account of the way in which they received him:--
+
+     "A regiment of infantry of the Old Guard kept the ground, from
+     the Pont Neuf to Notre Dame, along the Quai des Orfures. I
+     do not believe that human figures ever expressed anything so
+     menacing and so terrible. These grenadiers, covered with wounds,
+     so long the terror of Europe, who had seen so many thousand
+     bullets fly over their heads, who seemed to smell of fire and
+     powder--these very men, deprived of their leader, were forced
+     to salute an old king, enfeebled by time and not combats,
+     guarded by an army of Russians, Austrians, and Prussians, in the
+     conquered capital of Napoleon! Some, shaking their heads, made
+     their huge bearskins fall down over their eyes, so as not to
+     see what was passing: others lowered the extremities of their
+     mouths, to express their contempt and rage: others, through
+     their mustaches, let their teeth be seen, which they gnashed
+     like tigers. When they presented arms, it was with a gesture
+     of fury, as if they brought them down to the charge. The sound
+     they made with the recover was like thunder. Never, it must be
+     admitted, had men been subjected to such a trial, or suffered
+     such a punishment. If, in that moment, they had been called
+     to vengeance, they would have exterminated the last man, or
+     perished in the attempt.
+
+     "At the extremity of the line was a young hussar on horseback,
+     with his drawn sabre in his hand; his whole body literally
+     quivered with a convulsive movement of wrath. He was deadly
+     pale; his eyes rolled round in the most frightful manner; he
+     opened his mouth alternately and shut it, grinding his teeth,
+     and uttering inarticulate cries of rage. He cast his eyes on a
+     Russian officer: no words can express the look which he gave
+     him. When the carriage of the King passed before him, he made
+     his horse leap forward, it was easy to see that he withstood
+     with difficulty the temptation to precipitate himself on his
+     sovereign.[3]
+
+     "The Restoration, at its very outset, committed an irreparable
+     fault. It should have disbanded the army, preserving only the
+     marshals, generals, military governors, and officers, in their
+     rank, pay, and appointments. The soldiers, in this manner, would
+     have gradually re-entered their ranks, as they have since done
+     into the Royal Guard; but they would have done so isolated from
+     each other. The legitimate monarch would no longer have had
+     arrayed against him the soldiers of the empire in regiments and
+     brigades, as they had been during the days of their glory, for
+     ever talking to each other of times past, and comparing the
+     conquests of Napoleon with their inglorious inactivity under
+     their new master.
+
+     "The miserable attempt to reconstruct the _Maison Rouge_, that
+     mixture of the military men of the old monarchy and the soldiers
+     of the new empire, only augmented the evil. To suppose that
+     veterans famous on a hundred fields of battle should not be
+     shocked at seeing young men--brave without doubt, but for the
+     most part unaccustomed to the use of arms--to see them wear,
+     without having earned or deserved, the marks of high military
+     rank, was to be ignorant of the first principles of human
+     nature."--Vol. vi. p. 311-313.
+
+  [3] Having ourselves seen the Old Guard on this trying occasion,
+  we can vouch for the general fidelity of Chateaubriand's
+  narrative.
+
+These observations of Chateaubriand's are well founded, and the
+last, in particular, is very important; but it may well be doubted
+whether, by any measures that could have been adopted, the support
+of the army could have been secured, or the dynasty of the Bourbons
+established on a secure foundation. It was the fact of their
+having been replaced by the bayonets of the stranger which was the
+insurmountable difficulty; it was national subjugation, the capture
+of Paris, which had for ever stained the white flag. This original
+sin in its birth attended the Restoration through every subsequent
+year of its existence: it was the main cause of the revolution of
+1830, and operated with equal force in bringing about the still more
+fatal one of 1848. Impatience of repose--a desire to precipitate
+themselves on foreign nations--an aversion to the employments and
+interests of peace, were the secret but principal causes of these
+convulsions. If either Louis XVIII. or Louis Philippe had been young
+and warlike princes, and the recollection of Leipsic and Waterloo,
+of the invasions of France, and the double capture of its capital,
+had not prevented them from engaging in the career of foreign
+warfare; if they had been enterprising and _victorious_, they would
+have secured the unanimous suffrages of the nation, and continued
+the honoured possessors of the throne of France. But this dazzling
+though perilous career was denied to Louis XVIII. To him there was
+left only the difficult, perhaps the impossible task, of reconciling
+irrevocable enmities, of closing irremediable wounds, of appeasing
+inextinguishable mortifications. They have been thus set forth in
+the eloquent words of genius:--
+
+     "The house of Bourbon was placed in Paris at the Restoration
+     as a trophy of the European confederation. The return of the
+     ancient princes was inseparably associated, in the public mind,
+     with the cession of extensive provinces, with the payment of an
+     immense tribute, with the occupation of the kingdom by hostile
+     armies, with the emptiness of those niches in which the gods of
+     Athens and Rome had been the objects of a new idolatry, with
+     the nakedness of those walls on which the Transfiguration had
+     shone with a light as glorious as that which overhung Mount
+     Thabor. They came back to a land in which they could recognise
+     nothing. The Seven Sleepers of the legend, who closed their
+     eyes when the Pagans were persecuting the Christians, and woke
+     when the Christians were persecuting the Pagans, did not find
+     themselves in a world more completely new to them. Twenty years
+     had done the work of twenty generations. Events had come thick;
+     men had lived fast. The old institutions and the old feelings
+     had been torn up by the roots. There was a new church founded
+     and endowed by the usurper; a new nobility, whose titles were
+     taken from the fields of battle, disastrous to the ancient line;
+     a new chivalry, whose crosses had been won by exploits which
+     seemed likely to make the banishment of the Emigrants perpetual;
+     a new code, administered by a new magistracy; a new body of
+     proprietors, holding the soil by a new tenure; the most ancient
+     local distinctions effaced, the most familiar names obsolete.
+     There was no longer a Normandy, a Brittany, or a Guienne. The
+     France of Louis XVI. had passed away as completely as one of the
+     Preadamite worlds. Its fossil remains might now and then excite
+     curiosity; but it was as impossible to put life into the old
+     institutions as to animate the skeletons which are imbedded in
+     the depths of primeval strata. The revolution in the laws and
+     the form of government was but an outward sign of that mightier
+     revolution which had taken place in the minds and hearts of men,
+     and which affected every transaction and feeling of life. It was
+     as absurd to think that France could again be placed under the
+     feudal system, as that our globe could be overrun by mammoths.
+     Louis might efface the initials of the Emperor, but he could not
+     turn his eyes without seeing some object which reminded him he
+     was a stranger in the palace of his fathers."[4]
+
+  [4] MACAULAY'S _Essays_, ii. 230.
+
+As a parallel to this splendid passage, though in an entirely
+different style, we gladly give place to a noble burst of
+Chateaubriand, on that most marvellous of marvellous events, the
+return of Napoleon from Elba. It was natural that so memorable
+a revolution should strongly impress his imaginative mind; but
+he seems to have exceeded himself in the reflections to which
+it gives rise. We know not whether to award the prize to the
+Englishman or the Frenchman, in these parallel passages. They are
+both masterpieces in their way. Perhaps the correct view is, that
+Macaulay is superior in graphic force and the accumulation of
+sarcastic images; Chateaubriand in lofty thought and imaginative
+images.
+
+     "On the 1st March, at three o'clock in the morning, Napoleon
+     approached the coast of France in the Gulf of Juan; he
+     disembarked, walked along the shore, gathered a few violets, and
+     bivouacked in an olive wood. The inhabitants withdrew in a state
+     of stupefaction. He left Antibes to his left, and threw himself
+     into the Mountains of Grasse in Dauphiny. At Sisterone the road
+     passes a defile where twenty men might have stopped him; he did
+     not meet a living soul. He advanced without opposition among the
+     inhabitants who the year before had wished to murder him. Into
+     the void which was formed around his gigantic shade, if a few
+     soldiers entered, they straightway yielded to the attraction of
+     his eagles. His fascinated enemies seek him and find him not; he
+     shrowds himself in his glory, as the lion in the Sahara desert
+     conceals himself in the rays of the sun to dazzle the eyes of
+     his pursuers. Enveloped in a burning halo, the bloody phantoms
+     of Arcola, Marengo, Austerlitz, Jena, Friedland, Eylau, the
+     Moskwa, Luetzen, and Bautzen, form his cortege amidst a million
+     of the dead. From the midst of that column of smoke and flame,
+     issue at the gates of towns some trumpet-notes mingled with
+     tricolor standards, and the gates fly open. When Napoleon passed
+     the Niemen, at the head of four hundred thousand foot, and a
+     hundred thousand horse, to blow into the air the palace of the
+     Czars at Moscow, he was less wonderful than when, breaking his
+     ban, casting his fetters as a gauntlet in the face of kings,
+     he came alone from Cannes to Paris, to sleep peaceably in the
+     palace of the Tuileries."--Vol. vi. p. 359, 360.
+
+To a mind like that of Chateaubriand, reposing in solitude when
+Napoleon was acting with such marvellous effect in the world, the
+character and qualities of that wonderful man could not fail to
+be a constant object of solicitude and observation. It has been
+already noticed that he braved the Emperor in the plenitude of his
+power, and essentially contributed, in the crisis of his fate, to
+his dethronement, and the re-establishment of the ancient line of
+princes. But, as is not unusual with persons of his highly wrought
+and generous temper of mind, his hostility to the Emperor declined
+with the termination of his authority, and his admiration for his
+genius rose with the base desertion of the revolutionary crowd who
+had fawned upon him when on the throne. The following observations
+on the style of his writings, indicate the growth of this counter
+feeling, and are in themselves equally just and felicitous:--
+
+     "His partisans have sought to make of Buonaparte a perfect
+     being; a model of sentiment, of delicacy, of morality, and of
+     justice--a writer like Caesar and Thucydides, an orator like
+     Demosthenes, a historian like Tacitus. The public discourses of
+     Napoleon, his sonorous phrases in the tent and at the council
+     board, are the less inspired by the spirit of prophecy, that
+     many of the catastrophes which he announced have not been
+     accomplished, while the warlike Isaiah himself has disappeared.
+     Prophecies of doom which follow without reaching states become
+     ridiculous. It is their accomplishment which renders them
+     sublime. During sixteen years, Napoleon was the incarnation
+     of destiny. Destiny now is mute, and he, too, should be
+     so. Buonaparte was not a Caesar; his education had neither
+     been learnedly nor carefully conducted: half a stranger, he
+     was ignorant of the first rules of our language, and could
+     hardly spell it; but what did it signify, after all, that his
+     expression was defective?--he gave the law to the universe. His
+     bulletins have the most thrilling of all eloquence--that of
+     victory. Sometimes, during the intoxications of success, they
+     affected to be written on a drum-head: in the midst of the most
+     lugubrious accents, something emerged which excites a smile. I
+     have read all that Napoleon has written--the first manuscripts
+     of his infancy, his love-letters to Josephine, the five volumes
+     of his discourses, bulletins, and orders; but I have found
+     nothing which so truly portrays the character of that great
+     man, when in adversity, as the following autograph note left at
+     Elba:--
+
+     "'My heart refuses to share in ordinary joys as ordinary sorrows.
+
+     "'Not having given myself life, I am not entitled to take it
+     away.
+
+     "'My bad genius appeared to me and announced my end; which I
+     found at Leipsic.
+
+     "'I have conjured up the terrible spirit of innovation, which
+     will overrun the world.'
+
+     "Certes, there is Napoleon to the very life. His bulletins and
+     discourses have often great energy; but it was not his own;
+     it belonged to the age; he only adopted it. It sprang from
+     the revolutionary energy, which he only weakened by moving in
+     opposition to it. Danton said, 'The metal is fused; if you do
+     not watch over the furnace, you will be consumed.' St Just
+     replied, '_Do it if you dare_.' These words contain the whole
+     secret of our Revolution. Those who make revolutions by halves,
+     do nothing but dig their own graves."--Vol. vii. p. 101.
+
+Certes, there is Chateaubriand to the very life.
+
+Chateaubriand, as all the world knows, was Minister for Foreign
+Affairs to Louis XVIII. at Ghent; adhering thus to his ruling
+maxim throughout life, "Fidelity to misfortune." So great were the
+services rendered by him to the cause of European freedom, by the
+energetic series of papers which he poured forth with unwearied
+vigour every week, that there were serious thoughts, after the
+battle of Waterloo, of promoting him to the dignity of Prime
+Minister. Louis XVIII. openly inclined to it; and if his advice had
+prevailed, the catastrophe which fifteen years afterwards befel his
+family, would probably have been prevented. But the insuperable
+difficulty lay here: the pure and honourable mind of Chateaubriand
+revolted from the idea of forming a Ministry in conjunction with
+Talleyrand and Fouche; and yet their influence was such that the
+monarch, in the first instance at least, was compelled to court
+their assistance. Expedience, at least immediate expedience, seemed
+to counsel it; but Chateaubriand, animated by higher principles, and
+gifted with a more prophetic mind, anticipated no lasting advantage,
+but rather the reverse, from an alliance with the arch-regicide
+of Nantes, and the arch-traitor who had sworn allegiance to and
+betrayed _twelve_ Governments in succession. But the chorus of
+"_base unanimities_," as he expresses it, with which the monarch
+was surrounded, proved too strong for any single individual, how
+gifted soever. Fouche and Talleyrand were taken into power, and
+Chateaubriand retired. Of the conversation with Louis XVIII.,
+when this vital change was resolved on, he gives the following
+interesting account, which proves that that sagacious monarch at
+least was well aware of the consequences of the step to which he was
+thus involuntarily impelled:--
+
+"Before quitting St Denis, on our way back to Paris, I had an
+audience of the King, and the following conversation ensued:
+
+     "'Well?' said Louis XVIII., opening the dialogue by that
+     exclamation.
+
+     "'Well, sire, you have taken the Duke of Otranto,' (Fouche.)
+
+     "'I could not avoid it; from my brother to the bailie of
+     Crussol, (and he at least is not suspected,) all said that we
+     could not do otherwise--what think you?'
+
+     "'Sire! the thing is done; I crave permission to remain silent.'
+
+     "'No, no--speak out; you know how I resisted at Ghent.'
+
+     "'In that case, sire, I must obey my orders. Pardon my fidelity:
+     I think it is all over with the monarchy.'
+
+     "The King remained some time silent. I began to tremble at my
+     boldness, when his Majesty rejoined:--
+
+     "'In truth, M. de Chateaubriand, I am of your opinion.'
+
+     "I bowed and withdrew; and thus ended my connection with the
+     Hundred Days."--Vol. vii. 70.
+
+Manzoni has written an ode, known over all Europe, on the double
+fall of Napoleon: "The last poet," says Chateaubriand, "of the
+country of Virgil, sang the last warrior of the country of Caesar.
+
+    Tutte ei provo, la gloria
+    Maggior dopo il periglio,
+    La fuga e la Vittoria,
+    La reggia e il triste esiglio:
+    Due volte nella polvere,
+    Due volte sugli altar.
+
+    Ei se nomo: due secoli,
+    L'un contro l'altro armato,
+    Sommessi a lui se volsero,
+    Come aspettando il fato:
+    Ei fe silenzio ed arbitro
+    S'assise in mezzo a loro.
+
+     "He proved everything; glory greater after danger, flight, and
+     victory: Royalty and sad exile, twice in the dust, twice on the
+     altar.
+
+     "He announced himself: two ages, armed against each other,
+     turned towards him, as if awaiting their fate; he proclaimed
+     silence, and seated himself as arbiter between them."
+
+Notwithstanding the vehemence of Chateaubriand's dissension with
+Napoleon, it cannot be expected that a man of his romantic and
+generous temperament would continue his hostility after death.
+No one, accordingly, has awarded a more heartfelt or magnanimous
+tribute to his memory.
+
+     "The solitude of the exile and of the tomb of Napoleon has shed
+     an extraordinary interest, a sort of prestige, over his memory.
+     Alexander did not die under the eyes of Greece, he disappeared
+     amidst the distant wonders of Babylon. Buonaparte has not died
+     under the eyes of France: he has been lost in the gloomy edge
+     of the southern horizon. The grandeur of the silence which
+     now surrounds him equals the immensity of the noise which his
+     exploits formerly made. The nations are absent: the crowd of men
+     has retired: the bird of the tropics, 'harnessed,' in Buffon's
+     words, 'to the chariot of the sun,' has precipitated itself from
+     the star of light--where does it now repose? It rests on the
+     ashes of which the weight has all but subverted the globe."
+
+"Imposuerunt omnes sibi diademata post mortem ejus; et multiplicata
+sunt mala in terra."[5] "They all assumed diadems after his death,
+and evils were multiplied on the earth." Twenty years have hardly
+elapsed since the death of Napoleon, and already the French and
+Spanish monarchies are no more. The map of the world has undergone a
+change: a new geography is required: severed from their legitimate
+rulers, nations have been thrown against nations: renowned actors on
+the scene have given place to ignoble successors: eagles from the
+summits of the loftiest pines have plunged into the ocean, while
+frail shellfish have attached themselves to the sides of the trunk,
+which still stands erect.
+
+  [5] MACHABIES.
+
+     "As in the last result everything advances to its end, '_the
+     terrible spirit of innovation which overruns the world_', as
+     the Emperor said, and to which he had opposed the barrier of
+     his genius, has resumed its course. The institutions of the
+     conqueror fail: he will be the last of great existences on the
+     earth. Nothing hereafter will overshadow society, parcelled
+     out and levelled: the shadow of Napoleon alone will be seen
+     on the verge of the old world which has been destroyed, like
+     the phantom of the deluge on the edge of its abyss. Distant
+     posterity will discern that spectre through the gloom of passing
+     events still erect above the gulf into which unknown ages
+     have fallen, until the day marked out by Providence for the
+     resurrection of social man."--Vol. vii. 169-171.
+
+Assuredly no one can say that Chateaubriand's genius has declined
+with his advanced years.
+
+To a man viewing Napoleon with the feelings expressed in these
+eloquent words, the translation of his remains from their solitary
+resting-place under the willow at St Helena could not but be an
+object of regret. He thus expresses himself on that memorable event,
+and future ages will probably confirm his opinion:--
+
+     "The removal of the remains of Napoleon from St Helena was a
+     fault against his renown. A place of sepulchre in Paris can
+     never equal the Valley of Slanes. Who would wish to see the
+     Pillar of Pompey elsewhere than above the grave dug for his
+     remains by his poor freedman, aided by the old legionary? What
+     shall we do with those magnificent remains in the midst of
+     our miseries? Can the hardest granite typify the everlasting
+     duration of Napoleon's renown? Even if we possessed a Michael
+     Angelo to design the statue on the grave, how should we fashion
+     the mausoleum? Monuments are for little men, for the great
+     a stone and a name. At least they should have suspended the
+     coffin from the summit of the triumphal arch which records his
+     exploits: nations from afar should have beheld their master
+     borne aloft on the shoulders of his victories. Was not the urn
+     which contained the ashes of Trajan placed at Rome, beneath
+     his column? Napoleon at Paris will be lost amidst the crowd
+     of unknown names. God forbid he should be exposed to the
+     vicissitudes of our political changes, surrounded though he is
+     by Louis XIV., Vauban, and Turenne. Let a certain section of our
+     revolutionists triumph, and the ashes of the conqueror will be
+     sent to join the ashes which our passions have dispersed. The
+     conqueror will be forgotten in the oppressor of our liberties.
+     The bones of Napoleon will not reproduce his genius; they will
+     only teach his despotism to ignoble soldiers."--Vol. vii. 184,
+     185.
+
+The Restoration did not immediately employ Chateaubriand. His
+anticipations were realised. The chorus of baseness and selfishness
+with which the court was surrounded, kept him at a distance. They
+were afraid of his genius: they were jealous of his reputation.
+Above all, they dreaded his independence. He was not sufficiently
+manageable. They were actuated, perhaps not altogether without
+reason, by the same feeling which made Lord North say, when urged
+to bring Dr Johnson into Parliament, whose great powers in the
+political warfare of pamphlets had been so signally evinced on the
+side of Government, "No, sir, he is an elephant, but a wild one,
+as likely to trample under foot his friends as his enemies." The
+veteran statesman, so well versed in the ways of men, was right.
+Genius is the fountain of thought: it ultimately rules the councils
+and destinies of men; but it generally requires to be tempered by
+time before it can be safely introduced into practice.
+
+Chateaubriand enlivens this period of his memoirs, which is neither
+signalised by political event nor remarkable literary effort, by
+a sort of biography of Madame Recamier, with whom he was on terms
+of intimate friendship. This remarkable person, who was beyond all
+question the most beautiful and attractive woman of her age in
+France, or perhaps in Europe, is now no more; and he appears to
+have obtained from her relatives, or perhaps from herself prior to
+her decease, not only many curious and highly interesting details
+concerning her early years and subsequent history, but a great
+variety of original letters from the most eminent men of the age,
+who were successively led captive by her charms, but none of whom
+appear to have impaired her reputation. In this country, where the
+lines of severance between the sexes are much more rigidly drawn,
+it would be impossible for a young and beautiful married woman to
+be in the habit of receiving the most ardent love-letters from a
+great variety of distinguished and fascinating admirers, without
+the jealousy of rivals being excited, and the breath of scandal
+fastening upon her as its natural prey. But it is otherwise on
+the Continent, where, although there is doubtless abundance of
+dissoluteness of manners in certain circles, yet in others such
+intimacies may exist, which are yet kept within due bounds, and cast
+no reflection on the fortunate fair one who sees all the world at
+her feet.
+
+Such, at least, appears to have been the case with Madame
+Recamier, the intimate friend of Madame de Stael, who said "She
+would willingly give all her talents for one half of her beauty;"
+and whose powers of fascination were such, that she not only
+inspired a vehement passion nearly at the same time, in La Harpe,
+Lucien Buonaparte, Murat, Moreau, Bernadotte, Marshal Massena,
+Benjamin Constant, Prince Augustus of Prussia, Prince Metternich,
+Chateaubriand, and a vast many others, but attracted the particular
+notice of Napoleon, and did not escape the vigilant and practised
+eye of the Duke of Wellington. The Prince of Prussia would have
+married her, if he could have effected her divorce from M. Recamier.
+It is one of the worst traits of the Emperor Napoleon's character,
+that he was not only so envious of the celebrity of her beauty that
+he banished her from Paris to extinguish its fame, but was inspired
+with such malignant feelings towards her, from her having rejected
+his advances, that he got a law passed which rendered the wives of
+persons engaged in commerce responsible in their separate estates
+for their husbands' debts; the effect of which was to involve Madame
+Recamier, whose husband, a great banker in Paris, failed, in almost
+total ruin, in the latter years of her life.
+
+Madame Recamier, whose birth, though respectable, gave her none of
+the advantages of rank or opulence, was bred up at the abbey of the
+_Desert_, near the confluence of the Rhone and the Saone at Lyons.
+Her parents, however, resided at Paris; and they having brought
+her home at the age of twelve years, she was at that tender age
+married to M. Recamier, a rich banker, almost four times her own
+age, whose immense transactions, which entirely absorbed his time
+and attention, left him no leisure to attend either to the education
+or occupations of his infantine and beautiful wife. But though thus
+left to herself, surrounded by admirers, and with every luxury which
+wealth could purchase at her command, she was never led astray.
+Benjamin Constant, who knew her well from her earliest years, has
+left the following interesting portrait of what may be called her
+infantine married life:--
+
+     "She whom I paint emerged pure and brilliant from that corrupted
+     atmosphere, which elsewhere withered where it did not actually
+     corrupt. Infancy was at first her safeguard. Libertinism shrunk
+     from approaching the asylum of so much innocence. Removed from
+     the world in a solitude embellished by the arts, she spent her
+     time in the sweet occupation of those charming and poetical
+     studies which usually constitute the delight of a more advanced
+     age.
+
+     "Often, also, surrounded by her young companions, she abandoned
+     herself to the amusements suited to her tender years. 'Swift as
+     Atalanta in the race,' she outran all her companions: often,
+     in playing Hide-and-seek, she bandaged those eyes which were
+     destined one day to fascinate every beholder. Her look, now
+     so expressive and penetrating, and which seems to indicate
+     mysteries of which she herself is unconscious, then shone only
+     with the animated and playful gaiety of childhood. Her beautiful
+     hair, which could not be undone without causing emotion, fell
+     in natural curls on her shoulders. A hearty and prolonged laugh
+     often burst from these infantine circles, but already you
+     could perceive in her that fine and rapid observation which
+     seizes the salient points of ridicule--that sportive raillery
+     which diverted itself without injuring any one: above all,
+     that exquisite sense of elegance and propriety, of purity and
+     taste, that true nobility of mind, which are given only to a few
+     privileged beings.
+
+     "Nevertheless Madame Recamier emerged occasionally from her
+     retreat, to go to the theatre or to the public promenades; and
+     in those places of general resort her rare appearance was quite
+     an event. Every other object in those immense assemblages was
+     forgotten: every one precipitated himself upon her steps. The
+     fortunate cavalier who attended her could scarcely make his way
+     through the crowds which she collected: her steps were at every
+     instant impeded by the spectators who crowded around her. She
+     enjoyed that success with the gaiety of an infant combined with
+     the timidity of a young woman; but the gracious dignity which
+     at home restrained the overflowing gaiety of her companions,
+     inspired respect in public in the admiring crowd with which she
+     was constantly environed. You would say that her air imposed
+     restraint equally on her companions and on the public. Thus
+     passed the first years of the married life of Madame Recamier,
+     between poetical occupation, infantine amusements, and the
+     triumph of beauty in the world.
+
+     "But her expanding mind and capacious genius soon required other
+     aliment. The instinctive love of the beautiful with which she
+     was inspired from her earliest years, made her long for the
+     society of men distinguished for the reputation of their talents
+     or genius. M. de La Harpe was one of the first who appreciated
+     the young woman, around whom were one day to be grouped all
+     the celebrated characters of her age. The conversation of that
+     young woman of fifteen had a thousand attractions for a man of
+     his great acquirements, and whose excessive vanity, with the
+     habit of conversing with the ablest men in France, had rendered
+     exceedingly difficult to please. He delighted in being her
+     guide: he was astonished at the rapidity with which her talent
+     supplied the want of experience, and comprehended everything
+     which he revealed to her of the world and of men. This was at
+     the moment of his celebrated conversion to Christianity. The
+     Revolution having rendered infidelity all-powerful, scepticism
+     had lost the merit of being opposed to authority, and those whom
+     vanity alone had rendered such could in good faith, and without
+     compromising their reputation, avow their secret belief."--Vol.
+     ix. 118, 121.
+
+Of the unbounded devotion which Madame Recamier in a few years came
+to inspire in the breasts of the most distinguished men of her day,
+abundant proof is furnished in Chateaubriand's Memoirs. To give only
+a few examples, among a host of others which might be cited, Marshal
+Massena--a roturier by birth, and certainly not inheriting by
+descent any of the feelings of chivalry--yet even he asked a ribbon
+from Madame Recamier before he set out for the army of Italy, to
+take the command in Genoa, in the siege since so celebrated; and,
+having obtained it, he wrote to her the following note some weeks
+after:--
+
+     "The charming ribbon given by Madame Recamier has been borne by
+     General Massena in the battles and the blockades of Genoa: it
+     has never left him, and been, in every instance, the harbinger
+     of victory."--Vol. viii. 167.
+
+     "There," as Chateaubriand justly observes "the ancient manners
+     reappeared athwart the modern manners of which they formed the
+     base. The gallantry of the noble chevalier shone forth in the
+     plebeian soldier; the memory of the tournaments and of the
+     crusades was concealed amidst the blaze of glory with which
+     modern France has crowned its old victories."
+
+Lucien Buonaparte, one of her first adorers, addressed her early in
+life in these terms:--
+
+     "Till within these few days, I knew you only by renown. I had
+     seen you sometimes at church and in the theatres. I knew you
+     were the most beautiful: a thousand voices repeated it; and
+     your charms had struck without dazzling me. Why has the peace
+     rendered me captive? it reigns in our families, but sorrow is in
+     my heart.
+
+     "I have seen you since: Jove seemed to smile on your steps.
+     Seated on the edge of a fountain, motionless and dreamy, you
+     gathered a rose. I addressed you alone: I thought I heard
+     a sigh. Vain illusion! I soon saw the tranquil front of
+     indifference seated between us. The passion which devoured me
+     expressed itself in my words; while yours bore the cruel yet
+     amiable stamp of infancy and sport.
+
+     "Be severe, I implore you, for pity's sake. Banish me from your
+     presence. Desire me to withdraw from your enchanting society:
+     and if I can obey the order, remember only that my heart is for
+     ever your own; that no one ever reigned over it as Juliette;
+     and that he will ever live with her, at least in memory."--Vol.
+     viii. 130.
+
+"For a man of _sangfroid_," says Chateaubriand, "all that is a
+little ridiculous." He is right: it is gallantry without passion
+which always appears _fade_ and contemptible. It is vehemence
+and sincerity which makes sentiment interesting. The Buonapartes
+had nothing chivalrous in their breasts: Lucien's letter is very
+different from Massena wearing Madame Recamier's ribbon next his
+heart amidst the fire of the Austrian cannon. But Chateaubriand
+himself had the true spirit of chivalry in his bosom. He thus
+recounts one of the last moments which he spent in 1832, late in
+life, with Madame Recamier on the banks of the Lake of Constance:--
+
+     "We wandered as chance guided our steps, and sat down beside
+     the lake. From a pavilion in the woods arose a concert of the
+     harp and the German horns, which ceased as we began to listen
+     to them. It was a scene in a fairy tale. As the music did not
+     recommence, I read to Madame Recamier my description of the St
+     Gothard. She asked me to write something in her pocket-book.
+     Immediately below the last words of Rousseau, which were there
+     inscribed, 'Open the windows, that I may again see the light
+     of the sun,' I wrote, 'What I felt the want of on the Lake of
+     Lucerne I have found on the Lake of Constance--the charm and the
+     intelligence of beauty. I no longer wish to die like Rousseau; I
+     wish, on the contrary, to live long, and behold the sun, if it
+     is near you that I am to finish my life. May my days expire at
+     your feet, as the waves of which you hear the murmur.' The azure
+     light of the setting sun coloured the lake; on the horizon, to
+     the south, the snowy alps of the Grisons reflected the ruddy
+     glow; the breeze which swept the waves harmonised with their
+     ceaseless murmur. We knew not where we were."--Vol. x. 246, 247.
+
+With the accession of a more Liberal Administration under M. de
+Martignac, Chateaubriand was taken into power. In 1822 he was sent
+as ambassador to London; in 1823 he was made minister of foreign
+affairs, and directed the expedition into Spain in that year, which
+had so successful a result; and in 1824 he represented France at the
+Congress of Verona. He was again, however, chased from the helm by
+the jealousy of the Royalists, whose imbecility was rebuked by his
+genius; and it was not till 1828 that he was again taken into power,
+and appointed to the embassy at Rome. He was there when the Polignac
+Administration was appointed.
+
+We must hasten to the most brilliant and honourable period of
+Chateaubriand's life, that in which he stood almost alone amidst a
+nation's defection, and singly opposed the revolutionary torrent
+by which nearly all others had been swept away. The spectacle is
+at once animating and mournful: animating as evincing of what high
+resolves, of what heroic constancy, noble minds are capable even
+in the extremity of disaster: mournful, as exhibiting so bright a
+contrast to the tergiversation of later times, and suggesting the
+mournful reflection that, in these days of economists and material
+enjoyment, the days of chivalry are gone for ever.
+
+It is well known that Chateaubriand was esteemed not only a Liberal,
+but an ultra-Liberal, by the extreme Royalist party whom Charles
+X. summoned to his councils on his accession to the throne; and
+that, in consequence of his disagreement with Polignac and the
+leaders of that party, he retired from the ministry, and resigned
+his appointment as ambassador at Rome. His consternation was great
+on perceiving the extreme measures which the Polignac party were
+preparing to carry into execution, and the feeble preparations made
+for supporting them by military force, in the midst of a warlike and
+excited people. Of his first intelligence of the appointment of the
+Polignac Administration by the sovereign whom they were destined so
+soon to overthrow, he gives the following account:--
+
+     "Rumours of a change of Administration had already reached us
+     at Rome. Well-informed persons had even gone so far as to speak
+     of Prince Polignac, but I could not credit the reports. At
+     length the journals arrive; I open them, and my eyes rest on
+     the official ordinance calling him to the head of the ministry.
+     I had experienced many vicissitudes of fortune in my journey
+     through life, but never had I fallen from such an elevation.
+     My evil destiny had again blown over my chimeras: that breath
+     of fate had not only destroyed my illusions, but it had swept
+     away the monarchy. The blow was fearful: for a moment I was in
+     despair, but my part was soon taken. I felt that I must retire
+     from power. The post brought me a multitude of letters; all
+     recommended me to send in my resignation. Even persons to whom I
+     was almost a stranger thought themselves obliged to counsel me
+     to retire. I was in secret mortified at the officious interest
+     thus evinced in my reputation. Thank God, I have never needed
+     nor waited for counsels when the paths of honour and of interest
+     lay before me. Falls from station have ever been to me ruin,
+     for I possessed through life nothing but debts; so that when I
+     resigned my appointments, I was reduced to live by my wits. In a
+     word, I resigned a situation of 200,000 francs (L8000) a-year,
+     and was reduced to nothing; but my choice was not doubtful. Cast
+     to the winds, said I to myself, 200,000 francs (L8000) a-year
+     of income, an appointment entirely suited to your taste, a high
+     and magnificent office, the empire of the fine arts at Rome, the
+     felicity, in fine, of having at length received the recompense
+     for your long and laborious struggles. Honour is to be won,
+     esteem preserved, at no other price."--Vol. ix. 141, 142.
+
+On arriving at Paris after he had resigned his appointment as
+ambassador at Rome, Chateaubriand found that many of the kind
+and officious friends who had so strongly urged _him_ to resign,
+had themselves quietly accepted appointments under the Polignac
+Administration! He withdrew, however, in pursuance of his
+resolution, into private life; and in order to avoid the expenses
+of Paris, which exceeded what his reduced income could bear, he
+retired to Dieppe in June 1830. When there he received the stunning
+intelligence of the Ordinances of July. His part was immediately
+taken. He returned with the utmost expedition to Paris, resolved
+to share the fate of his country whatever it might be, and to
+exert himself to the utmost to mitigate the calamities which he
+foresaw awaited it. His first step on arriving in the capital was
+to write a letter to the King, making a tender of his services to
+negotiate with the popular leaders who had got the command in the
+capital. The only answer he received was a verbal one, that M. de
+Montemart had been appointed to the head of the Ministry, and a
+reference to him. But M. de Montemart could not be found; and even
+if he had been, affairs had gone too far to admit of any remedy
+by individual efforts, how powerful soever. The nation would have
+a Revolution with its consequences, and it was doomed to have a
+Revolution with its consequences. But although Louis Philippe was
+successful, Chateaubriand foresaw that his throne was established
+on a rotten foundation: that the _juste milieu_, resting neither on
+the attachment of a loyal, nor the passions of a conquering people,
+could not be of lasting endurance; and that, in default of all
+principles of honour whereon to rest a Government, those of interest
+alone remained. He has left the following memorable prophecy of
+the fate awaiting a monarchy cradled in treason and fostered by
+selfishness:--
+
+     "Louis Philippe, his Government, the whole of that impossible
+     and contradictory combination, _will perish in a time more
+     or less retarded by fortuitous events_, by complications of
+     interests interior and exterior, by the apathy or corruption of
+     individuals, by the levity of disposition, the indifference and
+     want of nerve in characters. But be its duration long or short,
+     the present dynasty will not exist long enough for the House of
+     Orleans to strike its roots in the soil of France."--Vol. ix.
+     333.[6]
+
+  [6] M. de Chateaubriand died in 1847, before the Revolution of 1848.
+
+It is not in public documents and actions that the real opinions of
+the actors on the stage of public events are to be discerned. It is
+their private conversation or correspondence that reveals their real
+sentiments; it is there that the mental struggles which preceded
+the most decisive steps, and the secret views by which they were
+actuated in adopting or rejecting them, are in truth disclosed. In
+this view, the following conversation between Chateaubriand and the
+Duchess of Orleans, immediately after the triumph of the Barricades,
+is peculiarly interesting--
+
+     "M. Arago spoke to me in the warmest terms of the intellectual
+     superiority of Madame Adelaide; and the Count Analde de
+     Montesquieu, having met me one morning at Madame Recamier's,
+     informed me that the Duke and Duchess of Orleans would be
+     charmed to see me. I went, accordingly, to the Palais Royal with
+     the Chevalier d'Honneur of the future queen. I found the Duchess
+     of Orleans and Madame Adelaide in their private boudoirs. I had
+     previously had the honour of being presented to the duchess. She
+     made me sit down near her, and immediately said--
+
+     "'Ah! M. de Chateaubriand, we are very unfortunate. If all
+     parties would unite we might perhaps be saved, what think you of
+     that?'
+
+     "'Madame,' I replied, 'nothing is so easy. Charles X. and the
+     Dauphin have both abdicated; Henry V. is now king; the Duke
+     of Orleans is now Lieutenant-general of the kingdom; let him
+     be Regent during the whole minority of Henry V., and all is
+     accomplished.'
+
+     "'But, M. de Chateaubriand, the people are extremely agitated;
+     we should fall into anarchy.'
+
+     "'Madame, may I venture to ask you what is the intention of the
+     Duke of Orleans? will he accept the throne if it is offered to
+     him?'
+
+     "The two princesses hesitated to answer. After a short pause the
+     Duchess of Orleans replied,--
+
+     "'Consider, M. de Chateaubriand, the disasters which may
+     ensue--you and all other men of honour require to unite to save
+     us from a republic. At Rome, M. de Chateaubriand, you might
+     render us essential service--or even here, if you did not wish
+     to quit France.'
+
+     "'Madame is not ignorant of my devotion to the young king and to
+     his mother.'
+
+     "'Ah! M. de Chateaubriand, how well they have rewarded your
+     fidelity.'
+
+     "'Your Royal Highness would not wish me to give the lie to my
+     whole life.'
+
+     "'M. de Chateaubriand, you do not know my niece; she is so
+     inconsiderate, poor Caroline. I will send for the Duke of
+     Orleans; I hope he may succeed in persuading you better than me.'
+
+     "The princess gave her orders, and in a quarter of an hour
+     Louis Philippe arrived. He was dressed in disorder, and
+     looked extremely fatigued. I rose as he entered, and the
+     Lieutenant-general of the kingdom said,--
+
+     "'The duchess has doubtless informed you how unfortunate we
+     are.' And upon that he began a speech on the felicity which
+     he enjoyed in the country, and the life, in the midst of his
+     children, which was entirely according to his taste. I seized
+     the opportunity of a momentary pause to repeat what I had said
+     to the princess.
+
+     "'Ah!' he exclaimed, 'that is just what I desire. How happy
+     should I be to become the tutor and support of that infant! I
+     think exactly as you do, M. de Chateaubriand: to take the Duke
+     of Bordeaux would unquestionably be the wisest course that could
+     be adopted. I only fear events are too strong for us.'
+
+     "'Stronger than us, my Lord Duke! Are you not invested with all
+     powers? Let us hasten to join Henry V. Summon the Chambers and
+     the army to meet you out of Paris. At the first intelligence of
+     your departure all that effervescence will subside, and all the
+     world will seek shelter under your enlightened and protecting
+     government.'
+
+     "While I yet spoke, I kept my eyes fixed on Louis Philippe. I
+     saw that my counsels gave him annoyance: I saw written on his
+     forehead the desire to be king. 'M. de Chateaubriand,' said he,
+     _without looking me in the face_, 'the thing is not so easy as
+     you imagine: things do not go as you imagine. A furious mob may
+     assail the Chambers, and we have, as yet, no military force on
+     which we can rely for its defence.'
+
+     "The last expression gave me pleasure, because it enabled me
+     to bring forward a decisive reply. 'I feel the difficulty you
+     mention, my Lord Duke; but there is a sure mode of obviating
+     it. If you cannot rejoin Henry V., as I have just proposed,
+     you may embrace another course. The session is about to open:
+     on the first proposition made by the deputies, declare that
+     the Chamber of Deputies has not the power to determine the
+     form of government for France; that the _whole nation must be
+     consulted_. Your Royal Highness will thus place yourself at the
+     head of the popular party: the Republicans, who now constitute
+     your danger, will laud you to the skies. In the two months which
+     must elapse before the new legislature can assemble, you can
+     organise a national guard; all your friends, and the friends
+     of the young king, will exert themselves in the provinces. Let
+     the deputies assemble, and let the cause I espouse be publicly
+     pleaded before them. That cause, favoured in heart by you,
+     supported by the great majority of the country electors, will
+     be certain of success. The moment of anarchy being past, you
+     will have nothing to fear from the violence of the Republicans.
+     I even think you might win over, by such a course, General
+     Lafayette and M. Lafitte to your side. What a part for you to
+     play, my Lord Duke! You will reign fifteen years in the name of
+     your young pupil; at the expiration of that time, repose will
+     be a blessing to us all. You will earn the glory, unique in
+     history, of having had the power to ascend the throne, and of
+     having left it to the lawful heir. At the same time, you will
+     have enjoyed the means of educating that heir abreast of the
+     ideas of his age: you will have rendered him capable of reigning
+     over France. One of your daughters may aid him to bear the
+     weight of the crown.'
+
+     "Louis Philippe looked around with a wandering eye and an absent
+     air. 'I beg your pardon, M. de Chateaubriand,' said he; 'I left
+     a deputation to converse with you, and I must return to it.'
+     With these words, he bowed and withdrew.
+
+The advice thus given at the decisive moment by Chateaubriand
+was that of honour and loyalty; it dictated by the spirit of the
+chevalier _sans peur et sans reproche_. But it was not that of
+immediate or apparent interest; and therefore it was not adopted.
+The event has now proved, however, that in this, as in so many
+other instances in this world, the path of honour and duty would
+have been that of expedience. What Chateaubriand recommended to
+Louis Philippe was substantially what Louis Napoleon _did_; and
+the result proved that the great majority of the nation, differing
+widely from the revolutionary rabble of Paris, was not only
+Conservative, but Royalist in its dispositions. Had Louis Philippe
+followed this course, and taken only the regency till the majority
+of the Duke of Bordeaux, the two branches of the house of Bourbon
+would have been cordially united: no discord or jealousies would
+have weakened the Royalist party; the national will would have
+been decidedly pronounced for the monarchy before it had been
+rendered an object of contempt; the Revolution of 1848, with all
+its disastrous consequences, would probably have been prevented;
+and as the Duke de Bordeaux has no family, the Orleans dynasty, as
+the next heirs, would have ascended the throne in the natural order
+of succession--and not only without the bar sinister of treason on
+their escutcheon, but with a deed of unexampled magnanimity and
+honour to illustrate their accession!
+
+Louis Philippe, bent on the immediate possession of the throne, made
+another attempt to gain M. de Chateaubriand; and for this purpose
+the Duchess of Orleans and Madame Adelaide again sent for him.
+
+     "Madame Adelaide was present as on the former occasion; and
+     the duchess now described more specifically the favours with
+     which the Duke of Orleans proposed to honour me. She dwelt on
+     what she called my sway over public opinion; the sacrifices I
+     had made, and the aversion which Charles X. and his family had
+     always shown to me in spite of my services. She said to me, that
+     if I would accept the portfolio of foreign affairs, his Royal
+     Highness would be too happy to replace me in that situation; but
+     that possibly I would prefer returning to Rome, and that she
+     would greatly rejoice at that appointment, for the interests of
+     our holy religion.
+
+     "'Madam,' I answered with some degree of vivacity, 'I see that
+     his Royal Highness has taken his line; that he has weighed the
+     consequences; that he is prepared to meet the years of misery
+     and perils he will have to traverse. I have therefore nothing
+     to say on that head--I come not here to fail in respect to the
+     blood of the Bourbons; I owe besides nothing but gratitude
+     and respect to _Madame_. Leaving apart, then, those great
+     objections, founded on reason and principle, I pray her Royal
+     Highness to allow me to explain what personally concerns myself.
+
+     "'She has had the condescension to speak of what she calls
+     my power over general opinion. Well, if that power is well
+     founded, on what is it founded? Is it on anything else but the
+     public esteem: and should I not lose it the moment I changed my
+     colours? The Duke of Orleans supposes he would in me acquire a
+     support: instead of that he would gain only a miserable maker
+     of phrases, whose voice would no longer be listened to--a
+     renegade, on whom every one would have a right to throw dust
+     and to spit in his face. To the hesitating words which he could
+     pronounce in favour of Louis Philippe, they would oppose the
+     entire volumes he had written in favour of the fallen family. Is
+     it not I, Madam, who have written the pamphlet of _Buonaparte
+     and the Bourbons_; the articles on the arrival of Louis XVIII.
+     at Compiegne; the relation of the Royal Council at Ghent, and
+     the _History of the Life and Death of the Duke de Berri_? I
+     know not that I have written a single page where the name of
+     our ancient kings is not either mentioned or alluded to, and
+     where they are not environed by the protestations of my love and
+     fidelity--a thing which marks strength of principle the more
+     strongly, as _Madame_ knows that, as an individual, I put no
+     faith in princes. At the thought even of desertion, the colour
+     mounts to my cheeks. The day after my treachery, I should go to
+     throw myself into the Seine. I implore _Madame_ to forgive the
+     vehemence of my language: I am penetrated with her goodness: I
+     shall ever preserve a profound and grateful remembrance of it;
+     but she would not wish me to be dishonoured. Pity me, madam,
+     pity me.'"
+
+     "I was still standing; and bowing, I retired. Mademoiselle de
+     Orleans, (the Princess Adelaide,) had not yet said anything.
+     She rose up, and retiring said, '_I do not pity you, M. de
+     Chateaubriand; I do not pity you_.' I was forcibly struck
+     with the mournful accent with which she pronounced these
+     words."--Vol. ix. 361, 362.
+
+"Pity not me," said the dying Chevalier Bayard to the traitor
+Constable de Bourbon; "pity those who fight against their king,
+their country, and their oath." The feelings of honour are the same
+in all ages.
+
+We shall close this long line of honourable acts with an extract
+from Chateaubriand's noble speech in favour of Henry V., in the
+Chamber of Peers, on July 7, 1830.
+
+     "'Charles X. and his sons are dethroned or have abdicated; it
+     signifies not which. The throne is _not vacant_--after them
+     comes an infant; will you condemn the innocent?
+
+     "'What blood now cries out against him? Can you say it is
+     that of his father? That orphan educated in the school of his
+     country, in attachment to a constitutional throne, and in
+     the ideas of his age, will become a king in harmony with the
+     cravings of the future. It is to the guardian of his infancy
+     that you would first tender the oath to be faithful to it.
+     Arrived at mature years, he would himself renew it. The king
+     at this moment, the real king for a time, would be the Duke of
+     Orleans, the regent of the kingdom; a prince who has lived near
+     the people, and who knows that the monarchy now can only be a
+     monarchy of concession and reason. That combination, so natural,
+     so obvious, appears a main element in reconciliation, and would
+     save France from the convulsions which are the consequence of
+     violent changes in a state.
+
+     "'To say that this infant, separated from his masters, would not
+     have leisure to forget their precepts before becoming a man: to
+     say that he would remain infatuated by certain dogmas of his
+     birth, after a long popular education, after the terrible lesson
+     which has discrowned two kings in two nights: is that reasonable?
+
+     "'It is neither from a sentimental devotion, nor the affection
+     of a nurse for the cradle of Henry IV., that I plead a cause
+     where all would turn against me if it triumphed. I am neither
+     influenced by the ideas of romance nor of chivalry: I do not
+     desire the crown of martyrdom. I do not believe in the divine
+     right of kings: I am alive to the power of revolutions, and the
+     evidence of facts. I do not even invoke the charter: I ascend
+     to a higher source. I draw my principles from the philosophic
+     ideas of the age in which my life expires: I propose the Duke of
+     Bordeaux simply as a necessity preferable to the Duke of Orleans.
+
+     "'You proclaim the sovereignty of force. It is well. _Look
+     carefully after it: guard it well; for, if it escapes you,
+     who will pity your lot?_ Such is human nature. The most
+     enlightened minds are not always raised above the temptations
+     of success. The _esprits forts_ were the first to invoke the
+     right of violence; they supported it by all the force of their
+     talents; and at the moment when the truth of what they said is
+     demonstrated by the abuse of that force, and its overthrow,
+     the conquerors seize the weapon they have broken! Dangerous
+     trophies, which may wound the hand which seized them.
+
+     "'A useless Cassandra, I have fatigued the throne and the
+     country sufficiently with my disdained predictions: it remains
+     for me only to seat myself on the remains of the wreck which I
+     have so often predicted. I recognise in misfortune every power
+     except that of absolving us from our oaths. I must render my
+     life uniform: after all I have written, said, and done for the
+     Bourbons, I should be the basest of the base if I deserted them
+     when for the third time they bend their steps into exile.
+
+     "'Far from me be the thought of casting the seeds of division
+     into France: thence it is that I have avoided in my discourse
+     the language of the passions. If I had the firm conviction that
+     an infant should be left in the obscure and tranquil ranks of
+     life, to secure the repose of thirty-three millions of men, I
+     should have regarded any opinion expressed against the declared
+     wishes of the age as a crime. I have no such conviction. If I
+     was entitled to dispose of the crown, I should willingly lay it
+     at the feet of the Duke of Orleans. But I have no such right. I
+     see no place vacant but a tomb at St Denis, and not a throne.
+
+     "'Whatever destinies may attend the lieutenant-general of the
+     kingdom, I shall never be his enemy, if he acts for the good of
+     his country. I only ask to be allowed to preserve the freedom of
+     my conscience, and to go and leave my bones where I shall find
+     independence and repose. I vote against the motion.'"--Vol. ix.
+     386-388.
+
+Chateaubriand was as good as his word. He resigned all his
+appointments, even his pension of L600 a-year as Peer of France: he
+sold off all his effects, which scarcely paid his debts: he refused
+the offer of Charles X. to restore that pension out of the wreck
+of that Prince's own fortune: he set out again penniless on the
+pilgrimage of life: and till his death, in 1848, supported himself
+entirely by his literary talents.
+
+Such was honour in the olden time. We do not say that it would not
+find imitators, on a similar crisis, on this side of the Channel: we
+believe it would find many. But this we do say, that it would find
+them only among those who are imbued with the ancient ideas, among
+whom, whether patrician or plebeian, the spirit of chivalry is not
+extinct. It will not be found among the worshippers of mammon, or
+the slaves of interest. Woe to the nation by whom such feelings are
+classed with the age of the mammoth and the mastodon! It has entered
+the gulf of destruction, for it deserves to be destroyed.
+
+
+
+
+THE GREEN HAND.
+
+A "SHORT" YARN.
+
+PART XI.
+
+
+"Well, ma'am," continued our narrator, addressing himself, as usual,
+to his matronly relative in the chair, and with the accustomed
+catch-word, which was like the knotting together of his interrupted
+yarn: "well--it was between a fortnight and three weeks after losing
+sight of St Helena, that, being at last fairly in the latitude of
+the Cape, the frigate and schooner tacked in company, and stood
+close-hauled on a wind to the eastward. By the middle watch that
+night, when the moon set, we could make out the long flat top of
+Table Mountain heaving in sight off the horizon over against her.
+Next day, in fact, we were both of us quietly at anchor outside of
+the shipping in Table Bay; Cape Town glittering along on the green
+flat amongst the trees to southward, with the hills on each side
+of it like some big African lion lying on guard close by; while
+Table Mountain hove up, square-shouldered, blue to the left, four
+thousand feet high, as bare and steep as a wall, with the rocks and
+trees creeping up from the foot, and the wreaths of light cloud
+resting halfway, like nothing else but the very breakwater of the
+world's end. The sea stretched broad off to north and west, and
+a whole fleet of craft lay betwixt us and the land--half of them
+Indiamen--amongst which, you may be sure, I kept a pretty sharp
+look-out with the glass, to see if the Seringapatam were there still.
+
+I was soon saved further pains on this head, however, when shortly
+afterwards the frigate was beset by a whole squadron of bumboats,
+shoving against each other, and squabbling, in all sorts of Nigger
+tongues, who should be first: the chief of them being in evident
+command of a fat old Dutch Frouw, with an immense blue umbrella
+over her, two greasy-looking Hottentot rowers in blankets, and a
+round-faced Dutch boy, the picture of herself, steering the boat; as
+the old lady made a clear berth for herself, by laying about with
+her blue umbrella, till she was close under our quarter, sitting all
+the while with the broad round stern of her bright-coloured gown
+spread over a couple of beer-barrels, like a peacock's train. In
+two minutes more the little fellow was up the side, flourishing a
+bundle of papers under the first lieutenant's very nose, and asking
+the ship's custom, even whilst the sentries were ordering them all
+off. A midshipman took this youth by the cuff of the neck, and
+was handing him rather roughly along to the care of the purser's
+steward, when I stepped betwixt them; and a bumboat being the best
+directory on the point, of course, I soon found the old lady had
+had dealings with the Seringapatam, which her bluff-built little
+progeny described as a very good ship indeed, all having paid their
+bills, except one young officer, who had left a balance standing,
+for which he had given a letter to his brother in a ship that was
+to come after. As for the Indiaman herself, the Dutch boy said she
+had sailed about a week before our arrival, along with two others;
+and he was anxious to know if we were the vessel in question. I
+accordingly unfolded the open letter, which was addressed,--"Thomas
+Spoonbill Simm, Esquire, of His Britannic Majesty's ship Nincompoop,
+(or otherwise;") and it ran somehow thus:--"_Hon. East India
+Company's ship Seringapatam, Table Bay, September 1, 1816._--My
+dear Brother, This is to certify, that I have eaten four dozen and
+a half of eggs, supplied by the worthy Vrouw Dulcken, the bearer
+of this, whom I can recommend as an old screw, and am due her for
+the same the sum of nine shillings and sixpence sterling, which you
+will kindly pay her, taking her receipt or mark, unless you are
+willing to forfeit our family watch, herewith deposited by me in
+the hands of said Mother Dulcken. I may add that, in justice to the
+worthy Vrouw, three of the above-mentioned eggs ought to be charged
+as _fowls_, which, by the way, I did not consume; and, with love
+to all at home, remain your affectionate brother, JOHN SIMM, H.
+E. I. C. S.--_P. S._ The watch I have discovered to be pinchbeck,
+and it does not go; so that a sad trick must have been originally
+played upon our venerated Uncle, from whom it descended. J. S." This
+precious epistle was, without doubt, a joke of the fat mid. Simm,
+who used to come such rigs over Ford the cadet, and that jumped
+overboard one night by mistake out of the Indiaman's quarter-boat,
+during the voyage. As for the existence of his brother Thomas,
+or the chance of his touching at that port, I set them down with
+the coming home of Vanderdecken; though the thought of this young
+scamp of a sea-lawyer breakfasting for a fortnight so comfortably,
+only a few feet distant from my charmer's state-room, sent me all
+abroad again, and right into the Indiaman's decks, by this time far
+out of sight of land. Piece of impudent roguery though it was, I
+was actually loath to part with the scrawl, which the reefer had
+fisted, no doubt, on the lid of his chest--probably with a pipe
+in his mouth at the time, it smelt so of tobacco--only seven days
+before. I could even see the grin on his fat face as he wrote it
+below in the steerage, with his chin up, and his eyes looking down
+past his pipe; while the little Dutch boy's round flat frontispiece
+glistened as he peered up at me, in the evident notion of my being
+the brother expected. In fact, ma'am, I was so soft as to intend
+paying the nine-and-sixpence myself, and keeping the letter, when
+I was startled to see the old lady herself had contrived to be
+hoisted on board amongst her cabbages; and having got wind of the
+thing, seemingly, she came waddling towards me to hand over Simm's
+watch to boot. In another half minute the letter was being read
+aloud in the midst of the whole gun-room officers, amongst roars
+of laughter; the honest old Dutchwoman holding aloft the precious
+article, and floundering through to find out the rightful owner, as
+every one claimed it and offered the nine-and-sixpence; while for my
+part I tried first to get down one hatchway, then another, and Lord
+Frederick himself came up on the starboard side of the quarterdeck
+in the height of the scene. Indeed, I believe it was a joke for
+months after in the Hebe, of a night, to say it was "the second
+lieutenant's watch;" the sole revenge I had being to leave Mother
+Dulcken and her boy to expect the "ship that was coming after."
+
+A Government boat came aboard in the afternoon, and as soon as it
+left us, Lord Frederick took his gig, and steered for a frigate
+lying some distance off, which had the harbour flag hoisted at her
+main, being the only man-o'-war besides ourselves, and commanded
+by a senior captain. Till it got dark I could see the crews of the
+nearest merchantmen looking over their bulwarks at us and our prize,
+apparently comparing the schooner with the frigate, and speculating
+on her character, as she lay a few fathoms off the Hebe's quarter,
+both of us rising and falling in turn on the long heave of the
+Cape swell from seaward. 'Twas hard to say, in fact, so far as
+their hulls went, which was the most beautiful sample of its kind;
+though the schooner's French-fashioned sticks and off-hand sort
+of rigging, showed rather like jury-gear beside the tall regular
+sticks aloft of the Hebe's decks, with all her hamper perfect to
+a tee. The Hebe's men very naturally considered their own ship a
+model for everything that floated, a sort of a Solomon's temple, in
+short; and to hear the merciless way they ran down the Indiamen all
+round, would have raised the whole homeward-bound fleet against us;
+whereas the schooner was our own, at any rate, and she was spoken of
+much in the manner one mentions an unfortunate orphan, as good as
+already christened by the name of "the Young Hebe." This our learned
+chaplain said was quite improper, and he gave another name in place
+of it--the "Aniceta"--which meant, as he observed, the Hebe's
+youngest daughter; so the Aniceta she was called, happening to be a
+title that went, according to the boatswain, full as sweetly through
+the sheave-hole.
+
+Next day the schooner had landed not only her passengers from St
+Helena, but the prisoners also, as we still understood the French
+and their Kroomen to be. Not long after that Lord Frederick came
+back from Cape Town, looking grave, and went straight down to his
+cabin, or "cabins," as his lordship preferred to have it said. The
+first lieutenant dined that day with the captain; but they could
+scarcely have finished when the "young gentlemen" who had been
+as usual from the reefer's mess, came up with a message from the
+captain, that his lordship would be glad if I would join the first
+lieutenant and himself in a glass of wine. I found them sitting at
+the side of the table nearest the open port, with the decanters
+between them, and the broad bright bay in full sight to the shore
+and the foot of Table Mountain, which rose up blocking the port with
+the top of it beyond view; the sounds of the merchantmen clicking at
+their heavy windlasses, and hoisting in water-casks, floated slowly
+in from every side, while the schooner had hauled on her cable more
+abreast of the frigate, leaving the sight clear over the eddy round
+her low counter.
+
+"A lovely piece of workmanship, certainly!" observed Lord Frederick
+thoughtfully, as he leant back swinging his eyeglass round his
+finger, with the other hand in the breast of his waistcoat, and
+looking out at what was seen of the schooner. "And how one might
+have improved her spars, too!" said Mr Hall, wistfully. "I should
+have recommended longer lower-masts altogether, Lord Frederick, and
+a thorough overhaul, I may say, from the combings upwards!" "I would
+not have her hull touched for the world, Mr Hall!" said the captain;
+"'tis too--excessively provoking, at least! But pass the bottles to
+Mr Collins, if you please." I had taken a chair and quietly filled
+my glass, wondering what could be the matter, when his lordship
+turned to me and said, "Do you know, Mr Collins, this schooner of
+ours is likely to be laid up in Chancery, heaven knows how long. The
+Admiralty court ashore are doubtful of condemning her, apparently,
+and she must either be sent home or to Monte Video or somewhere,
+where the master of her claims to belong!" "Indeed, my lord," said
+I, setting down my glass, "that is curious." "Curious indeed, sir!"
+replied he, biting his lips, "though, after all, we really can
+scarce say what she is to be condemned for--only in the meantime I
+sail to-morrow for India." "She's French to the backbone, that I'll
+swear, Lord Frederick!" I said; "and what's more, she was"----"Ah,"
+broke in the captain, "I know, I know; but the less we say of
+that, in present circumstances, the better! Once get her entangled
+with politics, and we may give her up altogether." Lord Frederick
+twisted his eyeglass round his forefinger faster than before, still
+watching the schooner; the first lieutenant held up his claret
+betwixt himself and the light, and I sipped mine. "I tell you what,
+gentlemen," exclaimed his lordship suddenly, "I _must_ have that
+schooner at any cost!--What is to be done, Mr Hall?" "She'd be of
+great service in the China seas, my lord, certainly," said the first
+lieutenant, looking thoughtfully into his empty glass; "a perfect
+treasure for light service, especially if new sparred and--" I
+noticed Lord Frederick glancing sideways at me, as I thought, with a
+slight gleam in his eye; and accordingly I suggested that he might
+buy her from the Frenchman himself; a very poor idea, no doubt, as
+both the captain and first luff seemed to think, and we all three
+kept eyeing her doubtfully through the port, without a word.
+
+At this time the schooner's counter had been slowly sheering toward
+the frigate's beam, owing to the ebb-tide, and her holding only by a
+single cable, till her stern began to show right opposite the cabin,
+I should say not twenty feet off. Lord Frederick put his glass to
+his eye, and was peering through it, when he remarked that they had
+brought up rather too near, leaving scarce room for the schooner to
+swing as she did, earlier than we, so that she would be in danger
+of getting foul of the frigate's cables. "The worst of it is, Lord
+Frederick," said I, "that in case of a gale from seaward here, she
+might have to slip and run upon very short warning, whereas the Hebe
+has plenty of ground-tackle to let her ride it out. Considering it
+was Table Bay, at this season, he ought to have kept her a clearer
+berth for herself, or else have gone well outside!"--"Ah!" said
+Lord Frederick quickly, meeting my eye for half a minute, till the
+gleam came into his again; and somehow or other mine must have
+caught it, though I must say the notion that struck me then all at
+once wasn't in my head before. "Do you know, that's well thought
+of, Collins!" said his lordship. "You've weathered the Cape before,
+by the bye?"--"A dozen times, Lord Frederick," said I; when a
+regularly jovial roar of laughter broke fair through the port into
+the cabin, from over the schooner's taffrail, as she sheered end-on
+to the frigate's quarter, and Lord Frederick leant forward with the
+glass screwed into his right eye to see along their decks, which
+were covered aft with an awning like the open gable of a tent at a
+fair. "Singular!" said he; "by the lord Harry, who or what can that
+be Mr Hammond has got there?" Dangling over the French schooner's
+taffrail were to be seen the soles of two immense boots, with calves
+and knees to match, and a pair of tightish striped trousers worked
+up more than half way, 'till you saw the tops of the stockings;
+just beyond the knees was the face leaning back in the shade of
+the awning and a straw hat together, out of which a huge green
+cabbage-leaf hung like a flap over one eye, while the other kept
+gazing in a half-closed sleepy sort of way at the sky, and the red
+end of a cigar winked and glowed in the midst of the puffs of smoke
+lower down. The first lieutenant started up shocked at the sight,
+the noble captain of the Hebe sat with his eyeglass fixed, between
+amusement and wonder; for my own part, when the voice of this same
+prodigy broke all of a sudden on us out of the awning, in a mixture
+of stuttering, hiccuping, Yankee drawling, and puffs at the cigar,
+'twas all I could do to hold on, with the knowledge of where I was.
+"W_a_ll now, general," said the American, as if he were talking
+to some one aloft or in the sky, "ye-you're qui-quite wrong--I
+ki-kick-calc'late I've fit a deal more be-be-battles than you
+have--I re-respect you, Ge-Ge-General Washington; but I ho-ho-hope
+you know who--hic--whom I am!" Here Mr Daniel Snout, who was in a
+state of beastly intoxication, swayed himself up bodily into the
+schooner's taffrail, and sat with his arms folded, his long legs
+swinging over the stern, and his head trying to keep steady, as he
+scowled solemnly aloft over the frigate's mizen-royal-masthead;
+while the third lieutenant, Mr Hammond, and the master's mate he had
+aboard with him, could be heard laughing at his back, as if they had
+gone mad--Hammond being a wild sprig of an Irishman, who would go
+any length for a piece of fun.
+
+Just then the American's one eye lighted on the side of the frigate,
+till it settled lazily on the port of the captain's cabin: first he
+seemed to notice Lord Frederick Bury, and then myself, the first
+lieutenant having just recovered himself enough to rush toward
+the door to get on deck. Daniel himself surveyed me scornfully
+for a moment, then with a sort of doubtful frown, and a gravity
+that passes me to describe, unless by the look of an old cock
+a-drinking--evidently trying to recollect me. "Hallo, mister!"
+shouted he suddenly, "you haven't touched those _notions_ of mine,
+I hope." With that he made a spring off where he sat, as if to come
+towards us--no doubt thinking of the Seringapatam, and the valuables
+he had left aboard, without seeing the water between; and a pretty
+deep dive Mr Snout would have made of it, into an ebb-tide that
+would have swept him under the frigate's bottom, if Mr Hammond and
+the midshipman hadn't both sprung forward in time to catch him by
+the neck of the coat. There, accordingly, was the Yankee hanging
+like a spread eagle over the schooner's taffrail, yelling and
+turning round at the same time like a fowl on a spit--the third
+lieutenant's and the mate's faces, two pictures of dismay, as they
+held on, at finding for the first time where the schooner had shied
+them round to, with their two pairs of eyes fair in front of the
+captain's eyeglass,--while Mr Hall was singing out like thunder from
+the deck above us, "The schooner ahoy--d'ye see where you've got
+to, sir; haul ahead on that cable, d'ye hear, you lubbers, and keep
+clear of the ship!"
+
+"Mr Collins," said his lordship quietly to me, as soon as he could
+keep his countenance, and looking the sterner for the trouble he
+was put to in doing it, "you will get your things and go aboard the
+schooner directly--take her in charge, sir, and send Mr Hammond
+back here."--"Very well, my lord," said I, waiting in the doorway
+for something more, which, from something in Lord Frederick's
+look, I had reason to expect, knowing it of old. "I can only spare
+you a dozen of the men she has," added he; "but if you choose you
+can send ashore at once to pick up a few makeshifts, or anything
+you find!"--"Ay, ay, my lord," said I; "the best hand for that
+would be Mr Snelling, if I may take him, Lord Frederick?" "Oh,
+certainly," was the answer; "and harkye, Collins, you had better
+shift your berth a few cable-lengths farther off, or more, if you
+please."--"One thing, my lord," said I, stooping down to see through
+the port, "I don't much like the heavy ground-swell that begins
+to meet the ebb, Lord Frederick; and I fancy it won't be long ere
+Table Mountain spread its supper-cloth--in which case I'd consider
+it necessary to slip cable and run out at once, though I mightn't
+get in again so easily. Am I to find the frigate here again, Lord
+Frederick?"--"Deuce take it, man--no!" said his lordship. He turned
+his back to hide the evident twinkle of his eye. "Should we part
+company, of course you make for the Bay of Bengal! You can't be
+sure of the Hebe, short of the Sandheads--and if not there, then
+opposite Fort William, at Calcutta."--"Very good, my lord," said I,
+and had made my bow to go on deck, when Lord Frederick called me
+back. "By the bye," said he hastily, "about that Indiaman of yours,
+Collins--she is here, no doubt?" "No, Lord Frederick," answered I,
+"I believe she sailed a week ago." "Dear me, the deuce!" exclaimed
+he, "why I meant to have sent to-morrow to have your friend Westwood
+arrested and brought aboard!" I started at this, on which his
+lordship explained that if Westwood got to Bombay, whither the
+Seringapatam was bound, the authorities there would have news of the
+thing by this time, and could send him overland at once to England,
+which would be far worse for him than being carried to Calcutta,
+where his uncle the Councillor's interest might do something for
+him. "The best thing you can do, Collins," added Lord Frederick,
+"if you _are_ obliged to run out to sea, is to look after that
+Indiaman! With such a neat thing of a sea-boat under you, you might
+do anything you please; so cruise to windward or leeward in chase,
+find her out, and take out Westwood bodily--lose him afterwards in
+the Hoogley, if you like--carry away those old spars of hers, and
+send up new ones--only don't lose the schooner, I beg; so good bye
+to you, my dear fellow, lest we should not meet on this side the
+Line again!"--"Good bye, my lord!" said I cheerfully, and hurried on
+deck, understanding all he wanted as well as if I'd been ordered to
+set her jib that moment and heave up anchor. In ten minutes I was
+over the frigate's side, and in ten more Hammond was back in her,
+with the men who were to leave; while I sent my baggage below, set
+the hands to work shifting the schooner's berth, and by sun-down we
+were lying beyond hail of the ship, opposite the custom-house, and
+a long line of a main street in Cape Town, where we could see the
+people, the carriages, and the Dutch bullock-carts passing up and
+down; while Table Mountain hove away up off the steep Devil's Hill
+and the Lion's Rump, to the long level line a-top, as blue and bare
+as an iron monument, and throwing a shadow to the right over the
+peaks near at hand.
+
+Our friend from the United States being by this time in quite an
+oblivious condition, the first thing I did was to have him put
+quietly into the boat with which Mr Snelling was to go ashore for
+fresh hands, and I instructed the reefer to get clear of him anyhow
+he liked, if it was only above tide-mark. When they were gone I
+walked the schooner's little quarterdeck in the dusk by myself,
+till the half moon rose with a ghostly copper-like glare over the
+hollow in the Lion's Rump, streaking across the high face of Table
+Mountain, and bringing out all its rifts and wrinkles again. The
+land-breeze began to blow steadily with a long sighing sweep from
+the north-east, meeting the heavy swell that set into the broad
+bay; and the schooner, being a light crank little craft, got rather
+uneasy; whereas you could see the lights of the frigate heaving and
+settling leisurely, less than half a mile off. I had only six or
+seven good hands aboard altogether at the time, which, with those
+the midshipman had, were barely sufficient to work her in such seas;
+so with all I had to do, with the difficulty of getting men in the
+circumstances, a long voyage before us, and things that might turn
+up, as I hoped, to require a touch of the regular service, why the
+very pleasure of having a command made me a good deal anxious. Even
+of that I didn't feel sure; and I kept watching Table Mountain,
+eager for the least bit of haze to come across the top of it, as
+well as sorry I had sent Snelling ashore. "I'd give a hundred pounds
+at this moment," thought I, "to have had Bob Jacobs here!"
+
+As the moon got higher, I could see the swell washing up between the
+different merchantmen in sight, into their shadows, and heavy enough
+some of them seemed to roll round their cables, betwixt a breeze
+and a swell running the contrary ways; first one let go a second
+anchor, and then another, to help their heads shoreward; but still
+there was no danger, as things went. It wasn't long before I made
+out two boats coming from toward the town, round the stern of one of
+the ships, the frigate lying betwixt her and us, so that they took
+her by the way, and a good deal of hailing seemed to pass between
+them. I could even see epaulets glisten over the Hebe's quarter, as
+if there was a stir made aboard; after which the boats were plainly
+pulling for the schooner. What all this might mean, I couldn't very
+well conceive, unless it were either Snelling come back already, or
+else some hands Lord Frederick himself had provided before this, as
+I saw both boats were full of people. "Forward there!" I sung out,
+"hail those boats!"--"Ay, ay, the schooner ahoy!" was the answer,
+in a sharp voice from the headmost of them, "from the shore--all
+right! Stand by to heave us a line, will ye?" Next came a hail from
+Snelling, in our own gig; so I at once gave orders to heave them
+a rope and have both boats brought under the gangway, naturally
+supposing the sharp little fellow had come some marvellous good
+speed in shipping hands. As soon as he jumped on deck, I accordingly
+inquired how many men he had brought, when to my great surprise he
+informed me there was only one, "a scuffy sort of a swab," as he
+expressed it, "who would do for cook!"--"The devil he will, you
+young rascal," I broke out. "Hush, sir, for heaven's sake," said he,
+making some extraordinary sign which I didn't understand; "it'll all
+be right in the end, Mr Collins. Now then, sir," to some one in the
+boat alongside, as he carefully handed him the accommodation-ropes,
+"here you are--hold on, sir--so-o!" This was a rather youngish
+fellow in a huge pilot coat and a glazed cap, with some kind of
+uniform inside, and a large breastpin in his shirt, who handed
+me a paper the moment he stood firm on deck, without speaking a
+word; though, by the light of the deck-lantern, I didn't much like
+the look of his foxy sort of face, with the whiskers on it coming
+forward from both cheeks to his mouth, nor the glance he gave round
+the schooner with his pair of quick sharp little eyes. "Much more
+like a custom-house officer than a cook!" thought I, "unless we mean
+to have a French one;" but what was my astonishment, on opening
+the paper, to find him called "Gilbert Webb, harbour-master's
+assistant, hereby authorised by the Admiralty Court, sitting in
+Cape Town, to take charge of the doubtful vessel described in her
+papers as the 'Ludovico,' belonging to Monte Video--from the officer
+commanding the prize crew of his Britannic Majesty's ship Hebe."
+My first thought was to have Mr Gilbert Webb pitched over into his
+boat again, when Lord Frederick's own signature met my eye at the
+bottom of the paper, addressed below to "Lieutenant Collins, of his
+Majesty's schooner Aniceta, _at sea_." A wonderfully mysterious
+squint from Snelling, behind the officer, was sufficient to clinch
+the matter in my own mind, showing that the reefer was as sharp as
+a needle: and I handed back the document to the harbour gentleman,
+with a "Very well, sir, that will do." "I suppose I'd better have
+my men up, Lieutenant Collins?" said he, with a quick pert kind of
+accent, which made me set him down at once for a Londoner, while
+at the same time he seemed impatient, as I thought, to get the
+management. "Why, sir," said I, "I suppose you had."
+
+Hereupon up mounted four or five decent enough looking
+_stevedores_[7]--one or two of whom had rather the air of sailors,
+the rest being broad-beamed, short-legged Dutchmen, with trousers
+like pillow-slips--followed by a whole string of fourteen or fifteen
+Indian Lascars, their bundles in their hands, and an ugly old
+_serdug_ at their head; while the lame, broken-down, debauched-like
+fellow of a man-o'-warsman, that Snelling had found sitting on
+a timberhead ashore, got aboard with our own boat's crew. Our
+gangway was chokeful, to my fresh dismay, for to get rid of such a
+tagrag-and-bobtail, in case of running to sea, was impossible; even
+if they weren't odds against us, here was it likely to get a thick
+night, the swell growing under the schooner till she began to yerk
+at her anchor, head to wind, like a young filly at a manger; so that
+dropping them back into their boat when needful, as I intended at
+first, was out of the question for the present. I found from the
+harbour officer that the number of hands would all be required with
+the morning tide, when his orders were to have the schooner towed
+in opposite the Battery Dock, especially as there was much chance
+of the wind blowing strong from seaward next day. The swell on the
+water, he said, was such that, after putting off, he thought of
+going back again till the tide began to turn; if he had not been
+encouraged to stick to it and keep on by the midshipman, whom he
+fell in with near the quay. This piece of news was the finish to the
+rage I felt brewing in me, vexed as I naturally was to give up the
+notion of a free cruise, in command of a craft like the schooner;
+and, as soon as Mr Webb was comfortable in the cabin, over a tumbler
+of stiff grog and some cold beef, I sent for Snelling to my own
+cupboard of a state-room.
+
+  [7] Men employed in the stowing of ships' cargoes.
+
+"You cursed unlucky little imp you!" I burst out, the moment he made
+his appearance, "What's the meaning of this, sirrah? eh?"--"What
+is it, if you please, sir?" said Snelling, pretending to hold down
+his shock-head like a frightened schoolboy, and looking up all
+the time both at me and the lamp at once, while he swayed with
+the uneasy heave of the deck in such a way as made me grip him by
+the arm in a perfect fury, fancying he had got drunk ashore. "You
+young blackguard you!" said I, shaking him, "didn't I tell you to
+get hands--didn't you know I meant to--to--" "Oh yes, Mr Collins,"
+gasped the reefer, "I did indeed--you meant to cut and run--I saw
+it by your eye, sir, and--don't shake me any more, sir, or you'll
+spoil my hair--and I don't deserve it--it's--all right!" And on my
+letting him go, the ugly little scamp sunk down on a chair with
+his eyes starting from his head, and a leer like a perfect demon
+incarnate; but so perfectly laughable it was, not to mention the
+air of complete confidence between us that he threw into it, that
+I sat down myself, ready to grin at my bad luck. "Well, Mister
+Snelling," said I, quietly, "you _are_ a touch beyond me! Let's
+have the joke, at least--out with it, man, else another shake may
+be--" The reefer pointed with his thumb over his shoulder to the
+cabin, shoved his chin forward, and whispered, "Why, sir, I'm only
+doubtful whether you could make him third officer--but at any rate,
+he'll always be useful at a rope, Mr Collins--won't he, sir?" I gave
+Snelling one look, meant to be as grave as an Old Bailey chaplain's,
+but it wouldn't do--my conscience wouldn't stand it--in fact the
+very self-same notion seemed to me to have been creeping into my
+mind. "You--young--rascal!" was all I could manage to say, before
+making bolt to go on deck. "By the by, Mister Snelling," said I,
+turning and looking down from the hatchway, "you must want a glass
+of grog--tell the boy to let you have some--and go and keep the
+officer company, sir."
+
+By this time it was raining hard, the half-moon coming out at
+moments and shining through it with a sudden sharp gleam, in some
+gust of the wind off the land--showing the swell in as far as the
+wet white custom-house and the bare quays, the ships with their
+hazy lights all hither and thither, while Table Mountain was to be
+seen now and then peering half over the mist, first one corner and
+then another, of a colour like dead ashes. One time I looked down
+toward the dusky little cabin, where the midshipman, quite in his
+element, was sitting with the harbour officer, the lamp jerking and
+making wild swings betwixt them, while Snelling evidently egged on
+his companion to drink; then I gave a glance seaward, where there
+was nothing but a glimmer of rain and spray along the dark hollows
+of the water. I couldn't make up my mind, all I could do--it was
+too barefaced a thing to slip from the roadstead with a breeze
+blowing off-shore; but the worst of it was that I didn't feel easy
+at the idea of parting with an anchor in the circumstances, not
+to say carrying off the Government people, unless forced to it. I
+accordingly went below to mix myself a stiffener, and found the
+officer a cool head, for, in spite of all Snelling could do, the
+reefer himself had got provoked, whereas the sharp Mr Webb was
+only a little brisker than before. "A rough sort of night," said
+I, nodding to him, as I knocked the water out of my cap. "Well,
+it seems," said he, free and easy. "S'pose I go on deck then,
+gentlemen--I've refreshed, I assure you, so you needn't trouble
+about this 'ere schooner no farther--glad to get quit of it and turn
+in, I desay, lieutenant?"--"No trouble in the world, Mr Webb," said
+I, going on with my mixture, "far from it; but sit down a minute,
+pray sir,--Mr Snelling here will take charge of the deck for us in
+the meantime;" and Snelling vanished at once, Mr Webb apparently
+flattered at my wishing his company. "Will that cable of yours
+hold, think ye, Lieutenant Collins?" asked he, filling up another
+glass. "Why," said I, almost laughing, "to tell you the truth,
+I begin to feel devilish doubtful of it." "What!" broke out the
+harbour officer, starting up, "then I must 'ave another put down
+immediately: why, what's the effect, sir--we'll be carried out to
+sea!" "You said it exactly, Mr Webb," I said "'twould have been much
+worse, I suppose, if we were driven ashore, though! Now look you,
+if I were to let go a second anchor at present, I couldn't light
+upon a better plan either to break her back, or lose both anchors in
+the end--from the difference of strain on the two cables, with this
+ground-swell. The fact is, my good fellow, you're evidently not fit
+to take charge at present." "D--n me, lieutenant!" said he, looking
+fierce and foolish at the same time, "here's strange lang'age to a
+Gov'ment officer, sir--I hask the meanin' off it _at_ once, mister!"
+"But I depend a good deal on your knowledge of Table Bay weather,"
+I continued, leaning back with my weather eye screwed to bear upon
+him. "D'ye think this wind likely to moderate soon, sir? come
+now."--"No," replied he sulkily: "I'm sure it won't--and to-morrow
+it's certain to blow back ten times worse." "Then, Mr Webb," said
+I, rising, "you oughtn't to have come aboard to-night; as the short
+and the long of it is, I shall get the schooner an offing the first
+possible moment!" The officer stared at me in a bewildered manner;
+and as for the schooner, she seemed to be bolting and pitching in
+a way worse than before, with now and then a plunge of the swell
+on her broadside as if she had been under weigh. Suddenly Snelling
+lifted the skylight frame and screamed down into the cabin, "Mr
+Collins, Mr Collins! she's been dragging her anchor for the last ten
+minutes, sir!"
+
+I sprang on deck at two bounds--the schooner had somehow or other
+got her anchor out of hold at the time, the cable as taut as a
+fiddle-string. It was quite dark aloft, and not a vestige of Table
+Mountain to be seen, though the moonshine, low down to westward,
+brought out two or three tracks of light along the stretch of water,
+and you saw the lights in the ships slowly sweeping past. Where we
+happened to be, it blew two ways at once, as is often the case in
+Table Bay, round the bluffs of the mountain, and as soon as she
+brought up again with a surge at the windlass, the heave of a long
+swell took her right on the quarter, lifting her in to her anchor
+again with a slack of the hawser, at which every second man sung out
+to "hold on!" Over she went to port, a sea washing up the starboard
+side, and throwing a few dozen bucketfuls at once fair into the
+companion, where our friend the harbour officer was sticking at the
+time; so down plumped Mr Webb along with it, and the booby hatch
+was shoved close after him, while the poor devils of Lascars were
+huddled together as wet as swabs in the lee of the caboose forward.
+"A hand to the wheel!" shouted I, as soon as I recovered myself;
+when to my great surprise I saw Snelling's new hand, poor creature
+as I'd thought him, standing with a spoke in each fist, as cool and
+steady as possible, and his eye fixed on me in the true knowing way
+which I felt could be trusted to. "Jib there!" I sung out, "see all
+clear to run up a few hanks of the jib--stand by to cut the cable at
+the bitts!"--"Ay, ay, sir," answered Snelling, who was working away
+with the harbour men, his bare head soaked, and altogether more like
+an imp than a young gentleman of the navy--"All's clear, sir."
+
+Five minutes I dare say we stood, every one in the same position,
+while I waited for a good moment in the run of the swell, looking
+into the binnacle: till she hung slack, as it were, in a wide
+seething trough of the sea, when I signed to the man behind me to
+put the helm gradually to starboard. I glanced at the fellow again,
+caught his sharp weatherly eye once more--then putting both hands to
+my mouth I sung out to bowse on the jib halliards. "Now--cut--the
+cable!" shouted I, springing forward in my anxiety. The schooner
+rose away from her anchor on the heavy roll of the sea; I saw two
+quick strokes of the axe on the instant, and she was spinning head
+off from the wind, heeling over betwixt the force of it and the
+ground-swell together, while the mass of black water was washing
+bodily away with us; the new helmsman showing down below me as he
+leant to the wheel, like somebody at the foot of a slide. If he
+hadn't helped her at the moment with a back turn of the spokes to
+port, t'would have been all up with us. As it was, the schooner fell
+off gallantly in his hands, with a sliding surge into the lee of
+the next swell, that buried her sharp bows in the green sea, till
+it foamed about our very shoulders as we hung on like grim death
+to the weather bulwark. She was just shaking herself free, and
+rising like a buoy over the broad tops of the waves, when Snelling,
+myself, and two or three of the men, staggered down to her mainmast
+to swig up the throat halliards, letting her feel a little of the
+boom mainsail; and we had scarce belayed, as the last glimpse of the
+frigate's lights was caught astern of us, heaving and setting, as
+she rode with her two bower anchors down; we had driven past close
+enough to have heard the creak of her hamper aloft. After that, I
+had the fore-stay-sail set on her, then the reefed mainsail, and the
+lively schooner yielded to the long rolling seas so well, as very
+soon to make her own weather of it--especially since, clear of the
+high land about Table Bay, it was blowing only a strong breeze, and
+the more I began to feel master of her, the more inclined I was to
+let her show her good qualities. Such a craft I never had had the
+full management of before in my life; and you may easily fancy how
+I felt at dividing the hands into the two watches, giving little
+Snelling command of one, as first mate, and picking out our men in
+turn. I looked round amongst mine, rather at a loss for one to make
+second mate for the cruise, though there were three prime enough
+man-o'-warsmen, and I had chosen one of the Government officer's
+gang for his activity. As for the Lascars, we slumped in half of
+the number to each of us, for make-weights--when Snelling's fresh
+hand, who had fallen to my share, caught my eye again as he stood
+at the wheel. Every half spoke he gave the schooner told; she was
+topping the heavy seas as they rose, and taking them just where they
+melted one to the other, with a long floating cleave, that carried
+her counter fairly free of the after-run, though nearly right before
+the wind: the main-boom had been guyed over to the lee-quarter, till
+a third of the sail hung clear of her hull, and the breeze swept
+into the hollow of it, thick with spray. The light from the little
+binnacle shone up distinctly on the man's face, and with all the
+desperate, used-up, marbled sort of look of it, like one getting
+the better of a long spree ashore, I thought there was something
+uncommonly promising about him, not to say greatly above the run of
+foremast men. The wet, the wind, and the work he was at, took off
+the seediness of his clothes; even the old rag of a handkerchief
+round his hairy neck had got a gloss to it, and he stood handling
+the wheel with a strange mixture of recklessness and care, as he
+glanced from the compass to the gaff of the mainsail against the
+scud, and down again. The very contrast between the man's manner
+and his outward rig was sufficient to strike one, though plenty of
+seamen are to be found in the like state ashore: but what fixed me
+to him above all, was the expression in those two keen, searching,
+_living_ eyes of his, when they once or twice met mine on their
+way from aloft to the compass-boxes. 'Twas as if they'd woke up
+since he came aboard out of a sleepy, maudlin condition, with the
+"blue-devils" or scarce fully out of 'em; like a sick man's in the
+lull of a fever, suddenly seen watching you out of the dusk of the
+bed, when one happens to glance up from the nurse's seat.
+
+"What's your name, my man?" asked I, stepping aft to the binnacle.
+"My name is Jones, sir," said he readily. "And your first name?"
+I said. "Jack," was the answer, in an off-hand way, with a hitch
+of one shoulder, and a weather-spoke to the wheel; spoken in an
+accent you'd have expected more in a West End drawing-room than
+from a common sailor. "Ah," said I, sharply, "Jack Jones? I wonder
+how many Jack Joneses there are afloat! An able seaman, I think,
+Jones?"--"Why sir," replied the man, "I never rate myself, sir--'tis
+all one to me, able, ordinary, landsman, or boy--I carry no papers,
+and leave my betters to rate me." "Where were you last, my man?"
+I asked; whereupon I met such a cool, steady, deep look out of
+the fellow's strange light-coloured eyes, bloodshot as they were
+with drinking, that I felt almost our very two souls jostle in it:
+as much as to say, To all eternity fathom me if ye can! "Well, I
+forget where, sir," said he, lowering his look to the compass-box
+again: "always the way with me, after a trip, a cruise, a voyage, or
+whatever it may be. I've got--ha!" and he yielded his body coolly
+to a jerk of the schooner's wheel. "A sweet craft this, sir, but
+a little ticklish!" "You've got what?" said I, not unwilling to
+wear out the time. "I've got--no memory!" Still there was somewhat
+so gloomy and mournful in the next glance aloft, I don't know how
+it was, but I felt inclined to offer him a mate's place on trial,
+and so I hinted, if he knew half as well how to handle a craft as
+he did of steering her. To my own surprise, Jones's wonder didn't
+seem to be roused at the notion, except that he gave me another
+quick glance from head to foot, with a queer smile that struck me
+as if I were being questioned, instead of _him_; then he looked
+down over his own outfit, judging by which you'd have said he'd
+been shipwrecked. "Well," said I, "I daresay you've been hard put
+to it, somehow, Jones,--so as soon as you leave the wheel, you can
+go below to the steward, and get a seagoing suit of my own, till we
+see Calcutta, when your mate's wages will set you all right again."
+The man touched his battered old straw hat; but I noticed his eyes
+gleam for a moment by the binnacle light, and a strange twitch run
+round his mouth at the mention of the mate's wages: the only way I
+could account for it at the time being his late hard-up condition;
+and nothing to my mind was more deucedly pitiable, than to see the
+thought of a few paltry additional rupees light up a head like that,
+with the glistening sort of expression of a miser, as I fancied.
+The man had a head on him, in fact, when you eyed him, fit for a
+gentleman's shoulders, or more--his hair and his whiskers curly and
+dark, draggled though they were with the rain, not to say Cape Town
+mud--while the wearing away of the hair about the temples, and the
+red grog-streaks in the veins of his face, made him no doubt a dozen
+years older to appearance than he was. For my part I was quite
+convinced already, this same Jack Jones hadn't been sent out a cabin
+boy; there was not only a touch of high blood in him at bottom, but
+I'd have sworn he had been some time or other in the place of a
+gentleman, afloat or ashore, though plainly now "going to the devil."
+
+Meanwhile the breaking look of the clouds away on our larboard bow
+showed it wasn't far off dawn; so, sending another hand to the
+wheel, and finding a snug spot under a stern-grating for a snooze
+on deck, I told Jones to begin with taking charge of the deck for
+me. "One thing, sir," said he, touching his hat again, as I lay
+down, "I've only shipped for the outward voyage, and leave at the
+first port."--"Why, what the deuce!" said I, lifting my head; "what
+do you mean to do there, eh?" "I--I want to go ashore," answered
+he, eagerly; "ay, if we're years on the cruise, so much the better,
+sir,--but so soon as she drops anchor off Calcutta, I'm my own
+master?"--"Have your own way, then," said I; "at any rate I'll try
+you in the meantime,--so Mister Jones, let's see how you mind the
+schooner till eight bells!" Whereupon I turned myself over to sleep,
+and it was as broad daylight as we had any likelihood of about the
+Cape, when I woke.
+
+It still blew a stiff breeze, but the waves rose with a length and
+a breadth in them you find in no other sea; deep-blue sparkling
+hills of water, with green gleams about the crests, of which every
+single wave had a hundred or so; and a long seething, simmering,
+glassy hollow of a still valley between, where the flecks of foam
+slid away glittering out of the shadow. But, Lord! it was glorious
+to feel the schooner rising quietly in the trough, with the mount
+of a wave, to the very ridge of it; then with a creak of all her
+timbers and bulk-heads below, a slight shake to windward, and a
+yerk at her bows, lean over to leeward again and go hissing through
+the breast of a huge sea, till you thought she'd go down into it;
+while there she was, however, lifting head up, with a swift flash
+of her cutwater, on the cross half wave that joined every first and
+third one--"billow" and "sea," as you may say. The breeze having
+drawn more easterly toward morning, Jones had braced her more upon
+a wind, with reefed main and foresails, and fore-staysail set,
+which brought out the Aniceta's weatherly qualities to a marvel;
+as notwithstanding almost a head-wind and a swelling sea, she went
+nearly as fast as the frigate would have done before the breeze, and
+not a sign of the land was to be seen from her crosstrees.
+
+It was not till the afternoon, when the midshipman and I had both
+been busy together seeing various things done about the rigging,
+as well as having preventer-braces and guys clapped on the booms
+and gaffs, that we had time to look about us; the schooner still
+driving along with the breeze strong abeam, and a floating plunge
+from one wide dark-blue sea to another, as if they handed her
+onward. Jones had got himself made decent below, as I told him,
+till what with different clothes and a shave together, besides
+refreshment from sea weather, he was quite a different man to look
+at. Even Snelling owned to his sailor-like appearance, though
+rather surprised at my notion of making him a mate; while as for
+the men, they didn't know but he had come aboard as such, and to
+tell the truth, he was having the mainstaysail got up and ready to
+bend at the time, like one accustomed to give orders. By this time
+I remembered the harbour officer, Webb, whom we'd carried off so
+unceremoniously, and found he was still in his "bunk" below, half
+sulky and half sick, consoling himself with brandy and water till
+we should get into Table Bay again, as he said. "Only put him into
+my watch, Mr Collins," said Snelling gravely, "and I'll work him
+up, sir." The reefer himself, in fact, had all of a sudden turned
+out in a laughably dignified style, to meet his new post--in full
+midshipman's rig, dirk and all, with his cocked hat, which I sent
+him down immediately to change; but he had brushed up his mop of
+hair, and begun to cultivate the down on his upper lip; while
+being a deep-shouldered, square-built, short-armed little fellow,
+as muscular as a monkey, you'd have thought from the back of his
+coat he was a man cut shorter, and for his face, he had contrived
+to put such a sour effect into it--meant for great experience, no
+doubt--that it was only by his eyes one saw he was a boy of sixteen
+or so; and _they_ were brimful of wild glee, as he jumped about
+wherever he was needed, doing the work of a couple of ordinary men,
+and actually delighted when a spray came over the weather bulwarks
+on top of him, seeing that, instead of the frigate, she was "our
+schooner" that did it.
+
+"I think she walks, Mr Collins!" observed Snelling, holding up
+his head stiffly, and looking aloft as we went aft, after shaking
+ourselves from one of these same sprays. "No denying that, Mr
+Snelling," said I as gravely; "I only wish your fond parents
+could see you just now, first mate of such a smart craft, Mister
+Snelling!" His father was a country baronet, who had sent him off to
+sea with an allowance--I daresay because his looks were no ornament,
+and there were plenty more coming; though Snelling always pretended
+his worthy progenitor was an old man. "Fond be blowed!" said he,
+starting; "I just see him at this moment at the foot of that blessed
+old mahogany, proposing my health before the ladies go, and--" Here
+the schooner rose on a sharp, short wave, making a plunge through it
+that sent the helmsman swinging to the lee-side of the wheel, while
+a sea washed up over her forecastle, and away aft with the tubs,
+buckets, and spars, knocking everybody right and left. Snelling
+and I held on by the weather main-rigging with our feet in a bath,
+till she lifted bodily through it, careering to her lee-gunnel. "By
+George, though!" broke out the reefer, smacking his lips as we drew
+breath, "I wish he _did_ see me--wouldn't it cheer his declining
+years, when I'd got to hand the governor carefully below! And
+such a rough night as we're going to have of it, too, sir!" "You
+unfilial young dog!" said I; "but so I'm afraid we shall--and no
+joke either!" Jones was standing near us, watching the looks of the
+weather with evident uneasiness, and I asked him what he thought of
+it. "In my opinion, sir," said he, "you'll have some pretty sudden
+shift of wind ere long, of a kind I have seen more than once off the
+Cape before--and that as furious as a south-easter ordinarily is
+hereabouts. Look away yonder, sir!"
+
+It had got to a clear, dry, north-easterly gale, that shook our
+canvass every time she lifted, singing through the ropes, and bitter
+cold. Long and heavy as the roll of the sea was, the sky was as
+keen and clear as glass all round about and aloft, save the mist
+kicked up by the spray off a wave here and there. If a rag of white
+cloud appeared, it was blown away, and you saw the black wrinkled
+side of one wave at a time, a mile wide, you'd have said, freckled
+all over with spots of foam, and its ridge heaving against the eye
+of the blast. The waves had begun to break shorter. The schooner,
+buoyant as she was, and sharp as a dolphin, pitched and rolled at
+times like mad, and the men forward were standing by to let go the
+fore-halliards, throat and peak, to ease her a little: when Jones
+pointed out the bank of gray cloud ahead of us, scarce to be seen
+through the troughs of the water, except when she lifted well upon
+a swell of sea. The sun going down in a wild red glare to leeward
+of us, threw a terrible glitter across the huge slant of one single
+wave that rose stretching away far and wide from her very bow, then
+brought out the sulky wrinkled blue in it; the hissing green crests
+curled over to the very sunset, as it were, while we sunk slowly
+into the long dark lulling trough, and saw the broken shaft of a
+rainbow stand glimmering for a moment or two into a black hollow
+right ahead, when the gale drove it back upon us like an arrow, as
+the schooner urged through the breast of the next wave. I looked
+from Snelling to the new mate, who still held on by a belaying-pin
+and watched the clouds, giving me back a glance that showed he
+thought the matter more serious than ordinary. "The sooner we strip
+her to the storm-staysails," said I quickly, as we fell into the
+trough again, "the better, I think. If it blows harder, we must
+lie-to with her at once." My eye was anxiously fixed on Jones, for
+large as the schooner was, between two and three hundred tons, yet
+no craft in the world is so nice to bring to the wind in a gale,
+with a heavy sea running. Scudding before it might have done for
+the frigate, with her full bows, and spars high enough to keep her
+main-topsail full in spite of the troughs; but even that would have
+taken us out of our course after the Indiaman. Besides that, to tell
+the truth, I didn't sufficiently understand fore-and-aft rigged
+craft in all weathers yet, to be quite sure of what I did at a pinch
+like the present. "Yes, yes, sir," answered he; "but if you'll take
+an older man's advice, before that you'll wear her round on the
+other tack to it. We've the worst to come, or else I'm mistaken,
+sir."--"You're accustomed to schooners?" asked I firmly, and gazing
+him in the face. I saw his lips open in the sweep of the wind
+through our after-rigging, and he made a sign with his hand, while a
+gnawing sort of spasm, as it were, shot through the muscles of his
+jaw, and for a moment he gave me a devilishly fierce, keen glance,
+almost a glare, from under his strong straight eyebrows--then turned
+away. "Take the trumpet then, Mr Jones," said I, singing out into
+his ear; "I'll leave her to you, sir. Mr Snelling, let's see the
+hatches all fast!" And we scrambled along by the belaying-pins.
+
+"Are you all ready fore and aft?" came Jones's voice like thunder
+in the next dip she made, and he leapt up bareheaded on the breech
+of one of the small carronades aft, holding on with one hand by the
+weather main-shrouds, and watching the run of the waves as they
+glimmered off our lee-beam into the dusk, for full five minutes.
+I had hold of a rope near him, and his eye was as steady as if he
+were picking out hills in a view. I had full confidence in the
+man; but I must say it was a nervous moment to me, when I saw him
+lift the trumpet to his mouth--and furiously as the wind shook
+the schooner, you heard his hoarse cry, "Put your helm up--slack
+off the mainsheet--brail up the mainsail--ease down the weather
+boom-guy--main-staysail sheet--" And the rest was lost in the
+wild shriek of the north-east gale. We were hard at it, however,
+staggering as we hauled and held on, even to the poor half-drowned,
+terrified Lascars, whom the midshipman had roused out of the caboose
+and long-boat, shoving the ropes into their leathery hands. But I
+knew little else till I saw the schooner had payed off before the
+wind, shearing with a hiss like red-hot iron right through the
+ridge, betwixt two tremendous combing waves. It swelled green over
+her larboard bulwark as she heeled over, and she gave a heavy dead
+lurch with it, as if she would let the next sea break aboard. "Now!
+now!" shouted Jones, at a pitch of voice like no earthly sound; "aft
+the mainsheet, for your lives!" He jumped to the wheel himself, at
+a single bound. We were in two floundering heaps, as we dragged at
+the mainboom aft, and the head-sheets on the forecastle, while she
+came trembling up in the long bight of the sea, and took the gale
+steadily before her other beam. It was blowing harder than ever; and
+the awful "scud" of the sea rolled her bodily away, as she met it
+with her weather-bow, washing white over the headrail, with spray
+from cathead to bowsprit; the gale heaving her down on the lee-beam,
+till she plunged to the brim on that side, at every forward pitch,
+so that all hands on deck had to keep crowded together aft. Still
+it was keen starlight overhead, the gale dry, though it was bitter
+cold, and the seas long and pretty regular. The schooner behaved
+wonderfully, being as tight as a bottle; and at the same time we
+were not only lying our course either for the Mozambique or Indian
+Ocean, but instead of running farther into the gale, as before,
+and getting more into the wild Cape latitudes, why, at present she
+tended to clear out of them. I accordingly agreed with Jones to hold
+on with everything as long as possible, in spite of the way she was
+sometimes flung off with the crest of a wave, as it were, making a
+clear dive with her nose under water through a white seething sea
+that seemed to swell round the whole horizon: the black bank of
+cloud off our weather-beam towered like icebergs against the cold
+green sky to south-east, the stars glittering and twinkling over it,
+with little hazy rings round them, after a fashion that one of us
+liked no more than the other.
+
+About midnight, we had got everything off her to the two small
+storm-staysails, main and fore, the wind blowing great guns, and
+the half moon shining right over the long bank, as if the back of
+it were dead-white; while betwixt it and the washing glimmer of
+moonlight half-way, you'd have thought the black heave of the ridges
+vanished into a bulk of shadow ten times blacker, save for the heads
+of spray tossing dimly over in it here and there. All at once, in
+the very height of the gale, as the black floating clouds from the
+bank began to cross over the gray scud flying fast aloft, a blue
+flash of lightning shot zig-zag into the very comb of a wave ahead
+of us, then came the clap of thunder, loud enough to be heard above
+the wind, and in half a minute there was a sudden lull. You saw
+the fleecy rags of scud actually settling together under the dark
+vapour moving above them, and heard nothing but the vast washing
+welter of the billows rising and seething for miles round, as if
+the world were water, while the schooner rolled helplessly away,
+with her storm-staysails flapping, into the trough. The midshipman
+almost gasped as he looked to me--not from fear, but as much as to
+say, "What next?" Our strange mate stood against the fife-rail of
+the mainmast, apparently too intent on the sky and sea for speaking.
+For my own part, I let go of my belaying pin, and half tumbled to
+the wheel, almost knocking the sailor down in my haste to put the
+helm hard up--for I saw how the blast was to come, fairly before the
+beam, upon us. "Hard a-starboard with it!" shouted I; "haul down
+the main-staysail there--let her fall off as she rises!" The last
+words were never heard, for next moment there was another flash of
+lightning, this time a blaze all round into the troughs of the sea;
+I saw a body of mist coming down upon us from south-east, through
+which the gale struck her on the starboard beam, having suddenly
+shifted eight points or so. The heavy rolling swell from north-east
+was close aboard, and as soon as I knew what I was about, here she
+was leaning over to the full tremendous force of the storm, without
+power to surge ahead, though struggling to rise like a cart-horse
+down on his knees with a load uphill of him. 'Twas by instinct,
+as they say, I found myself scrambling along to her weather
+main-channels, where I managed to get out on the side, slippery as
+it was, and drenched with the blinding showers of spray. I had got
+my knife at work, cutting the lanyards of the shrouds to let the
+mainmast go, when I saw Snelling creep after me, like a fearless
+little fellow as he was, dirk in hand; although what was come of
+Jones I couldn't see, unless he had lost heart and skulked. All at
+once, to my great joy, the main-staysail blew inway to leeward out
+of the bolt-ropes, like a scrap of paper, the main-topmast crashed
+at the cap and went alongside, when the schooner righted to her
+keel, with a wild bolt forward through the whole width of an immense
+wave--one of the "third waves" it was, commonly the last and the
+hugest in a single roll of the sea of the Cape, before you sink into
+a long gliding valley, with a sort of a lull in it. The scene was
+so terrible at the moment, though we bore up for full half a minute
+to the fair steady stroke of the awful gale, nothing but a yeast
+of mist, scud, and darkness ahead, the spray torn off the ridge of
+the wave and flying with us, while the triple run of the heavy seas
+astern was in danger of sweeping her decks from over the poop--that
+I felt we must try lying-to with her at once. Indeed, Snelling and
+I hardly knew whether we were holding on or not, as we were half
+washed inboard and half crawled round the rigging; but Jones had
+already seized the exact point, when she sank in the hollow, to have
+the helm eased down to leeward. Meanwhile he had got the reefed
+foresail balanced and set, with the sheet hauled aft beforehand--a
+tackle hooked on to the clue, and bowsed amidships--everything else
+was off her; and with this sail she came slowly up close to the
+wind on the slant of the next wave, lying-to nearly head toward the
+force of the sea, as her helm was kept fast, two or three points
+to leeward. I never had seen a craft of the kind hove-to in a gale
+before, and a very nice matter it is, too. We drew breath, scarce
+able to credit our eyes, while the schooner rode apparently safe on
+a sea rolling mountain-high; rising and falling off from the breasts
+to the sides of the waves, so far as leeway went, and forging ahead
+a little at the same time through the fierce spray that showered out
+of the dark over her weather-bow.
+
+Cape weather as bad I had seen before, but always in good-sized
+ships; and I owned to Snelling I would rather have handled any one
+of them, even with a lee-shore near, ten times over, than this
+schooner of ours in the present case. However, none of us were in
+any mood for speaking at the time, let alone the waste of breath it
+was. The best thing we had to do, after getting somewhat satisfied
+of her weathering it this way, was to have the grog served out
+to the men, swig off a stiff pannikin one's self, and make one's
+self as comfortable as possible with his pea-coat in the lee of
+something. The sight of the sea ridging up with a dim glimmer
+against the dark, kept your eye fixed to it: first you thought
+it would burst right aboard, crash down upon the decks; then she
+lifted with it, swelling broad under her, while the long steady
+sweep of the gale drove just over the bulwarks with a deep moan:
+for half a minute, perhaps, a shivering lull, when you heard the
+bulkheads and timbers creak and strain below from stem to stern,
+and the bilge-water yearning, as it were, to the water outside.
+Then, again, it was a howl and a shriek, a wide plunge of sea bore
+up her weather-bow, and the moment ere she came fairly to, one
+felt as if the schooner were going to pitch God knows where. Her
+whole bulwarks shook and shivered, the wind found out every chink
+in them, whistling round every different rope it split upon, while
+all the time, the loose wet dreary spars behind the long-boat kept
+slatting and clattering against each other in the lashings, like
+planks in a woodyard of a November night. This was the way we stuck
+till the morning watch showed it all in a drizzling, struggling
+sort of half light, blowing as hard as ever, the Cape seas rolling
+and heaving mountain-high, of a pale yesty hue, far and wide to the
+scud; the spray drifting from the crests, and washing over her bare
+forecastle, with now and then the white wings of a huge albatross to
+be seen aslant to windward, riding on the breast of a long wave down
+into the trough.
+
+Well, the whole blessed day did this sort of thing continue,
+only varied by now and then a huger sea than ordinary lifting
+close aboard of us, and we being hove up to get a glimpse of the
+long glaring streak of horizon through the troughs of the waves:
+sometimes an unluckier splash than usual over the bow and through
+the forechains, that made us look sharp lest the canvass of the
+foresail should go, or the schooner broach end-on to the sea.
+Otherwise, all we had to do was to watch the binnacle, hold on with
+one hand to a rope, and with the other to our caps; or turn out and
+in with each other down the booby-hatch for a snatch of sleep, and
+a bit of biscuit and cold beef, with a glass of grog. Mr Webb, the
+harbour officer, was to be seen below in his berth all this time,
+lying as peaceable as a child--whether he was dead sick, or only
+confoundedly afraid, I didn't know; but I must say I felt for the
+poor fellow when I heard him ask Snelling, in a weak voice, if he
+would get somebody to stand off the bull's-eye in the deck over
+his berth, as it always made him think there was a new hurricane
+coming on. "D--n it, you low skulking hound!" said the reefer, who
+had wonderfully little pity in his make, "it can't be worse--what
+d'ye want light for, eh?" "Only to see the opposite wall," said
+Webb, meekly; "do, sir--oh now!" "Oh, you lubber ye!" said Snelling,
+"don't you know a bulkhead from a wall yet? If you'd come on deck to
+bear a hand like others, you wouldn't need light; and _I_ thought
+you might do for a mate aboard, too--pah, you scum!" "Mr Snelling,"
+said I sharply, as he came through the cabin, "a worm will turn when
+it's trod upon, and so you may find yet, sir!" "Well, Mr Collins,"
+said he, as confidentially as if I hadn't meant to give him a set
+down, "I don't like the fellow's eye. I'll look after him, sir!"
+Not to mention the young rogue's power of face, which was beyond
+brass, he had a way of seeing you in two places at once with that
+upward squint of his, as if his eyes were the points of a pair of
+compasses, that made the officers of the Hebe always send him to the
+masthead directly, for fear it should take the frown out of them. In
+fact, when Snelling's twinkling weather-eye lighted on one's neck,
+without the other, you almost felt it tickle you, and as usual I
+turned away with a "pshaw!"
+
+On the second morning, the gale at last began to break, shifting
+southward; on which, as soon as the sea ran a little easier, I
+had the helm cautiously put up at a favourable moment, the reefed
+mainsail, fore-topmast-staysail, and square fore-topsail set as
+she got before the wind, and away the schooner went; rising on the
+wide deep-blue swells with a long roll in them, then shearing ahead
+through their breasts, wrinkled and seething pale-green, till she
+sank with the fall of the wave--the stump of her aftermast standing,
+and the fore one shortened by the to'gallant-mast. You may easily
+believe there was no one aboard more eager to get clear of this
+weather than myself; as in ordinary circumstances, with a craft like
+this, in two or three days more we might have been in a high enough
+latitude to begin looking out for the Indiaman. For my part, I can't
+deny that the wish for having Tom Westwood safe out of harm's way,
+and with me in the schooner, strong as it was, played second to
+the notion of seeing sweet Violet Hyde in any way again, if it was
+only the last time before she went out of reach altogether; for her
+getting amongst East India ways of doing, high-flying civilians and
+soldiers, shows, and sights, either in Calcutta or up-country, was
+equal to anything else, in my mind. Still, we had six or seven days
+longer of the heavy seas and hard gales, before north-easting enough
+could be made to take us beyond the Cape winter, just then coming
+on, and which the Seringapatam had very likely escaped by two or
+three days, so that she would have a considerable start of us.
+
+By this time we were standing well up for the Mozambique Channel,
+which I had heard the Indiamen intended to take in company; a
+piece of information that made me the more anxious to overtake
+the Seringapatam, at latest, by the time they reached open water
+again, where, being the only ship from Bombay, she would no doubt
+part from her consorts. We had a cruiser that year, as I knew, in
+the Mozambique, where there were some rumours of pirates after the
+war, so that in case of her happening to speak the Seringapatam
+close, and having got any word of Westwood's affair, he ran a chance
+of being picked off. However, that wasn't by any means the thing
+that troubled me most: somehow or other, whenever the picture of
+Violet's face brought the Indiaman's decks clear into my mind, with
+all about her, I couldn't get rid of the notion that some ill-luck
+would come across that ship before she got into port. If any pirate
+craft were to dodge the whole bevy of Indiamen up the head of the
+channel, as was pretty sure to be the case, he would probably wait
+for some signs of separating, and be down upon a single one not long
+after she cleared the Leychelles islands, where a lonely enough
+stretch of the Indian Ocean spreads in. The more I entered upon the
+thought of it, the more unsufferable it got; especially one day in
+the mouth of the Mozambique, when it fell a dead calm with a heavy
+up-and-down swell, fit to roll the sticks out of her; the high blue
+land of Madagascar being in sight, sometimes to starboard, sometimes
+to port, then astern, and the clear horizon lying away north-west,
+dark with a breeze from round the coast. As the hot sun blazed out
+above us, and the blue water came plunge up over the rail, blazing
+and flashing, first one side dipped, then the other, I could fancy
+the passengers on the Indiaman's poop in a light breeze with a
+suspicious lateen-rigged sail creeping up on her quarter. I thought
+I saw Violet Hyde's eyes sparkle against the glare of light, and
+her lips parting to speak--till I actually stamped on the deck, my
+fists clenched, and I made three strides to the very taffrail of the
+schooner. All at once I met my second mate's eye coolly fixed on
+me, which brought me to my senses in a moment, the more so as there
+was something about this man Jones I couldn't make out, and I had
+made up my mind to keep a sharp eye on him; though the fact was, it
+annoyed me most to feel him seeing into _me_, as it were, without
+troubling himself. "We shall have the breeze before long, sir, round
+Cape Mary yonder," said he, stepping forward. "So I expect, myself,
+Mr Jones," said I, "though you evidently know the coast better
+than I do." With that I gave him a careless side-look, but to all
+appearance there was nothing particular in his, as he told me he had
+seen it two or three times before.
+
+With the evening we were once more running sharp on a wind up
+channel; and when she did get her own way in a good breeze, the
+schooner's qualities came out. 'Twas a perfect luxury to look over
+the side and see the bubbles pass, her sharp bows sliding through it
+like a knife, she eating into the wind all the time in a way none
+but a fore-and-aft clipper could hope to do, with a glassy blue
+ripple sent back from her weather-bow as far as the forechains: then
+to wake of a morning and feel her bounding under you with a roll
+up to windward, while the water gushed through and through below
+the keel, and ran yearning and toppling away back along the outer
+timbers into her boiling wake, working with the moving rudder. And
+our man-o'-warsmen were quite delighted with the Young Hebe, as
+they still called her. Snelling was in his element while we were
+having the new spars sent up aloft--a set of longer sticks than
+before--till she had twice the air, as well as a knowing rake aft.
+Next thing was to get the long-brass nine-pounder amidships from
+under the boat, where the Frenchmen had kept it, besides which we
+found another in her hold; so that, added to six small carronades
+already on deck, we made a pretty show. Meanwhile, for my own
+part, I kept cracking on with every stitch of canvass that could
+be clapped upon the spars, including studding-sails. Jones himself
+didn't know better than I did by this time how to handle the craft,
+schooner though she was, in the way of making her use what weather
+we had to the best purpose. Variable as it proved, too, I was aware
+the Indiamen would have pretty much the same now as we had; so that,
+on going aloft with the glass, as I did every watch in the day, I
+soon began each time expecting one or other of them to heave in
+sight.
+
+As for the five hands from Cape Town, they seemed to have fallen
+in cheerfully enough with our own; and as soon as the fine weather
+came, the gang of Lascars were set to duty like the rest. Snelling
+would have them even trained to work the guns; although, if it blew
+at all hard, not one could be got to go aloft except their old
+_serang_, and the _tindal_, his mate. What surprised me most was
+the harbour officer himself at last asking, as Mr Snelling told
+me, to be put in a watch; but as the midshipman said there was no
+doubt Webb had made a voyage or two before, somewhere or other, I
+agreed to it at once. "I'm not sure, sir," added the midshipman,
+with one of his doubtful double looks, "but the gentleman may have
+seen blue-water the first time at Government expense, and not in
+the service either--he don't look fore and aft enough, Mr Collins,
+harbour officer though he be; but never mind, sir, I'll see after
+him!"--"Pooh," said I, laughing; "if he does turn to, Mr Snelling,
+it shan't be in the watch _you_ have to do with! Hand him over to Mr
+Jones." By this time I had changed the mid into my own watch, and
+given Jones charge of the other--so to him the harbour officer went.
+
+The main character aboard of us, to me at any rate, was this Jones
+himself. The fact was, at first I had my doubts of him altogether,
+partly owing to the queer way we got hold of him, partly on account
+of his getting the upper hand so much through chance, in the
+tremendous weather we had at the outset, till I wasn't sure but it
+might come into the fellow's head of itself, to be upon some drift
+or other that might cost me trouble, as things stood. However, I no
+sooner felt where I was, and got the craft under my own spoke, than
+I came to set him down for nothing but one of those strange hands
+you fall in with at sea sometimes, always sailing with a "purser's
+name," a regular wonder of a shipmate, and serving to quote every
+voyage after, by way of a clincher on all hard points, not to say
+an oracle one can't get beyond, and can't flow sky-high enough. To
+tell the truth, though, Jones was as thorough a seaman as ever I met
+with--never at a loss, never wanting on any hand; whether it was
+the little niceties we stood in need of for setting the schooner's
+rigging all right again, which none but a blue-water long-voyage
+sailor can touch, or, what comes to be still better in tropical
+latitudes, a cool head and a quick hold, with full experience for
+all sorts of weather, 'twas much the same to him. He was all over
+like iron, too, never seeming to stand in need of sleep, and seeing
+like a hawk. At any hour I came on deck in his watch, there was
+Jones, all awake and ready, till hearing him walk the planks over my
+head of a fine night made me at times keep my eyes open, listening
+to it and the wash of the water together. I fancied there was
+something restless in it, like the sea, with now and then an uneven
+sort of a start; and at last it would come to full stop, that gave
+me the notion of how he was standing quiet in the same spot; whether
+he was looking aloft, or thinking, or leaning over the side, or what
+he was going to do, troubled me wonderfully. The only want in his
+seamanship I noticed, he evidently wasn't used to handle a large
+ship; but craft of some kind I was pretty sure he had commanded in
+the course of his life. As for taking observations, he could do it
+better than I could then; while the knowledge he had on different
+heads, that came out by chance, made you think more of a Cambridge
+graduate than a common sailor, such as he had shipped for with us.
+The strangest part of all about him, though, was what I couldn't
+well name, not to this day: 'twas more grained in his manner, and
+the ring of his voice at particular moments, as well as his walk,
+though these were the smart seaman's no less; but one couldn't help
+thinking of a man that had known the world ashore some time or
+other, in a different enough station from now--ay, and in a way to
+bring out softer lines in his face than reefing topsails or seeing
+the main-tack ridden down would do. The nearest I could come to
+calling it, far apart as the two men stood, was to fancy he reminded
+me of Lord Frederick Bury himself; especially when he looked all
+of a sudden to the horizon in that wide, vacant kind of fashion,
+as if he expected it farther off than it was: only Jones's face
+was twice the age, like a man's that had had double the passions
+in it at the outset, and given them full swing since then; with a
+sleeping devil in his eye yet, besides, as I thought, which only
+wanted somewhat to rouse it. Only for that, I had a sort of leaning
+to Jones myself; but, as it was, I caught myself wishing, over and
+over, for something to make us fall regularly foul of each other,
+and get rid of this confounded doubtful state. One hitch of a word
+to take hold of, and, by Jove! I felt all the blood in my body would
+boil out in me to find how we stood, and show it; but nothing of the
+kind did Jones let pass--and as close as the sea itself he was in
+regard to his past life. As for the men from the frigate, at least,
+they seemingly looked on him with no great fondness, and a good deal
+of respect, in spite of themselves, for his seamanship; whereas,
+if he had been left in the forepeak in place of the cabin, I've no
+doubt in a short time it would have been no man but Jones. You light
+now and then upon a man afloat, indeed, that his shipmates hold off
+from, as healthy dogs do from a mad one; and you saw they had some
+sort of an inkling of the gloomy close nature Jones had in him, by
+the way they obeyed his orders. Webb's three Cape Dutchmen seemed
+to have a notion he was some being with mysterious powers, while
+the Lascars ran crouching at his very word--some of them being, as
+I found, Malays, and the rest Mussulmen from Chittagong; but Jones
+could send them about in their own language, Dutchmen and all--a
+part of the matter which did not tend to keep me less careful over
+him. Still I observed, since his coming aboard, that Jones never
+once touched liquor, which had plainly enough been his ruin ashore;
+whether on account of meaning to pull up once for all and mend, or
+only to have a wilder bout at next port, or else to keep himself
+steady for aught that might turn up, I couldn't settle in my own
+mind. Though deucedly doubtful of its being the first, the very idea
+of it made one feel for the man; and, in case of his doing well, I
+had no small hopes of something in the upshot to save a real sailor
+like him from going to the devil altogether, as he seemed doing.
+
+Now, after our getting clear of the rough Cape weather, and the
+dead-lights being taken out of the stern-windows, I had given a
+look, for the first time, into the schooner's after-cabins, which
+were pretty much as the people she belonged to before had left
+them, except for the rough work the gale had played. There were
+two of them, one opening into the other; and I must say it was a
+melancholy sight to meet the bright sunlight streaming into them
+from off the water astern, with all the little matters either just
+as if the owners were still inside, or else tumbled about at sixes
+and sevens. One drawer, in particular, had come out of a table,
+scattering what was in it on the deck: there was a half open letter
+in a woman's hand, all French, and showing a lock of hair, with
+a broken diamond cross of the French Legion of Honour, besides a
+sort of paper-book full of writing, and two printed ones bound in
+morocco. I picked up the letter and the cross, put them in again,
+and shoved the drawer back to its place, though I brought the books
+away with me to have a glance over. What struck me most, though, was
+a plaster figure of the French emperor himself, standing fastened on
+a shelf, with one hand in the breast of his great coat, and looking
+calmly out of the white sightless eyes; while right opposite hung
+a sort of curtain which you'd have thought they were fixed upon.
+When I hauled it aside, I started--there, on a shelf to match the
+other, was a beautiful smiling child's head to the shoulders, of
+pure white marble, as if it leant off the bulkhead like a cherub
+out of the clouds. Spite of all, however, the touch of likeness it
+had to the head I got such a glimpse of at Longwood, even when the
+hot sunlight showed it in my spy-glass so pale and terrible, was
+sufficient to tell me what _this_ was,--Napoleon's own little son,
+in fact, who was made king of Rome, as I remembered hearing at the
+time. The thought of the schooner's strange French captain, and his
+desperate scheme, came back on me so strong, joined to what I saw he
+had an eye to in fitting out his cabins, that, for my own part, I
+hadn't the heart to use them myself, and at first sight ordered the
+dead-lights to be shipped again, and the door locked.
+
+'Twas a good many days after this, of course, and we had made a
+pretty fast run up the Mozambique, in spite of the sharp navigation
+required, sighting nothing larger than the native and Arab craft to
+be seen thereabouts; we were beginning to clear out from amongst
+the clusters of islands and shoals at the channel head, when two
+large sail were made in open water to nor'-eastward. Next morning
+by daybreak we were to windward of the weathermost,--a fine large
+Indiaman she was, crowding a perfect tower of canvass. Shortly
+after, however, the schooner was within hail, slipping easily down
+upon her quarter, which seemed to give them a little uneasiness,
+plenty of troops as she seemed to have on board, and looming like a
+frigate. After some showing of keeping on, and apparently putting
+faith in the man-o'-war pennant I hoisted, she hove into the wind,
+when we found she was the Company's ship Warringford, and the other
+the something Castle, I forget which, both for Calcutta. The next
+thing, as soon as they found we were tender to his Majesty's frigate
+Hebe, was to ask after the Seringapatam; on which I was told she was
+three or four days sail ahead with the Mandarin, bound to China,
+neither of them having put in at Johanna Island to refresh. I was
+just ready to put our helm up again and bid good-bye, when the
+tiffin gong could be heard sounding on the Indiaman's quarterdeck,
+and the old white-haired captain politely asked me if I wouldn't
+come aboard with one or two of my officers to lunch. Mr Snelling
+gave me a wistful glance--there were a dozen pretty faces admiring
+our schooner out of the long white awnings: but even if the notion
+of bringing up Snelling himself as my first officer hadn't been
+too much for me, not to speak of either Jones or Webb, why the
+very thoughts that everything I saw recalled to me, made me the
+more eager to get in sight of the Seringapatam. "Thank you, sir,"
+answered I. "No--I must be off after the Bombay ship."--"Ah," hailed
+the old captain, "some of your Admiral's post-bags, I suppose. Well,
+keep as much northing as you can, sir, and I daresay you'll find her
+parted company. She's got a jury fore topmast up, for one she lost
+a week ago; so you can't mistake her for the Mandarin, with a good
+glass."--"Have you noticed any suspicious craft lately, sir?" asked
+I. "Why, to tell you the truth, lieutenant," sang out he, looking
+down off the high bulwarks at our long nine-pounders and the knot of
+Lascars, "none more so than we thought _you_, at first, sir!" The
+cadets on the poop roared with laughter, and an old lady with two
+daughters seemed to eye Snelling doubtfully through an opera-glass,
+as the reefer ogled both of them at once. "By the bye," sang out the
+captain of the Indiaman to me again, "I fancy the passengers in that
+ship must have got somehow uncomfortable--one of our Bengal grandees
+aboard of her wanted a berth to Calcutta with us, 'tother day in the
+Mozambique; but we're too full already!"--"Indeed, sir?" said I; but
+the schooner's mainboom was jibbing over, and with two or three more
+hails, wishing them a good voyage, and so on, away we slipped past
+their weather-bow. The Warringford got under weigh at her leisure,
+and in an hour or two her topsails were down to leeward of us. On
+I cracked with square and studding-sails to the quartering breeze,
+till the schooner's light hull jumped to it, and aloft she was all
+hung out of a side, like a dairyman's daughter carrying milk; with
+the pace she went at I could almost say to an hour when we should
+overhaul the chase.
+
+Still, after two or three days of the trade-wind, well out in the
+Indian Ocean, and not a spot to be seen, we had got so far up the
+Line as to make me sure we had overrun her. Accordingly the schooner
+was hauled sharp on a wind to cruise slowly down across what must
+be the Indiaman's track, judging as we could to a nicety, with a
+knowledge of the weather we had had. For my part I was so certain
+of sighting her soon, that I ordered the after-cabins to be set to
+rights, seeing a notion had taken hold of me of actually offering
+them to Sir Charles Hyde for the voyage to Calcutta--Fancy the
+thought! 'Twas too good to be likely; but Violet herself actually
+being in that little after-cabin and sleeping in it--the lively
+schooner heading away alone for India, and they and Westwood the
+sole passengers aboard--why, the idea of it was fit to drive me
+crazy with impatience.
+
+Well, one fine night, after being on deck all day, and the whole
+night before, almost, I had turned in to my cot to sleep. From
+where I lay I could see the moonshine off the water through the
+stern-light in that after-cabin, by the half-open door. I felt
+the schooner going easily through the water, with a rise and
+fall from the heave of the long Line-swell; so close my eyes I
+couldn't, especially as the midshipman could be heard snoring on
+the other side like the very deuce. Accordingly I turned out into
+the after-cabin, and got hold of one of the Frenchman's volumes to
+read, when, lo and behold, I found it was neither more nor less
+than Greek, all I knew being the sight of it. Next I commenced
+overhauling the bundle of handwriting, which I took at first for
+a French log of the schooner's voyage, and sat down on the locker
+to have a spell at it. So much as I could make out, in spite of
+the queer outlandish turn the letters had, and the quirks of the
+unnatural sort of language, it was curious enough--a regular story,
+in fact, about his own life, the war, and Buonaparte himself. At
+another time I'd have given a good deal to go through with it at odd
+hours--and a strange affair I found it was some time afterwards;
+but meanwhile I had only seen at the beginning that his name was
+_Le Compte Victor l'Allemand, Capitaine de la Marine Francaise_,
+and made out at the end how there was some scheme of his beyond
+what I knew before, to be carried out in India,--when it struck me
+there was no one on the quarterdeck above. I listened for a minute
+through the stern-window, and thought I heard some one speaking over
+the schooner's lee-quarter, as she surged along; so slipping on a
+jacket and cap, I went on deck at once.
+
+It was middle watch at the time; but as soon as I came up I saw all
+was quiet--Webb near the gangway talking to the old Lascar serang,
+and breaking the English wonderfully betwixt them; while the Lascars
+of the watch were sitting like tailors in a ring on the forecastle
+planks, each waiting for his turn of one cocoa-nut hookah, that kept
+hubble-bubbling away gravely under the smoker's nose, as he took a
+long suck at it, while the red cinder in the bowl lighted up his
+leathery Hindoo face and mustache like a firefly in the root of a
+banian, till he handed it, without even a wipe, to his neighbour.
+These fellows had begun to get much livelier as we made the tropics;
+and this same serang of theirs had put out his horns once or twice
+to Snelling lately, though he drew them in again the moment he saw
+me--a sulky old knotty-faced, yellow-eyed devil I thought him at any
+rate, while his dish-cloth of a turban, his long blue gown and red
+trousers, reminded you at sea in a gale of a dancing dervish. The
+day we spoke the Indiaman, in fact, I noticed there was something in
+the wind for a minute or two with him and his gang, which put it in
+my head at first to offer them to the captain for a couple of good
+English hands; and as I passed him and Webb this time, the serang
+stopped his talk, and sidled off.
+
+However, a beautiful night it was, as ever eye looked upon even in
+the blue Indian Ocean: the heavens cloudless, the full round moon
+shining high off our weather-beam again, the stars drawn up into her
+bright light, as it were, trembling through the films of it like
+dew-drops in gossamer of a summer morning: you saw the sea meet the
+sky on every hand, without a speck on the clear line of horizon,
+through the squares of our ratlins and betwixt the schooner's two
+long fore-and-aft booms. A pretty strongish breeze we had, too,
+blowing from east to west with a sweep through the emptiness aloft,
+and a wrinkling ripple over the long gentle swells, as deep in the
+hue as if fresh dye came from the bottom, and crisping into a small
+sparkle of foam wherever they caught it full. Something pleasant,
+one couldn't say what, was in the air; and every sheet being hauled
+taut to hold wind, the slant gush of it before her beam drove her
+slipping ahead toward the quarter it came from, with a dip down
+and a saucy lift of her jibs again, as if she were half balanced
+amidships, but little noise about it. I took a squint aloft and an
+overhaul all round, and nothing was to be seen. The size of the sky
+through the moonlight looked awful, as it were, and the strength
+of the breeze seemed to send a heavenly blue deep into the western
+quarter, till you saw a star in it. The night was so lovely, in
+fact, it somehow made one think of one's mother, and old times,
+when you used to say your prayers. Still I couldn't see the mate of
+the watch on the weather quarterdeck, which surprised the more in
+Jones's case, since he was always ready for me when I came up; and,
+to tell the truth, I shouldn't have been sorry to catch him napping
+for once, only to show he was like men in common. I walked aft by
+the weather side of the large mainsail, accordingly, till I saw him
+leaning with his head over the lee-bulwark, and heard him again, as
+I thought, apparently speaking to some one down the schooner's side;
+upon which I stepped across. Jones's back was to me as I looked over
+too; but owing to what he was busy with, I suppose, and the wash
+of the water, which was louder there than inboard, while you heard
+the plash from her bows every time she forged, he evidently didn't
+hear me. You may fancy my wonder to find he was reading loud out
+to himself from the other of the Frenchman's volumes, which I had
+no doubt left in the dining-cabin--the book open in both hands--he
+giving it forth in long staves, with a break between--and regular
+Greek it was, too: you'd have thought he timed them to the plash
+alongside; and I must say, as every string of long-tailed words
+flowed together like one, in Jones's deep voice, and the swell rose
+once or twice with its foam-bells near his very hands, I almost
+fancied I made a meaning of them--each like a wave, as it were,
+sweeping to a crest, and breaking. The gusto the man showed in it
+you can't conceive; and, what was more, I had no doubt he understood
+the sense of it, for all of a sudden, after twenty staves or so of
+the kind, he stopped.[8] "There!" said he, "there, old Homer--women,
+wine, and adventure--what could the devil ask more, blind old
+prater, with a sound in you like the sea? Ay, wash, wash, wash
+away, lying old blue-water, you cant wash _it_ out--and wine--no,
+not the strongest rum in Cape Town--can wash _you_ out!" With that
+Jones laid his head on his arms, with the book still in one hand,
+muttering to himself, and I listened in spite of me. "Still it
+rouses the old times in me!" said he. "Here comes this book across
+me, too. Ay, ay, and the Rector fancied, sitting teaching me Greek
+out of old wild Homer all week day--and--and his girl slipping out
+and in--'twould do to don the cassock of a Sunday and preach out of
+the pulpit against the world, the devil, and the flesh--then warn me
+against the sea--ha!" The laugh that came from him at that moment
+was more like a dog than a human being; but on he went muttering
+"Women, wine, and adventure, said ye, old Greek, and a goddess
+too; still he _was_ a good old man the Rector--no guile nor evil
+in him, with his books in the cases yonder, and the church-spire
+seen through the window over the garden, and his wife with--ah,
+the less of that. 'Twas in me, though, and all the blood--and in
+_her_ dark eyes, too, Mary, though she was! Damnation!" he broke
+out again, after a bit, as if he'd been arguing it with something
+under the side, "I didn't take her the first time I came home--nor
+the second--but--but--ay, I came _back_! Oh that parting-stile, in
+sight of the sea--and that packet-ship--but oh God! that night, that
+night with the schooner forging ahead through the blue--blue--" And
+he stopped with a groan that shook him as he leant over. "Hellish,
+hellish by God!" he said, suddenly standing upright and looking
+straight aloft, with his bare head and face to the wide empty sky,
+and the moonlight tipping the hair on his forehead, from over the
+high shadow on the lee-side of the mainsail, where it glistened
+along the gaff. "She was pure to the last!" I heard him say, though
+I had walked to the other side of the boom; "ay, though I rot to
+perdition for it!--Down, old fiend!" as he lifted his one hand with
+the book, and drove it alongside, seemingly watching it settle away
+astern.
+
+  [8] Looking into Homer's _Iliad_ here for a passage to correspond
+  with the account given by the naval man, one is somewhat at a loss;
+  but at the end of the second book of the _Odyssey_ there occur lines
+  which might not improbably have been those recited. They are such
+  as might well, in the original, excite longings after sea-life, and
+  revive feelings of the kind most natural to the seafaring character,
+  apparently known to Captain Collins only as "Jones." Will the
+  readers of Maga accept, illustratively, of a rough translation?--
+
+     Then to Telemachus glided on board divinest Athene,
+     Where on the poop she sat, and near her Telemachus rested.
+     Then were the moorings loosed by the mariners coming aboard her,
+     Joyous coming on board, and seated apart on the benches.
+     A fair westerly breeze by the blue-eyed goddess was wafted,
+     Cheerfully rippling along, and over the deep-coloured ocean.
+     Now to his shipmates shouted Telemachus, while to the oar-blades
+     Leapt the impatient surge, till each at his order obeying,
+     Stepped they the pine-mast then in the mast-hole ready amidships,
+     Firmly staying it both ways down; and next by the well-twisted
+     hide-thongs, Snowily spreading abroad, the sails drew fluttering
+     downward. And in the sail-breast blew the bellying wind with a
+     murmur, The purple wave hissed from the prow of the bark in its
+     motion; Into the riotous wave she plunged, pursuing her voyage.
+     But when their oars they drew back to the galley securely,-- The
+     swift, dark-sided bark, as she full on her journey exulted--
+     Then to her foaming beak they brought the o'er-bubbling goblet
+     Of red-hued wine, and poured out on her head a libation To the
+     immortal gods, that dwell in the sky and in ocean, But to the
+     blue-eyed daughter of Jupiter mostly, Athene. All night then
+     they sailed, till the morning rose on their voyage.
+
+Now I had heard nothing from Jones that I couldn't have fancied
+before, and there was even a humour to my mind in the notion of
+clapping it all on old Homer, if Homer it was, and heaving him
+overboard with such a confoundedly complimentary burial-service. But
+some of the words that dropped from him shot through one's veins
+like icicles: and now there was something fearful in the sight of
+him standing straight again, with a look right into the heavens,
+as if he'd have searched them up and up--in that lovely night too,
+spread far and wide--the very rays of the moonlight sparkled down
+the weather side of the sail I was on, trembling on the leech-ropes
+and brails as they swayed, and into the hollows they made in the
+belly of the taut canvass: the long shining spot of it wavered
+and settled on the same two planks of the quarterdeck, beyond the
+shadow of the bulwark from the moon's eye, fast as the schooner
+moved through the water, and it was like a hand laid upon her,
+with the air and wind stretching between. Of a sudden I saw Jones
+wheel slowly round where he stood, like a man turned about by main
+strength, with his eyes fixed aloft, and his one arm raising from
+the shoulder till his forefinger pointed to something, as I thought,
+about the fore-to'gallant sail. His face was like ashes, his eye
+glaring, and I sprang across to him under the main-boom. "See!" said
+he, never turning his head, and the words hissed betwixt his teeth,
+"look at that!"
+
+"For heaven's sake, _what_, Mr Jones?" said I. "_Her--her_," was
+his answer, "coming against the wind--dead fore-and-aft in the
+shade of the sails!" On the lee-sides of them the high boom-sails
+made a sort of a thin shadow against the moonshine off the other
+beam, which came glimpsing through between them out of a world of
+air to the south-east, with a double of it flickering alongside
+on the water as it heaved past to leeward; and whether it was
+fancy, or whether it was but the reflection aloft from below, I
+thought, as I followed Jones's finger, I saw something like the
+shape of a woman's dress floating close in with the bonnet of the
+foretopmast-staysail, from the dusk it made to the breast of the
+fore-topsail, and even across the gush of white light under the
+yard--long and straight, as it were, like a thing lifted dripping
+out of water, and going, as he said, right against the schooner's
+course. "Now in the foresail!" whispered Jones, his eye moving as
+on a pivot, and a thrill ran through me at the notion, for I made
+out one single moment what I thought a face against the sky at the
+gaff-end, white as death, shooting aft toward the mainsail,--though
+next instant I saw it was but a block silvered by the moon as the
+schooner lifted. "Now the mainsail!" said he huskily, "and now--now,
+by the heavens--rising--rising to the gaff-topsail--away! Oh Christ!
+_Mary!_"
+
+He was leaning aft toward the width of the sky, with both hands
+clutched together before him, shuddering all over. For the first
+minute my own blood crept, I must say; but directly after I touched
+him on the shoulder. "This is strange, Mr Jones," said I, "what's
+the matter?" "Once in the Bermudas!" said he, still wildly, "once
+in the Pacific--and now! Does the sea give up its dead, though,
+think ye?"--"You've a strong fancy, Mr Jones, that's all," I said,
+sternly. "Fancy!" said he, though beginning to get the better of
+himself; "did ye ever fancy a face looking down--down at you in the
+utterest scorn--down sideways off the shoulder of the garment, as
+it sticks wet into every outline like life? All the time gliding on
+the other way, too, and the eyes like two stars a thousand miles
+away beyond, as kind as angels'--neither wind nor sea can stop it,
+till suddenly it rises to the very cope of heaven--still looking
+scornfully down at you!--No, sir, fancy it _you_ couldn't!" The
+glance he gave me was somehow or other such as I couldn't altogether
+stomach from the fellow, and he was turning to the side when I said
+quietly, "No, nor Homer either, I daresay!" Jones started and made a
+step towards me. "You heard me a little ago!" rapped out he, eyeing
+me. "Yes," I said; "by Jove! who could help being curious to hear a
+sailor spout Greek as you were doing, Mr Jones?"
+
+"The fact is, Mr Collins," answered he, changing his tone, "I
+was well brought up--the more shame to me for bringing myself to
+what you saw me. I had a sister drowned, too, on her passage to
+America one voyage, when I was mate of the ship myself. No wonder
+it keeps my nerves shaking sometimes, when I've had too long
+about shore."--"Well, well, Jones," said I, rather softening,
+"you've proved yourself a first-rate seaman, and I've got nothing
+to complain of--but I tell You fairly I had my doubts of you! So
+you'll remember you're under the Articles of War aboard here, sir,"
+added I, "which as long as I have this schooner under hand, I'll
+be hanged if I don't carry out!" All at once the thought struck me
+a little inconveniently, of my carrying off Webb and his people,
+and I fancied Jones's quick eye wandered to the Lascars forward.
+"I know it, sir," said he, looking me steadily in the face; "and
+what's more, Mr Collins, at any rate I couldn't forget you picked me
+out, confounded low as I looked, to come aft here! 'Tis not every
+captain afloat that has such a good eye for a seaman, as _I_ know!"
+"Oh well, no more about it," I said, walking forward on the weather
+side, and leaving him on the lee one as distinctly as Lord Frederick
+Bury could have done to myself in the frigate. Jones no doubt
+thought I didn't notice the slight wrinkle that gathered round his
+lee-eye when he gave me this touch of butter at the end; but I put
+it down for nothing more, gammon though it was.
+
+It was near the end of the watch, the moon beginning to set, while
+it still wanted three hours of daybreak in those latitudes, when
+the look-out on the top-gallant-yard, who was stationed there in
+man-o'-war cruising fashion, reported a sail to windward. Just then
+the midshipman came on deck to his watch, wonderfully early for him
+indeed: and on my remarking it was probably the Indiaman at last,
+Jones himself went aloft with the night-glass to make her out. "Mr
+Snelling," said I, "see the hands on deck ready for going about."
+Next minute I saw him rousing up the rest of the Lascars, who slept
+watch and watch on the forecastle. Only five or six of the Hebe's
+men were up; and all of them, save the man at the wheel, ran aloft
+to rig out stunsail-booms to windward, as soon as the schooner was
+fairly on the starboard tack, standing to nor'-eastward. Suddenly
+I saw a scuffle between the midshipman, and the tindal,[9] a stout
+dark-faced young Bengalee, with a jaunty scull-cap and frock, whom
+Snelling had probably helped along with a touch of a rope's end;
+and in a moment two or three more of them were upon him; while the
+reefer drew his dirk, and sung out to me, scarce before I was with
+him, the Lascars rolling into the lee-scuppers at two kicks of my
+foot. Webb and three of the men from Cape Town were hoisting a
+stunsail at the time, the smart man-o'-war'smen aloft singing out to
+them to bear a hand. What with the noise of the sail flapping, and
+its being betwixt my own men and the deck, they could know nothing
+of the matter; and the Lascars let go the halliards in a body,
+making a rush at Snelling and myself with everything they could pick
+up in the shape of a spar.
+
+  [9] Lascar boatswain's mate.
+
+This would have been nothing, as in two or three minutes more the
+men would have been down, and the cocoa-faced rascals dodged every
+way from the handspike I got hold of; but I just caught a glimpse
+on one side of the sly old serang shoving on the fire-scuttle to
+keep down the watch below; and on the other, of Webb looking round
+him, evidently to see how matters stood. Two Dutchmen seized the
+first sailor that came down the rigging, by the legs, and I saw
+the affair must be finished at once, it had so much the look of a
+regular plot on Webb's part, if Jones wasn't concerned in it too.
+I made one spring upon my Cape Town gentleman, and took him by the
+throat with one hand, while I hit the biggest Dutchman full behind
+the ear, felling him to the deck; on which the man-o'-war's man
+grappled his watchmate, and Webb was struggling with me sufficiently
+to keep both my hands full, when I had a pleasant inkling of a Malay
+Lascar slipping toward my back with a bare kreese in his fist. I
+just looked over my shoulder at his black eyes twinkling devilishly
+before he sprang, when some one came sliding fair down from the
+fore-top-mast-head by a backstay, and pitched in a twinkling on
+top of his head--a thing enough to break the neck of a monument.
+Directly after, I saw Jones himself hitting right and left with
+his night-glass, from the moonlight to the shadow of the foresail,
+while Snelling tumbled over a Lascar at every slap, standing up
+in boxer style. By the time the rest of the men came down all was
+settled--the Dutchmen sulking against the bulwarks, and Webb gasping
+after I let him go. "Boatswain," said I to one of the sailors, "clap
+that man in irons below. Mr Snelling, see the watch called, sir." "I
+'ad the law with me," said Webb gloomily. "You plotted it then, Mr
+Webb?" I said. "Didn't you carry us off illegally?" said he. "I only
+meant to recover the vessel--upon my honour, nothing more, sir; and
+if you're 'ard with me, you'll have to answer for it, I assure you!"
+Here he looked round to Jones in a strange way, as I fancied for a
+moment; but Jones turned on his heel with a sneer. "Why, Mr Webb,"
+answered I, "you lost that tack by offering yourself in a watch,
+which makes the thing neither more nor less than mutiny--so take him
+below, do ye hear, bo'sun!" And down he went.
+
+"Now, Mr Jones," said I, as soon as all hands were on deck, "you'll
+be so good as have half of these Lascars seized to the rigging here,
+one after the other, and see a good dozen given to each of their
+backs; then these two Dutchmen, each three dozen--then pipe down
+the watch, sir." Jones glanced at me, then at the fellows, then
+at me again. I thought he hung aback for an instant; but do it I
+was determined he should, for a reason I had; and I gave him back
+the look steady as stone. "Ay, ay, sir," said he at last, touching
+his hat. I walked aft to the capstan, and stood there till every
+mother's son of them had got his share, the Lascars wriggling and
+howling on the deck after it, and the Dutchmen twisting their backs
+as they walked off. 'Twas the first time I did that part of duty in
+command; and I felt, in the circumstances, I was in for carrying it
+out with a taut hand.
+
+By this time the moon was setting, and in the dusk we lost sight
+of the sail to windward; but as we were heading well up to weather
+upon her, and going at least ten knots, I turned in below for a
+little, leaving the midshipman. Accordingly, it wasn't very long
+before Snelling called me in broad daylight. "She's a large ship,
+Mr Collins," said he, "standing under all sail on a wind. I hope to
+goodness, sir, it's that confounded Indiaman at last!" I hurried on
+deck, took the glass aloft, and soon made out the jury-foretop-mast
+shorter than the main, as the old captain mentioned. Accordingly it
+was with somewhat of a flutter in me I came down again, watching the
+schooner's trim below and aloft, to see if I couldn't take an hour
+or so off the time betwixt that and once more setting eyes on the
+Judge's daughter.
+
+
+
+
+THE JEW BILL.
+
+
+The period at which this obnoxious measure has been brought forward,
+limits our present remarks to a few paragraphs. But we have so long
+fought for the Constitution, that We cannot suffer the month to
+pass without reprobating an intrigue, which we cannot but regard
+as most dangerous to the Empire. We are no bigots,--we demand
+no surrender of the rights of opinion,--we force no man to our
+altars,--we forbid no man's access to his own; but to avert public
+evil is a duty of every subject,--to strip hypocrisy is clearly an
+act of justice,--and to protect religion is only an act of supreme
+necessity. We solemnly believe, that to bring the Jew into the
+Parliament of England, would be at once injury to the Constitution,
+a peril to public principle, and an insult to Christianity.
+
+The attempt was made last year, and was defeated. It is now to
+be renewed, without the slightest additional ground, and the
+battle will have to be fought over again. Must we not ask, is this
+experiment to be again made on public patience? Is it meant to
+tell the people of England, that what common sense rejects, is to
+be forced on general weariness; that what manly principle repels,
+is to be gained by vulgar perseverance; and that which public
+judgement denounces, is to be made law by the united effect of
+disgust and disdain producing indifference? We trust that the common
+sense of England will speak such a language to the Legislature,
+as to extinguish the _prestige_ that obstinacy in the wrong is
+more effective than honesty in the right; that to be sickened of a
+struggle, is a legitimate reason for abandoning the contest; and
+that a great nation can be yawned out of the greatest interests in
+the world.
+
+The first question of all is, Can this admission of the Jew into
+a Christian legislature be compatible with the character of a
+Christian constitution? If we live in bad times, with the evidence
+of bad practices in important positions, and with a powerful
+propensity among influential classes to sacrifice everything to
+the moment, this consciousness should only be a stronger claim on
+the vigilance of honest men. However strangely it may sound in
+some ears, England is still a Christian country: however some may
+doubt, the country still demands a Christian legislature; and,
+notwithstanding all opinions on the subject, we believe that to
+worship God and Mammon is still as impossible as it was pronounced
+to be eighteen hundred years ago. We believe that it is only by
+national virtue that nations can retain the divine protection; that
+zeal for the divine honour is the supreme source of virtue; and
+that to sacrifice the honour of God to any earthly purpose, is only
+to bring divine desertion on a people. Must we not ask, is there
+any national demand, national necessity, or religious principle,
+connected with giving legislative power, at this time, to the Jew?
+
+Where is the national demand? If the Jew, in some instances, is
+rich, is mere money to be the qualification for giving legislative
+power? In the simplest point of view, must we not demand ability,
+personal honour, a personal interest in the country, and a personal
+evidence that the trustee will never betray or abandon his trust?
+But what is the Jew? He has _no_ country. By being equally a
+member of all countries, he is equally an alien in all; beyond the
+casual connexion of trade, he has no connexion with any kingdom
+of earth: his only country is his counting-house,--his only city
+is the Exchange. His world consists in his traffic; and if any
+calamity should fall on one of those kingdoms where he keeps his
+counting-house, he transfers himself, like a Bill of Exchange, to
+the next; and in whatever land is equally at home. The Jew gives
+no pledge to any country; he is no possessor of land, no leader of
+science, no professor of the liberal pursuits, no manufacturer, no
+merchant, no sailor, no soldier; as if some irresistible destination
+prohibited him from ever finally settling in any land, his property
+is always ready to take wing. Must we not ask, Is this fugitive the
+man who has a right to share the privileges of the Englishman,
+bound, as we are, to the soil by nature, and bound to its defence
+and prosperity by the indissoluble obligation of nature?
+
+In a political point of view, what security could we have for
+confiding in the Jew,--for intrusting our finances, our liberties,
+our councils, the guardianship of our country, to the Jew? The
+especial and perpetual object of his existence is money. Now,
+while every man knows that money is the great corrupter of the
+human mind, that, except in minds fully fortified by principle, it
+overwhelms all other objects, and that, in all the convulsions of
+the greatest war of Europe--the war of the French Revolution--the
+secrets of every Continental cabinet were at the mercy of the purse;
+do we desire to see this supremacy extended? Do we desire to see
+the principles of fraud and falsehood made a regular material in
+the market of public transactions, and lucre exalted into the sole
+object of existence?
+
+As to the practical effect of bringing the tribe of the money-dealer
+into Parliament, would any man, in the exercise of his experience,
+wish to see the finances of England in the hands of any Jew in
+existence? And let no man pretend that this conception is imaginary.
+Place a Jew in Parliament, giving him the power of making a party;
+give him the opportunity of working on the impulses, habits, or
+necessities of men; and in twelve months you may see him anything
+he desires,--even Chancellor of the Exchequer. But he is a man of
+honour; he will not sell the secrets of Council; he will not copy a
+despatch for the benefit of his partners; he will not raise or sink
+the stocks, though every movement may add a million to the coffers
+of his partnership. We hope not; but can we run the risk? But the
+fact is, that he is a man not to be judged of by the feelings of
+any other in the world; he differs from all other men. What is
+patriotism to the Jew? He knows nothing of it. Who ever heard of the
+Jew taking any part in those noble struggles which have saved the
+honour or secured the rights of any nation on earth? His business
+is gain, and it is the only business that he ever follows; from the
+man with ten firms and five hundred clerks, with a counting-house in
+every village from the Rhine to the Neva, down to the seller of old
+clothes, and the pedlar in dilapidated slippers, who ever heard of a
+Jew thinking of anything but to make money?
+
+But the view which must supersede all others, is the aspect of the
+measure as it relates to religion. Great Britain is certainly,
+on the whole, a religious country: it perhaps contains more true
+religion than all the earth besides; but its fault is, that, though
+reverent in the church, it does not sufficiently carry its reverence
+into the course of common life. If this were done, there would be
+no difficulties in public opinion. It is in no superstition that
+we say, the only question to be asked on any doubtful course of
+action is, "Will it please God? Is it for the honour of God?" This
+is what the Scripture calls "walking with God," and describes as
+the essential character of virtue. But the majority of mankind add
+to those questions, Will it benefit myself? The statesman asks,
+Shall I lose power by it?--the merchant, Shall I lose profit?--the
+tradesman, Shall I lose custom? And this question is the master-key
+to the diversities of opinion on points which, to the unbiassed
+mind, are as clear as the sun.
+
+Let us put the matter in a more every-day point of view. Let us
+suppose the question asked, Would you take for your friend a man
+who denied your God, who scoffed at your religion, and who declared
+yourself a dupe or a deceiver? Yet all this the Jew does openly
+by the profession of his own creed. Can you conceive it for the
+honour of your Redeemer, to give this man your confidence in the
+highest form in which it can be given by a subject? Or can you
+bring yourself to believe that you are doing your duty to Christ
+in declaring by your conduct, that to be hostile to Him makes no
+imaginable difference in your estimate of the character of any man?
+
+On those points it is wholly impossible that there can be any doubt
+whatever. The enemy of Christ cannot, without a crime, be favoured,
+still less patronised and promoted, by the friend of Christ. Now,
+this feeling is neither prejudice nor persecution: it merely takes
+the words of the Jew himself; and it would not force him, by the
+slightest personal injury, to change the slightest of his opinions.
+It is merely the conduct which all who were unbiassed by gain, or
+unperverted by personal objects, would follow in any common act of
+life. To give power to the Jew, from the motives of pelf, or party,
+or through indifference, is criminal; and it is against this crime
+that we protest, and that we desire to guard our fellow Christian.
+
+We must now rapidly pass through the leading points of the question.
+The Jew is a "condemned man." More than three thousand years ago,
+Moses, in pronouncing the future history of the people, declared
+that a teacher should finally be sent to their nation, like himself,
+a man; and mingling as such among men, to give them a law, not in
+clouds and thunders as at Sinai, nor written in tables of stone, nor
+fixed in stern ordinances, but written in the heart, and acting by
+the understanding: and that, if they rejected him, they should be
+made nationally to answer the national crime to the Almighty. Him
+they rejected, and the rejection has been answered by national ruin.
+The prophecy is before the eye of the world; the fulfilment is also
+before the eye of the world.
+
+The Jew is an undone being, if there be truth in the words of
+inspiration. "He that believeth in the Son hath everlasting life;
+and he that believeth not the Son, _shall not see life_; but the
+_wrath of God_ abideth on him." (John iii. 35, 36.) What right have
+we to dispense with such words? The declaration is unequivocal;
+and if there be a compassionate allowance for the barbarian, who
+has no Bible and whom the gospel has never reached, what allowance
+can there be for the Jew, possessing the Bible and living in the
+sound of the gospel? But this language is not alone. We have the
+declaration of ruin constantly expressed or implied, "Who is a liar,
+but he that _denieth that Jesus is the Christ_? Whosoever _denieth
+the Son_, the same _hath not the Father_." (1 John ii. 22)
+
+Are those deniers the men whom the Christian is to take into
+the very centre of his political favouritism? Are the brands of
+Scripture on the national forehead to be scorned by a people
+professing obedience to the Divine will? Can human conception supply
+a stronger proof of the reality of those brands than the condition
+of the Jews ever since their first fulfilment, in the fall of
+Jerusalem--the terrible reply to their own anathema, "His blood be
+on us, and on our children."
+
+What is the state of the Jew himself with respect to sacred things?
+Nothing but ignorance can speak of the _religion_ of the Jew. So far
+as belongs to worship, he has _none_. Sacrifice, the solemnisation
+of the three great festivals, the whole ceremonial of the temple,
+were _essential_ to Judaism. The Jew cannot perform a single public
+ceremonial of his religion. Sacrifice was supremely essential for
+nearly the atonement of every fault of man; but it could be offered
+only in the Temple. The Temple is gone. What now becomes of his
+atonement?
+
+A weak attempt is made to answer this tremendous question, by
+referring to the condition of the Jews in Babylon. But what
+comparison can exist between a captivity prophetically limited to
+years not exceeding a single life, passed under the protection of
+kings, and under the guardianship of the most illustrious man of
+Asia, the prophet Daniel, cheered by prophecy and miracle, and
+certain of return, and the eighteen hundred years' banishment of
+the Jew? What comparison between the temporary suspension of the
+national worship, and the undefined and hopeless duration which
+seems to lie before the Jewish exile; and which, when it shall close
+at last, will extinguish his Judiasm, will show him his folly only
+by stripping the superstition of the Rabbi and the Talmud from his
+eyes, and will awake him at once to the extent of his error, to the
+exercise of his understanding, and to the worship of Christianity?
+
+After considerations of this order, all others must be almost
+trivial. But the common declamation on the _natural right_ of the
+Jew to be represented in Parliament is verbiage. But the Jew is
+actually represented, as much as a multitude of other interests of
+superior importance are represented. Are the fifteen thousand clergy
+of the Church of England (a body worth all the Jews on the globe)
+personally represented? Are the millions of England under twenty-one
+represented? One might thus go through the great industrious classes
+of England, and find that, out of twenty millions, there are not
+one million electors. And what claim have a class--who come to this
+country only to make money, and who make nothing but money, and who,
+if they could make more money anywhere else on the earth, would go
+there to-morrow--to an equality of right with the manly, honest, and
+attached son of England, every day of whose life adds something to
+the comfort or the credit of the community?
+
+The whole and sole claim of the Jew is, that some of his party are
+rich. How they have made their riches, or how they spend them,
+is beneath us to inquire. But what are their national evidences,
+even of wealth, it might be difficult to discover. They exhibit no
+fruits here, nor anywhere. It has been often asked, with genuine
+astonishment, what signs of national liberality have ever been
+given by Jewish wealth in the world? What contribution does it
+make, or has it ever made, to the arts that decorate life, to the
+literature that enlightens it, or to those bold and commanding
+services by which nations are raised or restored? Where are the
+picture galleries, or the great libraries, the great institutions,
+erected by the wealth of the Jew? As to the genius which endows
+mankind, for generations to come, with noble inventions, or leaves
+its name behind in a track of glory to posterity, who ever heard of
+it among the Jews? Shopkeepers of London have planted its vicinity
+with great establishments, castles of charity, magnificent monuments
+of practical religion, to which all the works of Jewish bounty are
+molehills. The Jews have an hospital and a few schools,--and there
+the efflux of liberality stops, the stream stagnates, the river
+becomes a pond, and the pond dries away.
+
+It is remarkable, and may be a punitive consequence, that there
+is nothing so fugitive as the wealth of the Jew. There is perhaps
+no hereditary example of Jewish wealth in the world. In England
+we have seen opulent firms, but they have never had the principle
+of permanency. Supposed to be boundlessly wealthy, a blight came,
+and every leaf dropt off. One powerful firm now lords it over the
+loan-market of Europe. We have no desire to anticipate the future;
+but what has become of all its predecessors in this country? or what
+memorial have they all left, to make us regret their vanishing, or
+remember their existence?
+
+Of the sudden passion with which Ministers have snatched the
+Israelite to their bosom, we shall leave the explanation until
+their day of penitence. As poverty makes man submit to strange
+companionship, political necessity may make a Whig Cabinet stoop to
+the embrace of the Jew. The resource is desperate, but the exigency
+must be equally so. We hail the omen,--the grasp at straws shows
+nothing but the exhaustion of the swimmer.
+
+On one point more alone we shall touch. It is of a graver kind.
+It has been the source of a kind of ignorant consideration for
+the Jews, that prophecy speaks of their future restoration. But,
+as _Jews_ they will _never_ be restored. In the last days some
+powerful influence of the Holy Spirit will impel the surviving Jews
+to solicit an admission into Christianity. How many or how few will
+survive the predicted universal convulsion of these days, is not for
+man to tell; the terrible, or the splendid, catastrophes of those
+times are still hidden; but no Jew well ever dwell in the presence
+of the patriarchs, but as a "new creature"--a being cleared from the
+prejudices of his exiled fathers, and by supernatural interposition
+purified from the unbelief, to be rescued from the ruin, of his
+stiff-necked people.
+
+The measure must be thrown out by the awakened power of public
+opinion. We must not indulge our indolence in relying on the House
+of Lords. They _may_ do their duty, but _we must do ours_. The Jew
+_must not_ enter the Christian Legislature.
+
+
+
+
+THE PICTURES OF THE SEASON.
+
+
+The taste for pictorial art, if its progress may be measured by
+the opportunity afforded for its gratification, is decidedly upon
+the increase in this country. In London, especially, pictures of
+one class or other form, each successive year, a larger and more
+important item in the sum of public amusements. During the present
+season of 1850 there have been open, at one time, four exhibitions
+consisting chiefly of oil paintings, two numerous collections of
+water-colour drawings, and panoramas and dioramas in unprecedented
+number and of unusual excellence. These last, although pertaining
+to a lower walk of art, have strong claims on consideration for
+their scenic truthfulness and artistic skill, and are fairly to
+be included in an estimate of the state of public feeling for the
+pictorial. The four first exhibitions alone comprise upwards of
+three thousand works of art, now for the first time submitted to
+public inspection. As usual, the exhibition of the Royal Academy
+is the most important and deserving of attention. Numerically, the
+Society of British Artists claims the next place; but in point of
+interest it must yield precedence to the British Institution, now
+for some weeks closed, and also to the exhibition of an association
+of artists which has installed itself, upon a novel principle,
+and under the title of the National Institution, in a building
+constructed for its accommodation, and known as the Portland
+Gallery. It were for some reasons desirable--it certainly would
+be favourable to the comparative appreciation of merit--that, as
+at Paris, the whole of the annual harvest of pictures should be
+collected in one edifice, subject, of course, to such previous
+examination by a competent and impartial council, as should exclude
+those works unworthy of exhibition. But such a system, however
+pleasant it might be found by the public, could hardly be made
+agreeable to the artists. The most indulgent censorship, excluding
+none but the veriest daubs--nay, even the plan of open doors to
+all comers, which has lately clothed a portion of the walls of the
+Republican Louvre with canvass spoiled by ignorance and presumption,
+would fail to satisfy artists and their friends. In London, as in
+Paris under the old system, it is less the question of admission
+than the placing of the pictures that is the source of discontent.
+The excluded conceal their discomfiture; the misplaced grumble
+loudly, and not always without reason, especially as regards the
+Academy exhibition. The fault may be more in the rooms that contain,
+than in the men who place the pictures. Of course everybody whose
+work gets into the Octagon Room feels aggrieved, although it is
+evident that, as long as that ridiculous nook is used to contain
+pictures, some unlucky artists must fill it. The good places in
+the other rooms--limited as is the extent of these compared to
+the large number of pictures annually exhibited in them--cannot
+be very numerous, although they may be multiplied by the exercise
+of judgment, and by impartial attention to the requirements of
+each picture as regards light and elevation. The best possible
+arrangement, however, will fail to please everybody, and the
+persons to whom falls the difficult task of distributing a thousand
+or fifteen hundred pictures over the walls of a suite of rooms
+inadequate to their proper accommodation, must be prepared to endure
+some obloquy, and esteem themselves fortunate if the public acquit
+them of flagrant partiality or negligence. It is not our purpose
+to dilate on this oft-mooted and still vexed question. We have no
+polemical intention in the present paper, in which we shall not have
+too much space to note down a few of the thoughts that suggested
+themselves to us during our morning wanderings amongst the throng of
+pictures in four exhibitions.
+
+The great event of the artist's year, the opening of the Exhibition
+of the Royal Academy, is of course the signal for a Babel of
+opinions. The question which on all sides is heard: What sort of
+Exhibition is this? obtains the most conflicting replies. People
+are too apt to trust to their first impressions, and to indulge in
+sweeping censure or excessive encomium. We have heard this year's
+exhibition set down by some as first-rate, by others as exceedingly
+poor. Our own opinion, after careful examination and consideration,
+is, that it has rather less than the average amount of merit.
+This we believe to be also the opinion of the majority of those
+most competent to judge. There is certainly an unusually small
+number of pictures of striking excellence; nor is this atoned for
+by any marked improvement in those artists whose works can claim
+but a second rank. One circumstance unfavourable to the interest
+of the exhibition is the uncommonly large number of portraits,
+the majority of which are not very admirable either in subject or
+execution. The impression, as one walks through the rooms, is,
+that an extraordinary number of ugly or uninteresting persons have
+got themselves painted by careless or indifferent artists. Of
+landscapes there seem to be fewer than usual--certainly fewer good
+ones. Some of the best of this class of painters have contributed
+to other exhibitions. On the other hand, historical, scriptural,
+and dramatic subjects are numerous, but not in many cases have they
+been treated with very great success. One of the foremost pictures
+in the Exhibition--certainly the one about which most curiosity
+has been excited--is Edwin Landseer's _Dialogue at Waterloo_. We
+are unfeigned admirers of Mr Landseer's genius, but we do not
+think this one of his happiest efforts. There is much fashion in
+these matters; people are very apt to be led away by a name, and
+to fall into ecstasies before a picture simply because it is by a
+great painter. We believe it impossible for Edwin Landseer to paint
+anything that shall not have great merit, but he is certainly most
+felicitous when confining himself to what is strictly speaking his
+own style. We do not think him successful as a portrait painter.
+His Marchioness of Douro does less than justice to the beautiful
+original. As to the Duke of Wellington, it is a failure; especially
+if, as we are assured, it is intended to be his portrait as he
+now is. We certainly cannot admire the burly figure and swarthy
+complexion of Mr Landseer's Duke, which gives us the idea of a
+younger and more robust man than him it is intended to represent.
+We should be disposed to object to the strained appearance of the
+downward-pointing hand; but the gesture is said to be one habitual
+to the original, and of course the painter was right to preserve
+character, even at the cost of grace. The less prominent portion of
+the picture is the most to our taste--the peasants and child, the
+dogs and game, and the plough horses with their old driver. We are
+not quite clear as to what it all means; some of the objects seeming
+rather to have been dragged in than naturally to have come thither;
+the tablecloth spread in the ploughed field appearing rather out
+of character, and the left-hand corner of the picture having
+altogether somewhat of a crowded aspect: but these are trifles not
+worth dwelling upon. The painting is evidently unfinished. The
+subject of Mr Landseer's second picture, a shepherd digging the
+stragglers from his flock out of a snow-drift, is of less interest
+than that of his larger work; but, in an artistic point of view, it
+claims higher praise. His snow is admirable, the tender gray tints
+are full of light, and distributed with surpassing skill; and the
+earnest laborious face of the delving peasant is very vigorous and
+characteristic. Mr Landseer is so accurate an observer of brute
+nature that it is with extreme caution we venture to criticise his
+animals, but we must say that the wool of his sheep in this painting
+has a hard and cork-like look. Upon the whole it is a question with
+us, when we revert to some of this artist's former productions,
+whether he is painting as carefully as he used to do. Looking at
+his Waterloo Dialogue, we say no; but an affirmative starts to our
+lips when we examine his last and smallest picture in this year's
+Exhibition, Lady Murchison's dog. With this the most fastidious
+would be troubled to find fault. It is a gem of admirable finish.
+If Mr Landseer's power of drawing, in the grander contours of his
+designs, were equal to the skill he displays in the details, he
+would leave nothing to desire.
+
+Mr Maclise has two pictures in this exhibition. There is scarcely
+an English artist living concerning whom we are more embarrassed
+to make up our minds, than concerning the painter of _The Spirit
+of Justice_ and _The Gross of Green Spectacles_. His merits and
+defects are alike very great, and unfortunately he delays to amend
+the latter--if indeed it be in his power so to do. His first-named
+and larger picture, whilst it contains much to admire, leaves a
+great deal to be desired. To us it is a vexatious performance.
+We cannot look at it without admitting it to be the work of no
+ordinary artist, and we feel the more annoyed at the mannerism that
+detracts from its merit. Mr Maclise has fertility of invention
+and power of design, but there is a deficiency of true artistical
+feeling in his execution. We cannot coincide, besides, with the
+notion which he, in common with many others, seems to entertain,
+that fresco painting precludes chiaroscuro. In _The Spirit of
+Justice_ there are some good faces; but there are more that are
+unnecessarily ugly, and several of faulty expression. Justice has
+a fine countenance and altogether pleases us well. The widow's
+face is hard and unflesh-like; the accuser, who drags the murderer
+before the tribunal, and displays a bloody dagger as evidence of
+guilt, and the free citizen who unrolls the charter of liberty, are
+anything but admirable. The accuser looks more like an informer
+than an avenger. Nothing can be more unfavourable to the face than
+the sort of scrubby, colourless, thinly-sown stubble with which his
+chin is provided, as a contrast, we presume, with the dark hirsute
+countenance of the criminal, who, deducting the beard, might pass
+for a portrait of Mr Macready, of one of whose favourite attitudes
+the position of the head and shoulders particularly reminds us. With
+all its defects, however, this is by far the best of Mr Maclise's
+two pieces. _The Gross of Spectacles_ we consider a failure. It is
+a gross of spectacles, and little besides. The first thing that
+catches the eye is Moses' unlucky bargain. There they are, the
+twelve dozen, in green cases and with plated rims. We submit that
+the first thing which _should_ attract the eye is the countenances
+of the actors in the scene. Owing to their tameness of expression,
+these, which should be prominent, are almost subordinate to the
+inanimate details of the apartment. Unimportant as it is, we are
+inclined to prefer the recess, and the peep through the window, to
+any other part of the picture. There is an airiness and transparency
+in that corner of the canvass, which we in vain seek elsewhere. The
+general effect is very hard. The hair of Moses and the little boy is
+as unlike hair as it well can be: we remember to have seen something
+very like it upon a tea-tray. These are technical objections. But Mr
+Maclise may rely upon it that he lacks the keen perception of humour
+indispensable to the artist who would illustrate Goldsmith.
+
+Amongst the scriptural and mythological paintings, those of Mr
+Patten and Mr F. R. Pickersgill attract at least as much notice as
+they deserve. Besides portraits, Mr Patten has contributed three
+pictures. His _Susannah and the Elders_ is remarkable as being the
+most decidedly indecent picture exhibited this year. The subject
+is not a very pleasing one, and, to our thinking, has been painted
+quite often enough. But this is not the question. Mr Patten has
+put his version of it out of the pale of propriety by his mode of
+handling it. There is nothing classical in his treatment, nothing
+to redeem or elevate the nudity and associations of the subject.
+His Susannah is simply a naked English girl, with a pretty face, an
+immaculate cuticle, and something exceedingly voluptuous in the form
+and arrangement of her limbs. There is no novelty of conception in
+the picture, nor any particular merit except the colouring, which
+is good, but not equal to that in No. 446, _Bacchus discovering the
+Use of the Grape_. This is a pleasanter subject, cleverly treated,
+displaying more originality and much better taste. The flesh-tints
+are capital, and the picture altogether does credit to the painter.
+_Venus and Cupid_, by the same artist, is chiefly remarkable for
+a plaster-of-Paris dove of an extraordinarily brilliant and very
+unnatural effect. As to Mr F. R. Pickersgill, we should like his
+pictures better if he would not imitate poor Etty, whose memory,
+be it parenthetically observed, has been little regarded by those
+who have exhibited that most coarse and unpleasant picture, _The
+Toilet_, No. 276, a specimen of the deceased artist's worst manner.
+Mr Pickersgill's _Samson Betrayed_ is, there is no denying it, a
+very unsatisfactory composition. His red-haired Dalilah is graceless
+and characterless. Samson, recumbent in an attitude in which no man
+ever slept soundly, seems prevented only by a miracle from slipping
+off her knees. Two girls, instead of getting to a safe distance, are
+hugging each other in terror within reach of the giant's arm. There
+is scarcely an attitude in the picture that is not strained. In the
+conception there is an utter want of novelty of circumstance. The
+whole picture is deficient in originality. The eye wanders over it,
+seeking some feature of special interest or striking beauty whereon
+to dwell, and finds none. Mr Pickersgill has good qualities, but
+the spark of fancy and genius which alone can complete the great
+painter, is, we fear, wanting in his composition.
+
+We turn with pleasure to Leslie's pictures. Were we disposed to find
+fault with this very agreeable artist, our objections could only
+be technical. With want of imagination, and feeling for beauty,
+none can tax him. Two of his three pictures contain the sweetest
+female faces in this exhibition. How admirably has he interpreted
+Shakspeare's description of Beatrice stealing to the woodbine bower,
+to play the eavesdropper on Hero and Ursula.
+
+    "Look where Beatrice, like a lapwing, runs
+     Close by the ground."
+
+The painter has exactly rendered the poet's graceful idea. As she
+glides along, we seem to detect the slight flutter and palpitation
+attendant on the clandestine movement. Expression and attitude are
+alike charming. Sophia Western deserves even higher praise. She
+is indeed a lovely creature. Tom Jones bids her behold herself in
+the mirror, and say whether such a face and form do not guarantee
+his fidelity. It is altogether a most agreeable composition; and
+if we have any fault to find, it is with the face of the enamoured
+foundling, which wants refinement, and has a sort of overgrown
+schoolboy's ruddy fulness. Katherine of Arragon beseeching Capucius
+to convey to Henry VIII. her last recommendation of her daughter
+and servants to his goodness, is the most important of Mr Leslie's
+pictures; and although by many it will not be deemed the most
+attractive, none can deny it great merit and interest. The suffering
+countenance of Katherine, and the tearful faces of her attendants,
+are full of expression. The ambassador is rather tame, and one
+scarcely recognises in his face or bearing the energy with which he
+vows to do the bidding of the unhappy queen.
+
+Mr Eastlake has one scriptural and one historical picture in this
+year's exhibition. A passage from Sismondi, telling the escape of
+an Italian noble and his wife from the persecution of the Duke of
+Milan, has suggested the latter, which is painted for the Vernon
+Gallery. There is some good expression in the faces in this picture,
+which has more interest and novelty than its companion _The Good
+Samaritan_, and also greater vigour. Both show the hand of the
+experienced and skilful artist, although perhaps neither can be
+classed amongst the best things he has produced. We should gladly
+see a little more nerve in Mr Eastlake's style, and this we think
+might be advantageously combined with his beautiful transparency of
+colouring, and other excellent qualities as a painter. There is no
+diminution in the purity of style and thought which has always been
+one of his finest characteristics.
+
+Mr Frith is an improving artist. There is humour and progress in
+No. 543, a scene from Goldsmith's _Good-natured Man_. _Mr Honeywood
+introduces the bailiffs to Miss Richland as his friends._ He must
+beware, however, of running into caricature in subjects of this
+kind. The bailiffs are perhaps a little overdone. Miss Richland
+has a very pretty face, but she looks more like a _soubrette_ or
+smart actress than a woman of fashion. Mr Frith's other picture,
+Sancho proving to the duchess that Don Quixote is at the bottom
+of the table, is well painted, and, in a technical point of
+view, it must be spoken of with respect. He has not been quite so
+successful as we should have expected in the expression of the
+faces,--that of the duke excepted, which is a good and thoroughly
+Spanish countenance, with its habitual gravity disturbed by Sancho's
+quaint humour and his master's manifest distress. But painting
+ladies is not Mr Frith's forte. His duchess is pretty, but there
+is a want of aristocratic distinction in her face and bearing; and
+as to the ladies grouped behind her chair, they are cookmaids in
+masquerade. Very few living artists, besides Leslie, should venture
+upon Sancho. We will not say that Mr Frith is not one of those few,
+but his delineation of the shrewd esquire, although very humorous,
+is rather coarse, and he has made him ragged and filthy to an
+unnecessary degree. The vexation and embarrassment of Don Quixote
+are ludicrously portrayed.
+
+Four very small, very unpretending pictures by Thomas Webster, R.A.,
+must be sought for, but, when found, cannot fail to be admired. They
+are a feature, and a very charming one, of this year's Exhibition.
+High finish and truth to nature are their chief characteristics.
+Mr Webster is getting quite into the Ostade manner. His colouring,
+too, is admirable. No. 54 is a boy in a chimney corner, supping
+pottage, with an old woman knitting opposite to him. Both faces are
+excellent, and full of character. _A Cherry Seller_ is a perfect
+_bijou_--the woman weighing out the fruit; the boys, looking on with
+eager eyes and watering mouths; the fruit itself, with its Dutch
+nicety of finish:--altogether it is a most desirable picture, such
+as one can hardly pass, even for the twentieth time, without pausing
+for another view. _A Peasant's Home_ is upon the whole too gray,
+and perhaps the least attractive of the four; but in the _Farmhouse
+Kitchen_ are a couple of figures, a farmer and his dame, than which
+nothing can be better, either in colour or expression. Mr Webster
+shows great taste and judgment in adhering to a pleasing simplicity,
+without ever falling into quaintness or affectation. And it is a
+study for a young artist to observe the skill with which he throws
+his lights, and the transparency and absence of _paintyness_ (to
+borrow a term from the studio) which characterise his pictures.
+
+Mr Solomon Hart's _Kitchen Interior at Mayfield_ will not do after
+Webster. This, however, is one of the least important of his six
+pictures, which comprise two other interiors, two heads, and a
+Jewish festival. This last is perhaps the best picture he has
+painted. The MSS. of the Pentateuch are being carried round the
+synagogue at Leghorn, amidst chanting of hymns. There is a strong
+devotional character in many of the faces; and, as a work of art,
+the picture is more than respectable. The interest of the subject is
+a question of taste. For us, we confess, it possesses very little
+attraction; and the Jewish physiognomy, so strongly marked as it
+is in all the occupants of the synagogue, is, to our thinking,
+incompatible with beauty. We do not much admire either _A Virtuoso
+or Arnolfo di Lapo_. The latter is the best of the two: the former,
+carefully painted, is merely an ordinary-looking Jew.
+
+What can we say of Mr Turner? Perhaps we had better content
+ourselves with mentioning that he has four pictures in the
+Exhibition, all in his latest manner, all illustrative of that
+far-famed, but, unfortunately, unpublished poem, _The Fallacies of
+Hope_, and all proving the fallacy of the hope we annually cherish
+that he will abjure his eccentricities, and revert to the style
+which justly gained him his high reputation. It were absurd of us
+to attempt to criticise his present productions, for to us they are
+unintelligible; and, judging from the extremely puzzled looks we see
+fixed upon them, we suspect that not many of those who pause for
+their examination are more successful than ourselves in deciphering
+their meaning, and in appreciating the beauties which a few stanch
+adherents pretend to discover in those strange compounds of red,
+white, and yellow. What if Mr Turner were to seek his inspirations
+elsewhere than in the aforesaid MS.? Can it be that the poet's
+halting verse influences the painter's vagaries? From the specimens
+afforded us, we are not inclined to think highly of _The Fallacies_
+_of Hope_. Take the following, _exempli gratia_:--
+
+    "Beneath the morning mist
+     Mercury waited to tell him of his neglected fleet."
+
+And this--
+
+    "Fallacious Hope beneath the moon's pale crescent shone,
+     Dido listened to Troy being lost and won."
+
+Enough of such poetry, and enough, as far as we are concerned, of a
+great painter's unfortunate aberrations.
+
+Apropos of aberrations, we have a word to say, which may as well be
+said here as elsewhere. Affectation, however, is a more suitable
+word for the mountebank proceedings of a small number of artists,
+who, stimulated by their own conceit, and by the applause of a few
+foolish persons, are endeavouring to set up a school of their own.
+We allude, to the pre-Raphaelites. Let not Messrs Millais, Hunt,
+Rosetti, & Co. suppose, because we give them an early place in this
+imperfect review of the exhibitions, that we concede to them an
+undue importance. As to admiration, we shall presently make them
+aware how far we entertain that feeling towards them. Meanwhile,
+let them not plume themselves on a place amongst men of genius.
+Just as well might they experience an exaltation of their horns,
+because their absurd and pretentious productions get casually
+hung next to pictures by Landseer or Webster. It appears they
+have got into their wise heads certain notions that the ideal of
+expression is to be found in the works of the artists who flourished
+previously to Raphael. And they have accordingly set to work to
+imitate those early masters, not only in the earnestness of purpose
+visible in their productions, but in their errors, crudities, and
+imperfections--renouncing, in fact, the progress that since then
+has been made; rejecting the experience of centuries, to revert for
+models, not to art in its prime, but to art in its uncultivated
+infancy. And a nice business they make of it. Regardless of anatomy
+and drawing, they delight in ugliness and revel in diseased aspects.
+Mr Dante Rosetti, one of the high-priests of this retrograde school,
+exhibits at the Portland Gallery. Messrs Millais and Hunt favour the
+saloons of the Academy. Ricketty children, emaciation and deformity
+constitute their chief stock in trade. They apparently select bad
+models, and then exaggerate their badness till it is out of all
+nature. We can hardly imagine anything more ugly, graceless, and
+unpleasant than Mr Millais' picture of Christ in the carpenter's
+shop. Such a collection of splay feet, puffed joints, and misshapen
+limbs was assuredly never before made within so small a compass. We
+have great difficulty in believing a report that this unpleasing and
+atrociously affected picture has found a purchaser at a high price.
+Another specimen, from the same brush, inspires rather laughter than
+disgust. A Ferdinand of most ignoble physiognomy is being lured by a
+pea-green monster intended for Ariel; whilst a row of sprites, such
+as it takes a Millais to devise, watch the operation with turquoise
+eyes. It would occupy more room than the thing is worth to expose
+all the absurdity and impertinence of this work. Mr Hunt's picture
+of a Christian Missionary sheltered from Druid pursuit is in as
+ridiculous taste as any of the group.
+
+From such monstrosities it is a relief to turn to Mr Frank
+Stone's graceful creations. He also has taken a subject from the
+second scene in the _Tempest_, No. 342, Miranda's first sight of
+Ferdinand. Compared with Mr Millais' Ferdinand, that of Mr Stone
+is a demigod. Estimated by its intrinsic merits, it strikes us
+as a little theatrical--rather too much of the stage-player in
+the air and attitude. Miranda has a sweet and youthful face;
+Prospero is too young, and does not look his part. This is not
+one of Mr Stone's happiest efforts, but it is a nice picture, and
+we prefer it to his other in the same exhibition, _The Gardener's
+Daughter_, a young lady attitudinising under a rose-tree, with a
+pair of admiring swains in the distance. This artist is too apt
+to give his male lovers a sickly look, as if their love disagreed
+with them. The best picture he has shown this year is one in the
+British Institution--_Sympathy_--two very pretty maidens, with an
+expression of pleasing sentiment in their faces. Barring a little
+occasional mannerism, Mr Stone is a very delightful painter; and in
+our opinion, if he had had his deserts, he would some time since
+have been a member of the Academy. Were it not invidious, we could
+cite a few, who write _Associate_ after their names, who have less
+claim than he has to that honorary distinction. Mr Stone has a great
+deal of fancy, a fine feeling for the beautiful, and we are indebted
+to him for many charming compositions and lovely female faces. And
+certainly if popularity be a test of merit, which we admit is not
+always the case, he ought years ago to have figured in the list of
+Academicians.
+
+That very conscientious and careful artist, Mr Charles Landseer,
+has a pretty and well-painted _Girl in a Hop-garden_, and a larger
+and still better picture--perhaps the best he has for some years
+produced--of _AEsop_, surrounded by several of the animals celebrated
+in his fables. There is a great deal of quiet humour and nice
+finish in this picture: the figure and face of the hump-backed
+fabulist, and those of a girl, who seems admiringly to listen to
+his allegorical wisdom, are exceedingly good. Mr Dyce has only one
+picture, and really that had been as well away. An ugly Jacob is
+protruding his lips to kiss a vulgar Rachel. The colouring is hard
+and bad, and there is a pervading gray tint which is not natural.
+We hope Mr Dyce, R.A., can do better things than this. We prefer
+Mr Cope's _King Lear_, which has considerable merit. There is fine
+expression in the old monarch's head. Cordelia pleases us less;
+and perhaps, upon the whole, the best figures in the picture are
+those of the musicians and singers. There is a something in this
+painting that reminds us of Maclise. Of Mr Cope's other pictures,
+_Milton's Dream_ has a nice tone of colour; and the two sketches
+for fresco of Prince Henry's submission to Judge Gascoigne, and
+the Black Prince receiving the order of the Garter, are spirited
+and good. Mr Redgrave's principal picture is No. 233. _The Marquis
+having chosen patient Griselda for his wife, causes the court ladies
+to dress her in her father's cottage._ Griselda has a pretty face,
+and sits in an easy, graceful attitude: the ladies are coarse,
+and the expression of scorn upon their countenances is theatrical
+and affected. The heads of some of them are too big, and out of
+proportion with their bodies. _The Child's Prayer_, by the same
+artist, is a pleasing picture; well painted, particularly the
+woman's head and hand, which latter has a look of Rubens. Mr E. M.
+Ward has two pictures of very different subjects. _Isaac Walton
+Angling_ hardly claims any particular notice; _James II. receiving
+the News of the Landing of the Prince of Orange in 1688_, has more
+pretension and greater merit. It certainly contains good painting:
+the grouping of the figures and the expression of some of the faces
+are also praiseworthy; but yet it hardly satisfies us. The queen's
+face and attitude, as she advances, already sympathising with the
+agitation visible on his countenance, to her husband's side, are
+very charming. James's physiognomy is almost too much discomposed
+to accord with the passage from Dalrymple quoted by Mr Ward. And
+it strikes us, although this may seem hypercritical, that there
+is something ludicrous in the eternal suspension in the air of
+the letter that he has just allowed to escape from his fingers.
+Upon the whole, however, this is a clever picture, and, as far as
+we had opportunity of observing, it attracts a very full share of
+public attention; although that is no criterion of merit, so large
+a proportion of the loungers through an exhibition being more
+readily attracted by a piquant subject than by artistical skill. And
+probably no subjects are more generally popular than those that may
+be styled the homely-historical; scenes in the private apartments of
+royalty; the personal adventures and perils of princes, whether in
+the palace or the prison--on the steps of the throne or the verge
+of the scaffold. There is a fair sprinkling of such pictures in the
+four exhibitions now under notice; and as we have no pretension
+to be otherwise than exceedingly desultory in this article, whose
+limits, and the heterogeneous subject, preclude our being otherwise,
+we will at once dispose of such of them as deserve notice, and have
+not already received it, commencing, in order of catalogue, with
+Delaroche's picture of _Cromwell looking at the dead body of
+Charles I._ This is a picture concerning which the most conflicting
+opinions have been uttered. It has received fulsome praise and
+unwarranted abuse. Some have lauded it as perfection merely because
+it is by Paul Delaroche; others have decried it with a virulence
+and injustice warranting the suspicion that some envious brother
+of the brush had temporarily abandoned the palette for the pen,
+and applied himself to slander merit he himself was hopeless of
+equalling. We are aware but of two valid objections that can fairly
+be made to the picture. The subject is certainly ghastly and horrid;
+but, on the other hand, it has been rendered as little so as
+possible by the consummate skill and good taste of its treatment.
+And none, we think, but the very fastidious, will dwell upon this
+point. The other objection (technical only) is to the coppery tone
+of colouring of certain parts of the picture, particularly of the
+flesh. This premised, we are aware of little else that can fairly be
+alleged against this very fine picture. The countenance of Cromwell
+certainly does not agree with the most authentic portraits that
+have been handed down to us, or with the written and traditional
+accounts of his features. The artist has idealised his hero--has
+abridged his nose, increased his under jaw, and thrown nearly the
+whole expression of the face into and around the mouth. M. Delaroche
+having taken such liberties, we ought to be particularly grateful to
+him that he has not gone farther, and, in aiming at a great effect,
+fallen into exaggeration. Out of twenty French artists, nineteen,
+we suspect, would have given us, with the strong and dangerous
+temptation of so striking a subject, an unpleasant caricature.
+It has been objected that the face is deficient in character
+and expression, and would perfectly suit any one of Cromwell's
+Ironsides, who through curiosity should have lifted the lid of the
+deceased monarch's coffin. It is, to our thinking, an evidence of
+skill on the part of the painter thus to have left the expression
+doubtful--a matter of speculation to the beholder. We interpret it
+as merely meditative. Any emotion it includes is one of exultation
+at the great and important step the Usurper has made in his upward
+progress. Of pity or remorse there is no trace.
+
+The next picture in the Exhibition of the Academy, of the class
+at present under notice, that particularly caught our eye, is No.
+491, _The Burial of the two sons of Edward IV. in the Tower_, by
+Mr Cross, whose painting of Richard Coeur-de-Lion, exhibited at
+Westminster Hall, will be remembered by many of our readers. The
+present picture does not redeem the promise of its predecessor.
+It has a washy, fresco-like look, and a great want of light and
+shade, which is the more striking because the subject is one
+particularly favourable to the display of a Rembrandt-like vigour
+in that respect. The arrangement of the dead bodies is very bad,
+and they have an emaciated look which was quite uncalled for. On
+the other hand, the faces of two of the murderers, (one sustains
+the stone beneath which the grave is dug, and the other grasps the
+arm of one of the children,) and that of the turnkey, are very
+expressive. The chief of the gang and the grave-digger are rather
+strained and theatrical. Upon the whole, the picture disappoints us
+much. A report, however, has reached us, that it was painted under
+the disadvantage of ill health, so we will hope that Mr Cross may
+yet do better things. No. 569, _The Abdication of Mary Queen of
+Scots at Lochleven Castle_, by J. Severn, is a very tame affair.
+And we do not greatly admire Mr Lucy's _Parting of Charles I. with
+his Children_. The subject has been better treated before. But
+we delight in Mr Joy's conception of Cromwell coveting, and yet
+daring not to grasp, the crown of England. A bilious misanthrope,
+with flabby cheeks and lacklustre eye, is seated beside a table on
+which stands the crown, whose covering he has partly withdrawn.
+The notion is amusingly matter-of-fact. Does Mr Joy really suppose
+that such a man as Cromwell could find enjoyment in the deliberate
+physical contemplation of the jewelled bauble--the substantial
+crown--the mere emblem of the dignity and sway for which he
+thirsted? We cannot compliment this artist on either the conceit or
+the execution. We prefer his picture in the British Institution,
+although that is not very remarkable. The subject is the interview
+between James IV. of Scotland and the outlaw Murray on the banks
+of Yarrow. In this Exhibition we find another Cromwell, of a very
+different cast from the one just referred to. The Lord Protector
+of England dictates to John Milton his celebrated despatch in
+favour of the persecuted Piedmontese Protestants. Here there
+is a fire and energy mingled with the coarseness of Cromwell's
+physiognomy, which gives the character of the man as we read of
+him and believe him to have been. Milton's face wears a look of
+gentle enthusiasm and approval, as he admiringly weighs the words
+that fall from the lips of his great patron. In his eyes there is
+a sort of haziness that seems to foreshadow the darkness which
+later is to come over him. The picture does great credit to a very
+rising artist, Mr F. Newenham, who also exhibits a painting at the
+Portland Gallery, which we like quite as well as his Cromwell.
+The subject, _The Princes in the Tower_, is not a very new one,
+but there is imagination and novelty in its treatment. It is just
+the same point of time that Delaroche has chosen in his painting
+of this subject, but there is nothing like an imitation of the
+great Frenchman. Here the younger child still sleeps, whilst the
+elder, a princely-looking lad, roused by the noise at the door,
+gazes anxiously, rather than fearfully, at the shadow cast upon the
+wall by a hand bearing a lantern. The picture is suggestive and
+interesting, and in an artistic point of view, also, it merits high
+praise. In this Portland Gallery (which we may observe, by the way,
+is most excellently constructed and lighted for the advantageous
+exhibition of works of art) is a painting by Mr Claxton, _Marie
+Antoinette with her Children, escaping by the Secret Door from her
+apartment in Versailles, when the palace was attached by the mob_,
+which we mention rather on account of the interest of the subject
+than of its merits as a work of art, these being but of a negative
+description. Marie Antoinette, dressed rather like a fashionable of
+the year 1850, is accompanied by a terrified lady, who looks back
+at the door, half-masked by smoke, through whose broken pannel the
+bayonets of the rebels cross with those of the loyal grenadiers.
+Another picture from French history, but selected from a much
+remoter period, is that of _The Excommunication of Robert, King of
+France, and his Queen Bertha_, (No. 159 in the Portland Gallery.)
+which Mr Desanges has executed with some skill. The king, having
+married his cousin in defiance of the Pope, but with the sanction of
+three prelates of his kingdom, incurs the pontifical anathema, in
+common with the prelates and royal family. In the picture, the fiat
+has just been pronounced, and the extinction of their torches by the
+officiating priests symbolically completes their mission.
+
+This is not one of Mr Clarkson Stanfield's best years. We prefer
+this careful and able artist on a grander scale than that of the
+comparatively small pictures he this year exhibits. Nor do we
+think he has been particularly happy in his choice of subjects.
+His scene from Macbeth, viewed as a landscape--for we do not take
+into account the figures, which are insignificant, and might as
+well have been left out--is a good picture, but not in his happiest
+taste. We prefer his _Scene on the Maas_, and his _Bay of Baiae_,
+which are both excellent. No. 288, _Near Foria_, is not a very good
+subject. But Mr Stanfield is a pleasant, natural painter, quite
+free from affectation, and a most excellent representative of the
+English school. Mr Roberts is another favourite of ours. Belgium and
+the East, Egyptian temples and Catholic shrines, furnish subjects
+for his seven pictures. What we particularly like in him is the
+strong impression of correctness and fidelity conveyed by his
+representations of distant scenes. Without having seen the places,
+one feels convinced of the accuracy of his delineations, and that he
+gives the real effect of the objects depicted--just as, in certain
+portraits, one feels certain of the resemblance without knowing the
+original. The subjects of his pictures this year do not demand
+any detailed criticism, and his good qualities are so universally
+appreciated as to render general commendation superfluous.
+
+Before passing on to landscapes and portraits we will glance at a
+few pictures of various classes, which happen to have attracted
+our attention, and which deserve better or worse than to be left
+unnoticed. Diving into the gloom of the Octagon, we are struck by
+the very remarkable merit of two pictures, which ought never to
+have been placed there. Only by kneeling or sitting upon the ground
+is it possible to examine Mr Van Schendel's poacher detected,
+No. 633, _Un Braconnier au moment qu'on vient le prendre_. Of
+ordinary visitors to the Exhibition, not one in five will notice
+the existence of the picture--not one in twenty, probably, will go
+through the painful contortions requisite to get even a bad view of
+it. Very few, if any, critics will have sought it out or written a
+comment on it. Yet this is a picture on which greater talent and
+labour have been expended than on dozens that hang in conspicuous
+places and good lights. A dark picture, too--a night scene--it
+required a strong light; and it was most unjust to put it thus in
+the very darkest nook, and in the lowest range of the whole Academy.
+For hospitality's sake to a foreigner, this excellent painting
+should have been differently placed. The only other picture which
+we noticed in the Octagon--there may be others of great merit, but
+we never have patience to linger long in the gloomy closet--is No.
+586, _Flowers and Fruit_, by T. Groenland--an artist far superior to
+Lance, who seems to us to fall off instead of improving. Fruit and
+flower pieces are things that few people care much to look at--and,
+for our part, we confess that we seldom afford them more than a
+very cursory glance; but our attention was seriously and pleasingly
+arrested by both of those exhibited this year by Mr Groenland,
+remarkable, as they are, not only for the accuracy with which he
+imitates the texture of the different fruits--whether pulpiness,
+bloom, or transparency be their chief characteristic--and for the
+admirable delicacy of his flower-painting, but also for his skill
+in elevating and giving interest to the walk of art he has chosen.
+This is strikingly the case in No. 1254, apropos of which we have
+another piece of injustice or carelessness--let them call it which
+they like--to notice on the part of the Hanging Committee. Of all
+the seven rooms of the Academy, not one is so little visited as that
+which, in the catalogue, is headed Architecture. Accordingly, the
+hangmen have placed at one end of it five as pleasing pictures--each
+in its own style--as any in the Exhibition. Here we have the _Vierge
+Route du Simplon_, a charming airy landscape by Harding; _Esther_,
+by O'Neil, one of the best, perhaps, he ever did; _The Port of
+Marseilles_, by E. W. Cooke, very like and very well painted, with
+excellent water; _A Winter Evening_, by H. Horsley, a most clever
+piece of snow scenery, with a cold look that makes one shiver, and
+a capital effect of setting sun through an archway; and, last in
+our enumeration, but not in merit, Mr Groenland's second fruit and
+flower piece, with a landscape background, a gorgeous and life-like
+peacock, a flush of rhododendrons, and painstaking and talent in
+every leaf and flower. Another picture in the same vicinity, by W.
+Fisher, _The Coulin_, a subject taken from Moore's melodies, is
+rather affected, but by no means destitute of merit.
+
+Mr Martin's picture, _The Last Man_, is far from one of his
+best. The subject is unpleasing, and there is a decided fault of
+perspective; the human corpses and carcasses of strange beasts, in
+the foreground, being much too small in proportion with the figure
+of the man, who stands on an elevation which is doubtless intended
+to be much in advance of, but which in reality is almost on a line
+with, the spot where they are spread pellmell in grisly confusion.
+Mr Hannah's _Lady Northumberland and Lady Percy dissuading the Earl
+from joining the wars against Henry IV._ is oddly coloured, and
+acquires a cold, insipid look from the profusion of blue and gray;
+but it is a good and clever picture. A similar class of subject has
+been selected by Mr T. J. Barker, from Professor Aytoun's ballad
+of _Edinburgh after Flodden_. Randolph Murray, bearing news of the
+defeat, is the centre of a throng anxious even to agony.
+
+    "Why art thou alone, unfollowed?
+       Is it weal, or is it woe?"
+
+Perched up as this picture is above the door in the West Room, it
+is difficult to arrive at a correct appreciation of it. As far as
+we could distinguish, it is not without merit, and the expression
+of exhaustion in the figure of Murray is pretty well rendered; but
+altogether it is hardly worthy of the nervous and admirable verse
+it is intended to illustrate. Mr Armitage's _Aholibah_ has a good
+deal of pretension, but we cannot compliment him on it in any one
+respect. In the first place the subject is disgusting, and shows
+wretched taste in the artist who would select it. Then the face of
+Aholibah is ugly and repulsive, and the expression coarse in the
+extreme: the drawing of the limbs under the drapery is faulty, and
+the gazelles are out of place and out of perspective. Mr Armitage
+can do better than this. We prefer his picture in the Portland
+Gallery, of Samson tying firebrands to the foxes' tails for the
+destruction of the Philistine crops; although the face is a great
+deal too black, and we cannot understand why Samson should allow a
+fox to bite into the muscle of his thigh, as one of those in his
+grasp appears to do. Why does Mr Armitage persist in his French
+style of painting? It is quite a mistake. Let him be natural, and
+rely upon his own taste and judgment, and we think he may do better
+things.
+
+Mr Hook's _Dream of Venice_, a clever imitation of Paul Veronese,
+is a very pleasant picture. Mr F. Williams' _Holy Maiden_ is a
+pretty head, full of sentiment. We are glad to see such good promise
+given by Mr Leslie, junior, in a very humorous picture entitled _A
+Sailor's Yarn_. A thoroughbred and unmistakeable Cockney greedily
+listens to some astounding narrative, whilst, behind the credulous
+landsman, a second sailor grins admiration of his messmate, and
+contempt for the "green hand." _The Young Student_, by W. Gush, is
+a very nice picture of a youthful painter, with an artist's eye and
+a pleasing Vandykish contour of face, and with carefully painted
+hands. One of the most comical pictures in the Exhibition is a wild
+boar by Wolf. The bristly forest-ranger is making its way through
+the deep snow, leaving a long furrow behind it, along which it has
+apparently been nuzzling for provender, for its snout is garnished
+with the snow, which, combined with the sudden fore-shortening of
+the body, produces a ludicrous effect. No. 121, _Autumn--Wounded
+Woodcock_, from the same hand, has mellow and natural tints.
+
+We have kept back, almost to the last, one of our chief favourites
+in the Exhibition of the Royal Academy. Mr Sidney Cooper is in
+great force this year. He has six pictures; four of them all his
+own, two painted in conjunction with Mr F. R. Lee, R.A. With all
+respect for this artist, to whose landscapes we shall refer in
+their place, we prefer Cooper alone to Cooper in partnership. The
+two styles do not blend well, nor does Lee put his best landscapes
+into Cooper's cattle-pieces. Take the first of their pictures--No.
+23--_Cattle crossing a Ford_. As a whole it is agreeable--and
+the cattle, we need hardly say, are worthy of the best English
+cattle-painter of the day; but the landscape is feeble. In No. 298,
+_The Watering-place_, the rather heavy paint of the foliage gives a
+thin washy look to the foreground. We advise Messrs Lee and Cooper
+to hang their pictures side by side, if they will, as excellent
+specimens of their respective walks of art, but not to associate
+themselves on the same canvass. People find fault with the landscape
+part of Cooper's pictures; but it is in good keeping with the rest,
+and moreover he improves in that respect, as in others. We will
+instance No. 278, _A Mountain Group--Evening_, some charming goats,
+where the background, bathed in soft light, harmonises admirably
+with the more prominent parts of the picture. No. 454, _A Group on
+the Welsh Mountains_, is most delicately finished, quite a gem;
+and _Fordwick Meadows--Sunset_, in a somewhat broader style, is
+equally excellent. Mr Cooper's is a class of art which strongly
+appeals to the domestic and rural tastes of Englishmen. He excels
+in it, and need fear no competitors, although several artists this
+year exhibit cattle-landscapes of some merit. And here we should
+perhaps say a word about Mr Ansdell, who has put some Brobdignagian
+sheep into a landscape by Mr Creswick, (British Institution, No.
+123, _Southdowns_,) and who has rather a pretty thing in the same
+exhibition--No. 40, _The Regretted Companion_--an old hawker
+perplexed and mournful beside the body of his dead ass. We would
+gladly see this artist cease to imitate Landseer. He sacrifices his
+originality without succeeding in catching the best points of his
+model.
+
+Nos. 80, 405, 407 in the catalogue of the Academy, are Mr Lee's
+landscapes--uncombined with Cooper's cattle. The second, _A Calm
+Morning_, is the one we prefer; and a very charming picture of
+repose it is. Mr Creswick is the next upon our list. His cold
+unnatural grayness of colouring greatly detracts from the merit of
+his pictures. We are quite aware that the same reproach has been
+repeatedly addressed to him, and we should hardly have referred
+to a fault which hitherto he has either obstinately clung to, or
+been unable to correct, did not one of his pictures in the Academy
+this year give us hopes that he is on the verge of a change. No.
+542, _A Forest Farm_, is the best picture of Creswick's, in point
+of colouring, that we remember to have seen. The _slaty_ look is
+replaced by an agreeable transparency. No. 289, _In the Forest_,
+is also warmer than usual. The others are in the old style. Mr
+Linnell is more to our taste, although we cannot approve his _Christ
+and the Woman of Samaria at Jacob's Well_. In the first place the
+colour seems unnatural, altogether too brown; at the same time it
+is just possible nature may assume that extraordinarily russet
+tint in Samaria--a country to which our travels have not extended.
+But we can more confidently object to the figure of the Saviour as
+altogether unpleasant, with a harsh darkly-bearded face, devoid
+alike of resemblance to the received type, and of any divine
+expression whatever. Mr Linnell is a landscape-painter, and should
+not attempt sacred subjects or portraits, things which are quite
+out of his line. No. 395, _Crossing the Brook_, is of a better tone
+of colour; and the same artist has two other pictures, of about
+his usual average of merit, in the British Institution. The chief
+fault with which we tax Mr Linnell, (whilst freely admitting his
+great talent,) and one which may also be imputed to Mr Creswick,
+and to other clever landscape-painters of the present day, is
+the undeviating smallness of their touch, which gives, to use a
+colloquialism, a niggled look to their pictures. Hobbima, and
+Ruysdael, and others of that class--in whose footsteps we presume
+no living landscape-painter is too proud to tread--avoided this
+fault, and proportioned the fulness of their touch to the size of
+their picture. We may select an example of what we mean from the
+works of an able and industrious artist, who figures advantageously
+this year in all four exhibitions, and who, in most instances, is
+very free from the defect we refer to. Mr Sidney Percy's _Woodland
+River_, No. 207, in the Portland Gallery, is a good picture, but to
+our thinking the touch is too small for the size. Mr Percy, however,
+is a man of talent and a rising painter. In the same gallery we call
+attention, as to one of the best landscapes exhibited this year,
+to his No. 277, _Welsh Mountains_. There is an effect of aerial
+perspective in this picture, especially in the grass valley, on
+the spectator's left hand, which deserves the very highest praise.
+Several others of his eighteen pictures for 1850 deserve much
+commendation; but we can only point out No. 576, in the Academy, _A
+Limpid Pool_, and 394, _A Quiet Vale_, in the British Artists'. The
+water in the last is very good,--otherwise it is hardly one of his
+best. We would have Mr Percy to beware of hardness of treatment,
+the fault to which he is most prone. His lines are apt to be too
+sharply defined, especially his distant outlines. He should guard
+himself against this defect, and with care he may expect to attain
+great eminence as a landscape-painter. If we mistake not, he is
+one of a talented family, which also comprises Messrs Boddington
+and Gilbert, and several artists of the name of Williams, all of
+whom, we believe, devote themselves chiefly, if not exclusively,
+to landscape-painting, and either by identity of name or affinity
+of style, form a most puzzling group for conscientious critics,
+desirous, like ourselves, to sort their works and fairly distribute
+praise. We can mention but a few of their pictures, taken, nearly
+at random, from amongst a number we have marked as of merit or
+promise. In the Academy, 344, _A Valley Lane_, by A. W. Williams, is
+a charming subject, excellently treated. In the Portland Gallery,
+where many good landscapes are to be found, most of them by this
+family, we were particularly attracted by No. 41, _Noon_, also by
+A. W. Williams, and by No. 65, _Medmenham Abbey--Evening_, by G. A.
+Williams. No. 161, _A Showery Afternoon in Sussex_, by A. Gilbert,
+is remarkable as an example of the admirable effect he knows how
+to produce by the judicious and little-understood application of
+the various gradations between opacity and perfect transparency of
+colour. Mr Boddington has two nice pictures in the Academy.
+
+We cannot compliment Mr F. Danby on either of the two specimens
+of his art that he this year displays. We find it impossible to
+comprehend his colouring. That of _A Golden Moment_ (British
+Institution) is surely unnatural. Certainly it is a very rare effect
+of sunset; and the background is too bright to be consistent with
+the sombre foreground. If we turn to his picture in the Academy,
+_Spring_, we are no better pleased. That sort of dusky glow is quite
+an exaggeration of nature. Of Mr Witherington's four pictures, we
+prefer _Coniston Lake_ and _The Mountain Road_. Mr Hering's _Porto
+Fesano_ (British Institution) is a pleasing picture, and improves
+on examination; and there is a great deal of light and some pretty
+colour in the same artist's _Ruins of Rome_ in the Academy. Mr J.
+Peel has rather a pretty _Canal view_ in the Portland Gallery, in
+which, oddly enough, he has thrown the shadow of a tree the wrong
+way; and in the same exhibition Mrs Oliver has a bit of Welsh
+scenery which is pretty in spite of its finical touch. Of Mr Linton,
+who has pictures both in the Academy and British Institution, we
+cannot but speak with respect, recognising the ability of his works,
+the study they evince, and his close observation of the aspect of
+places. But they are quite for distant effect; on near approach they
+look rough and granitic, and are not a very pleasing or popular
+class of pictures.
+
+We beg Mr Boxall not to think we have forgotten him. We were
+desirous to commence the brief paragraph we can afford to portraits,
+by praising his _Geraldine_, an undraped fancy portrait, which shows
+a capital feeling for colour, and is perhaps the best specimen of
+flesh-painting in the Exhibition. It wants finish; but even without
+that it is nearly the first thing that attracts the eye when we
+glance at that side of the Middle Room. There is good colour also in
+the same artist's portrait of Mr Cubitt.
+
+Proceeding, with this exception, in numerical rotation, we notice
+No. 6, _The Hon. Caroline Dawson_, by Dubufe. The arms are rather
+flat, but it is a nice portrait, well painted, and infinitely
+superior to the same artist's picture in the British Institution--a
+French grisette with a Jewish face and an ugly mouth, holding a
+rose; the motto "Wither one rose and let the other flourish,"--a
+poor conceit and very indifferently executed. No. 52 is Mr Francis
+Grant's, the first, but not the best, of seven which he exhibits. Mr
+Grant is getting very careless. Such hands and clothes as he gives
+his sitters are really not allowable. The only carefully finished
+portrait he exhibits this year is that of Lady Elizabeth Wells,
+after which that of Miss Grant is perhaps the best. The Countess
+Bruce has an odd sort of resemblance, in the attitude or something,
+to the same painter's picture of Mr Sidney Herbert. The Duke of
+Devonshire looks vulgar. Viscount Hardinge is feeble, for Grant,
+who can do so much better. We urge this artist to take a little
+more pains, or his high reputation will dwindle. His portrait of
+Sir George Grey, now on view at Colnaghi's, is another example of
+carelessness. The face is the only finished part. Mr Watson Gordon
+understands the portrait-painter's vocation after a different
+fashion, and is most conscientious in his practice. Apart from their
+striking resemblance, his portraits are admirable as carefully
+finished works of art. His sitters this year have been, upon the
+whole, less suited to make interesting or pleasing pictures than
+several of the persons who have sat to Mr Grant; but Watson Gordon
+has done his work far more carefully. Perhaps the best of his three
+portraits is that of a lady, No. 137. The child in the same picture
+pleases us rather less. No. 175, Daniel Vere, Esq. of Stonebyres, is
+a striking likeness of that gentleman; and nothing can be better,
+in all respects, than the portrait of the Lord Justice-General of
+Scotland. Mr Buckner is, we are sorry to say, retrograding sadly.
+He rose very suddenly into public favour, and if he does not take
+care, he will rapidly decline. His portrait of Miss Lane Fox is
+perhaps his best this year. Rachel is flattered. Lady Alfred Paget
+is badly coloured, and looks in an incipient stage of blue cholera.
+We do not like Mr Pickersgill's portraits this year. For those who
+do, there are seven in the Exhibition, besides an ugly thing called
+Nourmahal. Mr G. F. Watts has painted Miss Virginia Pattle. It is
+one of the most affected pictures in the whole Exhibition. The young
+lady is perched on a platform, her figure standing out against the
+blue sky, and her feet completely hidden under her dress, which
+latter circumstance gives her an unsteady appearance, and inspires
+dread lest she should be blown from her elevation. The flesh is very
+pasty, and the general effect of the picture jejune in the extreme.
+No. 282, _The Duke of Aumale_, is by V. Mottez, and presents a
+singular combination or monotony of colour, the artist having
+seemingly carefully avoided all tints that would give warmth to his
+picture. With the exception of the insipidly fair countenance of
+the Duke, the painting is nearly all blue. It is not a disagreeable
+picture, and it perhaps gains on repeated examination; but one
+cannot get rid of an unpleasant impression of coldness. Placed next
+to Boxall's Geraldine, the flesh looks like chalk. That coarse
+but clever painter Knight has eight portraits, including several
+celebrities of one kind or other--Buckstone the comedian, Keate
+the surgeon, Sir J. Duke the mayor, Cooper the cattle-painter, and
+Mrs Fitzwilliam the actress. The picture of Sir J. Duke (who is
+represented in all the glory of civic office) is well put together;
+Cooper is laughably like; Mrs Fitzwilliam is perhaps as delicate a
+female portrait as Knight ever painted--which is not saying much
+for the others. Mr Say's portrait of Guizot is softened down and
+idealised till the character of the man is lost. In the Portland
+Gallery, No. 1 and No. 70 are by an artist whose historical pictures
+we have already commended, Mr Newenham. The first is a full length,
+size of life, of Mr Ross, the engineer; the other, Mrs Gall, is
+a sweet female countenance. Both are very good; but Mr Newenham
+is always particularly successful--indeed we can call to mind no
+living painter who is more so--in his portraits of ladies. Whilst
+avoiding flattery, he still invariably paints pleasing as well as
+correct likenesses. Such at least is the case with all those of
+his lady-portraits we have had opportunities of comparing with the
+models. Middleton has some nice portraits in this exhibition, and Mr
+J. Lucas shows a pleasing one of a young lad. And one of the most
+lifelike and speaking portraits exhibited this year is No. 286,
+by R. S. Lauder, the likeness of our old friend and much-esteemed
+contributor, the Rev. James White. A more exact resemblance we never
+saw.
+
+We have not counted them, but we are informed, and have no
+difficulty in believing, that there are 450 portraits (or
+thereabouts) in this the eighty-second exhibition of the Royal
+Academy. A very large number, out of 1456 works of art. Adding
+the portraits in the three other exhibitions, we attain a total
+of which, even after deducting drawings and miniatures, it
+is impossible for us to notice one fourth-part. And we must
+particularly remark, with respect to portraits and landscapes, what
+also applies in a less degree to the less numerous classes of
+pictures, that we have unavoidably--on account of our limited space
+to deal with so compendious a subject, and also because we would
+not reduce this article to a mere catalogue--omitted notice of many
+artists and pictures whose claims are undoubted to mention more or
+less honourable; as we have also forborne, for the same reason, and
+much more willingly, certain censures which we should have been
+justified in inflicting. Concerning portraits, however, we would
+gladly have been rather more diffuse, had we not still to take some
+notice, within the compass of a very few pages, of those exhibitions
+to which as yet we have done little more than incidentally refer.
+
+The restoration to the galleries of purchasers and studios of
+painters, of the five hundred pictures exhibited this year by the
+British Institution, diminishes the interest now attaching to that
+exhibition, and induces us to be tolerably brief in our notice of
+some of its leading features. No. 52, _The Post Office_, by F.
+Goodall, is a pretty picture enough, but displays no genius, and the
+subject suggests a comparison with Wilkie, which is not favourable.
+Mr Bullock's _Venus and Cupid_, No. 124, is about as sickly a piece
+of blue and pink as we remember to have seen. Mr Sant's _Rivals_
+gives the impression of a copy from the lid of a French plum-box. We
+have surely seen the Frenchified group in some engraving of Louis
+XV's times. Mr Woolmer's _Syrens_ displays some imagination, but the
+colouring is very bad. The sky is exaggerated, and the water seems
+to have flowed from a cesspool, suggesting unsavoury ideas of the
+extent of its contamination by the dead bodies that float upon it.
+It is a picture, nevertheless, that one is apt to look at twice. T.
+Clark's _The Horses of Rhesus captured by Ulysses and Diomed_, has
+plenty of faults, certainly, but it has also boldness and spirit,
+and makes us think the painter may hereafter do better things. No.
+205, _Lance reproving his Dog_--left unfinished by the late Sir
+A. W. Callcott, and completed by J. Callcott Horsley--includes a
+pretty bit of landscape, and the dog is not bad; but, as a whole,
+the picture does not strike us as remarkable. No. 231, _A French
+Fishing Girl_, by T. K. Fairless, is a nice bit of colouring, very
+fresh and judicious; and R. M'Innes's _Detaining a Customer_, tells
+its story well, and is of careful finish, but insipid colouring.
+Lady Macbeth, by T. F. Dicksee, is repulsive and unnatural; not the
+murderess Shakspeare conceived and Siddons acted, but a saucer-eyed
+maniac standing under a gas-lamp. No. 290, _Our Saviour after the
+Temptation_, is by Sir George Hayter, who has bestowed great pains
+without producing, as a whole, a very satisfactory result. The
+picture has certainly good points, but it speaks against its general
+excellence that we are driven to praise details. All the hands
+are particularly well done--Sir George's experience as a portrait
+painter having here availed him. The colouring of Christ's dress is
+good, but generally there is an abuse of yellow in the picture. The
+angels have no backs to their heads, but this phrenological defect
+is perhaps intentional, to convey the artist's notion of an angel by
+indicating the absence of gross passions. G. Cole's _Don Quixote and
+Sancho Panza in Pedro's hut_ is humorous, but quite a caricature.
+The painter seems to have studied to establish a resemblance
+between the men and their respective beasts. Another laughable
+picture is Mrs C. Smith's _Irish Piper_, whose companion _The
+Irish Card-cutter_ is No. 206 in the British Artists'. As works of
+art, they have little merit, but one cannot help acknowledging and
+laughing at the vulgar humour and truth to nature they both contain.
+Mr Selous' _The First Impression_, Gutemberg showing to his wife
+his first experiment in printing from movable types, is perhaps the
+best picture in the South Room. There is an air of nature about Mr
+W. Wyld's _Smugglers' halt in the Sierra Morena_; but the figures,
+although well grouped, are on too small a scale for much interest,
+and the landscape lacks attraction. Our old friend George Cruikshank
+gives full scope to his rich humour in No. 100, _Sancho's surprise
+on seeing the Squire of the Wood's Nose_; and 455, _Disturbing the
+Congregation_. This last is inimitable--brimful of fun. A charity
+boy has let his peg-top fall during service, and the awful clatter
+upon the church pavement draws all eyes in the direction of the
+delinquent. This is a picture that must be seen, not described;
+but our readers will imagine all the fun Cruikshank would make of
+such a subject--the terrified face of the culprit, in vain affecting
+unconsciousness, and the awful countenance of the beadle. We must
+say a word of Mr J. F. Herring's _A Farmyard_, which contains some
+good horses; but he has huddled his objects too much together, his
+colouring is very opaque, and there is a want of air and perspective
+in the picture. There is the same defect of thick colour in Mr H.
+Jutsum's pretty composition, _Evening--coming home to the Farm_.
+
+We have already mentioned several pictures in the Portland Gallery,
+including a portrait by Mr R. S. Lauder, (the president of this
+new society,) which is perhaps the best, although one of the most
+unpretending, of the seven pictures he exhibits. We do not discern
+any very great merit in two carefully painted illustrations of
+Quentin Durward. We should like to know on what authority Mr Lauder
+makes a tall, large-limbed man of Louis XI., and how he intends to
+get him and the raw-boned Scot through the door in No. 166, without
+a most unkingly deviation from the perpendicular. There is here a
+fault of perspective. And Mr Lauder should beware of repetition.
+We remember the lady behind the tapestry in No. 45, in at least
+a dozen of his pictures. This, however, is the best of the pair,
+and there is good painting in it. His most important picture this
+year is that of _Christ appearing to two of his Disciples on the
+way to Emmaus_. This is certainly a fine work, although there is
+much opposition of opinion respecting it. There is undoubtedly a
+fine sentiment in the colouring, which is peculiarly applicable to
+the subject. Mr M'Ian is in great force here, with no less than
+ten pictures. We like this artist for the character and energy he
+infuses into his productions. His most attractive picture this
+year is No. 55, _Here's his health in Water!_ thus explained--"A
+Highland gentleman of 1715, in Carlisle prison, the day previous to
+his execution, receiving the last visit of his mother, wife, and
+children, and instilling into his son--the future Highland gentleman
+of 1745--the principles of loyalty." The face of the condemned
+Highlander is full of vigour and determination, as is also that of
+his mother, a resolute old lady, who seems to confirm his precepts
+to her grandchild. The countenances of the sorrowing wife and of
+the little girl, whose attention is distracted by the opening of
+the prison door, are natural and pleasing. The boy, a sturdy scion
+of the old stock, drinks King James's health out of the prison-mug
+of water. We will not omit to praise Mrs M'Ian's very well-painted
+picture of _Captivity and Liberty_--gipsies in prison, with swallows
+twittering in the loophole that affords them light. There is a
+nice feeling about this picture, which includes a handsome gipsy
+face; it is careful in its details, and very effective in point of
+chiaroscuro. No. 251, _A Jealous Man, disguised as a Priest, hears
+the confession of his Wife_, is a subject (from the _Decameron_)
+of which more might have been made than there has been by Mr D. W.
+Deane. The countenances lack decided expression. Several artists
+have this year painted scenes from the _Tempest_, and Mr A. Fussell
+is one of the number. It were to be wished he had abstained. His
+picture of _Caliban, Ariel, and his fellows_, is very bad indeed.
+He should be less ambitious in his subjects, or at least less
+fantastical in their treatment. It is unintelligible to us how
+this picture illustrates the passage quoted. Nos. 264-5 are Mr H.
+Barraud's pictures:--_Lord have mercy upon us_, and _We praise
+thee, O God!_ the engravings of which have for some time past been
+in every shop-window. We are really at a loss to comprehend the
+_engouement_ for these pictures, which seem to us as deficient in
+real sentiment as they are feeble in execution. They are pretty
+enough, certainly, but that is all the praise we are disposed to
+accord them. There is no great beauty in the faces; and one of the
+boys (on the spectator's right hand) is a mere lout, without any
+expression whatever. The Messrs Barraud have a great many pictures
+in this exhibition--amongst others, No. 199, _The Curfew_, their
+joint production, which is pretty, but in respect to which it
+strikes us that they have read Gray's poem wrong, for the light
+in their picture is not that of parting day, but of approaching
+sunset. Mr Rayner's _Beauchamp Chapel, Warwick_, is a good picture;
+Mr Niemann's _Kenilworth from the Tilt-yard_, and _Landscape_, No.
+72, also deserve praise; Mr Dighton is very effective in some of
+his landscapes and studies. Upon the whole, this young exhibition
+promises well.
+
+Driven to our utmost limits, we must conclude, without further
+mention than we have already here and there made of the Society of
+British Artists in Suffolk Street; and we do so with the less regret
+because that gallery contains but a small proportion of pictures
+of merit. Mr Anthony contributes a very large number of his odd
+paintings, some of which are rather effective at a distance; but it
+is not a style we admire. Finally, we have with pleasure noticed,
+during our many rambles through the different galleries, that the
+public not only visit but buy; and we trust that the year 1850 will
+prove profitable and satisfactory to British artists, in the same
+proportion that it undoubtedly is creditable to their industry,
+and, upon the whole, highly honourable to their talents. One word
+more we will say at parting. In this article we have written down
+opinions, formed neither hastily nor partially, of whose soundness,
+although critics will always differ, we venture to feel pretty
+confident. We have applied ourselves to point out merits rather
+than defects, and to distribute praise in preference to blame; but
+we should have failed in our duty to ourselves and the public, had
+we altogether abstained from the latter. We well know, however, the
+many difficulties and discouragements that beset the path of the
+painter. And it would be matter for sincere regret to us, if, in the
+freedom of our remarks, we had unwittingly hurt the feelings of any
+man who is honestly and earnestly striving in the pursuit of a very
+difficult art--although his success may as yet be incommensurate
+with his industry and zeal.
+
+
+
+
+THE YEAR OF SORROW.--IRELAND--1849.
+
+SPRING SONG.
+
+
+    Once more, through God's high will and grace,
+      Of Hours that each its task fulfils,
+    Heart-healing Spring resumes its place;--
+      The valley throngs and scales the hills,
+
+    In vain. From earth's deep heart o'ercharged,
+      The exulting life runs o'er in flowers;--
+    The slave unfed is unenlarged:
+      In darkness sleep a nation's powers.
+
+    Who knows not Spring? Who doubts, when blows
+      Her breath, that Spring is come indeed?
+    The swallow doubts not; nor the rose
+      That stirs, but wakes not, nor the weed.
+
+    I feel her near, but see her not,
+      For those with pain-uplifted eyes
+    Fall back repulsed; and vapours blot
+      The vision of the earth and skies.
+
+    I see her not; I feel her near,
+      As, charioted in mildest airs,
+    She sails through yon empyreal sphere,
+      And in her arms and bosom bears
+
+    That urn of flowers and lustral dews,
+      Whose sacred balm, o'er all things shed,
+    Revives the weak, the old renews,
+      And crowns with votive wreaths the dead.
+
+    Once more the cuckoo's call I hear;
+      I know, in many a glen profound,
+    The earliest violets of the year
+      Rise up like water from the ground.
+
+    The thorn I know once more is white;
+      And, far down many a forest dale,
+    The anemones in dubious light
+      Are trembling like a bridal veil.
+
+    By streams released that singing flow
+      From craggy shelf through sylvan glades,
+    The pale narcissus, well I know,
+      Smiles hour by hour on greener shades.
+
+    The honeyed cowslip tufts once more
+      The golden slopes;--with gradual ray
+    The primrose stars the rock, and o'er
+      The wood-path strews its milky way.
+
+    --From ruined huts and holes come forth
+      Old men, and look upon the sky!
+    The Power Divine is on the earth:--
+      Give thanks to God before ye die!
+
+    And ye, O children worn and weak,
+      Who care no more with flowers to play,
+    Lean on the grass your cold, thin cheek,
+      And those slight hands, and whispering, say,
+
+    "Stern Mother of a race unblest--
+      In promise kindly, cold in deed;
+    Take back, O Earth, into thy breast,
+      The children whom thou wilt not feed."
+
+
+
+
+IRELAND--1849.
+
+AUTUMNAL DIRGE.
+
+
+    Then die, thou Year--thy work is done:
+      The work ill done is done at last.
+    Far off, beyond that sinking sun,
+      Which sets in blood, I hear the blast
+
+    That sings thy dirge, and says--"Ascend,
+      And answer make amid thy peers,
+    (Since all things here must have an end,)
+      Thou latest of the famine years!"
+
+    I join that voice. No joy have I
+      In all thy purple and thy gold,
+    Nor in the nine-fold harmony
+      From forest on to forest rolled:
+
+    Nor in that stormy western fire,
+      Which burns on ocean's gloomy bed,
+    And hurls, as from a funeral pyre,
+      A glare that strikes the mountain's head;
+
+    And writes on low-hung clouds its lines
+      Of cyphered flame, with hurrying hand;
+    And flings amid the topmost pines
+      That crown the steep, a burning brand.
+
+    Make answer, Year, for all they dead,
+      Who found not rest in hallowed earth,
+    The widowed wife, the father fled,
+      The babe age-stricken from his birth.
+
+    Make answer, Year, for virtue lost;
+      For Faith, that vanquished fraud and force,
+    Now waning like a noontide ghost;
+      Affections poisoned at their source:
+
+    The labourer spurned his lying spade;
+      The yeoman spurned his useless plough;
+    The pauper spurned the unwholesome aid,
+      Obtruded once, exhausted now.
+
+    The weaver wove till all was dark,
+      And, long ere morning, bent and bowed
+    Above his work with fingers stark;
+      And made, nor knew he made, a shroud.
+
+    The roof-trees fall of hut and hall,
+      I hear them fall, and falling cry--
+    "One fate for each, one fate for all;
+      So wills the Law that willed a lie."
+
+    Dread power of Man! what spread the waste
+      In circles, hour by hour more wide,
+    And would not let the past be past?--
+      The Law that promised much, and lied.
+
+    Dread power of God! whom mortal years
+      Nor touch, nor tempt; who sitt'st sublime
+    In night of night,--O bid thy spheres
+      Resound at last a funeral chime.
+
+    Call up, at last, the afflicted Race
+      Whom Man not God abolished. Sore,
+    For centuries, their strife: the place
+      That knew them once shall know no more.
+
+
+
+
+IRELAND--1849.
+
+WINTER DIRGE.
+
+
+    Fall, Snow, and cease not! Flake by flake
+      The decent winding-sheet compose:
+    Thy task is just and pious; make
+      An end of blasphemies and woes.
+
+    Fall flake by flake: by thee alone,
+      Last friend, the sleeping draught is given:
+    Kind nurse, by thee the couch is strewn,
+      The couch whose covering is from heaven.
+
+    Descend and clasp the mountain's crest;
+      Possess wide plain and valley deep:--
+    This night, in thy maternal breast
+      Forsaken myriads die in sleep.
+
+    Lo! from the starry Temple gates
+      Death rides, and bears the flag of peace:
+    The combatants he separates;
+      He bids the wrath of ages cease.
+
+    Descend, benignant Power! But O,
+      Ye torrents, shake no more the vale;
+    Dark streams, in silence seaward flow;
+      Thou rising storm, remit thy wail.
+
+    Shake not, to-night, the cliffs of Moher,
+      Or Brandon's base, rough sea! Thou Isle,
+    The Rite proceeds:--from shore to shore
+      Hold in thy gathered breath the while.
+
+    Fall, snow! in stillness fall, like dew
+      On temple roof, and cedar's fan;
+    And mould thyself on pine and yew,
+      And on the awful face of man.
+
+    Without a sound, without a stir,
+      In streets and wolds, on rock and mound,
+    O omnipresent comforter,
+      By thee, this night, the lost are found.
+
+    On quaking moor, and mountain moss,
+      With eyes upstaring at the sky,
+    And arms extended like a cross,
+      The long-expectant sufferers lie.
+
+    Bend o'er them, white-robed Acolyte!
+      Put forth thine hand from cloud and mist,
+    And minister the last sad rite,
+      Where altar there is none, nor priest.
+
+    Touch thou the gates of soul and sense:
+      Touch darkening eyes and dying ears;
+    Touch stiffening hand and feet, and thence
+      Remove the trace of sin and tears.
+
+    And ere thou seal those filmed eyes,
+      Into God's urn thy fingers dip,
+    And lay, 'mid eucharistic sighs,
+      The sacred wafer on the lip.
+
+    This night the Absolver issues forth:
+      This night the Eternal Victim bleeds--
+    O winds and woods--O heaven and earth!
+      Be still this night. The Rite proceeds.
+
+
+
+
+LONDON AND EDINBURGH CHESS MATCH.
+
+
+If we pique ourselves on anything, it is on our invincible
+good-nature. We are as slow to be roused as a brown bear in the
+midst of its winter sleep; and, if we were let alone, we very much
+doubt whether, by any conceivable exertion, we could work ourselves
+into a downright passion. But, somehow or other, it constantly
+happens that people of a less tranquil mood step in to deprive
+us of the enjoyment of our untroubled repose. At one time some
+worthy fellow entreats us to take up the public cudgel and belabour
+a blatant Economist. At another, we are pathetically besought
+to administer due castigation to some literary sinner who has
+transgressed the first principles of decency, morality, and taste.
+One friend implores us, with tears in his eyes, to take up the case
+of the oppressed and injured washerwomen: a second puts a tomahawk
+into our hand, and benevolently suggests the severment of the skull
+of a charlatan: a third writes to us regarding a rowing match, in
+which he opines gross injustice has been done by the umpire to
+the Buffs, and he fervently prays for our powerful assistance in
+vindicating the honour of the Blues.
+
+In all national questions, it seems to be expected that we are to
+act with the devotion of a knight-errant. Whenever Scotland is
+assailed, the general impression is that we are bound to stand
+forth, and incontinently give battle to the enemy: and we believe
+it will be admitted that we have done so before now with no
+inconsiderable effect. It so happens that, at the present juncture,
+several of our most esteemed compatriots, feeling themselves deeply
+aggrieved by the _outrecuidance_ of the Southron, have laid the
+story of their wrongs before us; and, after a deliberate review of
+the whole circumstances of the case, we feel ourselves compelled to
+come forward in behalf of our countrymen. Let no man venture to say
+that Chess is an ignoble subject. It is, if properly considered, as
+recondite a science as mathematics. Kings, conquerors, and sages
+have not thought it beneath them to ponder over the chequered board;
+and it may be that the noble game has contributed in no light degree
+to the success of their most triumphant efforts. We know of no
+absorption more complete than that which possesses the mind of a
+true votary of chess. Watch him as he is contemplating his moves,
+and his countenance is a perfect study for the physiognomist. He
+may not perhaps be the most agreeable of companions, but we cannot
+expect loquacity from men of high intellect whilst engaged in
+deepest rumination.
+
+Let us, however, dispense as much as possible with preface, and
+come to the actual offence which has induced us to take up our
+pen in vindication of the national honour. Our attention has been
+called to what is undoubtedly a departure from the fair and liberal
+spirit which ought to actuate antagonists--in short, by an attempt
+to deprive the Edinburgh Chess Club of laurels which were fairly
+and honourably won. It is all very well for men who have been
+beaten to apply salves to their wounded vanity, and to persuade
+themselves that they have failed rather through misfortune than
+from any deficiency of skill. Napoleon used to amuse himself at
+St Helena by demonstrating that he _ought_ to have won the battle
+of Waterloo--a position in which, we doubt not, Count Montholon
+and General Bertrand entirely concurred, though, after a certain
+time, they must have been tolerably sick of the subject. But these
+affirmations of the Emperor did not serve the purpose of reinstating
+him on the throne of France; and, in like manner, opine that the
+writers who, at this time of day, are, applying themselves to the
+task of persuading the public that the great match at chess between
+Edinburgh and London, which was won by Edinburgh in 1828, ought to
+have terminated otherwise, are losing their labour, and, moreover,
+placing themselves in a very ridiculous position.
+
+We like to see a man take a beating in good part. The Southron
+may come here and vanquish us at cricket, and we shall submit to
+be bowled or caught out with the utmost equanimity--no member of
+the Grange Club will retire to the cloister in consequence. He may
+extinguish our renown at rackets, or even soar considerably above
+our mark in the altitude of the flying-leap. We shall not cavil at
+the result, should some Southron Robin Hood defeat the Queen's Body
+Guard in the toxophilite competition which is about to take place in
+this city. We shall not be jealous if the stranger beats us; and if,
+in return, we should extinguish him utterly at golf or throwing the
+hammer, we promise to crow as mildly as the plenitude of our lungs
+will permit. But we have no idea of pushing complaisance to such an
+extraordinary point, as to permit our real victories to be perverted
+and annulled at the hands of a defeated adversary. Hector _might_
+have beaten Achilles, but he did not; and the mere fact of a remote
+possibility having once existed, will not justify us in giving the
+lie to Homer. We make every allowance for testiness; still we cannot
+help thinking it extraordinary that those feelings of mortification,
+which might perhaps have been excusable in the defeated party at
+the moment of the antagonist's triumph, should manifest themselves
+as strongly as ever nearly a quarter of a century after the
+contest--and that, too, in persons who took no actual share in it,
+and are comparatively strangers to the views and opinions of those
+really concerned.
+
+English chess-players have the command of all the chess-periodicals,
+which emanate chiefly, if not exclusively, from the London press;
+and which have, for many years back, been made the vehicles of
+repeated observations intended to depreciate the triumph of
+Scotland. Of late these have been even more than usually frequent.
+And within the last year, the _Quarterly Review_, which, like the
+trunk of an elephant, is as ready to pick up a pin as to uproot a
+tree, has opened its pages for remarks on the chess match, conceived
+in no very handsome spirit towards the Scotch champions. This we
+do not consider to be justifiable conduct on the part of our bulky
+contemporary. In the accomplished editor--himself a Scot--it is
+in direct antagonism to the principles of Richie, the servitor of
+Nigel, who made so vigorous a stand for the credit of the Water of
+Leith; and we regret to observe so palpable a falling off from the
+fervid patriotism of the Moniplies. The uniform burden of the song
+is, that the event of the match was determined by an accident,--or
+by what they reckon as nearly equivalent to an accident--an
+oversight upon the part of the London Club, to which the best of
+players are liable, and which in this instance is said to have been
+rather ungenerously taken advantage of by Edinburgh. The Scottish
+players have hitherto said very little upon the subject, contenting
+themselves with a short but perfectly satisfactory answer, made
+immediately after the termination of the match, to some observations
+of Mr Lewis, in which, while they conclusively disposed of his views
+and inferences, they at the same time stated, that they were "far
+from begrudging to the London Club the usual consolation of a beaten
+adversary--of going back upon a game, and showing that, if they had
+played otherwise at a particular point, they could have won the
+game." The constant reiteration of the English statement, however,
+is calculated to produce an erroneous impression in the minds of
+those not acquainted with the merits of the question.
+
+The London and Edinburgh chess match, which was played by
+correspondence, was begun in the year 1824. It was the result of a
+challenge given by the Edinburgh Club, which was then only in its
+infancy. The terms agreed on were, that the match should consist
+of three won games; and that, in case of any game being drawn, a
+new one, begun by the same opener, should take its place. The match
+commenced on 23d April 1824. Two games were opened simultaneously.
+The first game was opened by the Edinburgh Club; and in sending
+their first answering move, the London Club also sent the first move
+of the second game. The first game, which consisted of 35 moves,
+was, on 14th December 1824, declared to be drawn. The second, which
+consisted of 52 moves, was resigned by the London Club on 23d
+February 1825. The third game--opened by the Edinburgh Club in place
+of the first game, which had been drawn--was begun on 20th December
+1824; it consisted of 99 moves, and was drawn on 18th March 1828.
+The fourth game, begun by the Edinburgh Club, on 26th February 1825,
+was resigned by them on 15th September 1826, at the 55th move. The
+fifth game, begun by the Edinburgh Club, on 6th October 1826, was
+resigned by the London Club on 31st July 1828, at the 60th move--and
+this determined the match in favour of Edinburgh.
+
+The simple statement of these details is sufficient altogether to
+exclude the idea that the result of the match was a mere accident,
+where manifestly inferior players profited by the unfortunate
+blunder of their superior antagonists. Though the Edinburgh Club
+had lost, instead of gaining, two out of the three games, it would
+still have been in vain to maintain that the play in the match
+showed them to be unquestionably inferior. The contest was a long
+and severe one. When the fifth and deciding game was proceeding,
+each party had gained one game, and there had been two drawn games,
+both of which were keenly disputed, without the least advantage in
+favour of London at any point of either; while, on the other hand,
+in the third game, Edinburgh had obtained an advantage, though
+not sufficient to enable them to checkmate their adversaries. It
+has never been pretended, by the most unscrupulous partisan of
+England, that the winning of the fifth game was ascribable to an
+oversight. On the contrary, their chess writers have, with most
+becoming fairness and candour, always referred to it as an instance
+of admirable play on the part of Edinburgh; and members of the
+London committee, who shortly after happened to visit Edinburgh,
+acknowledged that their committee were quite unable to discover the
+object of particular moves, the effect of which had been previously
+calculated, and reduced to demonstration by the Edinburgh players.
+Is there, in all this, such evidence of overwhelming superiority on
+the part of the English players, that their losing the match _must_
+have been an accident?
+
+But it is time to inquire a little more minutely into the so-called
+blunder, which the Englishmen say was the cause of their defeat. And
+here it is but fair to give their statement in their own words. The
+_Quarterly_ reviewer says--
+
+     "Perhaps the most remarkable instance on record of a strict
+     enforcement of the tenor of chess law occurred in the celebrated
+     match, by correspondence, between the London and Edinburgh
+     Clubs. At the 27th move of the second game, the London Club
+     threw a rook away. How they did so, Mr Lewis explains in the
+     following words:--'The 26th, 27th, and 28th moves were sent on
+     the same day to the Edinburgh Club. This was done to save time.
+     It so happened that the secretary, whose duty it was to write
+     the letters, had an engagement which compelled him to leave the
+     Club two hours earlier than usual--the letter was therefore
+     posted at three instead of five o'clock. In the mean time, one
+     of the members discovered that the 2d move (the 27th) had not
+     been sufficiently examined.[10] An application was immediately
+     made at the Post-office for the letter, which was refused. In
+     consequence, a second letter was transmitted by the same post to
+     the Edinburgh Club, retracting the 2d and 3d moves, and abiding
+     only by the first. The Edinburgh Club, in answer, gave it as
+     their decided opinion that the London Club were bound by their
+     letter, and that no move could be retracted: they therefore
+     insisted on the moves being played. The London Club conceded the
+     point, though they differed in opinion.'
+
+     "We cannot but think, under all the circumstances, the Edinburgh
+     Club were to blame. What rendered the mishap more vexatious to
+     the Londoners was, that whereas they had a won game before, they
+     now barely lost it, and thereby the match, which the winning
+     of this game would have decided in their favour. There can be
+     little doubt that the London Club (then comprising Messrs Lewis,
+     Fraser, and Cochrane) was the strongest of the two. On the part
+     of Edinburgh, we believe the lion's share of the work fell to
+     the late Mr Donaldson."
+
+
+  [10] It is of importance to keep in view that it never was asserted
+  that the _first_ move, the 26th, had not been sufficiently examined;
+  and it will be immediately seen that that move was adhered to, no
+  attempt being made to recall it. The truth is, that the London Club
+  could not have played a better move than their 27th. Their mistake,
+  as was first discovered by the Edinburgh Club, was in the 26th move,
+  the one adhered to _after examination_.
+
+In the remarks on the London and Amsterdam match, in Mr Staunton's
+periodical, (the _Chess-Player's Chronicle_,) for February 1850,
+there is the following passage:--
+
+     "If the relative skill of the competitors engaged on each side
+     were to be the gauge by which to estimate the probable result of
+     a contest like this, it would have been easy to predict to which
+     party victory would incline; and we should have wondered at the
+     daring gallantry that prompted the little band of Hollanders to
+     challenge the leviathans of London. Experience, however, has
+     shown that, in a match of chess by correspondence, the battle
+     is not always to the strong, and that foresight and profound
+     calculation are of infinitely less account, when the men may be
+     moved experimentally, than they are in ordinary chess, where
+     conclusions must be tried by the head, and not by the hand. Of
+     this, indeed, the archives of the London Club afford a memorable
+     instance. In March 1824, a proposal was made to this Club by the
+     Club at Edinburgh, to play a match at chess by correspondence
+     for a silver cup; the match to consist of three games,
+     (irrespective of drawn games;) two games to be played together,
+     and the winner of the first game to have the move in the third.
+     The London Club at this period was in the pride and plenitude
+     of its strength, and the committee appointed to conduct the
+     match comprised every name of note among the chess-players of
+     the metropolis. The Edinburgh Chess-Club, on the other hand, was
+     composed of amateurs comparatively unknown and inexperienced,
+     and possessed one player only--the late Mr Donaldson--capable of
+     making anything like a stand 'over the board' with any of the
+     London chiefs. In an ordinary contest, indeed, over the board,
+     it was the old odds of Lombard Street to a China orange! Maugre
+     all the advantages of superior skill and practice, however,
+     the Londoners lost the battle, and lost it by a blunder as
+     ridiculous as it was vexatious, at the very moment, too, when
+     the game was in their hands."
+
+The general remarks on playing by correspondence in this last
+passage are evidently made to furnish a pretence for introducing the
+notice of the London and Edinburgh match; and they share the fate of
+all such forced work. They are absolute nonsense. The probability
+that a decidedly superior will overcome an inferior player, is not
+at all diminished by the circumstance that the match is played by
+correspondence. On the contrary, we should rather be inclined to
+say that the chance of an inferior player's escape in a single
+game or so is almost extinguished where the match is played by
+correspondence; because the time given for deliberation increases
+the improbability of his antagonist's erring from carelessness, or
+not taking in the whole position of the game, which sometimes occurs
+in playing over the board. But there is an inconsequence in the
+whole argument which surprises us to find in anything sanctioned
+by a person of Mr Staunton's unquestionable powers of mind. The
+loss of the match by London is not to be wondered at, it is said,
+because it was a match by correspondence; and the immediate cause
+of their losing it was the commission of a ridiculous and vexatious
+blunder! To make this anything like logic, it would be necessary to
+hold that ridiculous and vexatious blunders are more likely to be
+committed when the player has time and opportunity to consider his
+moves, and to make experiments upon their effect, than where he is
+under the necessity of moving at once in presence of an adversary,
+and possibly of spectators, apt to get impatient at long delay. It
+is plain that the game's being played by correspondence was the
+very circumstance calculated to render the London Club's particular
+excuse for losing all the more untenable.
+
+It is quite true, however, that at a particular stage of the game
+opened by the London Club, (being one of the two games with which
+the match commenced,) the London Club might have won the game, by
+playing other moves than they did. This may be said of every game;
+but it is as unusual as it is unhandsome for the unsuccessful party,
+merely because he has missed such an opportunity of winning, to
+refuse all credit to his adversary for afterwards defeating him. In
+the third game, which was drawn, the Edinburgh Club would have won
+if they had played a different 51st move from that which they did.
+But this did not lead them to make depreciatory remarks about their
+antagonists: all that their report bears on this point is, that the
+London Club "conducted a difficult defence with great skill and
+dexterity, and finally succeeded in drawing the game."
+
+Further, the remarks above quoted are calculated to produce an
+erroneous idea respecting the situation and conduct of the two
+clubs in the second game. The sophistry consists in mixing up two
+entirely separate and unconnected things. In this same game in which
+the London Club failed to observe that they had a winning position,
+they applied to have two of their moves recalled after they were
+despatched, and the Edinburgh committee refused their request. Now
+the obvious tendency of all that the English writers say upon the
+subject is to create the impression that if the London Club had been
+allowed to recall these two moves, they would have retained their
+winning position. This is plainly the only construction that the
+passage in the _Quarterly Review_ is capable of bearing. It is the
+only construction which would justify his remarks, or make them at
+all intelligible. But it is quite incorrect. The only moves which
+the London committee wished to recall were the 27th and 28th; but
+they have never attempted to show that if they had been allowed to
+do so, they could have won the game. It has been demonstrated, over
+and over again, that they could not. In fact, the moves they wished
+to recall were as good as any others then in their power. They might
+have drawn the game if these moves had been played; and they could
+have done no more had they been allowed to recall them. This matter
+was set at rest while the match was still pending, by a proposal
+which emanated from the Edinburgh Club. When the Londoners lost the
+game, Mr Lewis insinuated, though he did not expressly state, that
+if they had not been held to the 27th and 28th moves, they would
+have won the game. A member of the Edinburgh Club then offered to
+play a back-game with any one or more of the London Club, in which
+the London players were to be allowed a new 27th move instead of
+the one they had made, and wished to recall; and also another
+back-game in which the Edinburgh player was to take the London side
+_at an earlier stage of the game_, with the view of showing that,
+by playing differently, the London Club might have won it. This
+proposal was under consideration of the London Club _for several
+weeks_, during which they satisfied themselves that the recall of
+the 27th and 28th moves would be of no use, and, accordingly, it was
+declined. It is surely not very uncharitable to surmise that it was
+during this period, and on the suggestion of their opponents, that
+they discovered that the error was not in the 27th move which they
+had proposed to recall, but in the 26th, which they had examined and
+adhered to. In his first publication of the games, Mr Lewis gives
+no back-game on this 26th move; and it is believed that no member
+of the London Club was aware, till the game was finished, that by
+playing differently at the 26th move they might have won it. But Mr
+Lewis admits that the game could not be won by a mere alteration
+of the 27th or 28th move; and any one who says that it could, is
+either speaking in ignorance of the subject, or is making a wilful
+misrepresentation. The likelihood of the remarks of the English
+writers producing an erroneous impression arises from their mixing
+up these two separate and distinct things: 1st, that at a previous
+stage of the game, the London Club had a winning position which they
+did not discover, and failed to avail themselves of; and, 2d, that
+the Edinburgh Club would not allow them to retract the 27th and
+28th moves. These two facts have no longer any possible connection
+with each other when it is known that, at the 27th move, the London
+Club had ceased to have a winning position, and that the recall
+of that move would have been of no use to them. The failure, at a
+previous stage of the game, to maintain the winning position which
+they had, is simply one among several illustrations which occurred
+in the match, of the truth that the London Club, "in the pride and
+plenitude of its strength," did not always play as well as it was
+possible to have done. How such things show that superiority on
+the part of London, which they are brought forward to establish, we
+confess ourselves unable to understand, unless we were to adopt the
+principle of the _Chess-Players' Chronicle_, that it is the best
+players who are most likely to commit errors in conducting a match
+by correspondence!!
+
+It seems to be a source of melancholy consolation to the English
+players, that their Club committed a "ridiculous and vexatious
+blunder." We are sorry that, in our strict regard for truth, we must
+deprive them even of that comfort. The losing of the disputed game
+was not a ridiculous blunder, however vexatious. On the contrary,
+the series of moves by which they lost the chance of winning, was
+at first a very promising attack, and had the additional temptation
+of appearing brilliant and enterprising. If any chess-player will
+set up the men at the 27th move of the London Club, or glance at
+the diagram given in Mr Staunton's periodical for May 1850, he will
+see that nothing but the utmost skill and caution on the part of
+Edinburgh could have successfully warded off the attack. The London
+Club had not contemplated the defence which they met with; and if,
+in these circumstances, they were seduced into an ingenious but
+unsound attack, it may be conceded that they manifested want of
+circumspection, an important qualification in a chess-player; but
+they cannot be accused of committing a ridiculous blunder. They
+talk of having "thrown away" a rook. They did no such thing. The
+rook was played not by mistake, but for the very purpose of being
+taken in the course of their dashing but unsuccessful attack. And in
+Mr Lewis's analyses, it will be found that many of his methods of
+winning, at previous stages of the game, involve this very sacrifice
+of the rook.
+
+The refusal of the Edinburgh Club to allow the recall of the 27th
+and 28th moves loses all its importance when it is known that it did
+not affect the fate of the game. But we should in any circumstances
+be sorry to believe that, in so refusing, they had done what
+deserved the censure bestowed on them by the _Quarterly_ reviewer.
+In considering the propriety of their conduct, there are only two
+lights in which the request may be viewed. They were either asked
+to do what the London Club had a right to demand, or they were
+asked to grant a favour to the London Club. We do not know that the
+former view is supported by any of the English writers. Even the
+_Quarterly_ reviewer does not say that the London Club had a _right_
+to recall the moves; and on this question of right it appears to
+us that there cannot be the least shadow of a doubt. The letter
+containing the moves was despatched to the Post-office. It was held
+by the Post-office for the party to whom it was addressed, and was
+entirely beyond the control of the party sending it. The piece,
+in every sense, was therefore "let go" by the player; and the 8th
+Article of Sarratt's laws of chess, by which it was agreed that the
+games should be played, provides that "as long as a player holds
+a piece, he is at liberty to play it where he chooses; but when
+he has _let it go_, he cannot recall his move." Accordingly, the
+London Club never attempted to contest the question of right. They
+stated that they had "no hesitation in acceding to the Edinburgh
+Committee's construction," and adhering to the moves. In fact, the
+construction put on the point by the Edinburgh Club was not only
+assented to by the London players at the time, but several members
+of the committee admitted afterwards, that it was unquestionably the
+right way of dealing with the case, and no member of the London Club
+ever hinted a complaint on the subject, except what was insinuated
+by Mr Lewis in the publication referred to.
+
+Were the Edinburgh Club "_to blame_" for not granting the favour
+which was asked of them? On this question we think there is quite
+as little doubt as the other. We have a strong and decided opinion
+as to the necessity of strict play in _all_ games. It is the only
+fair and rational system; for once allow indulgence, and it is
+impossible to fix the limit at which it should stop. But we think
+that the remark applies with peculiar force to the game of chess,
+in which rigour is absolutely essential to the acquisition of the
+habits fitted for the proper playing of the game. Above all, in an
+important match at chess, anything but the strict game is entirely
+out of the question. A high-spirited antagonist will scorn to ask
+a favour, or even to grumble about the commission of a blunder.
+He submits in silence, and plays on in the hope of retrieving his
+fault by redoubled care and attention. If, on the other hand, he
+were to be expected to grant favours to his blundering antagonist,
+it is plain that his very good qualities would be turned to his
+disadvantage in the match. The Edinburgh Club played in the belief
+that the rules of the game were to apply with equal strictness to
+both parties; and though there was more than one instance in which
+they would have been glad to recall a move, they never proposed
+this, or even spoke of the occasions for it, except in answer to Mr
+Lewis's observations on the proposed recall of the 27th move. In
+the very game in which this move was made, the Edinburgh committee
+had at a _previous_ point in the game made a move which they
+discovered to be unsound, or at least doubtful. Their report bears
+that "application was made to the Post-office to have the letter
+containing it restored, but without effect. Finding this to be the
+case, the letter was looked upon as delivered, the Post-office being
+regarded as holding it, not on behalf of the Club from which it had
+been sent, but on behalf of the Club to which it was addressed;
+and therefore no attempt was made to countermand the move, by
+transmitting another letter by the same post. The 8th article of
+the laws was considered to be too clear and explicit to warrant a
+recall." This conduct of the Edinburgh Club appears to us the manly
+and proper way of dealing with such a circumstance, and infinitely
+better than trying to make it the foundation of a complaint of
+rigorous procedure on the part of their opponents.
+
+The same thing happened again to the Edinburgh Club in the fourth
+game. In consequence of having put up the game erroneously, they
+sent an impossible move--that is to say, they directed a Knight to
+be moved to a square already occupied by their King. They discovered
+the mistake before the letter had left Edinburgh, but considered
+themselves as having incurred the penalty of playing an impossible
+move, which was, in the option of their adversary, either to move
+the Knight to some other square, or to move their King. Of these
+two, the move of the _King_ was infinitely the better play, and
+therefore, in order to save time, a note was written on the outside
+of the letter explaining the mistake, and stating that the Edinburgh
+committee held themselves bound to move the _Knight_, which it was
+presumed the London Club would enforce, as the more severe penalty.
+The London Club did so; and yet Mr Lewis, in his notes to this
+game, rather disingenuously, as it appears to us, represented the
+London Club as having yielded an advantage to their antagonists, in
+accepting the move of the Knight. This merely accidental blunder, on
+the part of the Edinburgh Club, was one cause of their loss of the
+fourth game.
+
+Seeing that the Edinburgh Club thus on all occasions subjected
+themselves to the most rigorous interpretation of the rules of the
+game, we cannot hold the _Quarterly Review_ as justified in saying
+that they were "to blame" in not allowing the London Club to retract
+a move. But we appeal from the _Quarterly_ reviewer as a partisan of
+England, to the _Quarterly_ reviewer, as an impartial enunciator of
+general propositions respecting the game of chess. Hear what he says
+about the absurdity of giving back moves:--
+
+     "Another advantage has arisen from the multiplication of clubs,
+     and consequent publication of accurate rules--viz., that the
+     strict game is now played, instead of those courteous surrenders
+     of advantages offered by a heedless adversary, which used often
+     to make winners of those who had received back two or three
+     leading pieces in the course of the game. These were a source
+     of endless unpleasant discussions, besides being in themselves
+     an absurdity. We confess we have no notion of rewarding an
+     opponent for his oversights. We would show him as little mercy
+     as Mr Smith O'Brien would to Lord Clarendon. Nay, we should be
+     moved hereto by a consideration of his benefit as well as our
+     own--for why should we teach him vacillation and heedlessness?"
+
+Again, among a portentous list of narrow-minded delusions, he gives
+as "Delusion the Fifth--
+
+     "'That it is illiberal to play the strict game.' To this we can
+     only reply, that other methods are but a miserable imitation.
+     People talk of the hardship of 'losing a game by an oversight,'
+     and so on. It is much harder to arrive at nothing but
+     'conclusions inconclusive,' and to have the game terminate in
+     an Irish discussion which of the two parties made the greatest
+     blunders."
+
+We agree in every word of this; and we only wonder that so sound a
+reasoner should himself fall under the delusion which he exposes--so
+severe a censor should commit the very offence which he condemns.
+
+On the whole, as regards the proposed recall of the 27th and 28th
+moves of the second game, we think these three propositions are
+conclusively established, 1. That neither according to the rules
+of the game, nor upon any other principle which does or ought to
+regulate the playing of matches, were the London Club entitled to
+have their proposal acceded to. 2. That though it had been acceded
+to, and these moves had been allowed to be recalled, the London
+Club could not have bettered their situation, as the opportunity of
+winning was already irretrievably lost in consequence of the 26th
+move, which was not asked to be recalled, but, on the contrary,
+was expressly adhered to. 3. That the impression which English
+chess-players have so industriously attempted to create, that the
+refusal on the part of Edinburgh to allow the 27th and 28th moves
+to be recalled was what prevented the London Club from winning the
+game, can only exist through a confusion between these moves and the
+previous one, which the London Club had adhered to after a renewed
+examination, not having even then discovered that it was unsound.
+
+Before leaving the second game, we have this last additional remark
+to make about it, that it is one of the erroneous assumptions and
+inferences of the English writers, that the winning of that game
+would have decided the match in their favour. It was the first won
+game; and though it is true that the London Club _subsequently_
+won the fourth game, which was the successor of the second, it
+is also the fact that the fourth game, which was opened by the
+Edinburgh Club, would not have been played if the second had
+been won by London, who in that case would have had the opening
+of the fourth. We do not mean to say that having to open was a
+disadvantage. All we assert is, that, in point of fact, the game,
+which the Edinburgh Club lost partly through a mistake in setting
+up the men, and through another blunder, not very different in its
+character, would not have been played at all if London had won the
+second game. Besides, the fourth game would, in other respects, have
+been played under very different circumstances. The opening of the
+second game by the London Club was one which none of the Edinburgh
+players had ever seen before, though, from this match, it now goes
+by the name of the Scotch opening. They believed, however, from
+their consideration of the second game, that the London Club had
+not availed themselves of all the capabilities of the opening, and
+they thought it would be a spirited thing to return it upon their
+antagonists. This they did in the _third_ game. The event rewarded
+their enterprising conduct. They gained a decided advantage; and
+during the greater part of the _fourth_ game they believed that it
+would never require to be finished, as they thought that by winning
+the _third_ game they would gain the match. This accounts for the
+carelessness with which they played the fourth game, though we
+think nothing can excuse carelessness in playing chess. They were
+ultimately disappointed in their expectation of gaining the third
+game, as the London Club succeeded in drawing it; and this rendered
+a fifth game necessary.
+
+Down to the fifth game it appears plain enough, from the above
+examination, that the Edinburgh Club had maintained, at the very
+least, an equal position to their antagonists. The first game had
+been drawn, with no advantage at any stage of it, in favour of
+either party. The second had been won by Edinburgh, but was subject
+to the observation that, at one point, London might have won had
+they played as well as they _afterwards_ discovered they might
+have done. The third game was drawn: but the advantage throughout
+had been in favour of Edinburgh, though not sufficiently so for
+winning; and, as was the case with London in the previous game,
+Edinburgh failed to perceive that by moving differently at a certain
+point, they would have been victorious. The fourth game was lost by
+Edinburgh, partly through an accidental and what may be called a
+mechanical blunder, and partly through another piece of carelessness
+of a similar character. After a contest thus maintained down to the
+commencement of the fifth game, it is beyond all question that the
+palm of superiority, in point of play, must rest with the victor
+in that game. And it was a game worthy to determine that question
+as well as the match. The Edinburgh Club had again returned upon
+their antagonists their own opening. In order to secure scope for
+the action of their pieces, they showed considerable intrepidity
+in disregarding the ordinary rules against doubled and isolated
+pawns; and so admirably had they analysed the game, that for a
+great many moves they knew that victory was certain, though all the
+while the London Club, according to the confession of some of their
+own members, were blind to the fate that was awaiting them; and
+believed, on the contrary, that the game was in their own hands.
+This fifth game will long be remembered by chess players as one
+of the most remarkable in the annals of chess; and appears to us
+conclusive, so far as regards the internal evidence derived from the
+games themselves, that the superiority, in point of play, lay with
+the Edinburgh Club, and that their winning the match was not a mere
+accident.
+
+It may be that there are other data for determining the relative
+superiority of the two Clubs; but we cannot admit the correctness
+of any of those mentioned by the _Quarterly_ reviewer or Mr
+Staunton. It is true, as these gentlemen say, that the Edinburgh
+Club was comparatively inexperienced. It had only been instituted
+in 1822, and the match was begun in 1824. It comprehended, almost
+exclusively, professional gentlemen actively engaged in business,
+who had not, generally speaking, much leisure or opportunity for
+seeking antagonists out of their own little circle of chess-players
+at home. On the other hand, it cannot be disputed that there is
+to be found in the metropolis of England, in greater abundance
+than anywhere else, that combination of leisure with intellectual
+power, which gives the promise of good chess-playing. But these
+circumstances do not lead our minds to the conclusion to which Mr
+Staunton and the _Quarterly_ reviewer have come, that the winning of
+the match by the Edinburgh Club was an accident. We should rather
+be inclined to hold, considering the character of the contest as
+explained by us above, that they are a proof of the greater natural
+chess-playing capacity of the members of the Club which won the
+match under such disadvantages. Again, Mr Staunton asks where are
+the previous exploits to which the Edinburgh players could point,
+such as those that the members of the London Club had performed? The
+answer is, None. They never had, and never sought the opportunity
+of performing any great chess exploit, except beating the London
+Club. But in so doing they made their own all the previous victories
+of the London Club. The event showed that they might, without
+presumption, have expressed the sentiment of Prince Henry--
+
+    "Percy is but my factor, good, my lord,
+    To engross up glorious deeds on my behalf;
+    And I will call him to so strict account,
+    That he shall render every glory up.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    And all the budding honours on his crest
+    I'd crop to make a garland for my head."
+
+With which valorous quotation we draw our remarks to a close,
+submitting that the members of the Edinburgh Club are bound to
+invite us to a special sitting at a board, which shall be garnished
+with some other material more soft and digestible than chessmen.
+
+
+
+
+THE INDUSTRY OF THE PEOPLE.
+
+
+The dismal efforts of the Free-trading party to maintain the credit
+of their unnatural and mischievous scheme, afford the surest
+indication of their own consciousness that they have committed a
+grievous error. In their attempts to make head against the symptoms
+of reaction which are everywhere apparent in the public mind, they
+exhibit no unity of purpose; they are not agreed even as to the
+facts from which their arguments should be drawn. A few months ago,
+we were told that the whole country was in a state of the greatest
+prosperity. The existence of agricultural distress was denied; the
+shipping interest was said to be in the most healthy and flourishing
+condition; the manufacturers had so many orders that their ability
+to execute was impeded; wages were rising--pauperism decreasing--in
+short, no one could recall to memory times of more general
+happiness and content. Such was the picture drawn by Ministerial
+limners, no further back than the opening of the present session
+of Parliament, and it is very much to be regretted that it should
+so soon have vanished like a dissolving view. Down to the present
+moment, we have been unable to discover the motive for so monstrous
+a fiction. Nobody believed it: nobody could believe it, for it
+ran counter to every man's knowledge of his own affairs, and his
+opinion as to those of his neighbour. The agriculturists declared
+it to be a falsehood in so far as they were concerned--so did the
+ship-owners--so did the shopkeepers--so did the manufacturers, whose
+circulars acknowledged depression for the present, and held out
+little hope for the future. The Ministerial averment answered no
+purpose, save to excite a general burst of disapprobation. Conceived
+in fraud, it was abandoned with cowardice. A lower tone was assumed.
+Distress was admitted--but only to a certain extent; and we may
+remark that such admissions are peculiarly convenient and innocuous
+to those who make them, inasmuch as the actual degree or prevalence
+of the suffering must still remain matter of debate. Indeed, no
+statistics, however ingenious or elaborated, can furnish data for
+determining so delicate a point. But to account for the existence
+of distress, even in a mitigated form, was no easy task for those
+who were resolved, at all hazards, to exclude the operation of free
+trade. Their prosperity balance-sheet stood awkwardly in the way.
+Pluming themselves upon increased exports, and a larger foreign
+trade than had been driven for some years, they were compelled to
+assign some reason for the remarkable depression at home. The old
+shift of railway calls would no longer suit their purpose. Sir
+Robert Peel, regardless of a certain personal passage of his life
+connected with the opening of the Trent Valley, was exceedingly fond
+of turning out that scape-goat into the wilderness; but the time
+had gone by; the calls were paid up or suspended; and it was no
+longer possible for effrontery to maintain that the great mass of
+the consumers of these kingdoms had been materially injured by their
+imprudent dalliance with scrip. There was no tightness in the money
+market; no external cause to interfere with the successful operation
+of industry, capital, or enterprise. Yet still there was distress;
+and, what was more remarkable, the complaint was universal. The
+value of produce had fallen, effecting thereby a corresponding
+decline in rents, and every kind of uncertain profit. Employment
+grew scarcer every day, whilst the number of applicants increased.
+The burden of taxation, however, still remained undiminished. The
+creditor could still exact the stipulated amount of money from his
+debtor, without deduction, although the labour of the debtor was
+reduced in point of value by at least a third. Such were, and are,
+the leading phenomena, to account for which the ingenuity of the
+Free-traders has been exercised.
+
+They have, we are bound to say, cut an exceedingly sorry figure
+in explanation. They have got in their mouths a few cant phrases,
+which, when assailed, they repeat over and over again, without the
+slightest reference to their meaning. One of these, and perhaps the
+most favourite, refers to the "transition state"--a peculiar phase
+of suffering, which they maintain to be the necessary consequence of
+every considerable change in the fiscal regulations of the empire.
+This "transition state," in politics, would appear to correspond to
+that which, in medicine, was favoured by Mr St John Long. In order
+to become better, it is necessary to make the patient, in the first
+instance, materially worse--to inflict artificial wounds and promote
+suppuration, in the hope that these may afterwards be healed. It is
+rather remarkable that none of our political doctors have as yet
+ventured to specify the nature of the curatory process. They leave
+us woefully in the dark as to the means which are to be adopted for
+remedying the evil; and they obstinately refuse to predict what
+kind of state is to follow upon this of transition. In truth, they
+are utterly at sea. They cannot shut their eyes to the extent of
+the mischief which they have wrought; they cannot find or invent an
+extraneous excuse, which will avail them, in the opinion even of the
+loosest thinker, to maintain the delusion that the present distress
+and stagnation are attributable to any other cause than that of low
+prices, occasioned by foreign competition; and they are attempting
+to conceal their chagrin and disappointment at the disastrous issue
+of their experiment under the cover of general terms and vague
+ambiguous phrases--a rhetorical expedient which is not likely to
+have much weight with those who have been made the victims of their
+rashness or vacillation.
+
+Latterly, indeed, some portions of the public press have shown
+symptoms of being more specific, and very glad should we be if
+Ministers would follow that example. We are told that present
+prices are merely exceptional, and that they must shortly improve.
+The mere adoption of this argument shows that such writers dissent
+from the doctrine that cheapness is an unqualified blessing--that
+they still believe in their hearts that it is impossible altogether
+to separate the interests of the producer and the consumer--and
+that they are still alive to the fundamental political axiom,
+that the wealth of a country depends mainly upon the value of its
+produce. Were it otherwise, they would be supporters of the most
+astounding paradox that was ever advanced. The price of the loaf
+must rise correspondingly with that of the quarter of wheat: beef
+and mutton are sold by the stone or by the pound, in proportion to
+the market value of the living animal. If wheat were to rise to
+56s., which is said to be the average cost of its production in
+this country, bread would become so much dearer, and, in that case,
+the working-man could be no better off than he was before the corn
+laws were repealed. We have heard it said, and we firmly believe
+it to be the case, that many of the public men, of both parties,
+who voted with Sir Robert Peel, did so under the full conviction
+that there could be no material decline--that they were misled by
+the onesided, imperfect, and fallacious reports as to the state,
+quality, and extent of the Continental harvests, which were laid
+before Parliament--and that they never would have consented to such
+a measure, had they foreseen the results which are now unhappily
+before us. We gather this, not merely from rumour, but from the
+tenor of the speeches delivered in the House of Commons in 1846. Sir
+James Graham and Lord John Russell both treated as visionary the
+notion of any material decline--Lord Palmerston went further; and
+we think it useful to lay before our readers the following excerpt
+from his speech, delivered on the occasion of the second reading
+of the Corn Importation Bill. Referring to the surplus quantity of
+Continental grain, he said--
+
+     "The surplus quantity now, or from time to time in existence,
+     is merely the superfluity of abundant seasons held for a
+     time in store to meet the alternate deficiency of bad years.
+     Till the bad years come, that corn is cheap, because it is a
+     supply exceeding the demand; but the moment we go into the
+     foreign market as buyers, to purchase up this surplus, _prices
+     abroad will rise_. Not only will the British demand, as a
+     new competition with foreign demand, naturally cause a rise
+     of prices, but our own merchants will compete against each
+     other, until, by a rise of prices abroad, the profit of their
+     importations shall have been brought down to the usual rate of
+     mercantile profit upon capital employed in other ways. There
+     is, therefore, very little probability that the importation of
+     the existing surplus quantity of corn in foreign markets will
+     materially lower prices in this country."
+
+We have nothing to say to the arguments of the noble
+Viscount--however singular these may appear to persons of ordinary
+understanding--we merely refer to his conclusion, which we think
+is plain enough, to the effect that free importations could not
+materially lower prices. Nay, we could extract from the speeches of
+Sir Robert Peel himself, passages which would go far to show that he
+entertained the same opinion, notwithstanding the extreme wariness
+which he exhibited when challenged by Lord George Bentinck to state
+his views as to the probable effects of the change on the value of
+agricultural produce. Well, then, if this be the case--if there was
+actually a strong conviction in the minds of the leading men who
+supported the repeal of the corn laws that the expressed fears of
+the agricultural party were unfounded--are we not entitled now to
+require that the question should be brought to a very narrow issue
+indeed? So far as experience has gone, our calculations have proved
+right--theirs entirely wrong. We maintained that, in consequence of
+the removal of protective duties, the price of grain in this country
+would decline to a point far below the cost of production; they
+averred that nothing of the kind would happen. Nearly a year and
+a half has elapsed since the new system came into full operation,
+and the general averages of wheat throughout the country have
+fallen, and have remained for many months below 40s. per quarter. In
+spite of the accurate and veracious information of writers in the
+_Economist_ and other Ministerial prints, who have been assuring
+us, for a long period of time, that the whole available supplies of
+grain have been pumped out of the Continent, importations continue
+undiminished. In May 1850 we receive from abroad the equivalent
+of a million quarters of grain; France pours in her flour, to the
+panic even of our millers; and, instead of diminution, there are
+unmistakeable symptoms of a greater deluge than before. Now, if the
+Free-traders, in or out of Parliament, are honest in their views--as
+many of them, we believe, undoubtedly are--they are bound to tell us
+how far and how long they intend this experiment to last? Of course,
+if it is no experiment at all, but an absolute rigorous finality,
+there is no need of entering into discussion. If everything is to be
+sacrificed for cheapness, let cheapness be the rule; only do not let
+us behold the anomaly of the advocates of that system prophesying
+a rise of prices as a general boon to the country. If otherwise,
+surely some tangible period should be assigned for the endurance
+of this _experimentum crucis_. We entirely coincide with Lord John
+Russell in his dislike to vacillating legislation, and we have no
+wish whatever to precipitate matters. We think it preferable, in
+every way, that the eyes of the country should be opened to a sense
+of its true condition by a process which, to be effectual, cannot
+be otherwise than painful. But we are greatly apprehensive of the
+consequences which may arise ere long, from the obstinate refusal
+of Ministers to give the slightest indication of their intentions,
+supposing that the present prices shall continue; or to indicate
+what relief, if any, can be given to the industry of the nation.
+
+As to the permanent nature of the fall under the operation of
+the present law, we entertain not the slightest doubt. There is
+no one symptom visible of its abatement; on the contrary, the
+experience of each succeeding month tends to fortify our previous
+impressions. The decline in the value of cattle is as great as in
+that of cereal produce. We have already, in a former paper, had
+occasion to state the extent of that fall down to the commencement
+of the present year: the accounts received of the state of the
+Dumbarton market, held in the beginning of June, are still more
+disastrous than before. Throughout a large portion of the Scottish
+Highlands--we do not know, indeed, whether we are entitled to make
+any exception--black cattle, the staple of the country, will not
+pay the expense of rearing. The enormous importation of provisions
+from America is annihilating this branch of produce, with what
+compensating benefit to the nation at large, it would be difficult
+for an economist to explain.
+
+This is a state of matters which cannot continue long without
+manifest danger even to the tranquillity of the country. It is quite
+plain that, at present rates, agriculture cannot be carried on as
+heretofore in Great Britain. The farmer has been the first sufferer;
+the turn of the landowner is approaching. Let us illustrate this
+shortly. There must be, on an average of ordinary years, a certain
+price at which wheat can be grown remuneratively in this country.
+Sir Robert Peel, no mean authority on the subject, has indicated his
+opinion that such price may be stated at or about 56s. per quarter.
+Mr James Wilson, rating it somewhat lower, fixes it at 52s. 2d. Let
+us suppose, that wheat for the future shall average over England
+39s. per quarter, and that the produce of the acre is twenty-four
+bushels, the loss on each acre of wheat hereafter raised will be,
+according to Sir Robert Peel, L2, 11s.--according to Mr Wilson, L1,
+19s. 6d. What deduction of rent can meet such a depreciation as
+this? Excluding Middlesex, which is clearly exceptional, the highest
+rented county of England, Leicester, is estimated at L1, 14s. 10d.
+per acre; Warwickshire, at L1, 11s. 6d.; and Lincolnshire at L1, 8s.
+Haddington and Fife, the highest rented counties of Scotland, are
+estimated at L1, 5s. 6d. per acre. This of course includes much land
+of an inferior description; but we believe that, for the best arable
+land, an average rent of 40s. per acre may be assumed. In that case,
+supposing the whole rent to be given up, the farmer would still be a
+loser by cultivation, if Sir Robert Peel is correct in his figures.
+
+Without presuming to offer an opinion as to the accuracy of
+either of the calculations submitted by these two Free-trading
+authorities, we think it is plain that the more favourable of them,
+taken in connection with present prices, is appalling enough to
+the agriculturist, whether he be landlord or tenant. We shall see,
+probably in a month or two, whether it is likely that even these
+prices can be maintained. We are clearly of opinion that the price
+of corn in this country must fall to the level of the cheapest
+market from which we can derive any considerable supplies; and in
+that case it is quite as likely that we may see wheat quoted at 32s.
+or 33s., as at 39s. or 40s. But the matter for our consideration is,
+that, ever since the repeal of the corn laws, the market price of
+grain has been greatly below the cost of its production; and that
+there are no symptoms of any amendment, but obviously the reverse.
+
+The inevitable result of the continuance of such a state of
+matters is too clear to admit of argument. The land must go out
+of cultivation. The process may be slow, but it will be sure. It
+may, doubtless, be retarded by remissions of rent not sufficient
+to cover the farmer's losses, but great enough to induce him to
+renew his efforts for another year with the like miserable result;
+until at length the tiller of the soil is made bankrupt, and the
+landowner occupies his place. We can hardly trust ourselves to
+depict the effect of such a social revolution. All the misery which
+has been already felt--and that is far greater than our rulers will
+permit themselves to believe--would be as nothing compared with the
+calamitous consummation of Free Trade.
+
+Yet it is towards that point that we are rapidly tending. Some
+of the fierce and more plain-spoken Radical journals are so far
+from contradicting our views, that they openly rejoice in the
+havoc which has been already made, and in the wider ruin which is
+impending. They say plainly, looking to the funds, that they see
+no method of escaping from the domination of the moneyed interest,
+except through the prostration of the landlords. Their meaning
+is quite distinct and undisguised. They want to get rid of the
+national debt, by reducing the value of produce so low, that the
+usual amount of taxation cannot possibly be levied; and their
+scheme, however nefarious, is by no means devoid of plausibility.
+There can be no doubt that the Currency Act of 1819 has operated
+most injuriously upon the industry of the nation, by enhancing the
+value of the claims of the creditor; and that these claims, along
+with the necessary expenses of government, must be paid, _ante
+omnia_, from the industrial produce of the year. The cheapening
+process, therefore, is one directly antagonistic to the maintenance
+of taxation. The anomaly in legislation of forcibly reducing the
+value of produce, and yet maintaining stringently an artificial
+standard of taxation, has been reserved for our times; yet, strange
+to say, though its effects are visible and confessed, few persons
+have courage or patience enough to grapple with the difficulty.
+Free Trade and a Fettered Currency are things that cannot possibly
+co-exist for any length of time; and our sole surprise is, that any
+statesman could be shortsighted enough to attempt to reconcile them.
+Taken singly, either of them is a great evil to a country situated
+like ours--taken together, they become absolutely intolerable. But
+we have no wish, at the present time, to depart from the point
+before us. We are merely taking the evidence of adversaries, to
+show that our views as to the position and prospects of the great
+productive classes of Britain are so far from exaggerated that they
+are acknowledged by the most strenuous advocates of Free Trade. The
+fundholder, nevertheless, may derive a useful lesson from these
+financial hints, which indicate an ulterior purpose.
+
+Such is the state of the agricultural interest throughout the
+three Kingdoms at this moment, and such are the prospects before
+us. The evidence, albeit not taken before a committee of either
+House of Parliament, is too unanimous to admit of a doubt; county
+after county, district after district, parish after parish
+throughout England, have testified to their melancholy condition.
+The _Times_ may talk of mendicity, and the _Economist_ may trump
+up figures to show that the farmers ought to be making a profit
+even at present prices; but neither irony nor fiction can avail to
+discredit or pervert facts so well authenticated as these. Of these
+facts parliament is fully cognisant--not only from the individual
+knowledge of members as to what is passing abroad--not only from the
+sentiments expressed at many hundred meetings, independent of the
+great demonstrations lately made at London and Liverpool--but from
+the petitions which have been presented to both Houses, praying for
+a reversal of that policy which has proved so detrimental to the
+interests of a large section of her Majesty's subjects. Yet still
+Parliament is silent, and the first Minister of the Crown refuses to
+sanction that appeal to the country, which the exigency of the case
+would seem to require, and which has been resorted to on occasions
+far less peremptory and pressing than this.
+
+Let us not be misunderstood. Our wish simply is to record the fact
+of such silence and refusal,--not to be rash in censure. We cannot,
+and do not forget the peculiar circumstances connected with the
+last general election--the political tergiversation which preceded
+it, the hopes and expectations which were then entertained by
+many, as to the working of the new system,--or the disorganisation
+of parties. Even the most strenuous opponents of the Free-Trade
+measures, since these had passed into a law, however iniquitously
+carried, were desirous that the experiment should have a fair trial,
+and that it should not be impeded in its progress, so long as, by
+the most liberal construction, it could be held to justify the
+anticipations of its authors. Many names of great weight, influence,
+and authority were found among the roll of those who consented to
+the new measures; and it was most natural that, throughout the
+country, a number of persons should be found willing to surrender
+their own judgment upon a matter yet untried, which had received
+so creditable a sanction. Therefore it was that the majority of
+members returned to the present House of Commons were Free-traders,
+bound to the system by the double ties of previous conviction and of
+pledge; and though recent elections, as well as the alarming posture
+of affairs, have contributed materially to alter the position of
+the two great parties in the House, it would be unreasonable as yet
+to look for a change, in a body so constituted, at least to that
+extent which a reversal of the adopted policy must imply.
+
+Neither can we rationally expect, that Lord John Russell will be
+forward to recognise a failure, where he confidently anticipated a
+triumph. We believe him to have been, far more than Sir Robert Peel,
+the dupe of those random assertions and presumptuous calculations
+which were thrust forward by men utterly unfit, from their previous
+habits and education, to pronounce an opinion upon subjects of such
+magnitude and intricacy. We should not be surprised if, even now,
+his Lordship had some lingering kind of faith in the prophecies of
+the member for Westbury. Men are slow to believe that the ground
+is crumbling from below their feet; that the political scaffolding
+which they assisted to rear has been pitched in a marshy quagmire.
+Self love, and that kind of pride which is so nearly allied to
+conceit that it often assumes the form of obstinacy, stand woefully
+in the way of recantation; and moreover in the present instance
+to recant is equivalent to resign. We remember well the profound
+and sagacious remark of Sir Walter Scott, that "the miscarriage
+of his experiment no more converts the political speculator, than
+the explosion of a retort undeceives an alchymist." Lord John
+Russell in all probability is not yet prepared, from conviction,
+to revise his opinions on a question in which he is so deeply
+committed. He has a majority in the House of Commons, and, according
+to the forms of the constitution, so long as he can command that
+majority, he is entitled to persevere. It is well that our friends,
+whatever pressing cause they may have for their impatience, should
+remember these things; and not be too forward in pressing wholesale
+accusations, either against a Parliament chosen under such peculiar
+circumstances, or a Minister who is simply adhering to the course
+long since avowed by himself, and acted on by his immediate
+predecessor. We may regret, and many of us do unquestionably most
+bitterly feel, the anomalous position in which we are placed. A
+more cruel, a more galling thought can hardly be imagined than the
+conviction which is very general abroad, and which is also ours,
+that the present Parliament does not represent the feelings or the
+desires of the people; that it is not consulting their welfare or
+protecting their interests; and that the duration of that Parliament
+alone prevents a vigorous and successful effort in the cause of
+British industry. Yet still, while we feel all this, let us not
+be unjust to others. We cannot coerce opinion. We cannot force
+honourable members at once to retrace their steps, or to give the
+lie to their acknowledged pledges. We cannot complain of open wrong
+if Ministers decline to accept our voices, in lieu of the voices
+of those whom we formerly sent as representatives. Their answer
+and vindication lies in the fact of their Parliamentary majority.
+Why Parliament should thus be placed in direct antagonism to the
+country, is a very different question. We need not go far in search
+of the reason. It is the direct consequence of that policy which Sir
+Robert Peel thought fit to adopt, not with regard to the abstract
+measures of Free Trade, but for the carrying of these measures
+into effect, without an appeal to the country, and by means which
+proved how closely deceit is allied to tyranny. Upon his head,
+if not the whole, at least the primary responsibility rests. He
+has accepted it, and let it abide with him. And let no man affirm
+that, in saying this, we are prolonging any rancorous feeling, or
+seeking to rub a sore which by this time should be wellnigh healed.
+The time for indignation and anger, if injury coupled with perfidy
+can ever provoke such sentiments, is not yet past; it is now in
+its fullest force. Had Sir Robert Peel acted as he ought to have
+done--had he played the part of a British statesman, sincerely
+desirous that in a matter of such magnitude the will of the country
+should be respected--the present Parliament, whatever might have
+been its decision as to Free Trade or Protection, would at least
+have represented the wishes of the electoral body; and if subsequent
+events had shown that these wishes were more sanguine than wise, the
+error would have been a national one, and no weight of individual
+responsibility would have been incurred. As it is, we are not only
+justified, but we are performing our duty, in indicating the real
+and sole originator of our present difficulties; and without wishing
+in any degree to trench upon his secret sources of consolation,
+we can hardly imagine that he will derive much comfort from the
+knowledge, that his tortuous policy has deprived the people in the
+hour of need of their best constitutional privilege and shield--the
+sympathy and co-operation of that House which is emphatically their
+own, and which, to the great detriment of the state, must lose its
+moral power the moment that it ceases to represent the will, and to
+protect the interests of the Commons.
+
+We are well aware that such reflections as these can bring but sorry
+comfort to the farmers. Their situation is one of unparalleled
+hardship, unrelieved by any consideration which can make the case of
+other sufferers more tolerable. We fully admit the vast extent of
+the powers which, since the Great Revolution, are held to be vested
+in Parliaments. We cannot gainsay the doctrine that these powers
+may, on occasion, be exerted to the uttermost; but we say, after
+the most careful and thoughtful deliberation, that the proceedings
+of the legislature with regard to the farmers of Great Britain are
+irreconcilable with the principles of justice, with the sacred
+laws of morality, which no legislative resolutions can abrogate
+or annul. The farmers are entitled to maintain that, in so far as
+regards them, the public faith has been broken. Such of them as
+hold leases had a distinct and unqualified guarantee given to them
+by the protective laws; and the allegation that the substitution
+of the sliding-scale for a fixed duty acted as a release for all
+former Parliamentary engagements, is a quibble so mean and wretched
+that the basest attorney would be ashamed to use it as a plea. The
+whole of the farmers' fixed and floating capital, estimated at
+the enormous sum of five hundred millions sterling, has been laid
+out on the faith of Protection; and yet when that Protection was
+furtively and treacherously withdrawn, no measure was introduced for
+the purpose of relieving them from engagements contracted under the
+older system, which were obviously incompatible with the lowered
+prices established by the formidable change. The public, we are
+afraid, are not aware of the extent of that depreciation which is
+still going on, _and which already exceeds the whole annual value
+of the manufacturing productions of Great Britain_. We borrow the
+following table from a late pamphlet by Mr Macqueen entitled,
+"Statistics of Agriculture, Manufactures, and Commerce, drawn up
+from Official and Authentic Documents;" and having tested it by
+every means in our power, we have no hesitation in adopting it. It
+is, in truth, a fearful commentary on the rashness and folly of our
+rulers.
+
+
+COMPARATIVE VALUES OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE.
+
+                              Protective     Depreciation.    Value 1850.
+                                value.
+  Grains, potatoes, &c.,     L237,543,750     L80,764,875    L156,778,875
+  Straw,                      100,700,000      30,210,000      70,490,000
+  Green crops, pasture, &c.,  222,404,786      66,721,435     155,683,351
+  Sundries,                     8,500,000       2,125,000       6,375,000
+  Wool, British,               15,400,000       1,540,000      13,860,000
+                             ------------    ------------    ------------
+                             L584,518,536    L181,361,310    L403,187,226
+
+But this is not all. We have still to deal with the depreciation or
+diminished value of the farmers' fixed capital, invested in live
+stock, &c., which at the rate of 25 per cent, (a most moderate
+calculation, and below the mark in so far as Scotland is concerned,)
+shows a loss on L504,833,730 of L126,208,432 _additional_!
+
+We put forward the case of the farmers thus prominently, because,
+in addition to the great public wrong which has been done to them,
+they have serious reason to complain of the general apathy of the
+landlords. We do not allude to the part which the landowners took in
+1846. We believe that the majority of them were sincerely disgusted
+by the conduct of the men who had climbed into office on their
+shoulders; and that they loathed and despised in their hearts the
+treachery of which they were made the tools. We know, moreover, that
+a great many of them abstained from taking part in the election of
+1847, not being able to see their way through the political chaos
+in which we were then involved, and having, naturally enough, lost
+confidence in the probity of public men, and despairing of the
+remodelment of a strong constitutional party. Such things were,
+perhaps, inevitable; and it may be argued with much show of reason,
+that no better line of conduct was open to the landlords, and that
+they did wisely in reserving themselves for a more favourable
+opportunity, when experience, that stern and unfailing monitor,
+should have exposed to the Free-traders the falsity of their wild
+expectations. But it is impossible for them now to plead that the
+opportunity has not arrived. The experiment has been made, and has
+failed--failed utterly and entirely, if the practical refutation of
+the views advanced by all its leading advocates is to be considered
+as equivalent to failure. The current of reaction has set in
+strong and steady, not only in the counties, but in the towns; not
+only among those who, from their position, must be the earliest
+sufferers, but among those who are connected with the trade and
+general commerce of Britain. The disorganised party has rallied
+and is reformed under leaders of great talent, tried skill, and
+most assured loyalty and honour. How is it that, in this posture
+of affairs, any considerable section of the landlords is still
+hanging back? Why is it that they do not place themselves, as is
+their duty, at the head of their tenantry, and enforce and encourage
+those appeals to public justice, and to public policy, which are
+now making themselves heard in every quarter of the kingdom? We
+confess that we are at a loss to know why any apathy should be
+shown. The conduct of the tenantry towards the landlords has been
+generous and considerate in the extreme. They were invited, in no
+equivocal terms, to join their cause with that of the Free-traders
+and financial reformers; and they were promised, in that event,
+the cordial assistance of the latter towards the adjustment of
+their rents, and the equalisation of their public burdens. We
+venture not an opinion whether such promise was ever intended to
+be kept. Still it was made; and no effort was left untried to
+convince the farmers that their cause was separate and apart from
+that of the owners of the land. Their refusal to enter into that
+unholy alliance was most honourable to the body of the tenantry,
+and entitles them, at the hands of the proprietors, to look not
+only for consideration and sympathy, but for the most active and
+energetic support. Very ill indeed shall we augur of the spirit and
+patriotism of the gentlemen of England, if they longer abstain from
+identifying themselves universally with a movement which is not
+only a national one, in the strictest sense of the word, but upon
+which depends the maintenance of their own interests and order.
+Surely they cannot have been so dull or so deaf to what is passing
+around them, as not to be aware that they were especially marked out
+as the victims of the Manchester confederacy! These are not times
+in which any man can afford to be apathetic, nor will any trivial
+excuse for languor or indifference be accepted. Exalted position,
+high character, the reputation for princely generosity, and the
+best of private reputations, will be no apology for inactivity in a
+crisis so momentous as this. Organisation, union, and energy are at
+all times the chief means for insuring success; and we trust that,
+henceforward, there may be less timidity shown by those who ought
+to take the foremost rank in a contest of such importance, and who
+cannot abstain longer from doing so without forfeiting their claim
+to that regard which has hitherto been readily accorded them.
+
+It will be observed that, as yet, we have put the case for
+Protection upon very narrow grounds. We have shown that, so far
+as the agricultural body is concerned, Free Trade has proved most
+injurious, and that it cannot be persisted in without bringing
+downright ruin to that section of the community. If we had nothing
+more to advance than this, still we should be entitled to maintain
+that enough has been adduced to show the necessity of retracing
+our steps. The annihilation of such an important body as the
+agriculturists of Britain, implies of itself a revolution as great
+as ever was effected in the world; and to that, assuredly, if the
+agriculturists stood alone, they would not tamely submit. When Mr
+Cobden or his satellites addressed the people of Manchester, through
+their League circulars, to the following effect, "If the Americans
+will only put down their monopolising manufacturers, and we put down
+our monopolising landowners here, when our election time comes, we
+will lay the Mississippi valley alongside of Manchester, and we
+will have a glorious trade then!"--and again, "Our doctrine is, let
+the working man ply his hammer, or his spindle, or his shuttle, and
+let the Kentucky or the Illinois farmer, by driving his plough in
+the richest land on the surface of the earth, feed this mechanic
+or this weaver, and let him send home his produce in exchange for
+the products of our operatives and artisans"--they seem to have
+forgotten the temper and mould of the men with whom they proposed
+to deal so summarily. It is not quite so easy to expatriate three
+millions of able-bodied men; nor do we opine that a power morally
+or physically adequate to the task of such removal exists in the
+manufacturing districts. But, in reality, of all idle talk that ever
+issued from the lips or the pen of an inflated demagogue, this is
+the silliest and the worst. It presupposes an amount of ignorance
+on the part of his audience anything but flattering to the calibre
+of the Manchester intellect: indeed we hardly know which is most
+to be admired--its intense and transparent folly or its astounding
+audacity. The home trade is a thing altogether kept out of account
+in the foregoing splendid vision of a calico millennium. Mr Cobden,
+it will be seen, contemplates no home consumption, except in so far
+as the operative may provide himself with his own shirtings. The
+whole production of Britain is to be limited to manufactures; the
+whole supplies are to be derived from the hands of the reciprocating
+foreigner!
+
+There does not exist in this great and populous country any one
+class the labour of which can be restricted, or the profits
+curtailed, without an injurious result to the interests of the whole
+community. This is not simply a maxim of political economy; it is
+a distinct physical fact, which no ingenuity can controvert. Yet,
+strange to say, our rulers have acted, and are acting, with regard
+to by far the most important class of the country, as if no such
+fact were known; and they now profess to be amazed at its speedy
+and inevitable consequence. That agricultural distress must react
+upon the manufacturer, the trader, shopkeeper, and artisan, is as
+necessary a consequence as is a failure in the supply of water
+after a long-continued drought. If our taxation is artificial, and
+our national establishments costly, it must not be forgotten that
+our private expenditure is generally on the same scale. We consume
+within the country a far greater amount of manufactures than we can
+ever hope to export, and the only limit to that consumption is the
+power of purchase. The profits of the landowner, which depend upon
+the value of produce, do not constitute a fund which is removed
+from public circulation. On the contrary, these profits furnish
+the means of labour and employment to the greater portion of the
+industrious classes, who otherwise would have no resource; and if
+they are violently curtailed, it must needs follow that a large
+amount of employment is withdrawn. That is precisely our case at the
+present moment. By the admission of foreign produce, which is in
+fact foreign labour, the value of agricultural production in this
+country has fallen very nearly thirty per cent, and the consequence
+is a greatly diminished expenditure, and a slackening of employment
+grievously felt by those who are supported by manual labour. How,
+indeed, is it possible that it can be otherwise? A very little
+thought must convince every one that all incomes in Britain must
+depend upon the amount and value of the national production, and
+that, by reducing and lowering that, a direct attack is made upon
+the profits of every kind of labour. It is singular that consequence
+so plain should ever have been overlooked; still more singular that
+statesmen should have been found to maintain an opposite theory. The
+only explanation we can suggest as to this singular departure from
+the leading principles of economical science is, that of late years
+Ministers have habitually consulted the interests of the capitalists
+rather than those of the people. Sir Robert Peel has invariably
+shown himself a capitalist legislator. At the outset of his career,
+and while under the Israelitish guidance of Ricardo, he succeeded
+in carrying those Currency measures which increased by nearly
+one-third the weight of the national obligations. Later in life we
+find him engaged in measures of arbitrary bank restriction, thereby
+occasioning commercial panics, and securing another rich harvest
+for the moneyed class. His tariffs and Free-trade measures exhibit
+precisely the same tendency. They are all constructed with a view
+to cheapness, or, what is the same thing, to the diminution of the
+value of labour, so that the fortune of the capitalist or fundholder
+is now virtually doubled: while the industrious classes, with a
+lowered rate of wage, are compelled to undergo the additional evil
+of unrestricted foreign competition.
+
+Let us now, for a brief space, proceed to consider the internal
+adjustment of the strength and industry of Britain. It is a
+subject well worthy of study, especially at the present moment,
+when a general feeling of perplexity prevails, and when those who
+unfortunately gave ear to the specious representations of the
+Free-traders are convinced of their error, but are yet in doubt
+whether it be possible to retrace our steps. It is a subject,
+moreover, upon which we are bound to enter, seeing that official
+cunning has been used to conceal the real posture of affairs in this
+country, and, by undervaluing the magnitude of some interests, to
+give a factitious and altogether imaginary importance to others.
+We trust that we shall be able to show, to the satisfaction of
+our readers, the gross extent to which this kind of delusion and
+imposture has been carried.
+
+Upon no subject whatever are more erroneous impressions entertained,
+than upon the relative importance and strength of the two great
+classes of the country. Of late it has been quietly assumed that
+the manufacturers are infinitely superior to the agriculturists,
+not only in point of numbers, but in respect of capital employed or
+available; and many people have been puzzled to understand why, if
+this should be the case, such vehement opposition should be made to
+any proposal for readjusting the direct and local taxation, which
+confessedly weighs most heavily upon the proprietors and occupiers
+of the land. We have been told, in as many words, that henceforward
+the voice of the towns is to dictate the policy of Britain--that the
+agriculturists are a worn-out class, scarce worth preserving--and
+the most influential of the Free-trade journals has not hesitated to
+recommend a wholesale emigration to the Antipodes, or any portion of
+the surface of the globe where corn can be cultivated cheaper than
+in England. We have been not only taunted, but threatened, whenever
+we presumed to expostulate. Reference was made to certain "masses,"
+who were ready to rise in defence of perennial cheapness; and Mr
+Cobden has warned us not to provoke the exercise of that power
+which is vested in himself, as dictator of the democracy. In short,
+we have been given to understand that, if protection to native
+industry, in any shape, should be re-introduced--which only can be
+done by the will and legitimate sanction of Parliament--physical
+force shall not be wanting on the other side.
+
+The use of such language argues great ignorance of the national
+temper. We have heard a good deal lately of what is termed the
+dogged Anglo-Saxon spirit, the main characteristic of which we
+take to be its decided antagonism to bullying, and its inveterate
+hatred of coercion. It is too much to expect that a controversy
+such as this should be conducted without some asperity of
+language, and therefore we make no clamorous complaint when Mr
+Cobden, or his friends, think proper to designate the British
+agriculturists as "ignorant clodpoles" and "horse-shoe idiots," or
+the landed proprietors as "a selfish and degraded faction," or the
+Protectionist press as the "hireling tools of oppression." These
+are very old and very harmless terms of rhetoric, and we are not
+sure that we can claim entire vindication from the charge of having
+retorted with tolerable energy. The real danger begins when men
+step beyond constitutional limits, and advocate resistance to the
+legislature by appealing to the passions, as they have pandered to
+the prejudices, of the mob.
+
+Having premised so much, we think no one can misinterpret our
+motives, if we set ourselves seriously to the task of refuting
+a great fallacy which has been hatched and propagated by the
+Free-traders. It is one so monstrous in itself that we hardly could
+have supposed that any man, who had reflected for a moment on the
+subject, could have yielded to the delusion: nevertheless, we
+believe it to be most common, and it has been over and over again
+repeated at public meetings, until it has lost its quality as an
+assertion, and been treated as a recognised fact. It is within the
+recollection of all of us, that, both within the walls of Parliament
+and at the great outward gatherings of the League, the superiority
+of the manufacturing over the agricultural interest of Great Britain
+was broadly asserted, and assumed as the basis of the leading
+argument of the Free-traders. Sir Robert Peel expressly adopted
+this view in 1846, while advocating the repeal of the policy, which
+he had hitherto professed to support; we say, _professed_, because
+no man now doubts--indeed, it is fairly admitted by himself, with
+something like a sneer of triumph--that for many years he had
+been practising a deliberate imposture on the public. This view
+necessarily must have had some foundation on authority, if not on
+fact; and we can trace that authority to a statistical writer, Mr
+Porter, on whose accuracy, and method of dealing with figures, far
+too much reliance has been placed by statesmen high in office.
+
+In dealing with the census of 1841, and compiling his tables with
+a view to show the relative occupations of the people, Mr Porter
+has adopted the ingenious plan of massing commerce, trade, and
+manufactures together, and exhibiting the aggregate of these in
+contradistinction to the purely agricultural interest! At page 55
+of the last edition of his _Progress of the Nation_ we find this
+statement--"The following more elaborate table of the occupations of
+the population of Great Britain, as ascertained in 1841, his been
+compiled from the Reports of the Census Commissioners. _It affords
+the best abstract_ that has hitherto been attainable upon this
+important branch of political arithmetic."
+
+We turn to the table indicated in this modest passage, and we find
+the following results for Great Britain alone:--
+
+  Persons engaged in commerce,}
+    trade, and manufacture,   }      3,092,787
+
+  Agriculture,                       1,490,785
+
+  Labour not agricultural,             758,495
+
+This, of course, is exclusive of the army, navy, learned
+professions, domestic servants, and various other employments,
+besides women and children. In another table, Mr Porter, estimating
+the male population of Great Britain, (excluding Ireland,) who were
+then upwards of twenty years of age, at 4,761,091, divides them
+thus:--
+
+  Agriculture,                   1,198,156
+  Trade, manufactures, &c.,      2,125,496
+  Other classes,                 1,437,439
+                                 ---------
+                                 4,761,091
+
+If, as Mr Spackman most properly observes in his excellent work,
+the _Analysis of the Occupations of the People_, one of the
+principal objects of taking the census is to trace the relative
+degree of dependence of one class upon another, how can this be
+done if all the trade and commerce of the country is to be mixed up
+with manufactures? "Mr Porter would have us to consider trade and
+commerce, _and manufactures_ as synonymous terms, and that together
+they only form one class; and he seems to be so thoroughly haunted
+with the numerical weakness of the manufacturing interest, that
+his fear of its being discovered peeps out in every paragraph; and,
+by mixing them up in every table in which they are mentioned in his
+book, with those engaged in trade and commerce, he has effectually
+succeeded in his object."
+
+As we propose to lay before our readers the results of Mr Spackman,
+it may be proper shortly to state the principles which have guided
+him in his classification of the official returns. He recognises
+but two great classes of the community engaged in the production
+of wealth, and upon these he justly considers the whole of the
+remainder to be dependent. The following extract from his preface
+will sufficiently explain his view:--
+
+     "Of the number of persons actually employed by the
+     agriculturists and manufacturers, no difference of opinion can
+     exist, as we have adopted the Government classification in
+     every instance, and copied the figures given in the returns. We
+     believe this classification to be correct in principle, and but
+     slightly erroneous in details.
+
+     "Political economists may exercise their ingenuity by calling in
+     question this classification, but we believe it is the only one
+     that accurately traces the dependence of an individual on the
+     one or the other interest; and, as this is the primary object
+     of all such matters, if it attains this end, it is sufficient
+     for all purposes. By the landed interest we mean not only
+     the proprietors of the soil, but all that are engaged in its
+     cultivation, and all the interests that are dependent on and
+     supported by both landlord and tenant. An agriculturist is one
+     who grows the raw material. The manufacturer changes the fabric
+     from cotton into calico, flax into linen, wool into cloth, raw
+     into manufactured silk, mineral ores into various combinations
+     of metals, and the skin of an animal into leather.
+
+     "All besides the agriculturists and the manufacturers are
+     auxiliaries, not principals. Thus the handicraftsman alters the
+     form, but not the substance, and adapts the article to the use
+     of the consumer,--so the miller, baker, and butcher; the tailor,
+     milliner, and shoemaker.
+
+     "There is also a very numerous class, who neither produce,
+     manufacture, nor alter the shape or substance of an article,
+     and these are called merchants, if they buy and sell in a
+     wholesale manner, or shopkeepers and retail dealers if they sell
+     by retail. The business of these is to distribute all articles
+     imported from abroad or produced at home, through every city,
+     town, and village, in the United Kingdom; and the Government
+     definition of all these auxiliaries is 'engaged in trade and
+     commerce.'
+
+     "The dependence of any particular class engaged in trade and
+     commerce, or in handicraft, is not upon the party who produces,
+     alters, or supplies the article, but on the individual who
+     consumes it; and if there is any tax whatever on the raw
+     material, or on anything used in its manufacture, adaptation, or
+     distribution, it is on him that all and every item of such tax,
+     together with all profits and charges, must ultimately fall.
+
+     "Inasmuch, however, as there is no wealth in this country of any
+     amount, but what has been derived either from agriculture or
+     manufactures, nor any of which the value is not determined by
+     the success of these, so again this consumer, whatever his rank
+     or position in society may be, is mainly dependent on them. The
+     rental of land, the income from houses, or investments in the
+     public funds, are merely the representatives of so much labour;
+     and the means necessary to pay them are principally drawn from
+     either agriculture or manufactures.
+
+     "Our annual creation of wealth may be thus stated:--
+
+  Agriculture,                       L250,000,000
+
+  Manufactures, deducting the  }
+    value of the raw material, }      127,000,000
+
+  Money interest,                      37,000,000
+
+  Colonial interest,                   18,000,000
+
+  Foreign commerce, (including }
+    shipping interest,) 10 per }       15,000,000
+    cent on amount of exports  }
+    and imports,}
+
+  Fisheries,                            3,000,000
+                                     ------------
+                                     L450,000,000"
+                                     ------------
+
+_And from one or other of these does every individual in the land
+derive his income or means of support._ The Peer of the realm,
+the landed proprietor, the Government annuitant, the clergyman,
+the medical and the legal adviser, with the banker, merchant,
+dealer, and handicraftsman of every class and kind,--derive what
+is necessary to support their state and condition, and their daily
+sustenance, from these spring-heads of national wealth. This is the
+substance of the nation, and what we call money consists merely
+of the counters we use to denote and measure the value of this
+substance as it passes from one to another.
+
+     "To do equal justice to all classes, the legislation of a
+     country ought, therefore, to keep steadily in view their
+     relative importance, not only as regards numbers, but also their
+     powers of production, and the proportion which they severally
+     bear of the national burdens. Unless this is the governing
+     principle, it strikes at the root of their prosperity, and the
+     injury inflicted on a class is evinced in the gradual decay of
+     the whole community."
+
+Acting upon these distinct, and, we submit, perfectly sound
+principles, Mr Spackman has compiled his tables in the following
+manner. The Government returns are quite explicit as to the number
+of those engaged directly in agriculture and in manufactures. Mr
+Spackman takes each county separately; and having set down the
+relative numbers of each class, he divides the remainder of the
+population between these according to their proportion. For example,
+let us instance his table of the county of Lanark, which is the
+great seat of Scottish manufactures. We find, from the official
+returns, that the following numbers are directly engaged:--
+
+  In Agriculture,                       13,169
+  In Manufactures of all kinds,         61,378
+
+The residue of the population being 352,425, he divides in the same
+proportion, and thus gives us as a result:--
+
+  Engaged in Agriculture,     13,169
+  Dependent on,               62,257
+                              ------    75,426
+  Engaged in Manufactures,    61,378
+  Dependent on,              290,168
+                             -------   351,546
+                                       -------
+                    Total of county,   426,972
+
+In the same way, by estimating the population of Perthshire directly
+employed in agriculture and manufactures, Mr Spackman forms his
+table thus,--
+
+  Engaged in Agriculture,     16,302
+  Dependent on,               64,233
+                              ------    80,535
+  Engaged in Manufactures,    11,509
+  Dependent on,               45,346
+                              ------    56,855
+                                        ------
+                    Total of County,   137,390
+
+The grand result for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
+is as follows:--
+
+  Engaged in, and dependent on
+    agriculture,                    18,734,468
+  Engaged in, and dependent on
+    manufactures,                    8,091,621
+                                    ----------
+  Population, exclusive of those
+    travelling on night of census,  26,826,089
+
+Lest it should be said that Mr Spackman has acted upon any wrong
+principle in framing these tables--for we know by experience that
+a certain class of political economists can see no virtue in any
+figures which are not of their own construction--let us turn to
+the Government reports, and extract from them the number of males
+_directly_ employed in the two great branches of production.
+
+
+AGRICULTURE.
+
+  Farmers and Graziers,                737,206
+  Agricultural Labourers,            2,312,388
+  Gardeners, Nurserymen, &c.            60,767
+  All others,                            9,196
+                                     ---------
+                    Total Males,     3,118,557
+
+
+MANUFACTURES.
+
+  Above 20,                            717,780
+  Under 20,                            168,964
+                                      --------
+                    Total Males,       886,744
+
+"It will thus be seen," says Mr Spackman, "that the farmers and
+graziers alone, as a body, are more in number than all the males
+above twenty years of age employed in manufactures, and only 150,000
+short of the whole number of males of all ages so employed. If we
+add the two and a quarter millions of labourers which these farmers
+and graziers give employment to, the _male_ population employed in
+agriculture are nearly as four to one compared with those employed
+in manufactures. The same remark will also apply as to age: those
+above twenty are four to one; those under twenty are nearly two to
+one."
+
+We put forward these statements with no other view than to exhibit
+to our readers the national importance of that agricultural interest
+which has been so bitterly assailed, and which is threatened still
+by a heavier accession of calamity. If the bastard system of Free
+Trade is to be considered according to its influence on the welfare
+of the majority of the people of Britain, there can be no doubt to
+which side the vast preponderance belongs. The "horse-shoe idiots,"
+though dull in intellect, are numerous in the flesh to an extent of
+which, perhaps, even Mr Cobden was little aware. It is quite true
+that the extended area over which they are disposed does not afford
+them the same means of combination which are within the reach of the
+inhabitants of the factories. The agriculturalists have no wish to
+interfere with their neighbours' livelihood, and little inclination
+to move at the bidding of mercenary demagogues. They seldom speak
+until suffering or a sense of injustice compels them to appeal
+to the legislature: and their unwillingness to join in agitation
+has, ere now, been made subject of taunt against them. Were it
+otherwise, we should not attach one half the importance which we do
+to the movement which is visible all over the face of agricultural
+England--a movement which the advocates of Free Trade may affect to
+despise, but which, in reality, has struck them with consternation.
+And no wonder that the movement should have been made. Let us pass
+from the mere numerical consideration, and look to the extent of
+property which is embarked on the one side and on the other.
+
+We have already stated the annual value of the agricultural
+production of these kingdoms to be L250,000,000, whilst that of
+manufactures is little more than L127,000,000. To this latter sum
+we must add about L50,000,000, being the estimated cost of the raw
+material, if we wish to calculate from the exports the importance
+of the home market compared with that which is to be found abroad.
+For example, if the declared value of the exports shall amount to
+69 millions, we are entitled to assume that about 117 millions are
+consumed at home in a year of ordinary prosperity. This, of course,
+is no more than an approximation to the truth, but it is the nearest
+which can be made from such documents, reports, and returns, as are
+accessible to the statist. Let us take Mr Spackman's estimate of
+the capital employed, referring our readers for the details to his
+exceedingly interesting work.
+
+
+AGRICULTURAL CAPITAL.
+
+  Value of the Land, at 25 years' purchase of the annual rental of
+    Great Britain and Ireland, amounting, to L58,753,615  L1,500,000,000
+
+  Farmers' capital, employed in the cultivation of the soil, independent
+    of the stock on hand, at all times, of cattle, grain, &c., L5 to
+    L6 per acre on 46,522,970 acres, about                   250,000,000
+
+  Stock in hand--
+    About  7,500,000 head of cattle,                   }
+      "   31,000,000 sheep and lambs,                  }
+      "    1,500,000 horses,                           }     250,000,000
+      "  L50,000,000 value of timber,                  }
+                                                       }
+  On an average, three months stock of grain, seeds,
+    hay, and other produce always on hand,             }
+                                                           -------------
+                    Estimated agricultural capital        L2,000,000,000
+                                                           -------------
+
+MANUFACTURING CAPITAL.
+
+  In Cotton,                              L24,500,000
+  " Woollen,                               16,500,000
+  " Linen,                                  7,000,000
+  " Silk,                                   4,000,000
+  " Lace,                                   2,000,000
+  " Hose,                                   1,000,000
+  All others,                              23,000,000
+                                          -----------
+    Estimated manufacturing capital,      L78,000,000
+                                          -----------
+
+The first reflection which must come home to the mind of every one
+who considers these tables, is the astounding audacity of those who
+have characterised the landlords as a grasping and rapacious class.
+Singular, nay, almost incredible as it may appear, the annual value
+of the production of manufactures is nearly double the amount of the
+whole capital invested. This fact sufficiently explains the manner
+in which so many colossal fortunes have been realised, while it
+also suggests very painful reflections as to the condition of the
+operatives who are the creators of all this wealth. But what are
+we to think of the conduct of the men who, not content with such
+enormous returns, have leagued together to swell them to a greater
+amount, by demanding the free importation of foreign produce, under
+the pretext that the people were oppressed by the continuance of a
+system which gave remunerative prices, continuous employment, and
+the means of livelihood to two-thirds of their aggregate number?
+We acquit many of the leading and most respectable manufacturers
+from being participators in any such scheme. Those connected with
+the home trade have very generally been opposed to the application
+of the Free-trade doctrines, the leading advocates of which were
+comprised of men who manufactured solely for exportation, and whose
+goods were neither intended nor adapted for British consumption.
+It was for the exclusive benefit, as at the instigation of the
+latter, that the Corn Laws were repealed. Few can be sorry--we
+confess we are not--that even they have been disappointed in their
+expectations. No tariffs have been relaxed in consequence of the
+ill-omened surrender; on the contrary, the Continental states,
+as well as the Americans, are protecting their own manufactures
+with increased vigilance; whilst, on the other hand, they are
+availing themselves of our folly, by deluging our market with their
+agricultural produce, securing by these means the double advantage
+of promoting both branches of industry. Never was there a vainer
+notion than the chimera that other states would abandon their rising
+manufactures to reciprocate with Great Britain, when that haughty
+power had deliberately deprived herself of the means of enforcing
+reciprocity. _The countries from which we import the largest amount
+of grain are not the countries which take the largest amount of our
+manufactures._ Even if the case were otherwise, we maintain that we
+should be heavy losers, and in no way gainers, by the transaction.
+Nationally, this is so clear that we need not waste words by arguing
+the point; but we go further and say that, even had other states
+reciprocated, the manufacturers, as a body, could not have been
+gainers by Free Trade, unless the relative proportions between the
+amount of home and foreign consumption had been entirely changed.
+For, so long as two-thirds of our whole manufactures are annually
+consumed in Britain, the condition of the consumers there, and their
+power of purchase, must be a matter of greater importance to the
+manufacturer than that of consumers abroad. The interest of the
+shopkeepers and of the artisans is almost entirely bound up with the
+home trade; and nothing can be more suicidal to the traders than
+to give any countenance to a system which strikes at the amount of
+their profits, by crippling the means of their customers.
+
+Were our object merely to show the glaring injustice which has
+been done to the landed interest, we could proceed much further in
+disentangling details from the confusion into which they have been
+purposely thrown, by such statistical writers as Mr Porter. But we
+apprehend that, in the present temper of the nation, there is little
+occasion for this. Men of all classes have had that opportunity
+which experience can alone give, of testing in their own individual
+case the advantages which were so confidently predicted by those
+who advocated the commercial change. Those who have benefited by it
+will, of course, remain Free traders. We are not unreasonable enough
+to expect that they will abandon that policy which is profitable to
+themselves, even though they should be convinced that it has proved
+the reverse of profitable to others. But we can conscientiously say,
+that we are acquainted with very few such persons. In the country
+they do not exist: in the towns, we hear of nothing except continued
+and weary depression. Almost every day fresh complaints of want of
+employment are thrust upon us. Establishments are reduced, because
+those who were considered wealthy, and those whose wealth depended
+upon produce, have no longer the means to support them as before:
+even professional incomes are declining: and no one ventures now
+to indulge in that expenditure which, four or five years ago, gave
+an impulse to the industry of the people. All this we believe to
+be acknowledged, and we have heard it from the lips of many whose
+political creed is quite at variance with our own.
+
+Most important testimony to the same effect was borne, at the
+recent meeting in Liverpool, by gentlemen who, from profession and
+connection, belong to the mercantile and trading classes of the
+community. It is no vague apprehension of coming evil, no slight
+or ephemeral touch of distress, which has elicited declarations of
+opinion so strong as were there expressed. The urgency of the case
+is felt and acknowledged; and ere long we have not the slightest
+doubt that demonstrations of similar magnitude and importance will
+take place in other of the English towns.
+
+From what we have already said, it will be gathered that we
+recommend no hasty or precipitate movement. Our strength lies
+in the justice of our cause, and in the palpable failure of the
+measures against which we have emphatically protested. This is not
+a question of mere sentiment, regarding which men can long continue
+to maintain divided opinions. It is a practical question, affecting
+not only the general welfare of the kingdom, but the property and
+means of every man who lives and thrives through his industry. It is
+essentially a labour question, and, as such, it cannot long remain
+without receiving a distinct solution. In the mean time, however,
+it is our duty to make preparation for the change which may arrive
+at no distant period. The various Protection societies which are
+everywhere organised, offer to those who condemn the present line of
+policy the best opportunity of concentrating their efforts, and of
+contributing to the ultimate triumph of the cause. These societies
+must be supported, for, under existing circumstances, they are
+of the utmost value. They present a ready channel through which
+the wishes and situation of the people can be communicated to the
+legislature or the throne; they establish and preserve communication
+between neighbouring districts; and they supply useful information,
+and disseminate sound principles, in quarters where good political
+knowledge is most especially required. We trust that no one who
+entertains opinions similar to our own, and who is deeply impressed
+with the necessity of a return to the just system of Protection,
+will be backward in lending his aid to these institutions. From the
+peculiar position of the agricultural party, such combinations are
+absolutely necessary, in order to arrive at a just estimate of our
+strength, and the true sentiments of the nation. Private efforts,
+however energetically made, are ineffectual in compassion with this
+system of union and of order; and although we know that agitation
+is in itself a thing distasteful to many, the emergency of the case
+is such that we are imperatively bound to adopt all legitimate
+means for the furtherance of our object. It may be that under no
+circumstances whatever can redress be obtained from the present
+Parliament. We have already adverted to the peculiar causes which
+would seem to render such an expectation at best a forlorn hope;
+yet still that furnishes no reason for relaxing in our efforts. The
+Whig Ministry--by the confession of men of all parties--has a most
+precarious tenure of office. Already the House of Peers has passed
+its gravest censure upon the course of foreign policy which has been
+pursued--a course of which it is difficult to say whether its most
+prominent feature is culpable recklessness or glaring dishonesty. We
+do not know what may be the decision of the House of Commons upon
+a point of such importance, or whether unscrupulous influence, and
+the dread of a dissolution, may not overcome the dictates of honour
+and the force of private judgement in the more popular assembly.
+But, whatever may be the fiat of the Commons, this at least is
+clear, that a severe blow has been given to the stability of the
+Whig Government. Beyond the walls of Parliament they have hardly
+any support upon a question which threatens to involve us in direct
+hostility with France; and nothing could have more effectually
+damaged them, even in this wretched business, than the acerbity of
+the tone assumed by Lord John Russell with regard to the European
+powers, who are most justly incensed at the paltering and bad faith
+of the political incendiary who, to the misfortune of this country,
+has been intrusted with the management of foreign affairs. Neither
+the honour nor the interests of Britain are safe in such hands.
+Therefore we say to the men of the Country Party--Be prepared to
+act, for no one can tell how soon the moment for action may arrive.
+Ours is a great cause, and it must not be imperilled by slothfulness
+or inactivity at a crisis which requires the exertion of all our
+energies, and the combination of all our powers. Let us but be true
+to ourselves, and ultimate success is certain. Delusions may for a
+time have taken hold of the public mind; but the endurance of all
+delusions is short, and the mist is rapidly dissipating. Let any man
+compare the state of public feeling as it exists now, with what it
+was but twelve months ago, and he cannot fail to be impressed with
+the amazing rapidity of the change. And yet, why should he wonder at
+it? The industry of the nation is at stake, and what marvel that the
+people should demand their own?
+
+That cheapness of itself is no blessing, even our opponents admit
+in the arguments which they try to direct against us. Read their
+accounts of the squalidness and poverty which prevail in the
+larger towns--the testimony which has been laboriously collected
+as to the lamentable fall of wages, and the diminished profits of
+thousands employed in the lower kinds of handicraft. Undoubtedly
+competition among themselves has contributed to this state of
+matters; but in no degree at all commensurate to the great decline
+which has taken place since we commenced the ruinous system of
+reducing customs duties. Mr Joseph Hume once ventured to maintain,
+in the House of Commons, "that England might exist and prosper as
+a purely manufacturing and commercial country, if it did not grow
+a single bushel of corn,--if, in exchange for its manufactures and
+minerals, it imported from the cheap corn-producing countries every
+quarter of wheat required in this country!" How far that statement
+is compatible with the ascertained sources of the national wealth,
+we leave our readers to decide. This much, however, we shall say,
+that England, so situated, would be a very different country from
+that which we have known; and that the wildernesses of the West
+would offer a place of abode infinitely preferable to that which we
+could enjoy here under the gentle sway of the Millocrats, and the
+enlightened legislation of the Economists.
+
+
+_Printed by William Blackwood & 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.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume
+68, No. 417, July, 1850, by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE, JULY 1850 ***
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