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diff --git a/old/44361.txt b/old/44361.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..828ccfb --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44361.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9855 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 70, +No. 431, September 1851, 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, Vol. 70, No. 431, September 1851 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: December 5, 2013 [EBook #44361] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE, SEPT 1851 *** + + + + +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_). + +Text enclosed in plus signs is transliterated Greek +(+Io, io, io, io+). + +Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals. + + * * * * * + + + + + BLACKWOOD'S + + EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. + + NO. CCCCXXXI. SEPTEMBER, 1851. VOL. LXX. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + A CAMPAIGN IN TAKA, 251 + + MY NOVEL; OR, VARIETIES IN ENGLISH LIFE. PART XIII, 275 + + DISFRANCHISEMENT OF THE BOROUGHS, 296 + + PARIS IN 1851.--(_Continued_,) 310 + + MR RUSKIN'S WORKS, 326 + + PORTUGUESE POLITICS, 349 + + THE CONGRESS AND THE AGAPEDOME.--A TALE OF PEACE + AND LOVE, 359 + + + 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. CCCCXXXI. September, 1851. VOL. LXX. + + + + +A CAMPAIGN IN TAKA. + + _Feldzug von Sennaar nach Taka, Basa, und Beni-Amer, mit + besonderem Hinblick auf die Voelker von Bellad-Sudan._--[Campaign + from Sennaar to Taka, Basa, and Beni-Amer; with a particular + Glance at the Nations of Bellad-Sudan.]--VON FERDINAND WERNE. + Stuttgart: Koenigl. Hofbuchdruckerei. London: Williams and + Norgate. 1851. + + +Africa, the least explored division of the globe's surface, and the +best field for travellers of bold and enterprising character, has +been the scene of three of the most remarkable books of their class +that have appeared within the last ten years. We refer to Major +Harris's narrative of his Ethiopian expedition--to the marvellous +adventures of that modern Nimrod, Mr Gordon Cumming--to Mr Ferdinand +Werne's strange and exciting account of his voyage up the White +Nile. In our review of the last-named interesting and valuable +work,[1] we mentioned that Mr Werne, previously to his expedition up +the Nile, had been for several months in the Taka country, a region +previously untrodden by Europeans, with an army commanded by Achmet +Bascha, governor-general of the Egyptian province of Bellad-Sudan, +who was operating against refractory tributaries. He has just +published an account of this campaign, which afforded him, however, +little opportunity of expatiating on well-contested battles, +signal victories, or feats of heroic valour. On the other hand, +his narrative abounds in striking incidents, in curious details of +tribes and localities that have never before been described, and +in perils and hardships not the less real and painful that they +proceeded from no efforts of a resolute and formidable foe, but from +the effects of a pernicious climate, and the caprice and negligence +of a wilful and indolent commander. + + [1] _Blackwood's Magazine_, No. CCCXCIX., for January 1849. + +It was early in 1840, and Mr Werne and his youngest brother Joseph +had been resident for a whole year at Chartum, chief town of the +province of Sudan, in the country of Sennaar. Chartum, it will be +remembered by the readers of the "Expedition for the Discovery of +the Sources of the White Nile," is situated at the confluence of +the White and Blue streams, which, there uniting, flow northwards +through Nubia and Egypt Proper to Cairo and the Mediterranean; and +at Chartum it was that the two Wernes had beheld, in the previous +November, the departure of the first expedition up Nile, which they +were forbidden to join, and which met with little success. The +elder Werne, whose portrait--that of a very determined-looking +man, bearded, and in Oriental costume--is appended to the present +volume, appears to have been adventurous and a rambler from his +youth upwards. In 1822 he had served in Greece, and had now been +for many years in Eastern lands. Joseph Werne, his youngest and +favourite brother, had come to Egypt at his instigation, after +taking at Berlin his degree as Doctor of Medicine, to study, before +commencing practice, some of the extraordinary diseases indigenous +in that noxious climate. Unfortunately, as recorded in Mr Werne's +former work, this promising young man, who seems to have possessed +in no small degree the enterprise, perseverance, and fortitude so +remarkable in his brother, ultimately fell a victim to one of those +fatal maladies whose investigation was the principal motive of his +visit to Africa. The first meeting in Egypt of the two brothers was +at Cairo; and of it a characteristic account is given by the elder, +an impetuous, we might almost say a pugnacious man, tolerably prompt +to take offence, and upon whom, as he himself says at page 67, the +Egyptian climate had a violently irritating effect. + +"Our meeting, at Guerra's tavern in Cairo, was so far remarkable, +that my brother knew me immediately, whilst I took him for some +impertinent Frenchman, disposed to make game of me, inasmuch as he, +in the petulance of his joy, fixed his eyes upon me, measuring me +from top to toe, and then laughed at the fury with which I rushed +upon him, to call him to an account, and, if necessary, to have him +out. We had not seen each other for eight years, during which he +had grown into a man, and, moreover, his countenance had undergone +a change, for, by a terrible cut, received in a duel, the muscle of +risibility had been divided on one side, and the poor fellow could +laugh only with half his face. In the first overpowering joy of our +meeting in this distant quarter of the globe, we could not get the +wine over our tongues, often as my Swiss friend De Salis (over whose +cheeks the tears were chasing each other) and other acquaintances +struck their glasses against ours, encouraging us to drink.... I now +abandoned the hamlet of Tura--situated in the desert, but near the +Nile, about three leagues above Cairo, and whither I had retreated +to do penance and to work at my travels--as well as my good friend +Dr Schledehaus of Osnabruck, (then holding an appointment at the +military school, now director of the marine hospital of Alexandria,) +with whom my brother had studied at Bonn, and I hired a little house +in the Esbekie Square in Cairo. After half an hour's examination, +Joseph was appointed surgeon-major, with the rank of a Sakulagassi +or captain, in the central hospital of Kasr-el-Ain, with a thousand +piastres a month, and rations for a horse and four servants. Our +views constantly directed to the interior of Africa, we suffered +a few months to glide by in the old city of the Khalifs, dwelling +together in delightful brotherly harmony. But our thirst for +travelling was unslaked; to it I had sacrificed my appointment as +chancellor of the Prussian Consulate at Alexandria; Joseph received +his nomination as regimental surgeon to the 1st regiment in Sennaar, +including that of physician to the central hospital at Chartum. Our +friends were concerned for us on account of the dangerous climate, +but, nevertheless, we sailed with good courage up the Nile, happy +to escape from the noise of the city, and to be on our way to new +scenes." + +A stroke of the sun, received near the cataract of Ariman in +Upper Nubia, and followed by ten days' delirium, soon convinced +the younger Werne that his friends' anxiety on his behalf was +not groundless. During the whole of their twelvemonth's stay at +Chartum, they were mercilessly persecuted by intermittent fever, +there most malignant, and under whose torturing and lowering attacks +their sole consolation was that, as they never chanced both to be +ill together, they were able alternately to nurse each other. At +last, fearing that body or mind would succumb to these reiterated +fever-fits, and the first expedition up the White Nile having, to +their great disgust and disappointment, sailed without them, they +made up their minds to quit for ever the pestiferous Chartum and the +burning steppes of Bellad-Sudan. Whilst preparing for departure, +they received a visit from the chief Cadi, who told them, over a +glass of cardinal--administered by Dr Werne as medicine, to evade +his Mahomedan scruples--that Effendina (Excellency) Achmet Bascha +was well pleased with the brotherly love they manifested, taking +care of each other in sickness, and that they would do well to pay +their respects occasionally at the Divan. This communication was +almost immediately followed by the arrival at Chartum of Dr Gand, +physician to Abbas Bascha. This gentleman had been a comrade of +Ferdinand Werne's in Greece, and he recommended the two brothers to +Achmet, with whom he was intimate, in true Oriental style, as men +of universal genius and perfect integrity, to whom he might intrust +both his body and his soul. The consequence of this liberal encomium +was, that Achmet fixed his eyes upon them to accompany him, in +the capacity of confidential advisers, upon a projected campaign. +Informed of this plan and of the advantages it included, the Wernes +joyfully abandoned their proposed departure. Joseph was to be +made house-physician to Achmet and his harem, as well as medical +inspector of the whole province, in place of Soliman Effendi, (the +renegade Baron di Pasquali of Palermo,) a notorious poisoner, in +whose hands the Bascha did not consider himself safe. Ferdinand +Werne, who had held the rank of captain in Greece, was made +_bimbaschi_ or major, and was attached, as engineer, to Achmet's +person, with good pay and many privileges. "At a later period he +would have made me bey, if I--not on his account, for he was an +enlightened Circassian, but on that of the Turkish jackasses--would +have turned Mussulman. I laughed at this, and he said no more about +it." Delighted to have secured the services of the two Germans, +Achmet ordered it to be reported to his father-in-law, Mehemet Ali, +for his approval, and took counsel with his new officers concerning +the approaching campaign. Turk-like, he proposed commencing it in +the rainy season. Mr Werne opposed this as likely to cost him half +his army, the soldiers being exceedingly susceptible to rain, and +advised the erection of blockhouses at certain points along the +line of march where springs were to be found, to secure water for +the troops. The Bascha thought this rather a roundabout mode of +proceeding, held his men's lives very cheap, and boasted of his +seven hundred dromedaries, every one of which, in case of need, +could carry three soldiers. His counsellors were dismissed, with +injunctions to secresy, and on their return home they found at their +door, as a present from the Bascha, two beautiful dromedaries, +tall, powerful, ready saddled for a march, and particularly adapted +for a campaign, inasmuch as they started not when muskets were +fired between their ears. A few days later, Mr Werne was sent +for by Achmet, who, when the customary coffee had been taken, +dismissed his attendants by a sign, and informed him, with a gloomy +countenance, that the people of Taka refused to pay their _tulba_, +or tribute. His predecessor, Churdschid Bascha, having marched into +that country, had been totally defeated in a _chaaba_, or tract of +forest. Since that time, Achmet mournfully declared, the tribes had +not paid a single piastre, and he found himself grievously in want +of money. So, instead of marching south-westward to Darfour, as he +had intended, he would move north-eastward to Taka, chastise the +stubborn insolvents, and replenish the coffers of the state. "Come +with me," said he, to Mr Werne; "upon the march we shall all recover +our health," (he also suffered from frequent and violent attacks of +fever;) "yonder are water and forests, as in Germany and Circassia, +and very high mountains." It mattered little to so restless and +rambling a spirit as Mr Ferdinand Werne whether his route lay inland +towards the Mountains of the Moon, or coastwards to the Red Sea. His +brother was again sick, and spoke of leaving the country; but Mr +Werne cheered him up, pointed out to him upon the map an imaginary +duchy which he was to conquer in the approaching war, and revived +an old plan of going to settle at Bagdad, there to practise as +physician and apothecary. "We resolved, therefore, to take our +passports with us, so that, if we chose, we might embark on the Red +Sea. By this time I had seen through the Bascha, and I resolved to +communicate to him an idea which I often, in the interest of these +oppressed tribes, had revolved in my mind, namely, that he should +place himself at their head, and renounce obedience to the Egyptian +vampire. I did subsequently speak to him of the plan, and it might +have been well and permanently carried out, had he not, instead of +striving to win the confidence of the chiefs, tyrannised over them +in every possible manner. Gold and regiments! was his motto." + +Meanwhile the influential Dr Gand had fallen seriously ill, and +was so afflicted with the irritability already referred to as a +consequence of the climate, that no one could go near him but the +two Wernes. He neglected Joseph's good advice to quit Chartum at +once, put it off till it was too late, and died on his journey +northwards. His body lay buried for a whole year in the sand of the +desert; then his family, who were going to France, dug it up to take +with them. Always a very thin man, little more than skin and bone, +the burning sand had preserved him like a mummy. There was no change +in his appearance; not a hair gone from his mustaches. Strange is +the confusion and alternation of life and death in that ardent +and unwholesome land of Nubia. To-day in full health, to-morrow +prostrate with fever, from which you recover only to be again +attacked. Dead, in twenty-four hours or less corruption is busy on +the corpse; bury it promptly in the sand, and in twelve months you +may disinter it, perfect as if embalmed. At Chartum, the very focus +of disease, death, it might be thought, is sufficiently supplied by +fever to need no other purveyors. Nevertheless poisoning seems a +pretty common practice there. Life in Chartum is altogether, by Mr +Werne's account, a most curious thing. During the preparations for +the campaign, a Wurtemberg prince, Duke Paul William of Mergentheim, +arrived in the place, and was received with much pomp. "For the +first time I saw the Bascha sit upon a chair; he was in full +uniform, a red jacket adorned with gold, a great diamond crescent, +and three brilliant stars upon his left breast, his sabre by his +side." The prince, a fat good-humoured German, was considerably +impressed by the state displayed, and left the presence with many +obeisances. The next day he dined with the Bascha, whom he and the +Wernes hoped to see squatted on the ground, and feeding with his +fingers. They were disappointed; the table was arranged in European +fashion; wine of various kinds was there, especially champagne, +(which the servants, notwithstanding Werne's remonstrances, insisted +on shaking before opening, and which consequently flew about the +room in foaming fountains;) bumper-toasts were drunk; and the +whole party, Franks and Turks, seem to have gradually risen into +a glorious state of intoxication, during which they vowed eternal +friendship to each other in all imaginable tongues; and the German +prince declared he would make the campaign to Taka with the Bascha, +draw out the plan, and overwhelm the enemy. This jovial meeting +was followed by a quieter entertainment given by the Wernes to the +prince, who declared he was travelling as a private gentleman, and +wished to be treated accordingly; and then Soliman Effendi, the +Sicilian renegade, made a respectful application for permission to +invite the "_Altezza Tedesca_," for whom he had conceived a great +liking. A passage from Mr Werne is here worth quoting, as showing +the state of society at Chartum. "I communicated the invitation, +with the remark that the Sicilian was notorious for his poisonings, +but that I had less fear on his highness' account than on that of +my brother, who was already designated to replace him in his post. +The prince did not heed the danger; moreover, I had put myself on a +peculiar footing with Soliman Effendi, and now told him plainly that +he had better keep his vindictive manoeuvres for others than us, +for that my brother and I should go to dinner with loaded pistols +in our pockets, and would shoot him through the head (_brucciare +il cervello_) if one of us three felt as much as a belly-ache at +his table. The dinner was served in the German fashion; all the +guests came, except Vaissiere (formerly a French captain, now a +slave-dealer, with the cross of the legion of honour.) He would +not trust Soliman, who was believed to have poisoned a favourite +female-slave of his after a dispute they had about money matters. +The dinner went off merrily and well. The duke changed his mind +about going to Taka, but promised to join in the campaign on his +return from Faszogl, and bade me promise the Bascha in his name a +crocodile-rifle and a hundred bottles of champagne." + +Long and costly were the preparations for the march; the more so +that Mr Werne and his brother, who saw gleaming in the distance the +golden cupolas of Bagdad, desired to take all their baggage with +them, and also sufficient stores for the campaign--not implicitly +trusting to the Bascha's promise that his kitchen and table should +be always at their service. Ten camels were needed to carry the +brothers' baggage. One of their greatest troubles was to know how +to dispose of their collection of beasts and birds. "The young +maneless lion, our greatest joy, was dead--Soliman Effendi, who +was afraid of him, having dared to poison him, as I learned, after +the renegade's death, from one of our own people." But of birds +there were a host; eagles, vultures, king-cranes, (_grus pavonina_, +Linn.;) a snake-killing secretary, with his beautiful eagle head, +long tail, and heron legs; strange varieties of water-fowl, many +of which had been shot, but had had the pellets extracted and the +wounds healed by the skill of Dr Werne; and last, but most beloved, +"a pet black horn-bird, (_buceros abyss._ L.,) who hopped up to us +when we called out 'Jack!'--who picked up with his long curved beak +the pieces of meat that were thrown to him, tossed them into the air +and caught them again, (whereat the Prince of Wurtemberg laughed +till he held his sides,) because nature has provided him with too +short a tongue; but who did not despise frogs and lizards, and who +called us at daybreak with his persevering '_Hum, hum_,' until we +roused ourselves and answered 'Jack.'" Their anxiety on account of +their aviary was relieved by the Bascha's wife, who condescendingly +offered to take charge of it during their absence. Mehemet Ali's +daughter suffered dreadfully from ennui in dull, unwholesome +Chartum, and reckoned on the birds and beasts as pastime and +diversion. Thus, little by little, difficulties were overcome, and +all was made ready for the march. A Bolognese doctor of medicine, +named Bellotti, and Dumont, a French apothecary, arrived at Chartum. +They belonged to an Egyptian regiment, and must accompany it on the +_chasua_.[2] Troops assembled in and around Chartum, the greater +part of whose garrison, destined also to share in the campaign, were +boated over to the right bank of the Blue Nile. Thence they were +to march northwards to Damer--once a town, now a village amidst +ruins--situated about three leagues above the place where the +Atbara, a river that rises in Abyssinia, and flows north-westward +through Sennaar, falls into the Nile. There the line of march +changed its direction to the right, and took a tolerably straight +route, but inclining a little to the south, in the direction of the +Red Sea. The Bascha went by water down the Nile the greater part of +the way to Damer, and was of course attended by his physician. Mr +Werne, finding himself unwell, followed his example, sending their +twelve camels by land, and accompanied by Bellotti, Dumont, and a +Savoyard merchant from Chartum, Bruno Rollet by name. There was +great difficulty in getting a vessel, all having been taken for the +transport of provisions and military stores; but at last one was +discovered, sunk by its owner to save it from the commissariat, and +after eleven days of sickness, suffering, and peril--during which Mr +Werne, when burning with fever, had been compelled to jump overboard +to push the heavy laden boat off the reef on which the stupid Reis +had run it--the party rejoined headquarters. There Mr Werne was +kindly received by Achmet, and most joyfully by his brother. Long +and dolorous was the tale Dr Joseph had to tell of his sufferings +with the wild-riding Bascha. Three days before reaching Damer, that +impatient chieftain left his ship and ordered out the dromedaries. +The Berlin doctor of medicine felt his heart sink within him; he had +never yet ascended a dromedary's saddle, and the desperate riding +of the Bascha made his own Turkish retinue fear to follow him. His +forebodings were well-founded. Two hours' rough trot shook up his +interior to such an extent, and so stripped his exterior of skin, +that he was compelled to dismount and lie down upon some brushwood +near the Nile, exposed to the burning sun, and with a compassionate +Bedouin for sole attendant, until the servants and baggage came up. +Headache, vomiting, terrible heat and parching thirst--for he had +no drinking vessel, and the Bedouin would not leave him--were his +portion the whole day, followed by fever and delirium during the +night. At two o'clock the next day (the hottest time) the Bascha was +again in the saddle, as if desirous to try to the utmost his own +endurance and that of his suite. By this time the doctor had come +up with him, (having felt himself better in the morning,) after a +six hours' ride, and terrible loss of leather, the blood running +down into his stockings. Partly on his dromedary, partly on foot, +he managed to follow his leader through this second day's march, +at the cost of another night's fever, but in the morning he was +so weak that he was obliged to take boat and complete his journey +to Damer by water. Of more slender frame and delicate complexion +than his brother, the poor doctor was evidently ill-adapted for +roughing it in African deserts, although his pluck and fortitude +went far towards supplying his physical deficiencies. Most painful +are the accounts of his constantly recurring sufferings during +that arduous expedition; and one cannot but admire and wonder at +the zeal for science, or ardent thirst for novelty, that supported +him, and induced him to persevere in the teeth of such hardship and +ill-health. At Damer he purchased a small dromedary of easy paces, +and left the Bascha's rough-trotting gift for his brother's riding. + + [2] "The word _chasua_ signifies an expedition along the frontier, + or rather _across_ the frontier, for the capture of men and beasts. + These slave-hunts are said to have been first introduced here by the + Turks, and the word chasua is not believed to be indigenous, since + for war and battle are otherwise used _harba_ (properly a lance) + and _schammata_. _Chasua_ and _razzia_ appear to be synonymous, + corrupted from the Italian _cazzia_, in French _chasse_."--_Feldzug + von Sennaar_, &c., p. 17. + +At three in the afternoon of the 20th March, a cannon-shot gave the +signal for departure. The Wernes' water-skins were already filled +and their baggage packed; in an instant their tents were struck and +camels loaded; with baggage and servants they took their place at +the head of the column and rode up to the Bascha, who was halted +to the east of Damer, with his beautiful horses and dromedaries +standing saddled behind him. He complained of the great disorder +in the camp, but consoled himself with the reflection that things +would go better by-and-by. "It was truly a motley scene," says +Mr Werne. "The Turkish cavalry in their national costume of many +colours, with yellow and green banners and small kettle-drums; the +Schaigie and Mograbin horsemen; Bedouins on horseback, on camels, +and on foot; the Schechs and Moluks (little king) with their +armour-bearers behind them on the dromedaries, carrying pikes and +lances, straight swords and leather shields; the countless donkeys +and camels--the former led by a great portion of the infantry, to +ride in turn--drums and an ear-splitting band of music, The Chabir +(caravan-leader) was seen in the distance mounted on his dromedary, +and armed with a lance and round shield; the Bascha bestrode his +horse, and we accompanied him in that direction, whilst gradually, +and in picturesque disorder, the detachments emerged from the +monstrous confusion and followed us. The artillery consisted of two +field-pieces, drawn by camels, which the Bascha had had broken to +the work, that in the desert they might relieve the customary team +of mules. + +"Abd-el-Kader, the jovial Topschi Baschi, (chief of the artillery,) +commanded them, and rode a mule. The Turks, (that is to say, chiefly +Circassians, Kurds, and Arnauts or Albanians,) who shortly before +could hardly put one leg before the other, seemed transformed +into new men, as they once more found themselves at home in their +saddles. They galloped round the Bascha like madmen, riding their +horses as mercilessly as if they had been drunk with opium. This +was a sort of honorary demonstration, intended to indicate to their +chief their untameable valour. The road led through the desert, and +was tolerably well beaten. Towards evening the Bascha rode forwards +with the Chabir. We did not follow, for I felt myself unwell. It was +dark night when we reached the left bank of the Atbara, where we +threw ourselves down amongst the bushes, and went to sleep, without +taking supper." + +The campaign might now be said to be beginning; at least the army +was close upon tribes whose disposition, if not avowedly hostile, +was very equivocal, and the Bascha placed a picket of forty men at +the only ford over the Atbara, a clear stream of tolerable depth, +and with lofty banks, covered with rich grass, with mimosas and +lofty fruit-laden palm-trees. The next day's march was a severe +one--ten hours without a halt--and was attended, after nightfall, +with some danger, arising partly from the route lying through +trees with barbed thorns, strong enough to tear the clothes off +men's bodies and the eyes out of their heads, and partly from the +crowding and pressure in the disorderly column during its progress +amongst holes and chasms occasioned by the overflowing of the river. +Upon halting, at midnight, a fire was lighted for the Bascha, and +one of his attendants brought coffee to Mr Werne; but he, sick +and weary, rejected it, and would have preferred, he says, so +thoroughly exhausted did he feel, a nap under a bush to a supper +upon a roasted angel. They were still ascending the bank of the +Atbara, a winding stream, with wildly beautiful tree-fringed banks, +containing few fish, but giving shelter, in its deep places, to +the crocodile and hippopotamus. From the clefts of its sandstone +bed, then partially exposed by the decline of the waters, sprang a +lovely species of willow, with beautiful green foliage and white +umbelliferous flowers, having a perfume surpassing that of jasmine. +The Wernes would gladly, have explored the neighbourhood; but the +tremendous heat, and a warm wind which played round their temples +with a sickening effect, drove them into camp. Gunfire was at noon +upon that day; but it was Mr Werne's turn to be on the sick-list. +Suddenly he felt himself so ill, that it was with a sort of +despairing horror he saw the tent struck from over him, loaded upon +a camel, and driven off. In vain he endeavoured to rise; the sun +seemed to dart coals of fire upon his head. His brother and servant +carried him into the shadow of a neighbouring palm-tree, and he sank +half-dead upon the glowing sand. It would suffice to abide there +during the heat of the day, as they thought, but instead of that, +they were compelled to remain till next morning, Werne suffering +terribly from dysentery. "Never in my life," he says, "did I more +ardently long for the setting of the sun than on that day; even +its last rays exercised the same painful power on my hair, which +seemed to be in a sort of electric connection with just as many +sunbeams, and to bristle up upon my head. And no sooner had the +luminary which inspired me with such horror sunk below the horizon, +than I felt myself better, and was able to get on my legs and crawl +slowly about. Some good-natured Arab shepherd-lads approached our +fire, pitied me, and brought me milk and durra-bread. It was a +lovely evening; the full moon was reflected in the Atbara, as were +also the dark crowns of the palm-trees, wild geese shrieked around +us; otherwise the stillness was unbroken, save at intervals by the +cooing of doves. There is something beautiful in sleeping in the +open air, when weather and climate are suitable. We awoke before +sunrise, comforted, and got upon our dromedaries; but after a couple +of hours' ride we mistrusted the sun, and halted with some wandering +Arabs belonging to the Kabyle of the Kammarabs. We were hospitably +received, and regaled with milk and bread."[3] + + [3] These Kammarabs possess a tract on the left or south bank of + the Atbara. The distribution of the different tribes, as well as + the line of march and other particulars, are very clearly displayed + in the appropriate little map accompanying Mr Werne's volume. + Opposite to the Kammarabs, "on the right bank of the Atbara, are the + Anafidabs, of the race or family of the Bischari. They form a Kabyle + (band or community) under a Schech of their own. How it is that the + French in Algiers persist in using _Kabyle_ as the proper name of a + nation and a country, I cannot understand."--_Feldzug von Sennaar_, + p. 32. + +When our two Germans rejoined headquarters, after four days' +absence, they found Achmet Bascha seated in the shade upon the +ground in front of his tent, much burned by the sun, and looking +fagged and suffering--as well he might be after the heat and +exposure he had voluntarily undergone. Nothing could cure him, +however, at least as yet, of his fancy for marching in the heat of +the day. Although obstinate and despotic, the Bascha was evidently +a dashing sort of fellow, well calculated to win the respect and +admiration of his wild and heterogeneous army. Weary as were the +two Wernes, (they reached the camp at noon,) at two o'clock they +had to be again in the saddle. "A number of gazelles were started; +the Bascha seized a gun and dashed after them upon his Arabian +stallion, almost the whole of the cavalry scouring after him like +a wild mob, and we ourselves riding a sharp trot to witness the +chase. We thought he had fallen from his horse, so suddenly did he +swing himself from saddle to ground, killing three gazelles with +three shots, of which animals we consumed a considerable portion +roasted for that night's supper." The river here widened, and +crocodiles showed themselves upon the opposite shore. The day was +terribly warm; the poor medico was ill again, suffering grievously +from his head, and complaining of _his hair being so hot_; and as +the Salamander Bascha persisted in marching under a sun which, +through the canvass of the tents, heated sabres and musket-barrels +till it was scarcely possible to grasp them, the brothers again +lingered behind and followed in the cool of the evening, Joseph +being mounted upon an easy-going mule lent him by Topschi Baschi, +the good-humoured but dissolute captain of the guns. They were now +divided but by the river's breadth from the hostile tribe of the +Haddenda, and might at any moment be assailed; so two hours after +sunset a halt was called and numerous camp-fires were lighted, +producing a most picturesque effect amongst the trees, and by their +illumination of the diversified costumes of the soldiery, and +attracting a whole regiment of scorpions, "some of them remarkably +fine specimens," says Mr Werne, who looks upon these unpleasant +fireside companions with a scientific eye, "a finger and a half +long, of a light colour, half of the tail of a brown black and +covered with hair." It is a thousand pities that the adventurous Mrs +Ida Pfeiffer did not accompany Mr Werne upon this expedition. She +would have had the finest possible opportunities of curing herself +of the prejudice which it will be remembered she was so weak as to +entertain against the scorpion tribe. These pleasant reptiles were +as plentiful all along Mr Werne's line of march as are cockchafers +on a summer evening in an English oak-copse. Their visitations were +pleasantly varied by those of snakes of all sizes, and of various +degrees of venom. "At last," says Mr Werne, "one gets somewhat +indifferent about scorpions and other wild animals." He had greater +difficulty in accustoming himself to the sociable habits of the +snakes, who used to glide about amongst tents and baggage, and by +whom, in the course of the expedition, a great number of persons +were bitten. On the 12th April "Mohammed Ladham sent us a remarkable +scorpion--pity that it is so much injured--almost two fingers long, +black-brown, tail and feet covered with prickly hair, claws as large +as those of a small crab.... We had laid us down under a green tree +beside a cotton plantation, whilst our servants unloaded the camels +and pitched the tents, when a snake, six feet long, darted from +under our carpet, passed over my leg, and close before my brother's +face. But we were so exhausted that we lay still, and some time +afterwards the snake was brought to us, one of Schech Defalla's +people having killed it." About noon next day a similar snake sprang +out of the said Defalla's own tent; it was killed also, and found to +measure six feet two inches. The soldiers perceiving that the German +physician and his brother were curious in the matter of reptiles, +brought them masses of serpents; but they had got a notion that the +flesh was the part coveted (not the skin) to make medicine, and most +of the specimens were so defaced as to be valueless. Early in May +"some soldiers assured us they had seen in the thicket a serpent +twenty feet long, and as thick as a man's leg; probably a species +of boa--a pity that they could not kill it. The great number of +serpents with dangerous bites makes our bivouac very unsafe, and we +cannot encamp with any feeling of security near bushes or amongst +brushwood; the prick of a blade of straw, the sting of the smallest +insect, causes a hasty movement, for one immediately fancies it +is a snake or scorpion; and when out shooting, one's _second_ +glance is for the game, one's _first_ on the ground at his feet, +for fear of trampling and irritating some venomous reptile." As +we proceed through the volume we shall come to other accounts of +beasts and reptiles, so remarkable as really almost to reconcile +us to the possibility of some of the zoological marvels narrated +by the Yankee Doctor Mayo in his rhapsody of Kaloolah.[4] For the +present we must revert to the business of this curiously-conducted +campaign. As the army advanced, various chiefs presented themselves, +with retinues more or less numerous. The first of these was the +Grand-Shech Mohammed Defalla, already named, who came up, with a +great following, on the 28th March. He was a man of herculean frame; +and assuredly such was very necessary to enable him to endure in +that climate the weight of his defensive arms. He wore a double +shirt of mail over a quilted doublet, arm-plates and beautifully +wrought steel gauntlets; his casque fitted like a shell to the upper +part of his head, and had in front, in lieu of a visor, an iron +bar coming down over the nose--behind, for the protection of the +nape, a fringe composed of small rings. His straight-bladed sword +had a golden hilt. The whole equipment, which seems to correspond +very closely with that of some of the Sikhs or other warlike Indian +tribes, proceeded from India, and Defalla had forty or fifty such +suits of arms. About the same time with him, arrived two Schechs +from the refractory land of Taka, tall handsome men; whilst, from +the environs of the neighbouring town of Gos-Rajeb, a number of +people rode out on dromedaries to meet the Bascha, their hair quite +white with camel-fat, which melted in the sun and streamed over +their backs. Gos-Rajeb, situated at about a quarter of a mile from +the left bank of the Atbara, consists of some two hundred _tokul_ +(huts) and clay-built houses, and in those parts is considered +an important commercial depot, Indian goods being transported +thither on camels from the port of Souakim, on the Red Sea. The +inhabitants are of various tribes, more of them red than black +or brown; but few were visible, many having fled at the approach +of Achmet's army, which passed the town in imposing array--the +infantry in double column in the centre, the Turkish cavalry on the +right, the Schaigies and Mograbins on the left, the artillery, with +kettledrums, cymbals, and other music, in the van--marched through +the Atbara, there very shallow, and encamped on the right bank, in +a stony and almost treeless plain, at the foot of two rocky hills. +The Bascha ordered the Shech of Gos-Rajeb to act as guide to the +Wernes in their examination of the vicinity, and to afford them all +the information in his power. The most remarkable spot to which +he conducted them was to the site of an ancient city, which once, +according to tradition, had been as large as Cairo, and inhabited +by Christians. The date of its existence must be very remote, for +the ground was smooth, and the sole trace of buildings consisted in +a few heaps of broken bricks. There were indications of a terrible +conflagration, the bricks in one place being melted together into a +black glazed mass. Mr Werne could trace nothing satisfactory with +respect to former Christian occupants, and seems disposed to think +that Burckhardt, who speaks of Christian monuments at that spot, (in +the neighbourhood of the hill of Herrerem,) may have been misled by +certain peculiarly formed rocks. + + [4] _Blackwood's Magazine_, No. CCCCIV., for June 1849. + +The most renowned chief of the mutinous tribes of Taka, the +conqueror of the Turks under Churdschid Bascha, was Mohammed Din, +Grand-Schech of the Haddenda. This personage, awed by the approach +of Achmet's formidable force, sent his son to the advancing +Bascha, as a hostage for his loyalty and submission. Achmet sent +the young man back to his father as bearer of his commands. The +next day the army crossed the frontier of Taka, which is not +very exactly defined, left the Atbara in their rear, and, moving +still eastwards, beheld before them, in the far distance, the +blue mountains of Abyssinia. The Bascha's suite was now swelled +by the arrival of numerous Schechs, great and small, with their +esquires and attendants. The route lay through a thick forest, +interwoven with creeping plants and underwood, and with thorny +mimosas, which grew to a great height. The path was narrow, the +confusion of the march inconceivably great and perilous, and if +the enemy had made a vigorous attack with their javelins, which +they are skilled in throwing, the army must have endured great +loss, with scarcely a possibility of inflicting any. At last the +scattered column reached an open space, covered with grass, and +intersected with deep narrow rills of water. The Bascha, who had +outstripped his troops, was comfortably encamped, heedless of their +fate, whilst they continued for a long time to emerge in broken +parties from the wood. Mr Werne's good opinion of his generalship +had been already much impaired, and this example of true Turkish +indolence, and of the absence of any sort of military dispositions +under such critical circumstances, completely destroyed it. The +next day there was some appearance of establishing camp-guards, +and of taking due precautions against the fierce and numerous +foe, who on former occasions had thrice defeated Turkish armies, +and from whom an attack might at any moment be expected. In the +afternoon an alarm was given; the Bascha, a good soldier, although +a bad general, was in the saddle in an instant, and gallopping +to the spot, followed by all his cavalry, whilst the infantry +rushed confusedly in the same direction. The uproar had arisen, +however, not from Arab assailants, but from some soldiers who had +discovered extensive corn magazines--_silos_, as they are called +in Algeria--holes in the ground, filled with grain, and carefully +covered over. By the Bascha's permission, the soldiers helped +themselves from these abundant granaries, and thus the army found +itself provided with corn for the next two months. In the course of +the disorderly distribution, or rather scramble, occurred a little +fight between the Schaigie, a quarrelsome set of irregulars, and +some of the Turks. Nothing could be worse than the discipline of +Achmet's host. The Schaigies were active and daring horsemen, and +were the first to draw blood in the campaign, in a skirmish upon +the following day with some ambushed Arabs. The neighbouring woods +swarmed with these javelin-bearing gentry, although they lay close, +and rarely showed themselves, save when they could inflict injury +at small risk. Mr Werne began to doubt the possibility of any +extensive or effectual operations against these wild and wandering +tribes, who, on the approach of the army, loaded their goods on +camels, and fled into the _Chaaba_, or forest district, whither +it was impossible to follow them. Where was the Bascha to find +money and food for the support of his numerous army?--where was +he to quarter it during the dangerous _Chariff_, or rainy season? +He was very reserved as to his plans; probably, according to Mr +Werne, because he had none. The Schechs who had joined and marched +with him could hardly be depended upon, when it was borne in mind +that they, formerly the independent rulers of a free people, had +been despoiled of their power and privileges, and were now the +ill-used vassals of the haughty and stupid Turks, who overwhelmed +them with imposts, treated them contemptuously, and even subjected +them to the bastinado. "Mohammed Din, seeing the hard lot of these +gentlemen, seems disposed to preserve his freedom as long as +possible, or to sell it as dearly as may be. Should it come to a +war, there is, upon our side, a total want of efficient leaders, at +any rate if we except the Bascha. Abdin Aga, chief of the Turkish +cavalry, a bloated Arnaut; Sorop Effendi, a model of stupidity and +covetousness; Hassan Effendi Bimbaschi, a quiet sot; Soliman Aga, +greedy, and without the slightest education of any kind; Hassan +Effendi of Sennaar, a Turk in the true sense of the word (these +four are infantry commanders); Mohammed Ladjam, a good-natured but +inexperienced fellow, chief of the Mograbin cavalry: amongst all +these officers, the only difference is, that each is more ignorant +than his neighbour. With such leaders, what can be expected from an +army that, for the most part, knows no discipline--the Schaigies, +for instance, doing just what they please, and being in a fair way +to corrupt all the rest--and that is encumbered with an endless +train of dangerous rabble, idlers, slaves, and women of pleasure, +serving as a burthen and hindrance? Let us console ourselves with +the _Allah kerim!_ (God is merciful.)" Mr Werne had not long to +wait for a specimen of Turkish military skill. On the night of the +7th April he was watching in his tent beside his grievously sick +brother, when there suddenly arose an uproar in the camp, followed +by firing. "I remained by our tent, for my brother was scarcely able +to stir, and the infantry also remained quiet, trusting to their +mounted comrades. But when I saw Bimbaschi Hassan Effendi lead a +company past us, and madly begin to fire over the powder-waggons, +as if these were meant to serve as barricades against the hostile +lances, I ran up to him with my sabre drawn, and threatened him +with the Bascha, as well as with the weapon, whereupon he came to +his senses, and begged me not to betray him. The whole proved to +be mere noise, but the harassed Bascha was again up and active. +He seemed to make no use of his aides-de-camp, and only his own +presence could inspire his troops with courage. Some of the enemy +were killed, and there were many tracks of blood leading into the +wood, although the firing had been at random in the darkness. As +a specimen of the tactics of our Napoleon-worshipping Bascha, he +allowed the wells, which were at two hundred yards from camp, to +remain unguarded at night, so that they might easily have been +filled up by the enemy. Truly fortunate was it that there were no +great stones in the neighbourhood to choke them up, for we were +totally without implements wherewith to have cleared them out +again." Luckily for this most careless general and helpless army, +the Arabs neglected to profit by their shortcomings, and on the 14th +April, after many negotiations, the renowned Mohammed Din himself, +awed, we must suppose, by the numerical strength of Achmet's troops, +and over-estimating their real value, committed the fatal blunder +of presenting himself in the Turkish camp. Great was the curiosity +to see this redoubted chief, who alighted at Schech Defalla's +tent, into which the soldiers impudently crowded, to get a view of +the man before whom many of them had formerly trembled and fled. +"Mohammed Din is of middle stature, and of a black-brown colour, +like all his people; his countenance at first says little, but, +on longer inspection, its expression is one of great cunning; his +bald head is bare; his dress Arabian, with drawers of a fiery red +colour. His retinue consists, without exception, of most ill-looking +fellows, on whose countenances Nature seems to have done her best +to express the faithless character attributed to the Haddenda. +They are all above the middle height, and armed with shields and +lances, or swords." Next morning Mr Werne saw the Bascha seated +on his _angareb_, (a sort of bedstead, composed of plaited strips +of camel-hide, which, upon the march, served as a throne,) with a +number of Shechs squatted upon the ground on either side of him, +amongst them Mohammed Din, looking humbled, and as if half-repentant +of his rash step. The Bascha appeared disposed to let him feel that +he was now no better than a caged lion, whose claws the captor can +cut at will. He showed him, however, marks of favour, gave him a red +shawl for a turban, and a purple mantle with gold tassels, but no +sabre, which Mr Werne thought a bad omen. The Schech was suffered to +go to and fro between the camp and his own people, but under certain +control--now with an escort of Schaigies, then leaving his son as +hostage. He sent in some cattle and sheep as a present, and promised +to bring the tribute due; this he failed to do, and a time was +fixed to him and the other Shechs within which to pay up arrears. +Notwithstanding the subjection of their chief, the Arabs continued +their predatory practices, stealing camels from the camp, or taking +them by force from the grooms who drove them out to pasture. + +Mr Werne's book is a journal, written daily during the campaign but, +owing to the long interval between its writing and publication, he +has found it necessary to make frequent parenthetical additions, +corrective or explanatory. Towards the end of April, during great +sickness in camp, he writes as follows:--"My brother's medical +observations and experiments begin to excite in me a strong +interest. He has promised me that he will keep a medical journal; +but he must first get into better health, for now it is always with +sickening disgust that he returns from visiting his patients; he +complains of the insupportable effluvia from these people, sinks +upon his _angareb_ with depression depicted in his features, and +falls asleep with open eyes, so that I often feel quite uneasy." +Then comes the parenthesis of ten years' later date. "Subsequently, +when I had joined the expedition for the navigation of the White +Nile, he wrote to me from the camp of Kassela-el-Lus to Chartum, +that, with great diligence and industry, he had written some +valuable papers on African diseases, and was inconsolable at having +lost them. He had been for ten days dangerously ill, had missed me +sadly, and, in a fit of delirium, when his servant asked him for +paper to light the fire, had handed him his manuscript, which the +stupid fellow had forthwith burned. At the same time, he lamented +that, during his illness, our little menagerie had been starved to +death. The Bascha had been to see him, and by his order Topschi +Baschi had taken charge of his money, that he might not be robbed, +giving the servants what was needful for their keep, and for the +purchase of flesh for the animals. The servants had drunk the money +intended for the beasts' food. When my brother recovered his health, +he had the _fagged_, (a sort of lynx,) which had held out longest, +and was only just dead, cut open, and so convinced himself that +it had died of hunger. The annoyance one has to endure from these +people is beyond conception, and the very mildest-tempered man--as, +for instance, my late brother--is compelled at times to make use of +the whip." + +Whilst Mohammed Din and the other Shechs, accompanied by detachments +of Turkish troops, intended partly to support them in their demands, +and partly to reconnoitre the country, endeavoured to get together +the stipulated tribute, the army remained stationary. But repose +did not entail monotony; strange incidents were of daily occurrence +in this singular camp. The Wernes, always anxious for the increase +of their cabinet of stuffed birds and beasts, sent their huntsman +Abdallah with one of the detachments, remaining themselves, for the +present at least, at headquarters, to collect whatever might come +in their way. The commander of the Mograbins sent them an antelope +as big as a donkey, having legs like a cow, and black twisted +horns. From the natives little was to be obtained. They were very +shy and ill-disposed, and could not be prevailed upon, even by +tenfold payment, to supply the things most abundant with them, as +for instance milk and honey. In hopes of alluring and conciliating +them, the Bascha ordered those traders who had accompanied the army +to establish a bazaar outside the fence enclosing the camp. The +little mirrors that were there sold proved a great attraction. The +Arabs would sit for whole days looking in them, and pulling faces. +But no amount of reflection could render them amicable or honest: +they continued to steal camels and asses whenever they could, and +one of them caught a Schaigie's horse, led him up to the camp, +and stabbed him to death. So great was the hatred of these tribes +to their oppressors--a hatred which would have shown itself by +graver aggressions, but for Achmet's large force, and above all, +for their dread of firearms. Within the camp there was wild work +enough at times. The good-hearted, hot-headed Werne was horribly +scandalised by the ill-treatment of the slaves. Dumont, the French +apothecary, had a poor lad named Amber, a mere boy, willing and +industrious, whom he continually beat and kicked, until at last Mr +Werne challenged him to a duel with sabres, and threatened to take +away the slave, which he, as a Frenchman, had no legal right to +possess. But this was nothing compared to the cruelties practised +by other Europeans, and especially at Chartum by one Vigoureux, (a +French corporal who had served under Napoleon, and was now adjutant +of an Egyptian battalion,) and his wife, upon a poor black girl, +only ten years of age, whom they first barbarously flogged, and +then tied to a post, with her bleeding back exposed to the broiling +sun. Informed of this atrocity by his brother, who had witnessed +it, Mr Werne sprang from his sickbed, and flew to the rescue, armed +with his sabre, and with a well-known iron stick, ten pounds in +weight, which had earned him the nickname of Abu-Nabut, or Father +of the Stick. A distant view of his incensed countenance sufficed, +and the Frenchman, cowardly as cruel, hastened to release his +victim, and to humble himself before her humane champion. Concerning +this corporal and his dame, whom he had been to France to fetch, +and who was brought to bed on camel-back, under a burning sun, +in the midst of the desert, some curious reminiscences are set +down in the _Feldzug_, as are also some diverting details of the +improprieties of the dissipated gunner Topschi Baschi, who, on the +1st May, brought dancing-girls into the hut occupied by the two +Germans, and assembled a mob round it by the indecorous nature of +his proceedings. Regulations for the internal order and security of +the camp were unheard of. After a time, tents were pitched over the +ammunition; a ditch was dug around it, and strict orders were given +to light no fire in its vicinity. All fires, too, by command of the +Bascha, were to be extinguished when the evening gun was fired. +For a short time the orders were obeyed; then they were forgotten; +fires were seen blazing late at night, and within fifteen paces of +the powder. Nothing but the bastinado could give memory to these +reckless fatalists. "I have often met ships upon the Nile, so laden +with straw that there was scarcely room for the sailors to work +the vessel. No matter for that; in the midst of the straw a mighty +kitchen-fire was merrily blazing." + +On the 6th of May, the two Wernes mounted their dromedaries and set +off, attended by one servant, and with a guide provided by Mohammed +Defalla, for the village of El Soffra, at a distance of two and a +half leagues, where they expected to find Mohammed Din and a large +assemblage of his tribe. It was rather a daring thing to advance +thus unescorted into the land of the treacherous Haddendas, and +the Bascha gave his consent unwillingly; but Mussa, (Moses,) the +Din's only son, was hostage in the camp, and they deemed themselves +safer alone than with the half company of soldiers Achmet wanted +to send with them. Their route lay due east, at first through +fields of _durra_, (a sort of grain,) afterwards through forests of +saplings. The natives they met greeted them courteously, and they +reached El Soffra without molestation, but there learned, to their +considerable annoyance, that Mohammed Din had gone two leagues and +a half farther, to the camp of his nephew Shech Mussa, at Mitkenab. +So, after a short pause, they again mounted their camels, and rode +off, loaded with maledictions by the Arabs, because they would +not remain and supply them with medicine, although the same Arabs +refused to requite the drugs with so much as a cup of milk. They +rode for more than half an hour before emerging from the straggling +village, which was composed of wretched huts made of palm-mats, +having an earthen cooking-vessel, a leathern water-bottle, and two +stones for bruising corn, for sole furniture. The scanty dress of +the people--some of the men had nothing but a leathern apron round +their hips, and a sheep-skin, with the wool inwards, over their +shoulders--their long hair and wild countenances, gave them the +appearance of thorough savages. In the middle of every village +was an open place, where the children played stark naked in the +burning sun, their colour and their extraordinarily nimble movements +combining, says Mr Werne, to give them the appearance of a troop +of young imps. Infants, which in Europe would lie helpless in the +cradle, are there seen rolling in the sand, with none to mind them, +and playing with the young goats and other domestic animals. In that +torrid climate, the development of the human frame is wonderfully +rapid. Those women of whom the travellers caught a sight in this +large village, which consisted of upwards of two thousand huts and +tents, were nearly all old and ugly. The young ones, when they by +chance encountered the strangers, covered their faces, and ran away. +On the road to Mitkenab, however, some young and rather handsome +girls showed themselves. "They all looked at us with great wonder," +says Mr Werne, "and took us for Turks, for we are the first Franks +who have come into this country." + +Mitkenab, pleasantly situated amongst lofty trees, seemed to +invite the wanderers to cool shelter from the mid-day sun. They +were parched with thirst when they entered it, but not one of the +inquisitive Arabs who crowded around them would attend to their +request for a draught of milk or water. Here, however, was Mohammed +Din, and with him a party of Schaigies under Melek Mahmud, whom +they found encamped under a great old tree, with his fifty horsemen +around him. After they had taken some refreshment, the Din came to +pay them a visit. He refused to take the place offered him on an +_angareb_, but sat down upon the ground, giving them to understand, +with a sneering smile, that _that_ was now the proper place for +him. "We had excellent opportunity to examine the physiognomy of +this Schech, who is venerated like a demigod by all the Arabs +between the Atbara and the Red Sea. 'He is a brave man,' they say, +'full of courage; there is no other like him!' His face is fat and +round, with small grey-brown, piercing, treacherous-looking eyes, +expressing both the cunning and the obstinacy of his character; +his nose is well-proportioned and slightly flattened; his small +mouth constantly wears a satirical scornful smile. But for this +expression and his thievish glance, his bald crown and well-fed +middle-sized person would become a monk's hood. He goes with his +head bare, wears a white cotton shirt and _ferda_, and sandals on +his feet.... We told him that he was well known to the Franks as +a great hero; he shook his head and said that on the salt lake, +at Souakim, he had seen great ships with cannon, but that he did +not wish the help of the Ingleb (English;) then he said something +else, which was not translated to us. I incautiously asked him, how +numerous his nation was. 'Count the trees,' he replied, glancing +ironically around him; (a poll-tax constituted a portion of the +tribute.) Conversation through an interpreter was so wearisome that +we soon took our leave." At Mitkenab they were upon the borders +of the great forest (Chaaba) that extends from the banks of the +Atbara to the shores of the Red Sea. It contains comparatively few +lofty trees--most of these getting uprooted by hurricanes, when the +rainy season has softened the ground round their roots--but a vast +deal of thicket and dense brushwood, affording shelter to legions +of wild beasts; innumerable herds of elephants, rhinoceroses, +lions, tigers, giraffes, various inferior beasts, and multitudes +of serpents of the most venomous description. For fear of these +unpleasant neighbours, no Arab at Mitkenab quits his dwelling after +nightfall. "When we returned to the wells, a little before sundown, +we found all the Schaigies on the move, to take up their quarters in +an enclosure outside the village, partly on account of the beasts +of prey, especially the lions, which come down to drink of a night, +partly for safety from the unfriendly Arabs. We went with them +and encamped with Mammud in the middle of the enclosure. We slept +soundly the night through, only once aroused by the hoarse cries of +the hyenas, which were sneaking about the village, setting all the +dogs barking. To insure our safety, Mohammed Din himself slept at +our door--so well-disposed were his people towards us." A rumour had +gained credit amongst the Arabs, that the two mysterious strangers +were, sent by Achmet to reconnoitre the country for the Bascha's own +advance; and so incensed were they at this, that, although their +beloved chief's son was a hostage in the Turkish camp, it was only +by taking bypaths, under guidance of a young relative of Schech +Mussa's, that the Wernes were able to regain their camp in safety. +A few days after their return they were both attacked by bad fever, +which for some time prevented them from writing. They lost their +reckoning, and thenceforward the journal is continued without dates. + +The Bascha grew weary of life in camp, and pined after action. In +vain did the Schaigies toss the djereed, and go through irregular +tournaments and sham fights for his diversion; in vain did he +rattle the dice with Topschi Baschi; vain were the blandishments +of an Abyssinian beauty whom he had quartered in a hut surrounded +with a high fence, and for whose amusement he not unfrequently had +nocturnal serenades performed by the band of the 8th regiment; to +which brassy and inharmonious challenge the six thousand donkeys +assembled in camp never failed to respond by an ear-splitting bray, +whilst the numerous camels bellowed a bass: despite all these +amusements, the Bascha suffered from ennui. He was furious when +he saw how slowly and scantily came in the tribute for which he +had made this long halt. Some three hundred cows were all that had +yet been delivered; a ridiculously small number contrasted with +the vast herds possessed by those tribes. Achmet foamed with rage +at this ungrateful return for his patience and consideration. He +reproached the Schechs who were with him, and sent for Mohammed Din, +Shech Mussa, and the two Shechs of Mitkenab. Although their people, +foreboding evil, endeavoured to dissuade them from obedience, they +all four came and were forthwith put in irons and chained together. +With all his cunning Mohammed Din had fallen into the snare. His +plan had been, so Mr Werne believes, to cajole and detain the Turks +by fair words and promises until the rainy season, when hunger +and sickness would have proved his best allies. The Bascha had +been beforehand with him, and the old marauder might now repent +at leisure that he had not trusted to his impenetrable forests +and to the javelins of his people, rather than to the word of a +Turk. On the day of his arrest the usual evening gun was loaded +with canister, and fired into the woods in the direction of the +Haddendas, the sound of cannon inspiring the Arab and negro tribes +with a panic fear. Firearms--to them incomprehensible weapons--have +served more than anything else to daunt their courage. "When the +Turks attacked a large and populous mountain near Faszogl, the +blacks sent out spies to see how strong was the foe, and how armed. +The spies came back laughing, and reported that there was no great +number of men; that their sole arms were shining sticks upon their +shoulders, and that they had neither swords, lances, nor shields. +The poor fellows soon found how terrible an effect had the sticks +they deemed so harmless. As they could not understand how it was +that small pieces of lead should wound and kill, a belief got abroad +amongst them, that the Afrite, Scheitan, (the devil or evil spirit,) +dwelt in the musket-barrels. With this conviction, a negro, grasping +a soldier's musket, put his hand over the mouth of the barrel, that +the afrite might not get out. The soldier pulled the trigger, and +the leaden devil pierced the poor black's hand and breast. After +an action, a negro collected the muskets of six or seven slain +soldiers, and joyfully carried them home, there to forge them into +lances in the presence of a party of his friends. But it happened +that some of them were loaded, and soon getting heated in the fire, +they went off, scattering death and destruction around them." Most +of the people in Taka run from the mere report of a musket, but the +Arabs of Hedjas, a mountainous district near the Red Sea, possess +firearms, and are slow but very good shots. + +In the way of tribute, nothing was gained by the imprisonment of +Mahommed Din and his companions. No more contributions came in, and +not an Arab showed himself upon the market-place outside the camp. +Mohammed Din asked why his captors did not kill rather than confine +him; he preferred death to captivity, and keeping him prisoner would +lead, he said, to no result. The Arab chiefs in camp did not conceal +their disgust at the Bascha's treatment of their Grand-Shech, and +taxed Achmet with having broken his word, since he had given him the +Amahn--promise of pardon. Any possibility of conciliating the Arabs +was destroyed by the step that had been taken. At night they swarmed +round the camp, shrieking their war-cry. The utmost vigilance was +necessary; a third of the infantry was under arms all night, the +consequent fatigue increasing the amount of sickness. The general +aspect of things was anything but cheering. The Wernes had their +private causes of annoyance. Six of their camels, including the two +excellent dromedaries given to them by the Bascha before quitting +Chartum, were stolen whilst their camel-driver slept, and could +not be recovered. They were compelled to buy others, and Mr Werne +complains bitterly of the heavy expenses of the campaign--expenses +greatly augmented by the sloth and dishonesty of their servants. +The camel-driver, fearing to face his justly-incensed employers, +disappeared and was no more heard of. Upon this and other occasions, +Mr Werne was struck by the extraordinary skill of the Turks in +tracing animals and men by their footsteps. In this manner his +servants tracked his camels to an Arab village, although the road +had been trampled by hundreds of beasts of the same sort. "If +these people have once seen the footprint of a man, camel, horse, +or ass, they are sure to recognise it amongst thousands of such +impressions, and will follow the trail any distance, so long as the +ground is tolerably favourable, and wind or rain has not obliterated +the marks. In cases of loss, people send for a man who makes this +kind of search his profession; they show him a footprint of the +lost animal, and immediately, without asking any other indication, +he follows the track through the streets of a town, daily trodden +by thousands, and seldom falls to hunt out the game. He does not +proceed slowly, or stoop to examine the ground, but his sharp eye +follows the trail at a run. We ourselves saw the footstep of a +runaway slave shown to one of these men, who caught the fugitive at +the distance of three days' journey from that spot. My brother once +went out of the Bascha's house at Chartum, to visit a patient who +lived far off in the town. He had been gone an hour when the Bascha +desired to see him, and the tschansch (orderly) traced him at once +by his footmarks on the unpaved streets in which crowds had left +similar signs. When, in consequence of my sickness, we lingered for +some days on the Atbara, and then marched to overtake the army, the +Schaigies who escorted us detected, amidst the hoof-marks of the +seven or eight thousand donkeys accompanying the troops, those of a +particular jackass belonging to one of their friends, and the event +proved that they were right." Mr Werne fills his journal, during +his long sojourn in camp, with a great deal of curious information +concerning the habits and peculiarities of both Turks and Arabs, +as well as with the interesting results of his observations on the +brute creation. The soldiers continued to bring to him and his +brother all manner of animals and reptiles--frogs, whole coils of +snakes, and chameleons, which there abound, but whose changes of +colour Mr Werne found to be much less numerous than is commonly +believed. For two months he watched the variations of hue of these +curious lizards, and found them limited to different shades of grey +and green, with yellow stripes and spots. He made a great pet of +a young wild cat, which was perfectly tame, and extraordinarily +handsome. Its colour was grey, beautifully spotted with black, +like a panther; its head was smaller and more pointed than that of +European cats; its ears, of unusual size, were black, with white +stripes. Many of the people in camp took it to be a young tiger, but +the natives called it a _fagged_, and said it was a sort of cat, in +which Mr Werne agreed with them. "Its companion and playfellow is a +rat, about the size of a squirrel, with a long silvery tail, which, +when angry, it swells out, and sets up over its back. This poor +little beast was brought to us with two broken legs, and we gave it +to the cat, thinking it was near death. But the cat, not recognising +her natural prey--and moreover feeling the want of a companion--and +the rat, tamed by pain and cured by splints, became inseparable +friends, ate together, and slept arm in arm. The rat, which was not +ugly like our house rats, but was rather to be considered handsome, +by reason of its long frizzled tail, never made use of its liberty +to escape." Notwithstanding the numerous devices put in practice +by the Wernes to pass their time, it at last began to hang heavy, +and their pipes were almost their sole resource and consolation. +Smoking is little customary in Egypt, except amongst the Turks and +Arabs. The Mograbins prefer chewing. The blacks of the Gesira make a +concentrated infusion of this weed, which they call _bucca_; take a +mouthful of it, and roll the savoury liquor round their teeth for a +quarter of an hour before ejecting it. They are so addicted to this +practice, that they invite their friends to "bucca" as Europeans do +to dinner. The vessel containing the tobacco juice makes the round +of the party, and a profound silence ensues, broken only by the +harmonious gurgle of the delectable fluid. Conversation is carried +on by signs. + +"We shall march to-morrow," had long been the daily assurance of +those wiseacres, to be found in every army, who always know what +the general means to do better than the general himself. At last +the much-desired order was issued--of course when everybody least +expected it--and, after a night of bustle and confusion, the army +got into motion, in its usual disorderly array. Its destination was +a mountain called Kassela-el-Lus, in the heart of the Taka country, +whither the Bascha had sent stores of grain, and where he proposed +passing the rainy season and founding a new town. The distance was +about fourteen hours' march. The route led south-eastwards, at +first through a level country, covered with boundless fields of +tall _durra_. At the horizon, like a great blue cloud, rose the +mountain of Kassela, a blessed sight to eyes that had long been +weary of the monotonous level country. After a while the army got +out of the durra-fields, and proceeded over a large plain scantily +overgrown with grass, observing a certain degree of military +order and discipline, in anticipation of an attempt, on the part +of the angry Arabs, to rescue Mohammed Din and his companions in +captivity. Numerous hares and jackals were started and ridden +down. Even gazelles, swift as they are, were sometimes overtaken +by the excellent Turkish horses. Presently the grass grew thicker +and tall enough to conceal a small donkey, and they came to wooded +tracts and jungles, and upon marks of elephants and other wild +beasts. The foot-prints of the elephants, in places where the ground +had been slightly softened by the rain, were often a foot deep, +and from a foot and a half to two feet in length and breadth. Mr +Werne regrets not obtaining a view of one of these giant brutes. +The two-horned rhinoceros is also common in that region, and is +said to be of extraordinary ferocity in its attacks upon men and +beasts, and not unfrequently to come off conqueror in single combat +with the elephant. "Suddenly the little Schaigies cavalry set up +a great shouting, and every one handled his arms, anticipating an +attack from the Arabs. But soon the cry of 'Asset! Asset!' (lion) +was heard, and we gazed eagerly on every side, curious for the +lion's appearance. The Bascha had already warned his chase-loving +cavalry, under penalty of a thousand blows, not to quit their ranks +on the appearance of wild beasts, for in that broken ground he +feared disorder in the army and an attack from the enemy. I and +my brother were at that moment with Melek Mahmud at the outward +extremity of the left wing; suddenly a tolerably large lioness +trotted out of a thicket beside us, not a hundred paces off. She +seemed quite fearless, for she did not quicken her pace at sight +of the army. The next minute a monstrous lion showed himself at +the same spot, roaring frightfully, and apparently in great fury; +his motions were still slower than those of his female; now and +then he stood still to look at us, and after coming to within sixty +or seventy paces--we all standing with our guns cocked, ready to +receive him--he gave us a parting scowl, and darted away, with great +bounds, in the track of his wife. In a moment both had disappeared." +Soon after this encounter, which startled and delighted Dr Werne, +and made his brother's little dromedary dance with alarm, they +reached the banks of the great _gohr_, (the bed of a river, filled +only in the rainy season,) known as El Gasch, which intersects +the countries of Taka and Basa. With very little daring and still +less risk, the Haddendas, who are said to muster eighty thousand +fighting men, might have annihilated the Bascha's army, as it wound +its toilsome way for nearly a league along the dry water-course, +(whose high banks were crowned with trees and thick bushes,) the +camels stumbling and occasionally breaking their legs in the deep +holes left by the feet of the elephants, where the cavalry could +not have acted, and where every javelin must have told upon the +disorderly groups of weary infantry. The Arabs either feared the +firearms, or dreaded lest their attack should be the signal for +the instant slaughter of their Grand-Shech, who rode, in the midst +of the infantry, upon a donkey, which had been given him out of +consideration for his age, whilst the three other prisoners were +cruelly forced to perform the whole march on foot, with heavy chains +on their necks and feet, and exposed to the jibes of the pitiless +soldiery. On quitting the Gohr, the march was through trees and +brushwood, and then through a sort of labyrinthine swamp, where +horses and camels stumbled at every step, and where the Arabs again +had a glorious opportunity, which they again neglected, of giving +Achmet such a lesson as they had given to his predecessor in the +Baschalik. The army now entered the country of the Hallengas, and a +six days' halt succeeded to their long and painful march. + +It would be of very little interest to trace the military operations +of Achmet Bascha, which were altogether of the most contemptible +description--consisting in the _chasuas_, or razzias already +noticed, sudden and secret expeditions of bodies of armed men +against defenceless tribes, whom they despoiled of their cattle +and women. From his camp at the foot of Kassela-el-Lus, the Bascha +directed many of these marauding parties, remaining himself safely +in a large hut, which Mr Werne had had constructed for him, and +usually cheating the men and officers, who had borne the fatigue and +run the risk, out of their promised share of the booty. Sometimes +the unfortunate natives, driven to the wall and rendered desperate +by the cruelties of their oppressors, found courage for a stout +resistance. + +"An expedition took place to the mountains of Basa, and the troops +brought back a large number of prisoners of both sexes. The men +were almost all wounded, and showed great fortitude under the +painful operation of extracting the balls. Even the Turks confessed +that these mountaineers had made a gallant defence with lances and +stones. Of our soldiers several had musket-shot wounds, inflicted +by their comrades' disorderly fire. The Turks asserted that the +Mograbins and Schaigies sometimes fired intentionally at the +soldiers, to drive them from their booty. It was a piteous sight to +see the prisoners--especially the women and children--brought into +camp bound upon camels, and with despair in their countenances. +Before they were sold or allotted, they were taken near the tent of +Topschi Baschi, where a fire was kept burning, and were all, even +to the smallest children, branded on the shoulder with a red-hot +iron in the form of a star. When their moans and lamentations +reached our hut, we took our guns and hastened away out shooting +with three servants. These, notwithstanding our exhortations, would +ramble from us, and we had got exceedingly angry with them for so +doing, when suddenly we heard three shots, and proceeded in that +direction, thinking it was they who had fired. Instead of them, we +found three soldiers, lying upon the ground, bathed in their blood +and terribly torn. Two were already dead, and the third, whose whole +belly was ripped up, told us they had been attacked by a lion. +The three shots brought up our servants, whom we made carry the +survivor into camp, although my brother entertained slight hopes +of saving him. The Bascha no sooner heard of the incident than he +got on horseback with Soliman Kaschef and his people, to hunt the +lion, and I accompanied him with my huntsman Sale, a bold fellow, +who afterwards went with me up the White Nile. On reaching the spot +where the lion had been, the Turks galloped off to seek him, and I +and Sale alone remained behind. Suddenly I heard a heavy trampling, +and a crashing amongst the bushes, and I saw close beside me an +elephant with its calf. Sale, who was at some distance, and had just +shot a parrot, called out to know if he should fire at the elephant, +which I loudly forbade him to do. The beast broke its way through +the brushwood just at hand. I saw its high back, and took up a safe +position amongst several palm-trees, which all grew from one root, +and were so close together that the elephant could not get at me. +Sale was already up a tree, and told me the elephant had turned +round, and was going back into the chaaba. The brute seemed angry +or anxious about its young one, for we found the ground dug up for +a long distance by its tusk as by a plough. Some shots were fired, +and we thought the Bascha and his horsemen were on the track of the +lion, but they had seen the elephant, and formed a circle round +it. A messenger galloped into camp, and in a twinkling the Arnaut +Abdin Bey came up with part of his people. The elephant, assailed +on all sides by a rain of bullets, charged first one horseman, then +another; they delivered their fire and galloped off. The eyes were +the point chiefly aimed at, and it soon was evident that he was +blinded by the bullets, for when pursuing his foes he ran against +the trees, the shock of his unwieldy mass shaking the fruit from +the palms. The horsemen dismounted and formed a smaller circle +around him. He must already have received some hundred bullets, and +the ground over which he staggered was dyed red, when the Bascha +crept quite near him, knelt down and sent a shot into his left eye, +whereupon the colossus sank down upon his hinder end and died. +Nothing was to be seen of the calf or of the lion, but a few days +later a large male lion was killed by Soliman Kaschef's men, close +to camp, where we often in the night-time heard the roaring of those +brutes." + +Just about this time bad news reached the Wernes. Their huntsman +Abdallah, to whom they were much attached by reason of his gallantry +and fidelity, had gone a long time before to the country of the +Beni-Amers, eastward from Taka, in company of a Schaigie chief, +mounted on one of their best camels, armed with a double-barrelled +gun, and provided with a considerable sum of money for the +purchase of giraffes. On his way back to his employers, with a +valuable collection of stuffed birds and other curiosities, he was +barbarously murdered, when travelling, unescorted, through the +Hallenga country, and plundered of all his baggage. Sale, who went +to identify his friend's mutilated corpse, attributed the crime +to the Hallengas. Mr Werne was disposed to suspect Mohammed Ehle, +a great villain, whom the Bascha at times employed as a secret +stabber and assassin. This Ehle had been appointed Schech of the +Hallengas by the Divan, in lieu of the rightful Schech, who had +refused submission to the Turks. Three nephews of Mohammed Din (one +of them the same youth who had escorted the Wernes safely back +to camp when they were in peril of their lives in the Haddenda +country) came to visit their unfortunate relative, who was still a +prisoner, cruelly treated, lying upon the damp earth, chained to two +posts, and awaiting with fortitude the cruel death by impalement +with which the Bascha threatened him. Achmet received the young men +very coldly, and towards evening they set out, greatly depressed +by their uncle's sad condition, upon their return homewards. Early +next morning the Wernes, when out shooting, found the dead bodies +of their three friends. They had been set upon and slain after a +gallant defence, as was testified by their bloody lances, and by +other signs of a severe struggle. The birds of prey had already +picked out their eyes, and their corpses presented a frightful +spectacle. The Wernes, convinced that this assassination had taken +place by the Bascha's order, loaded the bodies on a camel, took +them to Achmet, and preferred an accusation against the Hallengas +for this shameful breach of hospitality. The Bascha's indifference +confirmed their suspicions. He testified no indignation, but there +was great excitement amongst his officers; and when they left the +Divan, Mr Werne violently reproached Mohammed Ehle, whom he was well +assured was the murderer, and who endured his anger in silence. "The +Albanian Abdin Bey was so enraged that he was only withheld by the +united persuasions of the other officers from mounting his horse +and charging Mohammed Ehle with his wild Albanians, the consequence +of which would inevitably have been a general mutiny against the +Bascha, for the soldiers had long been murmuring at their bad food +and ill treatment." The last hundred pages of Mr Werne's very +closely printed and compendious volume abound in instances of the +Bascha's treachery and cruelty, and of the retaliation exercised +by the Arabs. On one occasion a party of fifty Turkish cavalry +were murdered by the Haddendas, who had invited them to a feast. +The town of Gos-Rajeb was burned, twenty of the merchants there +resident were killed, and the corn, stored there for the use of +the army on its homeward march, was plundered. The Bascha had a +long-cherished plan of cutting off the supply of water from the +country of the Haddendas. This was to be done by damming up the +Gohr-el-Gasch, and diverting the abundant stream which, in the rainy +season, rushed along its deep gully, overflowing the tall banks +and fertilising fields and forests. As the Bascha's engineer and +confidential adviser, Mr Werne was compelled to direct this work. +By the labour of thousands of men, extensive embankments were made, +and the Haddendas began to feel the want of water, which had come +down from the Abyssinian mountains, and already stood eight feet +deep in the Gohr. Mr Werne repented his share in the cruel work, +and purposely abstained from pressing the formation of a canal +which was to carry off the superfluous water to the Atbara, there +about three leagues distant from the Gohr. And one morning he was +awakened by a great uproar in the camp, and by the shouts of the +Bascha, who was on horseback before his hut, and he found that a +party of Haddendas had thrashed a picket and made an opening in the +dykes, which was the deathblow to Achmet's magnificent project of +extracting an exorbitant tribute from Mohammed Din's tribe as the +price of the supply of water essential to their very existence. +The sole results of the cruel attempt were a fever to the Bascha, +who had got wet, and the sickness of half the army, who had been +compelled to work like galley-slaves under a burning sun and upon +bad rations. The vicinity of Kassela is rich in curious birds +and beasts. The mountain itself swarms with apes, and Mr Werne +frequently saw groups of two or three hundred of them seated upon +the cliffs. They are about the size of a large dog, with dark brown +hair and hideous countenances. Awful was the screaming and howling +they set up of a night, when they received the unwelcome visit of +some hungry leopard or prowling panther. Once the Wernes went out +with their guns for a day's sport amongst the monkeys, but were soon +glad to beat a retreat under a tremendous shower of stones. Hassan, +a Turk, who purveyed the brothers with hares, gazelles, and other +savoury morsels, and who was a very good shot, promised to bring +in--of course for good payment--not only a male and female monkey, +but a whole camel-load if desired. He started off with this object, +but did not again show himself for some days, and tried to sneak +out of the Wernes' way when they at last met him in the bazaar. He +had a hole in his head, and his shoulder badly hurt, and declared +he would have nothing more to say to those _transformed men_ upon +the mountain. Mr Werne was very desirous to catch a monkey alive, +but was unsuccessful, and Mohammed Ehle refused to sell a tame one +which he owned, and which usually sat upon his hut. Mr Werne thinks +them a variety of the Chimpanzee. They fight amongst themselves +with sticks, and defend themselves fiercely with stones against the +attacks of men. Upon the whole the Wernes were highly fortunate in +collecting zoological and ornithological specimens, of which they +subsequently sent a large number, stuffed, to the Berlin museum. +They also secured several birds and animals alive; amongst these +a young lion and a civet cat. Regarding reptiles they were very +curious, and nothing of that kind was too long or too large for +them. As Ferdinand Werne was sitting one day upon his dromedary, +in company with the Bascha, on the left bank of the Gasch, the +animals shied at a large serpent which suddenly darted by. The +Bascha ordered the men who were working at the dykes to capture it, +which they at once proceeded to do, as unconcernedly as an English +haymaker would assail a hedge snake. "Pursued by several men, the +serpent plunged into the water, out of which it then boldly reared +its head, and confronted an Arab who had jumped in after it, armed +with a _hassaie_. With extraordinary skill and daring the Arab +approached it, his club uplifted, and struck it over the head, so +that the serpent fell down stunned and writhing mightily; whereupon +another Arab came up with a cord; the club-bearer, without further +ceremony, griped the reptile by the throat, just below the head; +the noose was made fast, and the pair of them dragged their prize +on shore. There it lay for a moment motionless, and we contemplated +the terribly beautiful creature, which was more than eleven feet +long and half-a-foot in diameter. But when they began to drag it +away, by which the skin would of course be completely spoiled, +orders were given to _carry_ it to camp. A jacket was tied over its +head, and three men set to work to get it upon their shoulders; +but the serpent made such violent convulsive movements that all +three fell to the ground with it, and the same thing occurred again +when several others had gone to their assistance. I accompanied +them into camp, drove a big nail into the foremost great beam of +our _recuba_, (hut,) and had the monster suspended from it. He +hung down quite limp, as did also several other snakes, which were +still alive, and which our servants had suspended inside our hut, +intending to skin them the next morning, as it was now nearly +dark. In the night I felt a most uncomfortable sensation. One of +the snakes, which was hung up at the head of my bed, had smeared +his cold tail over my face. But I sprang to my feet in real alarm, +and thought I had been struck over the shin with a club, when the +big serpent, now in the death agony, gave me a wipe with its tail +through the open door, in front of which our servants were squatted, +telling each other ghost stories of snake-kings and the like.... +They called this serpent _assala_, which, however, is a name they +give to all large serpents. Soon afterwards we caught another, as +thick, but only nine feet long, and with a short tail, like the +_Vipera cerastes_; and this was said to be of that breed of short, +thick snakes which can devour a man." In the mountains of Basa, +two days' journey from the Gohr-el-Gasch, and on the road thither, +snakes are said to exist, of no great length, but as thick as a +crocodile, and which can conveniently swallow a man; and instances +were related to Mr Werne of these monsters having swallowed persons +when they lay sleeping on their angarebs. Sometimes the victims had +been rescued _when only half gorged_! Of course travellers hear +strange stories, and some of those related by Mr Werne are tolerably +astounding; but these are derived from his Turkish, Egyptian, or +Arabian acquaintances, and there is no appearance of exaggeration +or romancing in anything which he narrates as having occurred to +or been witnessed by himself. A wild tradition was told him of a +country called Bellad-el-Kelb, which signifies the Country of Dogs, +where the women were in all respects human, but where the men had +faces like dogs, claws on their feet, and tails like monkeys. They +could not speak, but carried on conversation by wagging their tails. +This ludicrous account appeared explicable by the fact, that the men +of Bellad-el-Kelb are great robbers, living by plunder, and, like +fierce and hungry dogs, never relinquishing their prey. + +The Hallengas, amongst whom the expedition now found itself, were +far more frank and friendly, and much less wild, than the Haddendas +and some other tribes, and they might probably have been converted +into useful allies by a less cruel and capricious invader than the +Bascha. But conciliation was no part of his scheme; if he one day +caressed a tribe or a chief, it was only to betray them the next. +Mr Werne was on good terms with some of the Hallenga sheiks, and +went to visit the village of Hauathi, about three miles from camp, +to see the birds of paradise which abounded there. On his road he +saw from afar a great tree covered with those beautiful birds, +and which glistened in the sunshine with all the colours of the +rainbow. Some days later he and his brother went to drink _merissa_, +a slightly intoxicating liquor, with one of the Fakis or priests +of the country. The two Germans got very jovial, drinking to each +other, student-fashion; and the faki, attempting to keep pace with +them, got crying-drunk, and disclosed a well-matured plan for +blowing up their powder-magazine. The ammunition had been stored in +the village of Kadmin, which was a holy village, entirely inhabited +by fakis. The Bascha had made sure that none of the natives would +risk blowing up these holy men, even for the sake of destroying his +ammunition, and he was unwilling to keep so large a quantity of +powder amidst his numerous camp-fires and reckless soldiery. But +the fakis had made their arrangements. On a certain night they were +to depart, carrying away all their property into the great caverns +of Mount Kassela, and fire was to be applied to the house that +held the powder. Had the plot succeeded, the whole army was lost, +isolated as it was in the midst of unfriendly tribes, embittered by +its excesses, and by the aggressions and treachery of its chief, +and who, stimulated by their priests, would in all probability have +exterminated it to the last man, when it no longer had cartridges +for its defence. The drunken faki's indiscretion saved Achmet and +his troops; the village was forthwith surrounded, and the next day +the ammunition was transferred to camp. Not to rouse the whole +population against him, the Bascha abstained for the moment from +punishing the conspirators, but he was not the man to let them +escape altogether; and some time afterwards, Mr Werne, who had +returned to Chartum, received a letter from his brother, informing +him that nine fakis had been hung on palm-trees just outside the +camp, and that the magnanimous Achmet proposed treating forty more +in the same way. + +A mighty liar was Effendina Achmet Bascha, as ever ensnared a +foe or broke faith with a friend. Greedy and cruel was he also, +as only a Turkish despot can be. One of his most active and +unscrupulous agents was a bloodsucker named Hassan Effendi, whom +he sent to the country of the Beni-Amers to collect three thousand +five hundred cows and thirteen hundred camels, the complement of +their tribute. Although this tribe had upon the whole behaved +very peaceably, Hassan's first act was to shoot down a couple of +hundred of them like wild beasts. Then he seized a large number of +camels belonging to the Haddendas, although the tribe was at that +very time in friendly negotiation with the Bascha. The Haddendas +revenged themselves by burning Gos-Rajeb. In proof of their valour, +Hassan's men cut off the ears of the murdered Beni-Amers, and took +them to Achmet, who gave them money for the trophies. "They had +forced a slave to cut off the ears; yonder now lies the man--raving +mad, and bound with cords. Camel-thieves, too--no matter to what +tribe they belong--if caught _in flagranti_, lose their ears, +for which the Bascha gives a reward. That many a man who never +dreamed of committing a theft loses his ears in this way, is easy +to understand, for the operation is performed on the spot." Dawson +Borrer, in his _Campaign in the Kabylie_, mentions a very similar +practice as prevailing in Marshal Bugeaud's camp, where ten francs +was the fixed price for the head of a horse-stealer, it being +left to the soldiers who severed the heads and received the money +to discriminate between horse-stealers and honest men. Whether +Bugeaud took a hint from the Bascha, or the Bascha was an admiring +imitator of Bugeaud, remains a matter of doubt. "Besides many +handsome women and children, Hassan Effendi brought in two thousand +nine hundred cows, and seven thousand sheep." He might have been a +French prince returning from a razzia. "For himself he kept eighty +camels, _which he said he had bought_." A droll dog, this Hassan +Effendi, but withal rather covetous--given to sell his soldier's +rations, and to starve his servants, a single piastre--about +twopence halfpenny--being his whole daily outlay for meat for his +entire household, who lived for the most part upon durra and water. +If his servants asked for wages, they received the bastinado. "The +Bascha had given the poor camel-drivers sixteen cows. The vampire +(Hassan) took upon himself to appropriate thirteen of them." Mr +Werne reported this robbery to the Bascha, but Achmet merely replied +"_malluch_"--signifying, "it matters not." When inferior officers +received horses as their share of booty, Hassan bought them of them, +but always forgot to pay, and the poor subalterns feared to complain +to the Bascha, who favoured the rogue, and recommended him to the +authorities at Cairo for promotion to the rank of Bey, because, as +he told Mr Werne with an ironical smile, Hassan was getting very +old and infirm, and when he died the Divan would bring charges +against him, and inherit his wealth. Thus are things managed in +Egypt. No wonder that, where such injustice and rascality prevail, +many are found to rejoice at the prospect of a change of rulers. +"News from Souakim (on the Red Sea) of the probable landing of the +English, excite great interest in camp; from all sides they come +to ask questions of us, thinking that we, as Franks, must know +the intentions of the invaders. Upon the whole, they would not be +displeased at such a change of government, particularly when we tell +them of the good pay and treatment customary amongst the English; +and that with them no officer has to endure indignities from his +superiors in rank." + +"I have now," says Mr Werne, (page 256,) "been more than half a +year away from Chartum, continually in the field, and not once +have I enjoyed the great comfort of reposing, undressed, between +clean white sheets, but have invariably slept in my clothes, on +the ground, or on the short but practical angareb. All clean linen +disappears, for the constant perspiration and chalky dust burns +everything; and the servants do not understand washing, inasmuch as, +contrasted with their black hides, everything appears white to them, +and for the last three months no soap has been obtainable. And in +the midst of this dirty existence, which drags itself along like a +slow fever, suddenly 'Julla!' is the word, and one hangs for four or +five days, eighty or a hundred leagues, upon the camel's back, every +bone bruised by the rough motion,--the broiling sun, thirst, hunger, +and cold, for constant companions. Man can endure much: I have gone +through far more than I ever thought I could,--vomiting and in a +raging fever on the back of a dromedary, under a midday sun, more +dead than alive, held upon my saddle by others, and yet I recovered. +To have remained behind would have been to encounter certain death +from the enemy, or from wild beasts. We have seen what a man can +bear, under the pressure of necessity; in my present uniform and +monotonous life I compare myself to the camels tied before my tent, +which sometimes stand up, sometimes slowly stretch themselves on +the ground, careless whether crows or ravens walk over their backs, +constantly moving their jaws, looking up at the sun, and then, by +way of a change, taking a mouthful of grass, but giving no signs of +joy or curiosity." + +From this state of languid indifference Mr Werne was suddenly and +pleasurably roused by intelligence that a second expedition was +fitting out for the White Nile. He and his brother immediately +petitioned the Bascha for leave to accompany it. The desired +permission was granted to him, but refused to his brother. There +was too much sickness in the camp, the Bascha said; he could not +spare his doctor, and lacked confidence in the Italian, Bellotti. +The fondly-attached brothers were thus placed in a painful dilemma: +they had hoped to pursue their wanderings hand in hand, and to pass +their lives together, and loth indeed were they to sunder in those +sickly and perilous regions. At last they made up their minds to the +parting. It has been already recorded in Mr Werne's former work, +how, within ten days of their next meeting, his beloved brother's +eyes were closed in death. + +In various respects, Mr Werne's _Feldzug_ is one of the most +curious books of travel and adventure that, for a very long time, +has appeared. It has three points of particular attraction and +originality. In the first place, the author wanders in a region +previously unexplored by Christian and educated travellers, and +amongst tribes whose bare names have reached the ears of but few +Europeans. Secondly, he campaigns as officer in such an army as we +can hardly realise in these days of high civilisation and strict +military discipline,--so wild, motley, and grotesque are its +customs, composition, and equipment,--an army whose savage warriors, +strange practices, and barbarous cruelties, make us fancy ourselves +in presence of some fierce Moslem horde of the middle ages, marching +to the assault of Italy or Hungary. Thirdly, during his long sojourn +in camp he had opportunities such as few ordinary travellers enjoy, +and of which he diligently profited, to study and note down the +characteristics and social habits of many of the races of men that +make up the heterogeneous population of the Ottoman empire. Some +of the physiological and medical details with which he favours us, +would certainly have been more in their place in his brother's +professional journal, than in a book intended for the public at +large; and passages are not wanting at which the squeamish will be +apt to lay down the volume in disgust. For such persons Mr Werne +does not write; and his occasional indelicacy and too crude details +are compensated, to our thinking, by his manly honest tone, and by +the extraordinary amount of useful and curious information he has +managed to pack into two hundred and seventy pages. As a whole, +the _Expedition to the White Nile_, which contains a vast deal +of dry meteorological and geographical detail, is decidedly far +less attractive than the present book, which is as amusing as any +romance. We have read it with absorbing interest, well pleased with +the hint its author throws out at its close, that the records of his +African wanderings are not yet all exhausted. + + + + +MY NOVEL; OR, VARIETIES IN ENGLISH LIFE. + +BY PISISTRATUS CAXTON. + + +BOOK VII.--INITIAL CHAPTER. + +"What is courage?" said my uncle Roland, rousing himself from a +reverie into which he had fallen after the Sixth Book in this +history had been read to our family circle. + +"What is courage?" he repeated more earnestly. "Is it insensibility +to fear? _That_ may be the mere accident of constitution; and, if +so, there is no more merit in being courageous than in being this +table." + +"I am very glad to hear you speak thus," observed Mr Caxton, "for I +should not like to consider myself a coward; yet I am very sensible +to fear in all dangers, bodily and moral." + +"La, Austin, how can you say so?" cried my mother, firing up; "was +it not only last week that you faced the great bull that was rushing +after Blanche and the children?" + +Blanche at that recollection stole to my father's chair, and, +hanging over his shoulder, kissed his forehead. + +MR CAXTON, (sublimely unmoved by these flatteries.)--"I don't deny +that I faced the bull, but I assert that I was horribly frightened." + +ROLAND.--"The sense of honour which conquers fear is the true +courage of chivalry: you could not run away when others were looking +on--no gentleman could." + +MR CAXTON.--"Fiddledee! It was not on my gentility that I stood, +Captain. I should have run fast enough, if it had done any good. I +stood upon my understanding. As the bull could run faster than I +could, the only chance of escape was to make the brute as frightened +as myself." + +BLANCHE.--"Ah, you did not think of that; your only thought was to +save me and the children." + +MR CAXTON.--"Possibly, my dear--very possibly I might have been +afraid for you too;--but I was very much afraid for myself. However, +luckily I had the umbrella, and I sprang it up and spread it forth +in the animal's stupid eyes, hurling at him simultaneously the +biggest lines I could think of in the First Chorus of the 'Seven +against Thebes.' I began with ELEDEMNAS PEDIOPLOKTUPOS; and when I +came to the grand howl of +Io, io, io, io+--the beast stood +appalled as at the roar of a lion. I shall never forget his amazed +snort at the Greek. Then he kicked up his hind legs, and went bolt +through the gap in the hedge. Thus, armed with AEschylus and the +umbrella, I remained master of the field; but (continued Mr Caxton, +ingenuously,) I should not like to go through that half minute +again." + +"No man would," said the Captain kindly. "I should be very sorry to +face a bull myself, even with a bigger umbrella than yours, and even +though I had AEschylus, and Homer to boot, at my fingers' ends." + +MR CAXTON.--"You would not have minded if it had been a Frenchman +with a sword in his hand?" + +CAPTAIN.--"Of course not. Rather liked it than otherwise," he added +grimly. + +MR CAXTON.--"Yet many a Spanish matador, who doesn't care a button +for a bull, would take to his heels at the first lunge _en carte_ +from a Frenchman. Therefore, in fact, if courage be a matter of +constitution, it is also a matter of custom. We face calmly the +dangers we are habituated to, and recoil from those of which we have +no familiar experience. I doubt if Marshal Turenne himself would +have been quite at his ease on the tight-rope; and a rope-dancer, +who seems disposed to scale the heavens with Titanic temerity, might +possibly object to charge on a cannon." + +CAPTAIN ROLAND.--"Still, either this is not the courage I mean, +or there is another kind of it. I mean by courage that which is +the especial force and dignity of the human character, without +which there is no reliance on principle, no constancy in virtue--a +something," continued my uncle gallantly, and with a half bow +towards my mother, "which your sex shares with our own. When the +lover, for instance, clasps the hand of his betrothed, and says, +'Wilt thou be true to me, in spite of absence and time, in spite of +hazard and fortune, though my foes malign me, though thy friends may +dissuade thee, and our lot in life may be rough and rude?' and when +the betrothed answers, 'I will be true,' does not the lover trust to +her courage as well as her love?" + +"Admirably put, Roland," said my father. "But _apropos_ of what do +you puzzle us with these queries on courage?" + +CAPTAIN ROLAND, (with a slight blush.)--"I was led to the inquiry +(though, perhaps, it may be frivolous to take so much thought of +what, no doubt, costs Pisistratus so little) by the last chapters +in my nephew's story. I see this poor boy, Leonard, alone with his +fallen hopes, (though very irrational they were,) and his sense of +shame. And I read his heart, I dare say, better than Pisistratus +does, for I could feel like that boy if I had been in the same +position; and, conjecturing what he and thousands like him must go +through, I asked myself, 'What can save him and them?' I answered, +as a soldier would answer, 'Courage!' Very well. But pray, Austin, +what is courage?" + +MR CAXTON, (prudently backing out of a reply.)--"_Papae!_ Brother, +since you have just complimented the ladies on that quality, you had +better address your question to them." + +Blanche here leant both hands on my father's chair, and said, +looking down at first bashfully, but afterwards warming with the +subject, "Do you not think, sir, that little Helen has already +suggested, if not what is courage, what at least is the real essence +of all courage that endures and conquers, that ennobles, and +hallows, and redeems? Is it not PATIENCE, father?--and that is why +we women have a courage of our own. Patience does not affect to be +superior to fear, but at least it never admits despair." + +PISISTRATUS.--"Kiss me, my Blanche, for you have come near to the +truth which perplexed the soldier and puzzled the sage." + +MR CAXTON, (tartly.)--"If you mean me by the sage, I was not puzzled +at all. Heaven knows you do right to inculcate patience--it is a +virtue very much required in your readers. Nevertheless," added my +father, softening with the enjoyment of his joke--"nevertheless +Blanche and Helen are quite right. Patience is the courage +of the conqueror; it is the virtue, _par excellence_, of Man +against Destiny--of the One against the World, and of the Soul +against Matter. Therefore this is the courage of the Gospel; and +its importance, in a social view--its importance to races and +institutions--cannot be too earnestly inculcated. What is it that +distinguishes the Anglo-Saxon from all other branches of the human +family, peoples deserts with his children, and consigns to them +the heritage of rising worlds? What but his faculty to brave, to +suffer, to endure--the patience that resists firmly, and innovates +slowly. Compare him with the Frenchman. The Frenchman has plenty of +valour--that there is no denying; but as for fortitude, he has not +enough to cover the point of a pin. He is ready to rush out of the +world if he is bit by a flea." + +CAPTAIN ROLAND.--"There was a case in the papers the other day, +Austin, of a Frenchman who actually did destroy himself because he +was so teased by the little creatures you speak of. He left a paper +on his table, saying that 'life was not worth having at the price of +such torments.'"[5] + +[5] Fact. In a work by M. GIBERT, a celebrated French physician, on +diseases of the skin, he states that that minute troublesome kind +of rash, known by the name of _prurigo_, though not dangerous in +itself, has often driven the individual afflicted by it to--suicide. +I believe that our more varying climate, and our more heating drinks +and aliments, render this skin complaint more common in England than +in France, yet I doubt if any English physician could state that it +had ever driven one of his _English_ patients to suicide. + +MR CAXTON, (solemnly.)--"Sir, their whole political history, since +the great meeting of the Tiers Etat, has been the history of men +who would rather go to the devil than be bit by a flea. It is +the record of human impatience, that seeks to force time, and +expects to grow forests from the spawn of a mushroom. Wherefore, +running through all extremes of constitutional experiment, when +they are nearest to democracy they are next door to a despot; and +all they have really done is to destroy whatever constitutes the +foundation of every tolerable government. A constitutional monarchy +cannot exist without aristocracy, nor a healthful republic endure +with corruption of manners. The cry of Equality is incompatible +with Civilisation, which, of necessity, contrasts poverty with +wealth--and, in short, whether it be an emperor or a mob that is to +rule, Force is the sole hope of order, and the government is but an +army. + +"Impress, O Pisistratus! impress the value of patience as regards +man and men. You touch there on the kernel of the social system--the +secret that fortifies the individual and disciplines the million. +I care not, for my part, if you are tedious so long as you are +earnest. Be minute and detailed. Let the real human life, in its war +with Circumstance, stand out. Never mind if one can read you but +slowly--better chance of being less quickly forgotten. Patience, +patience! By the soul of Epictetus, your readers shall set you an +example!" + + +CHAPTER II. + +Leonard had written twice to Mrs Fairfield, twice to Riccabocca, and +once to Mr Dale; and the poor proud boy could not bear to betray +his humiliation. He wrote as with cheerful spirits--as if perfectly +satisfied with his prospects. He said that he was well employed, +in the midst of books, and that he had found kind friends. Then he +turned from himself to write about those whom he addressed, and the +affairs and interests of the quiet world wherein they lived. He did +not give his own address, nor that of Mr Prickett. He dated his +letters from a small coffeehouse near the bookseller, to which he +occasionally went for his simple meals. He had a motive in this. He +did not desire to be found out. Mr Dale replied for himself and for +Mrs Fairfield, to the epistles addressed to these two. Riccabocca +wrote also. Nothing could be more kind than the replies of both. +They came to Leonard in a very dark period in his life, and they +strengthened him in the noiseless battle with despair. + +If there be a good in the world that we do without knowing it, +without conjecturing the effect it may have upon a human soul, it is +when we show kindness to the young in the first barren footpath up +the mountain of life. + +Leonard's face resumed its serenity in his intercourse with his +employer; but he did not recover his boyish ingenuous frankness. +The under-currents flowed again pure from the turbid soil and the +splintered fragments uptorn from the deep; but they were still too +strong and too rapid to allow transparency to the surface. And now +he stood in the sublime world of books, still and earnest as a seer +who invokes the dead. And thus, face to face with knowledge, hourly +he discovered how little he knew. Mr Prickett lent him such works as +he selected and asked to take home with him. He spent whole nights +in reading; and no longer desultorily. He read no more poetry, no +more Lives of Poets. He read what poets must read if they desire +to be great--_Sapere principium et fons_--strict reasonings on the +human mind; the relations between motive and conduct, thought and +action; the grave and solemn truths of the past world; antiquities, +history, philosophy. He was taken out of himself. He was carried +along the ocean of the universe. In that ocean, O seeker, study +the law of the tides; and seeing Chance nowhere--Thought presiding +over all--Fate, that dread phantom, shall vanish from creation, and +Providence alone be visible in heaven and on earth! + + +CHAPTER III. + +There was to be a considerable book-sale at a country house one +day's journey from London. Mr Prickett meant to have attended it +on his own behalf, and that of several gentlemen who had given +him commissions for purchase; but, on the morning fixed for his +departure, he was seized with a severe return of his old foe the +rheumatism. He requested Leonard to attend instead of himself. +Leonard went, and was absent for the three days during which the +sale lasted. He returned late in the evening, and went at once to +Mr Prickett's house. The shop was closed; he knocked at the private +entrance; a strange person opened the door to him, and, in reply +to his question if Mr Prickett was at home, said with a long and +funereal face--"Young man, Mr Prickett senior is gone to his long +home, but Mr Richard Prickett will see you." + +At this moment a very grave-looking man, with lank hair, looked +forth from the side-door communicating between the shop and the +passage, land then, stepped forward--"Come in, sir; you are my late +uncle's assistant, Mr Fairfield, I suppose?" + +"Your late uncle! Heavens, sir, do I understand aright--can Mr +Prickett be dead since I left London?" + +"Died, sir, suddenly last night. It was an affection of the heart; +the Doctor thinks the rheumatism attacked that organ. He had small +time to provide for his departure, and his account-books seem in sad +disorder: I am his nephew and executor." + +Leonard had now followed the nephew into the shop. There, still +burned the gas-lamp. The place seemed more dingy and cavernous than +before. Death always makes its presence felt in the house it visits. + +Leonard was greatly affected--and yet more, perhaps, by the utter +want of feeling which the nephew exhibited. In fact, the deceased +had not been on friendly terms with this person, his nearest +relative and heir-at-law, who was also a bookseller. + +"You were engaged but by the week I find, young man, on reference +to my late uncle's papers. He gave you L1 a week--a monstrous +sum! I shall not require your services any further. I shall move +these books to my own house. You will be good enough to send +me a list of those you bought at the sale, and your account of +travelling-expenses, &c. What may be due to you shall be sent to +your address. Good evening." + +Leonard went home, shocked and saddened at the sudden death of his +kind employer. He did not think much of himself that night; but, +when he rose the next day, he suddenly felt that the world of London +lay before him, without a friend, without a calling, without an +occupation for bread. + +This time it was no fancied sorrow, no poetic dream disappointed. +Before him, gaunt and palpable, stood Famine. + +Escape!--yes. Back to the village; his mother's cottage; the exile's +garden; the radishes and the fount. Why could he not escape? Ask why +civilisation cannot escape its ills, and fly back to the wild and +the wigwam? + +Leonard could not have returned to the cottage, even if the Famine +that faced had already seized him with her skeleton hand. London +releases not so readily her fated stepsons. + + +CHAPTER IV. + +One day three persons were standing before an old book-stall in a +passage leading from Oxford Street into Tottenham Court Road. Two +were gentlemen; the third, of the class and appearance of those who +more habitually halt at old book-stalls. + +"Look," said one of the gentlemen to the other, "I have discovered +here what I have searched for in vain the last ten years--the Horace +of 1580, the Horace of the Forty Commentators--a perfect treasury of +learning, and marked only fourteen shillings!" + +"Hush, Norreys," said the other, "and observe what is yet more worth +your study;" and he pointed to the third bystander, whose face, +sharp and attenuated, was bent with an absorbed, and, as it were, +with a hungering attention over an old worm-eaten volume. + +"What is the book, my lord?" whispered Mr Norreys. + +His companion smiled, and replied by another question, "What is the +man who reads the book?" + +Mr Norreys moved a few paces, and looked over the student's +shoulder "Preston's translation of BOETHIUS, _The Consolations of +Philosophy_," he said, coming back to his friend. + +"He looks as if he wanted all the consolations Philosophy can give +him, poor boy." + +At this moment a fourth passenger paused at the book-stall, and, +recognising the pale student, placed his hand on his shoulder and +said, "Aha, young sir, we meet again. So poor Prickett is dead. But +you are still haunted by associations. Books--books--magnets to +which all iron minds move insensibly. What is this? BOETHIUS! Ah, +a book written in prison, but a little time before the advent of +the only philosopher who solves to the simplest understanding every +mystery of life--" + +"And that philosopher?" + +"Is Death!" said Mr Burley. "How can you be dull enough to ask? Poor +Boethius, rich, nobly born, a consul, his sons consuls--the world +one smile to the Last Philosopher of Rome. Then suddenly, against +this type of the old world's departing WISDOM, stands frowning the +new world's grim genius, FORCE--Theodoric the Ostrogoth condemning +Boethius the Schoolman; and Boethius, in his Pavian dungeon, holding +a dialogue with the shade of Athenian Philosophy. It is the finest +picture upon which lingers the glimmering of the Western golden day, +before night rushes over time." + +"And," said Mr Norreys abruptly, "Boethius comes back to us with the +faint gleam of returning light, translated by Alfred the Great. And, +again, as the sun of knowledge bursts forth in all its splendour, by +Queen Elizabeth. Boethius influences us as we stand in this passage; +and that is the best of all the Consolations of Philosophy--eh, Mr +Burley?" + +Mr Burley turned and bowed. + +The two men looked at each other; you could not see a greater +contrast. Mr Burley, his gay green dress already shabby and soiled, +with a rent in the skirts, and his face speaking of habitual +night-cups. Mr Norreys, neat and somewhat precise in dress, with +firm lean figure, and quiet, collected, vigorous energy in his eye +and aspect. + +"If," replied Mr Burley, "a poor devil like me may argue with a +gentleman who may command his own price with the booksellers, I +should say it is no consolation at all, Mr Norreys. And I should +like to see any man of sense accept the condition of Boethius in his +prison, with some strangler or headsman waiting behind the door, +upon the promised proviso that he should be translated, centuries +afterwards, by Kings and Queens, and help indirectly to influence +the minds of Northern barbarians, babbling about him in an alley, +jostled by passers-by who never heard the name of Boethius, and who +don't care a fig for philosophy. Your servant, sir--young man, come +and talk." + +Burley hooked his arm within Leonard's, and led the boy passively +away. + +"That is a clever man," said Harley L'Estrange. "But I am sorry to +see yon young student, with his bright earnest eyes, and his lip +that has the quiver of passion and enthusiasm, leaning on the arm of +a guide who seems disenchanted of all that gives purpose to learning +and links philosophy with use to the world. Who, and what is this +clever man whom you call Burley?" + +"A man who might have been famous, if he had condescended to be +respectable! The boy listening to us both so attentively interested +_me_ too--I should like to have the making of him. But I must buy +this Horace." + +The shopman, lurking within his hole like a spider for flies, was +now called out. And when Mr Norreys had bought the Horace, and given +an address where to send it, Harley asked the shopman if he knew the +young man who had been reading Boethius. + +"Only by sight. He has come here every day the last week, and spends +hours at the stall. When once he fastens on a book, he reads it +through." + +"And never buys?" said Mr Norreys. + +"Sir," said the shopman with a good-natured smile, "they who buy +seldom read. The poor boy pays me twopence a-day to read as long as +he pleases. I would not take it, but he is proud." + +"I have known men amass great learning in that way," said Mr +Norreys. "Yes, I should like to have that boy in my hands. And now, +my lord, I am at your service, and we will go to the studio of your +artist." + +The two gentlemen walked on towards one of the streets out of +Fitzroy Square. + +In a few minutes more Harley L'Estrange was in his element, seated +carelessly on a deal table, smoking his cigar, and discussing art +with the gusto of a man who honestly loved, and the taste of a man +who thoroughly understood it. The young artist, in his dressing +robe, adding slow touch upon touch, paused often to listen the +better. And Henry Norreys, enjoying the brief respite from a life of +great labour, was gladly reminded of idle hours under rosy skies; +for these three men had formed their friendship in Italy, where the +bands of friendship are woven by the hands of the Graces. + + +CHAPTER V. + +Leonard and Mr Burley walked on into the suburbs round the north +road from London, and Mr Burley offered to find literary employment +for Leonard--an offer eagerly accepted. + +Then they went into a public house by the wayside. Burley demanded +a private room, called for pen, ink, and paper; and, placing these +implements before Leonard, said, "Write what you please in prose, +five sheets of letter paper, twenty-two lines to a page--neither +more nor less." + +"I cannot write so." + +"Tut, 'tis for bread." + +The boy's face crimsoned. + +"I must forget that," said he. + +"There is an arbour in the garden under a weeping ash," returned +Burley. "Go there, and fancy yourself in Arcadia." + +Leonard was too pleased to obey. He found out the little arbour at +one end of a deserted bowling-green. All was still--the hedgerow +shut out the sight of the inn. The sun lay warm on the grass, and +glinted pleasantly through the leaves of the ash. And Leonard there +wrote the first essay from his hand as Author by profession. What +was it that he wrote? His dreamy impressions of London? an anathema +on its streets, and its hearts of stone? murmurs against poverty? +dark elegies on fate? + +Oh, no! little knowest thou true genius, if thou askest such +questions, or thinkest that there, under the weeping ash, the +taskwork for bread was remembered; or that the sunbeam glinted but +over the practical world, which, vulgar and sordid, lay around. +Leonard wrote a fairy tale--one of the loveliest you can conceive, +with a delicate touch of playful humour--in a style all flowered +over with happy fancies. He smiled as he wrote the last word--he was +happy. In rather more than an hour Mr Burley came to him, and found +him with that smile on his lips. + +Mr Burley had a glass of brandy and water in his hand; it was +his third. He too smiled--he too looked happy. He read the paper +aloud, and well. He was very complimentary. "You will do!" said he, +clapping Leonard on the back. "Perhaps some day you will catch my +one-eyed perch." Then he folded up the MS., scribbled off a note, +put the whole in one envelope--and they returned to London. + +Mr Burley disappeared within a dingy office near Fleet Street, +on which was inscribed--"Office of the _Beehive_," and soon came +forth with a golden sovereign in his hand--Leonard's first-fruits. +Leonard thought Peru lay before him. He accompanied Mr Burley to +that gentleman's lodging in Maida Hill. The walk had been very long; +Leonard was not fatigued. He listened with a livelier attention +than before to Burley's talk. And when they reached the apartments +of the latter, and Mr Burley sent to the cookshop, and their joint +supper was taken out of the golden sovereign, Leonard felt proud, +and for the first time for weeks he laughed the heart's laugh. The +two writers grew more and more intimate and cordial. And there was a +vast deal in Burley by which any young man might be made the wiser. +There was no apparent evidence of poverty in the apartments--clean, +new, well furnished; but all things in the most horrible litter--all +speaking of the huge literary sloven. + +For several days Leonard almost lived in those rooms. He wrote +continuously--save when Burley's conversation fascinated him into +idleness. Nay, it was not idleness--his knowledge grew larger as +he listened; but the cynicism of the talker began slowly to work +its way. That cynicism in which there was no faith, no hope, no +vivifying breath from Glory--from Religion. The cynicism of the +Epicurean, more degraded in his stye than ever was Diogenes in his +tub; and yet presented with such ease and such eloquence--with such +art and such mirth--so adorned with illustration and anecdote, so +unconscious of debasement. + +Strange and dread philosophy--that made it a maxim to squander +the gifts of mind on the mere care for matter, and fit the soul +to live but as from day to day, with its scornful cry, "A fig +for immortality and laurels!" An author for bread! Oh, miserable +calling! was there something grand and holy, after all, even in +Chatterton's despair! + + +CHAPTER VI. + +The villanous _Beehive_! Bread was worked out of it, certainly; but +fame, but hope for the future--certainly not. Milton's _Paradise +Lost_ would have perished without a sound, had it appeared in the +_Beehive_. + +Fine things were there in a fragmentary crude state, composed +by Burley himself. At the end of a week they were dead and +forgotten--never read by one man of education and taste; taken +simultaneously and indifferently with shallow politics and wretched +essays, yet selling, perhaps, twenty or thirty thousand copies--an +immense sale;--and nothing got out of them but bread and brandy! + +"What more would you have?" cried John Burley. "Did not stern old +Sam Johnson say he could never write but from want?" + +"He might say it," answered Leonard; "but he never meant posterity +to believe him. And he would have died of want, I suspect, rather +than have written _Rasselas_ for the _Beehive_! Want is a grand +thing," continued the boy, thoughtfully. "A parent of grand things. +Necessity is strong, and should give us its own strength; but Want +should shatter asunder, with its very writhings, the walls of our +prison-house, and not sit contented with the allowance the jail +gives us in exchange for our work." + +"There is no prison-house to a man who calls upon Bacchus--stay--I +will translate to you Schiller's Dithyramb. 'Then see I +Bacchus--then up come Cupid and Phoebus, and all the Celestials are +filling my dwelling.'" + +Breaking into impromptu careless rhymes, Burley threw off a rude but +spirited translation of that divine lyric. + +"O materialist!" cried the boy, with his bright eyes suffused. +"Schiller calls on the gods to take him to their heaven with him; +and you would debase the gods to a gin palace." + +"Ho, ho!" cried Burley, with his giant laugh. "Drink, and you will +understand the Dithyramb." + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Suddenly one morning, as Leonard sate with Barley, a fashionable +cabriolet, with a very handsome horse, stopped at the door--a loud +knock--a quick step on the stairs, and Randal Leslie entered. +Leonard recognised him, and started. Randal glanced at him in +surprise, and then, with a tact that showed he had already learned +to profit by London life, after shaking hands with Burley, +approached, and said with some successful attempt at ease, "Unless +I am not mistaken, sir, we have met before. If you remember me, I +hope all boyish quarrels are forgotten?" + +Leonard bowed, and his heart was still good enough to be softened. + +"Where could you two ever have met?" asked Burley. + +"In a village green, and in single combat," answered Randal, +smiling; and he told the story of the Battle of the Stocks, with +a well-bred jest on himself. Burley laughed at the story. "But," +said he, when this laugh was over, "my young friend had better have +remained guardian of the village stocks, than come to London in +search of such fortune as lies at the bottom of an inkhorn." + +"Ah," said Randal, with the secret contempt which men elaborately +cultivated are apt to feel for those who seek to educate +themselves--"ah, you make literature your calling, sir? At what +school did you conceive a taste for letters?--not very common at our +great public schools." + +"I am at school now for the first time," answered Leonard, drily. + +"Experience is the best schoolmistress," said Burley; "and that +was the maxim of Goethe, who had book-learning enough, in all +conscience." + +Randal slightly shrugged his shoulders, and, without wasting another +thought on Leonard, peasant-born and self-taught, took his seat, and +began to talk to Burley upon a political question, which made then +the war-cry between the two great Parliamentary parties. It was a +subject in which Burley showed much general knowledge; and Randal, +seeming to differ from him, drew forth alike his information and his +argumentative powers. The conversation lasted more than an hour. + +"I can't quite agree with you," said Randal, taking his leave; "but +you must allow me to call again--will the same hour to-morrow suit +you?" + +"Yes," said Burley. + +Away went the young man in his cabriolet. Leonard watched him from +the window. + +For five days, consecutively, did Randal call and discuss the +question in all its bearings; and Burley, after the second day, got +interested in the matter, looked up his authorities--refreshed his +memory--and even spent an hour or two in the Library of the British +Museum. + +By the fifth day, Burley had really exhausted all that could well be +said on his side of the question. + +Leonard, during these colloquies, had sate apart, seemingly +absorbed in reading, and secretly stung by Randal's disregard of +his presence. For indeed that young man, in his superb self-esteem, +and in the absorption of his ambitious projects, scarce felt even +curiosity as to Leonard's rise above his earlier station, and looked +on him as a mere journeyman of Burley's. But the self-taught are +keen and quick observers. And Leonard had remarked, that Randal +seemed more as one playing a part for some private purpose, than +arguing in earnest; and that, when he rose and said, "Mr Burley, +you have convinced me," it was not with the modesty of a sincere +reasoner, but the triumph of one who has gained his end. But so +struck, meanwhile, was our unheeded and silent listener, with +Burley's power of generalisation, and the wide surface over which +his information extended, that when Randal left the room the boy +looked at the slovenly purposeless man, and said aloud--"True; +knowledge is _not_ power." + +"Certainly not," said Burley, drily--"the weakest thing, in the +world." + +"Knowledge is power," muttered Randal Leslie, as, with a smile on +his lip, he drove from the door. + +Not many days after this last interview there appeared a short +pamphlet; anonymous, but one which made a great impression on the +town. It was on the subject discussed between Randal and Burley. It +was quoted at great length in the newspapers. And Burley started +to his feet one morning, and exclaimed, "My own thoughts! my very +words! Who the devil is this pamphleteer?" + +Leonard took the newspaper from Burley's hand. The most flattering +encomiums preceded the extracts, and the extracts were as +stereotypes of Burley's talk. + +"Can you doubt the author?" cried Leonard, in deep disgust and +ingenuous scorn. "The young man who came to steal your brains, and +turn your knowledge--" + +"Into power," interrupted Burley, with a laugh, but it was a laugh +of pain. "Well, this was very mean; I shall tell him so when he +comes." + +"He will come no more," said Leonard. Nor did Randal come again. But +he sent Mr Burley a copy of the pamphlet with a polite note, saying, +with candid but careless acknowledgment, that "he had profited much +by Mr Burley's hints and remarks." + +And now it was in all the papers, that the pamphlet which had made +so great a noise was by a very young man, Mr Audley Egerton's +relation. And high hopes were expressed of the future career of Mr +Randal Leslie. + +Burley still attempted to laugh, and still his pain was visible. +Leonard most cordially despised and hated Randal Leslie, and his +heart moved to Burley with noble but perilous compassion. In his +desire to soothe and comfort the man whom he deemed cheated out of +fame, he forgot the caution he had hitherto imposed on himself, +and yielded more and more to the charm of that wasted intellect. +He accompanied Burley now where he went to spent his evenings, +and more and more--though gradually, and with many a recoil and +self-rebuke--there crept over him the cynic's contempt for glory, +and miserable philosophy of debased content. + +Randal had risen into grave repute upon the strength of Burley's +knowledge. But, had Burley written the pamphlet, would the same +repute have attended _him_? Certainly not. Randal Leslie brought to +that knowledge qualities all his own--a style simple, strong, and +logical; a certain tone of good society, and allusions to men and +to parties that showed his connection with a cabinet minister, and +proved that he had profited no less by Egerton's talk than Burley's. + +Had Burley written the pamphlet, it would have showed more genius, +it would have had humour and wit, but have been so full of whims and +quips, sins against taste, and defects in earnestness, that it would +have failed to create any serious sensation. Here, then, there was +something else besides knowledge, by which knowledge became power. +Knowledge must not smell of the brandy bottle. + +Randal Leslie might be mean in his plagiarism, but he turned the +useless into use. And so far he was original. + +But one's admiration, after all, rests where Leonard's rested--with +the poor, shabby, riotous, lawless, big fallen man. + +Burley took himself off to the Brent, and fished again for the +one-eyed perch. Leonard accompanied him. His feelings were indeed +different from what they had been when he had reclined under the +old tree, and talked with Helen of the future. But it was almost +pathetic to see how Burley's nature seemed to alter, as he strayed +along the banks of the rivulet, and talked of his own boyhood. +The man then seemed restored to something of the innocence of the +child. He cared, in truth, little for the perch, which continued +intractable, but he enjoyed the air and the sky, the rustling grass +and the murmuring waters. These excursions to the haunts of youth +seemed to rebaptise him, and then his eloquence took a pastoral +character, and Isaac Walton himself would have loved to hear him. +But as he got back into the smoke of the metropolis, and the gas +lamps made him forget the ruddy sunset, and the soft evening star, +the gross habits reassumed their sway; and on he went with his +swaggering reckless step to the orgies in which his abused intellect +flamed forth, and then sank into the socket quenched and rayless. + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +Helen was seized with profound and anxious sadness. Leonard had been +three or four times to see her, and each time she saw a change in +him that excited all her fears. He seemed, it is true, more shrewd, +more worldly-wise, more fitted, it might be, for coarse daily life; +but, on the other hand, the freshness and glory of his youth +were waning slowly. His aspirings drooped earthward. He had not +mastered the Practical, and moulded its uses with the strong hand +of the Spiritual Architect, of the Ideal Builder: the Practical was +overpowering himself. She grew pale when he talked of Burley, and +shuddered, poor little Helen! when she found he was daily and almost +nightly in a companionship which, with her native honest prudence, +she saw so unsuited to strengthen him in his struggles, and aid him +against temptation. She almost groaned when, pressing him as to his +pecuniary means, she found his old terror of debt seemed fading +away, and the solid healthful principles he had taken from his +village were loosening fast. Under all, it is true, there was what a +wiser and older person than Helen would have hailed as the redeeming +promise. But that something was _grief_--a sublime grief in his +own sense of falling--in his own impotence against the Fate he had +provoked and coveted. The sublimity of that grief Helen could not +detect: she saw only that it _was_ grief, and she grieved with it, +letting it excuse every fault--making her more anxious to comfort, +in order that she might save. Even from the first, when Leonard had +exclaimed, "Ah, Helen, why did you ever leave me?" she had revolved +the idea of return to him; and when in the boy's last visit he told +her that Burley, persecuted by duns, was about to fly from his +present lodgings, and take his abode with Leonard in the room she +had left vacant, all doubt was over. She resolved to sacrifice the +safety and shelter of the home assured her. She resolved to come +back and share Leonard's penury and struggles, and save the old +room, wherein she had prayed for him, from the tempter's dangerous +presence. Should she burden him? No; she had assisted her father by +many little female arts in needle and fancy work. She had improved +herself in these during her sojourn with Miss Starke. She could +bring her share to the common stock. Possessed with this idea, she +determined to realise it before the day on which Leonard had told +her Burley was to move his quarters. Accordingly she rose very +early one morning; she wrote a pretty and grateful note to Miss +Starke, who was fast asleep, left it on the table, and, before +any one was astir, stole from the house, her little bundle on her +arm. She lingered an instant at the garden-gate, with a remorseful +sentiment--a feeling that she had ill-repaid the cold and prim +protection that Miss Starke had shown her. But sisterly love carried +all before it. She closed the gate with a sigh, and went on. + +She arrived at the lodging-house before Leonard was up, took +possession of her old chamber, and, presenting herself to Leonard as +he was about to go forth, said, (story-teller that she was,)--"I am +sent away, brother, and I have, come to you to take care of me. Do +not let us part again. But you must be very cheerful and very happy, +or I shall think that I am sadly in your way." + +Leonard at first did look cheerful, and even happy; but then he +thought of Burley, and then of his own means of supporting her, and +was embarrassed, and began questioning Helen as to the possibility +of reconciliation with Miss Starke. And Helen said gravely, +"Impossible--do not ask it, and do not go near her." + +Then Leonard thought she had been humbled and insulted, and +remembered that she was a gentleman's child, and felt for her +wounded pride--he was so proud himself. Yet still he was embarrassed. + +"Shall I keep the purse again, Leonard?" said Helen coaxingly. + +"Alas!" replied Leonard, "the purse is empty." + +"That is very naughty in the purse," said Helen, "since you put so +much into it." + +"I?" + +"Did not you say that you made, at least, a guinea a-week?" + +"Yes; but Burley takes the money; and then, poor fellow! as I owe +all to him, I have not the heart to prevent his spending it as he +likes." + +"Please, I wish you could settle the month's rent," said the +landlady, suddenly showing herself. She said it civilly, but with +firmness. + +Leonard coloured. "It shall be paid to-day." + +Then he pressed his hat on his head, and, putting Helen gently +aside, went forth. + +"Speak to _me_ in future, kind Mrs Smedley," said Helen with the air +of a housewife. "_He_ is always in study, and must not be disturbed." + +The landlady--a good woman, though she liked her rent--smiled +benignly. She was fond of Helen, whom she had known of old. + +"I am so glad you are come back; and perhaps now the young man will +not keep such late hours. I meant to give him warning, but--" + +"But he will be a great man one of these days, and you must bear +with him now." And Helen kissed Mrs Smedley, and sent her away half +inclined to cry. + +Then Helen busied herself in the rooms. She found her father's box, +which had been duly forwarded. She re-examined its contents, and +wept as she touched each humble and pious relic. But her father's +memory itself thus seemed to give this home a sanction which the +former had not; and she rose quietly and began mechanically to put +things in order, sighing as she, saw all so neglected, till she +came to the rose-tree, and that alone showed heed and care. "Dear +Leonard!" she murmured, and the smile resettled on her lips. + + +CHAPTER IX. + +Nothing, perhaps, could have severed Leonard from Burley but Helen's +return to his care. It was impossible for him, even had there been +another room in the house vacant, (which there was not,) to install +this noisy riotous son of the Muse by Bacchus, talking at random, +and smelling of spirits, in the same dwelling with an innocent, +delicate, timid, female child. And Leonard could not leave her alone +all the twenty-four hours. She restored a home to him, and imposed +its duties. He therefore told Mr Burley that in future he should +write and study in his own room, and hinted with many a blush, and +as delicately as he could, that it seemed to him that whatever he +obtained from his pen ought to be halved with Burley, to whose +interest he owed the employment, and from whose books or whose +knowledge he took what helped to maintain it; but that the other +half, if his, he could no longer afford to spend upon feasts or +libations. He had another to provide for. + +Burley pooh-poohed the notion of taking half his coadjutor's +earning, with much grandeur, but spoke very fretfully of Leonard's +sober appropriation of the other half; and, though a good-natured +warm-hearted man, felt extremely indignant against the sudden +interposition of poor Helen. However, Leonard was firm; and then +Burley grew sullen, and so they parted. But the rent was still to +be paid. How? Leonard for the first time thought of the pawnbroker. +He had clothes to spare, and Riccabocca's watch. No; that last he +shrank from applying to such base uses. + +He went home at noon, and met Helen at the street door. She too had +been out, and her soft cheek was rosy red with unwonted exercise and +the sense of joy. She had still preserved the few gold pieces which +Leonard had taken back to her on his first visit to Miss Starke's. +She had now gone out and bought wools and implements for work; and +meanwhile she had paid the rent. + +Leonard did not object to the work, but he blushed deeply when he +knew about the rent, and was very angry. He payed back to her that +night what she had advanced; and Helen wept silently at his pride, +and wept more when she saw the next day a woeful hiatus in his +wardrobe. + +But Leonard now worked at home, and worked resolutely; and Helen +sate by his side, working too; so that next day, and the next, +slipped peacefully away, and in the evening of the second he +asked her to walk out in the fields. She sprang up joyously at +the invitation, when bang went the door, and in reeled John +Burley--drunk:--And so drunk! + + +CHAPTER X. + +And with Burley there reeled in another man--a friend of his--a +man who had been a wealthy trader and once well to do, but who, +unluckily, had literary tastes, and was fond of hearing Burley talk. +So, since he had known the wit, his business had fallen from him, +and he had passed through the Bankrupt Court. A very shabby-looking +dog he was, indeed, and his nose was redder than Burley's. + +John made a drunken dash at poor Helen. "So you are the Pentheus in +petticoats who defies Bacchus," cried he; and therewith he roared +out a verse from Euripides. Helen ran away, and Leonard interposed. + +"For shame, Burley!" + +"He's drunk," said Mr Douce the bankrupt trader--"very drunk--don't +mind--him. I say, sir, I hope we don't intrude. Sit still, Burley, +sit still, and talk, do--that's a good man. You should hear +him--ta--ta--talk, sir." + +Leonard meanwhile had got Helen out of the room, into her own, +and begged her not to be alarmed, and keep the door locked. He +then returned to Burley, who had seated himself on the bed, trying +wondrous hard to keep himself upright; while Mr Douce was striving +to light a short pipe that he carried in his buttonhole--without +having filled it--and, naturally failing in that attempt, was now +beginning to weep. + +Leonard was deeply shocked and revolted for Helen's sake; but it was +hopeless to make Burley listen to reason. And how could the boy turn +out of his room the man to whom he was under obligations? + +Meanwhile there smote upon Helen's shrinking, ears loud jarring talk +and maudlin laughter, and cracked attempts at jovial songs. Then she +heard Mrs Smedley in Leonard's room, remonstrating, and Burley's +laugh was louder than before, and Mrs Smedley, who was a meek woman, +evidently got frightened, and was heard in precipitate retreat. +Long and loud talk recommenced, Burley's great voice predominant, +Mr Douce chiming in with hiccupy broken treble. Hour after hour +this lasted, for want of the drink that would have brought it to a +premature close. And Burley gradually began to talk himself somewhat +sober. Then Mr Douce was heard descending the stairs, and silence +followed. At dawn, Leonard knocked at Helen's door. She opened it at +once, for she had not gone to bed. + +"Helen," said he very sadly, "you cannot continue here. I must find +out some proper home for you. This man has served me when all London +was friendless, and he tells me that he has nowhere else to go--that +the bailiffs are after him. He has now fallen asleep. I will go and +find you some lodging close at hand--for I cannot expel him who has +protected me; and yet you cannot be under the same roof with him. My +own good angel, I must lose you." + +He did not wait for her answer, but hurried down the stairs. + +The morning looked through the shutterless panes in Leonard's +garret, and the birds began to chirp from the elm-tree, when Burley +rose and shook himself, and stared round. He could not quite make +out where he was. He got hold of the water-jug which he emptied +at three draughts, and felt greatly refreshed. He then began to +reconnoitre the chamber--looked at Leonard's MSS.--peeped into the +drawers--wondered where the devil Leonard himself had gone to--and +finally amused himself by throwing down the fire-irons, ringing the +bell, and making all the noise he could, in the hopes of attracting +the attention of somebody or other, and procuring himself his +morning dram. + +In the midst of this _charivari_ the door opened softly, but as if +with a resolute hand, and the small quiet form of Helen stood before +the threshold. BURLEY turned round, and the two looked at each other +for some moments with silent scrutiny. + +BURLEY, (composing his features into their most friendly +expression.)--"Come hither, my dear. So you are the little girl whom +I saw with Leonard on the banks of the Brent, and you have come +back to live with him--and I have come to live with him too. You +shall be our little housekeeper, and I will tell you the story of +Prince Prettyman, and a great many others not to be found in _Mother +Goose_. Meanwhile, my dear little girl, here's sixpence--just run +out and change this for its worth in rum." + +HELEN, (coming slowly up to Mr Burley, and still gazing earnestly +into his face.)--"Ah, sir, Leonard says you have a kind heart, and +that you have served him--he cannot ask you to leave the house; and +so I, who have never served him, am to go hence and live alone." + +BURLEY, (moved.)--"You go, my little lady?--and why? Can we not all +live together?" + +HELEN.--"No, sir. I left everything to come to Leonard, for we had +met first at my father's grave. But you rob me of him, and I have no +other friend on earth." + +BURLEY, (discomposed.)--"Explain yourself. Why must you leave him +because I come?" + +Helen looks at Mr Burley again, long and wistfully, but makes no +answer. + +BURLEY, (with a gulp.)--"Is it because he thinks I am not fit +company for you?" + +Helen bowed her head. + +Burley winced, and after a moment's pause said,--"He is right." + +HELEN, (obeying the impulse at her heart, springs forward and takes +Burley's hand.)--"Ah, sir," she cried, "before he knew you he was +so different--then he was cheerful--then, even when his first +disappointment came, I grieved and wept; but I felt he would conquer +still--for his heart was so good and pure. Oh, sir, don't think I +reproach you; but what is to become of him if--if--No, it is not for +myself I speak. I know that if I was here, that if he had me to care +for, he would come home early--and work patiently--and--and--that +I might save him. But now when I am gone, and you with him--you +to whom he is grateful, you whom he would follow against his own +conscience, (you must see that, sir)--what is to become of him?" + +Helen's voice died in sobs. + +Burley took three or four long strides through the room--he was +greatly agitated. "I am a demon," he murmured. "I never saw it +before--but it is true--I should be this boy's ruin." Tears stood in +his eyes, he paused abruptly, made a clutch at his hat, and turned +to the door. + +Helen stopped the way, and, taking him gently by the arm, +said,--"Oh, sir, forgive me--I have pained you;" and looked up at +him with a compassionate expression, that indeed made the child's +sweet face as that of an angel. + +Burley bent down as if to kiss her, and then drew back--perhaps with +a sentiment that his lips were not worthy to touch that innocent +brow. + +"If I had had a sister--a child like you, little one," he muttered, +"perhaps I too might have been saved in time. Now--" + +"Ah, now you may stay, sir; I don't fear you any more." + +"No, no; you would fear me again ere night-time, and I might not be +always in the right mood to listen to a voice like yours, child. +Your Leonard has a noble heart and rare gifts. He should rise yet, +and he shall. I will not drag him into the mire. Good-bye--you will +see me no more." He broke from Helen, cleared the stairs with a +bound, and was out of the house. + +When Leonard returned he was surprised to hear his unwelcome +guest was gone--but Helen did not venture to tell him of her +interposition. She knew instinctively how such officiousness would +mortify and offend the pride of man--but she never again spoke +harshly of poor Burley. Leonard supposed that he should either see +or hear of the humourist in the course of the day. Finding he did +not, he went in search of him at his old haunts; but no trace. He +inquired at the _Beehive_ if they knew there of his new address, but +no tidings of Burley could be obtained. + +As he came home disappointed and anxious, for he felt uneasy as to +the disappearance of his wild friend, Mrs Smedley met him at the +door. + +"Please, sir, suit yourself with another lodging," said she. "I can +have no such singings and shoutings going on at night in my house. +And that poor little girl, too!--you should be ashamed of yourself." + +Leonard frowned, and passed by. + + +CHAPTER XI. + +Meanwhile, on leaving Helen, Burley strode on; and, as if by some +better instinct, for he was unconscious of his own steps, he took +the way towards the still green haunts of his youth. When he paused +at length, he was already before the door of a rural cottage, +standing alone in the midst of fields, with a little farm-yard at +the back; and far through the trees in front was caught a glimpse of +the winding Brent. + +With this cottage Burley was familiar; it was inhabited by a good +old couple who had known him from a boy. There he habitually +left his rods and fishing-tackle; there, for intervals in his +turbid riotous life, he had sojourned for two or three days +together--fancying the first day that the country was a heaven, and +convinced before the third that it was a purgatory. + +An old woman, of neat and tidy exterior, came forth to greet him. + +"Ah, Master John," said she clasping his nerveless hand--"well, +the fields be pleasant now--I hope you are come to stay a bit? Do; +it will freshen you: you lose all the fine colour you had once, in +Lunnon town." + +"I will stay with you, my kind friend," said Burley with unusual +meekness--"I can have the old room, then?" + +"Oh yes, come and look at it. I never let it now to any one but +you--never have let it since the dear beautiful lady with the +angel's face went away. Poor thing, what could have become of her?" + +Thus speaking, while Burley listened not, the old woman drew him +within the cottage, and led him up the stairs into a room that might +have well become a better house, for it was furnished with taste, +and even elegance. A small cabinet pianoforte stood opposite the +fireplace, and the window looked upon pleasant meads and tangled +hedgerows, and the narrow windings of the blue rivulet. Burley sank +down exhausted, and gazed wistfully from the casement. + +"You have not breakfasted?" said the hostess anxiously. + +"No." + +"Well, the eggs are fresh laid, and you would like a rasher of +bacon, Master John? And if you _will_ have brandy in your tea, I +have some that you left long ago in your own bottle." + +Burley shook his head. "No brandy, Mrs Goodyer; only fresh milk. I +will see whether I can yet coax Nature." + +Mrs Goodyer did not know what was meant by coaxing Nature, but she +said, "Pray do, Master John," and vanished. + +That day Burley went out with his rod, and he fished hard for the +one-eyed perch: but in vain. Then he roved along the stream with +his hands in his pockets, whistling. He returned to the cottage at +sunset, partook of the fare provided for him, abstained from the +brandy, and felt dreadfully low. He called for pen, ink, and paper, +and sought to write, but could not achieve two lines. He summoned +Mrs Goodyer, "Tell your husband to come and sit and talk." + +Up came old Jacob Goodyer, and the great wit bade him tell him all +the news of the village. Jacob obeyed willingly, and Burley at last +fell asleep. The next day it was much the same, only at dinner he +had up the brandy bottle, and finished it; and he did _not_ have up +Jacob, but he contrived to write. + +The third day it rained incessantly. "Have you no books, Mrs +Goodyer?" asked poor John Burley. + +"Oh, yes, some that the dear lady left behind her; and perhaps you +would like to look at some papers in her own writing?" + +"No, not the papers--all women scribble, and all scribble the same +things. Get me the books." + +The books were brought up--poetry and essays--John knew them by +heart. He looked out on the rain, and at evening the rain had +ceased. He rushed to his hat and fled. + +"Nature, Nature!" he exclaimed when he was out in the air and +hurrying by the dripping hedgerows, "you are not to be coaxed by +me! I have jilted you shamefully, I own it; you are a female and +unforgiving. I don't complain. You may be very pretty, but you are +the stupidest and most tiresome companion that ever I met with. +Thank heaven, I am not married to you!" + +Thus John Burley made his way into town, and paused at the first +public house. Out of that house he came with a jovial air, and +on he strode towards the heart of London. Now he is in Leicester +Square, and he gazes on the foreigners who stalk that region, and +hums a tune; and now from yonder alley two forms emerge, and dog +his careless footsteps; now through the maze of passages towards St +Martin's he threads his path, and, anticipating an orgy as he nears +his favourite haunts, jingles the silver in his pockets; and now the +two forms are at his heels. + +"Hail to thee, O Freedom!" muttered John Burley, "thy dwelling is in +cities, and thy palace is the tavern." + +"In the king's name," quoth a gruff voice; and John Burley feels the +horrid and familiar tap on the shoulder. + +The two bailiffs who dogged have seized their prey. + +"At whose suit?" asked John Burley falteringly. + +"Mr Cox, the wine-merchant." + +"Cox! A man to whom I gave a cheque on my bankers, not three months +ago!" + +"But it warn't cashed." + +"What does that signify?--the intention was the same. A good heart +takes the will for the deed. Cox is a monster of ingratitude; and I +withdraw my custom." + +"Sarve him right. Would your honour like a jarvey?" + +"I would rather spend the money on something else," said John +Burley. "Give me your arm, I am not proud. After all, thank heaven, +I shall not sleep in the country." + +And John Burley made a night of it in the Fleet. + + +CHAPTER XII. + +Miss Starke was one of those ladies who pass their lives in the +direst of all civil strife--war with their servants. She looked upon +the members of that class as the unrelenting and sleepless enemies +of the unfortunate householders condemned to employ them. She +thought they ate and drank to their villanous utmost, in order to +ruin their benefactors--that they lived in one constant conspiracy +with one another and the tradesmen, the object of which was to +cheat and pilfer. Miss Starke was a miserable woman. As she had no +relations or friends who cared enough for her to share her solitary +struggle against her domestic foes; and her income, though easy, +was an annuity that died with herself, thereby reducing various +nephews, nieces, or cousins, to the strict bounds of a natural +affection--that did not exist; and as she felt the want of some +friendly face amidst this world of distrust and hate, so she had +tried the resource of venal companions. But the venal companions +had never staid long--either they disliked Miss Starke, or Miss +Starke disliked them. Therefore the poor woman had resolved upon +bringing up some little girl whose heart, as she said to herself, +would be fresh and uncorrupted, and from whom she might expect +gratitude. She had been contented, on the whole, with Helen, and +had meant to keep that child in her house as long as she (Miss +Starke) remained upon the earth--perhaps some thirty years longer; +and then, having carefully secluded her from marriage, and other +friendship, to leave her nothing but the regret of having lost so +kind a benefactress. Agreeably with this notion, and in order to +secure the affections of the child, Miss Starke had relaxed the +frigid austerity natural to her manner and mode of thought, and been +kind to Helen in an iron way. She had neither slapped nor pinched +her, neither had she starved. She had allowed her to see Leonard, +according to the agreement made with Dr Morgan, and had laid out +tenpence on cakes, besides contributing fruit from her garden for +the first interview--a hospitality she did not think it fit to renew +on subsequent occasions. In return for this, she conceived she had +purchased the right to Helen bodily and spiritually, and nothing +could exceed her indignation when she rose one morning and found the +child had gone. As it never had occurred to her to ask Leonard's +address, though she suspected Helen had gone to him, she was at a +loss what to do, and remained for twenty-four hours in a state of +inane depression. But then she began to miss the child so much that +her energies woke, and she persuaded herself that she was actuated +by the purest benevolence in trying to reclaim this poor creature +from the world into which Helen had thus rashly plunged. + +Accordingly, she put an advertisement into the _Times_, to the +following effect, liberally imitated from one by which, in former +years, she had recovered a favourite Blenheim. + + TWO GUINEAS REWARD. + + Strayed, from Ivy Cottage, Highgate, a Little Girl, answers to + the name of Helen; with blue eyes and brown hair; white muslin + frock, and straw hat with blue ribbons. Whoever will bring the + same to Ivy Cottage, shall receive the above Reward. + + _N.B._--Nothing more will be offered. + +Now, it so happened that Mrs Smedley had put an advertisement in +the _Times_ on her own account, relative to a niece of hers who +was coming from the country, and for whom she desired to find +a situation. So, contrary to her usual habit, she sent for the +newspaper, and, close by her own advertisement, she saw Miss +Starke's. + +It was impossible that she could mistake the description of Helen; +and, as this advertisement caught her eye the very day after the +whole house had been disturbed and scandalised by Burley's noisy +visit, and on which she had resolved to get rid of a lodger who +received such visitors, the goodhearted woman was delighted to think +that she could restore Helen to some safe home. While thus thinking, +Helen herself entered the kitchen where Mrs Smedley sate, and the +landlady had the imprudence to point out the advertisement, and +talk, as she called it, "seriously" to the little girl. + +Helen in vain and with tears entreated her to take no step in reply +to the advertisement. Mrs Smedley felt it was an affair of duty, +and was obdurate, and shortly afterwards put on her bonnet and +left the house. Helen conjectured that she was on her way to Miss +Starke's, and her whole soul was bent on flight. Leonard had gone +to the office of the _Beehive_ with his MSS.; but she packed up all +their joint effects, and, just as she had done so, he returned. She +communicated the news of the advertisement, and said she should be +so miserable if compelled to go back to Miss Starke's, and implored +him so pathetically to save her from such sorrow that he at once +assented to her proposal of flight. Luckily, little was owing to the +landlady--that little was left with the maid-servant; and, profiting +by Mrs Smedley's absence, they escaped without scene or conflict. +Their effects were taken by Leonard to a stand of hackney vehicles, +and then left at a coach-office, while they went in search of +lodgings. It was wise to choose an entirely new and remote district; +and before night they were settled in an attic in Lambeth. + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +As the reader will expect, no trace of Burley could Leonard find: +the humourist had ceased to communicate with the _Beehive_. But +Leonard grieved for Burley's sake; and indeed, he missed the +intercourse of the large wrong mind. But he settled down by +degrees to the simple loving society of his child companion, and +in that presence grew more tranquil. The hours in the daytime +that he did not pass at work he spent as before, picking up +knowledge at bookstalls; and at dusk he and Helen would stroll +out--sometimes striving to escape from the long suburb into fresh +rural air; more often wandering to and fro the bridge that led +to glorious Westminster--London's classic land--and watching the +vague lamps reflected on the river. This haunt suited the musing +melancholy boy. He would stand long and with wistful silence by the +balustrade--seating Helen thereon, that she too might look along the +dark mournful waters which, dark though they be, still have their +charm of mysterious repose. + +As the river flowed between the world of roofs, and the roar of +human passions on either side, so in those two hearts flowed +Thought--and all they knew of London was its shadow. + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +There appeared in the _Beehive_ certain very truculent political +papers--papers very like the tracts in the Tinker's bag. Leonard +did not heed them much, but they made far more sensation in the +public that read the _Beehive_ than Leonard's papers, full of rare +promise though the last were. They greatly increased the sale of the +periodical in the manufacturing towns, and began to awake the drowsy +vigilance of the Home Office. Suddenly a descent was made upon the +_Beehive_, and all its papers and plant. The editor saw himself +threatened with a criminal prosecution, and the certainty of two +years' imprisonment: he did not like the prospect, and disappeared. +One evening, when Leonard, unconscious of these mischances, arrived +at the door of the office, he found it closed. An agitated mob was +before it, and a voice that was not new to his ear was haranguing +the bystanders, with many imprecations against "tyrans." He looked, +and, to his amaze, recognised in the orator Mr Sprott the Tinker. + +The police came in numbers to disperse the crowd, and Mr Sprott +prudently vanished. Leonard learned then what had befallen, and +again saw himself without employment and the means of bread. + +Slowly he walked back. "O, knowledge, knowledge!--powerless indeed!" +he murmured. + +As he thus spoke, a handbill in large capitals met his eyes on a +dead wall--"Wanted, a few smart young men for India." + +A crimp accosted him--"You would make a fine soldier, my man. You +have stout limbs of your own." Leonard moved on. + +"It has come back, then, to this. Brute physical force after all! O +Mind, despair! O Peasant, be a machine again." + +He entered his attic noiselessly, and gazed upon Helen as she sate +at work, straining her eyes by the open window--with tender and deep +compassion. She had not heard him enter, nor was she aware of his +presence. Patient and still she sate, and the small fingers plied +busily. He gazed, and saw that her cheek was pale and hollow, and +the hands looked so thin! His heart was deeply touched, and at that +moment he had not one memory of the baffled Poet, one thought that +proclaimed the Egotist. + +He approached her gently, laid his hand on her shoulder--"Helen, put +on your shawl and bonnet, and walk out--I have much to say." + +In a few moments she was ready, and they took their way to their +favourite haunt upon the bridge. Pausing in one of the recesses or +nooks, Leonard then began,--"Helen, we must part." + +"Part?--Oh, brother!" + +"Listen. All work that depends on mind is over for me; nothing +remains but the labour of thews and sinews. I cannot go back to +my village and say to all, 'My hopes were self-conceit, and my +intellect a delusion!' I cannot. Neither in this sordid city can +I turn menial or porter. I might be born to that drudgery, but my +mind has, it may be unhappily, raised me above my birth. What, then, +shall I do? I know not yet--serve as a soldier, or push my way to +some wilderness afar, as an emigrant, perhaps. But whatever my +choice, I must henceforth be alone; I have a home no more. But there +is a home for you, Helen, a very humble one, (for you, too, so well +born,) but very safe--the roof of--of--my peasant mother. She will +love you for my sake, and--and--" + +Helen clung to him trembling, and sobbed out, "Anything, anything +you will. But I can work; I can make money, Leonard. I do, indeed, +make money--you do not know how much--but enough for us both till +better times come to you. Do not let us part." + +"And I--a man, and born to labour, to be maintained by the work of +an infant! No, Helen, do not so degrade me." + +She drew back as she looked on his flushed brow, bowed her head +submissively, and murmured, "Pardon." + +"Ah," said Helen, after a pause, "if now we could but find my poor +father's friend! I never so much cared for it before." + +"Yes, he would surely provide for you." + +"For _me_!" repeated Helen, in a tone of soft deep reproach, and she +turned away her head to conceal her tears. + +"You are sure you would remember him, if we met him by chance?" + +"Oh yes. He was so different from all we see in this terrible city, +and his eyes were like yonder stars, so clear and so bright; yet the +light seemed to come from afar off, as the light does in yours, when +your thoughts are away from all things round you. And then, too, his +dog whom he called Nero--I could not forget that." + +"But his dog may not be always with him." + +"But the bright clear eyes are! Ah, now you look up to heaven, and +yours seem to dream like his." + +Leonard did not answer, for his thoughts were indeed less on earth +than struggling to pierce into that remote and mysterious heaven. + +Both were silent long; the crowd passed them by unheedingly. Night +deepened over the river, but the reflection of the lamplights on +its waves was more visible than that of the stars. The beams showed +the darkness of the strong current, and the craft that lay eastward +on the tide, with sail-less spectral masts and black dismal hulks, +looked deathlike in their stillness. + +Leonard looked down, and the thought of Chatterton's grim suicide +came back to his soul, and a pale scornful face with luminous +haunting eyes seemed to look up from the stream, and murmur from +livid lips,--"Struggle no more against the tides on the surface--all +is calm and rest within the deep." + +Starting in terror from the gloom of his reverie, the boy began to +talk fast to Helen, and tried to soothe her with descriptions of the +lowly home which he had offered. + +He spoke of the light cares which she would participate with his +mother--for by that name he still called the widow--and dwelt, +with an eloquence that the contrast round him made sincere and +strong, on the happy rural life, the shadowy woodlands, the rippling +cornfields, the solemn lone church-spire soaring from the tranquil +landscape. Flatteringly he painted the flowery terraces of the +Italian exile, and the playful fountain that, even as he spoke, was +flinging up its spray to the stars, through serene air untroubled +by the smoke of cities, and untainted by the sinful sighs of men. +He promised her the love and protection of natures akin to the +happy scene: the simple affectionate mother--the gentle pastor--the +exile wise and kind--Violante, with dark eyes full of the mystic +thoughts that solitude calls from childhood,--Violante should be her +companion. + +"And oh!" cried Helen, "if life be thus happy there, return with me, +return--return!" + +"Alas!" murmured the boy, "if the hammer once strike the spark from +the anvil, the spark must fly upward; it cannot fall back to earth +until light has left it. Upward still, Helen--let me go upward +still!" + + +CHAPTER XV. + +The next morning Helen was very ill--so ill that, shortly after +rising, she was forced to creep back to bed. Her frame shivered--her +eyes were heavy--her hand burned like fire. Fever had set in. +Perhaps she might have caught cold on the bridge--perhaps her +emotions had proved too much for her frame. Leonard, in great +alarm, called on the nearest apothecary. The apothecary looked +grave, and said there was danger. And danger soon declared +itself--Helen became delirious. For several days she lay in this +state, between life and death. Leonard then felt that all the +sorrows of earth are light, compared with the fear of losing what we +love. How valueless the envied laurel seemed beside the dying rose. + +Thanks, perhaps, more to his heed and tending than to medical +skill, she recovered sense at last--immediate peril was over. +But she was very weak and reduced--her ultimate recovery +doubtful--convalescence, at best, likely to be very slow. + +But when she learned how long she had been thus ill, she looked +anxiously at Leonard's face as he bent over her, and faltered +forth--"Give me my work; I am strong enough for that now--it would +amuse me." + +Leonard burst into tears. + +Alas! he had no work himself; all their joint money had melted away; +the apothecary was not like good Dr Morgan: the medicines were to +be paid for, and the rent. Two days before, Leonard had pawned +Riccabocca's watch; and when the last shilling thus raised was gone, +how should he support Helen? Nevertheless he conquered his tears, +and assured her that he had employment; and that so earnestly that +she believed him, and sank into soft sleep. He listened to her +breathing, kissed her forehead, and left the room. He turned into +his own neigbouring garret, and, leaning his face on his hands, +collected all his thoughts. + +He must be a beggar at last. He must write to Mr Dale for money--Mr +Dale, too, who knew the secret of his birth. He would rather have +begged of a stranger--it seemed to add a new dishonour to his +mother's memory for the child to beg of one who was acquainted with +her shame. Had he himself been the only one to want and to starve, +he would have sunk inch by inch into the grave of famine, before he +would have so subdued his pride. But Helen, there on that bed--Helen +needing, for weeks perhaps, all support, and illness making luxuries +themselves like necessaries! Beg he must. And when he so resolved, +had you but seen the proud bitter soul he conquered, you would +have said--"This which he thinks is degradation--this is heroism. +Oh strange human heart!--no epic ever written achieves the Sublime +and the Beautiful which are graven, unread by human eye, in thy +secret leaves." Of whom else should he beg? His mother had nothing, +Riccabocca was poor, and the stately Violante, who had exclaimed, +"Would that I were a man!"--he could not endure the thought that she +should pity him, and despise. The Avenels! No--thrice No. He drew +towards him hastily ink and paper, and wrote rapid lines, that were +wrung from him as from the bleeding strings of life. + +But the hour for the post had passed--the letter must wait till +the next day; and three days at least would elapse before he +could receive an answer. He left the letter on the table, and, +stifling as for air, went forth. He crossed the bridge--he passed +on mechanically--and was borne along by a crowd pressing towards +the doors of Parliament. A debate that excited popular interest +was fixed for that evening, and many bystanders collected in the +street to see the members pass to and fro, or hear what speakers had +yet risen to take part in the debate, or try to get orders for the +gallery. + +He halted amidst these loiterers, with no interest, indeed, in +common with them, but looking over their heads abstractedly towards +the tall Funeral Abbey--Imperial Golgotha of Poets, and Chiefs, and +Kings. + +Suddenly his attention was diverted to those around by the sound of +a name--displeasingly known to him. "How are you, Randal Leslie? +coming to hear the debate?" said a member who was passing through +the street. + +"Yes; Mr Egerton promised to get me under the gallery. He is to +speak himself to-night, and I have never heard him. As you are going +into the House, will you remind him?" + +"I can't now, for he is speaking already--and well too. I hurried +from the Athenaeum, where I was dining, on purpose to be in time, as +I heard that his speech was making a great effect." + +"This is very unlucky," said Randal. "I had no idea he would speak +so early." + +"M---- brought him up by a direct personal attack. But follow me; +perhaps I can get you into the House; and a man like you, Leslie, +of whom we expect great things some day, I can tell you, should not +miss any such opportunity of knowing what this House of ours is on a +field night. Come on!" + +The member hurried towards the door; and as Randal followed him, +a bystander cried--"That is the young man who wrote the famous +pamphlet--Egerton's relation." + +"Oh, indeed!" said another. "Clever man, Egerton--I am waiting for +him." + +"So am I." + +"Why, you are not a constituent, as I am." + +"No; but he has been very kind to my nephew, and I must thank him. +You are a constituent--he is an honour to your town." + +"So he is: Enlightened man!" + +"And so generous!" + +"Brings forward really good measures," quoth the politician. + +"And clever young men," said the uncle. + +Therewith one or two others joined in the praise of Audley Egerton, +and many anecdotes of his liberality were told. + +Leonard listened at first listlessly, at last with thoughtful +attention. He had heard Burley, too, speak highly of this generous +statesman, who, without pretending to genius himself, appreciated +it in others. He suddenly remembered, too, that Egerton was +half-brother to the Squire. Vague notions of some appeal to this +eminent person, not for charity, but employ to his mind, gleamed +across him--inexperienced boy that he yet was! And, while thus +meditating, the door of the House opened, and out came Audley +Egerton himself. A partial cheering, followed by a general murmur, +apprised Leonard of the presence of the popular statesman. Egerton +was caught hold of by some five or six persons in succession; a +shake of the hand, a nod, a brief whispered word or two, sufficed +the practised member for graceful escape; and soon, free from the +crowd, his tall erect figure passed on, and turned towards the +bridge. He paused at the angle and took out his watch, looking at it +by the lamp-light. + +"Harley will be here soon," he muttered--"he is always punctual; and +now that I have spoken, I can give him an hour or so. That is well." + +As he replaced his watch in his pocket, and re-buttoned his coat +over his firm broad chest, he lifted his eyes, and saw a young man +standing before him. + +"Do you want me?" asked the statesman, with the direct brevity of +his practical character. + +"Mr Egerton," said the young man, with a voice that slightly +trembled, and yet was manly amidst emotion, "you have a great name, +and great power--I stand here in these streets of London without +a friend, and without employ. I believe that I have it in me to +do some nobler work than that of bodily labour, had I but one +friend--one opening for my thoughts. And now I have said this, I +scarcely know how, or why, but from despair, and the sudden impulse +which that despair took from the praise that follows your success, I +have nothing more to add." + +Audley Egerton was silent for a moment, struck by the tone and +address of the stranger; but the consummate and wary man of the +world, accustomed to all manner of strange applications, and all +varieties of imposture, quickly recovered from a passing and slight +effect. + +"Are you a native of ----?" (naming the town he represented as +member.) + +"No, sir." + +"Well, young man, I am very sorry for you; but the good sense +you must possess (for I judge of that by the education you have +evidently received) must tell you that a public man, whatever be his +patronage, has it too fully absorbed by claimants who have a right +to demand it, to be able to listen to strangers." + +He paused a moment, and, as Leonard stood silent, added, with more +kindness than most public men so accosted would have showed-- + +"You say you are friendless--poor fellow. In early life that happens +to many of us, who find friends enough before the close. Be honest, +and well-conducted; lean on yourself, not on strangers; work with +the body if you can't with the mind; and, believe me, that advice is +all I can give you, unless this trifle,"--and the minister held out +a crown piece. + +Leonard bowed, shook his head sadly, and walked away. Egerton looked +after him with a slight pang. + +"Pooh!" said he to himself, "there must be thousands in the same +state in these streets of London. I cannot redress the necessities +of civilisation. Well educated! It is not from ignorance henceforth +that society will suffer--it is from over-educating the hungry +thousands who, thus unfitted for manual toil, and with no career for +mental, will some day or other stand like that boy in our streets, +and puzzle wiser ministers than I am." + +As Egerton thus mused, and passed on to the bridge, a bugle-horn +rang merrily from the box of a gay four-in-hand. A drag-coach with +superb blood-horses rattled over the causeway, and in the driver +Egerton recognised his nephew--Frank Hazeldean. + +The young Guardsman was returning, with a lively party of men, from +dining at Greenwich; and the careless laughter of these children of +pleasure floated far over the still river. + +It vexed the ear of the careworn statesman--sad, perhaps, with all +his greatness, lonely amidst all his crowd of friends. It reminded +him, perhaps, of his own youth, when such parties and companionships +were familiar to him, though through them all he bore an ambitious +aspiring soul--"_Le jeu, vaut-il la chandelle?_" said he, shrugging +his shoulders. + +The coach rolled rapidly past Leonard, as he stood leaning against +the corner of the bridge, and the mire of the kennel splashed over +him from the hoofs of the fiery horses. The laughter smote on his +ear more discordantly than on the minister's, but it begot no envy. + +"Life is a dark riddle," said he, smiting his breast. + +And he walked slowly on, gained the recess where he had stood +several nights before with Helen; and dizzy with want of food, and +worn out for want of sleep, he sank down into the dark corner; while +the river that rolled under the arch of stone muttered dirge-like +in his ear;--as under the social key-stone wails and rolls on for +ever the mystery of Human Discontent. Take comfort, O Thinker by the +stream! 'Tis the river that founded and gave pomp to the city; and +without the discontent, where were progress--what were Man? Take +comfort, O THINKER! where ever the stream over which thou bendest, +or beside which thou sinkest, weary and desolate, frets the arch +that supports thee;--never dream that, by destroying the bridge, +thou canst silence the moan of the wave! + + + + +DISFRANCHISEMENT OF THE BOROUGHS. + +TO WALTER BINKIE, ESQ., PROVOST OF DREEPDAILY. + + +MY DEAR PROVOST,--In the course of your communings with nature on +the uplands of Dreepdaily, you must doubtless have observed that +the advent of a storm is usually preceded by the appearance of a +flight of seamaws, who, by their discordant screams, give notice of +the approaching change of weather. For some time past it has been +the opinion of those who are in the habit of watching the political +horizon, that we should do well to prepare ourselves for a squall, +and already the premonitory symptoms are distinctly audible. The +Liberal press, headed by the _Times_, is clamorous for some sweeping +change in the method of Parliamentary representation; and Lord John +Russell, as you are well aware, proposes in the course of next +Session to take up the subject. This is no mere _brutum fulmen_, +or dodge to secure a little temporary popularity--it is a distinct +party move for a very intelligible purpose; and is fraught, I +think, with much danger and injustice to many of the constituencies +which are now intrusted with the right of franchise. As you, my +dear Provost, are a Liberal both by principle and profession, +and moreover chief magistrate of a very old Scottish burgh, your +opinion upon this matter must have great weight in determining the +judgment of others; and, therefore, you will not, I trust, consider +it too great a liberty, if, at this dull season of the year, I call +your attention to one or two points which appear well worthy of +consideration. + +In the first place, I think you will admit that extensive organic +changes in the Constitution ought never to be attempted except in +cases of strong necessity. The real interests of the country are +never promoted by internal political agitation, which unsettles +men's minds, is injurious to regular industry, and too often leaves +behind it the seeds of jealousy and discord between different +classes of the community, ready on some future occasion to burst +into noxious existence. You would not, I think, wish to see annually +renewed that sort of strife which characterised the era of the +Reform Bill. I venture to pass no opinion whatever on the abstract +merits of that measure. I accept it as a fact, just as I accept +other changes in the Constitution of this country which took place +before I was born; and I hope I shall ever comport myself as a loyal +and independent elector. But I am sure you have far too lively +a recollection of the ferment which that event created, to wish +to see it renewed, without at least some urgent cause. You were +consistently anxious for the suppression of rotten boroughs, and for +the enlargement of the constituency upon a broad and popular basis; +and you considered that the advantages to be gained by the adoption +of the new system, justified the social risks which were incurred in +the endeavour to supersede the old one. I do not say that you were +wrong in this. The agitation for Parliamentary Reform had been going +on for a great number of years; the voice of the majority of the +country was undeniably in your favour, and you finally carried your +point. Still, in consequence of that struggle, years elapsed before +the heart-burnings and jealousies which were occasioned by it were +allayed. Even now it is not uncommon to hear the reminiscences of +the Reform Bill appealed to on the hustings by candidates who have +little else to say for themselves by way of personal recommendation. +A most ludicrous instance of this occurred very lately in the case +of a young gentleman, who, being desirous of Parliamentary honours, +actually requested the support of the electors on the ground that +his father or grandfather--I forget which--had voted for the Reform +Bill; a ceremony which he could not very well have performed in +his own person, as at that time he had not been released from +the bondage of swaddling-clothes! I need hardly add that he was +rejected; but the anecdote is curious and instructive. + +In a country such as this, changes must be looked for in the course +of years. One system dies out, or becomes unpopular, and is replaced +by a new one. But I cannot charge my memory with any historical +instance where a great change was attempted without some powerful +or cogent reason. Still less can I recollect any great change being +proposed, unless a large and powerful section of the community had +unequivocally declared in its favour. The reason of this is quite +obvious. The middle classes of Great Britain, however liberal they +may be in their sentiments, have a just horror of revolutions. They +know very well that organic changes are never effected without +enormous loss and individual deprivation, and they will not move +unless they are assured that the value of the object to be gained is +commensurate with the extent of the sacrifice. In defence of their +liberties, when these are attacked, the British people are ever +ready to stand forward; but I mistake them much, if they will at any +time allow themselves to be made the tools of a faction. The attempt +to get up organic changes for the sole purpose of perpetuating the +existence of a particular Ministry, or of maintaining the supremacy +of a particular party, is a new feature in our history. It is an +experiment which the nation ought not to tolerate for a single +moment; and which I am satisfied it will not tolerate, when the +schemes of its authors are laid bare. + +I believe, Provost, I am right in assuming that there has been no +decided movement in favour of a New Parliamentary Reform Bill, +either in Dreepdaily or in any of the other burghs with which you +are connected. The electors are well satisfied with the operation of +the ten-pound clause, which excludes from the franchise no man of +decent ability and industry, whilst it secures property from those +direct inroads which would be the inevitable result of a system of +universal suffrage. Also, I suppose, you are reasonably indifferent +on the subjects of Vote by Ballot and Triennial Parliaments, and +that you view the idea of annual ones with undisguised reprobation. +Difference of opinion undoubtedly may exist on some of these points: +an eight-pound qualification may have its advocates, and the right +of secret voting may be convenient for members of the clique; but, +on the whole, you are satisfied with matters as they are; and, +certainly, I do not see that you have any grievance to complain of. +If I were a member of the Liberal party, I should be very sorry to +see any change of the representation made in Scotland. Just observe +how the matter stands. At the commencement of the present year the +whole representation of the Scottish burghs was in the hands of the +Liberal party. Since then, it is true, Falkirk has changed sides; +but you are still remarkably well off; and I think that out of +thirty county members, eighteen may be set down as supporters of +the Free-trade policy. Remember, I do not guarantee the continuance +of these proportions: I wish you simply to observe how you stand at +present, under the working of your own Reform Bill; and really it +appears to me that nothing could be more satisfactory. The Liberal +who wishes to have more men of his own kidney from Scotland must +indeed be an unconscionable glutton; and if, in the face of these +facts, he asks for a reform in the representation, I cannot set him +down as other than a consummate ass. He must needs admit that the +system has worked well. Scotland sends to the support of the Whig +Ministry, and the maintenance of progressive opinions, a brilliant +phalanx of senators; amongst whom we point, with justifiable pride, +to the distinguished names of Anderson, Bouverie, Ewart, Hume, +Smith, M'Taggart, and M'Gregor. Are these gentlemen not liberal +enough for the wants of the present age? Why, unless I am most +egregiously mistaken--and not I only, but the whole of the Liberal +press in Scotland--they are generally regarded as decidedly ahead +even of my Lord John Russell. Why, then, should your representation +be reformed, while it bears such admirable fruit? With such a +growth of golden pippins on its boughs, would it not be madness +to cut down the tree, on the mere chance of another arising from +the stump, more especially when you cannot hope to gather from it +a more abundant harvest? I am quite sure, Provost, that you agree +with me in this. You have nothing to gain, but possibly a good deal +to lose, by any alteration which may be made; and therefore it is, +I presume, that in this part of the world not the slightest wish +has been manifested for a radical change of the system. That very +conceited and shallow individual, Sir Joshua Walmsley, made not +long ago a kind of agitating tour through Scotland, for the purpose +of getting up the steam; but except from a few unhappy Chartists, +whose sentiments on the subject of property are identically the same +with those professed by the gentlemen who plundered the Glasgow +tradesmen's shops in 1848, he met with no manner of encouragement. +The electors laughed in the face of this ridiculous caricature of +Peter the Hermit, and advised him, instead of exposing his ignorance +in the north, to go back to Bolton and occupy himself with his own +affairs. + +This much I have said touching the necessity or call for a +new Reform Bill, which is likely enough to involve us, for a +considerable period at least, in unfortunate political strife. I +have put it to you as a Liberal, but at the same time as a man of +common sense and honesty, whether there are any circumstances, +under your knowledge, which can justify such an attempt; and in +the absence of these, you cannot but admit that such an experiment +is eminently dangerous at the present time, and ought to be +strongly discountenanced by all men, whatever may be their kind +of political opinions. I speak now without any reference whatever +to the details. It may certainly be possible to discover a better +system of representation than that which at present exists. I never +regarded Lord John Russell as the living incarnation of Minerva, +nor can I consider any measure originated by him as conveying an +assurance that the highest amount of human wisdom has been exhausted +in its preparation. But what I do say is this, that in the absence +of anything like general demand, and failing the allegation of +any marked grievance to be redressed, no Ministry is entitled to +propose an extensive or organic change in the representation of the +country; and the men who shall venture upon such a step must render +themselves liable to the imputation of being actuated by other +motives than regard to the public welfare. + +You will, however, be slow to believe that Lord John Russell is +moving in this matter without some special reason. In this you +are perfectly right. He has a reason, and a very cogent one, but +not such a reason as you, if you are truly a Liberal, and not a +mere partisan, can accept. I presume it is the wish of the Liberal +party--at least it used to be their watchword--that public opinion +in this country is not to be slighted or suppressed. With the view +of giving full effect to that public opinion, not of securing the +supremacy of this or that political alliance, the Reform Act was +framed; it being the declared object and intention of its founders +that a full, fair, and free representation should be secured to the +people of this country. The property qualification was fixed at a +low rate; the balance of power as between counties and boroughs +was carefully adjusted; and every precaution was taken--at least +so we were told at the time--that no one great interest of the +State should be allowed unduly to predominate over another. Many, +however, were of opinion at the time, and have since seen no reason +to alter it, that the adjustment then made, as between counties and +boroughs, was by no means equitable, and that an undue share in the +representation was given to the latter, more especially in England. +That, you will observe, was a Conservative, not a Liberal objection; +and it was over-ruled. Well, then, did the Representation, as fixed +by the Reform Bill, fulfil its primary condition? You thought so; +and so did my Lord John Russell, until some twelve months ago, when +a new light dawned upon him. That light has since increased in +intensity, and he now sees his way, clearly enough, to a new organic +measure. Why is this? Simply, my dear Provost, because the English +boroughs will no longer support him in his bungling legislation, or +countenance his unnational policy! + +Public opinion, as represented through the operation of the Reform +Act, is no longer favourable to Lord John Russell. The result of +recent elections, in places which were formerly considered as +the strongholds of Whiggery, have demonstrated to him that the +Free-trade policy, to which he is irretrievably pledged, has become +obnoxious to the bulk of the electors, and that they will no longer +accord their support to any Ministry which is bent upon depressing +British labour and sapping the foundations of national prosperity. +So Lord John Russell, finding himself in this position, that he must +either get rid of public opinion or resign his place, sets about +the concoction of a new Reform Bill, by means of which he hopes to +swamp the present electoral body! This is Whig liberty in its pure +and original form. It implies, of course, that the Reform Bill did +not give a full, fair, and free representation to the country, else +there can be no excuse for altering its provisions. If we really +have a fair representation; and if, notwithstanding, the majority of +the electors are convinced that Free Trade is not for their benefit, +it does appear to me a most monstrous thing that they are to be +coerced into receiving it by the infusion of a new element into +the Constitution, or a forcible change in the distribution of the +electoral power, to suit the commercial views which are in favour +with the Whig party. It is, in short, a most circuitous method of +exercising despotic power; and I, for one, having the interests of +the country at heart, would much prefer the institution at once of a +pure despotism, and submit to be ruled and taxed henceforward at the +sweet will of the scion of the house of Russell. + +I do not know what your individual sentiments may be on the subject +of Free Trade; but whether you are for it or against it, my argument +remains the same. It is essentially a question for the solution of +the electoral body; and if the Whigs are right in their averment +that its operation hitherto has been attended with marked success, +and has even transcended the expectation of its promoters, you may +rely upon it that there is no power in the British Empire which +can overthrow it. No Protectionist ravings can damage a system +which has been productive of real advantage to the great bulk of +the people. But if, on the contrary, it is a bad system, is it to +be endured that any man or body of men shall attempt to perpetuate +it against the will of the majority of the electors, by a change +in the representation of the country? I ask you this as a Liberal. +Without having any undue diffidence in the soundness of your own +judgment, I presume you do not, like his Holiness the Pope, consider +yourself infallible, or entitled to coerce others who may differ +from you in opinion. Yet this is precisely what Lord John Russell is +now attempting to do; and I warn you and others who are similarly +situated, to be wise in time, and to take care lest, under the +operation of this new Reform Bill, you are not stripped of that +political power and those political privileges which at present you +enjoy. + +Don't suppose that I am speaking rashly or without consideration. +All I know touching this new Reform Bill, is derived from the +arguments and proposals which have been advanced and made by the +Liberal press in consequence of the late indications of public +feeling, as manifested by the result of recent elections. It +is rather remarkable that we heard few or no proposals for an +alteration in the electoral system, until it became apparent +that the voice of the boroughs could no longer be depended on +for the maintenance of the present commercial policy. You may +recollect that the earliest of the victories which were achieved +by the Protectionists, with respect to vacant seats in the House +of Commons, were treated lightly by their opponents as mere +casualties; but when borough after borough deliberately renounced +its adherence to the cause of the League, and, not unfrequently +under circumstances of very marked significance, declared openly in +favour of Protection, the matter became serious. It was _then_, and +then only, that we heard the necessity for some new and sweeping +change in the representation of this country broadly asserted; +and, singularly enough, the advocates of that change do not +attempt to disguise their motives. They do not venture to say that +the intelligence of the country is not adequately represented at +present--what they complain of is, that the intelligence of the +country is becoming every day more hostile to their commercial +theories. In short, they want to get rid of that intelligence, and +must get rid of it speedily, unless their system is to crumble to +pieces. Such is their aim and declared object; and if you entertain +any doubts on the matter, I beg leave to refer you to the recorded +sentiments of the leading Ministerial and Free-trade organ--the +_Times_. It is always instructive to notice the hints of the +Thunderer. The writers in that journal are fully alive to the nature +of the coming crisis. They have been long aware of the reaction +which has taken place throughout the country on the subject of +Free Trade, and they recognise distinctly the peril in which their +favourite principle is placed, if some violent means are not used to +counteract the conviction of the electoral body. They see that, in +the event of a general election, the constituencies of the Empire +are not likely to return a verdict hostile to the domestic interests +of the country. They have watched with careful and anxious eyes the +turning tide of opinion; and they can devise no means of arresting +it, without having recourse to that peculiar mode of manipulation, +which is dignified by the name of Burking. Let us hear what they say +so late as the 21st of July last. + + "With such a prospect before us, with unknown struggles and + unprecedented collisions within the bounds of possibility, + there is only one resource, and we must say that Her Majesty's + present advisers will be answerable for the consequences if they + do not adopt it. They must lay the foundation of an appeal to + the people with a large and liberal measure of Parliamentary + reform. It is high time that this great country should cease to + quake and to quail at the decisions of stupid and corrupt little + constituencies, of whom, as in the case before us, it would take + thirty to make one metropolitan borough. The great question + always before the nation in one shape or another is--whether + _the people_ are as happy as laws can make them? To what sort of + constituencies shall we appeal for the answer to this question? + To Harwich with its population of 3370; to St Albans with its + population of 6246; to Scarborough with its population of 9953; + to Knaresborough with its population of 5382; and to a score + other places still more insignificant? Or shall we insist on the + appeal being made to much larger bodies? The average population + of boroughs and counties is more than 60,000. Is it not high + time to require that no single borough shall fall below half or + a third of that number?" + +The meaning of this is clear enough. It points, if not to the +absolute annihilation, most certainly to the concretion of the +smaller boroughs throughout England--to an entire remarshalling of +the electoral ranks--and, above all, to an enormous increase in the +representation of the larger cities. In this way, you see, local +interests will be made almost entirely to disappear; and London +alone will secure almost as many representatives in Parliament +as are at the present time returned for the whole kingdom of +Scotland. Now, I confess to you, Provost, that I do not feel greatly +exhilarated at the prospect of any such change. I believe that the +prosperity of Great Britain depends upon the maintenance of many +interests, and I cannot see how that can be secured if we are to +deliver over the whole political power to the masses congregated +within the towns. Moreover, I would very humbly remark, that past +experience is little calculated to increase the measure of our +faith in the wisdom or judgment of large constituencies. I may be +wrong in my estimate of the talent and abilities of the several +honourable members who at present sit for London and the adjacent +districts; but, if so, I am only one out of many who labour under a +similar delusion. We are told by the _Times_ to look to Marylebone +as an example of a large and enlightened constituency. I obey +the mandate; and on referring to the Parliamentary Companion, I +find that Marylebone is represented by Lord Dudley Stuart and Sir +Benjamin Hall. That fact does not, in my humble opinion, furnish a +conclusive argument in favour of large constituencies. As I wish to +avoid the Jew question, I shall say nothing about Baron Rothschild; +but passing over to the Tower Hamlets, I find them in possession of +Thomson and Clay; Lambeth rejoicing in d'Eyncourt and Williams; and +Southwark in Humphrey and Molesworth. Capable senators though these +may be, I should not like to see a Parliament composed entirely +of men of their kidney; nor do I think that they afford undoubted +materials for the construction of a new Cabinet. + +But perhaps I am undervaluing the abilities of these gentlemen; +perhaps I am doing injustice to the discretion and wisdom of the +metropolitan constituencies. Anxious to avoid any such imputation, +I shall again invoke the assistance of the _Times_, whom I now cite +as a witness, and a very powerful one, upon my side of the question. +Let us hear the Thunderer on the subject of these same metropolitan +constituencies, just twelve months ago, before Scarborough and +Knaresborough had disgraced themselves by returning Protectionists +to Parliament. I quote from a leader in the _Times_ of 8th August +1850, referring to the Lambeth election, when Mr Williams was +returned. + + "When it was proposed some twenty years ago to extend the + franchise to the metropolitan boroughs, the presumption was, + that the quality of the representatives would bear something + like a proportion to the importance of the constituencies + called into play. In other words, if the political axioms from + which the principle of an extended representation is deduced + have any foundation in reality, it should follow that the most + numerous and most intelligent bodies of electors would return + to Parliament members of the highest mark for character and + capacity. Now, looking at the condition of the metropolitan + representation as it stands at present, or as it has stood any + time since the passing of the Reform Bill, has this expectation + been fulfilled? Lord John Russell, the First Minister of the + Crown, sits, indeed, as member for the city of London, and so + far it is well. Whatever difference of opinion may exist as to + the noble lord's capacity for government, or whatever may be the + views of this or that political party, it is beyond all dispute + that, in such a case as this, there is dignity and fitness in + the relation between the member and the constituency. But, + setting aside this one solitary instance, with what metropolitan + borough is the name of any very eminent Englishman associated at + the present time? It is of course as contrary to our inclination + as it would be unnecessary for the purposes of the argument, to + quote this or that man's name as an actual illustration of the + failure of a system, or of the decadence of a constituency. We + would, however, without any invidious or offensive personality, + invite attention to the present list of metropolitan members, + and ask what name is to be found among them, with the single + exception we have named, which is borne by a man with a shadow + of a pretension to be reckoned as among the leading Englishmen + of the age?" + +You see, Provost, I am by no means singular in my estimate of the +quality of the metropolitan representatives. The _Times_ is with +me, or was with me twelve months ago; and I suppose it will hardly +be averred that, since that time, any enormous increase of wisdom +or of ability has been manifested by the gentlemen referred to. +But there is rather more than this. In the article from which I am +quoting, the writer does not confine his strictures simply to the +metropolitan boroughs. He goes a great deal further, for he attacks +large constituencies in the mass, and points out very well and +forcibly the evils which must inevitably follow should these obtain +an accession to their power. Read, mark, and perpend the following +paragraphs, and then reconcile their tenor--if you can--with the +later proposals from the same quarter for the general suppression of +small constituencies, and the establishment of larger tribunals of +public opinion. + + "Lambeth, then, on the occasion of the present election, is + likely to become another illustration of the downward tendencies + of the metropolitan constituencies. We use the word 'tendency' + advisedly, for matters are worse than they have been, and we + can perceive no symptom of a turning tide. Let us leave the + names of individuals aside, and simply consider the metropolitan + members as a body, and what is their main employment in the + House of Commons? _Is it not mainly to represent the selfish + interests and blind prejudices of the less patriotic or less + enlightened portion of their constituents whenever any change + is proposed manifestly for the public benefit?_ Looking at + their votes, one would suppose a metropolitan member to be + rather a Parliamentary agent of the drovers, and sextons, and + undertakers, than a representative of one of the most important + constituencies in the kingdom. Is this downward progress of + the metropolitan representation to remain unchanged? Will it + be extended to other constituencies as soon as they shall be + brought under conditions analogous to those under which the + metropolitan electors exercise the franchise? The question is of + no small interest. Whether the fault be with the electors, or + with those who should have the nerve to come forward and demand + their suffrages, matters not for the purposes of the argument. + The fact remains unaltered. Supposing England throughout its + area were represented as the various boroughs of the metropolis + are represented at the present time, what would be the effect? + That is the point for consideration. It may well be that men + of higher character, and of more distinguished intellectual + qualifications, would readily attract the sympathies and secure + the votes of these constituencies; but what does their absence + prove? _Simply that the same feeling of unwillingness to face + large electoral bodies, which is said to prevail in the United + States, is gradually rising up in this country._ On the other + side of the Atlantic, we are told by all who know the country + best, that the most distinguished citizens shrink from stepping + forward on the arena of public life, lest they be made the mark + for calumny and abuse. It would require more space than we can + devote to the subject to point out the correlative shortcomings + of the constituencies and the candidates; but, leaving these + aside, _we cannot but arrive at the conclusion that there is + something in the constitution of these great electoral masses + which renders a peaceful majority little better than a passive + instrument in the hands of a turbulent minority_, and affords an + explanation of the fact that such a person as Mr Williams should + aspire to represent the borough of Lambeth." + +What do you think of that, Provost, by way of an argument in favour +of large constituencies? I agree with every word of it. I believe, +in common with the eloquent writer, that matters are growing worse +instead of better, and that there is something radically wrong in +the constitution of these great electoral masses. I believe that +they do not represent the real intelligence of the electors, and +that they are liable to all those objections which are here so well +and forcibly urged. It is not necessary to travel quite so far +as London for an illustration. Look at Glasgow. Have the twelve +thousand and odd electors of that great commercial and manufacturing +city covered themselves with undying glory by their choice of their +present representatives? Is the intelligence of the first commercial +city in Scotland really embodied in the person of Mr M'Gregor? I +should be very loth to think so. Far be it from me to impugn the +propriety of any particular choice, or to speculate upon coming +events; but I cannot help wondering whether, in the event of the +suppression of some of the smaller burghs, and the transference of +their power to the larger cities, it may come to pass that the city +of St Mungo shall be represented by the wisdom of six M'Gregors? I +repeat, that I wish to say nothing in disparagement of large urban +constituencies, or of their choice in any one particular case--I +simply desire to draw your attention to the fact, that we are not +indebted to such constituencies for returning the men who, by common +consent, are admitted to be the most valuable members, in point of +talent, ability, and business habits, in the House of Commons. How +far we should improve the character of our legislative assembly, +by disfranchising smaller constituencies, and transferring their +privileges to the larger ones,--open to such serious objections as +have been urged against them by the _Times_, a journal not likely +to err on the side of undervaluing popular opinion--appears to me a +question decidedly open to discussion; and I hope that it will be +discussed, pretty broadly and extensively, before any active steps +are taken for suppressing boroughs which are not open to the charge +of rank venality and corruption. + +The _Times_, you observe, talks in its more recent article, in which +totally opposite views are advocated, of "stupid and corrupt little +constituencies." This is a clever way of mixing up two distinct and +separate matters. We all know what is meant by corruption, and I +hope none of us are in favour of it. It means the purchase, either +by money or promises, of the suffrages of those who are intrusted +with the electoral franchise; and I am quite ready to join with the +_Times_ in the most hearty denunciation of such villanous practices, +whether used by Jew or Gentile. It may be, and probably is, +impossible to prevent bribery altogether, for there are scoundrels +in all constituencies; and if a candidate with a long purse is +so lax in his morals as to hint at the purchase of votes, he is +tolerably certain to find a market in which these commodities are +sold. But if, in any case, general corruption can be proved against +a borough, it ought to be forthwith disfranchised, and declared +unworthy of exercising so important a public privilege. But of the +"stupidity" of constituencies, who are to be the judges? Not, I +hope, the Areopagites of the _Times_, else we may expect to see +every constituency which does not pronounce in favour of Free Trade, +placed under the general extinguisher! Scarborough, with some seven +or eight hundred electors--a good many more, by the way, than are +on the roll for the Dreepdaily burghs--has, in the opinion of the +_Times_, stultified itself for ever by returning Mr George F. Young +to Parliament, instead of a Whig lordling, who possessed great local +influence. Therefore Scarborough is put down in the black list, +not because it is "corrupt," but because it is "stupid," in having +elected a gentleman of the highest political celebrity, who is at +the same time one of the most extensive shipowners of Great Britain! +I put it to you, Provost, whether this is not as cool an instance +of audacity as you ever heard of. What would you think if it were +openly proposed, upon our side, to disfranchise Greenwich, because +the tea-and-shrimp population of that virtuous town has committed +the stupid act of returning a Jew to Parliament? If stupidity is to +go for anything in the way of cancelling privileges, I think I could +name to you some half-dozen places on this side of the border which +are in evident danger, at least if we are to accept the attainments +of the representatives as any test of the mental acquirements of the +electors; but perhaps it is better to avoid particulars in a matter +so personal and delicate. + +I am not in the least degree surprised to find the Free-Traders +turning round against the boroughs. Four years ago, you would +certainly have laughed in the face of any one who might have +prophesied such a result; but since then, times have altered. The +grand experiment upon native industry has been made, and allowed +to go on without check or impediment. The Free-Traders have had it +all their own way; and if there had been one iota of truth in their +statements, or if their calculations had been based upon secure and +rational data, they must long ago have achieved a complete moral +triumph. Pray, remember what they told us. They said that Free Trade +in corn and in cattle would not permanently _lower_ the value of +agricultural produce in Britain--it would only steady prices, and +prevent extreme fluctuations. Then, again, we were assured that +large imports from any part of the world could not by possibility be +obtained; and those consummate blockheads, the statists, offered to +prove by figures, that a deluge of foreign grain was as impossible +as an overflow of the Mediterranean. I need not tell you that the +results have entirely falsified such predictions, and that the +agricultural interest has ever since been suffering under the +effects of unexampled depression. No man denies that. The stiffest +stickler for the cheap loaf does not venture now to assert that +agriculture is a profitable profession in Britain; all he can do is +to recommend economy, and to utter a hypocritical prayer, that the +prosperity which he assumes to exist in other quarters may, at no +distant date, and through some mysterious process which he cannot +specify, extend itself to the suffering millions who depend for +their subsistence on the produce of the soil of Britain, and who pay +by far the largest share of the taxes and burdens of the kingdom. + +Now, it is perfectly obvious that agricultural distress, by which +I mean the continuance of a range of unremunerative prices, cannot +long prevail in any district, without affecting the traffic of the +towns. You, who are an extensive retail merchant in Dreepdaily, +know well that the business of your own trade depends in a great +degree upon the state of the produce markets. So long as the farmer +is thriving, he buys from you and your neighbours liberally, and you +find him, I have no doubt, your best and steadiest customer. But if +you reverse his circumstances, you must look for a corresponding +change in his dealings. He cannot afford to purchase silks for his +wife and daughters, as formerly; he grows penurious in his own +personal expenditure, and denies himself every unnecessary luxury; +he does nothing for the good of trade, and is impassable to all the +temptations which you endeavour to throw in his way. To post your +ledger is now no very difficult task. You find last year's stock +remaining steadily on your hands; and when the season for the annual +visit of the bagmen comes round, you dismiss them from your premises +without gratifying their avidity by an order. This is a faithful +picture of what has been going on for two years, at least, in the +smaller inland boroughs. No doubt you are getting your bread cheap; +but those whose importations have brought about that cheapness, +never were, and never can be, customers of yours. Even supposing +that they were to take goods in exchange for their imported grain, +no profit or custom could accrue to the retail shopkeeper, who must +necessarily look to the people around him for the consumption of +his wares. In this way trade has been made to stagnate, and profits +have of course declined, until the tradesmen, weary of awaiting +the advent of a prosperity which never arrives, have come to the +conclusion, that they will best consult their interest by giving +their support to a policy the reverse of that which has crippled the +great body of their customers. + +Watering-places, and towns of fashionable resort, have suffered in +a like degree. The gentry, whose rents have been most seriously +affected by the unnatural diminution of prices, are compelled to +curtail their expenditure, and to deny themselves many things which +formerly would have been esteemed legitimate indulgences. Economy is +the order Of the day: equipages are given up, servants dismissed, +and old furniture made to last beyond its appointed time. These +things, I most freely admit, are no great hardships to the gentry; +nor do I intend to awaken your compassion in behalf of the squire, +who, by reason of his contracted rent-roll, has been compelled +to part with his carriage and a couple of footmen, and to refuse +his wife and daughters the pleasure of a trip to Cheltenham. The +hardship lies elsewhere. I pity the footmen, the coach-builder, the +upholsterer, the house proprietor in Cheltenham, and all the other +people to whom the surplus of the squire's revenue found its way, +much more than the old gentleman himself. I daresay he is quite +as happy at home--perhaps far happier--than if he were compelled +to racket elsewhere; and sure I am that he will not consume his +dinner with less appetite because he lacks the attendance of a +couple of knaves, with heads like full-blown cauliflowers. But is +it consistent with the workings of human nature to expect that the +people to whom he formerly gave employment and custom, let us say +to the extent of a couple of thousand pounds, can be gratified by +the cessation of that expenditure?--or is it possible to suppose +that they will remain enamoured of a system which has caused them +so heavy a loss? View the subject in this light, and you can have +no difficulty in understanding why this formidable reaction has +taken place in the English boroughs. It is simply a question of +the pocket; and the electors now see, that unless the boroughs are +to be left to rapid decay, something must be done to protect and +foster that industry upon which they all depend. Such facts, which +are open and patent to every man's experience, and tell upon his +income and expenditure, are worth whole cargoes of theory. What +reason has the trader, whose stock is remaining unsold upon his +hands, to plume himself, because he is assured by Mr Porter, or +some other similar authority, that some hundred thousand additional +yards of flimsy calico have been shipped from the British shores +in the course of the last twelve months? So far as the shopkeeper +is concerned, the author of the _Progress of the Nation_ might as +well have been reporting upon the traffic-tables of Tyre and Sidon. +He is not even assured that all this export has been accompanied +with a profit to the manufacturer. If he reads the _Economist_, he +will find that exhilarating print filled with complaints of general +distress and want of demand; he will be startled from time to time +by the announcement that in some places, such as Dundee, trade +has experienced a most decided check; or that in others, such as +Nottingham and Leicester, the operatives are applying by hundreds +for admission to the workhouse! Comfortable intelligence this, +alongside of increasing exports! But he has been taught, to borrow +a phrase from the writings of the late John Galt, to look upon your +political arithmetician as "a mystery shrouded by a halo;" and he +supposes that, somehow or other, somebody must be the gainer by all +these exports, though it seems clearly impossible to specify the +fortunate individual. However, this he knows, to his cost any time +these three years back, that _he_ has not been the gainer; and, as +he opines very justly that charity begins at home, and that the +man who neglects the interest of his own family is rather worse +than a heathen, he has made up his mind to support such candidates +only as will stand by British industry, and protect him by means +of protecting others. As for the men of the maritime boroughs--a +large and influential class--I need not touch upon their feelings +or sentiments with regard to Free Trade. I observe that the Liberal +press, with peculiar taste and felicity of expression, designates +them by the generic term of "crimps," just as it used to compliment +the whole agriculturists of Britain by the comprehensive appellation +of "chawbacons." I trust they feel the compliment so delicately +conveyed; but, after all, it matters little. Hard words break no +bones; and, in the mean time at least, the vote of a "crimp" is +quite as good as that of the concocter of a paragraph. + +Perhaps now you understand why the Free-Traders are so wroth against +the boroughs. They expected to play off the latter against the +county constituencies; and, being disappointed in that, they want to +swamp them altogether. This, I must own, strikes me as particularly +unfair. Let it be granted that a large number of the smaller +boroughs did, at the last general election, manifest a decided +wish that the Free Trade experiment, then begun, should be allowed +a fair trial; are they to be held so pledged to that commercial +system, that, however disastrous may have been its results, they +are not entitled to alter their minds? Are all the representations, +promises, and prophecies of the leading advocates of Free Trade, +to be set aside as if these were never uttered or written? Who +were the cozeners in this case? Clearly the men who boasted of the +enormous advantages which were immediately to arise from their +policy--advantages whereof, up to the present moment, not a single +glimpse has been vouchsafed. Free Trade, we were distinctly told, +was to benefit the boroughs. Free Trade has done nothing of the +kind; on the contrary, it has reduced their business and lowered +their importance. And now, when this effect has become so plain and +undeniable that the very men who subscribed to the funds of the +League, and who were foremost in defending the conduct of the late +Sir Robert Peel, are sending Protectionists to Parliament, it is +calmly proposed to neutralise their conversion by depriving them of +political power! + +Under the circumstances, I do not know that the Free-Traders could +have hit upon a happier scheme. The grand tendency of their system +is centralisation. They want to drive everything--paupers alone +excepted, if they could by possibility compass that fortunate +immunity--into the larger towns, which are the seats of export +manufacture, and to leave the rest of the population to take care +of themselves. You see how they have succeeded in Ireland, by +the reports of the last census. They are doing the same thing in +Scotland, as we shall ere long discover to our cost; and, indeed, +the process is going on slowly, but surely, throughout the whole of +the British islands. I chanced the other day to light upon a passage +in a very dreary article in the last number of the _Edinburgh +Review_, which seems to me to embody the chief economical doctrines +of the gentlemen to whom we are indebted for the present posture of +affairs. It is as follows:-- + + "The common watchword, or cuckoo-note of the advocates of + restriction in affairs of trade is, 'Protection to Native + Industry.' In the principle fairly involved in this motto we + cordially agree. We are as anxious as the most vehement advocate + for high import duties on foreign products can be, that the + industry of our fellow-countrymen should be protected(!) We only + differ as to the means. Their theory of protection is to guard + against competition those branches of industry which, without + such extraneous help, could never be successfully pursued: + ours, is that of enlarging, to the uttermost, those other + branches for the prosecution of which our countrymen possess the + greatest aptitude, and of thereby securing for their skill and + capital the greatest return. This protection is best afforded + by governments when they leave, without interference, the + productive industry of the country to find its true level; for + we may be certain that the interest of individuals will always + lead them to prefer those pursuits which they find most gainful. + There is, in fact, no mode of interference with entire freedom + of action which must not be, in some degree, hurtful; but _the + mischief which follows upon legislation in affairs of trade, in + any given country, is then most noxious when it tends to foster + branches of industry for which other countries have a greater + aptitude_." + +You will, I think, find some difficulty in discovering the +protective principle enunciated by this sagacious scribe, who, +like many others of his limited calibre, is fain to take refuge +in nonsense when he cannot extricate his meaning. You may also, +very reasonably, entertain doubts whether the protective theory, +which our friend of the Blue and Yellow puts into the mouth of his +opponents, was ever entertained or promulgated by any rational +being, at least in the broad sense which he wishes to imply. The +true protective theory has reference to the State burdens, which, +in so far as they are exacted from the produce of native industry, +or, in other words, from labour, we wish to see counterbalanced by +a fair import-duty, which shall reduce the foreign and the native +producer to an equality in the home market. When the reviewer talks +of the non-interference of Government with regard to the productive +industry of the country, he altogether omits mention of that most +stringent interference which is the direct result of taxation. If +the farmer were allowed to till the ground, to sow the seed, and to +reap the harvest, without any interference from Government, then I +admit at once that a demand for protection would be preposterous. +But when Government requires him to pay income-tax, assessed taxes, +church and poor-rates, besides other direct burdens, out of the +fruit of his industry--when it prevents him from growing on his own +land several kinds of crop, in order that the customs revenue may +be maintained--when it taxes indirectly his tea, coffee, wines, +spirits, tobacco, soap, and spiceries--then I say that Government +_does_ interfere, and that most unmercifully, with the productive +industry of the country. Just suppose that, by recurring to a +primitive method of taxation, the Government should lay claim +to one-third of the proceeds of every crop, and instruct its +emissaries to remove it from the ground before another acre should +be reaped--would _that_ not constitute interference in the eyes of +the sapient reviewer? Well, then, since all taxes must ultimately be +paid out of produce, what difference does the mere method of levying +the burden make with regard to the burden itself? I call your +attention to this point, because the Free-Traders invariably, but +I fear wilfully, omit all mention of artificial taxation when they +talk of artificial restrictions. They want you to believe that we, +who maintain the opposite view, seek to establish an entire monopoly +in Great Britain of all kinds of possible produce; and they are in +the habit of putting asinine queries as to the propriety of raising +the duties on foreign wine, so as to encourage the establishment of +vineyards in Kent and Sussex, and also as to the proper protective +duty which should be levied on pine-apples, in order that a due +stimulus may be given to the cultivation of that luscious fruit. But +these funny fellows take especial care never to hint to you that +protection is and was demanded simply on account of the enormous +nature of our imposts, which have the effect of raising the rates +of labour. It is in this way, and no other, that agriculture, +deprived of protection, but still subjected to taxation, has become +an unremunerative branch of industry; and you observe how calmly +the disciple of Ricardo condemns it to destruction. "The mischief," +quoth he, "which follows upon legislation in affairs of trade, in +any given country, is then most noxious when it tends to foster +branches of industry for which other countries have a greater +aptitude." So, then, having taxed agriculture to that point when it +can no longer bear the burden, we are, for the future, to draw our +supplies from "other countries which have a greater aptitude" for +growing corn; that aptitude consisting in their comparative immunity +from taxation, and in the degraded moral and social condition of +the serfs who constitute the tillers of the soil! We are to give up +cultivation, and apply ourselves to the task "of enlarging to the +uttermost those other branches, for the prosecution of which our +countrymen possess the greatest aptitude"--by which, I presume, is +meant the manufacture of cotton-twist! + +Now, then, consider for a moment what is the natural, nay, the +inevitable effect of this narrowing of the range of employment. +I shall not start the important point whether the concentration +of labour does not tend to lower wages--I shall merely assume, +what is indeed already abundantly established by facts, that the +depression of agriculture in any district leads almost immediately +to a large increase in the population of the greater towns. Places +like Dreepdaily may remain stationary, but they do not receive any +material increment to their population. You have, I believe, no +export trade, at least very little, beyond the manufacture of an +ingenious description of snuff-box, justly prized by those who are +in the habit of stimulating their nostrils. The displaced stream of +labour passes through you, but does not tarry with you--it rolls +on towards Paisley and Glasgow, where it is absorbed in the living +ocean. Year after year the same process is carried on. The older +people, probably because it is not worth while at their years to +attempt a change, tarry in their little villages and cots, and +gradually acquire that appearance of utter apathy, which is perhaps +the saddest aspect of humanity. The younger people, finding no +employment at home, repair to the towns, marry or do worse, and +propagate children for the service of the factories which are +dedicated to the export trade. Of education they receive little or +nothing; for they must be in attendance on their gaunt iron master +during the whole of their waking hours; and religion seeks after +them in vain. What wonder, then, if the condition of our operatives +should be such as to suggest to thinking minds very serious doubts +whether our boasted civilisation can be regarded in the light of a +blessing? Certain it is that the bulk of these classes are neither +better nor happier than their forefathers. Nay, if there be any +truth in evidence--any reality in the appalling accounts which reach +us from the heart of the towns, there exists an amount of crime, +misery, drunkenness, and profligacy, which is unknown even among +savages and heathen nations. Were we to recall from the four ends +of the earth all the missionaries who have been despatched from the +various churches, they would find more than sufficient work ready +for them at home. Well-meaning men project sanitary improvements, as +if these could avail to counteract the moral poison. New churches +are built; new schools are founded; public baths are subscribed for, +and public washing-houses are opened; the old rookeries are pulled +down, and light and air admitted to the heart of the cities--but the +heart of the people is not changed; and neither air nor water, nor +religious warning, has the effect of checking crime, eradicating +intemperance, or teaching man the duty which he owes to himself, his +brethren, and his God! This is an awful picture, but it is a true +one; and it well becomes us to consider why these things should be. +There is no lukewarmness on the subject exhibited in any quarter. +The evil is universally acknowledged, and every one would be ready +to contribute to alleviate it, could a proper remedy be suggested. +It is not my province to suggest remedies; but it does appear to +me that the original fault is to be found in the system which has +caused this unnatural pressure of our population into the towns. I +am aware that in saying this, I am impugning the leading doctrines +of modern political economy. I am aware that I am uttering what +will be considered by many as a rank political heresy; still, not +having the fear of fire and fagot before my eyes, I shall use the +liberty of speech. It appears to me that the system which has been +more or less adopted since the days of Mr Huskisson, of suppressing +small trades for the encouragement of foreign importation, and of +stimulating export manufactures to the uttermost, has proved very +pernicious to the morals and the social condition of the people. The +termination of the war found us with a large population, and with an +enormous debt. If, on the one hand, it was for the advantage of the +country that commerce should progress with rapid strides, and that +our foreign trade should be augmented, it was, on the other, no less +necessary that due regard should be had for the former occupations +of the people, and that no great and violent displacements of +labour should be occasioned, by fiscal relaxations which might have +the effect of supplanting home industry by foreign produce in the +British market. The mistake of the political economists lies in +their obstinate determination to enforce a principle, which in the +abstract is not only unobjectionable but unchallenged, without any +regard whatever to the peculiar and pecuniary circumstances of the +country. They will not look at what has gone before, in order to +determine their line of conduct in any particular case. They admit +of no exceptions. They start with their axiom that trade ought to +be free, and they will not listen to any argument founded upon +special circumstances in opposition to that doctrine. Now, this +is not the way in which men have been, or ever can be, governed. +They must be dealt with as rational beings, not regarded as mere +senseless machinery, which may be treated as lumber, and cast aside +to make way for some new improvement. Look at the case of our own +Highlanders. We know very well that, from the commencement of +the American war, it was considered by the British Government an +important object to maintain the population of the Highlands, as +the source from which they drew their hardiest and most serviceable +recruits. So long as the manufacture of kelp existed, and the +breeding of cattle was profitable, there was little difficulty in +doing this; now, under this new commercial system, we are told that +the population is infinitely too large for the natural resources of +the country; we are shocked by accounts of periodical famine, and of +deaths occurring from starvation; and our economists declare that +there is no remedy except a general emigration of the inhabitants. +This is the extreme case in Great Britain; but extreme cases often +furnish us with the best tests of the operation of a particular +system. Here you have a population fostered for an especial purpose, +and abandoned so soon as that special purpose has been served. +Without maintaining that the Gael is the most industrious of +mankind, it strikes me forcibly that it would be a better national +policy to give every reasonable encouragement to the development of +the natural resources of that portion of the British islands, than +to pursue the opposite system, and to reduce the Highlands to a +wilderness. Not so think the political economists. They can derive +their supplies cheaper from elsewhere, at the hands of strangers +who contribute no share whatever to the national revenue; and for +the sake of that cheapness they are content to reduce thousands of +their countrymen to beggary. But emigration cannot, and will not, +be carried out to an extent at all equal to the necessity which is +engendered by the cessation of employment. The towns become the +great centre-points and recipients of the displaced population; and +so centralisation goes on, and, as a matter of course, pauperism and +crime increase. + +To render this system perpetual, without any regard to ultimate +consequences, is the leading object of the Free-Traders. Not +converted, but on the contrary rendered more inveterate by +the failure of their schemes, they are determined to allow no +consideration whatever to stand in the way of their purpose; and +of this you have a splendid instance in their late denunciation of +the boroughs. They think--whether rightfully or wrongfully, it is +not now necessary to inquire--that, by altering the proportions +of Parliamentary power as established by the Reform Act--by +taking away from the smaller boroughs, and by adding to the urban +constituencies, they will still be able to command a majority in the +House of Commons. In the present temper of the nation, and so long +as its voice is expressed as heretofore, they know, feel, and admit +that their policy is not secure. And why is it not secure? Simply +because it has undergone the test of experience--because it has had +a fair trial in the sight of the nation--and because it has not +succeeded in realising the expectations of its founders. + +I have ventured to throw together these few crude remarks for your +consideration during the recess, being quite satisfied that you will +not feel indifferent upon any subject which touches the dignity, +status, or privileges of the boroughs. Whether Lord John Russell +agrees with the _Times_ as to the mode of effecting the threatened +Parliamentary change, or whether he has some separate scheme of his +own, is a question which I cannot solve. Possibly he has not yet +made up his mind as to the course which it may be most advisable to +pursue; for, in the absence of anything like general excitement or +agitation, it is not easy to predict in what manner the proposal for +any sweeping or organic change may be received by the constituencies +of the Empire. There is far too much truth in the observations which +I have already quoted from the great leading journal, relative to +the dangers which must attend an increase of constituencies already +too large, or a further extension of their power, to permit of our +considering this as a light and unimportant matter. I view it as a +very serious one indeed; and I cannot help thinking that Lord John +Russell has committed an act of gross and unjustifiable rashness, in +pledging himself, at the present time, to undertake a remodelment of +the constitution. But whatever he does, I hope, for his own sake, +and for the credit of the Liberal party, that he will be able to +assign some better and more constitutional reason for the change, +than the refusal of the English boroughs to bear arms in the crusade +which is directed against the interests of Native Industry. + + + + +PARIS IN 1851.--(_Continued._) + + +THE OPERA.--In the evening I went to the French Opera, which is +still one of the lions of Paris. It was once in the Rue Richelieu; +but the atrocious assassination of the Duc de Berri, who was stabbed +in its porch, threw a kind of horror over the spot: the theatre was +closed, and the performance moved to its present site in the Rue +Lepelletier, a street diverging from the Boulevard. + +Fond as the French are of decoration, the architecture of this +building possesses no peculiar beauty, and would answer equally well +for a substantial public hospital, a workhouse, or a barrack, if +the latter were not the more readily suggested by the gendarmerie +loitering about the doors, and the mounted dragoons at either end of +the street. + +The passages of the interior are of the same character--spacious and +substantial; but the door of the _salle_ opens, and the stranger, +at a single step, enters from those murky passages into all the +magic of a crowded theatre. The French have, within these few +years, borrowed from us the art of lighting theatres. I recollect +the French theatre lighted only by a few lamps scattered round the +house, or a chandelier in the middle, which might have figured in +the crypt of a cathedral. This they excused, as giving greater +effect to the stage; but it threw the audience into utter gloom. +They have now made the audience a part of the picture, and an +indispensable part. The opera-house now shows the audience; and if +not very dressy, or rather as dowdy, odd, and dishevelled a crowd as +I ever recollect to have seen within theatrical walls, yet they are +evidently human beings, which is much more picturesque than masses +of spectres, seen only by an occasional flash from the stage. + +The French architects certainly have not made this national edifice +grand; but they have made it a much better thing,--lively, showy, +and rich. Neither majestic and monotonous, nor grand and Gothic, +they have made it _riant_ and racy, like a place where men and +women come to be happy, where beautiful dancers are to be seen, +and where sweet songs are to be heard, and where the mind is for +three or four hours to forget all its cares, and to carry away +pleasant recollections for the time being. From pit to ceiling +it is covered with paintings--all sorts of cupids, nymphs, and +flower-garlands, and Greek urns--none of them wonders of the pencil, +but all exhibiting that showy mediocrity of which every Frenchman is +capable, and with which every Frenchman is in raptures. All looks +rich, warm, and _operatic_. + +One characteristic change has struck me everywhere in Paris--the men +dress better, and the women worse. When I was last here, the men +dressed half bandit and half Hottentot. The revolutionary mystery +was at work, and the hatred of the Bourbons was emblematised in a +conical hat, a loose neckcloth, tremendous trousers, and the scowl +of a stage conspirator. The Parisian men have since learned the +decencies of _dress_. + +As I entered the house before the rising of the curtain, I had +leisure to look about me, and I found even in the audience a strong +contrast to those of London. By that kind of contradiction to +everything rational and English which governs the Parisian, the +women seem to choose _dishabille_ for the Opera. + +As the house was crowded, and the boxes are let high, and the +performance of the night was popular, I might presume that some of +the _elite_ were present, yet I never saw so many _ill-dressed_ +women under one roof. Bonnets, shawls, muffles of all kinds, were +the _costume_. How different from the finish, the splendour, and +the _fashion_ of the English opera-box. I saw hundreds of women who +appeared, by their dress, scarcely above the rank of shopkeepers, +yet, who probably were among the Parisian leaders of fashion, if in +republican Paris there are _any_ leaders of fashion. + +But I came to be interested, to enjoy, to indulge in a feast of +music and acting; with no fastidiousness of criticism, and with +every inclination to be gratified. In the opera itself I was utterly +disappointed. The Opera was _Zerline_, or, _The Basket of Oranges_. +The composer was the first living musician of France, Auber; the +writer was the most popular dramatist of his day, Scribe; the Prima +Donna was Alboni, to whom the manager of the Opera in London had +not thought it too much to give L4000 for a single season. I never +paid my francs with more willing expectation: and I never saw a +performance of which I so soon got weary. + +The plot is singularly trifling. Zerline, an orange-girl of Palermo, +has had a daughter by Boccanera, a man of rank, who afterwards +becomes Viceroy of Sicily. Zerline is captured by pirates, and +carried to Algiers. The opera opens with her return to Palermo, +after so many years that her daughter is grown up to womanhood; and +Boccanera is emerged into public life, and has gradually became an +officer of state. + +The commencing scene has all the animation of the French +picturesque. The Port of Palermo is before the spectator; the +location is the Fruit Market. Masses of fruits, with smart peasantry +to take care of them, cover the front of the stage. The background +is filled up with Lazzaroni lying on the ground, sleeping, or eating +macaroni. The Prince Boccanera comes from the palace; the crowd +observe 'Son air sombre;' the Prince sings-- + + "On a most unlucky day, + Satan threw her in my way; + I the princess took to wife, + Now the torture of my life," &c. + +After this matrimonial confession, which extends to details, the +prime minister tells us of his love still existing for Zerline, +whose daughter he has educated under the name of niece, and who is +now the Princess Gemma, and about to be married to a court noble. + +A ship approaches the harbour; Boccanera disappears; the Lazzaroni +hasten to discharge the cargo. Zerline lands from the vessel, and +sings a cavatina in praise of Palermo:-- + + "O Palerme! O Sicile! + Beau ciel, plaine fertile!" + +Zerline is a dealer in oranges, and she lands her cargo, placing +it in the market. The original tenants of the place dispute her +right to come among them, and are about to expel her by force, when +a marine officer, Rodolf, takes her part, and, drawing his sword, +puts the whole crowd to flight. Zerline, moved by this instance of +heroism, tells him her story, that she was coming "un beau matin" +to the city to sell oranges, when a pitiless corsair captured her, +and carried her to Africa, separating her from her child, whom she +had not seen for fifteen years; that she escaped to Malta, laid in +a stock of oranges there;--and thus the events of the day occurred. +Rodolf, this young hero, is costumed in a tie-wig with powder, stiff +skirts, and the dress of a century ago. What tempted the author +to put not merely his hero, but all his court characters, into +the costume of Queen Anne, is not easily conceivable, as there is +nothing in the story which limits it in point of time. + +Zerline looks after him with sudden sympathy, says that she heard +him sigh, that he must be unhappy, and that, if her daughter +lives, he is just the _husband_ for her,--Zerline not having been +particular as to marriage herself. She then rambles about the +streets, singing, + + "Achetez mes belles oranges, + Des fruits divins, des fruits exquis; + Des oranges comme les anges + N'en _goutent pas en Paradis_." + +After this "hommage aux oranges!" to the discredit of Paradise, on +which turns the plot of the play, a succession of maids of honour +appear, clad in the same unfortunate livery of fardingales, enormous +flat hats, powdered wigs, and stomachers. The Princess follows them, +apparently armed by her costume against all the assaults of Cupid. +But she, too, has an "affaire du coeur" upon her hands. In fact, +from the Orangewoman up to the Throne, Cupid is the Lord of Palermo, +with its "beau ciel, plaine fertile." The object of the Princess's +love is the Marquis de Buttura, the suitor of her husband's +supposed niece. Here is a complication! The enamoured wife receives +a billet-doux from the suitor, proposing a meeting on his return +from hunting. She tears the billet for the purpose of concealment, +and in her emotion drops the fragments on the floor. That billet +performs all important part in the end. The enamoured lady buys an +orange, and gives a gold piece for it. Zerline, not accustomed to +be so well paid for her fruit, begins to suspect this outrageous +liberality; and having had experience in these matters, picks up the +fragments of the letter, and gets into the whole secret. + +The plot proceeds: the daughter of the orangewoman now appears. She +is clad in the same preposterous habiliments. As the niece of the +minister, she is created a princess, (those things are cheap in +Italy,) and she, too, is in love with the officer in the tie-wig. +She recognises the song of Zerline, "Achetez mes belles oranges," +and sings the half of it. On this, the mother and daughter now +recognise each other. It is impossible to go further in such a +_denouement_. If Italian operas are proverbially silly, we are to +recollect that this is not an Italian, but a French one; and that it +is by the most popular comic writer of France. + +The marriage of Gemma and Rodolf is forbidden by the pride of the +King's sister, the wife of Boccanera, but Zerline interposes, +reminds her of the orange _affair_, threatens her with the discovery +of the billet-doux, and finally makes her give her consent: and thus +the curtain drops. I grew tired of all this insipidity, and left the +theatre before the catastrophe. The music seemed to me fitting for +the plot--neither better nor worse; and I made my escape with right +good-will from the clamour and crash of the orchestra, and from the +loves and _faux pas_ of the belles of Palermo. + +_The Obelisk._--I strayed into the Place de la Concorde, beyond +comparison the finest _space_ in Paris. I cannot call it a square, +nor does it equal in animation the Boulevard; but in the _profusion_ +of noble architecture it has no rival in Paris, nor in Europe. _Vive +la Despotisme!_ every inch of it is owing to Monarchy. Republics +build nothing, if we except prisons and workhouses. They are +proverbially squalid, bitter, and beggarly. What has America, with +all her boasting, ever built, but a warehouse or a conventicle? +The Roman Republic, after seven hundred years' existence, remained +a collection hovels till an Emperor faced them with marble. If +Athens exhibited her universal talents in the splendour of her +architecture, we must recollect that Pericles was her _master_ +through life--as substantially _despotic_, by the aid of the +populace, as an Asiatic king by his guards; and recollect, also, +that an action of damages was brought against him for "wasting +the public money on the Parthenon," the glory of Athens in every +succeeding age. Louis Quatorze, Napoleon, and Louis Philippe--two +openly, and the third secretly, as despotic as the Sultan--were the +true builders of Paris. + +As I stood in the centre of this vast enclosure, I was fully struck +with the effect of _scene_. The sun was sinking into a bed of gold +and crimson clouds, that threw their hue over the long line of +the Champs Elysees. Before me were the two great fountains, and +the Obelisk of Luxor. The fountains had ceased to play, from the +lateness of the hour, but still looked massive and gigantic; the +obelisk looked shapely and superb. The gardens of the Tuilleries +were on my left--deep dense masses of foliage, surmounted in the +distance by the tall roofs of the old Palace; on my right, the +verdure of the Champs Elysees, with the Arc de l'Etoile rising above +it, at the end of its long and noble avenue; in my front the Palace +of the Legislature, a chaste and elegant structure; and behind me, +glowing in the sunbeams, the Madeleine, the noblest church--I think +the noblest edifice, in Paris, and perhaps not surpassed in beauty +and grandeur, for its size, by any place of worship in Europe. +The air cool and sweet from the foliage, the vast _place_ almost +solitary, and undisturbed by the cries which are incessant in this +babel during the day, yet with that gentle confusion of sounds which +makes the murmur and the music of a great city. All was calm, noble, +and soothing. + +The obelisk of Luxor which stands in the centre of the "Place," is +one of two Monoliths, or pillars of a single stone, which, with +Cleopatra's Needle, were given by Mehemet Ali to the French, +at the time when, by their alliance, he expected to have made +himself independent. All the dates of Egyptian antiquities are +uncertain--notwithstanding Young and his imitator Champollion--but +the date _assigned_ to this pillar is 1550 years before the +Christian era. The two obelisks stood in front of the great temple +of Thebes, now named Luxor, and the hieroglyphics which cover this +one, from top to bottom, are supposed to relate the exploits and +incidents of the reign of Sesostris. + +It is of red Syenite; but, from time and weather, it is almost the +colour of limestone. It has an original flaw up a third of its +height, for which the Egyptian masons provided a remedy by wedges, +and the summit is slightly broken. The height of the monolith is +seventy-two feet three inches, which would look insignificant, +fixed as it is in the centre of lofty buildings, but for its being +raised on a plinth of granite, and that again raised on a pedestal +of immense blocks of granite--the height of the plinth and the +pedestal together being twenty-seven feet, making the entire height +nearly one hundred. The weight of the monolith is five hundred +thousand pounds; the weight of the pedestal is half that amount, and +the weight of the blocks probably makes the whole amount to nine +hundred thousand, which is the weight of the obelisk at Rome. It was +erected in 1836, by drawing it up an inclined plane of masonry, and +then raising it by cables and capstans to the perpendicular. The +operation was tedious, difficult, and expensive; but it was worth +the labour; and the monolith now forms a remarkable monument of the +zeal of the king, and of the liberality of his government. + +There is, I understand, an obelisk remaining in Egypt, which +was given by the Turkish government to the British army, on the +expulsion of the French from Egypt, but which has been unclaimed, +from the difficulty of carrying it to England. + +That difficulty, it must be acknowledged, is considerable. In +transporting and erecting the obelisk of Luxor six years were +employed. I have not heard the expense, but it must have been large. +A vessel was especially constructed at Toulon, for its conveyance +down the Nile. A long road was to be made from the Nile to the +Temple. Then the obelisk required to be protected from the accidents +of carriage, which was done by enclosing it in a wooden case. It was +then drawn by manual force to the river--and this employed three +months. Then came the trouble of embarking it, for which the vessel +had to be nearly sawn through; then came the crossing of the bar +at Rosetta--a most difficult operation at the season of the year; +then the voyage down the Mediterranean, the vessel being towed by a +steamer; then the landing at Cherbourg, in 1833; and, lastly, the +passage up the Seine, which occupied nearly four months, reaching +Paris in December; thenceforth its finishing and erection, which was +completed only in three years after. + +This detail may have some interest, as we have a similar project +before us. But the whole question is, whether the transport of the +obelisk which remains in Egypt for us is worth the expense. We, +without hesitation, say that it _is_. The French have shown that it +is _practicable_, and it is a matter of _rational_ desire to show +that we are not behind the French either in power, in ability, or +in zeal, to adorn our cities. The obelisk transported to England +would be a proud monument, without being an offensive one, of a +great achievement of our armies; it would present to our eyes, and +those of our children, a relic of the most civilised kingdom of the +early ages; it would sustain the recollections of the scholar by its +record, and might kindle the energy of the people by the sight of +what had been accomplished by the prowess of Englishmen. + +If it be replied that such views are Utopian, may we not ask, +what is the use of all antiquity, since we can eat and drink as +well without it? But we cannot _feel_ as loftily without it; many +a lesson of vigour, liberality, and virtue would be lost to us +without it; we should lose the noblest examples of the arts, some +of the finest displays of human genius in architecture, a large +portion of the teaching of the public mind in all things great, +and an equally large portion of the incentives to public virtue in +all things self-denying. The labour, it is true, of conveying the +obelisk would be serious, the expense considerable, and we might +not see it erected before the gate of Buckingham Palace these ten +years. But it would be erected at _last_. It would be a trophy--it +would be an abiding memorial of the extraordinary country from which +civilisation spread to the whole world. + +But the two grand fountains ought especially to stimulate our +emulation. Those we can have without a voyage from Alexandria to +Portsmouth, or a six years' delay. + +The fountains of the Place de la Concorde would deserve praise +if it were only for their beauty. At a distance sufficient for +the picturesque, and with the sun shining on them, they actually +look like domes and cataracts of molten silver; and a nearer view +does not diminish their right to admiration. They are both lofty, +perhaps, fifty feet high, both consisting of three basins, lessening +in size in proportion to their height, and all pouring out sheets +of water from the trumpets of Tritons, from the mouths of dolphins, +and from allegorical figures. One of those fountains is in honour of +Maritime Navigation, and the other of the Navigation of Rivers. In +the former the figures represent the Ocean and the Mediterranean, +with the Genii of the fisheries; and in the upper basin are +Commerce, Astronomy, Navigation, &c., all capital bronzes, and all +spouting out floods of water. The fountain of River Navigation is +not behind its rival in bronze or water. It exhibits the Rhine and +the Rhone, with the Genii of fruits and flowers, of the vintage and +the harvest, with the usual attendance of Tritons. Why the artist +had no room for the Seine and the Garonne, while he introduced the +Rhine, which is not a French river in any part of its course, must +be left for his explanation; but the whole constitutes a beautiful +and magnificent object, and, with the sister fountain, perhaps +forms the finest display of the kind in Europe. I did not venture, +while looking at those stately monuments of French art, to turn my +thoughts to our own unhappy performances in Trafalgar Square--the +rival of a soda-water bottle, yet the work of a people of boundless +wealth, and the first machinists in the world. + +_The Jardin des Plantes._--I found this fine establishment crowded +with the lower orders--fathers and mothers, nurses, old women, and +soldiers. As it includes the popular attractions of a zoological +garden, as well as a botanical, every day sees its visitants, and +every holiday its crowds. The plants are for science, and for that +I had no time, even had I possessed other qualifications; but the +zoological collection were for curiosity, and of that the spectators +had abundance. Yet the animals of pasture appeared to be languid, +possibly tired of the perpetual bustle round them--for all animals +love quiet at certain times, and escape from the eye of man, when +escape is in their power. Possibly the heat of the weather, for +the day was remarkably sultry, might have contributed to their +exhaustion. But if they have memory--and why should they not?--they +must have strangely felt the contrast of their free pastures, shady +woods, and fresh streams, with the little patch of ground, the +parched soil, and the clamour of ten thousand tongues round them. +I could imagine the antelope's intelligent eye, as he lay panting +before us on his brown patch of soil, comparing it with the ravines +of the Cape, or the eternal forests clothing the hills of his native +Abyssinia. + +But the object of all popular interest was the pit of the bears; +there the crowd was incessant and delighted. But the bears, three +or four huge brown beasts, by no means _reciprocated_ the popular +feeling. They sat quietly on their hind-quarters, gazing grimly at +the groups which lined their rails, and tossed cakes and apples to +them from above. They had probably been saturated with sweets, for +they scarcely noticed anything but by a growl. They were insensible +to apples--even oranges could not make them move, and cakes they +seemed to treat with scorn. It was difficult to conceive that +those heavy and unwieldy-looking animals could be ferocious; but +the Alpine hunter knows that they are as fierce as the tiger, and +nearly as quick and dangerous in their spring. + +The carnivorous beasts were few, and, except in the instance of +one lion, of no remarkable size or beauty. As they naturally doze +during the day, their languor was no proof of their weariness; but +I have never seen an exhibition of this kind without some degree of +regret. The plea of the promotion of science is nothing. Even if +it were important to science to be acquainted with the habits of +the lion and tiger, which it is not, their native habits are not to +be learned from the animal shut up in a cage. The chief exertion +of their sagacity and their strength in the native state is in the +pursuit of prey; yet what of these can be learned from the condition +in which the animal dines as regularly as his keeper, and divides +his time between feeding and sleep? Half-a-dozen lions let loose in +the Bois de Boulogne would let the naturalist into more knowledge of +their nature than a menagerie for fifty years. + +The present system is merely cruel; and the animals, without +exercise, without air, without the common excitement of free motion, +which all animals enjoy so highly--perhaps much more highly than the +human race--fall into disease and die, no doubt miserably, though +they cannot draw up a _rationale_ of their sufferings. I have been +told that the lions in confinement die chiefly of consumption--a +singularly sentimental disease for this proud ravager of the desert. +But the whole purpose of display would be answered as effectually +by exhibiting half-a-dozen lions' _skins_ stuffed, in the different +attitudes of seizing their prey, or ranging the forest, or feeding. +At present nothing is seen but a great beast asleep, or restlessly +moving in a space of half-a-dozen square feet, and pining away in +his confinement. An eagle on his perch and with a chain on his leg, +in a menagerie, always appears to me like a dethroned monarch; and +I have never seen him thus cast down from his "high estate" without +longing to break his chain, and let him spread his wing, and delight +his splendid eye with the full view of his kingdom of the Air. + +The Jardin dates its origin as far back as Louis XIII., when the +king's physician recommended its foundation for science. The French +are fond of gardening, and are good gardeners; and the climate is +peculiarly favourable to flowers, as is evident from the market held +every morning in summer by the side of the Madeleine, where the +greatest abundance of the richest flowers I ever saw is laid out for +the luxury of the Parisians. + +The Jardin, patronised by kings and nobles, flourished through +successive reigns; but the appointment of Buffon, about the middle +of the eighteenth century, suddenly raised it to the pinnacle of +European celebrity. The most eloquent writer of his time, (in +the style which the French call eloquence,) a man of family, and +a man of opulence, he made Natural History the _fashion_, and +in France that word is magic. It accomplishes everything--it +includes everything. All France was frantic with the study of +plants, animals, poultry-yards, and projects for driving tigers in +cabriolets, and harnessing lions _a la Cybele_. + +But Buffon mixed good sense with his inevitable _charlatanrie_--he +selected the ablest men whom he could find for his professors; +and in France there is an extraordinary quantity of "ordinary" +cleverness--they gave amusing lectures, and they won the hearts of +the nation. + +But the Revolution came, and crushed all institutions alike. Buffon, +fortunate in every way, had died in the year before, in 1788, and +was thus spared the sight of the general ruin. The Jardin escaped, +through some plea of its being national property; but the professors +had fled, and were starving, or starved. + +The Consulate, and still more the Empire, restored the +establishment. Napoleon was ambitious of the character of a man +of science, he was a member of the Institute, he knew the French +character, and he flattered the national vanity, by indulging it +with the prospect of being at the head of human knowledge. + +The institution had by this time been so long regarded as a +public show that it was beginning to be regarded as nothing else. +Gratuitous lectures, which are always good for nothing, and to +which all kinds of people crowd with corresponding profit, were +gradually reducing the character of the Jardin; when Cuvier, a +man of talent, was appointed to one of the departments of the +institution, and he instantly revived its popularity; and, what was +of more importance, its public use. + +Cuvier devoted himself to comparative anatomy and geology. The +former was a study within human means, of which he had the materials +round him, and which, being intended for the instruction of man, is +evidently intended for his investigation. The latter, in attempting +to fix the age of the world, to decide on the process of creation, +and to contradict Scripture by the ignorance of man, is merely +an instance of the presumption of _Sciolism_. Cuvier exhibited +remarkable dexterity in discovering the species of the fossil +fishes, reptiles, and animals. The science was not new, but he threw +it into a new form--he made it interesting, and he made it probable. +If a large proportion of his supposed discoveries were merely +ingenious guesses, they were at least guesses which there was nobody +to refute, and they _were ingenious_--that was enough. Fame followed +him, and the lectures of the ingenious theorist were a popular +novelty. The "Cabinet of Comparative Anatomy" in the Jardin is the +monument of his diligence, and it does honour to the sagacity of his +investigation. + +One remark, however, must be made. On a former visit to the Cabinet +of Comparative Anatomy, among the collection of skeletons, I was +surprised and disgusted with the sight of the skeleton of the Arab +who killed General Kleber in Egypt. The Arab was impaled, and the +iron spike was shown _still sticking in the_ spine! I do not know +whether this hideous object is still to be seen, for I have not +lately visited the apartment; but, if existing still, it ought to +remain no longer in a museum of science. Of course, the assassin +deserved death; but, in all probability, the murder which made him +guilty, was of the same order as that which made Charlotte Corday +famous. How many of his countrymen had died by the soldiery of +France! In the eye of Christianity, this is no palliation; though in +the eye of Mahometanism it might constitute a patriot and a hero. At +all events, so frightful a spectacle ought _not_ to meet the public +eye. + +_Hotel des Invalides._--The depository of all that remains of +Napoleon, the monument of almost two hundred years of war, and the +burial-place of a whole host of celebrated names, is well worth +the visit of strangers; and I entered the esplanade of the famous +_hotel_ with due veneration, and some slight curiosity to see the +changes of time. I had visited this noble pile immediately after +the fall of Napoleon, and while it still retained the honours of +an imperial edifice. Its courts now appeared to me comparatively +desolate; this, however, may be accounted for by the cessation +of those wars which peopled them with military mutilation. The +establishment was calculated to provide for five thousand men; and, +at that period, probably, it was always full. At present, scarcely +more than half the number are under its roof; and, as even the +Algerine war is reduced to skirmishes with the mountaineers of the +Atlas, that number must be further diminishing from year to year. + +The Cupola then shone with gilding. This was the work of Napoleon, +who had a stately eye for the ornament of his imperial city. The +cupola of the Invalides thus glittered above all the roofs of Paris, +and was seen glittering to an immense distance. It might be taken +for the dedication of the French capital to the genius of War. This +gilding is now worn off practically, as well as metaphorically, and +the _prestige_ is lost. + +The celebrated Edmund Burke, all whose ideas were grand, is said +to have proposed gilding the cupola of St Paul's, which certainly +would have been a splendid sight, and would have thrown a look of +stateliness over that city to which the ends of the earth turn their +eyes. But the civic spirit was not equal to the idea, and it has +since gone on lavishing ten times the money on the embellishment of +_lanes_. + +The Chapel of the Invalides looked gloomy, and even neglected; the +great Magician was gone. Some service was performing, as it is in +the Romish chapels at most hours of the day: some poor people were +kneeling in different parts of the area; and some strangers were, +like myself, wandering along the nave, looking at the monuments to +the fallen military names of France. On the pillars in the nave are +inscriptions to the memory of Jourdan, Lobau, and Oudinot. There is +a bronze tablet to the memory of Marshal Mortier, who was killed by +Fieschi's infernal machine, beside Louis Philippe; and to Damremont, +who fell in Algiers. + +But the chapel is destined to exhibit a more superb instance of +national recollection--the tomb of Napoleon, which is to be finished +in 1852. A large circular crypt, dug in the centre of the second +chapel (which is to be united with the first,) is the site of the +sarcophagus in which the remains of Napoleon lie. Coryatides, +columns, and bas-reliefs, commemorative of his battles, are to +surround the sarcophagus. The coryatides are to represent War, +Legislation, Art, and Science; and in front is to be raised an altar +of black marble. The architect is Visconti, and the best statuaries +in Paris are to contribute the decorations. The expense will be +enormous. In the time of Louis Philippe it had already amounted to +nearly four millions of francs. About three millions more are now +demanded for the completion, including an equestrian statue. On the +whole, the expense will be not much less than seven millions of +francs! + +The original folly of the nation, and of Napoleon, in plundering the +Continent of statues and pictures, inevitably led to retribution, +on the first reverse of fortune. The plunder of money, or of +arms, or of anything consumable, would have been exempt from this +mortification; but pictures and statues are permanent things, and +always capable of being re-demanded. Their plunder was an extension +of the law of spoil unknown in European hostilities, or in history, +except perhaps in the old Roman ravage of Greece. Napoleon, in +adopting the practice of heathenism for his model, and the French +nation--in their assumed love of the arts violating the sanctities +of art, by removing the noblest works from the edifices for which +they were created, and from the lights and positions for which the +great artists of Italy designed them--fully deserved the vexation of +seeing them thus carried back to their original cities. The moral +will, it is to be presumed, be learned from this signal example, +that the works of genius are _naturally_ exempt from the sweep of +plunder; that even the violences of war must not be extended beyond +the necessities of conquest; and that an act of injustice is _sure_ +to bring down its punishment in the most painful form of retribution. + +_The Artesian Well._--Near the Hotel des Invalides is the celebrated +well which has given the name to all the modern experiments of +boring to great depths for water. The name of Artesian is said to +be taken from the province of Artois, in which the practice has +been long known. The want of water in Paris induced a M. Mulot to +commence the work in 1834. + +The history of the process is instructive. For six years there was +no prospect of success; yet M. Mulot gallantly persevered. All +was inexorable chalk; the boring instrument had broken several +times, and the difficulty thus occasioned may be imagined from its +requiring a length of thirteen hundred feet! even in an early period +of the operation. However, early in 1841 the chalk gave signs of +change, and a greenish sand was drawn up. On the 26th of February +this was followed by a slight effusion of water, and before night +the stream burst up to the mouth of the excavation, which was now +eighteen hundred feet in depth. Yet the water rapidly rose to a +height of one hundred and twelve feet above the mouth of the well +by a pipe, which is now supported by scaffolding, giving about six +hundred gallons of water a minute. + +Even the memorable experiment confutes, so far as it goes, the +geological notion of strata laid under each other in their +proportions of gravity. The section of the boring shows chalk, sand, +gravel, shells, &c., and this order sometimes reversed, in the most +casual manner, down to a depth five times the height of the cupola +of the Invalides. + +The heat of the water was 83 deg. of Fahrenheit. In the theories +with which the philosophers of the Continent have to feed their +imaginations is that of a _central fire_, which is felt through all +the strata, and which warms everything in proportion to its nearness +to the centre. Thus, it was proposed to dig an Artesian well of +three thousand feet, for the supply of hot water to the Jardin des +Plantes and the neighbouring hospitals. It was supposed that, at +this depth, the heat would range to upwards of 100 deg. of Fahrenheit. +But nothing has been done. Even the Well of Grenelle has rather +disappointed the public expectation; of late the supply has been +less constant, and the boring is to be renewed to a depth of two +thousand feet. + +_The Napoleon Column._--This is the grand feature of the Place +de Vendome, once the site of the Hotel Vendome, built by the son +of Henry IV. and Gabrielle d'Estrees; afterwards pulled down by +Louis XIV., afterwards abandoned to the citizens, and afterwards +surrounded, as it is at this day, with the formal and heavy +architecture of Mansard. The "Place" has, like everything in +Paris, changed its name from time to time. It was once the "Place +des Conquetes;" then it changed to "Louis le Grand;" and then it +returned to the name of its original proprietor. An old figure of +the "Great King," in all the glories of wig and feathers, stood in +the centre, till justice and the rabble of the Revolution broke +it down, in the first "energies" of Republicanism. But the German +campaign of 1805 put all the nation in good humour, and the Napoleon +Column was raised on the site of the dilapidated _monarch_. + +The design of the column is not original, for it is taken from +the Trajan Column at Rome; but it is enlarged, and makes a very +handsome object. When I first saw it, its decorations were in peril; +for the Austrian soldiery were loud for its demolition, or at +least for stripping off its bronze bas-reliefs, they representing +their successive defeats in that ignominious campaign which, in +three months from Boulogne, finished by the capture of Vienna. The +Austrian troops, however, stoutly retrieved their disasters, and, +as the proof, were then masters of Paris. It was possibly this +effective feeling that prevailed at last to spare the column, which +the practice of the French armies would have entitled them to strip +without mercy. + +In the first instance, a statue of Napoleon, as emperor, stood on +the summit of the pillar. This statue had its revolutions too, for +it was melted down at the restoration of the Bourbons, to make a +part of the equestrian statue of Henry IV. erected on the Pont Neuf. +A _fleur-de-lis_ and flagstaff then took its place. The Revolution +of 1830, which elevated Louis Philippe to a temporary throne, raised +the statue of Napoleon to an elevation perhaps as temporary. + +It was the shortsighted policy of the new monarch to mingle royal +power with "republican institutions." He thus introduced the +tricolor once more, sent for Napoleon's remains to St Helena by +permission of England, and erected his statue in the old "chapeau et +redingote gris," the characteristics of his soldiership. The statue +was inaugurated on one of the "three glorious days," in July 1833, +in all the pomp of royalty,--princes, ministers, and troops. So much +for the consistency of a brother of the Bourbon. The pageant passed +away, and the sacrifice to popularity was made without obtaining the +fruits. Louis Philippe disappeared from the scene before the fall +of the curtain; and, as if to render his catastrophe more complete, +he not merely left a republic behind him, but he lived to see the +"prisoner of Ham" the president of that republic. + +How does it happen that an Englishman in France cannot stir a +single step, hear a single word, or see a single face, without the +conviction that he has landed among a people as far from him in all +their feelings, habits, and nature, as if they were engendered in +the moon? The feelings with which the Briton looks on the statue +of Buonaparte may be mixed enough: he may acknowledge him for a +great soldier, as well as a great knave--a great monarch, as well +as a little intriguer--a mighty ruler of men, who would have made +an adroit waiter at a _table d'hote_ in the Palais Royal. But he +never would have imagined him into a sentimentalist, a shepherd, a +Corydon, to be hung round with pastoral garlands; an opera hero, to +delight in the sixpenny tribute of bouquets from the galleries. + +Yet I found the image of this man of terror and mystery--this +ravager of Europe--this stern, fierce, and subtle master of havoc, +decorated like a milliner's shop, or the tombs of the citizen +shopkeepers in the cemeteries, with garlands of all sizes!--the +large to express copious sorrow, the smaller to express diminished +anguish, and the smallest, like a visiting card, for simply leaving +their compliments; and all this in the face of the people who once +feared to look in his face, and followed his car as if it bore the +Thunder! + +To this spot came the people to offer up their sixpenny homage--to +this spot came processions of all kinds, to declare their republican +love for the darkest despot of European memory, to sing a stave, to +walk heroically round the railing, hang up their garlands, and then, +having done their duty in the presence of their own grisettes, in +the face of Paris, and to the admiration of Europe, march home, and +ponder upon the glories of the day! + +As a work of imperial magnificence, the column is worthy of its +founder, and of the only redeeming point of his character--his +zeal for the ornament of Paris. It is a monument to the military +successes of the Empire; a trophy one hundred and thirty-five feet +high, covered with the representations of French victory over the +Austrians and Russians in the campaign of 1805. The bas-reliefs +are in bronze, rising in a continued spiral round the column. Yet +this is an unfortunate sacrifice to the imitation of the Roman +column. The spiral, a few feet above the head of the spectator, +offers nothing to the eye but a roll of rough bronze; the figures +are wholly and necessarily undistinguishable. The only portion of +those castings which directly meets the eye is unfortunately given +up to the mere uniforms, caps, and arms of the combatants. This is +the pedestal, and it would make a showy decoration for a tailor's +window. It is a clever work of the furnace, but a miserable one of +invention. + +The bronze is said to have been the captured cannon of the enemy. +On the massive bronze door is the inscription in Latin:--"Napoleon, +Emperor, Augustus, dedicated to the glory of the Grand Army this +memorial of the German War, finished in three months, in the year +1805, under his command." + +On the summit stands the statue of Napoleon, to which, and its +changes, I have adverted already. But the question has arisen, +whether there is not an error in taste in placing the statue of an +individual at a height which precludes the view of his _features_. +This has been made an objection to the handsome Nelson Pillar in +Trafalgar Square. But the obvious answer in both instances is, +that the object is not merely the sight of the features, but the +perfection of the memorial; that the pillar is the true _monument_, +and the statue only an accessory, though the most _suitable_ +accessory. But even then the statue is not altogether inexpressive. +We can see the figure and the costume of Napoleon nearly as well +as they could be seen from the balcony of the Tuilleries, where +all Paris assembled in the Carousel to worship him on Sundays, at +the parade of "La Garde." In the spirited statue of Nelson we can +recognise the figure as well as if we were gazing at him within a +hundred yards in any other direction. It is true that pillars are +not painters' easels, nor is Trafalgar Square a sculptor's yard; but +the real question turns on the effect of the whole. If the pillar +makes the monument, we will not quarrel with the sculptor for its +not making a _miniature_. It answers its purpose--it is a noble +one; it gives a national record of great events, and it realises, +invigorates, and consecrates them by the images of the men by whom +they were achieved. + +_Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile._--It is no small adventure, in a +burning day of a French summer, to walk the length of the Champs +Elysees, even to see the arch of the Star, (Napoleon's _Star_,) +and climb to its summit. Yet this labour I accomplished with the +fervour and the fatigue of a pilgrimage. + +Why should the name of Republic be ever heard in the mouth of a +Frenchman? All the objects of his glory in the Capital of which he +_glories_, everything that he can show to the stranger--everything +that he recounts, standing on tip-toe, and looking down on the whole +world besides--is the work of monarchy! The grand Republic left +nothing behind but the guillotine. The Bourbons and Buonapartes were +the creators of all to which he points, with an exaltation that +throws earth into the shade from the Alps to the Andes. The Louvre, +the Madeleine, the Tuilleries, the Hotel de Ville, (now magnified +and renovated into the most stately of town-houses,) the Hotel +des Invalides, Notre Dame, &c. &c. are all the work of Kings. If +Napoleon had lived half a century longer, he would have made Paris +a second Babylon. If the very clever President, who has hitherto +managed France so dexterously, and whose name so curiously combines +the monarchy and the despotism,--if Louis _Napoleon_ (a name which +an old Roman would have pronounced an omen) should manage it into +a Monarchy, we shall probably see Paris crowded with superb public +edifices. + +The kings of France were peculiarly magnificent in the decoration +of the entrances to their city. As no power on earth can prevent +the French from crowding into hovels, from living ten families in +one house, and from appending to their cities the most miserable, +ragged, and forlorn-looking suburbs on the globe, the monarchs +wisely let the national habits alone; and resolved, if the suburbs +must be abandoned to the popular fondness for the wigwam, to +impress strangers with the stateliness of their gates. The _Arc +de St Denis_, once conducting from the most dismal of suburbs, is +one of the finest portals in Paris, or in any European city; it +is worthy of the Boulevard, and that is panegyric at once. Every +one knows _that it was_ erected in honour of the short-lived +inroad of Louis XIV. into Holland in 1672, and the taking of whole +muster-rolls of forts and villages, left at his mercy, ungarrisoned +and unprovisioned, by the Republican parsimony of the Dutch, till +a princely defender arose, and the young Stadtholder sent back the +coxcomb monarch faster than he came. But the Arc is a noble work, +and its architecture might well set a redeeming example to the +London _improvers_. Why not erect an arch in Southwark? Why not at +all the great avenues to the capital? Why not, instead of leaving +this task to the caprices, or even to the bad taste of the railway +companies, make it a branch of the operations of the Woods and +Forests, and ennoble all the entrances of the mightiest capital of +earthly empire? + +The Arch of St Denis is now shining in all the novelty of +reparation, for it was restored so lately as last year. In this +quarter, which has been always of a stormy temperature, the +insurrection of 1848 raged with especial fury; and if the spirits of +the great ever hover about their monuments, Louis XIV. may have seen +from its summit a more desperate conflict than ever figured on its +bas-reliefs. + +On the Arch of the Porte St Martin is a minor monument to minor +triumphs, but a handsome one. Louis XIV. is still the hero. The +"Grand Monarque" is exhibited as Hercules with his club; but as +even a monarch in those days was nothing without his wig, Hercules +exhibits a huge mass of curls of the most courtly dimensions--he +might pass for the presiding deity of _perruquiers_. + +The _Arc de Triomphe du Carousel_, erected in honour of the German +campaign in 1805, is a costly performance, yet poor-looking, from +its position in the centre of lofty buildings. What effect can +an isolated arch, of but five-and-forty feet high, have in the +immediate vicinity of masses of building, perhaps a hundred feet +high? Its aspect is consequently meagre; and its being placed +in the centre of a court makes it look useless, and, of course, +ridiculous. On the summit is a figure of War, or Victory, in a +chariot, with four bronze horses--the horses modelled from the +four Constantinopolitan horses brought by the French from Venice, +as part of the plunder of that luckless city, but sent back to +Venice by the Allies in 1815. The design of the arch was from +that of Severus, in Rome: this secured, at least, elegance in its +construction; but the position is fatal to dignity. + +The _Arc de l'Etoile_ is the finest work of the kind in Paris. It +has the advantage of being built on an elevation, from which it +overlooks the whole city, with no building of any magnitude in its +vicinity; and is seen from a considerable distance on all the roads +leading to the capital. Its cost was excessive for a work of mere +ornament, and is said to have amounted to nearly half a million +sterling! + +As I stood glancing over the groups on the friezes and faces of +this great monument, which exhibit war in every form of conflict, +havoc, and victory, the homely thought of "_cui bono_?" struck me +irresistibly. Who was the better for all this havoc?--Napoleon, +whom it sent to a dungeon! or the miserable thousands and tens +of thousands whom it crushed in the field?--or the perhaps more +unfortunate hundreds of thousands whom it sent to the hospital, to +die the slow death of exhaustion and pain, or to live the protracted +life of mutilation? I have no affectation of sentiment at the +sight of the soldier's grave; he has but taken his share of the +common lot, with perhaps the advantage, which so few men possess, +of having "done the state some service." But, to see this vast +monument covered with the emblems of hostilities, continued through +almost a quarter of a century, (for the groups commence with 1792;) +to think of the devastation of the fairest countries of Europe, +of which these hostilities were the cause; and to know the utter +fruitlessness and failure of the result, the short-lived nature of +the triumph, and the frightful depth of the defeat---Napoleon in +ignominious bondage and hopeless banishment--Napoleon, after having +lorded it over Europe, sent to linger out life on a rock in the +centre of the ocean--the leader of military millions kept under the +eye of a British sentinel, and no more suffered to stray beyond +his bounds than a caged tiger--I felt as if the object before me +was less a trophy than a tomb, less a monument of glory than of +retribution, less the record of national triumph than of national +frenzy. + +I had full liberty for reflection, for there was scarcely a human +being to interrupt me. The bustle of the capital did not reach so +far, the promenaders in the Champs Elysees did not venture here; the +showy equipages of the Parisian "_nouveaux riches_" remained where +the crowd was to be seen; and except a few peasants going on their +avocations, and a bench full of soldiers, sleeping or smoking away +the weariness of the hour, the _Arc de Triomphe_, which had cost so +much treasure, and was the record of so much blood, seemed to be +totally forgotten. I question, if there had been a decree of the +Legislature to sell the stones, whether it would have occasioned +more than a paragraph in the _Journal des Debats_. + +The ascent to the summit is by a long succession of dark and winding +steps, for which a lamp is lighted by the porter; but the view from +the parapet repays the trouble of the ascent. The whole basin in +which Paris lies is spread out before the eye. The city is seen in +the centre of a valley, surrounded on every side by a circle of low +hills, sheeted with dark masses of wood. It was probably once the +bed of a lake, in which the site of the city was an island. All the +suburb villages came within the view, with the fortifications, which +to a more scientific eye might appear formidable, but which to mine +appeared mere dots in the vast landscape. + +This parapet is unhappily sometimes used for other purposes than +the indulgence of the spectacle. A short time since, a determined +suicide sprang from it, after making a speech to the soldiery below, +assigning his reason for this tremendous act--if reason has anything +to do in such a desperate determination to defy common sense. He +acted with the quietest appearance of deliberation: let himself down +on the coping of the battlement, from this made his speech, as if +he had been in the tribune; and, having finished it, flung himself +down a height of ninety feet, and was in an instant a crushed and +lifeless heap on the pavement below. + +It is remarkable that, even in these crimes, there exists the +distinction which seems to divide France from England in every +better thing. In England, a wretch undone by poverty, broken down by +incurable pain, afflicted by the stings of a conscience which she +neither knows how to heal nor cares how to cure, woman, helpless, +wretched, and desolate, takes her walk under cover of night by the +nearest river, and, without a witness, plunges in. But, in France, +the last dreadful scene is imperfect without its publicity; the +suicide must exhibit before the people. There must be the _valete et +plaudite_. The curtain must fall with dramatic effect, and the actor +must make his exit with the cries of the audience, in admiration or +terror, ringing in the ear. + +In other cases, however varied, the passion for publicity is +still the same. No man can bear to perish in silence. If the +atheist resolves on self-destruction, he writes a treatise for his +publisher, or a letter to the journals. If he is a man of science, +he takes his laudanum after supper, and, pen in hand, notes the +gradual effects of the poison for the benefit of science; or he +prepares a fire of charcoal, quietly inhales the vapour, and from +his sofa continues to scribble the symptoms of dissolution, until +the pen grows unsteady, the brain wanders, and half-a-dozen blots +close the scene; the writing, however, being dedicated to posterity, +and circulated next day in every journal of Paris, till it finally +permeates through the provinces, and from thence through the +European world. + +The number of suicides in Paris annually, of late years, has +been about three hundred,--out of a population of a million, +notwithstanding the suppression of the gaming-houses, which +unquestionably had a large share in the temptation to this horrible +and unatonable crime. + +The sculptures on the Arc are in the best style. They form a history +of the Consulate and of the Empire. Napoleon, of course, is a +prominent figure; but in the fine bas-relief which is peculiarly +devoted to himself, in which he stands of colossal size, with Fame +flying over his head, History writing the record of his exploits, +and Victory crowning him, the artist has left his work liable to the +sly sarcasm of a spectator of a similar design for the statue of +Louis XIV. Victory was there holding the laurel at a slight distance +from his head. An Englishman asked "whether she was putting it on +_or taking it off_?" But another of the sculptures is still more +unfortunate, for it has the unintentional effect of commemorating +the Allied conquest of France in 1814. A young Frenchman is seen +defending his family; and a soldier behind him is seen falling from +his horse, and the Genius of the _future_ flutters over them all. We +know what that future was. + +The building of this noble memorial occupied, at intervals, no +less than thirty years, beginning in 1806, when Napoleon issued +a decree for its erection. The invasion in 1814 put a stop to +everything in France, and the building was suspended. The fruitless +and foolish campaign of the Duc d'Angouleme, in Spain, was regarded +by the Bourbons as a title to national glories, and the building +was resumed as a trophy to the renown of the Duc. It was again +interrupted by the expulsion of the Bourbons in 1830; but was +resumed under Louis Philippe, and finished in 1836. It is altogether +a very stately and very handsome tribute to the French armies. + +But, without affecting unnecessary severity of remark, may not the +wisdom of such a tribute be justly doubted? The Romans, though the +principle of their power was conquest, and though their security was +almost incompatible with peace, yet are said to have never repaired +a triumphal arch. It is true that they built those arches (in the +latter period of the Empire) so solidly as to want no repairs. But +we have no triumphal monuments of the Republic surviving. Why should +it be the constant policy of Continental governments to pamper +their people with the food of that most dangerous and diseased of +all vanities, the passion for war? And this is not said in the +declamatory spirit of the "Peace Congress," which seems to be +nothing more than a pretext for a Continental ramble, an expedient +for a little vulgar notoriety among foreigners, and an opportunity +of getting rid of the greatest quantity of common-place in the +shortest time. But, why should not France learn common sense from +the experience of England? It is calculated that, of the last five +hundred years of French history, two hundred and fifty have been +spent in hostilities. In consequence, France has been invaded, +trampled, and impoverished by war; while England, during the last +three hundred years, has never seen the foot of a foreign invader. + +Let the people of France abolish the _Conscription_, and they +will have made one advance to liberty. Till cabinets are deprived +of that material of _aggressive_ war, they will leave war at the +caprice of a weak monarch, an ambitious minister, or a vainglorious +people. It is remarkable that, among all the attempts at reforming +the constitution of France, her reformers have never touched upon +the ulcer of the land, the Conscription, the legacy of a frantic +Republic, taking the children of the country from their industry, to +plunge them into the vices of idleness or the havoc of war, and at +all times to furnish the means, as well as afford the temptation, +to aggressive war. There is not at this hour a soldier of England +who has been _forced_ into the service! Let the French, let all the +Continental nations, abolish the Conscription, thus depriving their +governments of the means of making war upon each other; and what an +infinite security would not this illustrious abolition give to the +whole of Europe!--what an infinite saving in the taxes which are now +wrung from nations by the fear of each other!--and what an infinite +triumph to the spirit of peace, industry, and mutual good-will! + +_The Theatres._--In the evening I wandered along the Boulevard, +the great centre of the theatres, and was surprised at the crowds +which, in a hot summer night, could venture to be stewed alive, +amid the smell of lamps, the effluvia of orange-peel, the glare of +lights, and the breathing of hundreds or thousands of human beings. +I preferred the fresh air, the lively movement of the Boulevard, the +glitter of the Cafes, and the glow, then tempered, of the declining +sun--one of the prettiest moving panoramas of Paris. + +The French Government take a great interest in the popularity of +the theatres, and exert that species of superintendence which is +implied in a considerable supply of the theatrical expenditure. The +French Opera receives annually from the National Treasury no less +than 750,000 francs, besides 130,000 for retiring pensions. To the +Theatre Francais, the allowance from the Treasury is 240,000 francs +a-year. To the Italian Opera the sum granted was formerly 70,000, +but is now 50,000. Allowances are made to the Opera Comique, a most +amusing theatre, to the Odeon, and perhaps to some others--the whole +demanding of the budget a sum of more than a million of francs. + +It is curious that the drama in France began with the clergy. In the +time of Charles VI., a company, named "Confreres de la Passion," +performed plays founded on the events of Scripture, though grossly +disfigured by the traditions of Monachism. The originals were +probably the "_Mysteries_," or plays in the Convents, a species of +absurd and fantastic representation common in all Popish countries. +At length the life of Manners was added to the life of Superstition, +and singers and grimacers were added to the "Confreres." + +In the sixteenth century an Italian company appeared in Paris, and +brought with them their opera, the invention of the Florentines +fifty years before. The cessation of the civil wars allowed France +for a while to cultivate the arts of peace; and Richelieu, a man +who, if it could be said of any statesman that he formed the mind +of the nation, impressed his image and superscription upon his +country, gave the highest encouragement to the drama by making it +the fashion. He even wrote, or assisted in writing, popular dramas. +Corneille now began to flourish, and French Tragedy was established. + +Mazarin, when minister, and, like Richelieu, master of the nation, +invited or admitted the Italian Opera once more into France; and +Moliere, at the head of a new company, obtained leave to perform +before Louis XIV., who thenceforth patronised the great comic +writer, and gave his company a theatre. The Tragedy, Comedy, and +Opera of France now led the way in Europe. + +In France, the Great Revolution, while it multiplied the theatres +with the natural extravagance of the time, yet, by a consequence +equally inevitable, degraded the taste of the nation. For a +long period the legitimate drama was almost extinguished: it +was unexciting to a people trained day by day to revolutionary +convulsion; the pageants on the stage were tame to the processions +in the streets; and the struggles of kings and nobles were +ridiculous to the men who had been employed in destroying a dynasty. + +Napoleon at once perceived the evil, and adopted the only remedy. He +found no less than _thirty_ theatres in Paris. He was not a man to +pause where he saw his way clearly before him; he closed twenty-two +of those theatres, leaving but eight, and those chiefly of the old +establishments, making a species of compensation to the closed +houses. + +On the return of the Bourbons the civil list, as in the old +times, assisted in the support of the theatres. On the accession +of Louis Philippe, the popular triumph infused its extravagance +even into the system of the drama. The number of the theatres +increased, and a succession of writers of the "New School" filled +the theatres with abomination. Gallantry became the _spirit_ of +the drama--everything before the scene was intrigue; married life +was the perpetual burlesque. Wives were the habitual heroines of +the intrigue, and husbands the habitual dupes! To keep faith with +a husband was a standing jest on the stage, to keep it with a +seducer was the height of human character. The former was always +described as brutal, gross, dull, and born to be duped; the latter +was captivating, generous, and irresistible by any matron alive. +In fact, wives and widows were made for nothing else but to give +way to the fascinations of this class of professors of the arts +of "good society." The captivator was substantially described as +a scoundrel, a gambler, and a vagabond of the basest kind, but +withal so honourable, so tender, and so susceptible, that his +atrocities disappeared, or rather were transmuted into virtues, by +the brilliancy of his qualifications for seducing the wife of his +friend. Perjury, profligacy, and the betrayal of confidence in the +most essential tie of human nature, were supreme in popularity in +the Novel and on the Stage. + +The direct consequence is, that the crime of adultery is lightly +considered in France; even the pure speak of it without the +abhorrence which, for every reason, it deserves. Its notoriety is +rather thought of as an anecdote of the day, or the gossiping of the +soiree; and the most acknowledged licentiousness does not exclude a +man of a certain rank from general reception in good society. + +One thing may be observed on the most casual intercourse with +Frenchmen--that the vices which, in our country, create disgust +and offence in grave society, and laughter and levity in the more +careless, seldom produce either the one or the other in France. +The topic is alluded to with neither a frown nor a smile; it is +treated, in general, as a matter of course, either too natural to +deserve censure, or too common to excite ridicule. It is seldom +peculiarly alluded to, for the general conversation of "Good +Society" is decorous; but to denounce it would be unmannered. The +result is an extent of illegitimacy enough to corrupt the whole +rising population. By the registers of 1848, of 30,000 children born +in Paris in that year, there were 10,000 illegitimate, of which but +1700 were acknowledged by their parents! + +The theatrical profession forms an important element in the +population. The actors and actresses amount to about 5000. In +England they are probably not as many hundreds. And though the +French population is 35,000,000, while Great Britain has little +more than twenty, yet the disproportion is enormous, and forms a +characteristic difference of the two countries. The persons occupied +in the "working" of the theatrical system amount perhaps to 10,000, +and the families dependent on the whole form a very large and very +influential class among the general orders of society. + +But if the Treasury assists in their general support, it compels +them to pay eight per cent of their receipts as a contribution to +the hospitals. This sum averages annually a million of francs, or +L40,000 sterling. + +In England we might learn something from the theatrical regulations +of France. The trampling of our crowds at the doors of theatres, the +occasional losses of life and limb, and the general inconvenience +and confusion of the entrance on crowded nights, might be avoided by +the were adoption of French _order_. + +But why should not higher objects be held in view? The drama is a +public _necessity_; the people will have it, whether good or bad. +Why should not Government offer prizes to the best drama, tragic or +comic? Why should the most distinguished work of poetic genius find +no encouragement from the Government of a nation boasting of its +love of letters? Why shall that encouragement be left to the caprice +of managers, to the finances of struggling establishments, or to the +tastes of theatres, forced by their poverty to pander to the rabble. +Why should not the mischievous performances of those theatres be put +down, and dramas, founded on the higher principles of our nature, +be the instruments of putting them down? Why should not heroism, +honour, and patriotism, be taught on the national stage, as well as +the triumphs of the highroad, laxity among the higher ranks, and +vice among all? The drama has been charged with corruption. Is that +corruption essential? It has been charged with being a _nucleus_ +of the loose principles, as its places of representation have been +haunted by the loose characters, of society. But what are these +but excrescences, generated by the carelessness of society, by +the indolence of magistracy, and by the general misconception of +the real purposes and possible power of the stage? That power is +magnificent. It takes human nature in her most _impressible_ form, +in the time of the glowing heart and the ready tear, of the senses +animated by scenery, melted by music, and spelled by the living +realities of representation. Why should not impressions be made +in that hour which the man would carry with him through all the +contingencies of life, and which would throw a light on every period +of his being? + +The conditions of recompense to authors in France make _some_ +advance to justice. The author of a Drama is entitled to a profit on +its performance in every theatre of France during his life, with a +continuance for ten years after to his heirs. For a piece of three +or five acts, the remuneration is _one twelfth part_ of the gross +receipts, and for a piece in one act, one twenty-fourth. A similar +compensation has been adopted in the English theatre, but seems to +have become completely nugatory, from the managers' purchasing the +author's rights--the transaction here being made a private one, and +the remuneration being at the mercy of the manager. But in France +it is a public matter, an affair of law, and looked to by an agent +in Paris, who registers the performance of the piece at all the +theatres in the city, and in the provinces. + +Still, this is injustice. Why should the labour of the intellect +be less permanent than the labour of the hands? Why should not the +author be entitled to make his full demand instead of this pittance? +If his play is worth acting, why is it not worth paying for?--and +why should he be prohibited from having the fruit of his brain as an +inheritance to his family, as well as the fruit of any other toll? + +If, instead of being a man of genius, delighting and elevating the +mind of a nation, he were a blacksmith, he might leave his tools and +his trade to his children without any limit; or if, with the produce +of his play, he purchased a cow, or a cabin, no man could lay a +claim upon either. But he must be taxed for being a man of talent; +and men of no talent must be entitled, by an absurd law and a +palpable injustice, to tear the fruit of his intellectual supremacy +from his children after ten short years of possession. + +No man leaves Paris without regret, and without a wish for the +liberty and peace of its people. + + + + +MR RUSKIN'S WORKS. + + _Modern Painters_, vol. i. Second edition.----_Modern Painters_, + vol. ii.----_The Seven Lamps of Architecture._----_The Stones of + Venice._----_Notes on the Construction of Sheepfolds._ By JOHN + RUSKIN, M.A. + + +On the publication of the first volume of Mr Ruskin's work on Modern +Painters, a notice appeared of it in this Magazine. Since that +time a second volume has been published of the same work, with two +other works on architecture. It is the second volume of his _Modern +Painters_ which will at present chiefly engage our attention. His +architectural works can only receive a slight and casual notice; on +some future occasion they may tempt us into a fuller examination. + +Although the second volume of the _Modern Painters_ will be the +immediate subject of our review, we must permit ourselves to glance +back upon the first, in order to connect together the topics treated +by the two, and to prevent our paper from wearing quite the aspect +of a metaphysical essay; for it is the nature of the sentiment of +the beautiful, and its sources in the human mind, which is the main +subject of this second volume. In the first, he had entered at once +into the arena of criticism, elevating the modern artists, and one +amongst them in particular, at the expense of the old masters, who, +with some few exceptions, find themselves very rudely handled. + +As we have already intimated, we do not hold Mr Ruskin to be a +safe guide in matters of art, and the present volume demonstrates +that he is no safe guide in matters of philosophy. He is a man of +undoubted power and vigour of mind; he feels strongly, and he thinks +independently: but he is hasty and impetuous; can very rarely, on +any subject, deliver a calm and temperate judgment; and, when he +enters on the discussion of general principles, shows an utter +inability to seize on, or to appreciate, the wide generalisations +of philosophy. He is not, therefore, one of those men who can ever +become an authority to be appealed to by the less instructed in any +of the fine arts, or on any topic whatever; and this we say with the +utmost confidence, because, although we may be unable in many cases +to dispute his judgment--as where he speaks of paintings we have not +seen, or technicalities of art we do not affect to understand--yet +he so frequently stands forth on the broad arena where general and +familiar principles are discussed, that it is utterly impossible _to +be mistaken in the man_. On all these occasions he displays a very +marked and rather peculiar combination of power and weakness--of +power, the result of natural strength of mind; of weakness, the +inevitable consequence of a passionate haste, and an overweening +confidence. When we hear a person of this intellectual character +throwing all but unmitigated abuse upon works which men have long +consented to admire, and lavishing upon some other works encomiums +which no conceivable perfection of human art could justify, it is +utterly impossible to attach any weight to his opinion, on the +ground that he has made an especial study of any one branch of art. +Such a man we cannot trust out of our sight a moment; we cannot give +him one inch of ground more than his reasoning covers, or our own +experience would grant to him. + +We shall not here revive the controversy on the comparative merits +of the ancient and modern landscape-painters, nor on the later +productions of Mr Turner, whether they are the eccentricities of +genius or its fullest development; we have said enough on these +subjects before. It is Mr Ruskin's book, and not the pictures of +Claude or Turner, that we have to criticise; it is his style, and +his manner of thinking, that we have to pass judgment on. + +In all Mr Ruskin's works, and in almost every page of them, whether +on painting, or architecture, or philosophy, or ecclesiastical +controversy, two characteristics invariably prevail: an extreme +dogmatism, and a passion for singularity. Every man who thinks +earnestly would convert all the world to his own opinions; but while +Mr Ruskin would convert all the world to his own tastes as well as +opinions, he manifests the greatest repugnance to think for a moment +like any one else. He has a mortal aversion to mingle with a crowd. +It is quite enough for an opinion to be commonplace to insure it his +contempt: if it has passed out of fashion, he may revive it; but +to think with the existing multitude would be impossible. Yet that +multitude are to think with him. He is as bent on unity in matters +of taste as others are on unity in matters of religion; and he sets +the example by diverging, wherever he can, from the tastes of others. + +Between these two characteristics there is no real contradiction; +or rather the contradiction is quite familiar. The man who most +affects singularity is generally the most dogmatic: he is the very +man who expresses most surprise that others should differ from him. +No one is so impatient of contradiction as he who is perpetually +contradicting others; and on the gravest matters of religion those +are often found to be most zealous for unity of belief who have +some pet heresy of their own, for which they are battling all their +lives. The same overweening confidence lies, in fact, at the basis +of both these characteristics. In Mr Ruskin they are both seen in +great force. No matter what the subject he discusses,--taste or +ecclesiastical government--we always find the same combination of +singularity, with a dogmatism approaching to intolerance. Thus, the +Ionic pillar is universally admired. Mr Ruskin finds that the fluted +shaft gives an appearance of weakness. No one ever felt this, so +long as the fluted column is manifestly of sufficient diameter to +sustain the weight imposed on it. But this objection of apparent +insecurity has been very commonly made to the spiral or twisted +column. Here, therefore, Mr Ruskin abruptly dismisses the objection. +He was at liberty to defend the spiral column: we should say here, +also, that if the weight imposed was evidently not too great for +even a spiral column to support, _this_ objection has no place; +but why cast the same objection, (which perhaps in all cases was +a mere after-thought) against the Ionic shaft, when it had never +been felt at all? It has been a general remark, that, amongst other +results of the railway, it has given a new field to the architect, +as well as to the engineer. Therefore Mr Ruskin resolves that our +railroad stations ought to have no architecture at all. Of course, +if he limited his objections to inappropriate ornament, he would +be agreeing with all the world: he decides there should be no +architecture whatever; merely buildings more or less spacious, +to protect men and goods from the weather. He has never been so +unfortunate, we suppose, as to come an hour too soon, or the unlucky +five minutes too late, to a railway station, or he would have been +glad enough to find himself in something better than the large shed +he proposes. On the grave subject of ecclesiastical government he +has stepped forward into controversy; and here he shows both his +usual propensities in _high relief_. He has some quite peculiar +projects of his own; the appointment of some hundreds of bishops--we +know not what--and a Church discipline to be carried out by trial +by jury. Desirable or not, they are manifestly as impracticable as +the revival of chivalry. But let that pass. Let every man think +and propose his best. But his dogmatism amounts to a disease, +when, turning from his own novelties, he can speak in the flippant +intolerant manner that he does of the national and now time-honoured +Church of Scotland. + +It will be worth while to make, in passing, a single quotation +from this pamphlet, _Notes on the Construction of Sheepfolds_. He +tells us, in one place, that in the New Testament the ministers +of the Church "are called, and call themselves, with absolute +indifference, Deacons, Bishops, Elders, Evangelists, according to +what they are doing at the time of speaking." With such a writer +one might, at all events, have hoped to live in peace. But no. He +discovers, nevertheless, that Episcopacy is the Scriptural form of +Church government; and, having satisfied his own mind of this, no +opposition or diversity of opinion is for a moment to be tolerated. + + "But how," he says, "unite the two great sects of paralysed + Protestants? By keeping simply to Scripture. _The members of + the Scottish Church have not a shadow of excuse for refusing + Episcopacy_: it has indeed been abused among them, grievously + abused; but it is in the Bible, and that is all they have a + right to ask. + + "_They have also no shadow of excuse for refusing to employ + a written form of prayer._ It may not be to their taste--it + may not be the way in which they like to pray; but it is no + question, at present, of likes or dislikes, but of duties; and + the acceptance of such a form on their part would go half way + to reconcile them with their brethren. Let them allege such + objections as they can reasonably advance against the English + form, and let these be carefully and humbly weighed by the + pastors of both Churches: some of them ought to be at once + forestalled. For the English Church, on the other hand, _must_," + &c. + +Into Mr Ruskin's own religious tenets, further than he has chosen to +reveal them in his works, we have no wish to pry. But he must cease +to be Mr Ruskin if they do not exhibit some salient peculiarity, +coupled with a confidence, unusual even amongst zealots, that his +peculiar views will speedily triumph. If he can be presumed to +belong to any sect, it must be the last and smallest one amongst +us--some sect as exclusive as German mysticism, with pretensions as +great as those of the Church of Rome. + +One word on the style of Mr Ruskin: it will save the trouble of +alluding to it on particular occasions. It is very unequal. In +both his architectural works he writes generally with great ease, +spirit, and clearness. There is a racy vigour in the page. But when +he would be very eloquent, as he is disposed to be in the _Modern +Painters_, he becomes very verbose, tedious, obscure, extravagant. +There is no discipline in his style, no moderation, no repose. Those +qualities which he has known how to praise in art he has not aimed +at in his own writing. A rank luxuriance of a semi-poetical diction +lies about, perfectly unrestrained; metaphorical language comes +before us in every species of disorder; and hyperbolical expressions +are used till they become commonplace. Verbal criticism, he would +probably look upon a very puerile business: he need fear nothing +of the kind from us; we should as soon think of criticising or +pruning a jungle. To add to the confusion, he appears at times to +have proposed to himself the imitation of some of our older writers: +pages are written in the rhythm of Jeremy Taylor; sometimes it is +the venerable Hooker who seems to be his type; and he has even +succeeded in combining whatever is most tedious and prolix in both +these great writers. If the reader wishes a specimen of this sort of +_modern antique_, he may turn to the fifteenth chapter of the second +volume of the _Modern Painters_. + +Coupled with this matter of style, and almost inseparable from it, +is the violence of his manner on subjects which cannot possibly +justify so vehement a zeal. We like a generous enthusiasm on any +art--we delight in it; but who can travel in sympathy with a writer +who exhausts on so much paint and canvass every term of rapture +that the Alps themselves could have called forth? One need not be +a utilitarian philosopher--or what Mr Ruskin describes as such--to +smile at the lofty position on which he puts the landscape-painter, +and the egregious and impossible demands he makes upon the art +itself. And the condemnation and opprobrium with which he overwhelms +the luckless artist who has offended him is quite as violent. The +bough of a tree, "in the left hand upper corner" of a landscape of +Poussin's, calls forth this terrible denunciation:-- + + "This latter is a representation of an ornamental group of + elephants' tusks, with feathers tied to the ends of them. + Not the wildest imagination could ever conjure up in it the + remotest resemblance to the bough of a tree. It might be the + claws of a witch--the talons of an eagle--the horns of a fiend; + but it is a full assemblage of every conceivable falsehood + which can be told respecting foliage--a piece of work so + barbarous in every way _that one glance at it ought to prove + the complete charlatanism and trickery of the whole system of + the old landscape-painters_.... I will say here at once, that + such drawing as this is as ugly as it is childish, and as + painful as it is false; and that the man who could tolerate, + much more, who could deliberately set down such a thing on his + canvass, _had neither eye nor feeling for one single attribute + or excellence of God's works_. He might have drawn _the other + stem_ in excusable ignorance, or under some false impression of + being able to improve upon nature, but this is conclusive and + unpardonable."--(P. 382.) + +The great redeeming quality of Mr Ruskin--and we wish to give it +conspicuous and honourable mention--is his love of nature. Here +lies the charm of his works; to this may be traced whatever virtue +is in them, or whatever utility they may possess. They will send +the painter more than ever to the study of nature, and perhaps they +will have a still more beneficial effect on the art, by sending the +critic of painting to the same school. It would be almost an insult +to the landscape-painter to suppose that he needed this lesson; the +very love of his art must lead him perpetually, one would think, +to his great and delightful study amongst the fields, under the +open skies, before the rivers and the hills. But the critic of the +picture-gallery is often one who goes from picture to picture, and +very little from nature to the painting. Consequently, where an +artist succeeds in imitating some effect in nature which had not +been before represented on the canvass, such a critic is more likely +to be displeased than gratified; and the artist, having to paint +for a conventional taste, is in danger of sacrificing to it his own +higher aspirations. Now it is most true that no man should pretend +to be a critic upon pictures unless he understands the art itself +of painting; he ought, we suspect, to have handled the pencil or +the brush himself; at all events, he ought in some way to have been +initiated into the mysteries of the pallet and the easel. Otherwise, +not knowing the difficulties to be overcome, nor the means at hand +for encountering them, he cannot possibly estimate the degree of +merit due to the artist for the production of this or that effect. +He may be loud in applause where nothing has been displayed but +the old traditions of the art. But still this is only one-half the +knowledge he ought to possess. He ought to have studied nature, +and to have loved the study, or he can never estimate, and never +feel, that _truth_ of effect which is the great aim of the artist. +Mr Ruskin's works will help to shame out of the field all such +half-informed and conventional criticism, the mere connoisseurship +of the picture gallery. On the other hand, they will train men who +have always been delighted spectators of nature to be also attentive +observers. Our critics will learn how to admire, and mere admirers +will learn how to criticise. Thus a public will be educated; and +here, if anywhere, we may confidently assert that the art will +prosper in proportion as there is an intelligent public to reward it. + +We like that bold enterprise of Mr Ruskin's which distinguishes the +first volume, that daring enumeration of the great palpable facts +of nature--the sky, the sea, the earth, the foliage--which the +painter has to represent. His descriptions are often made indistinct +by a multitude of words; but there is light in the haze--there is +a genuine love of nature felt through them. This is almost the +only point of sympathy we feel with Mr Ruskin; it is the only hold +his volumes have had over us whilst perusing them; we may be, +therefore, excused if we present here to our readers a specimen or +two of his happier descriptions of nature. We will give them _the +Cloud_ and _the Torrent_. They will confess that, after reading Mr +Ruskin's description of the clouds, their first feeling will be an +irresistible impulse to throw open the window, and look upon them +again as they roll through the sky. The torrent may not be so near +at hand, to make renewed acquaintance with. We must premise that he +has been enforcing his favourite precept, the minute, and faithful, +and perpetual study of nature. He very justly scouts the absurd +idea that trees and rocks and clouds are, under any circumstances, +to be _generalised_--so that a tree is not to stand for an oak or a +poplar, a birch or an elm, but for a _general tree_. If a tree is +at so great a distance that you cannot distinguish what it is, as +you cannot paint more than you see, you must paint it indistinctly. +But to make a purposed indistinctness where the kind of tree would +be very plainly seen is a manifest absurdity. So, too, the forms +of clouds should be studied, and as much as possible taken from +nature, and not certain _general clouds_ substituted at the artist's +pleasure. + + "But it is not the outline only which is thus systematically + false. The drawing of the solid form is worse still; for it + is to be remembered that, although clouds of course arrange + themselves more or less into broad masses, with a light side + and a dark side, both their light and shade are invariably + composed of a series of divided masses, each of which has in + its outline as much variety and character as the great outline + of the cloud; presenting, therefore, a thousand times repeated, + all that I have described as the general form. Nor are these + multitudinous divisions a truth of slight importance in the + character of sky, for they are dependent on, and illustrative + of, a quality which is usually in a great degree overlooked--the + enormous retiring spaces of solid clouds. Between the illumined + edge of a heaped cloud and that part of its body which turns + into shadow, there will generally be a clear distance of several + miles--more or less, of course, according to the general size + of the cloud; but in such large masses as Poussin and others of + the old masters, which occupy the fourth or fifth of the visible + sky, the clear illumined breadth of vapour, from the edge to + the shadow, involves at least a distance of five or six miles. + We are little apt, in watching the changes of a mountainous + range of cloud, to reflect that the masses of vapour which + compose it are linger and higher than any mountain-range of the + earth; and the distances between mass and mass are not yards of + air, traversed in an instant by the flying form, but valleys + of changing atmosphere leagues over; that the slow motion of + ascending curves, which we can scarcely trace, is a boiling + energy of exulting vapour rushing into the heaven a thousand + feet in a minute; and that the topling angle, whose sharp edge + almost escapes notice in the multitudinous forms around it, is + a nodding precipice of storms, three thousand feet from base to + summit. It is not until we have actually compared the forms of + the sky with the hill-ranges of the earth, and seen the soaring + alp overtopped and buried in one surge of the sky, that we begin + to conceive or appreciate the colossal scale of the phenomena of + the latter. But of this there can be no doubt in the mind of any + one accustomed to trace the forms of cloud among hill-ranges--as + it is there a demonstrable and evident fact--that the space of + vapour visibly extended over an ordinarily clouded sky is not + less, from the point nearest to the observer to the horizon, + than twenty leagues; that the size of every mass of separate + form, if it be at all largely divided, is to be expressed in + terms of _miles_; and that every boiling heap of illuminated + mist in the nearer sky is an enormous mountain, fifteen or + twenty thousand feet in height, six or seven miles over in + illuminated surface, furrowed by a thousand colossal ravines, + torn by local tempests into peaks and promontories, and changing + its features with the majestic velocity of a volcano."--(Vol. i. + p. 228.) + +The forms of clouds, it seems, are worth studying: after reading +this, no landscape-painter will be disposed, with hasty slight +invention, to sketch in these "_mountains_" of the sky. Here is his +description, or part of it, first of falling, then of running water. +With the incidental criticism upon painters we are not at present +concerned:-- + + "A little crumbling white or lightly-rubbed paper will soon give + the effect of indiscriminate foam; but nature gives more than + foam--she shows beneath it, and through it, a peculiar character + of exquisitely studied form, bestowed on every wave and line of + fall; and it is this variety of definite character which Turner + always aims at, rejecting as much as possible everything that + conceals or overwhelms it. Thus, in the Upper Fall of the Tees, + though the whole basin of the fall is blue, and dim with the + rising vapour, yet the attention of the spectator is chiefly + directed to the concentric zones and delicate curves of the + falling water itself; and it is impossible to express with what + exquisite accuracy these are given. They are the characteristic + of a powerful stream descending without impediment or break, but + from a narrow channel, so as to expand as it falls. They are the + constant form which such a stream assumes as it descends; and + yet I think it would be difficult to point to another instance + of their being rendered in art. You will find nothing in the + waterfalls, even of our best painters, but springing lines of + parabolic descent, and splashing and shapeless foam; and, in + consequence, though they may make you understand the swiftness + of the water, they never let you feel the weight of it: the + stream, in their hands, looks _active_, not _supine_, as if + it leaped, not as if it fell. Now, water will leap a little + way--it will leap down a weir or over a stone--but it _tumbles_ + over a high fall like this; and it is when we have lost the + parabolic line, and arrived at the catenary--when we have lost + the spring of the fall, and arrived at the _plunge_ of it--that + we begin really to feel its weight and wildness. Where water + takes its first leap from the top, it is cool and collected, + and uninteresting and mathematical; but it is when it finds + that it has got into a scrape, and has farther to go than it + thought for, that its character comes out; it is then that it + begins to writhe and twist, and sweep out, zone after zone, in + wilder stretching as it falls, and to send down the rocket-like, + lance-pointed, whizzing shafts at its sides sounding for the + bottom. And it is this prostration, the hopeless abandonment + of its ponderous power to the air, which is always peculiarly + expressed by Turner.... + + "When water, not in very great body, runs in a rocky bed much + interrupted by hollows, so that it can rest every now and then + in a pool as it goes long, it does not acquire a continuous + velocity of motion. It pauses after every leap, and curdles + about, and rests a little, and then goes on again; and if, in + this comparatively tranquil and rational state of mind, it meets + with any obstacle, as a rock or stone, it parts on each side of + it with a little bubbling foam, and goes round: if it comes to a + step in its bed, it leaps it lightly, and then, after a little + splashing at the bottom, stops again to take breath. But if its + bed be on a continuous slope, not much interrupted by hollows, + so that it cannot rest--or if its own mass be so increased by + flood that its usual resting-places are not sufficient for it, + but that it is perpetually pushed out of them by the following + current before it has had time to tranquillise itself--it of + course gains velocity with every yard that it runs; the impetus + got at one leap is carried to the credit of the next, until the + whole stream becomes one mass of unchecked accelerating motion. + Now, when water in this state comes to an obstacle, it does not + part at it, but clears it like a racehorse; and when it comes + to a hollow, it does not fill it up, and run out leisurely at + the other side, but it rushes down into it, and comes up again + on the other side, as a ship into the hollow of the sea. Hence + the whole appearance of the bed of the stream is changed, and + all the lines of the water altered in their nature. The quiet + stream is a succession of leaps and pools; the leaps are light + and springy and parabolic, and make a great deal of splashing + when they tumble into the pool; then we have a space of quiet + curdling water, and another similar leap below. But the stream, + when it has gained an impetus, takes the shape of its bed, + never stops, is equally deep and equally swift everywhere, goes + down into every hollow, not with a leap, but with a swing--not + foaming nor splashing, but in the bending line of a strong + sea-wave, and comes up again on the other side, over rock and + ridge, with the ease of a bounding leopard. If it meet a rock + three or four feet above the level of its bed, it will neither + part nor foam, nor express any concern about the matter, but + clear it in a smooth dome of water without apparent exertion, + coming down again as smoothly on the other side, the whole + surface of the surge being drawn into parallel lines by its + extreme velocity, but foamless, except in places where the + form of the bed opposes itself at some direct angle to such a + line of fall, and causes a breaker; so that the whole river + has the appearance of a deep and raging sea, with this only + difference, that the torrent waves always break backwards, and + sea-waves forwards. Thus, then, in the water which has gained + an impetus, we have the most exquisite arrangement of curved + lines, perpetually changing from convex to concave, following + every swell and hollow of the bed with their modulating grace, + and all in unison of motion, presenting perhaps the most + beautiful series of inorganic forms which nature can possibly + produce."--(Vol. i. p. 363.) + +It is the object of Mr Ruskin, in his first volume of _Modern +Painters_, to show what the artist has to do in his imitation of +nature. We have no material controversy to raise with him on this +subject; but we cannot help expressing our surprise that he should +have thought it necessary to combat, with so much energy, so very +primitive a notion that the imitation of the artist partakes of +the nature of a _deception_, and that the highest excellence is +obtained when the representation of any object is taken for the +object itself. We thought this matter had been long ago settled. In +a page or two of Quatremere de Quincy's treatise on _Imitation in +the Fine Arts_, the reader, if he has still to seek on this subject, +will find it very briefly and lucidly treated. The aim of the artist +is not to produce such a representation as shall be taken, even +for a moment, for a real object. His aim is, by imitating certain +qualities or attributes of the object, to reproduce for us those +pleasing or elevating impressions which it is the nature of such +qualities or attributes to excite. We have stated very briefly +the accepted doctrine on this subject--so generally accepted and +understood that Mr Ruskin was under no necessity to avoid the +use of the word imitation, as he appears to have done, under the +apprehension that it was incurably infected with this notion of an +attempted deception. Hardly any reader of his book, even without a +word of explanation, would have attached any other meaning to it +than what he himself expresses by representation of certain "truths" +of nature. + +With respect to the imitations of the landscape-painter, the +notion of a deception cannot occur. His trees and rivers cannot be +mistaken, for an instant, for real trees and rivers, and certainly +not while they stand there in the gilt frame, and the gilt frame +itself against the papered wall. His only chance of deception is to +get rid of the frame, convert his picture into a transparency, and +place it in the space which a window should occupy. In almost all +cases, deception is obtained, not by painting well, but by those +artifices which disguise that what we see _is_ a painting. At the +same time, we are not satisfied with an expression which several +writers, we remark, have lately used, and which Mr Ruskin very +explicitly adopts. The imitations of the landscape-painter are not +a "language" which he uses; they are not mere "signs," analogous +to those which the poet or the orator employs. There is no analogy +between them. Let us analyse our impressions as we stand before the +artist's landscape, not thinking of the artist, or his dexterity, +but simply absorbed in the pleasure which he procures us--we do not +find ourselves reverting, in imagination, to _other_ trees or other +rivers than those he has depicted. We certainly do not believe them +to be real trees, but neither are they mere signs, or a language to +recall such objects; but _what there is of tree there_ we enjoy. +There is the coolness and the quiet of the shaded avenue, and we +feel them; there is the sunlight on that bank, and we feel its +cheerfulness; we feel the serenity of his river. He has brought +the spirit of the trees around us; the imagination rests in the +picture. In other departments of art the effect is the same. If we +stand before a head of Rembrandt or Vandyke, we do not think that +it lives; but neither do we think of some other head, of which that +is the type. But there is majesty, there is thought, there is calm +repose, there is some phase of humanity expressed before us, and we +are occupied with so much of human life, or human character, as is +then and there given us. + +Imitate as many qualities of the real object as you please, but +always the highest, never sacrificing a truth of the mind, or the +heart, for one only of the sense. Truth, as Mr Ruskin most justly +says--truth always. When it is said that truth should not be +always expressed, the maxim, if properly understood, resolves into +this--that the higher truth is not to be sacrificed to the lower. In +a landscape, the gradation of light and shade is a more important +truth than the exact brilliancy (supposing it to be attainable,) +of any individual object. The painter must calculate what means he +has at his disposal for representing this gradation of light, and +he must pitch his tone accordingly. Say he pitches it far below +reality, he is still in search of truth--of contrast and degree. + +Sometimes it may happen that, by rendering one detail faithfully, +an artist may give a false impression, simply because he cannot +render other details or facts by which it is accompanied in nature. +Here, too, he would only sacrifice truth _in the cause of truth_. +The admirers of Constable will perhaps dispute the aptness of our +illustration. Nevertheless his works appear to us to afford a +curious example of a scrupulous accuracy or detail producing a false +impression. Constable, looking at foliage under the sunlight, and +noting that the leaf, especially after a shower, will reflect so +much light that the tree will seem more white than green, determined +to paint all the white he saw. Constable could paint white leaves. +So far so well. But then these leaves in nature are almost always in +motion: they are white at one moment and green the next. We never +have the impression of a white leaf; for it is seen playing with +the light--its mirror, for one instant, and glancing from it the +next. Constable could not paint motion. He could not imitate this +shower of light in the living tree. He must leave his white paint +where he has once put it. Other artists before him had seen the same +light, but, knowing that they could not bring the breeze into their +canvass, they wisely concluded that less white paint than Constable +uses would produce a more truthful impression. + +But we must no longer be detained from the more immediate task +before us. We must now follow Mr Ruskin to his second volume of +_Modern Painters_, where he explains his theory of the beautiful; +and although this will not be to readers in general the most +attractive portion of his writings, and we ourselves have to +practise some sort of self-denial in fixing our attention upon +it, yet manifestly it is here that we must look for the basis or +fundamental principles of all his criticisms in art. The order in +which his works have been published was apparently deranged by a +generous zeal, which could brook no delay, to defend Mr Turner +from the censures of the undiscerning public. If the natural or +systematic order had been preserved, the materials of this second +volume would have formed the first preliminary treatise, determining +those broad principles of taste, or that philosophical theory of +the beautiful, on which the whole of the subsequent works were to +be modelled. Perhaps this broken and reversed order of publication +has not been unfortunate for the success of the author--perhaps it +was dimly foreseen to be not altogether impolitic; for the popular +ear was gained by the bold and enthusiastic defence of a great +painter; and the ear of the public, once caught, may be detained +by matter which, in the first instance, would have appealed to it +in vain. Whether the effect of chance or design, we may certainly +congratulate Mr Ruskin on the fortunate succession, and the +fortunate rapidity with which his publications have struck on the +public ear. The popular feeling, won by the zeal and intrepidity of +the first volume of _Modern Painters_, was no doubt a little tried +by the graver discussions of the second. It was soon, however, to be +again caught, and pleased by a bold and agreeable miscellany under +the magical name of "The Seven Lamps;" and these Seven Lamps could +hardly fail to throw some portion of their pleasant and bewildering +light over a certain rudimentary treatise upon building, which was +to appear under the title of "The Stones of Venice." + +We cannot, however, congratulate Mr Ruskin on the manner in which +he has acquitted himself in this arena of philosophical inquiry, +nor on the sort of theory of the Beautiful which he has contrived +to construct. The least metaphysical of our readers is aware that +there is a controversy of long standing upon this subject, between +two different schools of philosophy. With the one the beautiful +is described as a great "idea" of the reason, or an intellectual +intuition, or a simple intuitive perception; different expressions +are made use of, but all imply that it is a great primary feeling, +or sentiment, or idea of the human mind, and as incapable of +further analysis as the idea of space, or the simplest of our +sensations. The rival school of theorists maintain, on the contrary, +that no sentiment yields more readily to analysis; and that the +beautiful, except in those rare cases where the whole charm lies +in one sensation, as in that of colour, is a complex sentiment. +They describe it as a pleasure resulting from the presence of the +visible object, but of which the visible object is only in part the +immediate cause. Of a great portion of the pleasure it is merely +the vehicle; and they say that blended reminiscences, gathered from +every sense, and every human affection, from the softness of touch +of an infant's finger to the highest contemplations of a devotional +spirit, have contributed, in their turn, to this delightful +sentiment. + +Mr Ruskin was not bound to belong to either of these schools of +philosophy; he was at liberty to construct an eclectic system +of his own;--and he has done so. We shall take the precaution, +in so delicate a matter, of quoting Mr Ruskin's own words for +the exposition of his own theory. Meanwhile, as some clue to the +reader, we may venture to say that he agrees with the first of +these schools in adopting a primary intuitive sentiment of the +beautiful; but then this primary intuition is only of a sensational +or "animal" nature--a subordinate species of the beautiful, which +is chiefly valuable as the necessary condition of the higher and +truly beautiful; and this last he agrees with the opposite school +in regarding as a derived sentiment--derived by contemplating the +objects of external nature as types of the Divine attributes. This +is a brief summary of the theory; for a fuller exposition we shall +have recourse to his own words. + +The term _AEsthetic_, which has been applied to this branch of +philosophy, Mr Ruskin discards; he offers as a substitute _Theoria_, +or _The Theoretic Faculty_, the meaning of which he thus explains:-- + + "I proceed, therefore, first to examine the nature of what + I have called the theoretic faculty, and to justify my + substitution of the term 'Theoretic' for 'AEsthetic,' which is + the one commonly employed with reference to it. + + "Now the term 'aesthesis' properly signifies mere sensual + perception of the outward qualities and necessary effects of + bodies; in which sense only, if we would arrive at any accurate + conclusions on this difficult subject, it should always be used. + But I wholly deny that the impressions of beauty _are in any + way sensual_;--they are neither sensual nor intellectual, _but + moral_; and for the faculty receiving them, whose difference + from mere perception I shall immediately endeavour to explain, + no terms can be more accurate or convenient than that employed + by the Greeks, 'Theoretic,' which I pray permission, therefore, + always to use, and to call the operation of the faculty itself, + Theoria."--(P. 11.) + +We are introduced to a new faculty of the human mind; let us see +what new or especial sphere of operation is assigned to it. After +some remarks on the superiority of the mere sensual pleasures of the +eye and the ear, but particularly of the eye, to those derived from +other organs of sense, he continues:-- + + "Herein, then, we find very sufficient ground for the higher + estimation of these delights: first, in their being eternal + and inexhaustible; and, secondly, in their being evidently + no meaner instrument of life, but an object of life. Now, in + whatever is an object of life, in whatever may be infinitely + and for itself desired, we may be sure there is something of + divine: for God will not make anything an object of life to his + creatures which does not point to, or partake of himself,"--[a + bold assertion.] "And so, though we were to regard the pleasures + of sight merely as the highest of sensual pleasures, and though + they were of rare occurrence--and, when occurring, isolated and + imperfect--there would still be supernatural character about + them, owing to their self-sufficiency. But when, instead of + being scattered, interrupted, or chance-distributed, they are + gathered together and so arranged to enhance each other, as by + chance they could not be, there is caused by them, not only a + feeling of strong affection towards the object in which they + exist, but a perception of purpose and adaptation of it to our + desires; a perception, therefore, of the immediate operation of + the Intelligence which so formed us and so feeds us. + + "Out of what perception arise Joy, Admiration, and Gratitude? + + "Now, the mere animal consciousness of the pleasantness I call + AEsthesis; but the exulting, reverent, and grateful perception + of it I call Theoria. For this, and this only, is the full + comprehension and contemplation of the beautiful as a gift + of God; a gift not necessary to our being, but adding to and + elevating it, and twofold--first, of the desire; and, secondly, + of the thing desired." + +We find, then, that in the production of the full sentiment of the +beautiful _two_ faculties are employed, or two distinct operations +denoted. First, there is the "animal pleasantness which we call +AEsthesis,"--which sometimes appears confounded with the mere +pleasures of sense, but which the whole current of his speculations +obliges us to conclude is some separate intuition of a sensational +character; and, secondly, there is "the exulting, reverent, and +grateful perception of it, which we call Theoria," which alone is +the truly beautiful, and which it is the function of the Theoretic +Faculty to reveal to us. But this new Theoretic Faculty--what can +it be but the old faculty of Human Reason, exercised upon the great +subject of Divine beneficence? + +Mr Ruskin, as we shall see, discovers that external objects are +beautiful because they are types of Divine attributes; but he +admits, and is solicitous to impress upon our minds, that the +"meaning" of these types is "learnt." When, in a subsequent part +of his work, he feels himself pressed by the objection that many +celebrated artists, who have shown a vivid appreciation and a great +passion for the beautiful, have manifested no peculiar piety, have +been rather deficient in spiritual-mindedness, he gives them over to +that instinctive sense he has called AEsthesis, and says--"It will +be remembered that I have, throughout the examination of typical +beauty, asserted our instinctive sense of it; the moral _meaning_ +of it being only discoverable by reflection," (p. 127.) Now, there +is no other conceivable manner in which the meaning of the type can +be learnt than by the usual exercise of the human reason, detecting +traces of the Divine power, and wisdom, and benevolence, in the +external world, and then associating with the various objects of the +external world the ideas we have thus acquired of the Divine wisdom +and goodness. The rapid and habitual regard of certain facts or +appearances in the visible world, as types of the attributes of God, +_can_ be nothing else but one great instance (or class of instances) +of that law of association of ideas on which the second school of +philosophy we have alluded to so largely insist. And thus, whether +Mr Ruskin chooses to acquiesce in it or not, his "Theoria" resolves +itself into a portion, or fragment, of that theory of association +of ideas, to which he declares, and perhaps believes, himself to be +violently opposed. + +In a very curious manner, therefore, has Mr Ruskin selected his +materials from the two rival schools of metaphysics. His _AEsthesis_ +is an intuitive perception, but of a mere sensual or animal +nature--sometimes almost confounded with the mere pleasure of +sense, at other times advanced into considerable importance, as +where he has to explain the fact that men of very little piety have +a very acute perception of beauty. His _Theoria_ is, and can be, +nothing more than the results of human reason in its highest and +noblest exercise, rapidly brought before the mind by a habitual +association of ideas. For the lowest element of the beautiful he +runs to the school of intuitions;--they will not thank him for +the compliment;--for the higher to that analytic school, and that +theory of association of ideas, to which throughout he is ostensibly +opposed. + +This _Theoria_ divides itself into two parts. We shall quote Mr +Ruskin's own words and take care to quote from them passages where +he seems most solicitous to be accurate and explanatory:-- + + "The first thing, then, we have to do," he says, "is accurately + to discriminate and define those appearances from which we are + about to reason as belonging to beauty, properly so called, and + to clear the ground of all the confused ideas and erroneous + theories with which the misapprehension or metaphorical use of + the term has encumbered it. + + "By the term Beauty, then, properly are signified two things: + first, that external quality of bodies, already so often spoken + of, and which, whether it occur in a stone, flower, beast, + or in man, is absolutely identical--which, as I have already + asserted, may be shown to be in some sort typical of the Divine + attributes, and which, therefore, I shall, for distinction's + sake, call Typical Beauty; and, secondarily, the appearance + of felicitous fulfilment of functions in living things, more + especially of the joyful and right exertion of perfect life in + man--and this kind of beauty I shall call Vital Beauty."--(P. + 26.) + +The Vital Beauty, as well as the Typical, partakes essentially, as +far as we can understand our author, of a religious character. On +turning to that part of the volume where it is treated of at length, +we find a universal sympathy and spirit of kindliness very properly +insisted on, as one great element of the sentiment of beauty; but +we are not permitted to dwell upon this element, or rest upon it +a moment, without some reference to our relation to God. Even the +animals themselves seem to be turned into types for us of our moral +feelings or duties. We are expressly told that we cannot have this +sympathy with life and enjoyment in other creatures, unless it takes +the form of, or comes accompanied with, a sentiment of piety. In +all cases where the beautiful is anything higher than a certain +"animal pleasantness," we are to understand that it has a religious +character. "In all cases," he says, summing up the functions of +the Theoretic Faculty, "_it is something Divine_; either the +approving voice of God, the glorious symbol of Him, the evidence +of His kind presence, or the obedience to His will by Him induced +and supported,"--(p. 126.) Now it is a delicate task, when a man +errs by the exaggeration of a great truth or a noble sentiment, to +combat his error; and yet as much mischief may ultimately arise from +an error of this description as from any other. The thoughts and +feelings which Mr Ruskin has described, form the noblest part of our +sentiment of the beautiful, as they form the noblest phase of the +human reason. But they are not the whole of it. The visible object, +to adopt his phraseology, does become a type to the contemplative +and pious mind of the attribute of God, and is thus exalted to our +apprehension. But it is not beautiful solely or originally on this +account. To assert this, is simply to falsify our human nature. + +Before, however, we enter into these _types_, or this typical +beauty, it will be well to notice how Mr Ruskin deals with previous +and opposing theories. It will be well also to remind our readers +of the outline of that theory of association of ideas which is here +presented to us in so very confused a manner. We shall then be +better able to understand the very curious position our author has +taken up in this domain of speculative philosophy. + +Mr Ruskin gives us the following summary of the "errors" which he +thinks it necessary in the first place to clear from his path:-- + + "Those erring or inconsistent positions which I would at once + dismiss are, the first, that the beautiful is the true; the + second, that the beautiful is the useful; the third, that it is + dependent on custom; and the fourth, that it is dependent on the + association of ideas." + +The first of these theories, that the beautiful is the true, we +leave entirely to the tender mercies of Mr Ruskin; we cannot gather +from his refutation to what class of theorists he is alluding. The +remaining three are, as we understand the matter, substantially one +and the same theory. We believe that no one, in these days, would +define beauty as solely resulting either from the apprehension +of Utility, (that is, the adjustment of parts to a whole, or the +application of the object to an ulterior purpose,) or to Familiarity +and the affection which custom engenders; but they would regard both +Utility and Familiarity as amongst the sources of those agreeable +ideas or impressions, which, by the great law of association, became +intimately connected with the visible object. We must listen, +however, to Mr Ruskin's refutation of them:-- + + "That the beautiful is the _useful_ is an assertion evidently + based on that limited and false sense of the latter term which + I have already deprecated. As it is the most degrading and + dangerous supposition which can be advanced on the subject, so, + fortunately, it is the most palpably absurd. It is to confound + admiration with hunger, love with lust, and life with sensation; + it is to assert that the human creature has no ideas and no + feelings, except those ultimately referable to its brutal + appetites. It has not a single fact, nor appearance of fact, to + support it, and needs no combating--at least until its advocates + have obtained the consent of the majority of mankind that the + most beautiful productions of nature are seeds and roots; and of + art, spades and millstones. + + "Somewhat more rational grounds appear for the assertion that + the sense of the beautiful arises from _familiarity_ with the + object, though even this could not long be maintained by a + thinking person. For all that can be alleged in defence of such + a supposition is, that familiarity deprives some objects which + at first appeared ugly of much of their repulsiveness; whence + it is as rational to conclude that familiarity is the cause of + beauty, as it would be to argue that, because it is possible to + acquire a taste for olives, therefore custom is the cause of + lusciousness in grapes.... + + "I pass to the last and most weighty theory, that the + agreeableness in objects which we call beauty is the result of + the association with them of agreeable or interesting ideas. + + "Frequent has been the support and wide the acceptance of + this supposition, and yet I suppose that no two consecutive + sentences were ever written in defence of it, without involving + either a contradiction or a confusion of terms. Thus Alison, + 'There are scenes undoubtedly more beautiful than Runnymede, + yet, to those who recollect the great event that passed + there, there is no scene perhaps which so strongly seizes on + the imagination,'--where we are wonder-struck at the bold + obtuseness which would prove the power of imagination by its + overcoming that very other power (of inherent beauty) whose + existence the arguer desires; for the only logical conclusion + which can possibly be drawn from the above sentence is, that + imagination is _not_ the source of beauty--for, although no + scene seizes so strongly on the imagination, yet there are + scenes 'more beautiful than Runnymede.' And though instances + of self-contradiction as laconic and complete as this are + rare, yet, if the arguments on the subject be fairly sifted + from the mass of confused language with which they are always + encumbered, they will be found invariably to fall into one of + these two forms: either association gives pleasure, and beauty + gives pleasure, therefore association is beauty; or the power of + association is stronger than the power of beauty, therefore the + power of association _is_ the power of beauty." + +Now this last sentence is sheer nonsense, and only proves that the +author had never given himself the trouble to understand the theory +he so flippantly discards. No one ever said that "association gives +pleasure;" but very many, and Mr Ruskin amongst the rest, have said +that associated thought adds its pleasure to an object pleasing in +itself, and thus increases the complex sentiment of beauty. That it +is a complex sentiment in all its higher forms, Mr Ruskin himself +will tell us. As to the manner in which he deals with Alison, it +is in the worst possible spirit of controversy. Alison was an +elegant, but not a very precise writer; it was the easiest thing +in the world to select an unfortunate illustration, and to convict +_that_ of absurdity. Yet he might with equal ease have selected many +other illustrations from Alison, which would have done justice to +the theory he expounds. A hundred such will immediately occur to +the reader. If, instead of a historical recollection of this kind, +which could hardly make the stream itself of Runnymede look more +beautiful, Alison had confined himself to those impressions which +the generality of mankind receive from river scenery, he would have +had no difficulty in showing (as we believe he has elsewhere done) +how, in this case, ideas gathered from different sources flow into +one harmonious and apparently simple feeling. That sentiment of +beauty which arises as we look upon a river will be acknowledged by +most persons to be composed of many associated thoughts, combining +with the object before them. Its form and colour, its bright surface +and its green banks, are all that the eye immediately gives us; +but with these are combined the remembered coolness of the fluent +stream, and of the breeze above it, and of the pleasant shade of its +banks; and beside all this--as there are few persons who have not +escaped with delight from town or village, to wander by the quiet +banks of some neighbouring stream, so there are few persons who do +not associate with river scenery ideas of peace and serenity. Now +many of these thoughts or facts are such as the eye does not take +cognisance of, yet they present themselves as instantaneously as the +visible form, and so blended as to seem, for the moment, to belong +to it. + +Why not have selected some such illustration as this, instead of +the unfortunate Runnymede, from a work where so many abound as apt +as they are elegantly expressed? As to Mr Ruskin's utilitarian +philosopher, it is a fabulous creature--no such being exists. +Nor need we detain ourselves with the quite departmental subject +of Familiarity. But let us endeavour--without desiring to pledge +ourselves or our readers to its final adoption--to relieve the +theory of association of ideas from the obscurity our author has +thrown around it. Our readers will not find that this is altogether +a wasted labour. + +With Mr Ruskin we are of opinion that, in a discussion of this kind, +the term Beauty ought to be limited to the impression derived, +mediately or immediately, from the visible object. It would be +useless affectation to attempt to restrict the use of the word, +in general, to this application. We can have no objection to the +term Beautiful being applied to a piece of music, or to an eloquent +composition, prose or verse, or even to our moral feelings and +heroic actions; the word has received this general application, +and there is, at basis, a great deal in common between all these +and the sentiment of beauty attendant on the visible object. For +music, or sweet sounds, and poetry, and our moral feelings, have +much to do (through the law of association) with our sentiment of +the Beautiful. It is quite enough if, speaking of the subject of +our analysis, we limit it to those impressions, however originated, +which attend upon the visible object. + +One preliminary word on this association of ideas. It is from +its very nature, and the nature of human life, of all degrees +of intimacy--from the casual suggestion, or the case where the +two ideas are at all times felt to be distinct, to those close +combinations where the two ideas have apparently coalesced into +one, or require an attentive analysis to separate them. You see a +mass of iron; you may be said _to see its weight_, the impression +of its weight is so intimately combined with its form. The _light_ +of the sun, and the _heat_ of the sun are learnt from different +senses, yet we never see the one without thinking of the other, and +the reflection of the sunbeam seen upon a bank immediately suggests +the idea of _warmth_. But it is not necessary that the combination +should be always so perfect as in this instance, in order to +produce the effect we speak of under the name of Association of +Ideas. It is hardly possible for us to abstract the _glow_ of the +sunbeam from its light; but the fertility which follows upon the +presence of the sun, though a suggestion which habitually occurs +to reflective minds, is an association of a far less intimate +nature. It is sufficiently intimate, however, to blend with that +feeling of admiration we have when we speak of the beauty of the +sun. There is the golden harvest in its summer beams. Again, the +contemplative spirit in all ages has formed an association between +the sun and the Deity, whether as the fittest symbol of God, or as +being His greatest gift to man. Here we have an association still +more refined, and of a somewhat less frequent character, but one +which will be found to enter, in a very subtle manner, into that +impression we receive from the great luminary. + +And thus it is that, in different minds, the same materials of +thought may be combined in a closer or laxer relationship. This +should be borne in mind by the candid inquirer. That in many +instances ideas from different sources do coalesce, in the manner +we have been describing, he cannot for an instant doubt. He seems +_to see_ the coolness of that river; he seems _to see_ the warmth on +that sunny bank. In many instances, however, he must make allowance +for the different habitudes of life. The same illustration will not +always have the same force to all men. Those who have cultivated +their minds by different pursuits, or lived amongst scenery of a +different character, cannot have formed exactly the same moral +association with external nature. + +These preliminaries being adjusted, what, we ask, is that first +original charm of the _visible object_ which serves as the +foundation for this wonderful superstructure of the Beautiful, to +which almost every department of feeling and of thought will be +found to bring its contribution? What is it so pleasurable that the +eye at once receives from the external world, that round _it_ should +have gathered all these tributary pleasures? Light--colour--form; +but, in reference to our discussion, pre-eminently the exquisite +pleasure derived from the sense of light, pure or coloured. Colour, +from infancy to old age, is one original, universal, perpetual +source of delight, the first and constant element of the Beautiful. + +We are far from thinking that the eye does not at once take +cognisance of form as well as colour. Some ingenious analysts have +supposed that the sensation of colour is, in its origin, a mere +mental affection, having no reference to space or external objects, +and that it obtains this reference through the contemporaneous +acquisition of the sense of touch. But there can be no more reason +for supposing that the sense of touch informs us immediately of an +external world than that the sense of colour does. If we do not +allow to all the senses an intuitive reference to the external +world, we shall get it from none of them. Dr Brown, who paid +particular attention to this subject, and who was desirous to limit +the first intimation of the sense of sight to an abstract sensation +of unlocalised colour, failed entirely in his attempt to obtain +from any other source the idea of space or _outness_; Kant would +have given him certain subjective _forms of the sensitive faculty_, +space and time. These he did not like: he saw that, if he denied +to the eye an immediate perception of the external world, he must +also deny it to the touch; he therefore prayed in aid certain +muscular sensations from which the idea of _resistance_ would be +obtained. But it seems to us evident that not till _after_ we have +acquired a knowledge of the external world can we connect _volition_ +with muscular movement, and that, until that connection is made, +the muscular sensations stand in the same predicament as other +sensations, and could give him no aid in solving his problem. We +cannot go further into this matter at present.[6] The mere flash of +light which follows the touch upon the optic nerve represents itself +as something _without_; nor was colour, we imagine, ever felt, but +under some _form_ more or less distinct; although in the human being +the eye seems to depend on the touch far more than in other animals, +for its further instruction. + +[6] It is seldom any action of a limb is performed without the +concurrence of several muscles; and, if the action is at all +energetic, a number of muscles are brought into play as an equipoise +or balance; the infant, therefore, would be sadly puzzled amongst +its muscular sensations, supposing that it had them. Besides, it +seems clear that those movements we see an infant make with its +arms and legs are, in the first instance, as little _voluntary_ as +the muscular movements it makes for the purpose of respiration. +There is an animal life within us, dependent on its own laws of +irritability. Over a portion of this the developed thought or reason +gains dominion; over a large portion the will never has any hold; +over another portion, as in the organs of respiration, it has an +intermittent and divided empire. We learn voluntary movement by +doing that instinctively and spontaneously which we afterwards do +from forethought. We have moved our arm; we wish to do the like +again, (and to our wonder, if we then had intelligence enough to +wonder,) we do it. + +But although the eye is cognisant of form as well as colour, it is +in the sensation of colour that we must seek the primitive pleasure +derived from this organ. And probably the first reason why form +pleases is this, that the boundaries of form are also the lines +of contrast of colour. It is a general law of all sensation that, +if it be continued, our susceptibility to it declines. It was +necessary that the eye should be always open. Its susceptibility is +sustained by the perpetual contrast of colours. Whether the contrast +is sudden, or whether one hue shades gradually into another, we +see here an original and primary source of pleasure. A constant +variety, in some way produced, is essential to the maintenance of +the pleasure derived from colour. + +It is not incumbent on us to inquire how far the beauty of form +may be traceable to the sensation of touch;--a very small portion +of it we suspect. In the human countenance, and in sculpture, +the beauty of form is almost resolvable into expression; though +possibly the soft and rounded outline may in some measure be +associated with the sense of smoothness to the touch. All that we +are concerned to show is, that there is here in colour, diffused +as it is over the whole world, and perpetually varied, a _beauty_ +at once showered upon the visible object. We hear it said, if you +resolve all into association, where will you begin? You have but a +circle of feelings. If moral sentiment, for instance, be not itself +the beautiful, why should it become so by association. There must +be something else that is _the beautiful_, by association with +which it passes for such. We answer, that we do not resolve _all_ +into association; that we have in this one gift of colour, shed so +bountifully over the whole world, an original beauty, a delight +which makes the external object pleasant and beloved; for how can we +fail, in some sort, to love what produces so much pleasure? + +We are at a loss to understand how any one can speak with +disparagement of colour as a source of the beautiful. The sculptor +may, perhaps, by his peculiar education, grow comparatively +indifferent to it: we know not how this may be; but let any man, +of the most refined taste imaginable, think what he owes to this +source, when he walks out at evening, and sees the sun set amongst +the hills. The same concave sky, the same scene, so far as its form +is concerned, was there a few hours before, and saddened him with +its gloom; one leaden hue prevailed over all; and now in a clear sky +the sun is setting, and the hills are purple, and the clouds are +radiant with every colour that can be extracted from the sunbeam. He +can hardly believe that it is the same scene, or he the same man. +Here the grown-up man and the child stand always on the same level. +As to the infant, note how its eye feeds upon a brilliant colour, or +the living flame. If it had wings, it would assuredly do as the moth +does. And take the most untutored rustic, let him be old, and dull, +and stupid, yet, as long as the eye has vitality in it, will he look +up with long untiring gaze at this blue vault of the sky, traversed +by its glittering clouds, and pierced by the tall green trees around +him. + +Is it any marvel now that round the _visible object_ should +associate tributary feelings of pleasure? How many pleasing and +tender sentiments gather round the rose! Yet the rose is beautiful +in itself. It was beautiful to the child by its colour, its texture, +its softly-shaded leaf, and the contrast between the flower and the +foliage. Love, and poetry, and the tender regrets of advanced life, +have contributed a second dower of beauty. The rose is more to the +youth and to the old man than it was to the child; but still to the +last they both feel the pleasure of the child. + +The more commonplace the illustration, the more suited it is to our +purpose. If any one will reflect on the many ideas that cluster +round this beautiful flower, he will not fail to see how numerous +and subtle may be the association formed with the visible object. +Even an idea painful in itself may, by way of contrast, serve +to heighten the pleasure of others with which it is associated. +Here the thought of decay and fragility, like a discord amongst +harmonies, increases our sentiment of tenderness. We express, we +believe, the prevailing taste when we say that there is nothing, +in the shape of art, so disagreeable and repulsive as artificial +flowers. The waxen flower may be an admirable imitation, but it +is a detestable thing. This partly results from the nature of the +imitation; a vulgar deception is often practised upon us: what is +not a flower is intended to pass for one. But it is owing still +more, we think, to the contradiction that is immediately afterwards +felt between this preserved and imperishable waxen flower, and the +transitory and perishable rose. It is the nature of the rose to bud, +and blossom, and decay; it gives its beauty to the breeze and to the +shower; it is mortal; it is _ours_; it bears our hopes, our loves, +our regrets. This waxen substitute, that cannot change or decay, is +a contradiction and a disgust. + +Amongst objects of man's contrivance, the sail seen upon the calm +waters of a lake or a river is universally felt to be beautiful. The +form is graceful, and the movement gentle, and its colour contrasts +well either with the shore or the water. But perhaps the chief +element of our pleasure is all association with human life, with +peaceful enjoyment-- + + "This quiet sail is as a noiseless wing, + To waft me from distraction." + +Or take one of the noblest objects in nature--the mountain. There +is no object except the sea and the sky that reflects to the sight +colours so beautiful, and in such masses. But colour, and form, and +magnitude, constitute but a part of the beauty or the sublimity of +the mountain. Not only do the clouds encircle or rest upon it, but +men have laid on it their grandest thoughts: we have associated +with it our moral fortitude, and all we understand of greatness +or elevation of mind; our phraseology seems half reflected from +the mountain. Still more, we have made it holy ground. Has not God +himself descended on the mountain? Are not the hills, once and +for ever, "the unwalled temples of our earth?" And still there is +another circumstance attendant upon mountain scenery, which adds a +solemnity of its own, and is a condition of the enjoyment of other +sources of the sublime--solitude. It seems to us that the feeling of +solitude almost always associates itself with mountain scenery. Mrs +Somerville, in the description which she gives or quotes, in her +_Physical Geography_, of the Himalayas, says-- + + "The loftiest peaks being bare of snow gives great variety of + colour and beauty to the scenery, which in these passes is at + all times magnificent. During the day, the stupendous size of + the mountains, their interminable extent, the variety and the + sharpness of their forms, and, above all, the tender clearness + of their distant outline melting into the pale blue sky, + contrasted with the deep azure above, is described as a scene of + wild and wonderful beauty. At midnight, when myriads of stars + sparkle in the black sky, and the pure blue of the mountains + looks deeper still below the pale white gleam of the earth and + snow-light, the effect is of unparalleled sublimity, and no + language can describe the splendour of the sunbeams at daybreak, + streaming between the high peaks, and throwing their gigantic + shadows on the mountains below. There, far above the habitation + of man, no living thing exists, no sound is heard; the very + echo of the traveller's footsteps startles him in the awful + _solitude and silence_ that reigns in those august dwellings of + everlasting snow." + +No one can fail to recognise the effect of the last circumstance +mentioned. Let those mountains be the scene of a gathering of any +human multitude, and they would be more desecrated than if their +peaks had been levelled to the ground. We have also quoted this +description to show how large a share _colour_ takes in beautifying +such a scene. Colour, either in large fields of it, or in sharp +contrasts, or in gradual shading--the play of light, in short, upon +this world--is the first element of beauty. + +Here would be the place, were we writing a formal treatise upon +this subject, after showing that there is in the sense of sight +itself a sufficient elementary beauty, whereto other pleasurable +reminiscences may attach themselves, to point out some of these +tributaries. Each sense--the touch, the ear, the smell, the +taste--blend their several remembered pleasures with the object +of vision. Even taste, we say, although Mr Ruskin will scorn +the gross alliance. And we would allude to the fact to show the +extreme subtilty of these mental processes. The fruit which you +think of eating has lost its beauty from that moment--it assumes +to you a quite different relation; but the reminiscence that there +is sweetness in the peach or the grape, whilst it remains quite +subordinate to the pleasure derived from the sense of sight, mingles +with and increases that pleasure. Whilst the cluster of ripe grapes +is looked at only for its beauty, the idea that they are pleasant +to the taste as well steals in unobserved, and adds to the complex +sentiment. If this idea grow distinct and prominent, the beauty of +the grape is gone--you eat it. Here, too, would be the place to take +notice of such sources of pleasure as are derived from adaptation +of parts, or the adaptation of the whole to ulterior purposes; +but here especially should we insist on human affections, human +loves, human sympathies. Here, in the heart of man, his hopes, +his regrets, his affections, do we find the great source of the +beautiful--tributaries which take their name from the stream they +join, but which often form the main current. On that sympathy with +which nature has so wonderfully endowed us, which makes the pain and +pleasure of all other living things our own pain and pleasure, which +binds us not only to our fellow-men, but to every moving creature +on the face of the earth, we should have much to say. How much, for +instance, does its _life_ add to the beauty of the swan!--how much +more its calm and placid life! Here, and on what would follow on +the still more exalted mood of pious contemplation--when all nature +seems as a hymn or song of praise to the Creator--we should be +happy to borrow aid from Mr Ruskin; his essay supplying admirable +materials for certain _chapters_ in a treatise on the beautiful +which should embrace the whole subject. + +No such treatise, however, is it our object to compose. We have said +enough to show the true nature of that theory of association, as a +branch of which alone is it possible to take any intelligible view +of Mr Ruskin's _Theoria_, or "Theoretic Faculty." His flagrant error +is, that he will represent a part for the whole, and will distort +and confuse everything for the sake of this representation. Viewed +in their proper limitation, his remarks are often such as every +wise and good man will approve of. Here and there too, there are +shrewd intimations which the psychological student may profit by. He +has pointed out several instances where the associations insisted +upon by writers of the school of Alison have nothing whatever to +do with the sentiment of beauty; and neither harmonise with, nor +exalt it. Not all that may, in any way, _interest_ us in an object, +adds to its beauty. "Thus," as Mr Ruskin we think very justly says, +"where we are told that the leaves of a plant are occupied in +decomposing carbonic acid, and preparing oxygen for us, we begin to +look upon it with some such indifference as upon a gasometer. It +has become a machine; some of our sense of its happiness is gone; +its emanation of inherent life is no longer pure." The knowledge of +the anatomical structure of the limb is very interesting, but it +adds nothing to the beauty of its outline. Scientific associations, +however, of this kind, will have a different aesthetic effect, +according to the degree or the enthusiasm with which the science has +been studied. + +It is not our business to advocate this theory of association of +ideas, but briefly to expound it. But we may remark that those who +adopt (as Mr Ruskin has done in one branch of his subject--his +_AEsthesis_) the rival theory of an intuitive perception of the +beautiful, must find a difficulty where to _insert_ this intuitive +perception. The beauty of any one object is generally composed +of several qualities and accessories--to which of these are we +to connect this intuition? And if to the whole assemblage of +them, then, as each of these qualities has been shown by its own +virtue to administer to the general effect, we shall be explaining +again by this new perception what has been already explained. +Select any notorious instance of the beautiful--say the swan. +How many qualities and accessories immediately occur to us as +intimately blended in our minds with the form and white plumage +of the bird! What were its arched neck and mantling wings if it +were not _living_? And how the calm and inoffensive, and somewhat +majestic life it leads, carries away our sympathies! Added to +which, the snow-white form of the swan is imaged in clear waters, +and is relieved by green foliage; and if the bird makes the river +more beautiful, the river, in return, reflects its serenity and +peacefulness upon the bird. Now all this we seem to see as we look +upon the swan. To which of these facts separately will you attach +this new intuition? And if you wait till all are assembled, the bird +is already beautiful. + +We are all in the habit of _reasoning_ on the beautiful, of +defending our own tastes, and this just in proportion as the beauty +in question is of a high order. And why do we do this? Because, +just in proportion as the beauty is of an elevated character, does +it depend on some moral association. Every argument of this kind +will be found to consist of an analysis of the sentiment. Nor is +there anything derogatory, as some have supposed, in this analysis +of the sentiment; for we learn from it, at every step, that in the +same degree as men become more refined, more humane, more kind, +equitable, and pious, will the visible world become more richly +clad with beauty. We see here an admirable arrangement, whereby the +external world grows in beauty, as men grow in goodness. + +We must now follow Mr Ruskin a step farther into the development +of his _Theoria_. All beauty, he tell us, _is such_, in its high +and only true character, because it is a type of one or more of +God's attributes. This, as we have shown, is to represent one class +of associated thought as absorbing and displacing all the rest. +We protest against this egregious exaggeration of a great and +sacred source of our emotions. With Mr Ruskin's own piety we can +have no quarrel; but we enter a firm and calm protest against a +falsification of our human nature, in obedience to one sentiment, +however sublime. No good can come of it--no good, we mean, to +religion itself. It is substantially the same error, though assuming +a very different garb, which the Puritans committed. They disgusted +men with religion, by introducing it into every law and custom, and +detail of human life. Mr Ruskin would commit the same error in +the department of taste, over which he would rule so despotically: +he is not content that the highest beauty shall be religious; he +will permit nothing to be beautiful, except as it partakes of a +religious character. But there is a vast region lying between the +"animal pleasantness" of his AEsthesis and the pious contemplation of +his Theoria. There is much between the human animal and the saint; +there are the domestic affections and the love they spring from, +and hopes, and regrets, and aspirations, and the hour of peace and +the hour of repose--in short, there is human life. From all human +life, as we have seen, come contributions to the sentiment of the +beautiful, quite as distinctly traced as the peculiar class on which +Mr Ruskin insists. + +If any one descanting upon music should affirm, that, in the first +place, there was a certain animal pleasantness in harmony or melody, +or both, but that the real essence of music, that by which it truly +becomes music, was the perception in harmony or melody of types of +the Divine attributes, he would reason exactly in the same manner +on music as Mr Ruskin does on beauty. Nevertheless, although sacred +music is the highest, it is very plain that there is other music +than the sacred, and that all songs are not hymns. + +Chapter v. of the present volume bears this title--_Of +Typical Beauty. First, of Infinity, or the type of the Divine +Incomprehensibility._--A boundless space will occur directly to +the reader as a type of the infinite; perhaps it should be rather +described as itself the infinite under one form. But Mr Ruskin finds +the infinite in everything. That idea which he justly describes +as the incomprehensible, and which is so profound and baffling a +mystery to the finite being, is supposed to be thrust upon the mind +on every occasion. Every instance of variety is made the type of the +infinite, as well as every indication of space. We remember that, +in the first volume of the _Modern Painters_, we were not a little +startled at being told that the distinguishing character of every +good artist was, that "he painted the infinite." Good or bad, we now +see that he could scarcely fail to paint the infinite: it must be by +some curious chance that the feat is not accomplished. + + "Now, not only," writes Mr Ruskin, "is this expression of + infinity in distance most precious wherever we find it, however + solitary it may be, and however unassisted by other forms and + kinds of beauty; but it is of such value that no such other + forms will altogether recompense us for its loss; and much + as I dread the enunciation of anything that may seem like a + conventional rule, I have no hesitation in asserting that + no work of any art, in which this expression of infinity is + possible, can be perfect or supremely elevated without it; and + that, in proportion to its presence, _it will exalt and render + impressive even the most tame and trivial themes_. And I think + if there be any one grand division, by which it is at all + possible to set the productions of painting, so far as their + mere plan or system is concerned, on our right and left hands, + it is this of light and dark background, of heaven-light and + of object-light.... There is a spectral etching of Rembrandt, + a presentation of Christ in the Temple, where the figure of + a robed priest stands glaring by its gems out of the gloom, + holding a crosier. Behind it there is a subdued window-light + seen in the opening, between two columns, without which + the impressiveness of the whole subject would, I think, be + incalculably diminished. I cannot tell whether I am at present + allowing too much weight to my own fancies and predilections; + but, without so much escape into the outer air and open heaven + as this, I can take permanent pleasure in no picture. + + "And I think I am supported in this feeling by the unanimous + practice, if not the confessed opinion, of all artists. The + painter of portrait _is unhappy without his conventional white + stroke under the sleeve_, or beside the arm-chair; the painter + of interiors feels like a caged bird unless he can throw a + window open, or set the door ajar; the landscapist dares not + lose himself in forest without a gleam of light under its + farthest branches, nor ventures out in rain unless he may + somewhere pierce to a better promise in the distance, or cling + to some closing gap of variable blue above."--(P. 39.) + +But if an open window, or "that conventional white stroke under the +sleeve," is sufficient to indicate the Infinite, how few pictures +there must be in which it is not indicated! and how many "a tame +and trivial theme" must have been, by this indication, exalted and +rendered impressive! And yet it seems that some very celebrated +paintings want this open-window or conventional white stroke. The +Madonna della Sediola of Raphael is known over all Europe; some +print of it may be seen in every village; that virgin-mother, in her +antique chair, embracing her child with so sweet and maternal an +embrace, has found its way to the heart of every woman, Catholic or +Protestant. But unfortunately it has a dark background, and there +is no open window--nothing to typify infinity. To us it seemed that +there was "heaven's light" over the whole picture. Though there +is the chamber wall seen behind the chair, there is nothing to +intimate that the door or the window is closed. One might in charity +have imagined that the light came directly through an open door or +window. However, Mr Ruskin is inexorable. "Raphael," he says, "_in +his full_, betrayed the faith he had received from his father and +his master, and substituted for the radiant sky of the Madonna del +Cardellino the chamber wall of the Madonna della Sediola, and the +brown wainscot of the Baldacchino." + +Of other modes in which the Infinite is represented, we have an +instance in "The Beauty of Curvature." + + "The first of these is the curvature of lines and surfaces, + wherein it at first appears futile to insist upon any + resemblance or suggestion of infinity, since there is certainly, + in our ordinary contemplation of it, no sensation of the kind. + But I have repeated again and again that the ideas of beauty + are instinctive, and that it is only upon consideration, and + even then in doubtful and disputable way, that they appear in + their typical character; neither do I intend at all to insist + upon the particular meaning which they appear to myself to bear, + but merely on their actual and demonstrable agreeableness; so + that in the present case, which I assert positively, and have + no fear of being able to prove--that a curve of any kind is + more beautiful than a right line--I leave it to the reader to + accept or not, as he pleases, _that reason of its agreeableness + which is the only one that I can at all trace: namely, that + every curve divides itself infinitely by its changes of + direction_."--(P. 63.) + +Our old friend Jacob Boehmen would have been delighted with this +Theoria. But we must pass on to other types. Chapter vi. treats _of +Unity, or the Type of the Divine Comprehensiveness_. + + "Of the appearances of Unity, or of Unity itself, there are + several kinds, which it will be found hereafter convenient to + consider separately. Thus there is the unity of different and + separate things, subjected to one and the same influence, which + may be called Subjectional Unity; and this is the unity of the + clouds, as they are driven by the parallel winds, or as they + are ordered by the electric currents; this is the unity of the + sea waves; this, of the bending and undulation of the forest + masses; and in creatures capable of Will it is the Unity of + Will, or of Impulse. And there is Unity of Origin, which we may + call Original Unity, which is of things arising from one spring + or source, and speaking always of this their brotherhood; and + this in matter is the unity of the branches of the trees, and + of the petals and starry rays of flowers, and of the beams of + light; and in spiritual creatures it is their filial relation + to Him from whom they have their being. And there is Unity of + Sequence," &c.-- + +down another half page. Very little to be got here, we think. Let +us advance to the next chapter. This is entitled, _Of Repose, or the +Type of Divine Permanence_. + +It will be admitted on all hands that nothing adds more frequently +to the charms of the visible object than the associated feeling of +repose. The hour of sunset is the hour of repose. Most beautiful +things are enhanced by some reflected feeling of this kind. But +surely one need not go farther than to human labour, and human +restlessness, anxiety, and passion, to understand the charm of +repose. Mr Ruskin carries us at once into the third heaven:-- + + "As opposed to passion, changefulness, or laborious exertion, + Repose is the especial and separating characteristic of the + eternal mind and power; it is the 'I am' of the Creator, opposed + to the 'I become' of all creatures; it is the sign alike of the + supreme knowledge which is incapable of surprise, the supreme + power which is incapable of labour, the supreme volition which + is incapable of change; it is the stillness of the beams of the + eternal chambers laid upon the variable waters of ministering + creatures." + +We must proceed. Chapter viii. treats _Of Symmetry, or the Type +of Divine Justice_. Perhaps the nature of this chapter will be +sufficiently indicated to the reader, now somewhat informed of Mr +Ruskin's mode of thinking, by the title itself. At all events, we +shall pass on to the next chapter, ix.--_Of Purity, or the Type +of Divine Energy_. Here, the reader will perhaps expect to find +himself somewhat more at home. One type, at all events, of Divine +Purity has often been presented to his mind. Light has generally +been considered as the fittest emblem or manifestation of the Divine +Presence, + + "That never but in unapproached light + Dwelt from eternity." + +But if the reader has formed any such agreeable expectation he +will be disappointed. Mr Ruskin travels on no beaten track. He finds +some reasons, partly theological, partly gathered from his own +theory of the Beautiful, for discarding this ancient association of +Light with Purity. As the _Divine_ attributes are those which the +visible object typifies, and by no means the _human_, and as Purity, +which is "sinlessness," cannot, he thinks, be predicted of the +Divine nature, it follows that he cannot admit Light to be a type of +Purity. We quote the passage, as it will display the working of his +theory:-- + + "It may seem strange to many readers that I have not spoken + of purity in that sense in which it is most frequently used, + as a type of sinlessness. I do not deny that the frequent + metaphorical use of it in Scripture may have, and ought to have, + much influence on the sympathies with which we regard it; and + that probably the immediate agreeableness of it to most minds + arises far more from this source than from that to which I have + chosen to attribute it. But, in the first place, _if it be + indeed in the signs of Divine and not of human attributes that + beauty consists_, I see not how the idea of sin can be formed + with respect to the Deity; for it is the idea of a relation + borne by us to Him, and not in any way to be attached to His + abstract nature; while the Love, Mercifulness, and Justice of + God I have supposed to be symbolised by other qualities of + beauty: and I cannot trace any rational connection between them + and the idea of Spotlessness in matter, nor between this idea + nor any of the virtues which make up the righteousness of man, + except perhaps those of truth and openness, which have been + above spoken of as more expressed by the transparency than the + mere purity of matter. So that I conceive the use of the terms + purity, spotlessness, &c., on moral subjects, to be merely + metaphorical; and that it is rather that we illustrate these + virtues by the desirableness of material purity, than that we + desire material purity because it is illustrative of those + virtues. I repeat, then, that the only idea which I think can be + legitimately connected with purity of matter is this of vital + and energetic connection among its particles." + +We have been compelled to quote some strange passages, of most +difficult and laborious perusal; but our task is drawing to an +end. The last of these types we have to mention is that _Of +Moderation, or the Type of Government by Law_. We suspect there are +many persons who have rapidly perused Mr Ruskin's works (probably +_skipping_ where the obscurity grew very thick) who would be very +much surprised, if they gave a closer attention to them, at the +strange conceits and absurdities which they had passed over without +examination. Indeed, his very loose and declamatory style, and the +habit of saying extravagant things, set all examination at defiance. +But let any one pause a moment on the last title we have quoted +from Mr Ruskin--let him read the chapter itself--let him reflect +that he has been told in it that "what we express by the terms +chasteness, refinement, and elegance," in any work of art, and more +particularly "that finish" so dear to the intelligent critic, owe +their attractiveness to being types of God's government by law!--we +think he will confess that never in any book, ancient or modern, did +he meet with an absurdity to outrival it. + +We have seen why the curve in general is beautiful; we have here the +reason given us why one curve is more beautiful than another:-- + + "And herein we at last find the reason of that which has been so + often noted respecting the subtilty and almost invisibility of + natural curves and colours, and why it is that we look on those + lines as least beautiful which fall into wide and far license + of curvature, and as most beautiful which approach nearest (so + that the curvilinear character be distinctly asserted) to the + government of the right line, as in the pure and severe curves + of the draperies of the religious painters." + +There is still the subject of "vital beauty" before us, but we shall +probably be excused from entering further into the development of +"Theoria." It must be quite clear by this time to our readers, that, +whatever there is in it really wise and intelligible, resolves +itself into one branch of that general theory of association of +ideas, of which Alison and others have treated. But we are now +in a condition to understand more clearly that peculiar style of +language which startled us so much in the first volume of the +_Modern Painters_. There we frequently heard of the Divine mission +of the artist, of the religious office of the painter, and how +Mr Turner was delivering God's message to man. What seemed an +oratorical climax, much too frequently repeated, proves to be a +logical sequence of his theoretical principles. All true beauty is +religious; therefore all true art, which is the reproduction of the +beautiful, must be religious also. Every picture gallery is a sort +of temple, every great painter a sort of prophet. If Mr Ruskin is +conscious that he never admires anything beautiful in nature or art, +without a reference to some attribute of God, or some sentiment +of piety, he may be a very exalted person, but he is no type of +humanity. If he asserts this, we must be sufficiently courteous +to believe him; we must not suspect that he is hardly candid with +us, or with himself; but we shall certainly not accept him as a +representative of the _genus homo_. He finds "sermons in stones," +and sermons always; "books in the running brooks," and always books +of divinity. Other men not deficient in reflection or piety do not +find it thus. Let us hear the poet who, more than any other, has +made a religion of the beauty of nature. Wordsworth, in a passage +familiar to every one of his readers, runs his hand, as it were, +over all the chords of the lyre. He finds other sources of the +beautiful not unworthy his song, besides that high contemplative +piety which he introduces as a noble and fit climax. He recalls the +first ardours of his youth, when the beautiful object itself of +nature seemed to him all, in all:-- + + "I cannot paint + What then I was. The sounding cataract + Haunted me like a passion; the tall rock, + The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood. + Their colours and their forms were thus to me + An appetite; a feeling and a love + That had no need of a remoter charm + By thought supplied, nor any interest + Unborrowed from the eye. That time is past, + And all its aching joys are now no more, + And all its dizzy raptures. Not for this + Faint I, nor mourn, nor murmur; other gifts + Have followed. I have learned + To look on nature not as in the hour + Of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes + _The still sad music of humanity, + Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power + To chasten and subdue_. And I have felt + A presence that disturbs me with the joy + Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime + Of something far more deeply interfused, + Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns, + And the round ocean and the living air, + And the blue sky, and in the mind of man." + +Our poet sounds all the chords. He does not muffle any; he honours +Nature in her own simple loveliness, and in the beauty she wins from +the human heart, as well as when she is informed with that sublime +spirit + + "that impels + All thinking things, all objects of all thought, + And rolls through all things." + +Sit down, by all means, amongst the fern and the wild-flowers, and +look out upon the blue hills, or near you at the flowing brook, and +thank God, the giver of all this beauty. But what manner of good +will you do by endeavouring to persuade yourself that these objects +_are_ only beautiful because you give thanks for them?--for to this +strange logical inversion will you find yourself reduced. And surely +you learned to esteem and love this benevolence itself, first as +a human attribute, before you became cognisant of it as a Divine +attribute. What other course can the mind take but to travel through +humanity up to God? + +There is much more of metaphysics in the volume before us; there +is, in particular, an elaborate investigation of the faculty of +imagination; but we have no inducement to proceed further with +Mr Ruskin in these psychological inquiries. We have given some +attention to his theory of the Beautiful, because it lay at the +basis of a series of critical works which, partly from their +boldness, and partly from the talent of a certain kind which +is manifestly displayed in them, have attained to considerable +popularity. But we have not the same object for prolonging our +examination into his theory of the Imaginative Faculty. "We say +it advisedly," (as Mr Ruskin always adds when he is asserting +anything particularly rash,) we say it advisedly, and with no +rashness whatever, that though our author is a man of great natural +ability, and enunciates boldly many an independent isolated truth, +yet of the spirit of philosophy he is utterly destitute. The +calm, patient, prolonged thinking, which Dugald Stewart somewhere +describes as the one essential characteristic of the successful +student of philosophy, he knows nothing of. He wastes his ingenuity +in making knots where others had long since untied them. He rushes +at a definition, makes a parade of classification; but for any +great and wide generalisation he has no appreciation whatever. He +appears to have no taste, but rather an antipathy for it; when it +lies in his way he avoids it. On this subject of the Imaginative +Faculty he writes and he raves, defines and poetises by turns; makes +laborious distinctions where there is no essential difference; has +his "Imagination Associative," and his "Imagination Penetrative;" +and will not, or cannot, see those broad general principles which +with most educated men have become familiar truths, or truisms. But +what clear thinking can we expect of a writer who thus describes his +"Imagination Penetrative?"-- + + "It may seem to the reader that I am incorrect in calling this + penetrating possession-taking faculty Imagination. Be it so: + the name is of little consequence; the Faculty itself, called + by what name it will, I insist upon as the highest intellectual + power of man. _There is no reasoning in it_; it works not by + algebra, nor by integral calculus; it is a piercing Pholas-like + mind's tongue, that works and tastes into the very rock-heart. + No matter what be the subject submitted to it, substance or + spirit--all is alike divided asunder, joint and marrow, whatever + utmost truth, life, principle, it has laid bare; and that which + has no truth, life, nor principle, dissipated into its original + smoke at a touch. The whispers at men's ears it lifts into + visible angels. Vials that have lain sealed in the deep sea a + thousand years it unseals, and brings out of them Genii."--(P. + 156.) + +With such a wonder-working faculty man ought to do much. Indeed, +unless it has been asleep all this time, it is difficult to +understand why there should remain anything for him to do. + +Surveying Mr Ruskin's works on art, with the knowledge we have here +acquired of his intellectual character and philosophical theory, we +are at no loss to comprehend that mixture of shrewd and penetrating +remark, of bold and well-placed censure, and of utter nonsense in +the shape of general principles, with which they abound. In his +_Seven Lamps of Architecture_, which is a very entertaining book, +and in his _Stones of Venice_, the reader will find many single +observations which will delight him, as well by their justice, as by +the zeal and vigour with which they are expressed. But from neither +work will he derive any satisfaction if he wishes to carry away with +him broad general views on architecture. + +There is no subject Mr Ruskin has treated more largely than that +of architectural ornament; there is none on which he has said more +good things, or delivered juster criticisms; and there is none on +which he has uttered more indisputable nonsense. Every reader of +taste will be grateful to Mr Ruskin if he can pull down from St +Paul's Cathedral, or wherever else they are to be found, those +wreaths or festoons of carved flowers--"that mass of all manner +of fruit and flowers tied heavily into a long bunch, thickest in +the middle, and pinned up by both ends against a dead wall." Urns +with pocket-handkerchiefs upon them, or a sturdy thick flame for +ever issuing from the top, he will receive our thanks for utterly +demolishing. But when Mr Ruskin expounds his principles--and he +always has principles to expound--when he lays down rules for the +government of our taste in this matter, he soon involves us in +hopeless bewilderment. Our ornaments, he tells us, are to be taken +from the works of nature, not of man; and, from some passages of his +writings, we should infer that Mr Ruskin would cover the walls of +our public buildings with representations botanical and geological. +But in this we must be mistaken. At all events, nothing is to be +admitted that is taken from the works of man. + + "I conclude, then, with the reader's leave, that all ornament is + base which takes for its subject human work; that it is utterly + base--painful to every rightly toned mind, without, perhaps, + immediate sense of the reason, but for a reason palpable enough + when we do think of it. For to carve our own work, and set it up + for admiration, is a miserable self-complacency, a contentment + in our wretched doings, when we might have been looking at God's + doings." + +After this, can we venture to admire the building itself, which is, +of necessity, man's own "wretched doing?" + +Perplexed by his own rules, he will sometimes break loose from the +entanglement in some such strange manner as this:--"I believe the +right question to ask, with respect to all ornament, is simply this: +Was it done with enjoyment--_was the carver happy while he was about +it_?" Happy art! where the workman is sure to give happiness if +he is but happy at his work. Would that the same could be said of +literature! + +How far _colour_ should be introduced into architecture is a +question with men of taste, and a question which of late has been +more than usually discussed. Mr Ruskin leans to the introduction +of colour. His taste may be correct; but the fanciful reasoning +which he brings to bear upon the subject will assist no one else in +forming his own taste. Because there is no connection "between the +spots of an animal's skin and its anatomical system," he lays it +down as the first great principle which is to guide us in the use of +colour in architecture-- + + "That it be _visibly independent of form_. Never paint a column + with vertical lines, but always cross it. Never give separate + mouldings separate colours," &c. "In certain places," he + continues, "you may run your two systems closer, and here and + there let them be parallel for a note or two, but see that the + colours and the forms coincide only as two orders of mouldings + do; the same for an instant, but each holding its own course. So + single members may sometimes have single colours; _as a bird's + head is sometimes of one colour, and its shoulders another, you + may make your capital one colour, and your shaft another_; but, + in general, the best place for colour is on broad surfaces, not + on the points of interest in form. _An animal is mottled on its + breast and back, and rarely on its paws and about its eyes_; so + put your variegation boldly on the flat wall and broad shaft, + but be shy of it on the capital and moulding."--(_Lamps of + Architecture_, p. 127.) + +We do not quite see what we have to do at all with the "anatomical +system" of the animal, which is kept out of sight; but, in general, +we apprehend there is, both in the animal and vegetable kingdom, +considerable harmony betwixt colour and external form. Such +fantastic reasoning as this, it is evident, will do little towards +establishing that one standard of taste, or that "one school of +architecture," which Mr Ruskin so strenuously insists upon. All +architects are to resign their individual tastes and predilections, +and enrol themselves in one school, which shall adopt one style. We +need not say that the very first question--what that style should +be, Greek or Gothic--would never be decided. Mr Ruskin decides it +in favour of the "earliest English decorated Gothic;" but seems, +in this case, to suspect that his decision will not carry us far +towards unanimity. The scheme is utterly impossible; but he does his +duty, he tells us, by proposing the impossibility. + +As a climax to his inconsistency and his abnormal ways of thinking, +he concludes his _Seven Lamps of Architecture_ with a most ominous +paragraph, implying that the time is at hand when no architecture of +any kind will be wanted: man and his works will be both swept away +from the face of the earth. How, with this impression on his mind, +could he have the heart to tell us to build for posterity? Will it +be a commentary on the Apocalypse that we shall next receive from +the pen of Mr Ruskin? + + + + +PORTUGUESE POLITICS. + + +The dramatic and singular revolution of which Portugal has recently +been the theatre, the strange fluctuations and ultimate success +of Marshal Saldanha's insurrection, the narrow escape of Donna +Maria from at least a temporary expulsion from her dominions, have +attracted in this country more attention than is usually bestowed +upon the oft-recurring convulsions of the Peninsula. Busy as the +present year has been, and abounding in events of exciting interest +nearer home, the English public has yet found time to deplore the +anarchy to which Portugal is a prey, and to marvel once more, as it +many times before has marvelled, at the tardy realisation of those +brilliant promises of order, prosperity, and good government, so +long held out to the two Peninsular nations by the promoters of the +Quadruple Alliance. The statesmen who, for nearly a score of years, +have assiduously guided Portugal and Spain in the seductive paths +of modern Liberalism, can hardly feel much gratification at the +results of their well-intended but most unprosperous endeavours. +It is difficult to imagine them contemplating with pride and +exultation, or even without a certain degree of self-reproach, the +fruits of their officious exertions. Repudiating partisan views of +Peninsular politics, putting persons entirely out of the question, +declaring our absolute indifference as to who occupies the thrones +of Spain and Portugal, so long as those countries are well-governed, +casting no imputations upon the motives of those foreign governments +and statesmen who were chiefly instrumental in bringing about the +present state of things south of the Pyrenees, we would look only to +facts, and crave an honest answer to a plain question. The question +is this: After the lapse of seventeen years, what is the condition +of the two nations upon which have been conferred, at grievous +expense of blood and treasure, the much vaunted blessings of rulers +nominally Liberal, and professedly patriotic? For the present we +will confine this inquiry to Portugal, for the reason that the War +of Succession terminated in that country when it was but beginning +in the neighbouring kingdom, since which time the vanquished party, +unlike the Carlists in Spain, have uniformly abstained--with the +single exception of the rising in 1846-7--from armed aggression, and +have observed a patient and peaceful policy. So that the Portuguese +Liberals have had seventeen years' fair trial of their governing +capacity, and cannot allege that their efforts for their country's +welfare have been impeded or retarded by the acts of that party whom +they denounced as incapable of achieving it,--however they may have +been neutralised by dissensions and anarchy in their own ranks. + +At this particular juncture of Portuguese affairs, and as no +inappropriate preface to the only reply that can veraciously be +given to the question we have proposed, it will not be amiss to take +a brief retrospective glance at some of the events that preceded +and led to the reign of Donna Maria. It will be remembered that +from the year 1828 to 1834, the Liberals in both houses of the +British Parliament, supported by an overwhelming majority of the +British press, fiercely and pertinaciously assailed the government +and person of Don Miguel, then _de facto_ King of Portugal, king +_de jure_ in the eyes of the Portuguese Legitimists and by the +vote of the Legitimate Cortes of 1828, and recognised (in 1829) by +Spain, by the United States, and by various inferior powers. Twenty +years ago political passions ran high in this country: public men +were, perhaps, less guarded in their language; newspapers were +certainly far more intemperate in theirs; and we may safely say, +that upon no foreign prince, potentate, or politician, has virulent +abuse--proceeding from such respectable sources--ever since been +showered in England, in one half the quantity in which it then +descended upon the head of the unlucky Miguel. Unquestionably Don +Miguel had acted, in many respects, neither well nor wisely: his +early education had been ill-adapted to the high position he was +one day to fill--at a later period of his life he was destined to +take lessons of wisdom and moderation in the stern but wholesome +school of adversity. But it is also beyond a doubt, now that time +has cleared up much which then was purposely garbled and distorted, +that the object of all this invective was by no means so black as +he was painted, and that his character suffered in England from the +malicious calumnies of Pedroite refugees, and from the exaggerated +and easily-accepted statements of the Portuguese correspondents +of English newspapers. The Portuguese nation, removed from such +influence, formed its own opinions from what it saw and observed; +and the respect and affection testified, even at the present +day, to their dethroned sovereign, by a large number of its most +distinguished and respectable members, are the best refutation of +the more odious of the charges so abundantly brought against him, +and so lightly credited in those days of rampant revolution. It is +unnecessary, therefore, to argue that point, even were personal +vindication or attack the objects of this article, instead of being +entirely without its scope. Against the insupportable oppression +exercised by the monster in human form, as which Don Miguel was +then commonly depicted in England and France, innumerable engines +were directed by the governments and press of those two countries. +Insurrections were stirred up in Portugal, volunteers were recruited +abroad, irregular military expeditions were encouraged, loans were +fomented; money-lenders and stock-jobbers were all agog for Pedro, +patriotism, and profit. Orators and newspapers foretold, in glowing +speeches and enthusiastic paragraphs, unbounded prosperity to +Portugal as the sure consequence of the triumph of the revolutionary +party. Rapid progress of civilisation, impartial and economical +administration, increase of commerce, development of the country's +resources, a perfect avalanche of social and political blessings, +were to descend, like manna from heaven, upon the fortunate nation, +so soon as the Liberals obtained the sway of its destinies. It were +beside our purpose here to investigate how it was that, with such +alluring prospects held out to them, the people of Portugal were so +blind to their interests as to supply Don Miguel with men and money, +wherewith to defend himself for five years against the assaults +and intrigues of foreign and domestic enemies. Deprived of support +and encouragement from without, he still held his ground; and the +formation of a quadruple alliance, including the two most powerful +countries in Europe, the enlistment of foreign mercenaries of a +dozen different nations, the entrance of a numerous Spanish army, +were requisite finally to dispossess him of his crown. The anomaly +of the abhorred persecutor and tyrant receiving so much support from +his ill-used subjects, even then struck certain men in this country +whose names stand pretty high upon the list of clear-headed and +experienced politicians, and the Duke of Wellington, Lord Aberdeen, +Sir Robert Peel, Lord Lyndhurst, and others, defended Miguel; but +their arguments, however cogent, were of little avail against the +fierce tide of popular prejudice, unremittingly stimulated by the +declamations of the press. To be brief, in 1834 Don Miguel was +driven from Portugal; and his enemies, put in possession of the +kingdom and all its resources, were at full liberty to realise the +salutary reforms they had announced and promised, and for which they +had professed to fight. On taking the reins of government, they +had everything in their favour; their position was advantageous +and brilliant in the highest degree. They enjoyed the prestige of +a triumph, undisputed authority, powerful foreign protection and +influence. At their disposal was an immense mass of property taken +from the church, as well as the produce of large foreign loans. +Their credit, too, was _then_ unlimited. Lastly--and this was far +from the least of their advantages--they had in their favour the +great discouragement and discontent engendered amongst the partisans +of the Miguelite government, by the numerous and gross blunders +which that government had committed--blunders which contributed +even more to its downfall than did the attacks of its foes, or the +effects of foreign hostility. In short, the Liberals were complete +and undisputed masters of the situation. But, notwithstanding all +the facilities and advantages they enjoyed, what has been the +condition of Portugal since they assumed the reins? What _is_ its +condition at the present day? We need not go far to ascertain it. +The wretched plight of that once prosperous little kingdom is +deposed to by every traveller who visits it, and by every English +journal that has a correspondent there; it is to be traced in the +columns of every Portuguese newspaper, and is admitted and deplored +by thousands who once were strenuous and influential supporters +of the party who promised so much, and who have performed so +little that is good. The reign of that party whose battle-cry is, +or was, Donna Maria and the Constitution, has been an unbroken +series of revolutions, illegalities, peculations, corruptions, and +dilapidations. The immense amount of misnamed "national property" +(the _Infantado_ and church estates,) which was part of their +capital on their accession to power, has disappeared without benefit +either to the country or to its creditors. The treasury is empty; +the public revenues are eaten up by anticipation; civil and military +officers, the court itself, are all in constant and considerable +arrears of salaries and pay. The discipline of the troops is +destroyed, the soldiers being demoralised by the bad example of +their chiefs, including that of Marshal Saldanha himself; for it +is one of the great misfortunes of the Peninsula, that there most +officers of a certain rank consider their political predilections +before their military duty. The "Liberal" party, divided and +subdivided, and split into fractions, whose numbers fluctuate at the +dictates of interest or caprice, presents a lamentable spectacle +of anarchy and inconsistency; whilst the Queen herself, whose good +intentions we by no means impugn, has completely forfeited, as a +necessary consequence of the misconduct of her counsellors, and of +the sufferings the country has endured under her reign, whatever +amount of respect, affection, and influence the Portuguese nation +may once have been disposed to accord her. Such is the sad picture +now presented by Portugal; and none whose acquaintance with facts +renders them competent to judge, will say that it is overcharged or +highly coloured. + +The party in Portugal who advocate a return to the ancient +constitution,[7] under which the country flourished--which fell into +abeyance towards the close of the seventeenth century, but which it +is now proposed to revive, as preferable to, and practically more +liberal than, the present system--and who adopt as a banner, and +couple with this scheme, the name of Don Miguel de Braganca, have +not unnaturally derived great accession of strength, both moral and +numerical, from the faults and dissensions of their adversaries. At +the present day there are few things which the European public, and +especially that of this country, sooner becomes indifferent to, and +loses sight of, than the person and pretensions of a dethroned king; +and owing to the lapse of years, to his unobtrusive manner of life, +and to the storm of accusations amidst which he made his exit from +power, Don Miguel would probably be considered, by those persons in +this country who remember his existence, as the least likely member +of the royal triumvirate, now assembled in Germany, to exchange his +exile for a crown. But if we would take a fair and impartial view of +the condition of Portugal, and calculate, as far as is possible in +the case of either of the two Peninsular nations, the probabilities +and chances of the future, we must not suffer ourselves to be +run away with by preconceived prejudices, or to be influenced by +the popular odium attached to a name. After beholding the most +insignificant and unpromising of modern pretenders suddenly elevated +to the virtual sovereignty--however transitory it may prove--of one +of the most powerful and civilised of European nations, it were +rash to denounce as impossible any restoration or enthronement. +And it were especially rash so to do when with the person of the +aspirant to the throne a nation is able to connect a reasonable hope +of improvement in its condition. Of the principle of legitimacy we +here say nothing, for it were vain to deny that in Europe it is +daily less regarded, whilst it sinks into insignificance when put in +competition with the rights and wellbeing of the people. + +[7] It is desirable here to explain that the old constitution of +Portugal, whose restoration is the main feature of the scheme of +the National or Royalist party, (it assumes both names,) gave the +right of voting at the election of members of the popular assembly +to every man who had a hearth of his own--whether he occupied a +whole house or a single room--in fact, to all heads of families +and self-supporting persons. Such extent of suffrage ought surely +to content the most democratic, and certainly presents a strong +contrast to the farce of national representation which has been so +long enacting in the Peninsula. + +As far back as the period of its emigration, the Pedroite or +Liberal party split into two fractions. One of these believed +in the possible realisation of those ultra-liberal theories so +abundantly promulgated in the proclamations, manifestoes, preambles +of laws, &c., which Don Pedro issued from the Brazils, from England +and France, and afterwards from Terceira and Oporto. The other +fraction of the party had sanctioned the promulgation of these +utopian theories as a means of delusion, and as leading to their +own triumph; but they deemed their realisation impossible, and were +quite decided, when the revolutionary tide should have borne them +into power, to oppose to the unruly flood the barrier of a gradual +but steady reaction. At a later period these divisions of the +Liberal party became more distinctly defined, and resulted, in 1836, +in their nominal classification as Septembrists and Chartists--the +latter of whom (numerically very weak, but comprising Costa Cabral, +and other men of talent and energy) may be compared to the Moderados +of Spain--the former to the Progresistas, but with tendencies more +decidedly republican. It is the ambitious pretensions, the struggles +for power and constant dissensions of these two sets of men, and +of the minor fractions into which they have subdivided themselves, +that have kept Portugal for seventeen years in a state of anarchy, +and have ended by reducing her to her present pitiable condition. +So numerous are the divisions, so violent the quarrels of the two +parties, that their utter dissolution appears inevitable; and it is +in view of this that the National party, as it styles itself, which +inscribes upon its flag the name of Don Miguel--not as an absolute +sovereign, but with powers limited by legitimate constitutional +forms, to whose strict observance they bind him as a condition of +their support, and of his continuance upon the throne upon which +they hope to place him--uplifts its head, reorganises its hosts, +and more clearly defines its political principles. Whilst Chartists +and Septembrists tear each other to pieces, the Miguelites not only +maintain their numerical importance, but, closing their ranks and +acting in strict unity, they give constant proofs of adhesion to Don +Miguel as personifying a national principle, and at the same time +give evidence of political vitality by the activity and progress of +their ideas, which are adapting themselves to the Liberal sentiments +and theories of the times.[8] And it were flying in the face of +facts to deny that this party comprehends a very important portion +of the intelligence and respectability of the nation. It ascribes +to itself an overwhelming majority in the country, and asserts that +five-sixths of the population of Portugal would joyfully hail its +advent to power. This of course must be viewed as an _ex-parte_ +statement, difficult for foreigners to verify or refute. But of +late there have been no lack of proofs that a large proportion of +the higher orders of Portuguese are steadfast in their aversion +to the government of the "Liberals," and in their adherence to him +whom they still, after his seventeen years' dethronement, persist in +calling their king, and whom they have supported, during his long +exile, by their willing contributions. It is fresh in every one's +memory that, only the other day, twenty five peers, or successors +of peers, who had been excluded by Don Pedro from the peerage for +having sworn allegiance to his brother, having been reinstated and +invited to take their seats in the Chamber, signed and published +a document utterly rejecting the boon. Some hundreds of officers +of the old army of Don Miguel, who are living for the most part +in penury and privation, were invited to demand from Saldanha the +restitution of their grades, which would have entitled them to +the corresponding pay. To a man they refused, and protested their +devotion to their former sovereign. A new law of elections, with a +very extended franchise--nearly amounting, it is said, to universal +suffrage--having been the other day arbitrarily decreed by the +Saldanha cabinet (certainly a most unconstitutional proceeding,) +and the government having expressed a wish that all parties in the +kingdom should exercise the electoral right, and give their votes +for representatives in the new parliament, a numerous and highly +respectable meeting of the Miguelites was convened at Lisbon. +This meeting voted, with but two dissentient voices, a resolution +of abstaining from all share in the elections, declaring their +determination not to sanction, by coming forward either as voters +or candidates, a system and an order of things which they utterly +repudiated as illegal, oppressive, and forced upon the nation by +foreign interference. The same resolution was adopted by large +assemblages in every province of the kingdom. At various periods, +during the last seventeen years, the Portuguese government has +endeavoured to inveigle the Miguelites into the representative +assembly, doubtless hoping that upon its benches they would be +more accessible to seduction, or easier to intimidate. It is a +remarkable and significant circumstance, that only in one instance +(in the year 1842) have their efforts been successful, and that +the person who was then induced so to deviate from the policy of +his party, speedily gave unmistakable signs of shame and regret. +Bearing in mind the undoubted and easily proved fact that the +Miguelites, whether their numerical strength be or be not as great +as they assert, comprise a large majority of the clergy, of the old +nobility, and of the most highly educated classes of the nation, +their steady and consistent refusal to sanction the present order of +things, by their presence in its legislative assembly, shows a unity +of purpose and action, and a staunch and dogged conviction, which +cannot but be disquieting to their adversaries, and over which it is +impossible lightly to pass in an impartial review of the condition +and prospects of Portugal. + +[8] The principal Miguelite papers, _A Nacao_ (Lisbon,) and _O +Portugal_ (Oporto,) both of them highly respectable journals, +conducted with much ability and moderation, unceasingly reiterate, +whilst exposing the vices and corruption of the present system, +their aversion to despotism, and their desire for a truly liberal +and constitutional government. + +We have already declared our determination here to attach importance +to the persons of none of the four princes and princesses who claim +or occupy the thrones of Spain and Portugal, except in so far as +they may respectively unite the greatest amount of the national +suffrage and adhesion. As regards Don Miguel, we are far from +exaggerating his personal claims--the question of legitimacy being +here waived. His prestige _out_ of Portugal is of the smallest, and +certainly he has never given proofs of great talents, although he is +not altogether without kingly qualities, nor wanting in resolution +and energy; whilst his friends assert, and it is fair to admit as +probable, that he has long since repented and abjured the follies +and errors of his youth. But we cannot be blind to the fact of the +strong sympathy and regard entertained for him by a very large +number of Portuguese. His presence in London during some weeks of +the present summer was the signal for a pilgrimage of Portuguese +noblemen and gentlemen of the best and most influential families in +the country, many of whom openly declared the sole object of their +journey to be to pay their respects to their exiled sovereign; +whilst others, the chief motive of whose visit was the attraction +of the Industrial Exhibition, gladly seized the opportunity to +reiterate the assurances of their fidelity and allegiance. Strangely +enough, the person who opened the procession was a nephew of Marshal +Saldanha, Don Antonio C. de Seabra, a staunch and intelligent +royalist, whose visit to London coincided, as nearly as might be, +with his uncle's flight into Galicia, and with his triumphant +return to Oporto after the victory gained for him as he was +decamping. Senhor Seabra was followed by two of the Freires, nephew +and grand-nephew of the Freire who was minister-plenipotentiary +in London some thirty years ago; by the Marquis and Marchioness +of Vianna, and the Countess of Lapa--all of the first nobility +of Portugal; by the Marquis of Abrantes, a relative of the royal +family of Portugal; by a host of gentlemen of the first families in +the provinces of Beira, Minho, Tras-os-Montes, &c.--Albuquerques, +Mellos, Taveiras, Pachecos, Albergarias, Cunhas, Correa-de-Sas, +Beduidos, San Martinhos, Pereiras, and scores of other names, which +persons acquainted with Portugal will recognise as comprehending +much of the best blood and highest intelligence in the country. Such +demonstrations are not to be overlooked, or regarded as trivial +and unimportant. Men like the Marquis of Abrantes, for instance, +not less distinguished for mental accomplishment and elevation of +character than for illustrious descent,[9] men of large possessions +and extensive influence, cannot be assumed to represent only their +individual opinions. The remarkable step lately taken by a number of +Portuguese of this class, must be regarded as an indication of the +state of feeling of a large portion of the nation; as an indication, +too, of something grievously faulty in the conduct or constitution +of a government which, after seventeen years' sway, has been unable +to rally, reconcile, or even to appease the animosity of any portion +of its original opponents. + +[9] The Marquis of Abrantes is descended from the Dukes of +Lancaster, through Philippa of Lancaster, Queen of John I., one of +the greatest kings Portugal ever possessed. + +Between the state of Portugal and that of Spain there are, at the +present moment, points of strong contrast, and others of striking +similarity. The similarity is in the actual condition of the two +countries--in their sufferings, misgovernment, and degradation; the +contrast is in the state and prospects of the political parties +they contain. What we have said of the wretched plight of Portugal +applies, with few and unimportant differences, to the condition +of Spain. If there has lately been somewhat less of open anarchy +in the latter country than in the dominions of Donna Maria, there +has not been one iota less of tyrannical government and scandalous +malversation. The public revenue is still squandered and robbed, +the heavy taxes extorted from the millions still flow into the +pockets of a few thousand corrupt officials, ministers are still +stock-jobbers, the liberty of the press is still a farce,[10] +and the national representation an obscene comedy. A change of +ministry in Spain is undoubtedly a most interesting event to those +who go out and those who come in--far more so in Spain than in +any other country, since in no other country does the possession +of office enable a beggar so speedily to transform himself into a +_millionaire_. In Portugal the will is not wanting, but the means +are less ample. More may be safely pilfered out of a sack of corn +than out of a sieveful, and poor little Portugal's revenue does not +afford such scope to the itching palms of Liberal statesmen as does +the more ample one of Spain, which of late years has materially +increased--without, however, the tax-payer and public creditor +experiencing one crumb of the benefit they might fairly expect in +the shape of reduced imposts and augmented dividends. But, however +interesting to the governing fraction, a change of administration in +Spain is contemplated by the governed masses with supreme apathy and +indifference. They used once to be excited by such changes; but they +have long ago got over that weakness, and suffer their pockets to be +picked and their bodies to be trampled with a placidity bordering +on the sublime. As long as things do not get _worse_, they remain +quiet; they have little hope of their getting _better_. Here, again, +in this fertile and beautiful and once rich and powerful country of +Spain, a most gratifying picture is presented to the instigators of +the Quadruple Alliance, to the upholders of the virtuous Christina +and the innocent Isabel! Pity that it is painted with so ensanguined +a brush, and that strife and discord should be the main features +of the composition! Upon the first panel is exhibited a civil war +of seven years' duration, vying, for cold-blooded barbarity and +gratuitous slaughter, with the fiercest and most fanatical contests +that modern _Times_ have witnessed. Terminated by a strange act of +treachery, even yet imperfectly understood, the war was succeeded by +a brief period of well-meaning but inefficient government. By the +daring and unscrupulous manoeuvres of Louis Philippe and Christina +this was upset--by means so extraordinary and so disgraceful to all +concerned that scandalised Europe stood aghast, and almost refused +to credit the proofs (which history will record) of the social +degradation of Spaniards. For a moment Spain again stood divided and +in arms, and on the brink of civil war. This danger over, the blood +that had not been shed in the field flowed upon the scaffold: an +iron hand and a pampered army crushed and silenced the disaffection +and murmurs of the great body of the nation; and thus commenced a +system of despotic and unscrupulous misrule and corruption, which +still endures without symptom of improvement. As for the observance +of the constitution, it is a mockery to speak of it, and has been so +any time these eight years. In June 1850, Lord Palmerston, in the +course of his celebrated defence of his foreign policy, declared +himself happy to state that the government of Spain was at that time +carried on more in accordance with the constitution than it had +been two years previously. As ear-witnesses upon the occasion, we +can do his lordship the justice to say that the assurance was less +confidently and unhesitatingly spoken than were most other parts of +his eloquent oration. It was duly cheered, however, by the Commons +House--or at least by those Hispanophilists and philanthropists +upon its benches who accepted the Foreign Secretary's assurance +in lieu of any positive knowledge of their own. The grounds for +applause and gratulation were really of the slenderest. In 1848, +the _un_-constitutional period referred to by Lord Palmerston, +the Narvaez and Christina government were in the full vigour of +their repressive measures, shooting the disaffected by the dozen, +and exporting hundreds to the Philippines or immuring them in +dungeons. This, of course, could not go on for ever; the power was +theirs, the malcontents were compelled to succumb; the paternal and +constitutional government made a desert, and called it peace. Short +time was necessary, when such violent means were employed, to crush +Spain into obedience, and in 1850 she lay supine, still bleeding +from many an inward wound, at her tyrants' feet. This morbid +tranquillity might possibly be mistaken for an indication of an +improved mode of government. As for any other sign of constitutional +rule, we are utterly unable to discern it in either the past or +the present year. The admirable observance of the constitution was +certainly in process of proof, at the very time of Lord Palmerston's +speech, by the almost daily violation of the liberty of the press, +by the seizure of journals whose offending articles the authorities +rarely condescended to designate, and whose incriminated editors +were seldom allowed opportunity of exculpation before a fair +tribunal. It was further testified to, less than four months later, +by a general election, at which such effectual use was made of +those means of intimidation and corruption which are manifold in +Spain, that, when the popular Chamber assembled, the government was +actually alarmed at the smallness of the opposition--limited, as it +was, to about a dozen stray Progresistas, who, like the sleeping +beauty in the fairy tale, rubbed their eyes in wonderment at finding +themselves there. Nor were the ministerial forebodings groundless in +the case of the unscrupulous and tyrannical Narvaez, who, within +a few months, when seemingly more puissant than ever, and with +an overwhelming majority in the Chamber obedient to his nod, was +cast down by the wily hand that had set him up, and driven to seek +safety in France from the vengeance of his innumerable enemies. The +causes of this sudden and singular downfall are still a puzzle and a +mystery to the world; but persons there are, claiming to see further +than their neighbours into political millstones, who pretend that a +distinguished diplomatist, of no very long standing at Madrid, had +more to do than was patent to the world with the disgrace of the +Spanish dictator, whom the wags of the Puerta del Sol declare to +have exclaimed, as his carriage whirled him northwards through the +gates of Madrid, "_Comme Henri Bulwer!_" + +[10] This remark, (regarding the press,) literally true in Spain, +does not apply to Portugal. + +Passing from the misgovernment and sufferings of Spain to its +political state, we experience some difficulty in clearly defining +and exhibiting this, inasmuch as the various parties that have +hitherto acted under distinct names are gradually blending and +disappearing like the figures in dissolving views. In Portugal, +as we have already shown, whilst Chartists and Septembrists +distract the country, and damage themselves by constant quarrels +and collisions, a third party, unanimous and determined in its +opposition to those two, grows in strength, influence, and +prestige. In Spain, _no_ party shows signs of healthy condition. +In all three--Moderados, Progresistas, and Carlists--symptoms of +dissolution are manifest. In the two countries, Chartists and +Septembrists, Moderados and Progresistas, have alike split into two +or more factions hostile to each other; but whilst, in Portugal, +the Miguelites improve their position, in Spain the Carlist party +is reduced to a mere shadow of its former self. Without recognised +chiefs or able leaders, without political theory of government, it +bases its pretensions solely upon the hereditary right of its head. +For whilst Don Miguel, on several occasions,[11] has declared his +adhesion to the liberal programme advocated by his party for the +security of the national liberties, the Count de Montemolin, either +from indecision of character, or influenced by evil counsels, has +hitherto made no precise, public, and satisfactory declaration of +his views in this particular,[12] and by such injudicious reserve +has lost the suffrages of many whom a distinct pledge would have +gathered round his banner. Thus has he partially neutralised the +object of his father's abdication in his favour. Don Carlos was too +completely identified with the old absolutist party, composed of +intolerant bigots both in temporal and spiritual matters, ever to +have reconciled himself with the progressive spirit of the century, +or to have become acceptable to the present generation of Spaniards. +Discerning or advised of this, he transferred his claims to his son, +thus placing in his hands an excellent card, which the young prince +has not known how to play. If, instead of encouraging a sullen and +unprofitable emigration, fomenting useless insurrections, draining +his adherents' purses, and squandering their blood, he had husbanded +the resources of the party, clearly and publicly defined his plan of +government--if ever seated upon the throne he claims--and awaited +in dignified retirement the progress of events, he would not have +supplied the present rulers of Spain with pretexts, eagerly taken +advantage of, for shameful tyranny and persecution; and he would +have spared himself the mortification of seeing his party dwindle, +and his oldest and most trusted friends and adherents, with few +exceptions, accept pardon and place from the enemies against whom +they had long and bravely contended. But vacillation, incapacity, +and treachery presided at his counsels. He had none to point out +to him--or if any did, they were unheeded or overruled--the fact, +of which experience and repeated disappointments have probably at +last convinced him, that it is not by the armed hand alone--not by +the sword of Cabrera, or by Catalonian guerilla risings--that he +can reasonably hope ever to reach Madrid, but by aid of the moral +force of public opinion, as a result of the misgovernment of Spain's +present rulers, of an increasing confidence in his own merits and +good intentions, and perhaps of such possible contingencies as a +Bourbon restoration in France, or the triumph of the Miguelites in +Portugal. This last-named event will very likely be considered, +by that numerous class of persons who base their opinions of +foreign politics upon hearsay and general impressions rather than +upon accurate knowledge and investigation of facts, as one of the +most improbable of possibilities. A careful and dispassionate +examination of the present state of the Peninsula does not enable +us to regard it as a case of such utter improbability. But for the +intimate and intricate connection between the Spanish and Portuguese +questions, it would by no means surprise us--bearing in mind all +that Portugal has suffered and still suffers under her present +rulers--to see the Miguelite party openly assume the preponderance +in the country. England would not allow it, will be the reply. Let +us try the exact value of this assertion. England has two reasons +for hostility to Don Miguel--one founded on certain considerations +connected with his conduct when formerly on the throne of Portugal, +the other on the dynastic alliance between the two countries. The +government of Donna Maria may reckon upon the sympathy, advice, and +even upon the direct naval assistance of England--up to a certain +point. That is to say, that the English government will do what it +_conveniently_ and _suitably_ can, in favour of the Portuguese queen +and her husband; but there is room for a strong doubt that it would +_seriously_ compromise itself to maintain them upon the throne. +Setting aside Donna Maria's matrimonial connection, Don Miguel, as +a constitutional king, and with certain mercantile and financial +arrangements, would suit English interests every bit as well. But +the case is very different as regards Spain. The restoration of Don +Miguel would be a terrible if not a fatal shock to the throne of +Isabella II. and to the Moderado party, to whom the revival of the +legitimist principle in Portugal would be so much the more dangerous +if experience proved it to be compatible with the interests +created by the Revolution. For the Spanish government, therefore, +intervention against Don Miguel is an absolute necessity--we +might perhaps say a condition of its existence; and thus is Spain +the great stumbling-block in the way of his restoration, whereas +England's objections might be found less invincible. So, in the +civil war in Portugal, this country only co-operated indirectly +against Don Miguel, and it is by no means certain he would have +been overcome, but for the entrance of Rodil's Spaniards, which was +the decisive blow to his cause. And so, the other day, the English +government was seen patiently looking on at the progress of events, +when it is well known that the question of immediate intervention +was warmly debated in the Madrid cabinet, and might possibly have +been carried, but for the moderating influence of English counsels. + +[11] Particularly by his "declaration" of the 24th June 1843, by +his autograph letter of instructions of the 15th August of the same +year, and by his "royal letter" of the 6th April 1847, which was +widely circulated in Portugal. + +[12] We cannot attach value to the vague and most unsatisfactory +manifesto signed "Carlos Luis," and issued from Bourges in May +1845, or consider it as in the slightest degree disproving what +we have advanced. It contains no distinct pledge or guarantee of +constitutional government, but deals in frothy generalities and +magniloquent protestations, binding to nothing the prince who signed +it, and bearing more traces of the pen of a Jesuit priest than of +that of a competent and statesmanlike adviser of a youthful aspirant +to a throne. + +If we consider the critical and hazardous position of +Marshal Saldanha, wavering as he is between Chartists and +Septembrists--threatened to-day with a Cabralist insurrection, +to-morrow with a Septembrist pronunciamiento--it is easy to foresee +that the Miguelite party may soon find tempting opportunities of +an active demonstration in the field. Such a movement, however, +would be decidedly premature. Their game manifestly is to await +with patience the development of the ultimate consequences of +Saldanha's insurrection. It requires no great amount of judgment +and experience in political matters judgment to foresee that he +will be the victim of his own ill-considered movement, and that no +long period will elapse before some new event--be it a Cabralist +reaction or a Septembrist revolt--will prove the instability of the +present order of things. With this certainty in view, the Miguelites +are playing upon velvet. They have only to hold themselves in +readiness to profit by the struggle between the two great divisions +of the Liberal party. From this struggle they are not unlikely to +derive an important accession of strength, if, as is by no means +improbable, the Chartists should be routed and the Septembrists +remain temporary masters of the field. To understand the possible +coalition of a portion of the Chartists with the adherents of Don +Miguel, it suffices to bear in mind that the former are supporters +of constitutional monarchy, which principle would be endangered by +the triumph of the Septembrists, whose republican tendencies are +notorious, as is also--notwithstanding the momentary truce they have +made with her--their hatred to Donna Maria. + +The first consequences of a Septembrist pronunciamiento would +probably be the deposition of the Queen and the scattering of the +Chartists; and in this case it is easy to conceive the latter +beholding in an alliance with the Miguelite party their sole chance +of escape from democracy, and from a destruction of the numerous +interests they have acquired during their many years of power. It +is no unfair inference that Costa Cabral, when he caused himself, +shortly after his arrival in London, to be presented to Don Miguel +in a particularly public place, anticipated the probability of some +such events as we have just sketched, and thus indicated, to his +friends and enemies, the new service to which he might one day be +disposed to devote his political talents. + +The intricate and suggestive complications of Peninsular politics +offer a wide field for speculation; but of this we are not at +present disposed further to avail ourselves, our object being to +elucidate facts rather than to theorise or indulge in predictions +with respect to two countries by whose political eccentricities +more competent prophets than ourselves have, upon so many occasions +during the last twenty years, been puzzled and led astray. We +sincerely wish that the governments of Spain and Portugal were now +in the hands of men capable of conciliating all parties, and of +averting future convulsions--of men sufficiently able and patriotic +to conceive and carry out measures adapted to the character, temper, +and wants of the two nations. If, by what we should be compelled +to look upon almost as a miracle, such a state of things came +about in the Peninsula, we should be far indeed from desiring to +see it disturbed, and discord again introduced into the land, for +the vindication of the principle of legitimacy, respectable though +we hold that to be. But if Spain and Portugal are to continue a +byword among the nations, the focus of administrative abuses and +oligarchical tyranny; if the lower classes of society in those +countries, by nature brave and generous, are to remain degraded +into the playthings of egotistical adventurers, whilst the more +respectable and intelligent portion of the higher orders stands +aloof in disgust from the orgies of misgovernment; if this state of +things is to endure, without prospect of amendment, until the masses +throw themselves into the arms of the apostles of democracy--who, +it were vain to deny, gain ground in the Peninsula--then, we ask, +before it comes to that, would it not be well to give a chance to +parties and to men whose character and principles at least unite +some elements of stability, and who, whatever reliance may be placed +on their promises for the future, candidly admit their past faults +and errors? Assuredly those nations incur a heavy responsibility, +and but poorly prove their attachment to the cause of constitutional +freedom, who avail themselves of superior force to detain feeble +allies beneath the yoke of intolerable abuses. + + + + +THE CONGRESS AND THE AGAPEDOME. + +A TALE OF PEACE AND LOVE. + + +CHAPTER I. + +If I were to commence my story by stating, in the manner of the +military biographers, that Jack Wilkinson was as brave a man as +ever pushed a bayonet into the brisket of a Frenchman, I should be +telling a confounded lie, seeing that, to the best of my knowledge, +Jack never had the opportunity of attempting practical phlebotomy. +I shall content myself with describing him as one of the finest and +best-hearted fellows that ever held her Majesty's commission; and no +one who is acquainted with the general character of the officers of +the British army, will require a higher eulogium. + +Jack and I were early cronies at school; but we soon separated, +having been born under the influence of different planets. Mars, who +had the charge of Jack, of course devoted him to the army; Jupiter, +who was bound to look after my interests, could find nothing better +for me than a situation in the Woods and Forests, with a faint +chance of becoming in time a subordinate Commissioner--that is, +provided the wrongs of Ann Hicks do not precipitate the abolition of +the whole department. Ten years elapsed before we met; and I regret +to say that, during that interval, neither of us had ascended many +rounds of the ladder of promotion. As was most natural, I considered +my own case as peculiarly hard, and yet Jack's was perhaps harder. +He had visited with his regiment, in the course of duty, the Cape, +the Ionian Islands, Gibraltar, and the West Indies. He had caught +an ague in Canada, and had been transplanted to the north of +Ireland by way of a cure; and yet he had not gained a higher rank +in the service than that of Lieutenant. The fact is, that Jack was +poor, and his brother officers as tough as though they had been +made of caoutchouc. Despite the varieties of climate to which they +were exposed, not one of them would give up the ghost; even the +old colonel, who had been twice despaired of, recovered from the +yellow fever, and within a week after was lapping his claret at the +mess-table as jollily as if nothing had happened. The regiment had a +bad name in the service: they called it, I believe, "the Immortals." + +Jack Wilkinson, as I have said, was poor, but he had an uncle +who was enormously rich. This uncle, Mr Peter Pettigrew by name, +was an old bachelor and retired merchant, not likely, according +to the ordinary calculation of chances, to marry; and as he had +no other near relative save Jack, to whom, moreover, he was +sincerely attached, my friend was generally regarded in the light +of a prospective proprietor, and might doubtless, had he been so +inclined, have negotiated a loan, at or under seventy per cent, +with one of those respectable gentlemen who are making such violent +efforts to abolish Christian legislation. But Pettigrew also was +tough as one of "the Immortals," and Jack was too prudent a fellow +to intrust himself to hands so eminently accomplished in the art +of wringing the last drop of moisture from a sponge. His uncle, he +said, had always behaved handsomely to him, and he would see the +whole tribe of Issachar drowned in the Dardanelles rather than abuse +his kindness by raising money on a post-obit. Pettigrew, indeed, had +paid for his commission, and, moreover, given him a fair allowance +whilst he was quartered abroad--circumstances which rendered it +extremely probable that he would come forward to assist his nephew +so soon as the latter had any prospect of purchasing his company. + +Happening by accident to be in Hull, where the regiment was +quartered, I encountered Wilkinson, whom I found not a whit altered +for the worse, either in mind or body, since the days when we were +at school together; and at his instance I agreed to prolong my +stay, and partake of the hospitality of the Immortals. A merry set +they were! The major told a capital story, the senior captain sung +like Incledon, the _cuisine_ was beyond reproach, and the liquor +only too alluring. But all things must have an end. It is wise to +quit even the most delightful society before it palls upon you, +and before it is accurately ascertained that you, clever fellow +as you are, can be, on occasion, quite as prosy and ridiculous as +your neighbours; therefore on the third day I declined a renewal +of the ambrosial banquet, and succeeded in persuading Wilkinson to +take a quiet dinner with me at my own hotel. He assented--the more +readily, perhaps, that he appeared slightly depressed in spirits, a +phenomenon not altogether unknown under similar circumstances. + +After the cloth was removed, we began to discourse upon our +respective fortunes, not omitting the usual complimentary remarks +which, in such moments of confidence, are applied to one's +superiors, who may be very thankful that they do not possess a +preternatural power of hearing. Jack informed me that at length +a vacancy had occurred in his regiment, and that he had now an +opportunity, could he deposit the money, of getting his captaincy. +But there was evidently a screw loose somewhere. + +"I must own," said Jack, "that it _is_ hard, after having waited so +long, to lose a chance which may not occur again for years; but what +can I do? You see I haven't got the money; so I suppose I must just +bend to my luck, and wait in patience for my company until my head +is as bare as a billiard-ball!" + +"But, Jack," said I, "excuse me for making the remark--but won't +your uncle, Mr Pettigrew, assist you?" + +"Not the slightest chance of it." + +"You surprise me," said I; "I am very sorry to hear you say so. I +always understood that you were a prime favourite of his." + +"So I was; and so, perhaps, I am," replied Wilkinson; "but that +don't alter the matter." + +"Why, surely," said I, "if he is inclined to help you at all, he +will not be backward at a time like this. I am afraid, Jack, you +allow your modesty to wrong you." + +"I shall permit my modesty," said Jack, "to take no such impertinent +liberty. But I see you don't know my uncle Peter." + +"I have not that pleasure, certainly; but he bears the character of +a good honest fellow, and everybody believes that you are to be his +heir." + +"That may be, or may not, according to circumstances," said +Wilkinson. "You are quite right as to his character, which I +would advise no one to challenge in my presence; for, though I +should never get another stiver from him, or see a farthing of his +property, I am bound to acknowledge that he has acted towards me in +the most generous manner. But I repeat that you don't understand my +uncle." + +"Nor ever shall," said I, "unless you condescend to enlighten me." + +"Well, then, listen. Old Peter would be a regular trump, but for one +besetting foible. He cannot resist a crotchet. The more palpably +absurd and idiotical any scheme may be, the more eagerly he adopts +it; nay, unless it _is_ absurd and idiotical, such as no man of +common sense would listen to for a moment, he will have nothing +to say to it. He is quite shrewd enough with regard to commercial +matters. During the railway mania, he is supposed to have doubled +his capital. Never having had any faith in the stability of the +system, he sold out just at the right moment, alleging that it was +full time to do so, when Sir Robert Peel introduced a bill giving +the Government the right of purchasing any line when its dividends +amounted to ten per cent. The result proved that he was correct." + +"It did, undoubtedly. But surely that is no evidence of his extreme +tendency to be led astray by crotchets?" + +"Quite the reverse: the scheme was not sufficiently absurd for him. +Besides, I must tell you, that in pure commercial matters it would +be very difficult to overreach or deceive my uncle. He has a clear +eye for pounds, shillings, and pence--principal and interest--and +can look very well after himself when his purse is directly +assailed. His real weakness lies in sentiment." + +"Not, I trust, towards the feminine gender? That might be awkward +for you in a gentleman of his years!" + +"Not precisely--though I would not like to trust him in the hands +of a designing female. His besetting weakness turns on the point of +the regeneration of mankind. Forty or fifty years ago he would have +been a follower of Johanna Southcote. He subscribed liberally to +Owen's schemes, and was within an ace of turning out with Thom of +Canterbury. Incredible as it may appear, he actually was for a time +a regular and accepted Mormonite." + +"You don't mean to say so?" + +"Fact, I assure you, upon my honour! But for a swindle that Joe +Smith tried to perpetrate about the discounting of a bill, Peter +Pettigrew might at this moment have been a leading saint in the +temple of Nauvoo, or whatever else they call the capital of that +polygamous and promiscuous persuasion." + +"You amaze me. How any man of common sense--" + +"That's just the point. Where common sense ends, Uncle Pettigrew +begins. Give him a mere thread of practicability, and he will arrive +at a sound conclusion. Envelope him in the mist of theory, and he +will walk headlong over a precipice." + +"Why, Jack," said I, "you seem to have improved in your figures +of speech since you joined the army. That last sentence was worth +preservation. But I don't clearly understand you yet. What is his +present phase, which seems to stand in the way of your prospects?" + +"Can't you guess? What is the most absurd feature of the present +time?" + +"That," said I, "is a very difficult question. There's Free Trade, +and the proposed Exhibition--both of them absurd enough, if you +look to their ultimate tendency. Then there are Sir Charles Wood's +Budget, and the new Reform Bill, and the Encumbered Estates Act, and +the whole rubbish of the Cabinet, which they have neither sense to +suppress nor courage to carry through. Upon my word, Jack, it would +be impossible for me to answer your question satisfactorily." + +"What do you think of the Peace Congress?" asked Wilkinson. + +"As Palmerston does," said I; "remarkably meanly. But why do you put +that point? Surely Mr Pettigrew has not become a disciple of the +blatant blacksmith?" + +"Read that, and judge for yourself," said Wilkinson, handing me over +a letter. + +I read as follows:-- + + "MY DEAR NEPHEW,--I have your letter of the 15th, apprising me + of your wish to obtain what you term a step in the service. I + am aware that I am not entitled to blame you for a misguided + and lamentably mistaken zeal, which, to my shame be it said, I + was the means of originally kindling; still, you must excuse + me if, with the new lights which have been vouchsafed to me, I + decline to assist your progress towards wholesale homicide, or + lend any farther countenance to a profession which is subversive + of that universal brotherhood and entire fraternity which ought + to prevail among the nations. The fact is, Jack, that, up to + the present time, I have entertained ideas which were totally + false regarding the greatness of my country. I used to think + that England was quite as glorious from her renown in arms as + from her skill in arts--that she had reason to plume herself + upon her ancient and modern victories, and that patriotism + was a virtue which it was incumbent upon freemen to view with + respect and veneration. Led astray by these wretched prejudices, + I gave my consent to your enrolling yourself in the ranks of + the British army, little thinking that, by such a step, I was + doing a material injury to the cause of general pacification, + and, in fact, retarding the advent of that millennium which + will commence so soon as the military profession is entirely + suppressed throughout Europe. I am now also painfully aware + that, towards you individually, I have failed in performing my + duty. I have been the means of inoculating you with a thirst + for human blood, and of depriving you of that opportunity of + adding to the resources of your country, which you might have + enjoyed had I placed you early in one of those establishments + which, by sending exports to the uttermost parts of the earth, + have contributed so magnificently to the diffusion of British + patterns, and the growth of American cotton under a mild system + of servitude, which none, save the minions of royalty, dare + denominate as actual slavery. + + "In short, Jack, I have wronged you; but I should wrong you + still more were I to furnish you with the means of advancing one + other step in your bloody and inhuman profession. It is full + time that we should discard all national recollections. We have + already given a glorious example to Europe and the world, by + throwing open our ports to their produce without requiring the + assurance of reciprocity--let us take another step in the same + direction, and, by a complete disarmament, convince them that + for the future we rely upon moral reason, instead of physical + force, as the means of deciding differences. I shall be glad, + my dear boy, to repair the injury which I have unfortunately + done you, by contributing a sum, equal to three times the + amount required for the purchase of a company, towards your + establishment as a partner in an exporting house, if you can + hear of an eligible offer. Pray keep an eye on the advertising + columns of the _Economist_. That journal is in every way + trustworthy, except, perhaps, when it deals in quotation. I must + now conclude, as I have to attend a meeting for the purpose of + denouncing the policy of Russia, and of warning the misguided + capitalists of London against the perils of an Austrian loan. + You cannot, I am sure, doubt my affection, but you must not + expect me to advance my money towards keeping up a herd of + locusts, without which there would be a general conversion of + swords and bayonets into machinery--ploughshares, spades, and + pruning-hooks being, for the present, rather at a discount.--I + remain always your affectionate uncle, + + "PETER PETTIGREW. + + "_P. S._--Address to me at Hesse Homberg, whither I am going as + a delegate to the Peace Congress." + +"Well, what do you think of that?" said Wilkinson, when I had +finished this comfortable epistle. "I presume you agree with me, +that I have no chance whatever of receiving assistance from that +quarter." + +"Why, not much I should say, unless you can succeed in convincing Mr +Pettigrew of the error of his ways. It seems to me a regular case of +monomania." + +"Would you not suppose, after reading that letter, that I was a +sort of sucking tiger, or at best an ogre, who never could sleep +comfortably unless he had finished off the evening with a cup of +gore?" said Wilkinson. "I like that coming from old Uncle Peter, who +used to sing Rule Britannia till he was hoarse, and always dedicated +his second glass of port to the health of the Duke of Wellington!" + +"But what do you intend to do?" said I. "Will you accept his offer, +and become a fabricator of calicoes?" + +"I'd as soon become a field preacher, and hold forth on an inverted +tub! But the matter is really very serious. In his present mood of +mind, Uncle Peter will disinherit me to a certainty if I remain in +the army." + +"Does he usually adhere long to any particular crotchet?" said I. + +"Why, no; and therein lies my hope. Judging from past experience, +I should say that this fit is not likely to last above a month or +two; still you see there may be danger in treating the matter too +lightly: besides, there is no saying when such another opportunity +of getting a step may occur. What would you advise under the +circumstances?" + +"If I were in your place," said I, "I think I should go over to +Hesse Homberg at once. You need not identify yourself entirely with +the Peace gentry; you will be near your uncle, and ready to act as +circumstances may suggest." + +"That is just my own notion; and I think I can obtain leave of +absence. I say--could you not manage to go along with me? It would +be a real act of friendship; for, to say the truth, I don't think I +could trust any of our fellows in the company of the Quakers." + +"Well--I believe they can spare me for a little longer from my +official duties; and as the weather is fine, I don't mind if I go." + +"That's a good fellow! I shall make my arrangements this evening; +for the sooner we are off the better." + +Two days afterwards we were steaming up the Rhine, a river which, I +trust, may persevere in its attempt to redeem its ancient character. +In 1848, when I visited Germany last, you might just as well have +navigated the Phlegethon in so far as pleasure was concerned. Those +were the days of barricades and of Frankfort murders--of the obscene +German Parliament, as the junta of rogues, fanatics, and imbeciles, +who were assembled in St Paul's Church, denominated themselves; and +of every phase and form of political quackery and insurrection. +Now, however, matters were somewhat mended. The star of Gagern had +waned. The popularity of the Archduke John had exhaled like the +fume of a farthing candle. Hecker and Struve were hanged, shot, or +expatriated; and the peaceably disposed traveller could once more +retire to rest in his hotel, without being haunted by a horrid +suspicion that ere morning some truculent waiter might experiment +upon the toughness of his larynx. I was glad to observe that the +Frankforters appeared a good deal humbled. They were always a +pestilent set; but during the revolutionary year their insolence +rose to such a pitch that it was hardly safe for a man of warm +temperament to enter a shop, lest he should be provoked by the airs +and impertinence of the owner to commit an assault upon Freedom in +the person of her democratic votary. I suspect the Frankforters are +now tolerably aware that revolutions are the reverse of profitable. +They escaped sack and pillage by a sheer miracle, and probably they +will not again exert themselves, at least for a considerable number +of years, to hasten the approach of a similar crisis. + +Everybody knows Homberg. On one pretext or another--whether the +mineral springs, the baths, the gaiety, or the gambling--the +integral portions of that tide of voyagers which annually fluctuates +through the Rheingau, find their way to that pleasant little +pandemonium, and contribute, I have no doubt, very largely to +the revenues of that high and puissant monarch who rules over a +population not quite so large as that comprehended within the +boundaries of Clackmannan. But various as its visitors always are, +and diverse in language, habits, and morals, I question whether +Homberg ever exhibited on any previous occasion so queer and +incongruous a mixture. Doubtful counts, apocryphal barons, and +chevaliers of the extremest industry, mingled with sleek Quakers, +Manchester reformers, and clerical agitators of every imaginable +species of dissent. Then there were women, for the most part of a +middle age, who, although their complexions would certainly have +been improved by a course of the medicinal waters, had evidently +come to Homberg on a higher and holier mission. There was also a +sprinkling of French deputies--Red Republicans by principle, who, +if not the most ardent friends of pacification, are at least the +loudest in their denunciation of standing armies--a fair proportion +of political exiles, who found their own countries too hot to hold +them in consequence of the caloric which they had been the means +of evoking--and one or two of those unhappy personages, whose itch +for notoriety is greater than their modicum of sense. We were not +long in finding Mr Peter Pettigrew. He was solacing himself in +the gardens, previous to the table-d'hote, by listening to the +exhilarating strains of the brass band which was performing a +military march; and by his side was a lady attired, not in the usual +costume of her sex, but in a polka jacket and wide trousers, which +gave her all the appearance of a veteran duenna of a seraglio. Uncle +Peter, however, beamed upon her as tenderly as though she were a +Circassian captive. To this lady, by name Miss Lavinia Latchley, an +American authoress of much renown, and a decided champion of the +rights of woman, we were presented in due form. After the first +greetings were over, Mr Pettigrew opened the trenches. + +"So Jack, my boy, you have come to Homberg to see how we carry on +the war, eh? No--Lord forgive me--that's not what I mean. We don't +intend to carry on any kind of war: we mean to put it down--clap +the extinguisher upon it, you know; and have done with all kinds +of cannons. Bad thing, gunpowder! I once sustained a heavy loss by +sending out a cargo of it to Sierra Leone." + +"I should have thought that a paying speculation," observed Jack. + +"Not a whit of it! The cruisers spoiled the trade; and the +missionaries--confound them for meddling with matters which they +did not understand!--had patched up a peace among the chiefs of the +cannibals; so that for two years there was not a slave to be had for +love or money, and powder went down a hundred and seventy per cent." + +"Such are the effects," remarked Miss Latchley with a sarcastic +smile, which disclosed a row of teeth as yellow as the buds +of the crocus--"such are the effects of an ill regulated and +unphilosophical yearning after the visionary theories of an +unopportune emancipation! Oh that men, instead of squandering their +sympathies upon the lower grades of creation, would emancipate +themselves from that network of error and prejudice which +reticulates over the whole surface of society, and by acknowledging +the divine mission and hereditary claims of woman, construct a new, +a fairer Eden than any which was fabled to exist within the confines +of the primitive Chaldaea!" + +"Very true, indeed, ma'am!" replied Mr Pettigrew; "there is a great +deal of sound sense and observation in what you say. But Jack--I +hope you intend to become a member of Congress at once. I shall be +glad to present you at our afternoon meeting in the character of a +converted officer." + +"You are very good, uncle, I am sure," said Wilkinson, "but I would +rather wait a little. I am certain you would not wish me to take +so serious a step without mature deliberation; and I hope that my +attendance here, in answer to your summons, will convince you that I +am at least open to conviction. In fact, I wish to hear the argument +of your friends before I come to a definite decision." + +"Very right, Jack; very right!" said Mr Pettigrew. "I don't like +converts at a minute's notice, as I remarked to a certain M.P. when +he followed in the wake of Peel. Take your time, and form your own +judgment; I cannot doubt of the result, if you only listen to the +arguments of the leading men of Europe." + +"And do you reckon America as nothing, dear Mr Pettigrew?" said +Miss Latchley. "Columbia may not be able to contribute to the task +so practical and masculine an intellect as yours, yet still within +many a Transatlantic bosom burns a hate of tyranny not less intense, +though perhaps less corruscating, than your own." + +"I know it, I know it, dear Miss Latchley!" replied the infatuated +Peter. "A word from you is at any time worth a lecture, at least +if I may judge from the effects which your magnificent eloquence +has produced on my own mind. Jack, I suppose you have never had the +privilege of listening to the lectures of Miss Latchley?" + +Jack modestly acknowledged the gap which had been left in his +education; stating, at the same time, his intense desire to have it +filled up at the first convenient opportunity. Miss Latchley heaved +a sigh. + +"I hope you do not flatter me," she said, "as is too much the +case with men whose thoughts have been led habitually to deviate +from sincerity. The worst symptom of the present age lies in its +acquiescence with axioms. Free us from that, and we are free indeed; +perpetuate its thraldom, and Truth, which is the daughter of +Innocence and Liberty, imps its wings in vain, and cannot emancipate +itself from the pressure of that raiment which was devised to impede +its glorious walk among the nations." + +Jack made no reply beyond a glance at the terminations of the lady, +which showed that she at all events was resolved that no extra +raiment should trammel her onward progress. + +As the customary hour of the table-d'hote was approaching, we +separated, Jack and I pledging ourselves to attend the afternoon +meeting of the Peace Congress, for the purpose of receiving our +first lesson in the mysteries of pacification. + +"Well, what do you think of that?" said Jack, as Mr Pettigrew and +the Latchley walked off together. "Hang me if I don't suspect that +old harpy in the breeches has a design on Uncle Peter!" + +"Small doubt of that," said I; "and you will find it rather +a difficult job to get him out of her clutches. Your female +philosopher adheres to her victim with all the tenacity of a +polecat." + +"Here is a pretty business!" groaned Jack. "I'll tell you what it +is--I have more than half a mind to put an end to it, by telling my +uncle what I think of his conduct, and then leaving him to marry +this harridan, and make a further fool of himself in any way he +pleases!" + +"Don't be silly, Jack!" said I; "It will be time enough to do that +after everything else has failed; and, for my own part, I see no +reason to despair. In the mean time, if you please, let us secure +places at the dinner-table." + + +CHAPTER II. + +"Dear friends and well-beloved brothers! I wish from the bottom +of my heart that there was but one universal language, so that +the general sentiments of love, equality, and fraternity, which +animate the bosoms of all the pacificators and detesters of tyranny +throughout the world, might find a simultaneous echo in your ears, +by the medium of a common speech. The diversity of dialects, which +now unfortunately prevails, was originally invented under cover of +the feudal system, by the minions of despotism, who thought, by such +despicable means, for ever to perpetuate their power. It is part of +the same system which decrees that in different countries alien to +each other in speech, those unhappy persons who have sold themselves +to do the bidding of tyrants shall be distinguished by different +uniforms. O my brothers! see what a hellish and deep-laid system is +here! English and French--scarlet against blue--different tongues +invented, and different garments prescribed, to inflame the passions +of mankind against each other, and to stifle their common fraternity! + +"Take down, I say, from your halls and churches those wretched +tatters of silk which you designate as national colours! Bring +hither, from all parts of the earth, the butt of the gun and +the shaft of the spear, and all combustible implements of +destruction--your fascines, your scaling-ladders, and your terrible +pontoons, that have made so many mothers childless! Heap them into +one enormous pile--yea, heap them to the very stars--and on that +blazing altar let there be thrown the Union Jack of Britain, the +tricolor of France, the eagles of Russia, Austria, and Prussia, the +American stripes and stars, and every other banner and emblem of +that accursed nationality, through which alone mankind is defrauded +of his birthright. Then let all men join hands together, and as they +dance around the reeking pile, let them in one common speech chaunt +a simultaneous hymn in honour of their universal deliverance, and in +commemoration of their cosmopolitan triumph! + +"O my brothers, O my brothers! what shall I say further? Ha! I will +not address myself to you whose hearts are already kindled within +you by the purest of spiritual flames. I will uplift my voice, and +in words of thunder exhort the debased minions of tyranny to arouse +themselves ere it be too late, and to shake off those fetters which +they wear for the purpose of enslaving others. Hear me, then, ye +soldiers!--hear me, ye degraded serfs!--hear me, ye monsters of +iniquity! Oh, if the earth could speak, what a voice would arise +out of its desolate battle-fields, to testify against you and +yours! Tell us not that you have fought for freedom. Was freedom +ever won by the sword? Tell us not that you have defended your +country's rights, for in the eye of the true philosopher there is +no country save one, and that is the universal earth, to which all +have an equal claim. Shelter not yourselves, night-prowling hyenas +as you are, under such miserable pretexts as these! Hie ye to the +charnel-houses, ye bats, ye vampires, ye ravens, ye birds of the +foulest omen! Strive, if you can, in their dark recesses, to hide +yourselves from the glare of that light which is now permeating +the world. O the dawn! O the glory! O the universal illumination! +See, my brothers, how they shrink, how they flee from its cheering +influence! Tremble, minions of despotism! Your race is run, your +very empires are tottering around you. See--with one grasp I crush +them all, as I crush this flimsy scroll!" + +Here the eloquent gentleman, having made a paper ball of the last +number of the _Allgemeine Zeitung_, sate down amidst the vociferous +applause of the assembly. He was the first orator who had spoken, +and I believe had been selected to lead the van on account of his +platform experience, which was very great. I cannot say, however, +that his arguments produced entire conviction upon my mind, or that +of my companion, judging from certain muttered adjurations which +fell from Wilkinson, to the effect that on the first convenient +opportunity he would take means to make the crumpler-up of nations +atone for his scurrilous abuse of the army. We were next favoured +with addresses in Sclavonian, German, and French; and then another +British orator came forward to enlighten the public. This last was +a fellow of some fancy. Avoiding all stale topics about despotism, +aristocracies, and standing armies, he went to the root of the +matter, by asserting that in Vegetarianism alone lay the true escape +from the horrors and miseries of war. Mr Belcher--for such was the +name of this distinguished philanthropist--opined that without beef +and mutton there never could be a battle. + +"Had Napoleon," said he, "been dieted from his youth upwards upon +turnips, the world would have been spared those scenes of butchery, +which must ever remain a blot upon the history of the present +century. One of our oldest English annalists assures us that Jack +Cade, than whom, perhaps, there never breathed a more uncompromising +enemy of tyranny, subsisted entirely upon spinach. This fact has +been beautifully treated by Shakspeare, whose passion for onions was +proverbial, in his play of Henry VI., wherein he represents Cade, +immediately before his death, as engaged in the preparation of a +salad. I myself," continued Mr Belcher in a slightly flatulent tone, +"can assure this honourable company, that for more than six months I +have cautiously abstained from using any other kind of food, except +broccoli, which I find at once refreshing and laxative, light, airy, +and digestible!" + +Mr Belcher having ended, a bearded gentleman, who enjoyed the +reputation of being the most notorious duellist in Europe, rose +up for the purpose of addressing the audience; but by this time +the afternoon was considerably advanced, and a large number of the +Congress had silently seceded to the _roulette_ and _rouge-et-noir_ +tables. Among these, to my great surprise, were Miss Latchley and +Mr Pettigrew: it being, as I afterwards understood, the invariable +practice of this gifted lady, whenever she could secure a victim, +to avail herself of his pecuniary resources; so that if fortune +declared against her, the gentleman stood the loss, whilst, in the +opposite event, she retained possession of the spoil. I daresay some +of my readers may have been witnesses to a similar arrangement. + +As it was no use remaining after the departure of Mr Pettigrew, +Wilkinson and I sallied forth for a stroll, not, as you may well +conceive, in a high state of enthusiasm or rapture. + +"I would not have believed," said Wilkinson, "unless I had seen it +with my own eyes, that it was possible to collect in one room so +many samples of absolute idiocy. What a pleasant companion that +Belcher fellow, who eats nothing but broccoli, must be!" + +"A little variety in the way of peas would probably render him +perfect. But what do you say to the first orator?" + +"I shall reserve the expression of my opinion," replied Jack, "until +I have the satisfaction of meeting that gentleman in private. But +how are we to proceed? With this woman in the way, it entirely +baffles my comprehension." + +"Do you know, Jack, I was thinking of that during the whole time of +the meeting; and it does appear to me that there is a way open by +which we may precipitate the crisis. Mind--I don't answer for the +success of my scheme, but it has at least the merit of simplicity." + +"Out with it, my dear fellow! I am all impatience," cried Jack. + +"Well, then," said I, "did you remark the queer and heterogeneous +nature of the company? I don't think, if you except the Quakers, who +have the generic similarity of eels, that you could have picked out +any two individuals with a tolerable resemblance to each other." + +"That's likely enough, for they are a most seedy set. But what of +it?" + +"Why, simply this: I suspect the majority of them are political +refugees. No person, who is not an absurd fanatic or a designing +demagogue, can have any sympathy with the nonsense which is talked +against governments and standing armies. The Red Republicans, of +whom I can assure you there are plenty in every state in Europe, +are naturally most desirous to get rid of the latter, by whom they +are held in check; and if that were once accomplished, no kind of +government could stand for a single day. They are now appealing, +as they call it, to public opinion, by means of these congresses +and gatherings; and they have contrived, under cover of a zeal for +universal peace, to induce a considerable number of weak and foolish +people to join with them in a cry which is simply the forerunner of +revolution." + +"All that I understand; but I don't quite see your drift." + +"Every one of these bearded vagabonds hates the other like poison. +Talk of fraternity, indeed! They want to have revolution first; and +if they could get it, you would see them flying at each other's +throats like a pack of wild dogs that have pulled down a deer. +Now, my plan is this: Let us have a supper-party, and invite a +deputy from each nation. My life upon it, that before they have +been half-an-hour together, there will be such a row among the +fraternisers as will frighten your uncle Peter out of his senses, +or, still better, out of his present crotchet." + +"A capital idea! But how shall we get hold of the fellows?" + +"That's not very difficult. They are at this moment hard at work +at roulette, and they will come readily enough to the call if you +promise them lots of Niersteiner." + +"By George! they shall have it in bucketfuls, if that can produce +the desired effect. I say--we must positively have that chap who +abused the army." + +"I think it would be advisable to let him alone. I would rather +stick to the foreigners." + +"O, by Jove, we must have him. I have a slight score to settle, for +the credit of the service!" + +"Well, but be cautious. Recollect the great matter is to leave our +guests to themselves." + +"Never fear me. I shall take care to keep within due bounds. Now let +us look after Uncle Peter." + +We found that respected individual in a state of high glee. His +own run of luck had not been extraordinary; but the Latchley, +who appeared to possess a sort of second-sight in fixing on the +fortunate numbers, had contrived to accumulate a perfect mountain +of dollars, to the manifest disgust of a profane Quaker opposite, +who, judging from the violence of his language, had been thoroughly +cleaned out. Mr Pettigrew agreed at once to the proposal for a +supper-party, which Jack excused himself for making, on the ground +that he had a strong wish to cultivate the personal acquaintance of +the gentlemen, who, in the event of his joining the Peace Society, +would become his brethren. After some pressing, Mr Pettigrew agreed +to take the chair, his nephew officiating as croupier. Miss Lavinia +Latchley, so soon as she learned what was in contemplation, made a +strong effort to be allowed to join the party; but, notwithstanding +her assertion of the unalienable rights of woman to be present on +all occasions of social hilarity, Jack would not yield; and even +Pettigrew seemed to think that there were times and seasons when +the female countenance might be withheld with advantage. We found +no difficulty whatever in furnishing the complement of the guests. +There were seventeen of us in all--four Britons, two Frenchmen, a +Hungarian, a Lombard, a Piedmontese, a Sicilian, a Neapolitan, a +Roman, an Austrian, a Prussian, a Dane, a Dutchman, and a Yankee. +The majority exhibited beards of startling dimension, and few of +them appeared to regard soap in the light of a justifiable luxury. + +Pettigrew made an admirable chairman. Although not conversant with +any language save his own, he contrived, by means of altering the +terminations of his words, to carry on a very animated conversation +with all his neighbours. His Italian was superb, his Danish above +par, and his Sclavonic, to say the least of it, passable. The viands +were good, and the wine abundant; so that, by the time pipes were +produced, we were all tolerably hilarious. The conversation, which +at first was general, now took a political turn; and very grievous +it was to listen to the tales of the outrages which some of the +company had sustained at the hands of tyrannical governments. + +"I'll tell you what it is, gentlemen," said one of the Frenchmen, +"republics are not a whit better than monarchies, in so far as the +liberty of the people is concerned. Here am I obliged to leave +France, because I was a friend of that gallant fellow, Ledru +Rollin, whom I hope one day to see at the head of a real Socialist +government. Ah, won't we set the guillotine once more in motion +then!" + +"Property is theft," remarked the Neapolitan, sententiously. + +"I calculate, my fine chap, that you han't many dollars of your own, +if you're of that way of thinking!" said the Yankee, considerably +scandalised at this indifference to the rule of _meum_ and _tuum_. + +"O Roma!" sighed the gentleman from the eternal city, who was rather +intoxicated. + +"_Peste!_ What is the matter with it?" asked one of the Frenchmen. +"I presume it stands where it always did. _Garcon--un petit verre de +rhom!_" + +"How can Rome be what it was, when it is profaned by the foot of the +stranger?" replied he of the Papal States. + +"_Ah, bah!_ You never were better off than under the rule of +Oudinot." + +"You are a German," said the Hungarian to the Austrian; "what think +you of our brave Kossuth?" + +"I consider him a pragmatical ass," replied the Austrian curtly. + +"Perhaps in that case," interposed the Lombard, with a sneer that +might have done credit to Mephistopheles, "the gentleman may +feel inclined to palliate the conduct of that satrap of tyranny, +Radetski?" + +"What!--old father Radetski! the victor in a hundred fights!" cried +the Austrian. "That will I; and spit in the face of any cowardly +Italian who dares to breathe a word against his honour!" + +The Italian clutched his knife. + +"Hold there!" cried the Piedmontese, who seemed really a decent +sort of fellow. "None of your stiletto work here! Had you Lombards +trusted more to the bayonet and less to the knife, we might have +given another account of the Austrian in that campaign, which cost +Piedmont its king!" + +"_Carlo Alberto!_" hissed the Lombard, "_sceleratissimo traditore!_" + +The reply of the Piedmontese was a pie-dish, which prostrated the +Lombard on the floor. + +"Gentlemen! gentlemen! for Heaven's sake be calm!" screamed +Pettigrew; "remember we are all brothers!" + +"Brothers!" roared the Dane, "do ye think I would fraternise with a +Prussian? Remember Schleswig Holstein!" + +"I am perfectly calm," said the Prussian, with the stiff formality +of his nation; "I never quarrel over the generous vintage of my +fatherland. Come--let me give you a song-- + + 'Sie sollen ihm nicht haben + Den Deutschen freien Rhein.'" + +"You never were more mistaken in your life, _mon cher_," said one of +the Frenchmen, brusquely. "Before twelve months are over we shall +see who has right to the Rhine!" + +"Ay, that is true!" remarked the Dutchman; "confound these +Germans--they wanted to annex Luxembourg." + +"What says the frog?" asked the Prussian contemptuously. + +The frog said nothing, but he hit the Prussian on the teeth. + +I despair of giving even a feeble impression of the scene which +took place. No single pair of ears was sufficient to catch one +fourth of the general discord. There was first an interchange of +angry words; then an interchange of blows; and immediately after, +the guests were rolling, in groups of twos and threes, as suited +their fancy, or the adjustment of national animosities, on the +ground. The Lombard rose not again; the pie-dish had quieted him +for the night. But the Sicilian and Neapolitan lay locked in deadly +combat, each attempting with intense animosity to bite off the +other's nose. The Austrian caught the Hungarian by the throat, +and held him till he was black in the face. The Dane pommelled +the Prussian. One of the Frenchmen broke a bottle over the head +of the subject of the Pope; whilst his friend, thirsting for the +combat, attempted in vain to insult the remaining non-belligerents. +The Dutchman having done all that honour required, smoked in mute +tranquillity. Meanwhile the cries of Uncle Peter were heard above +the din of battle, entreating a cessation of hostilities. He might +as well have preached to the storm--the row grew fiercer every +moment. + +"This is a disgusting spectacle!" said the orator from Manchester. +"These men cannot be true pacificators--they must have served in the +army." + +"That reminds me, old fellow!" said Jack, turning up the cuffs of +his coat with a very ominous expression of countenance, "that you +were pleased this morning to use some impertinent expressions with +regard to the British army. Do you adhere to what you said then?" + +"I do." + +"Then up with your mauleys; for, by the Lord Harry! I intend to have +satisfaction out of your carcase!" + +And in less than a minute the Manchester apostle dropped with both +his eyes bunged up, and did not come to time. + +"Stranger!" said the Yankee to the Piedmontese, "are you inclined +for a turn at gouging? This child feels wolfish to raise hair!" But, +to his credit be it said, the Piedmontese declined the proposal +with a polite bow. Meanwhile the uproar had attracted the attention +of the neighbourhood. Six or seven men in uniform, whom I strongly +suspect to have been members of the brass band, entered the +apartment armed with bayonets, and carried off the more obstreperous +of the party to the guard-house. The others immediately retired, and +at last Jack and I were left alone with Mr Pettigrew. + +"And this," said he, after a considerable pause, "is fraternity +and peace! These are the men who intended to commence the reign +of the millennium in Europe! Giver me your hand, Jack, my dear +boy--you shan't leave the army--nay, if you do, rely upon it I +shall cut you off with a shilling, and mortify my fortune to the +Woolwich hospital. I begin to see that I am an old fool. Stop a +moment. Here is a bottle of wine that has fortunately escaped the +devastation--fill your glasses, and let us dedicate a full bumper to +the health of the Duke of Wellington." + +I need hardly say that the toast was responded to with enthusiasm. +We finished not only that bottle, but another; and I had the +satisfaction of hearing Mr Pettigrew announce to my friend Wilkinson +that the purchase-money for his company would be forthcoming at +Coutts's before he was a fortnight older. + +"I won't affect to deny," said Uncle Peter, "that this is a great +disappointment to me. I had hoped better things of human nature; but +I now perceive that I was wrong. Good night, my dear boys! I am a +good deal agitated, as you may see; and perhaps this sour wine has +not altogether agreed with me--I had better have taken brandy and +water. I shall seek refuge on my pillow, and I trust we may soon +meet again!" + +"What did the venerable Peter mean by that impressive farewell?" +said I, after the excellent old man had departed, shaking his head +mournfully as he went. + +"O, nothing at all," said Jack; "only the Niersteiner has been +rather too potent for him. Have you any sticking-plaster about you? +I have damaged my knuckles a little on the _os frontis_ of that +eloquent pacificator." + +Next morning I was awoke about ten o'clock by Jack, who came rushing +into my room. + +"He's off!" he cried. + +"Who's off?" said I. + +"Uncle Peter; and, what is far worse, he has taken Miss Latchley +with him!" + +"Impossible!" + +However, it was perfectly true. On inquiry we found that the +enamored pair had left at six in the morning. + + +CHAPTER III. + +"Well, Jack," said I, "any tidings of Uncle Peter?" as Wilkinson +entered my official apartment in London, six weeks after the +dissolution of the Congress. + +"Why, yes--and the case is rather worse than I supposed," replied +Jack despondingly. + +"You don't mean to say that he has married that infernal woman in +pantaloons?" + +"Not quite so bad as that, but very nearly. She has carried him +off to her den; and what she may make of him there, it is quite +impossible to predict." + +"Her den? Has she actually inveigled him to America?" + +"Not at all. These kind of women have stations established over the +whole face of the earth." + +"Where, then, is he located?" + +"I shall tell you. In the course of my inquiries, which, you are +aware, were rather extensive, I chanced to fall in with a Yarmouth +Bloater." + +"A what?" + +"I beg your pardon--I meant to say a Plymouth Brother. Now, these +fellows are a sort of regular kidnappers, who lie in wait to catch +up any person of means and substance: they don't meddle with +paupers, for, as you are aware, they share their property in common: +and it occurred to me rather forcibly, that by means of my friend, +who was a regular trapping missionary, I might learn something +about my uncle. It cost me an immensity of brandy to elicit the +information; but at last I succeeded in bringing out the fact, +that my uncle is at this moment the inmate of an Agapedome in the +neighbourhood of Southampton, and that the Latchley is his appointed +keeper." + +"An Agapedome!--what the mischief is that?" + +"You may well ask," said Jack; "but I won't give it a coarser +name. However, from all I can learn, it is as bad as a Mormonite +institution." + +"And what the deuce may they intend to do with him, now they have +him in their power?" + +"Fleece him out of every sixpence of property which he possesses in +the world," replied Jack. + +"That won't do, Jack! We must get him out by some means or other." + +"I suspect it would be an easier job to scale a nunnery. So far as I +can learn, they admit no one into their premises, unless they have +hopes of catching him as a convert; and I am afraid that neither you +nor I have the look of likely pupils. Besides, the Latchley could +not fail to recognise me in a moment." + +"That's true enough," said I. "I think, however, that I might escape +detection by a slight alteration of attire. The lady did not honour +me with much notice during the half-hour we spent in her company. I +must own, however, that I should not like to go alone." + +"My dear friend!" cried Jack, "if you will really be kind enough +to oblige me in this matter, I know the very man to accompany you. +Rogers of ours is in town just now. He is a famous follow--rather +fast, perhaps, and given to larking--but as true as steel. You shall +meet him to-day at dinner, and then we can arrange our plans." + +I must own that I did not feel very sanguine of success this time. +Your genuine rogue is the most suspicious character on the face +of the earth, wide awake to a thousand little discrepancies which +would escape the observation of the honest; and I felt perfectly +convinced that the superintendent of the Agapedome was likely to +prove a rogue of the first water. Then I did not see my way clearly +to the characters which we ought to assume. Of course it was no use +for me to present myself as a scion of the Woods and Forests; I +should be treated as a Government spy, and have the door slapped in +my face. To appear as an emissary of the Jesuits would be dangerous; +that body being well known for their skill in annexing property. +In short, I came to the conclusion, that unless I could work upon +the cupidity of the head Agapedomian, there was no chance whatever +of effecting Mr Pettigrew's release. To this point, therefore, I +resolved to turn my attention. + +At dinner, according to agreement, I met Rogers of ours. Rogers was +not gifted with any powerful inventive faculties; but he was a fine +specimen of the British breed, ready to take a hand at anything +which offered a prospect of fun. You would not probably have +selected him as a leading conspirator; but, though no Macchiavelli, +he appeared most valuable as an accomplice. + +Our great difficulty was to pitch upon proper characters. After +much discussion, it was resolved that Rogers of ours should appear +as a young nobleman of immense wealth, but exceedingly eccentric +habits, and that I should act as bear-leader, with an eye to my +own interest. What we were to do when we should succeed in getting +admission to the establishment, was not very clear to the perception +of any of us. We resolved to be regulated entirely by circumstances, +the great point being the rescue of Mr Peter Pettigrew. + +Accordingly, we all started for Southampton on the following +morning. On arriving there, we were informed that the Agapedome +was situated some three miles from the town, and that the most +extraordinary legends of the habits and pursuits of its inmates +were current in the neighbourhood. Nobody seemed to know exactly +what the Agapedomians were. They seemed to constitute a tolerably +large society of persons, both male and female; but whether they +were Christians, Turks, Jews, or Mahometans, was matter of exceeding +disputation. They were known, however to be rich, and occasionally +went out airing in carriages-and-four--the women all wearing +pantaloons, to the infinite scandal of the peasantry. So far as +we could learn, no gentleman answering to the description of Mr +Pettigrew had been seen among them. + +After agreeing to open communications with Jack as speedily as +possible, and emptying a bottle of champagne towards the success +of our expedition, Rogers and I started in a postchaise for the +Agapedome. Rogers was curiously arrayed in garments of chequered +plaid, a mere glance at which would have gone far to impress any +spectator with a strong notion of his eccentricity; whilst, for my +part, I had donned a suit of black, and assumed a massive pair of +gold spectacles, and a beaver with a portentous rim. + +This Agapedome was a large building surrounded by a high wall, +and looked, upon the whole, like a convent. Deeming it prudent to +ascertain how the land lay before introducing the eccentric Rogers, +I requested that gallant individual to remain in the postchaise, +whilst I solicited an interview with Mr Aaron B. Hyams, the reputed +chief of the establishment. The card I sent in was inscribed with +the name of Dr Hiram Smith, which appeared to me a sufficiently +innocuous appellation. After some delay, I was admitted through a +very strong gateway into the courtyard; and was then conducted by a +servant in a handsome livery to a library, where I was received by +Mr Hyams. + +As the Agapedome has since been broken up, and its members +dispersed, it may not be uninteresting to put on record a slight +sketch of its founder. Judging from his countenance, the progenitors +of Mr Aaron B. Hyams must have been educated in the Jewish +persuasion. His nose and lip possessed that graceful curve which is +so characteristic of the Hebrew race; and his eye, if not altogether +of that kind which the poets designate as "eagle," might not unaptly +be compared to that of the turkey-buzzard. In certain circles of +society Mr Hyams would have been esteemed a handsome man. In the +doorway of a warehouse in Holywell Street he would have committed +large havoc on the hearts of the passing Leahs and Dalilahs--for +he was a square-built powerful man, with broad shoulders and +bandy legs, and displayed on his person as much ostentatious +jewellery as though he had been concerned in a new spoiling of the +Egyptians. Apparently he was in a cheerful mood; for before him +stood a half-emptied decanter of wine, and an odour as of recently +extinguished Cubas was agreeably disseminated through the apartment. + +"Dr Hiram Smith, I presume?" said he. "Well, Dr Hiram Smith, to what +fortunate circumstance am I indebted for the honour of this visit?" + +"Simply, sir, to this," said I, "that I want to know you, and know +about you. Nobody without can tell me precisely what your Agapedome +is, so I have come for information to headquarters. I have formed my +own conclusion. If I am wrong, there is no harm done; if I am right, +we may be able to make a bargain." + +"Hallo!" cried Hyams, taken rather aback by this curt style of +exordium, "you are a rum customer, I reckon. So you want to deal, +do ye? Well then, tell us what sort of doctor you may be? No use +standing on ceremony with a chap like you. Is it M.D. or LL.D. or +D.D., or a mere walking-stick title?" + +"The title," said I, "is conventional; so you may attribute it to +any origin you please. In brief, I want to know if I can board a +pupil here?" + +"That depends entirely upon circumstances," replied Hyams. "Who and +what is the subject?" + +"A young nobleman of the highest distinction, but of slightly +eccentric habits." Here Hyams pricked up his ears. "I am not +authorised to tell his name; but otherwise, you shall have the most +satisfactory references." + +"There is only one kind of reference I care about," interrupted +Hyams, imitating at the same time the counting out of imaginary +sovereigns into his palm. + +"So much the better--there will be trouble saved," said I. "I +perceive, Mr Hyams, you are a thorough man of business. In a word, +then, my pupil has been going it too fast." + +"Flying kites and post-obits?" + +"And all the rest of it," said I; "black-legs innumerable, and no +end of scrapes in the green-room. Things have come to such a pass +that his father, the Duke, insists on his being kept out of the way +at present; and, as taking him to Paris would only make matters +worse, it occurred to me that I might locate him for a time in some +quiet but cheerful establishment, where he could have his reasonable +swing, and no questions asked." + +"Dr Hiram Smith!" cried Hyams with enthusiasm, "you're a regular +trump! I wish all the noblemen in England would look out for tutors +like you." + +"You are exceedingly complimentary, Mr Hyams. And now that you know +my errand, may I ask what the Agapedome is?" + +"The Home of Love," replied Hyams; "at least so I was told by the +Oxford gent, to whom I gave half-a-guinea for the title." + +"And your object?" + +"A pleasant retreat--comfortable home--no sort of bother of +ceremony--innocent attachments encouraged--and, in the general case, +community of goods." + +"Of which latter, I presume, Mr Hyams is the sole administrator?" + +"Right again, Doctor!" said Hyams with a leer of intelligence; "no +use beating about the bush with you, I perceive. A single cashier +for the whole concern saves a world of unnecessary trouble. Then, +you see, we have our little matrimonial arrangements. A young +lady in search of an eligible domicile comes here and deposits +her fortune. We provide her by-and-by with a husband of suitable +tastes, so that all matters are arranged comfortably. No luxury +or enjoyment is denied to the inmates of the establishment, which +may be compared, in short, to a perfect aviary, in which you hear +nothing from morning to evening save one continuous sound of billing +and cooing." + +"You draw a fascinating picture, Mr Hyams," said I: "too +fascinating, in fact; for, after what you have said, I doubt whether +I should be fulfilling my duty to my noble patron the Duke, were I +to expose his heir to the influence of such powerful temptations." + +"Don't be in the least degree alarmed about that," said Hyams. "I +shall take care that in this case there is no chance of marriage. +Harkye, Doctor, it is rather against our rules to admit parlour +boarders; but I don't mind doing it in this case, if you agree to my +terms, which are one hundred and twenty guineas per month." + +"On the part of the Duke," said I, "I anticipate no objection; nor +shall I refuse your stamped receipts at that rate. But as I happen +to be paymaster, I shall certainly not give you in exchange for +each of them more than seventy guineas, which will leave you a very +pretty profit over and above your expenses." + +"What a screw you are, Doctor!" cried Hyams. "Would you have the +conscience to pocket fifty for nothing? Come, come--make it eighty +and it's a bargain." + +"Seventy is my last word. Beard of Mordecai, man! do you think I am +going to surrender this pigeon to your hands gratis? Have I not told +you already that he has a natural turn for _ecarte_!" + +"Ah, Doctor, Doctor! you must be one of our people--you must +indeed!" said Hyams. "Well, is it a bargain?" + +"Not yet," said I. "In common decency, and for the sake of +appearances, I must stay for a couple of days in the house, in order +that I may be able to give a satisfactory report to the Duke. By the +way, I hope everything is quite orthodox here--nothing contrary to +the tenets of the church?" + +"O quite," replied Hyams; "it is a beautiful establishment in point +of order. The bell rings every day punctually at four o'clock." + +"For prayers?" + +"No, sir--for hockey. We find that a little lively exercise gives a +cheerful tone to the mind, and promotes those animal spirits which +are the peculiar boast of the Agapedome." + +"I am quite satisfied," said I. "So now, if you please, I shall +introduce my pupil." + +I need not dwell minutely upon the particulars of the interview +which took place between Rogers of ours and the superintendent of +the Agapedome. Indeed there is little to record. Rogers received the +intimation that this was to be his residence for a season with the +utmost nonchalance, simply remarking that he thought it would be +rather slow; and then, by way of keeping up his character, filled +himself a bumper of sherry. Mr Hyams regarded him as a spider might +do when some unknown but rather powerful insect comes within the +precincts of his net. + +"Well," said Rogers, "since it seems I am to be quartered here, what +sort of fun is to be had? Any racket-court, eh?" + +"I am sorry to say, my Lord, ours is not built as yet. But at four +o'clock we shall have hockey--" + +"Hang hockey! I have no fancy for getting my shins bruised. Any body +in the house except myself?" + +"If your Lordship would like to visit the ladies--" + +"Say no more!" cried Rogers impetuously. "I shall manage to kill +time now! 'Hallo, you follow with the shoulder-knot! show me the way +to the drawing-room;" and Rogers straightway disappeared. + +"Doctor Hiram Smith!" said Hyams, looking rather discomposed, "this +is most extraordinary conduct on the part of your pupil." + +"Not at all extraordinary, I assure you," I replied; "I told you he +was rather eccentric, but at present he is in a peculiarly quiet +mood. Wait till you see his animal spirits up!" + +"Why, he'll be the ruin of the Agapedome!" cried Hyams; "I cannot +possibly permit this." + +"It will rather puzzle you to stop it," said I. + +Here a faint squall, followed by a sound of suppressed giggling, was +heard in the passage without. + +"Holy Moses!" cried the Agapedomian, starting up, "if Mrs Hyams +should happen to be there!" + +"You may rely upon it she will very soon become accustomed to his +Lordship's eccentricities. Why, you told me you admitted of no sort +of bother or ceremony." + +"Yes--but a joke maybe carried too far. As I live, he is pursuing +one of the ladies down stairs into the courtyard!" + +"Is he?" said I; "then you may be tolerably certain he will +overtake her." + +"Surely some of the servants will stop him!" cried Hyams, rushing +to the window. "Yes--here comes one of them. Father Abraham! is it +possible? He has knocked Adoniram down!" + +"Nothing more likely," said I; "his Lordship had lessons from +Mendoza." + +"I must look to this myself," cried Hyams. + +"Then I'll follow and see fair play," said I. + +We rushed into the court; but by this time it was empty. The pursued +and the pursuer--Daphne and Apollo--had taken flight into the +garden. Thither we followed them, Hyams red with ire; but no trace +was seen of the fugitives. At last in an acacia bower we heard +murmurs. Hyams dashed on; I followed; and there, to my unutterable +surprise, I beheld Rogers of ours kneeling at the feet of the +Latchley! + +"Beautiful Lavinia!" he was saying, just as we turned the corner. + +"Sister Latchley!" cried Hyams, "what is the meaning of all this?" + +"Rather let me ask, brother Hyams," said the Latchley in unabashed +serenity, "what means this intrusion, so foreign to the time, and so +subversive of the laws of our society?" + +"Shall I pound him, Lavinia?" said Rogers, evidently anxious to +discharge a slight modicum of the debt which he owed to the Jewish +fraternity. + +"I command--I beseech you, no! Speak, brother Hyams! I again require +of you to state why and wherefore you have chosen to violate the +fundamental rules of the Agapedome?" + +"Sister Latchley, you will drive me mad! This young man has not been +ten minutes in the house, and yet I find him scampering after you +like a tom-cat, and knocking down Adoniram because he came in his +way, and you are apparently quite pleased!" + +"Is the influence of love measured by hours?" asked the Latchley in +a tone of deep sentiment. "Count we electricity by time--do we mete +out sympathy by the dial? Brother Hyams, were not your intellectual +vision obscured by a dull and earthly film, you would know that the +passage of the lightning is not more rapid than the flash of kindled +love." + +"That sounds all very fine," said Hyams, "but I shall allow no such +doings here; and you, in particular, Sister Latchley, considering +how you are situated, ought to be ashamed of yourself!" + +"Aaron, my man," said Rogers of ours, "will you be good enough to +explain what you mean by making such insinuations?" + +"Stay, my Lord," said I; "I really must interpose. Mr Hyams is about +to explain." + +"May I never discount bill again," cried the Jew, "if this is not +enough to make a man forswear the faith of his fathers! Look you +here, Miss Latchley; you are part of the establishment, and I expect +you to obey orders." + +"I was not aware, sir, until this moment," said Miss Latchley, +loftily, "that I was subject to the orders of any one." + +"Now, don't be a fool; there's a dear!" said Hyams. "You know well +enough what I mean. Haven't you enough on hand with Pettigrew, +without encumbering yourself--?" and he stopped short. + +"It is a pity, sir," said Miss Latchley, still more magnificently, +"it is a vast pity, that since you have the meanness to invent +falsehoods, you cannot at the same time command the courage to utter +them. Why am I thus insulted? Who is this Pettigrew you speak of?" + +"Pettigrew--Pettigrew?" remarked Rogers; "I say, Dr Smith, was +not that the name of the man who is gone amissing, and for whose +discovery his friends are offering a reward?" + +Hyams started as if stung by an adder. "Sister Latchley," he said, +"I fear I was in the wrong." + +"You have made the discovery rather too late, Mr Hyams," replied +the irate Lavinia. "After the insults you have heaped upon me, it +is full time we should part. Perhaps these gentlemen will be kind +enough to conduct an unprotected female to a temporary home." + +"If you will go, you go alone, madam," said Hyams; "his Lordship +intends to remain here." + +"His Lordship intends to do nothing of the sort, you rascal," said +Rogers. "Hockey don't agree with my constitution." + +"Before I depart, Mr Hyams," said Miss Latchley, "let me remark that +you are indebted to me in the sum of two thousand pounds as my share +of the profits of the establishment. Will you pay it now, or would +you prefer to wait till you hear from my solicitor?" + +"Anything more?" asked the Agapedomian. + +"Merely this," said I: "I am now fully aware that Mr Peter Pettigrew +is detained within these walls. Surrender him instantly, or prepare +yourself for the worst penalties of the law." + +I made a fearful blunder in betraying my secret before I was clear +of the premises, and the words had scarcely passed my lips before +I was aware of my mistake. With the look of a detected demon Hyams +confronted us. + +"Ho, ho! this is a conspiracy, is it? But you have reckoned without +your host. Ho, there! Jonathan--Asahel! close the doors, ring the +great bell, and let no man pass on your lives! And now let's see +what stuff you are made of!" + +So saying, the ruffian drew a life-preserver from his pocket, and +struck furiously at my head before I had time to guard myself. But +quick as he was, Rogers of ours was quicker. With his left hand he +caught the arm of Hyams as the blow descended, whilst with the right +he dealt him a fearful blow on the temple, which made the Hebrew +stagger. But Hyams, amongst his other accomplishments, had practised +in the ring. He recovered himself almost immediately, and rushed +upon Rogers. Several heavy hits were interchanged; and there is no +saying how the combat might have terminated, but for the presence +of mind of the Latchley. That gifted female, superior to the +weakness of her sex, caught up the life-preserver from the ground, +and applied it so effectually to the back of Hyams' skull, that he +dropped like an ox in the slaughter-house. + +Meanwhile the alarum bell was ringing--women were screaming at +the windows, from which also several crazy-looking gentlemen were +gesticulating; and three or four truculent Israelites were rushing +through the courtyard. The whole Agapedome was in an uproar. + +"Keep together and fear nothing!" cried Rogers. "I never stir on +these kind of expeditions without my pistols. Smith--give your arm +to Miss Latchley, who has behaved like the heroine of Saragossa; and +now let us see if any of these scoundrels will venture to dispute +our way!" + +But for the firearms which Rogers carried, I suspect our egress +would have been disputed. Jonathan and Asahel, red-headed ruffians +both, stood ready with iron bars in their hands to oppose our exit; +but a glimpse of the bright glittering barrel caused them to change +their purpose. Rogers commanded them, on pain of instant death, to +open the door. They obeyed; and we emerged from the Agapedome as +joyfully as the Ithacans from the cave of Polyphemus. Fortunately +the chaise was still in waiting: we assisted Miss Latchley in, and +drove off, as fast as the horses could gallop, to Southampton. + + +CHAPTER IV. + +"Is it possible they can have murdered him?" said Jack. + +"That, I think," said I, "is highly improbable. I rather imagine +that he has refused to conform to some of the rules of the +association, and has been committed to the custody of Messrs +Jonathan and Asahel." + +"Shall I ask Lavinia?" said Rogers. "I daresay she would tell me all +about it." + +"Better not," said I, "in the mean time. Poor thing! her nerves must +be shaken." + +"Not a whit of them," replied Rogers. "I saw no symptom of nerves +about her. She was as cool as a cucumber when she floored that +infernal Jew; and if she should be a little agitated or so, she is +calming herself at this moment with a glass of brandy and water. I +mixed it for her. Do you know she's a capital fellow, only 'tis a +pity she's so very plain." + +"I wish the police would arrive!" said Jack. "We have really not a +minute to lose. Poor Uncle Peter! I devoutly trust this may be the +last of his freaks." + +"I hope so too, Jack, for your sake: it is no joke rummaging him out +of such company. But for Rogers there, we should all of us have been +as dead as pickled herrings." + +"I bear a charmed life," said Rogers. "Remember I belong to 'the +Immortals.' But there come the blue-coats in a couple of carriages. +'Gad, Wilkinson, I wish it were our luck to storm the Agapedome with +a score of our own fellows!" + +During our drive, Rogers enlightened us as to his encounter with the +Latchley. It appeared that he had bestowed considerable attention +to our conversation in London; and that, when he hurried to the +drawing-room in the Agapedome, as already related, he thought he +recognised the Latchley at once, in the midst of half-a-dozen more +juvenile and blooming sisters. + +"Of course, I never read a word of the woman's works," said Rogers, +"and I hope I never shall; but I know that female vanity will stand +any amount of butter. So I bolted into the room, without caring for +the rest--though, by the way, there was one little girl with fair +hair and blue eyes, who, I hope, has not left the Agapedome--threw +myself at the feet of Lavinia; declared that I was a young nobleman, +enamoured of her writings, who was resolved to force my way through +iron bars to gain a glimpse of the bright original: and, upon +the whole, I think you must allow that I managed matters rather +successfully." + +There could be but one opinion as to that. In fact, without Rogers, +the whole scheme must have miscarried. It was Kellermann's charge, +unexpected and unauthorised--but altogether triumphant. + +On arriving at the Agapedome we found the door open, and three or +four peasants loitering round the gateway. + +"Are they here still?" cried Jack, springing from the chaise. + +"Noa, measter," replied one of the bystanders; "they be gone an hour +past in four carrutches, wi' all their goods and chuckles." + +"Did they carry any one with them by force?" + +"Noa, not by force, as I seed; but there wore one chap among them +woundily raddled on the sconce." + +"Hyams to wit, I suppose. Come, gentlemen; as we have a +search-warrant, let us in and examine the premises thoroughly." + +Short as was the interval which had elapsed between our exit and +return, Messrs Jonathan, Asahel, and Co. had availed themselves +of it to the utmost. Every portable article of any value had been +removed. Drawers were open, and papers scattered over the floors, +along with a good many pairs of bloomers rather the worse for the +wear: in short, every thing seemed to indicate that the nest was +finally abandoned. What curious discoveries we made during the +course of our researches, as to the social habits and domestic +economy of this happy family, I shall not venture to recount; we +came there not to gratify either private or public curiosity, but to +perform a sacred duty by emancipating Mr Peter Pettigrew. + +Neither in the cellars nor the closets, nor even in the garrets, +could we find any trace of the lost one. The contents of one +bedroom, indeed, showed that it had been formerly tenanted by Mr +Pettigrew, for there were his portmanteaus with his name engraved +upon them; his razors, and his wearing apparel, all seemingly +untouched: but there were no marks of any recent occupancy; the dust +was gathering on the table, and the ewer perfectly dry. It was the +opinion of the detective officer that at least ten days had elapsed +since any one had slept in the room. Jack became greatly alarmed. + +"I suppose," said he, "there is nothing for it but to proceed +immediately in pursuit of Hyams: do you think you will be able to +apprehend him?" + +"I doubt it very much, sir," replied the detective officer. "These +sort of fellows are wide awake, and are always prepared for +accidents. I expect that, by this time, he is on his way to France. +But hush!--what was that?" + +A dull sound as of the clapper of a large bell boomed overhead. +There was silence for about a minute, and again it was repeated. + +"Here is a clue, at all events!" cried the officer. "My life on it, +there is some one in the belfry." + +We hastened up the narrow stairs which led to the tower. Half way +up, the passage was barred by a stout door, double locked, which the +officers had some difficulty in forcing with the aid of a crow-bar. +This obstacle removed, we reached the lofty room where the bell +was suspended; and there, right under the clapper, on a miserable +truckle bed, lay the emaciated form of Mr Pettigrew. + +"My poor uncle!" said Jack, stooping tenderly to embrace his +relative, "what can have brought you here?" + +"Speak louder, Jack!" said Mr Pettigrew; "I can't hear you. For +twelve long days that infernal bell has been tolling just above my +head for hockey and other villanous purposes. I am as deaf as a +doornail!" + +"And so thin, dear uncle! You must have been most shamefully abused." + +"Simply starved; that's all." + +"What! starved? The monsters! Did they give you nothing to eat?" + +"Yes--broccoli. I wish you would try it for a week: it is a rare +thing to bring out the bones." + +"And why did they commit this outrage upon you?" + +"For two especial reasons, I suppose--first, because I would not +surrender my whole property; and, secondly, because I would not +marry Miss Latchley." + +"My dear uncle! when I saw you last, it appeared to me that you +would have had no objections to perform the latter ceremony." + +"Not on compulsion, Jack--not on compulsion!" said Mr Pettigrew, +with a touch of his old humour. "I won't deny that I was humbugged +by her at first, but this was over long ago." + +"Indeed! Pray, may I venture to ask what changed your opinion of the +lady?" + +"Her works, Jack--her own works!" replied Uncle Peter. "She gave me +them to read as soon as I was fairly trapped into the Agapedome, +and such an awful collection of impiety and presumption I never saw +before. She is ten thousand times worse than the deceased Thomas +Paine." + +"Was she, then, party to your incarceration?" + +"I won't say that. I hardly think she would have consented to +let them harm me, or that she knew exactly how I was used; but +that fellow Hyams is wicked enough to have been an officer under +King Herod. Now, pray help me up, and lift me down stairs, for my +legs are so cramped that I can't walk, and my head is as dizzy +as a wheel. That confounded broccoli, too, has disagreed with my +constitution, and I shall feel particularly obliged to any one who +can assist me to a drop of brandy." + +After having ministered to the immediate wants of Mr Pettigrew, +and secured his effects, we returned to Southampton, leaving the +deserted Agapedome in the charge of a couple of police. In spite of +every entreaty Mr Pettigrew would not hear of entering a prosecution +against Hyams. + +"I feel," said he, "that I have made a thorough ass of myself; +and I should not be able to stand the ridicule that must follow a +disclosure of the consequences. In fact, I begin to think that I am +not fit to look after my own affairs. The man who has spent twelve +days, as I have, under the clapper of a bell, without any other +sustenance than broccoli--is there any more brandy in the flask? +I should like the merest drop--the man, I say, who has undergone +these trials, has ample time for meditation upon the past. I see +my weakness, and I acknowledge it. So Jack, my dear boy, as you +have always behaved to me more like a son than a nephew, I intend, +immediately on my return to London, to settle my whole property upon +you, merely reserving an annuity. Don't say a word on the subject. +My mind is made up, and nothing can alter my resolution." + +On arriving at Southampton we considered it our duty to communicate +immediately with Miss Latchley, for the purpose of ascertaining if +we could render her any temporary assistance. Perhaps it was more +than she deserved; but we could not forget her sex, though she had +done everything in her power to disguise it; and, besides, the lucky +blow with the life-preserver, which she administered to Hyams, was +a service for which we could not be otherwise than grateful. Jack +Wilkinson was selected as the medium of communication. He found the +strong Lavinia alone, and perfectly composed. + +"I wish never more," said she, "to hear the name of Pettigrew. It is +associated in my mind with weakness, fanaticism, and vacillation; +and I shall ever feel humbled at the reflection that I bowed my +woman's pride to gaze on the surface of so shallow and opaque a +pool! And yet, why regret? The image of the sun is reflected equally +from the Boeotian marsh and the mirror of the clear Ontario! Tell +your uncle," continued she, after a pause, "that as he is nothing +to me, so I wish to be nothing to him. Let us mutually extinguish +memory. Ha, ha, ha!--so they fed him, you say, upon broccoli? + +"But I have one message to give, though not to him. The youth +who, in the nobility of his soul, declared his passion for my +intellect--where is he? I tarry beneath this roof but for him. Do +my message fairly, and say to him that if he seeks a communion of +soul--no! that is the common phrase of the slaves of antiquated +superstition--if he yearns for a grand amalgamation of essential +passion and power, let him hasten hither, and Lavinia Latchley is +ready to accompany him to the prairie or the forest, to the torrid +zone, or to the confines of the arctic seas!" + +"I shall deliver your message, ma'am," said Jack, "as accurately as +my abilities will allow." And he did so. + +Rogers of ours writhed uneasily in his seat. + +"I'll tell you what it is, my fine fellows," said he, "I don't look +upon this quite as a laughing matter. I am really sorry to have +taken in the old woman, though I don't see how we could well have +helped it; and I would far rather, Jack, that she had fixed her +affections upon you than on me. I shall get infernally roasted at +the mess if this story should transpire. However, I suppose there's +only one answer to be given. Pray, present my most humble respects, +and say how exceedingly distressed I feel that my professional +engagements will not permit me to accompany her in her proposed +expedition." + +Jack reported the answer in due form. + +"Then," said Lavinia, drawing herself up to her full height, and +shrouding her visage in a black veil, "tell him that for his sake I +am resolved to die a virgin!" + +I presume she will keep her word; at least I have not yet heard that +any one has been courageous enough to request her to change her +situation. She has since returned to America, and is now, I believe, +the president of a female college, the students of which may be +distinguished from the rest of their sex, by their uniform adoption +of bloomers. + + +_Printed by William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh._ + + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's note: + +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. + +Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. +Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as +printed, ecept for the following: + +The transcriber has made accents consistent for "Schaigie" and +"Schaigie's". + +Page 328: "But he must cease to be Mr Ruskin if they ..." The +transcriber has inserted "be". + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. +70, No. 431, September 1851, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE, SEPT 1851 *** + +***** This file should be named 44361.txt or 44361.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/4/3/6/44361/ + +Produced by Brendan OConnor, Jonathan Ingram and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Library of Early Journals.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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