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diff --git a/old/44378.txt b/old/44378.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b725e18 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44378.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9974 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 60, +No. 374, December, 1846, 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. 60, No. 374, December, 1846 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: December 6, 2013 [EBook #44378] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE, DEC 1846 *** + + + + +Produced by Brendan OConnor, Jonathan Ingram and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Library of Early Journals.) + + + + + +Transcriber's note: + +Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). + +Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals. + +*** depicts an asterism. + + * * * * * + + + + +BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. + +No. CCCLXXIV. DECEMBER, 1846. VOL. LX. + + + CONTENTS. + + KOHL IN DENMARK AND IN THE MARSHES, 645 + + LORD METCALFE'S GOVERNMENT OF JAMAICA, 662 + + ANNALS AND ANTIQUITIES OF LONDON, 673 + + MARLBOROUGH'S DISPATCHES. 1711-1712, 690 + + MILDRED. A TALE. PART I., 709 + + THE LAW AND ITS PUNISHMENTS, 721 + + LEGENDS OF THE THAMES, 729 + + RECENT ROYAL MARRIAGES, 740 + + ST MAGNUS', KIRKWALL, 753 + + THE GAME LAWS, 754 + + + EDINBURGH: + WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, 45, GEORGE STREET; + AND 37, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. + _To whom all Communications (post paid) must be addressed._ + SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. + + PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND HUGHES, EDINBURGH. + + + + + _In the Press, a Seventh Edition of_ + + THE HISTORY OF EUROPE, + FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION TO THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO. + + BY ARCHIBALD ALISON, F. R. S. + + + *** This Edition will be handsomely printed in Crown Octavo; the First + Volume to be Published on the 24th of December, and the remaining Volumes + Monthly. + + PRICE SIX SHILLINGS EACH. + + + + +BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. + +No. CCCLXXIV. DECEMBER, 1846. VOL. LX. + + + + +KOHL IN DENMARK AND IN THE MARSHES. + + _Die Marschen und Inseln der Herzogthuemer Schleswig und + Holstein. Reisen in Daenemark und den Herzogthuemer Schleswig und + Holstein._ + + +Mr. Kohl, the most prolific of modern German writers, the most +indefatigable of travellers, is already well known to the English +public by his "Sketches of the English," "Travels in Ireland," and +many other publications too numerous to remember. He is a gentleman +of marvellous facility in travelling over foreign ground--of +extraordinary capabilities in the manufacturing of books. Within +five years he has given to the world, hostages for fame, some +thirty or forty volumes; and explored, socially, politically, +scientifically, and aesthetically, North and South Russia, Poland, +Moravia, Hungary, Bavaria, Great Britain, France, Denmark, and we +know not how many other countries besides. It is as difficult to +stop his pen as his feet. He is always trotting, and writing whilst +he trots, and evidently without the smallest fatigue from either +occupation. He plays on earth the part assigned to the lark above it +by the poet: he, + + "Singing, still doth soar; and soaring, ever singeth." + +He has already announced a scheme that has occurred to him for +a commercial map, which shall contain, in various colours, the +productions and raw materials of every country in the world, with +lines appended, marking the course they take to their several ports +of embarkation. We shrewdly suspect that this gigantic scheme has +grown out of another, more personal and profitable, and already +put in practice. We could almost swear that Mr Kohl had drawn up a +literary map on the very same principle, with dots for the countries +and districts to be visited and worked up, and lines to mark the +course for the conveyance of that very raw material, which he is +eternally digging up on the way, in the shape of disquisitions about +nothing, and moral reflections on every thing. Denmark occupies him +to-day. We will wager that he is already intent upon working out an +article or book from neighbouring Norway or adjacent Sweden. + +It was remarked the other day by a writer, that one great literary +fault of the present day is a desire to be "so priggishly curt and +epigrammatic," that almost every lucubration comes from the furnace +with a coating of "small impertinence," perfectly intolerable to +the sober reader. If any writer is anxious to correct this fault, +let him take our advice gratis, and sit down at once to a course +of Kohl. So admirable a spinner of long yarns from the smallest +threads, never flourished. We have most honestly and perseveringly +waded through his eleven or twelve hundred pages of close print, +and we unhesitatingly confess that we have never before perused +so much, of which we have retained so little. Does not every man, +woman, and child, in these days of cheap fares and everlasting +steamers, know by heart all that can be said or sung about "tones +from the sea?" Are they not to be summoned, at any given moment, +under any given circumstances, by your fire at twilight, on your +pillow at midnight? Mr Kohl proses about these eternal "_tones_," +till salt water becomes odious--about storms, till they calm you +to sleep--about calms, till they drive you to fury--about winds +and waves, till your head aches with their motion. We will not +pretend to tell you, reader, all the differences that exist between +high marsh-land and low marsh-land, broad dikes and narrow dikes, +or to describe the downs and embankments which we have seen, go +whithersoever we may, ever since we have risen from the perusal of +Mr Kohl's book. We will not, because Mr Kohl has dealt hardly by +us, have our revenge upon you. Nay, we could not, if we would. The +picture is jumbled in our critical head, as it lies confused in +the author's work, which is as disjointed a labour as ever puzzled +science seeking in chaos for a system. Backwards and forwards he +goes--now up to his head in the marshes, now lighting upon an +island, disdaining geography, giving the go-by to history, dragging +us recklessly through digressions, repudiating any thing like order, +and utterly oblivious of that beautiful scheme so dear to his heart, +by which we are to trace the natural course of every thing under the +sun but the narrative of Mr Kohl's very tedious adventures. + +Mr Kohl knows very well what is the duty of a faithful delineator of +foreign countries and manners. He acknowledges in his preface, that +his work is rather a make-up of simple remarks than a comprehensive +description of the countries named in the titlepage. This confession +is not--as is often the case--a modest appreciation of great merits, +but a true estimate of small achievements. It is the simple fact. +As for the consolatory reflections of the author, that he has at +all events proved that he knows more of the lands he describes than +his countrymen who stay at home, it is of so lowly a character that +we are by no means disposed to discuss it. When he adds, however, +that he has already earned a kind reception from the world, and +trusts to be reckoned amongst the men who have been useful, we may +be permitted to hint, that neither a kind reception nor the quality +of usefulness will long be vouchsafed to the individual who leads +confiding but unfortunate readers a Will-o'-the-Wisp chase over bogs +and moors that have no end, and compels them to swallow, diluted in +bottles three, the draught which might easily have found its way +into an ordinary phial. + +That there are gems in the volumes cannot be denied: that they +are not of the first water, is equally beyond a doubt. Scattered +over a prodigious surface, they have not been gained without some +difficulty. Those who are not able or disposed to turn to the +original, will be glad to learn from us something of the sturdy +Frieslanders and Ditmarschers. They who have energy and patience +enough to overcome the prolixity of the author, will at least give +us credit for some perseverance, and appreciate the difficulties of +our task. + +Mr Kohl commences his work with a description of the _Islands_. +We will follow the order of the titlepage, and begin with the +"Marshes" and their brave and hardy inhabitants. The author informs +us, with pardonable exultation, that, upon asking a German of +ordinary education whether he knew who the Ditmarschers are, he +was most satisfactorily answered, "_Ja wohl!_ are they not the +famous peasants of Denmark who would not surrender to the king?" +We question whether many Englishmen, of even an extraordinary +education, would have answered at once so glibly or correctly. To +enable them to meet the question of any future Kohl with promptness +and success, we will introduce them at once to this singular race, +and give a rapid sketch of their country and political existence. + +The territory inhabited by the Ditmarschers is a small district of +flat country, stretching along the Elbe and the Eyder, and is about +a hundred miles in length. Its maritime frontier was originally +defended by lofty mounds, which opposed the encroachments of the +sea; whilst inland it found protection in an almost impenetrable +barrier of thick wood, bogs, lakes, and morass. This barrier +constitutes the marshes so minutely described by our author. The +Ditmarschers are a people of Friesic origin; the name, according +to Mr Kohl, being derived from _Marsch_, _Meeresland_, sea-land, +and _Dith_, _Thit_, or _Teut_, _Deutsch_, German. In the time +of Charlemagne, or his immediate successors, the district was +included in the department of the Mouth of the Elbe, and was known +as the Countship of Stade. It was bestowed by the Emperor Henry +IV., in 1602, upon the archbishops of Bremen, to be held by them +in fief. The Ditmarschers, however, were but slippery subjects; +and, maintaining an actual independence within their embankments, +cared little who governed them, provided sufficient advantages were +offered by the prince or prelate who demanded their allegiance. In +1186, we find them claiming the protection of Bishop Valdemar of +Sleswig, the uncle and guardian of Prince Valdemar, afterwards known +as Valdemar the conqueror; for, "being grievously worried by the +oppressions of the bailiffs of their spiritual Lord," they declared +a perfect indifference as to "whether they paid tribute to Saint +Peter of Bremen, or Saint Peter of Sleswig." They passed from the +rule of Bishop Valdemar, who was subsequently excommunicated, to +that respectively of the Duke of Holstein, the Bishop of Bremen, +and Valdemar II., King of Denmark. When the last-named monarch gave +battle to his revolted subjects at Bornhoeved in Holstein, in the +year 1227, the Ditmarschers suddenly united their bands with those +of the enemy, and decided the fate of the day against the king. They +then returned to the rule of the bishops of Bremen, stipulating for +many rights and privileges, which they enjoyed unmolested during +300 years; that is to say, up to the year 1559, whilst they yielded +little more than a nominal obedience to their spiritual lords, and +evinced no great alacrity in assisting them in times of need. + +During their long period of practical independence and freedom, +the Ditmarschers governed themselves like stanch republicans. +Their grand assembly was the _Meende_, to which all citizens were +eligible above the age of eighteen. It met in extraordinary cases at +Meldorf, the capital: but commonly seventy or eighty _Radgewere_, +or councillors, decided upon all questions of national policy +propounded to them by the _Schlueter_, or overseers of the various +parishes into which the district was divided, who generally managed +the affairs of their own little municipality independently of their +neighbours. This simple institution underwent some modifications +about the middle of the fifteenth century, when, in consequence of +internal dissensions, eight-and-forty men were chosen as supreme +judges for life. These "_achtundveertig_" had, however, but little +real power. They met weekly; but on great emergencies they summoned +a general assembly, amounting to about 1500 persons, and consisting +of the various councillors and _schlueter_. This assembly held forth +in the market-place of the capital. The masses closely watched the +proceedings, and when it was deemed necessary, called upon one of +their own number to address the meeting on behalf of the rest. + +The peace enjoyed by the Ditmarschers from without, contrasted +strongly with the tumults that were often experienced within. The +annals of these people inform us, that whole families and races +were from time to time swept away by the hand of the foe, and by +the violence of party spirit. The Ditmarschers celebrate several +days as anniversaries of victories. One, the _Hare_ day, dates as +far back as 1288, when a party of Holsteiners made an incursion +into the marshes, but were speedily opposed by the natives. For +a time the two hostile bands watched each other, neither willing +to attack, when a hare suddenly started up between them. Some of +the Ditmarschers, pursuing the frightened animal, exclaimed _Loep, +loep!_--"Run, run!" The foremost Holsteiners, seeing the enemy +approaching at full speed, were thrown into confusion; whilst those +behind them, hearing the cry of "run, run!" took to their heels, +and a general rout ensued. The day of "melting lead" is another +joyful anniversary. Gerard VII. of Holstein, endeavouring in 1390[1] +to subjugate the country of the Ditmarschen, drove the people at the +crisis of an assault to such extremities, that they were obliged to +take refuge in a church, which they obstinately defended against +the Duke's troops, until Gerard, infuriated, ordered the leaden +roof of the building to be heated. The melted lead trickled down on +the heads of the Ditmarschers, who, finding themselves reduced to +a choice of deaths, desperately fought their way out, engaged the +Holsteiners, whom they overcame, and who, ignorant of the country, +were either lost in the intricacies of the marshes or drowned in +the dikes. The forces of a count, a duke, and a king, were in turns +routed by the brave Ditmarschers, who have not yet forgotten the +glory of their ancient peasantry. In 1559, however, they ceased to +gain victories for celebration. In that year Denmark and the Duchies +united to subdue the small but very valiant nation. They marshalled +an army of twenty-five thousand picked men, whilst the Ditmarschers +could with difficulty collect seven thousand. John Rantzan commanded +the allied army. He captured Meldorf, set fire to the town, pursued +the inhabitants in all directions and destroyed the greater number +whilst they were nobly fighting for their liberties. Utterly beaten, +the Ditmarschers submitted to their conquerors. Three of the +clergy proceeded to the enemy, bearing a letter addressed to the +princes as "The Lords of Ditmarschen," and offering to surrender +their arms and ammunitions, together with all the trophies they +had ever won. A general capitulation followed: not wholly to the +disadvantage of the people, since it was stipulated that none but +a native of the country should hold immediate authority over it. +At first the land was divided amongst the sovereigns of Denmark, +Holstein, and Sleswig; but in 1773 it was finally ceded in full to +the Danish monarch, together with part of Holstein, by the Duke of +Schleswig-Holstein, (afterwards Grand-Duke of Russia,) in exchange +for Oldenburg and Delmenhorst. The Ditmarschers, at the present +hour enjoy many of their former privileges: they acknowledge no +distinctions of rank; they have their forty-eight Supreme Judges +(the ancient _schlueter_) under the name of _Voegte_ or overseers, +and may, in fact, be regarded as one of the best samples of +republicanism now existing in the world. + + [1] Mr Kohl fixes the date of the "melted lead" day at 1319, + forgetting that Margaret, the Semiramis of the North, in whose reign + the event occurred, did not reign in Denmark until about 1375. She + died in 1412. + +Thus much for their history. Of their far-farmed dikes and sluices, +of the marsh-lands and downs which their embankments inclosed, +much more may be said, for Mr Kohl devotes half his work to their +consideration. We will not fatigue the indulgent reader by engaging +him for a survey. The land is distinguished by the inhabitants by +the terms _grest_ and _marsch_; the former being the hilly district, +the latter the deposits from the sea:--the one is woody in parts, +having heath and sand, springs and brooks: the other is flat, +treeless, heathless, with no sand or spring, but one rich series of +meadows, intersected in every direction by canals and dikes. Far as +the eye can reach, it rests upon broad and fertile meads covered +with grazing cattle; whilst from the teeming plain stand forth +farm-houses innumerable, raised upon _wurten_, or little hillocks, +some ten or twelve feet above the level of the land, for security +against constantly recurring inundation. All external appliances +needful for the establishment are elevated upon these heights, whose +sides are, for the most part, covered with vegetable gardens, and +here and there with flowers and shrubs. The houses have but one +story; they are long, and built of brick. For protection against +the unsteady soil, they are often supported by large iron posts +projecting from the sides, and looking like huge anchors. There are +few villages or hamlets in the marshes. The inhabitants are not +gregarious, but prefer the independence of a perfectly insulated +abode. The "threshold right" is still so strictly maintained amongst +them, that no officer of police dare enter, unpermitted, the house +of a Ditmarscher, or arrest him within his own doors. + +The roads in the marshes, as may be supposed, are, at times, almost +impassable; riding is therefore more frequent than driving or +walking, although many of the more active marshers accelerate their +passage across the fens by leaping-poles, which they employ with +wonderful dexterity. The women ride always behind the men, on a seat +fastened to the crupper. As the dikes lie higher than the meadows, +they prove the driest road for carriages and passengers; but they +are not always open to the traveller, lest too constant a traffic +should injure the foundations. The carriages chiefly used are a +species of land canoe. They are called _Koerwagen_, and are long, +narrow, and awkward. On either side of the vehicle, chairs or seats +swing loosely. No one chair is large enough for the two who occupy +it, and who sit with their knees closely pressed against the seat +which is before them. + +The process of gradually reclaiming new land from the waves is +somewhat curious. As soon as a sufficient amount of deposit has been +thrown up from the sea, outguards, or breakwaters, called _hoefter_ +are immediately erected. Within the breakwater there remains a pool +of still water, which by degrees fills up with a rich slime or mud +called _slick_. As soon as the slick has attained an elevation +sufficient to be above the regular level of the high waves, plants +styled "_Queller_" appear, and are soon succeeded by others termed +_Druecknieder_, from the tendency of their interlaced roots and +tendrils to keep down the soft mud. In the course of years, the soil +rises, and a meadow takes the place of the former stagnant pool. +As these new lands are extremely productive, often yielding three +hundred-fold on the first crop of rape-seed, sixty to eighty fold +on barley, and from thirty to forty on wheat, their possession is +ever a subject of great dispute. Formerly the diking and embankments +were undertaken by companies; but at present they are in the hands +of the Danish government, which makes all necessary outlay in the +beginning, and appropriates whatever surplus may remain upon the +original cost to future repairs and to the aid of the general +poor fund. Some slight idea may be formed of the enormous expense +incurred in the construction and maintenance of these dikes, when we +state that the _Dagebieller_ dike alone cost ten thousand dollars +for one recent repair. Ninety thousand dollars were one summer +spent in building embankments around reclaimed land, now valued at +one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, thus showing a clear gain +of sixty thousand dollars by the undertaking. The embankments are +generally from fifteen to twenty feet high. When the nature of the +soil upon which they are raised is considered, together with the +scarcity of wood on these low lands, it will not be difficult to +understand that constant labour is needed to prevent the land from +being undermined by the sea, and that it is only by unremitting +industry, and constant attention to the condition of the breakwaters +and dikes, that the enemy can at all be kept at bay. + +The dangers that are to be encountered, and the laborious efforts +that must be made for subsistence at home, train the Frieslander of +the marshes and islands for the perils of the deep, which we find +him encountering with a brave and dogged resolution. The islanders, +especially, are constantly engaged in the whale and other fisheries. +In the islands visited by Mr Kohl, the greater number of the men +were far away on the seas, and their wives and daughters conducting +the business of their several callings; some tending cattle, some +spinning, others manufacturing gloves. Seals abound upon the coast, +and are caught by sundry ingenious devices. A fisher disguises +himself in a seal-skin, and travels up to a troop of these sea +monsters, imitating, as far as he is able, their singular movements +and contortions. When, fairly amongst them, he lifts the gun which +has been concealed beneath his body, and shoots amongst the herd. +If discovered asleep a seal is sure to be caught, for his slumbers +are sound. Conscious of his weakness, _Phoca_ stations a patrol at +some little distance from his couch, and an alarm is given as soon +as any man appears. At certain seasons of the year vast flocks of +ducks light upon the islands, and are caught chiefly by the aid of +tame decoy-birds, who mislead the others into extensive nets spread +for the visitors. One duck-decoyer will catch twenty thousand birds +in the course of a summer; the soft down obtained from the breast of +one species is the _eider down_. The season begins in September and +lasts till Christmas. Hamburg beef is due to the localities we speak +of. One of the large meadow districts already mentioned, is said +to fatten eight thousand head of oxen yearly, who, at their death, +bequeath to the world the far-famed dainty. + +The islands visited by our author are those lying in that part +of the North Sea which the Danes call _Vesterhafet_, or the +western harbour, and which extends close to the shores from the +mouth of the Elbe to Jutland. Of these the most noted are Syltoe, +Foehr, Amrum, Romoe, and Pelvorn. Around them lie many excellent +oyster-beds--royal property, and yielding an annual income of twenty +thousand dollars. The people inhabiting these islands are said to be +of Friesic origin: they certainly were colonists from Holland, and +they still exhibit many peculiarities of the ancient Friesic stock. +They are clean, neat, simple, honest, and moral. Few establishments +for the punishment of culprits are to be found either in the islands +or on the marshes. As late as the fifteenth and sixteenth century, +in cases of homicide the accused was doomed to walk over twelve +burning ploughshares. Great crimes seem unknown to-day; and the +practice of leaving house-doors unbarred and unlocked upon the wide +and desolate marshes, testifies not a little to the general honesty +of the people. + +Mr Kohl talks a whole boxfull of balaam about the identity of the +islanders and the English. In the first place, he insists that +_Hengist_ and _Horsa_ were gentlemen of Friesic extraction; and +secondly, he compares them to a spirituous liquor: thirdly, he +argues on the topic like a musty German bookworm, who has travelled +no further than round his own room, and seen no more humanity than +the grubby specimen his looking-glass once a-week, at shaving +time, presents to him. What authority has Mr Kohl for this Friesic +origin of Hengist and Horsa? Is there a port along the Elbe and +the Weser, or on the coasts of Jutland and Holstein, which does +not claim the honour of having sent the brothers out? Is not the +question as difficult to decide, the fact as impossible to arrive +at, as Homer's birthplace? But supposing the hypothesis of Mr Kohl +to be true, he surely cannot be serious when he asserts, that +the handful of men who landed with the brothers in Britain, have +transmitted their Friesic characteristics through every succeeding +age, and that these are discernible now in all their pristine vigour +and integrity. Can he mean what he says? Is he not joking when he +puts forward the "rum" argument? A little of that liquor, he says, +flavours a bowl of punch. Why shouldn't a little Friesic season the +entire English nation with the masculine force of the old Teutonic +Frieslanders? Why should it? If Hengist and Horsa supplied the rum, +who, we are justified in asking, came down with the sugar and lemon? +If the beverage be milk-punch, who was the dairyman? These are +questions quite as apt as Mr Kohl's, not a whit more curious than +his illustrations. The points of identity between the Frieslander +and the Englishman are marvellous, if you can but see them. The +inhabitants of the marshes and islands are grave, reserved, and +thoughtful; so are the English; so, for that matter, are the Upper +Lusatians, if we are to believe Ernst Willkomm; so are a good many +other people. The marshers have an eye to their own interests; so +have the English. This is a feature quite peculiar to the marshers +and the English. It may be called the _right_ eye, every other +nation possessing only the left. Of course, Mr Kohl is perfectly +blind to his interests, in publishing the present work: yet he is +Friesic too! From the Frieslanders we have inherited our "English +spleen." How many years have we been attributing it to the much +maligned climate? We are starched and stiff; so are the islanders. +The marshers dress a May king and queen at a spring festival. We +know something about a May queen at the same blessed season. If +these were the only instances of kindred resemblance, our readers +might fail to be convinced, after all, of the truth of the Friesic +theory. These doubts, if any linger, shall be removed at once. One +morning a Frieslander carefully opened Mr Kohl's door, and said, "_I +am afraid_ there is a house on fire." Kohl rushed forth and found +the building in flames; which incident immediately reminded him--he +being a German and a philosopher--of the excessive caution of the +Englishman, which, under the most alarming circumstances, forbids +his saying any thing stronger than "I believe," "I am afraid," "I +dare say." Verily we "believe," we are "afraid," we "dare say," +that Mr. Kohl is a most incorrigible twaddler. One more peculiarity +remains to be told. They keep gigs in the marshes. There are +"gentlemen" there as well as in England. Are there none elsewhere? + +The customs of the Ditmarschers could not fail to be interesting. +That of the _Fenstern_ or _Windowing_ is romantic, and perilous +to boot. At dead of night, when all good people are asleep, young +gallants cross the marshes and downs for miles to visit the girls +of their acquaintance, or it may be _the_ girl of fairest form +and most attractions. Arrived at the house, they scale the walls, +enter a window, and drop into the chamber of the lady, who lies +muffled up to the chin on a bed of down, having taken care to +leave a burning lamp on the table, and fire in the stove, that +her nocturnal callers may have both light and warmth. Upon the +entrance of her visitor, she politely asks him to be seated--his +chair being placed at the distance of a few feet from the bed. They +converse, and the conversation being brought to an end, the gallant +takes his departure either by the door or window. Some opposition +has been shown of late to this custom by a few over-scrupulous +parents; but the fathers who are bold enough to put bolts on their +doors or windows, are certain of meeting with reprisals from the +gallants of the district. The _Fenstern_ is subject to certain +laws and regulations, by which those who practise it are bound to +abide. Another curious custom, and derived like the former from the +heathen, was the dance performed at the churching of women up to the +close of the last century--the woman herself wearing a green and a +red stocking, and hopping upon one leg to church. The Friesic women +are small and delicately formed: their skin, beautifully soft and +white, is protected most carefully against the rough atmosphere by a +mantle, which so completely covers the face, that both in winter and +summer little can be seen beyond the eyes of the women encountered +in the open streets. The generally sombre hue of the garments +renders this muffling the more remarkable; for it is customary for +the relatives of those who are at sea to wear mourning until the +return of the adventurers. Skirt, boddice, apron, and kerchief, all +are dark; and the cloth which so jealously screens the head and face +from the sun and storm, is of the same melancholy hue. + +The churchyards testify to the fact, that a comparatively small +number of those who, year after year, proceed on their perilous +expeditions, return to die at home. The monuments almost exclusively +record the names of women--a blank being left for that of the absent +husband, father, or brother, whose remains are possibly mouldering +in another hemisphere. Every device and symbol sculptured in the +churchyard has reference to the maritime life, with which they are +all so familiar. A ship at anchor, dismasted, with broken tackle, is +a favourite image, whilst the inscription quaintly corresponds with +the sculptured metaphor. It is usual for the people to erect their +monuments during life, and to have the full inscriptions written, +leaving room only for the _date_ of the decease. In the island of +Foehr and elsewhere, the custom still prevails of hiring women to +make loud lamentations over the body, as it is carried homewards +and deposited in the earth. The churches are plain to rudeness, and +disfigured with the most barbarous wood carvings of our Saviour, of +saints, and popes. These rough buildings are, for the most part, of +great antiquity, and traditions tell of their having been brought +from England. There can be no doubt that British missionaries were +here in former days. At the time of the Reformation, the islanders +refused to change their faith; but once converted to Lutheranism, +they have remained stanch Protestants ever since, and maintain a +becoming veneration for their pastors. The clergy are natives of the +islands, and therefore well acquainted with the Friesic dialect, in +which they preach. Their pay is necessarily small, and is mostly +raised by the voluntary contributions of the parishioners. As +may be supposed, the clergy have much influence over the people, +especially on the smaller islands, where the inhabitants have but +little intercourse with strangers. Temperance societies have been +established by the pastors. Brandy, tea, and coffee, came into +general use throughout the islands about a century ago, and ardent +drinking was in vogue until the interference of the clergy. The +Ditmarschers especially, who are allowed to distil without paying +excise duties, carried the vice of drunkenness to excess; but they +are much improved. + +The greatest diversity of languages, or rather of dialects, exists +in the islands, arising probably from the fact of Friesic not being +a written language. The dialect of the furthest west approaches +nearer to English than any other. The people of _Amrum_ are proud +of the similarity. They retain the _th_ of the old Icelandic, and +have a number of words in which the resemblance of their ancient +form of speech to the old Anglo-Saxon English is more apparent than +in even the Danish of the present day; as, for instance, _Hu mani +mile?_ How many miles? _Bradgrum_, bridegroom; _theenk_, think, &c. +In many of the words advanced by Mr Kohl, that gentleman evidently +betrays an unconsciousness of their being synonymous with the modern +Danish; and, therefore, strikingly inimical to his favourite theory +of the especial Friesic descent of the English people and language. +Little or nothing is known of the actual geographical propagation +of the old Friesic. At present it is yielding to the Danish and the +Low German in the duchies of Sleswig and Holstein. Many names are +still common amongst the people, which seem to have descended from +the heathen epoch, and which are, in fact, more frequently heard +than the names in the "Roman Calendar," met with elsewhere. _Des_, +_Edo_, _Haje_, _Pave_, _Tete_, are the names of men; _Ehle_, _Tat_, +_Mantje_, _Ode_, _Sieg_, are those of women. None of them are known +amongst any other people. Much confusion exists with respect to the +patronymic, there being no surnames in use in many of the islands. +If a man were called _Tete_, his son _Edo_ would be _Edo Tetes_; +and then, again, _Tat_, the wife of the _Edo_, would be _Tat Edos_, +and his son _Des_, _Des Edos_; whilst _Des's_ son _Tete_ would be +_Tete Des's_, and so on in the most troublesome and perplexing +combinations. + +The Frieslanders, like other northern nations, are superstitious, +and they have a multitude of traditions or sagas, some of them +very curious and interesting. We must pass over these instructive +myths--always the rarest and most striking portion of a people's +history--more cursorily than we could wish, and cite a few only of +the most peculiar. The island of _Sylt_, which is the richest in +remains of _hoeogen_, the celts of heathen heroes, &c., lays claim +to the largest number of Maerchen. The most characteristic of all +is that of _de Mannigfuel_, the "colossal ship," (or world,) which +was so large that the commander was obliged to ride about the deck +in order to give his orders: the sailors that went aloft as boys +came down greyheaded, so long a time having elapsed whilst they +were rigging the sails. Once, when the ship was in great peril, +and the waters were running high, the sailors, disheartened by +their protracted watching and labour, threw out ballast in order to +lighten the vessel, when, lo! an island arose, and then another, +and another still, till land was formed--the earth being, according +to the sailors' notion, the secondary formation. Once--many ages +afterwards--when the _Mannigfuel_ was endeavouring to pass through +the Straits of Dover, the captain ingeniously thought to have the +side of the vessel, nearest Dover, rubbed with white soap, and +hence the whiteness of the cliffs at Dover. The achievements +recounted of _de Mannigfuel_ are endless. The following explanation +of the formation of the Straits of Dover is found in a Friesic +saga:--Once upon a time, a queen of England, the land to the west +of the North Sea, and a king of Denmark, the land to the east of +the North Sea, loved each other, and plighted troth; but, as it +happened, the king proved faithless, and left the poor queen to +wear the willow. England was then joined to the Continent by a +chain of hills called _Hoeneden_; and the queen, desiring to wreak +vengeance on her false wooer and his subjects, summoned her people +around her, and setting them to work for seven years in digging +away these hills, at the end of the seventh year the waves pushed +furiously through the channel that had been dug, and swept along the +coasts of Friesland and Jutland, drowning and carrying away 100,000 +persons. To this very hour the Jutland shores yearly tremble before +the fatal vengeance of the slighted queen. The Frieslanders are so +wedded to this marvellous geological myth, that they insist upon +its historical foundation. In some versions 700, in others 7000, in +others again, even 700,000 men are said to have been employed in +this gigantic undertaking. + +Another allegorical saga is the narrative of the share taken by the +man in the moon in the matter of the daily ebbing and flowing of +the sea. His chief, or indeed only occupation, seems to be to pour +water from a huge bucket. Being somewhat lazy, the old gentleman +soon grows weary of the employment, and then he lies down to rest. +Of course whilst he is napping, the water avails itself of the +opportunity to return to its ordinary level. + +The constellation of the Great Bear, or Charles's Wain, is, +according to the Frieslanders, the chariot in which Elias and many +other great prophets ascended into heaven. There being now-a-days +no individual sufficiently pious for such a mode of transit, it has +been put aside, with other heavenly curiosities, its only office +being to carry the angels in their nocturnal excursions throughout +the year. The angel who acts as driver for the night, fixes his eye +steadily upon the centre point of the heavenly arch, (the polar +star,) in order that the two stars of the shaft of the chariot +may keep in a straight line with the celestial focus. The rising +and setting of the sun is thus explained:--A host of beautiful +nymphs receive the sun beneath the earth in the western hemisphere, +and cutting it into a thousand parts, they make of it little air +balloons, which they sportively throw at the heavenly youths, +who keep guard at the eastern horizon of the earth. The gallant +band, not to be outdone by their fair antagonists, mount a high +ladder, and when night has veiled the earth in darkness, toss back +the golden balls, which, careering rapidly through the vault of +heaven, fall in glittering showers upon the heads of the celestial +virgins of the west. The children of the sky, having thus diverted +themselves through the night, they hasten at dawn of day to collect +the scattered balls, and joining them into one huge mass, they bear +it upon their shoulders, mid singing and dancing, to the eastern +gates of heaven. The enchanting rosy light which hovers round the +rising orb is the reflection of the virgins' lovely forms, who, +beholding their charge safely launched upon its course, retire, and +leave it, as we see it, to traverse the sky alone. + +The following exquisite tradition connects itself with that brief +season when, in the summer of the far north, the sun tarries night +and day above the horizon. _All-fader_ had two faithful servants, +of the race of those who enjoyed eternal youth, and when the sun +had done its first day's course, he called to him _Demmarik_, and +said, "To thy watchful care, my daughter, I confide the setting sun +that I have newly created; extinguish its light carefully, and guard +the precious flame that no evil approach it." And the next morning, +when the sun was again about to begin its course, he said to his +servant _Koite_, "My son, to thy trusty hand I remit the charge +of kindling the light of the sun I have created, and of leading +it forth on its way." Faithfully did the children discharge the +duties assigned to them. In the winter they carefully guarded the +precious light, and laid it early to rest, and awakened it to life +again only at a late hour; but, as the spring and summer advanced, +they suffered the glorious flame to linger longer in the vault of +heaven, and to rejoice the hearts of men by the brightness of its +aspect. At length the time arrived when, in our northern world, the +sun enjoys but brief rest. It must be up betimes in the morning to +awaken the flowers and fruit to life and light, and it must cast +its glowing beams across the mantle of night, and lose no time in +idle slumber. Then it was that _Demmarik_, for the first time, met +_Koite_ face to face as she stood upon the western edge of heaven, +and received from the hands of her brother-servant the orb of light. +As the fading lamp passed from one to the other, their eyes met, and +a gentle pressure of their hands sent a thrill of holy love through +their hearts. No eye was there save that of the _All-fader_, who +called his servants before him, and said, "Ye have done well; and as +recompense, I permit ye to fulfil your respective charges conjointly +as man and wife." Then, _Demmarik_ and _Koite_, looking at each +other, replied--"No, All-fader! disturb not our joy; let us remain +everlastingly in our present bridal state; wedded joy cannot equal +what we feel now as betrothed!" And the mighty _All-fader_ granted +their prayer, and from that time they have met but once in the year, +when, during four weeks, they greet each other night after night; +and then, as the lamp passes from one to the other, a pressure of +the hand and a kiss calls forth a rosy blush on the fair cheek of +_Demmarik_ which sheds its mantling glow over all the heavens, +_Koite's_ heart the while thrilling with purest joy. And should they +tarry too long, the gentle nightingales of the _All-fader_ have but +to warble _Laisk tudrueck, laisk tudrueck! oepik!_ "Giddy ones, giddy +ones! take heed!" to chide them forward on their duty. + +With a lovelier vision, reader! we could not leave you dwelling upon +the rugged but, to the heart's core, thoroughly poetic Frieslander. +Let us leave the gentle Demmarik and devoted Koite to their chaste +and heavenly mission, and with a bound leap into Denmark, whither Mr +Kohl, in his forty-fourth volume of travels, summons us, and whither +we must follow him, although the prosaic gentleman is somewhat +of the earth, earthy, after the blessed imitations we have had, +reader--you and we--of the eternal summer's day faintly embodied in +the vision of that long bright day of the far north! + +Should any adventurous youth sit down to Mr Kohl's volume on +Denmark, and, half an hour afterwards, throw the book in sheer +disgust and weariness out of the window, swearing never to look +into it again, let him be advised to ring the bell, and to request +Mary to bring it back again with the least possible delay. Having +received it from the maid of all work's horny hand, let the said +youth begin the book again, but, as he would a Hebrew Bible, at the +other end. He may take our word for it there is good stuff there, +in spite of the twaddle that encountered him erewhile at Hamburg. +Mr Kohl has been won by aldermanic dinners in the chief city of +the Hanseatic League, as Louis Philippe was touched by aldermanic +eloquence and wit in the chief city of the world, and he babbles of +mercantile operations and commercial enterprise, until the heart +grows sick with fatigue, and is only made happy by the regrets which +the author expresses--just one hour after the right time--respecting +his inability to enlarge further upon the fruitful and noble +theme of the monetary speculations of one of the richest and most +disagreeable communities of Europe. + +Before putting foot on Danish ground, Mr Kohl is careful to make +a kind of solemn protest touching Germanic patriotism, lest, we +presume, he should be suspected of taking a heretical view of the +question at issue at the present moment between the Sleswig-Holstein +provinces and the mother-country Denmark. It is not for us to +enter into any political discussions here, concerning matters of +internal government which are no more business of ours than of his +Majesty Muda Hassim, of the island of Borneo; but we must confess +our inability to understand why such a terrific storm of patriotic +ardour has so suddenly burst forth in Germany, respecting provinces +which, until recently, certainly up to the time when the late +king gave his people the unasked-for boon of a constitution, were +perfectly happy and contented under the Danish rule, to which they +had been accustomed some five or six hundred years.[2] It is only +since the assembly of the states was constituted, that the Sleswig +Holsteiners have been seized with the Germanic _furor_--a malady +not a little increased by the inflammatory harangues of needy +demagogues, and the pedantic outpourings of a handful of professors +stark-mad on the subject of German liberty. If there is one thing +more absurd than another, upon this globe of absurdity, it is the +cant of "nationality," "freedom," "fatherland," "brotherhood," &c. +&c., which is dinned into your ears from one end of Germany to the +other; but which, like all other cants, is nothing but so much +wind and froth, utterly without reason, stamina, or foundation. We +should like to ask any mustached and bearded youth of Heidelberg +or Bonn, at any one sober moment of his existence, to point out +to us any single spot where this boasted "nationality" is to be +seen and scanned. Will the red-capped, long-haired _Bursch_ tell +us when and where we may behold that "vaterland" of which he is +eternally dreaming, singing, and drinking? Why, is it not a fact +that, to a Prussian, an Austrian or a Swabian is an alien? Does +not a Saxe-Coburger, a Hessian, and any other subject of any small +duchy or principality, insist, in his intense hatred of Prussia, +that the Prussians are no Germans at all; that they have interests +of their own, opposed to those of the true German people; and that +they are as distinct as they are selfish? You cannot travel over the +various countries and districts included under the name of Germany, +without learning the thorough insulation of the component parts. +The fact is forced upon you at every step. Mr Kohl himself belongs +to none of the states mentioned. He is a native of Bremen--one of +the cities of that proud Hanseatic League which certainly has never +shown an enlarged or patriotic spirit with reference to this same +universal "vaterland." Arrogant and lordly republics care little +for abstractions. They have a keen instinct for their own material +interests, but a small appreciation of the glorious ideal. We ask, +again, where is this all pervading German patriotism? + + [2] In the year 1660, the different estates of Denmark made a + voluntary surrender of their rights into the hands of their + sovereign, who became by that act _absolute_: it is a fact + unparalleled in the history of any other country. Up to the year + 1834, this unlimited power was exercised by the kings, who, it must + be said to their honour, never abused it by seeking to oppress or + enslave their subjects. In the year 1834, however, Frederic VI., + of his own free will and choice, established a representative + government. The gift was by no means conferred in consequence of + any discontent exhibited under the hitherto restrictive system. + The intentions of the monarch were highly praiseworthy; their + wisdom is not so clear, as, under the new law, the kingdom is + divided into four parts--1. The Islands; 2. Sleswig; 3. Jutland; + 4. Holstein; each having its own provincial assembly. The number + of representatives for the whole country amounts to 1217. Each + representative receives four rix-dollars a-day (a rix-dollar is 2s. + 2-1/2d.) for his services, besides his travelling expenses. The + communication between the sovereign and the assembly is through a + royal commissioner, who is allowed to vote, but not to speak.--See + _Wheaton's History of Scandinavia_. + +We have said that Mr Kohl is a great traveller. We withdraw the +accusation. He has written forty odd volumes, but they have been +composed, every one of them, in his snug _stube_, at Bremen, or +wheresoever else he puts up, under the influence of German stoves, +German pipes, and German beer. A great traveller is a great +catholic. His mind grows more capacious, his heart more generous, +as he makes his pilgrimages along this troubled earth, and learns +the mightiness of Heaven, the mutability and smallness of things +temporal. Prejudice cannot stand up against the knowledge that pours +in upon him; bigotry cannot exist in the wide temple he explores. +The wanderer "feels himself new-born," as he learns, with his +eyes, the living history of every new people, and compares, in his +judgment, the lessons of his ripe manhood with the instruction +imparted in his confined and straitened youth. If it may be said +that to learn a new language is to acquire a new mind, what is +it to become acquainted, intimately and face to face, with a new +people, new institutions, new faiths, new habits of thought and +feeling? There never existed a great traveller who, at the end of +his wanderings, did not find himself, as if by magic, released of +all the rust of prejudice, vanity, self-conceit, and pride, which +a narrow experience engenders, and a small field of action so +fatally heaps up. We will venture to assert that there is not a +monkey now caged up in the zoological gardens, who would not--if +permitted by the honourable Society--return to his native woods +a better and a wiser beast for the one long journey he has made. +Should Mr Kohl, we ask, behave worse than an imprisoned monkey? We +pardon M. Michelet when he rants about _la belle France_, because +we know that the excited gentleman--eloquent and scholarly as he +is--is reposing eternally in Paris, under the _drapeau_, which +fans nothing but glory into his smiling and complacent visage. +When John Bull, sitting in the parlour of the "Queen's Head," +smoking his clay and swallowing his heavy, with Bob Yokel from the +country, manfully exclaims, striking Bob heartily and jollily on the +shoulder, "D--n it, Bob, an Englishman will whop three Frenchmen +any day!" we smile, but we are not angry. We feel it is the beer, +and that, like the valiant Michelet, the good man knows no better. +Send the two on their travels, and talk to them when they come +back. Well, Mr Kohl has travelled, and has come back; and he tells +us, in the year of grace 1846, that the crown-jewel in the diadem +of France is Alsace, and that the Alsatians are the pearls amongst +her provincialists--the Alsatians, be it understood, being a German +people, and, as far as report goes, the heaviest and stupidest that +"vaterland" can claim. The only true gems in the Autocrat's crown +are, according to the enlightened Kohl, the German provinces of +Liefland, Esthonia, and Courland. All the industry and enterprise of +the Belgians come simply from their Teutonic blood; the treasures +of the Danish king must be looked for in the German provinces of +Sleswig and Holstein. This is not all. German literature and the +German tongue enjoy advantages possessed by no other literature +and language. English universities are "Stockenglisch," downright +English; the French are quite Frenchy; the Spanish are solely +Spanish; but German schools have taken root in every part of the +earth. At Dorpat, says Mr Kohl, German is taught, written, and +printed; and therefore the German spirit is diffused throughout all +the Russias. At Kiel the same process is going forward on behalf of +Scandinavia. The Slavonians, the Italians, and Greeks, are likewise +submitting, _nolens volens_, to the same irresistible influence. +The very same words may be found in M. Michelet's book of "The +People,"--only for _German_ spirit, read _French_. + +Mr Kohl proceeds in the same easy style to announce the rapid giving +way of the Danish language in Denmark and the eager substitution of +his own. He asserts this in the teeth of all those Danish writers +who have started up within the last fifty years, and who have +boldly and wisely discarded the pernicious practice (originating in +the German character of the reigning family) of expressing Danish +notions in a foreign tongue. He asserts it in the teeth of Mrs +Howitt and of the German translators, whom this lady calls to her +aid, but who have very feebly represented that rich diction and +flexible style so remarkable in the Danish compositions referred +to, and so much surpassing the power of any other northern tongue. +We should do Mr Kohl injustice if we did not give his reason for +regarding the Danish language as a thing doomed. He was credibly +informed that many fathers of families were in the habit of +promising rewards to their children if they would converse in German +and not in Danish! Hear this, Lord Palmerston! and if, on hearing +it, you still allow the rising generation, at our seminaries, to ask +for _du pang_ and _du bur_, and to receive them with, it may be, a +silver medal for proficiency, the consequences be on your devoted +head! + +Denmark has been comparatively but little visited by the stranger. +She offers, nevertheless, to the antiquary, the poet, and the +artist, materials of interest which cannot be exceeded in any other +district of the same extent. Every wood, lake, heath, and down, is +rich in historical legends or mythical sagas; every copse and hill, +every cave and mound, has been peopled by past superstition with +the elf and the sprite, the _ellefolk_ and _nissen_. Her history, +blending with that of her Scandinavian sisters, Norway and Sweden, +is romantic in the extreme--whether she is traced to the days of +her fabulous sea-kings, or is read of in the records of those who +have chronicled the lives of her sovereigns in the middle ages. +The country itself, although flat, is picturesque, being thickly +interspersed with lakes, skirted by, and embosomed in, luxuriant +beech woods; whilst ever and anon the traveller lights upon some +ancient ruin of church or tower, palace or hermitage, affecting, if +only by reason of the associations it awakens with an age far more +prosperous than the present. The existence of the Danish people, +as a nation, has been pronounced a miracle. It is hardly less. +Small and feeble, and surrounded by the foreigner on every side, +Denmark has never been ruled by a conqueror. Amid the rise and fall +of other states, she has maintained her independence--now powerful +and victorious, now depressed and poor, but never succumbing, +never submitting to the stranger's yoke. Her present dynasty is +the oldest reigning European family. It dates back to Christian +I.--himself descended in a direct female line from the old kings +of Scandinavia--who, as Duke of Oldenburg, was chosen king by the +states in 1448. + +A good account of Denmark and the Danes is yet wanting. It may be +collected by any honest writer, moderately conversant with the +language and history of the country. We fear that Mr. Kohl will not +supply the literary void, if we are to judge from the one volume +before us. Others are, however, to follow; and as our author is +immethodical, he may haply return to make good imperfections, and to +fill up his hasty sketches. We cannot but regret that he should have +passed so rapidly through the Duchy of Holstein. Had he followed +the highways and byways of the province, instead of flitting like +a swallow--to use his own words--over the ground by means of the +newly-opened railroad through Kiel, his "Travels" would surely have +been the better for his trouble. Instead of pausing where the most +volatile would have been detained, our author satisfies himself +with simply expressing his unfeigned regret at being obliged to +pursue his journey, consoling his readers and himself with the very +paradoxical assertion that we are most struck by the places of +which we see least; since, being all of us more or less poetically +disposed, we permit the imagination to supply the deficiencies of +experience;--an argument which, we need scarcely say, if carried +to its fullest limits, brings us to the conviction, that he who +stays at home is best fitted to describe the countries the furthest +distant from his fireside. Surely, Mr Kohl, you do not speak from +knowledge of the fact! + +In his present volumes, Mr Kohl refers only passingly to the subject +of education in Denmark. He remarks that the national schools far +surpassed his expectations. He might have said more. For the last +thirty or forty years, we believe, it has been rare to meet with +the commonest peasant who could not read and write; a fact proving, +at least, that Denmark is rather in advance than otherwise of her +richer neighbours in carrying out the educational measures which, of +late years, have so largely occupied the attention of the various +governments of Europe. No one in Denmark can enter the army or navy +who has not previously received his education at one or other of +the military academies of the country. The course of study is well +arranged. It embraces, besides the classics, modern languages, +drawing, and exercises both equestrian and gymnastic. The academies +themselves are under the immediate direction of the best military +and naval officers in the service. For the education of the people, +two or three schools are provided in every village, the masters +receiving a small salary, with a house and certain perquisites. In +1822 the system of Bell was introduced in the elementary public +schools, and since that period it has been generally adhered to. + +Our author speaks with natural surprise of the small number of +Roman Catholics he encountered in the Danish States. The Papists +have no church or chapel throughout the kingdom; indeed, with the +exception of the private chapel of the Austrian minister, no place +of worship. We were aware that such was the fact a few years ago; +we were scarcely prepared to find that Rome, who has been so busy +in planting new shoots of her faith in every nook of the known +world, is still content to have no recognition in Denmark. Heavy +penalties are incurred by all who secede to the Romish church. In +Sweden a change to Roman Catholicism is followed by banishment. +This severity, we presume, must be ascribed to state policy rather +than to a spirit of intolerance, for Jews and Christians of every +denomination are permitted the freest exercise of their faith. +Since the year 1521, the era of the Reformation in Denmark, the +religion of the country has been Lutheran. The Danish church is +divided into five dioceses, of which the bishop of Zealand is the +metropolitan. His income is about a thousand a-year, whilst that +of the other prelates varies from four to six hundred. The funds +of the clergy are derived principally from tithes; but the parish +ministers receive part of their stipend in the form of offerings +at the three great annual festivals. Until lately, there existed +much lukewarmness on all religious questions. Within the last ten +or fifteen years, however, a new impulse has been given to the +spiritual mind by the writing and preaching of several Calvinistic +ministers, who have migrated from Switzerland and established +themselves in Copenhagen. Their object has been to stop the +recreations which, until their arrival, enlivened the Sabbath-day. +They have met with more success in the higher classes than amongst +the people, who now, as formerly, assemble on the green in front of +the village church at the close of service, and pursue their several +pastimes. + +Mention is made in Mr Kohl's volume, of the churchyards and +cemetries he visited in his hasty progress. Compared with those of +his own northern Germany, the Scandinavian places of burial are +indeed very beautiful. The government has long since forbidden any +new interments to be made within the churches, and many picturesque +spots have, in consequence, been converted into cemetries. In +the immediate vicinity of Copenhagen there are several; but the +essence of Mr Kohl's plan being want of arrangement, he makes +no mention of them for the present. One of these cemetries, the +_Assistenskirkegaard_, outside the city, has an unusual number of +fine monuments, with no exhibitions of that glaring want of taste so +frequently met with elsewhere. The village churchyards are bright, +happy-looking spots, which, by their cheerful aspect, seem to rob +the homes of the dead of all their natural gloom and desolation. +Every peasant's grave is a bed of flowers, planted, watched, and +cherished by a sorrowing friend. At either end of the seven or +eight feet of mound rises a wooden cross, on which fresh wreaths +of flowers appear throughout the summer, giving place only to the +"eternals" which adorn the grave when snow mantles its surface. A +narrow walk, marked by a line of box, incloses every mound; or, +not unfrequently, a trellis-work, tastefully entwined of twigs and +boughs. The resting-places of the middle classes are surmounted +by a tablet, not, as in our churchyards, rigidly inclosed within +impassable palisades, but standing in a little garden, where the +fresh-blown flowers, the neatly trimmed beds, and generally the +garden-bench, mark that the spot is visited and tended by the +friends of those who sleep below. Hither widowed mothers lead their +children, on the anniversary of their father's death, to strew +flowers on his grave, to hang up the wreaths which they have wound; +but, above all, to collect the choicest flowers that have bloomed +around him, which must henceforth deck, until they perish, the +portrait of the departed, or some relic dear for his sake. We have +watched the rough work-worn peasant, leading by the hand his little +grandchild, laden with flowers and green twigs to freshen the grave +of a long-absent helpmate; and as we have remarked, we confess not +without emotion, feeble infancy and feeble age uniting their weak +efforts to preserve, in cleanliness and beauty, the one sacred patch +of earth--we have believed, undoubtingly, that whilst customs such +as these prevail, happiness and morality must be the people's lot; +and that very fearful must be the responsibility of those who shall +sow the first seeds of discord and dissension amongst the simple +peasantry of so fair a land! + +The cathedrals of Denmark are of great antiquity. Those of Ribe, of +Viboig in Jutland, of Lard, Ringsted, and Roeskilde, in Zealand, +all date from the end of the eleventh, or the beginning of the +twelfth century; since which remote period, in fact, no churches +of any magnitude have been erected. Roeskilde is one of the oldest +cities in the kingdom. In the tenth century it was the capital. +Canute the Great may be considered as the originator and founder of +its existing cathedral, which was completed in the year 1054. It +has occasionally undergone slight repairs, but never any material +alteration. The edifice is full of monuments of the queens and +kings of the ancient race of Valdemar, as well as of those of the +present dynasty. Some of the earliest sovereigns are inclosed within +the shafts of the pillars, or in the walls themselves; a mode of +sepulture, it would appear, as honourable as it is singular, since +we find amongst the immured the great _Svend Etridsen_, and other +renowned and pious benefactors of the church. In front of the +altar is the simple sarcophagus of Margaret, the great queen of +Scandinavia, erected by her successor, Eric the Pomeranian. The +queen is represented lying at full length, with her hands devoutly +folded on her breast. At this sarcophagus our author lingers for a +moment to express sentiments which would have brought down upon him +the anathemas of the good John Knox, could that pious queen-hater +but have heard them. Mr Kohl defies you to produce, from the number +of royal ladies who have held supreme power in the world, one +instance of inadequacy and feebleness. Every where, he insists, +examples of female nobility and strength of character are found +linked with the destinies of kings who have earned for themselves no +better titles than those of the _faineant_ and the simple. The style +of Roeskilde cathedral is pure Gothic; but in consequence of the +additions which the _interior_ has received from time to time from +kings and prelates, that portion of the edifice is more remarkable +for historical interest than for purity of style or architectural +beauty. One incident in connexion with this building must not +be omitted. When Mr Kohl quitted the cathedral, he offered his +cicerone a gratuity. The man respectfully declined accepting even +the customary fees. The reason being asked of a Danish gentleman, +the latter answered, that the man was a patriot, and proud of the +historical monuments of his country; it would be degradation to take +reward from a stranger who seemed so deeply interested in them. +One would almost suspect that this honest fellow was _a verger of +Westminster Abbey_! + +The church of St Kund, at Odense, was erected in honour of King +Kund, murdered in the year 1100 in the church of St Alben, at +Odense. The bones of the canonised were immured in the wall over +the altar. Many sovereigns have been interred here. Indeed, it is a +singular fact that the respective burial-places of every Christian +king of Denmark, from the earliest times up to the present day, +are traced without the slightest difficulty; whilst every heathen +sovereign, of whom any historical record remains, lies buried +beneath a mound within sight of Seire, the old heathen capital of +the country. St Kund's church is of Gothic architecture. Amongst the +many paintings that decorate its walls is one of a female, known as +_Dandserinden_, or "The Dancer." She is the heroine of a tradition, +met with under slightly modified forms in various parts of Denmark. +It is to the following effect:--A young lady, of noble family, went +accompanied by her mother to a ball; and being an indefatigable +dancer, she declared to her parent, who bade her take rest, that she +would not refuse to dance even though a certain gentleman himself +should ask her as a partner. The words were scarcely uttered before +a finely dressed youth made his appearance, held out his hand, and, +with a profound obeisance, said, "Fair maiden, let us not tarry." +The enthusiastic dancer accepted the proffered hand, and in an +instant was with the moving throng. The music, at that moment, +seemed inspired by some invisible power--the dancers whiled round +and round, on and on, one after the other, whilst the standing +guests looked upon all with dread horror. At length, the young +lady grew pale--blood gushed from her mouth--she fell on the floor +a corpse. But her partner, (we need not say who _he_ was,) first +with a ghastly smile, then with a ringing laugh, seized her in his +arms, and vanished with her through the floor. From that time she +has been doomed to dance through the midnight hours, until she can +find a knight bold enough to tread a measure with her. Regarding the +sequel, however, there are a number of versions. + +Mr Kohl's volume adverts cursorily to the many institutions still +existing in Denmark, which owe their origin to the days of Roman +Catholicism, and have been formed upon the model of Catholic +establishments. Several _Froekenstifts_, or lay nunneries, are +still in being. They are either qualifications of some ancient +monastic foundation, or they have been endowed from time to time +by royal or private munificence. Each house has a lady superior, +who is either chosen by the king or queen, or succeeds to the +office by right of birth--some noble families having, in return +for large endowments, a perpetual advowson for a daughter of the +house. At these _Froekenstifts_, none but ladies of noble birth +can obtain fellowships. As a large number of such noble ladies +are far from wealthy, a comfortable home and a moderate salary +are no small advantages. A constant residence within the cloister +is not incumbent upon the "fellows;" but a requisition, generally +attached to each presentation, obliges them to live in their _stift_ +for a certain number of weeks annually. The practice of founding +institutions for ladies of noble birth has risen naturally in a +country where _family_ is every thing, and wealth is comparatively +small: where it is esteemed less degrading to live on royal bounty +than to enter upon an occupation not derogatory to any but noble +blood. The system of _pensioning_ in Denmark is a barrier to real +national prosperity. Independence, self-respect, every consideration +is lost sight of in the monstrous notion, that it is beneath a +high-born man to earn his living by an honourable profession. +Diplomacy, the army, and navy, are the three limited careers open +to the aristocracy of Denmark; and since the country is poor, and +the nobility, in their pride, rarely or never enrich themselves by +plebeian alliances, it follows, of course, that a whole host of +younger brothers, and a countless array of married and unmarried +patricians, must fall back upon the bounty of the sovereign, +administered in one shape or another. The Church and Law are made +over to the middle classes. To such an extent is pride of birth +carried, that without a title no one can be received at Court. In +order, therefore, to admit such as are excluded by the want of +hereditary rank, honorary but the most absurd titles are created. +"_Glatsraad_," "_Conferenceraad_," Councillor of State, Councillor +of Conference, carry with them no duties or responsibilities, but +they obtain for their possessors the right of _entree_, otherwise +unattainable. In Germany, the titles of the people, from the +under-turnpike-keeper's-assistant's lady, up to the wife of the +lord with a hundred tails, are amusing enough. They have been +sufficiently ridiculed by Kotzebue; but the distinctions of Denmark +go far beyond them. A lady, whose husband holds the rank of major +(and upwards) in the army, or of captain (and upwards) in the navy, +or is of noble birth, is styled a _Frue_; her daughter is born a +_Froeken_: but the wife of a private individual, with no blood worth +the naming in her veins, is simply _Madame_, and her daughter's +_Jomfrue_. You might as easily pull down Gibraltar as the prejudice +which maintains those petty and frivolous distinctions. It is highly +diverting to witness the painful distress of Mr Kohl at hearing +ladies of noble birth addressed as _Frue Brahe_, _Frue Rosenkrands_, +instead of by the sublime title of _Gnaedige Frau_, eternally in the +mouths of his own title-loving countrymen. It is singular, however, +that whilst the Danes are so tenacious of honorary appellations, +they are without those constant quantities, the _von_ and _de_ +of Germany and France. The _Sture_, the _Axe_, the _Trolle_, and +the other nobles who, for ages, lived like kings in Denmark, were +without a prefix to their names. _Greve_ and _Baron_ are words of +comparatively modern introduction. + +There are about twenty high fiefs in Denmark--the title to hold one +of these lordships, which bring with them many important privileges, +being the possession of a certain amount of land, rated at the +value of the corn it will produce. The owners are exempt from all +payment of taxes, not only on their fiefs, but on their other +lands: they have the supervision of officials in the district: +are exempted from arrest or summons before an inferior court, to +which the lesser nobility are liable; and they enjoy the right of +appropriating to their own use all treasures found under the earth +in their lordships. Next to these come the baronial fiefs; then +the _stammehuser_, or houses of noble stock, all rated according +to various measures of corn as the supposed amount of the land's +produce; all other seats or estates are called _Gaarde_, Courts, +or _Godser_, estates. The country residences of the nobility are +strikingly elegant and tasteful. They are surrounded by lawns and +parks in the English fashion, and often contain large collections +of paintings and extensive libraries. Along the upper corridors +of the country residences of the nobility are ranged large wooden +chests, (termed _Kister_,) containing the household linen, kept in +the most scrupulous order. Many of these _Kister_ are extremely +ancient, and richly carved in oak. Every peasant family, too, has +its _Kiste_, which holds the chief place in the sitting-room, and +is filled with all the treasure, as well as all the linen, of +the household. Amongst other lordly structures, Mr Kohl visited +_Gysselfelt_,[3] near Nestned in Zealand. It was built in 1540 +by Peter Oxe, and still stands a perfect representation of the +fortresses of the time. Its fosses yet surround it--the drawbridges +are unaltered: and, round the roof, at equal distances, are the +solid stone pipes from which boiling water or pitch has often been +poured upon the heads of the assailants below. In the vicinity +of this castle is _Bregentned_, the princely residence of the +Counts _Moltke_. The _Moltke_ are esteemed the richest family in +Denmark. Their ancestors having munificently endowed several lay +nunneries, the eldest daughter of the house is born abbess-elect +of the convent of _Gysselfelt_: the eldest son is addressed always +as "His Excellence." The splendid garden, the fine collection of +antiquities, the costly furniture and appointments that distinguish +the abode at _Bregentned_ send Mr Kohl into ecstasies. He is equally +charmed by the sight of a few cottages actually erected by the fair +hands of the noble daughters of the House of Moltke. The truth is, +Mr Kohl, republican as he is, is unequal to the sight of any thing +connected with nobility. The work of a noble hand, the poor daub +representing a royal individual, throws him immediately into a fever +of excitement, and dooms his reader to whole pages of the most +prosaic eloquence. + + [3] Whilst in this neighbourhood, Mr Kohl should have explored + the Gunderler Wood, where stone circles and earth mounds are yet + carefully preserved, marking the site of one of the principal places + of sacrifice in heathen times. At _Gysselfelt_, a lay nunnery + exists, founded as recently as the year 1799. + +The condition of the peasantry of Denmark is described as much +better--as indeed it is--than that of the labourers of any other +country. If there is no superabundance of wealth in Denmark, there +is likewise no evidence of abject poverty. The terms upon which the +peasants hold their farms from the landed proprietors are by no +means heavy; and their houses, their manner of dressing, and their +merry-makings, of themselves certify that their position is easy, +and may well bear a comparison with that of their brethren of other +countries. Within the last twenty years, great improvements have +been effected in agriculture, and the best English machines are now +in common use amongst the labourers. + +Upon the moral and political condition of the Danish people at +large, we will postpone all reflections, until the appearance of +Mr Kohl's remaining volumes. We take leave of volume one, with +the hope that the sequel of the work will faithfully furnish such +interesting particulars as the readers of Mr Kohl have a right to +demand, and he, if he be an intelligent traveller, has it in his +power to supply. We do not say that this first instalment is without +interest. It contains by far too much desultory digression; it has +more than a sprinkling of German prosing and egotism: but many of +its pages may be read with advantage and instruction. If the work is +ever translated, the translator, if he hope to please the English +reader, must take his pen in one hand and his shears in the other. + + + + +LORD METCALFE'S GOVERNMENT OF JAMAICA. + + +The death of Lord Metcalfe excited one universal feeling--that his +country had lost a statesman whom she regarded with the highest +admiration, and the warmest gratitude. The _Times_, and the other +public journals, in expressing that feeling, could only give a +general and abridged memoir of this great and good man. Every part +of his public life--and that life commencing at an unusually early +period--stamps him with the reputation of a statesman endowed in +an eminent degree with all the qualities which would enable him +to discharge the most arduous and responsible duties. Every part +of it presents an example, and abounds in materials, from which +public men may derive lessons of the most practical wisdom, and +the soundest rules for their political conduct. His whole life +should be portrayed by a faithful biographer, who had an intimate +acquaintance with all the peculiar circumstances which constituted +the critical, arduous, and responsible character of the trusts +committed to him, and which called for the most active exercise of +the great qualities which he possessed. That part of it which was +passed in administering the government of Jamaica, is alone selected +for comment in the following pages. It is a part, short indeed as +to its space, but of sufficient duration to have justly entitled +him, if he had distinguished himself by no other public service, to +rank amongst the most eminent of those, who have regarded their high +intellectual and moral endowments as bestowed for the purpose of +enabling them to confer the greatest and most enduring benefits on +their country, and who have actively and successfully devoted those +qualities to that noble purpose. + +No just estimate of the nature, extent, and value of that service, +and of those endowments, can be formed, without recalling the +peculiar difficulties with which Lord Metcalfe had to contend, and +which he so successfully surmounted, in administering the government +of Jamaica. + +The only part of colonial society known in England, consisted of +those West Indian proprietors who were resident here. They were +highly educated--their stations were elevated--their wealth was +great, attracting attention, and sometimes offending, by its +display. It was a very prevalent supposition, that they constituted +the whole of what was valuable, or wealthy, or respectable in +West Indian colonial society; that those who were resident in the +colonies could have no claim to either of these descriptions; and +that they were the mere hired managers of the properties of the +West Indians resident in England. This notion was entertained by +the government. The hospitable invitations from the West Indians +in England, which a Governor on the eve of his departure for +his colony accepted, served to impress it strongly on his mind. +He proceeded to his government with too low an estimate of the +character, attainments, respectability, and property of those who +composed the community over whom he was to preside. The nobleman or +general officer on whom the government had been bestowed, entered on +his administration, familiar, indeed, with the Parliament of Great +Britain, and with what Mr Burke calls "her imperial character, and +her imperial rights," but little acquainted with, and still less +disposed to recognise, the rights and privileges of the Colonial +Assemblies, although those assemblies, in the estimation of the same +great authority, so exceedingly resembled a parliament in all their +forms, functions, and powers, that it was impossible they should +not imbibe some idea of a similar authority. "Things could not be +otherwise," he adds; "and English colonies must be had on those +terms, or not had at all." He could not, as Mr Burke did, "look +upon the imperial rights of Great Britain, and the privileges which +the colonies ought to enjoy under these rights, to be just the most +reconcilable things in the world." + +The colonists, whose Legislative Assemblies had from the +earliest period of their history, in all which regarded their +internal legislation, exercised the most valuable privileges of +a representative government, would, on their part, feel that the +preservation of those privileges not only constituted their security +for the enjoyment of their civil and political rights as Englishmen, +but must confer on them importance, and procure them respect in the +estimation of the government of the parent state. Thus, on the one +hand, a governor, in his zeal to maintain the imperial rights, from +the jealousy with which he watched every proceeding of the Assembly, +and his ignorance of their constitution and privileges, not +unfrequently either invaded these privileges, or deemed an assertion +of them to be an infringement of the rights of the Imperial +Parliament. On the other hand, the Colonists, with no less jealousy, +watched every proceeding of the governor which seemed to menace any +invasion of the privileges of their Assemblies, and with no less +zeal were prepared to vindicate and maintain them. The Governor and +the Colonial Assembly regarded each other with feelings which not +only prevented him from justly appreciating the motives and conduct +of the resident colonists, but confirmed, and even increased the +unfavourable impressions he had first entertained. His official +communications enabled him to impart to and induce the government +to adopt the same impressions. The influence of these feelings, in +like manner, on Colonial Assemblies and colonists too frequently +prevented them from justly appreciating the motives of the Governor, +from making some allowance for his errors, and too readily brought +them into collision with him. + +It cannot be denied that those impressions exercised on both sides +of the Atlantic an influence so strong, as to betray itself in the +communications and recommendations, and indeed in the whole policy +of the government, as well as in the legislation of the colonies. + +This imperfect acquaintance with the character of the resident +colonists, and the unfavourable impression with which the +proceedings and motives of their Legislative Assemblies were +regarded, prevailed amongst the public in Great Britain. + +The colonial proprietors resident in Great Britain felt little +sympathy, either with the colonial legislatures, or with those +resident in the colonies. This want of sympathy may be attributed +to a peculiarity which distinguished the planters of British from +those of other European colonies. The latter considered the colony +in which they resided as their home. The former regarded their +residence in it as temporary. They looked to the parent state as +their only home, and all their acquisitions were made with a view to +enjoyment in that home. This feeling accompanied them to England. +It was imbibed by their families and their descendants. The colony, +which had been the source of their wealth and rank, was not, as +she ought to have been, the object of their grateful affection. +They regarded with indifference her institutions, her legislature, +her resident community. From this want of sympathy, or from the +want of requisite information, they made no effort to remove the +unfavourable impressions with which the executive Government and +the Assemblies regarded each other, or to promote the establishment +of their relations in mutual conciliation and confidence. + +Another cause operated very powerfully in exciting a strong +prejudice against the inhabitants of our West Indian colonies. The +feeling which was naturally entertained against the slave trade and +slave colonies was transferred to the resident colonists, and almost +exclusively to them. By a numerous and powerful party, slavery had +been contemplated in itself, and in the relations and interests +which it had created, and its abolition had been endeavoured to be +effected as if it were the crime of the colonies _exclusively_. It +was forgotten "that it was," to use the language of Lord Stowel, +"in a peculiar manner the crime of England, where it had been +instituted, fostered, and encouraged, even to an excess which some +of the colonies in vain endeavoured to restrain." Besides the acts +passed by the legislatures of Pennsylvania and South Carolina, when +those were British colonies, we find that when the Assembly of +Jamaica, in 1765, was passing an act to restrain the importation +of slaves into the colony, the governor of Jamaica informed the +Assembly of that island, that, consistently with his instructions, +he could not give his assent to a bill for that purpose, which had +then been read twice. In 1774, the Jamaica Assembly attempted to +prevent the further importation, by an increase of duties thereon, +and for this purpose passed two acts. The merchants of Bristol and +Liverpool petitioned against their allowance. The Board of Trade +made a report against them. The agent of Jamaica was heard against +that report; but, upon the recommendation of the Privy Council, +the acts were disallowed, and the disallowance was accompanied +by an instruction to the governor, dated 28th February 1775, by +which he was prohibited, "upon pain of being removed from his +government," from giving his assent to any act by which the duties +on the importation of slaves should be augmented--"on the ground," +as the instruction states, "that such duties were to the injury and +oppression of the merchants of this kingdom and the obstruction of +its commerce." + +The opposition to the abolition of the slave trade was that of +the merchants and planters resident in England, and to their +influence on the members of the colonial legislature must be +attributed whatever opposition was offered by the latter. In +the interval between the abolition of the slave trade and that +of slavery, the feelings of prejudice against them grew still +stronger. Every specific measure by which this party proposed to +ameliorate the condition of the slaves, was accompanied by some +degrading and disqualifying remarks on the conduct of the resident +inhabitants. An act of individual guilt was treated as a proof of +the general depravity of the whole community. In consequence of +the enthusiastic ardour with which the abolition of slavery was +pursued, all the proposed schemes of amelioration proceeded on the +erroneous assumption, that the progress of civilisation and of +moral and religious advancement ought to have been as rapid amongst +the slave population of the colonies, as it had been in England +and other parts of Europe. It was forgotten, that until the slave +trade was abolished, the inherent iniquity of which was aggravated +by the obstacle it afforded to the progress of civilisation, every +attempt to diffuse moral and religious instruction was impeded and +counteracted by the superstitions and vices which were constantly +imported from Africa. Thus, instead of the conciliation which +would have rendered the colonists as active and zealous, as they +must always be the _only efficient_, promoters of amelioration, +irritation was excited, and they were almost proscribed, and placed +without the pale of all the generous and candid, and just and +liberal feelings which characterise Englishmen. + +This state of public feeling operated most injuriously in retarding +and preventing many measures of amelioration which would have been +made in the slave codes of the several colonies. + +Jamaica experienced, in a greater degree than any other colony, the +effects of those unfavourable impressions with which the motives +and proceedings of her legislature were regarded, and of those +feelings of distrust and suspicion which influenced the relations +of the executive government and the Assembly. Her Assembly was more +sensitive, more zealous, more tenacious than any other colony in +vindicating the privileges of her legislature, whenever an attempt +was made to violate them. The people of Jamaica, when that colony +first formed part of the British empire, did not become subjects +of England by conquest--they were by birth Englishmen, who, by +the invitation and encouragement of their sovereign, retained +possession of a country which its former inhabitants had abandoned. +They carried with them to Jamaica all the rights and privileges +of British-born subjects. The proclamation of Charles II. is not +a grant, but a declaration, confirmation, and guarantee of those +rights and privileges. The constitution of Jamaica is based on those +rights and privileges. It is, to use the emphatic language of Mr +Burke, in speaking of our North American colonies, "a constitution +which, with the exception of the commercial restraints, has every +characteristic of a free government. She has the express image of +the British constitution. She has the substance. She has the right +of taxing herself through her representatives in her Assembly. She +has, in effect, the sole internal government of the colony." + +The history of the colony records many attempts of the governor and +of the government to deprive her of that constitution, by violating +the privileges of her Assembly; but it records also the success +with which those attempts were resisted, and the full recognition +of those privileges by the ample reparation which was made for +their violation. That very success rendered the people of Jamaica +still more jealous of those privileges, and more determined in the +uncompromising firmness with which they maintained them. But it did +not render the governors or the home government less jealous or +less distrustful of the motives and proceedings of the Assembly. +As the whole expense of her civil, military, and ecclesiastical +establishment was defrayed by the colony, with the exception of the +salaries of the bishop, archdeacon, and certain stipendiary curates; +and as that expense, amounting to nearly L400,000, was annually +raised by the Assembly, it might have been supposed that the power +of stopping the supplies would have had its effect in creating more +confidence and conciliation, but it may be doubted whether it did +not produce a contrary effect. + +The feelings entertained by the government towards the colonies, +were invoked by the intemperate advocates for the immediate +abolition of slavery, as the justification of their unfounded +representations of the tyranny and oppression with which the +planters treated their slaves. Happily, that great act of atonement +to humanity, the abolition of slavery, has been accomplished; but +the faithful historian of our colonies, great as his detestation +of slavery may and ought to be, will yet give a very different +representation of the relation which subsisted between master and +slave. He will represent the negroes on an estate to have considered +themselves, and to have been considered by the proprietor, as +part of his family; that this self-constituted relationship was +accompanied by all the kindly feelings which dependence on the one +hand, and protection on the other, could create; and that such was +the confidence with which both classes regarded each other, that, +with fearless security, the white man and his family retired to +their beds, leaving the doors and windows of their houses unclosed. +These kindly feelings, and that confidence, were at length impaired +by the increasing attempts to render the employers the objects +of hatred. At the latter end of 1831, a rebellion of the most +appalling nature broke out amongst the slave population. A district +of country, not less than forty miles in extent, was laid waste. +Buildings and other property, to the amount of more than a million +in value, exclusive of the crops, were destroyed. + +In 1833, the act for the abolition of slavery was passed; and +it cannot be denied, that the feelings of distrust and jealousy +with which government had so long regarded the Assembly and their +constituents, accompanied its introduction, progress, and details. +They accompanied also the legislative measures adopted by the +Assembly for carrying into effect its provisions, and especially +those for establishing and regulating the apprenticeship. The +manner in which the relative rights and duties of master and +apprentices were discharged, was watched and examined with the same +unfavourable feelings as if there had existed a design to make +the apprenticeship a cover for the revival of slavery--an object +which, even had there been persons wicked enough to have desired it, +could never have been accomplished. There were persons in Jamaica +exercising a powerful influence over the minds of the apprentices, +who proclaimed to them their belief, that it was the design of their +masters to reduce them to slavery, and who appealed to the suspicion +and jealousy of the government as justifying and confirming that +belief. Such was the influence of those feelings, that two attempts +were made in Parliament to abolish the apprenticeship. They were +unsuccessful; but enough had been said and done to fill the minds +of the apprentices with the greatest distrust and suspicion of +their masters. In June 1838, the Assembly was especially convened +for the purpose of abolishing it. The governor, as the organ of +her Majesty's government, distinctly told the Assembly that it was +impossible to continue the apprenticeship. "I pronounce it," he +says, "physically impossible to maintain the apprenticeship, with +any hope of successful agriculture." The state to which the colony +had been reduced, is told in the answer of the Assembly to this +address: "Jamaica does, indeed, require repose; and we anxiously +hope, that should we determine to remove an unnatural servitude, +we shall be left in the exercise of our constitutional privileges, +without interference." The colony was thus compelled to abolish +the apprenticeship, although it had formed part of the plan of +emancipation--not only that it might contribute to the compensation +awarded for the abolition of slavery, but that it might become that +intermediate state which might prepare the apprentices for absolute +and unrestricted freedom, and afford the aid of experience in such +legislation as was adapted to their altered condition. It was again +and again described by the Secretary of State for the colonies, in +moving his resolutions, "to be necessary not only for the security +of the master, but for the welfare of the slave." The apprenticeship +was thus abruptly terminated two years before the expiration of the +period fixed by the act of the Imperial Parliament for its duration, +before any new system of legislation had been adopted, and when the +emancipated population had been taught to regard the planters with +far less kindly feelings than those which they entertained in their +state of slavery. + +The difficulties and dangers with which the colony was now +threatened were such as would have appalled any prudent man, and +would render it no less his interest than his duty to assist the +Assembly in surmounting them. It was, however, the misfortune of +Jamaica that her governor, from infirmity of body and of temper, +far from endeavouring to surmount or lessen, so greatly increased +these difficulties and dangers, that it appeared scarcely possible +to extricate the colony from them. His conduct in the session of +November 1838 was so gross a violation of the rights and privileges +of the Assembly, as to leave that body no other alternative but that +of passing a resolution, by which they refused to proceed to any +other business, except that of providing the supplies to maintain +the faith of the island towards the public creditor, until they had +obtained reparation for this violation. + +This course had obtained the sanction, not only of long usage and +practice, but of the government of the parent state. The history +of Jamaica abounds in numerous instances where governors, who had +by their conduct given occasion for its adoption, had been either +recalled, or ordered by the Executive Government to make such +communication to the Assembly as had the character of being an +atonement for the violation of their privileges, and an express +recognition of them. Upon this resolution being passed, the governor +prorogued the Assembly. On being re-assembled, they adhered to their +former resolution. The governor dissolved the Assembly. A general +election took place, when the same members who had composed the +large majority concurring on that resolution, were re-elected, and +even an addition made to their majority. The Assembly, as might be +expected, on being convened, adhered to their former resolution. It +was then prorogued until the 10th of July 1839. The government, upon +the urgent recommendation of the governor, and influenced by his +misrepresentations, proposed to Parliament a measure for suspending +the functions of the Legislative Assembly. Unjustifiable and +reprehensible as this measure was, yet it is only an act of justice +to the government of that day to remember that it originated, not +only in the recommendation of the governor, supported also by that +of the two preceding governors of Jamaica, but was sanctioned, and +indeed urged on it, by several influential Jamaica proprietors and +merchants, resident in London. Indeed, until the bill had been some +time in the House of Commons, it was doubtful whether it would be +opposed by Sir Robert Peel and his adherents. The determination of +several members who usually supported the government, to oppose a +measure destructive of the representative part of the constitution +of this great colony, enabled him and his party to defeat the +bill on the second reading. The government being thus left in a +minority, resigned; but the attempt of Sir Robert Peel to form a +ministry having failed, the former government was restored, and they +introduced another bill, equally objectionable in its principles, +and equally destructive of the representative branch of the +Jamaica constitution. An amendment was proposed on the part of Sir +Robert Peel, by the party then considered Conservative; but as the +amendment would leave the bill still inconsistent with the rights of +this popular branch of the constitution, they were deprived of the +support of those who had before united with them in their opposition +to the first bill, and they were therefore left in a minority. +The bill passed the House of Commons. The amendment, which had +been rejected, was adopted by the House of Lords, and the bill was +passed. The powerful speeches of Lords Lyndhurst and Brougham, and +those of the other noble lords by whom the amendment was supported, +afford abundant evidence that they disapproved of the principles of +the bill, and were unanswered and unanswerable arguments for its +rejection. + +Lord John Russell, and other members of the government, might well +believe, and express their prediction, that such a bill would not +satisfy the Assembly, but that they would still refuse to resume +their legislation; and that in the next session the House must adopt +the original measure. + +It was in the power of the ministry, without resorting to any +measure of undue interference which could have furnished their +opponents with any ground of censure, by passively leaving the +administration of the government of the colony to its ordinary +course, and adopting the ordinary means of selecting a governor, +to have fulfilled their own prediction. They might thus have +saved themselves from the taunt with which Sir Robert Peel, in +the debate on the 16th January 1840, attributed the satisfactory +manner in which the Assembly of Jamaica had resumed their +legislative proceedings, to "the opinion of the ministers having +been overruled." But the conduct of Lord John Russell, who had then +accepted the seals of secretary for the colonies, was influenced +by higher motives. He immediately applied himself to secure, by +confidence, the cordial co-operation of the Assembly of Jamaica, +in that legislation which should promote the best interests of all +classes of the community. For the accomplishment of this object, +he anxiously sought for a governor who united the discretion, +the judgment, the temper and firmness, which would promote that +confidence, and obtain that co-operation, and, at the same time, +maintain the dignity of the executive, and the supremacy of +Parliament. + +From no consideration of personal or political connexion, but purely +from the conviction that Lord Metcalfe was eminently distinguished +by these qualities, Lord John Russell offered to him the Government +of Jamaica. He had just returned from the East Indies, where he +had displayed the greatest ability, and met with almost unexampled +success. He had scarcely tasted the sweets of the repose which +he had promised himself. His acceptance of the Government was a +sacrifice of that repose to his high sense of duty, and to the noble +desire of rendering a great public service to his country. + +But to little purpose would such a character have been selected, +and to little purpose would he have possessed those eminent +qualities, if he had been sent to Jamaica with instructions which +would have controled their exercise. A more wise, just, and liberal +policy was adopted by the government. Lord Metcalfe was left with +the full, free, unfettered power of accomplishing, in his own +manner, and according to his own discretion, the great object of +his administration. Of the spirit of his instructions, and of the +discretion and powers confided to him, he gives his own description +in his answer to an address which, on his return to England, was +presented him by the Jamaica proprietors resident in London, "I was +charged by her Majesty's government with a mission of peace and +reconciliation." + +It is scarcely possible to conceive a public trust so full of +difficulties, and requiring the possession and exercise of so +many high and rare qualities for its successful discharge, as +the Government of Jamaica at the time it was undertaken by Lord +Metcalfe. Some account has been given of the difficulties which +attended the government of every West Indian colony, and of those +which were peculiar to that of Jamaica. It should be added, that the +office of Governor, independently of the difficulties occasioned by +any particular event, is itself of so peculiar a character as to +require no inconsiderable share of temper and address as well as +judgment. He is the representative of his Sovereign, invested with +many of the executive powers of sovereignty. He must constantly +by his conduct maintain the dignity of his Sovereign. He cannot, +consistently with either the usages of his office or the habits of +society, detach himself from the community over which he presides +as the representative of his Sovereign. It is necessary for him to +guard against a possibility of his frequent and familiar intercourse +with individuals, impairing their respect for him and his authority, +and, at the same time, not deprive himself of the friendly +disposition and confidence on their part which that intercourse may +enable him to obtain. Especially must he prevent any knowledge of +the motives and views of individuals with which this intercourse +may supply him, from exercising too great, or, indeed, any apparent +influence on his public conduct. It will be seen how well qualified +Lord Metcalfe was to surmount, and how successfully he did surmount, +all these difficulties. + +It has been stated, that the bill, even with the amendment it +received in the House of Lords, was so inconsistent with the +constitutional rights of Jamaica, that it was apprehended there +would be great reluctance on the part of the Assembly to resume +the exercise of its legislative functions. Considerations, which +did honour to the character of that body, induced the members to +overcome that reluctance, even before they had practical experience +of the judicious and conciliatory conduct of Lord Metcalfe, and of +the spirit in which he intended to administer his government. There +was a party of noblemen and gentlemen, possessing considerable +property in Jamaica, and of great influence in England, at the head +of whom was that excellent man, the late Earl of Harewood, who had +given their most cordial support, in and out of Parliament, to the +agent of the colony in his opposition to the measure for suspending +the legislative functions of the Assembly. They had thus acquired +strong claims on the grateful attention of the legislature of +Jamaica. In an earnest and affectionate appeal to the Assembly, +they urged that body to resume its legislation. The Assembly and +its constituents, with the generosity which has ever distinguished +them, and with a grateful sense of the powerful support they had +received from this party, felt the full force of their appeal. +Lord Metcalfe, by his judicious conduct in relation to the bill, +by the conciliatory spirit which his whole conduct on his arrival +in Jamaica, and first meeting the Assembly, evinced, and by his +success in impressing the members with the belief that her Majesty's +government was influenced by the same spirit, inspired them with +such confidence in the principles on which his government would be +administered, that they did not insist on their objections to the +bill, but resolved on resuming their legislation. They did resume +it. "They gave him," to use his own language, "their hearty support +and active co-operation in adopting and carrying into effect the +views of her Majesty's government, and in passing laws adapted to +the change which had taken place in the social relations of the +inhabitants of Jamaica." + +Before we state the principles on which he so successfully conducted +the government of Jamaica, and endeavour to represent the value +of those services which, by its administration, he rendered to +his country, we would select some of those qualities essential to +constitute a great statesman, with which he was most richly endowed. +He was entrusted with public duties of great responsibility at a +very early period of life. Impressed with a deep sense of that +responsibility, he felt that the faculties of his mind ought to +be not only dedicated to the discharge of those duties, but that +he ought to bestow on them that cultivation and improvement which +could enable his country to derive the greatest benefit from them. +He acquired the power of taking an enlarged and comprehensive view +of all the bearings of every question which engaged his attention, +and he exercised that power with great promptitude. He distinguished +and separated with great facility and with great accuracy what was +material from what was not in forming his judgment. He kept his +mind always so well regulated, and its powers so entirely under +his control--he preserved his temper so calm and unruffled--he +resisted so successfully the approach of prejudice, that he was +enabled to penetrate into the recesses of human conduct and motives, +and to acquire the most intimate knowledge and the most practical +experience of mankind. + +The acquisition of that experience is calculated to impress the +statesman with an unfavourable opinion of his species, and to +excite too general a feeling of distrust. This impression, unless +its progress and effects are controlled, may exercise so great an +influence as effectually to disable the judgment, frustrate the +best intentions, and oppose so many obstacles as to render the +noble character of a great and good statesman wholly unattainable. +It is the part of wisdom no less than of benevolence, so far +to control it, that it shall have no other effect than that of +inducing caution, prudence, and circumspection. He will regard it +as reminding him that those for whom he thinks and acts, are beings +with the infirmities of our fallen nature; as teaching him to appeal +to, and avail himself of the better feelings and motives of our +nature; and, whenever it is practicable, to render those even of an +opposite character the means of effecting good, and if that be not +practicable, to correct and control them so as to deprive them of +their baneful effects. + +Lord Metcalfe followed the dictates of his natural benevolence, no +less than those of his excellent judgment, in applying to those +purposes, and in this manner, his great knowledge and experience +of mankind. Burke, who has been most truly called "the greatest +philosopher in practice whom the world ever saw," has said, "that +in the world we live in, distrust is but too necessary; some of +old called it the very sinews of discretion. But what signify +common-places, that always run parallel and equal? Distrust is +good, or it is bad, according to our position and our purpose." +Again, "there is a confidence necessary to human intercourse, and +without which men are often more injured by their own suspicions, +than they would be by the perfidy of others." No man knew better or +made a more wise and judicious and successful application of these +maxims of wisdom and benevolence than Lord Metcalfe. The grateful +attachment of the community in which he lived abundantly proved that +distrust, when it was required by his judgment, never impaired the +kindness of his own disposition, or alienated from him the esteem +and affection of others. + +The rock on which too often a governor has made shipwreck of his +administration has been the selection of individuals or families on +whom he bestowed his exclusive confidence. The jealousy and envy +which this preference excited in others did not constitute the +only or even the greatest part of the evil. The selected few were +desirous of making themselves of importance, and inducing him to +value their support as essential to the success of his government. +With this view they attributed to others unfriendly feelings +towards the governor which they never entertained, and endeavoured +to persuade him that they themselves were the only persons on whom +he could rely. Their professions betrayed him into the great error +of too soon and too freely making them acquainted with the views +and designs of his government. Lord Metcalfe was too wise and too +just to have any favourites; towards all, he acted with a frankness, +sincerity, and kindness which made all equally his friends. Lord +Metcalfe united with singular equanimity of temper, an extraordinary +degree of self-possession. He never was betrayed into an intimation +of his opinions or intentions, if prudence required that they should +not be known. The time when, and the extent to which such intimation +should be given, were always the result of his previous deliberate +judgment. But this reserve was accompanied with so much kindness +and gentleness of manner, that it silenced any disappointment or +mortification in not attaining that insight into his views which was +sought. A short intercourse with Lord Metcalfe could not fail to +satisfy the mind that any attempt to elicit from him opinions which +he did not desire to impart, would be wholly fruitless. + +Another evil, no less injurious to the government than to the +colony, was the hasty and imperfect estimate which governors formed +of the motives and conduct of colonial legislatures. It had then +been too frequent to represent those bodies as influenced by a +hostile feeling, where no such feeling existed, and to exaggerate +their difficulties in administering their government. Lord +Metcalfe's administration was characterised by the candour with +which he appreciated, the fidelity with which in his communications +to her Majesty's government he represented, and the uncompromising +honesty and firmness with which he vindicated the motives and +acts of the Jamaica legislature, and repelled the prejudices, the +misrepresentations, and calumnies by which it had been assailed. +He brought to his administration, and never failed to evince, a +constitutional respect for the institutions of the colony, and the +strictest impartiality in maintaining the just rights of all classes +of the community. Her Majesty's government continued to him that +unlimited confidence he so well deserved, and left him to carry +out his wise and beneficent principles of government. To cheer +him in his noble undertaking, to bestow on the Assembly the most +gratifying reward for their conduct, and to give them the highest +assurance of the confidence of the government, the royal speech +on the prorogation of Parliament contained her Majesty's gracious +approbation of the disposition and proceedings of the legislature. + +So sound were the principles on which he administered the +government--so firm and lasting was the confidence reposed in him +by the assembly, that during his administration there was not the +slightest interruption of the most perfect harmony between him and +the different branches of the legislature. He had the satisfaction +of witnessing a most beneficent change in the manner, the care, +and spirit in which the acts of the colonial legislature were +examined, objections to them treated, and amendments required, by +the government. The acts were not, as before, at once disallowed; +but the proposed amendments were made the subjects of recommendation +by communications to the legislature from the governor. The Assembly +felt this change, and met it in a corresponding spirit, which +readily disposed them to adopt the recommendations of the government. + +Having fully and effectually accomplished the noble and Christian +purpose with which he undertook the arduous duties of the +government, he resigned it in June 1842. The state in which he left +Jamaica, contrasted with that in which he found the colony on the +commencement of his administration, was his rich reward. He came +to Jamaica at a time when her legislation was suspended, mutual +feelings of distrust and jealousy disturbing not only the relation +between the governor and the legislature, but all the social +relations in the colony; when laws were required for the altered +state of society, and when the tranquillity and existence of the +colony were placed in the greatest jeopardy. When he resigned the +government, there had been effected a perfect reconciliation of the +colony and the mother country; order and harmony, and good feeling +amongst all classes had been restored; legislation had been resumed, +laws had been passed adapted to the change which had taken place in +the social relations of the inhabitants; and the cordial and active +co-operation of the legislature had been afforded, notwithstanding +the financial difficulties of the colony, in extending at a great +cost the means of religious and moral instruction, and in making +the most valuable improvements in the judicial system. He quitted +the shores of Jamaica beloved, respected, and revered, with a +gratitude and real attachment which few public men ever experienced. +The inhabitants of Jamaica raised to him a monument which might +mark their grateful homage to his memory. But there is engraven +on the hearts of the public of Jamaica another memorial, in the +affectionate gratitude and esteem with which they will feel the +enduring blessings of his government, and recall his Christian +charity, ever largely exercised in alleviating individual distress; +his kindness and condescension in private life; and his munificent +support of all their religious and charitable institutions, and of +every undertaking which could promote the prosperity and happiness +of the colony. + +On Lord Metcalfe's arrival in England, a numerous meeting of the +Jamaica proprietors and merchants was held, and an address presented +to him, in which they offered him the tribute of their warmest +and sincerest gratitude for the benefits which he had conferred +on the colony "by the eminent talents, the wise, and just, and +liberal principles which made his administration of the government +a blessing to the colony, and had secured him the affection of all +classes of the inhabitants, as well as the high approbation of his +sovereign." + +His answer to that address was a beautiful illustration of +the unaffected modesty, of the kindness and benevolence of +his disposition, and of the principles which influenced his +administration. "Charged by her Majesty's government with a mission +of peace and reconciliation, I was received in Jamaica with open +arms. The duties which I had to perform were obvious; my first +proceedings were naturally watched with anxiety; but as they +indicated good-will and a fair spirit, I obtained hearty support and +co-operation. My task in acting along with the spirit which animated +the colony was easy. Internal differences were adjusted--either by +being left to the natural progress of affairs, during which the +respective parties were enabled to apprehend their real interests; +or by mild endeavours to promote harmony, and discourage dissension. +The loyalty, the good sense, and good feeling of the colony did +every thing." + +The beneficial effects of his administration did not cease on his +resignation. The principles on which he had conducted it, were +such, that an adherence to them could not fail to secure similar +effects in every succeeding government. It was his great object +to cultivate such mutual confidence and good feeling between her +Majesty's government and the legislature, and all classes of the +colony, as would influence and be apparent in the views and measures +of the government, and as would secure the cordial co-operation +of the legislature in adopting them. In promoting that object, he +was ever anxious to supply the government with those means, which +his local information and experience could alone furnish, of fully +understanding and justly appreciating the views and measures of +the Assembly. He was sensibly alive to whatever might impair the +confidence of the government in that body. It was his desire to +convey the most faithful representations himself, and to correct +any misrepresentations conveyed by others. In a word, it was his +constant object to keep the government fully and faithfully informed +of all which would enable it to render justice to the colony. +Until Lord Metcalfe's administration, her Majesty's government +never understood, and never rightly appreciated, the motives and +conduct of the legislature of Jamaica, and never did they know +the confidence which might be bestowed on that legislature, and +the all-powerful influence which, by means of that confidence, +could be exercised on its legislation. The foundation for the +most successful, because the most beneficial, government was thus +permanently laid by Lord Metcalfe. + +Lord Elgin succeeded Lord Metcalfe as the governor of Jamaica. He +had the wisdom to follow the example of his predecessor, and adopt +his principles of government, and pursue the path which he had +opened. His administration was uninterrupted by any misunderstanding +between the executive government and the Assembly. It merited and +received the approbation of his sovereign, and the gratitude of the +colony. + +More than six years have elapsed since Lord Metcalfe entered on +the government of Jamaica. During that space of time, in the +former history of the colony, there were frequent dissolutions or +prorogations caused by some dispute between the government and the +Assembly, or between the different branches of the legislature. +Since the appointment of Lord Metcalfe, no misunderstanding has +arisen, but perfect harmony has prevailed amongst them. The +principles of Lord Metcalfe, which established the relations between +the government of the parent state and the various branches of the +legislature of Jamaica, and between all classes of society there, +in perfect confidence and good feeling, and entirely excluded +distrust and suspicion, were so strongly recommended by the enduring +success of his administration, that it is not possible to anticipate +that they will ever be forgotten or abandoned. There can be no +difficulties which may not be surmounted, and confidence can never +be supplanted by distrust: there can be no governor of Jamaica whose +administration will not have merited and received the approbation +of his sovereign, and the gratitude of the colony, so long as he +religiously follows the example, and adheres to the principles +of Lord Metcalfe. By such an adherence to these principles, +Jamaica will retain, not the remembrance alone of the wisdom, the +justice, the benevolence of his administration, and the blessings +it conferred, but she will enjoy, in every succeeding generation, +the same administration, for although directed by another hand, +it will be characterised by the sane wisdom, the same justice and +beneficence, and confer on her the same blessings. + +But as the beneficent effects of his government are not limited in +their duration to the time, so neither are they confined to the +colony, in which it was administered. The same experience of its +success, and the same considerations no less of interest than of +duty, recommend and secure the adoption of its principles in the +administration of the government of every other colony, as well as +of Jamaica. Such was the impression with which the other British +colonies regarded his administration in Jamaica. They considered +that the same principles on which the government of Jamaica had +been administered, would be adopted in the administration of their +governments. Shortly after Lord Metcalfe's return from Jamaica, a +numerous and influential body, interested in the other colonies, +presented him with an address, expressing "the sentiments of +gratitude and admiration with which they appreciated the ability, +the impartiality, and the success of his administration of the +government of Jamaica. They gratefully acknowledged his undeviating +adherence to those just and liberal principles by which alone +the relations between the parent state and the colonies can be +maintained with the feelings essential to their mutual honour +and welfare; and they expressed their conviction, that, as his +administration must be the unerring guide for that of every other +colony, so its benefits will extend to the whole colonial empire +of Great Britain." Thus, by his administration of the government +of one colony, during only the short space of two years, he laid +the foundation for that permanent union of this and all the other +colonies with the parent state, which would secure the welfare and +happiness of the millions by whom they are inhabited, and add to the +strength, the power, and splendour of the British empire. + +Such is a faint record of only two years of the distinguished +public life of this great and good man. How few statesmen have ever +furnished materials for such a record? What greater good can be +desired for our country, than that the example of Lord Metcalfe, +and his administration of Jamaica, may ever be "the guide-post and +land-mark" in her councils for the government of all her colonies, +and may ever exercise a predominant influence in the relations +between them and the parent state? + + + + +ANNALS AND ANTIQUITIES OF LONDON. + + _An Antiquarian Ramble in the Streets of London; with Anecdotes + of their more celebrated Residents._ By J. T. SMITH, late Keeper + of the Prints and Drawings in the British Museum, Author of + _Nollekins and his Times_, &c. + + +What is London? Walk into Lombard Street, and ask the Merchant; +he will tell you at once--the Docks and the Custom-House, Lloyd's +and the Bank, the Exchange, Royal or Stock. Drive your cab to +the Carlton, and learn that it is Pall-mall and the Clubs, St +James's and the Parks, Almack's and the Opera. Carry your question +and your fee together to legal chambers, and be told that it is +Westminster and Chancery Lane, Lincoln's Inn and the Temple. All +that remains of mankind, that is not to be numbered in these several +categories, will tell you it is a huge agglomeration of houses and +shops, churches and theatres, markets and monuments, gas-pipes and +paving-stones. Believe none--Yes, believe them all! We make our +London, as we make our World, out of what attracts and interests +ourselves. Few are they who behold in this vast metropolis a +many-paged volume, abounding in instruction, offering to historian +and philosopher, poet and antiquary, a luxuriant harvest and +never-failing theme. We consider London, with reference to what +it is and may become, not to what it has been. The present and +the future occupy us to the exclusion of the past. We perambulate +the great arteries of the Monster City, from Tyburn to Cornhill, +from Whitechapel to the Wellington statue, and our minds receive +no impression, save what is directly conveyed through our eyes; we +pass, unheeding, a thousand places and objects rich in memories of +bygone days, of strange and stirring events--great men long since +deceased, and customs now long obsolete. We care not to dive into +the narrow lanes and filthy alleys, where, in former centuries, sons +of Genius and the Muses dwelt and starved; we seek not the dingy +old taverns where the wit of our ancestors sparkled; upon the spot +where a hero fell or a martyr perished, we pause not to gaze and +to recall the memories of departed virtue and greatness. We are a +matter-of-fact generation, too busy in money-getting to speculate +upon the past. So crowded has the world become, that there is scarce +standing-room; and even the lingering ghosts of olden times are +elbowed and jostled aside. It is the triumph of the tangible and +positive over the shadowy and poetical. + +Things which men will not seek, they often thankfully accept when +brought to them in an attractive form and without trouble. Upon this +calculation has the book before us been written. It is an attempt +to convey, in amusing narrative, the history, ancient, mediaeval, +and modern, of the streets and houses of London. For such a work, +which necessarily partakes largely of the nature of a compilation, +it is obvious that industry is more essential than talent--extensive +reading than a brilliant pen. Both of industry and reading Mr Smith +makes a respectable display, and therefore we shall not cavil at +any minor deficiencies. His subject would have been better treated +in a lighter and more detached form; and, in this respect, he +might have taken a hint from an existing French work of a similar +nature, relating to Paris. But his materials are too sterling and +interesting to be spoiled by any slight mistake in the handling. He +has accumulated a large mass of information, quotation, and extract; +and although few persons may read his book continuously from +beginning to end, very many, we are sure, will dip with pleasure and +interest into its pages. + +West and East would have been no inappropriate title for Mr Smith's +twin volumes. In the first, he keeps on the Court side of Temple +Bar; the second he devotes to the City. As may be supposed, the +former is the more sprightly and piquant chronicle; but the latter +does not yield to it in striking records and interesting historical +facts. Let us accompany the antiquarian on his first ramble, from +Hyde Park Corner to Charing Cross, starting from Apsley House, of +which, although scarcely included in the design of his work, as +announced on the title-page, he gives, as of various other modern +buildings, a concise account. + +How few individuals of the human tide that daily flows and ebbs +along Piccadilly are aware, that within a century that aristocratic +quarter was a most disreputable outlet from London. The ground now +covered with ranges of palaces, the snug and select district of +May Fair, dear to opulent dowagers and luxurious _celibataires_, +was occupied, but a short hundred years since, by a few detached +dwellings in extensive gardens, and by a far larger number of low +taverns. Some of these, as the White Horse and Half Moon, have +given their names to the streets to which their bowling-greens and +skittle-alleys tardily gave way. The Sunday excursions of the lower +orders were then more circumscribed than at present; and these +Piccadilly publics were much resorted to on the Sabbath, in the +manner of a country excursion; for Piccadilly was then the country. +"Among the advertisements of sales by auction in the original +edition of the _Spectator_, in folio, published in 1711, the mansion +of Streater, jun., is advertised as _his country house_, being near +Bolton Row, in Piccadilly; his town residence was in Gerrard Street, +Soho." The taverns nearest to Hyde Park were chiefly patronised by +the soldiers, particularly, we are informed, on review days, when +they sat in rows upon wooden benches, placed in the street for their +accommodation, combing, soaping, and powdering each other's hair. +The bad character of the neighbourhood, and perhaps, also, the +nuisance of May Fair, which lasted for fifteen days, and was not +abolished till 1708, prevented the ground from increasing in value; +and accordingly we find that Mr Shepherd, after whom Shepherd's +Market was named, offered for sale, as late as the year 1750, +his freehold mansion in Curzon Street, and its adjacent gardens, +for five hundred pounds. At that price it was subsequently sold. +Houses there were, however, in the then despised neighbourhood +of Piccadilly, of high value; but it arose from their intrinsic +magnificence, which counterbalanced the disadvantages of situation. +Evelyn mentions having visited Lord John Berkeley at his stately +new house, which was said to have cost thirty thousand pounds, and +had a cedar staircase. He greatly commends the gardens, and says +that he advised the planting of certain holly-hedges on the terrace. +Stratton Street was built on the Berkeley estate, and so named in +compliment to the Stratton line of that family. At what is now +the south end of Albemarle Street, stood Clarendon House, built, +as Bishop Burnet tells us, on a piece of ground granted to Lord +Clarendon by Charles II. The Earl wished to have a plain ordinary +house, but those he employed preferred erecting a palace, whose +total cost amounted to fifty thousand pounds. + +"During the war," says the Bishop, "and in the plague year, he had +about three hundred men at work, which he thought would have been an +acceptable thing, when so many men were kept at work, and so much +money, as was duly paid, circulated about. But it had a contrary +effect: it raised a great outcry against him." The sale of Dunkirk +to the French for four hundred thousand pounds, had taken place only +three years before, and was still fresh in men's minds. The odium of +this transaction fell chiefly on Lord Clarendon, who was accused of +pocketing a share of its profits; and the people gave the name of +Dunkirk House to his new mansion. Others called it Holland House, +thereby insinuating that it was built with bribes received from the +Dutch, with whom this country then waged a disastrous war. In spite +of popular outcry, however, the house was completed in 1667, the +year of Clarendon's disgrace and banishment. Fifteen years later, +after his death, his heir sold the place to the Duke of Albemarle +for twenty-five thousand pounds, just half what it cost; and the +Duke parted with it for ten thousand more. Finally, it was pulled +down to make room for Albemarle and Stafford Streets; of which +latter, as appears from old plans of London, the centre of Clarendon +House occupied the entire site. + +Piccadilly was formerly the headquarters of the makers of leaden +figures. The first yard for this worthless description of statues +was founded by John Van Nost, one of the numerous train of Dutchmen +who followed William III. to England. His establishment soon had +imitators and rivals; and, in 1740, there were four of these +figure-yards in Piccadilly, all driving a flourishing trade in +their leaden lumber. The statues were as large as life, and often +painted. "They consisted of Punch, Harlequin, Columbine, and other +pantomimical characters; mowers whetting their scythes, haymakers +resting on their rakes, gamekeepers in the act of shooting, and +_Roman_ soldiers with _firelocks_; but, above all, that of a +kneeling African with a sundial upon his head, found the most +extensive sale." Copies from the antique were also there, and had +many admirers; but the unsuitableness of the heavy and pliable +material was soon discovered, and, after a brief existence, the +figure-yards died a natural death. + +On the etymology of the word Piccadilly, Mr Smith expends much +erudite research, without, as it appears to us, arriving at a +very definite or satisfactory conclusion. A pickadill is defined +by Blount, in his _Glossography_, as "the round hem of a garment, +or other thing; also a kinde of stiff collar, made in fashion of +a band." Hence Mr Smith infers, that the famous ordinary near St +James's, which first bore the name of Piccadilly, may have received +it because at that time it was the outmost or skirt-house of the +suburb. The derivation is ingenious, but rather far-fetched. Another +notion is, that a certain Higgin, a tailor, who built the house, +had acquired his money by the manufacture of pickadills, then in +great vogue. The orthography of the name has varied considerably. +Evelyn mentions in his memoirs, that, as one of the commissioners +for reforming the buildings and streets of London, he ordered the +paving of the road from St James's North, "which was a quagmire," +and likewise of the Haymarket about "Pigudello." In the same year, +however, 1662, it is found inscribed in tradesmen's tokens as +Pickadilla; and this appears to be the most ancient mode of spelling +it. In _Gerard's Herbal_, published in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, +(1596,) the author, talking of the "small wild buglosse," says +that this little flower "growes upon the drie ditch bankes about +Pickadilla." + +Where Bennet and Arlington Streets now stand, was formerly the +celebrated mulberry gardens, referred to by Malone as a favourite +haunt of Dryden, who loved to eat tarts there with his mistress, +Anne Reeve. To the polite ears of the nineteenth century, the +very name of a public garden is a sound of horror; and to see +the cream of _the ton_ taking their evening lounge at Cremorne, +or the "Royal Property," and battening upon mulberry tarts and +sweetened wine, would excite as much astonishment as if we read in +the _Moniteur_ that the Duchess of Orleans had led a _galop_ at +Musard's masquerade. In the easy-going days of the second Charles, +things were very different, and a fashionable company was wont to +collect at the Mulberry Garden, to sit in its pleasant arbours, +and feast upon cheesecakes and syllabubs. The ladies frequently +went in masks, which was a great mode at that time, and one often +adopted by the court dames to escape detection in the intrigues +and mad pranks they so liberally permitted themselves. "In _The +Humorous Lovers_, a comedy written by the Duke of Newcastle,[4] and +published in 1677, the third scene of Act I. is in the Mulberry +Garden. Baldman observes to Courtly, ''Tis a delicate plump wench; +now, a blessing on the hearts of them that were the contrivers of +this garden; this wilderness is the prettiest convenient place to +woo a widow, Courtly.'" One can hardly fancy a wilderness in the +heart of St James's, except of houses; but the one mentioned in the +above passage had ceased to exist at the time the play appeared, at +least as a place of public resort. Five years previously, the King +had granted to Henry Earl of Arlington, "that whole piece or parcel +of ground called the Mulberry Gardens, together with eight houses, +with their appurtenances thereon," at a rent of twenty shillings per +annum. Goring House, in which Mr Secretary Bennet, afterwards Earl +of Arlington, resided, was probably one of these eight houses. Two +years subsequently to the grant, it was burnt down, and the earl +removed to Arlington House, which stood on the site of Buckingham +Palace. Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, bought the former, pulled it +down in 1703, and erected a new mansion, which was sold to the crown +by his son, and allotted, in 1775, as a residence for the Queen, +instead of Somerset House. + + [4] It was by the Duchess of Newcastle, according to Pepys, that + this play was written. In his Diary he says, under date of the + 11th April 1667:--"To Whitehall, thinking there to have seen the + Duchess of Newcastle coming this night to court to make a visit to + the Queen. The whole story of this lady is a romance, and all she + does is romantic. Her footmen in velvet coats, and herself in an + antique dress, as they say; and was the other day at her own play, + _The Humorous Lovers_, the most ridiculous thing that ever was + wrote, but yet she and her lord mightily pleased with it; and she + at the end made her respects to the players from her box, and did + give them thanks." This was the eccentric dame who kept a maid of + honour sitting up all night, to write down any bright idea or happy + inspiration by which she might be visited. + +We are glad to learn from Mr Smith, that there is a plan on foot +for the removal of the confined, dirty, and unwholesome district +between Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey, now one of the +vilest parts of the metropolis, the favourite abode of thieves, +beggars, pawnbrokers, and gin-sellers. The streets adjacent to the +palace have at no time been of the most spacious or respectable +description, although Pimlico is vastly improved from what it was +in the days of Ben Jonson, who uses the name to express all that +was lowest and most disreputable. In his play of _The Alchymist_, +he says, "Gallants, men and women, and of all sorts, tag-rag and +bob-tail, have been seen to flock here in threaves, these ten +weeks, as to a second Hoxton or Pimlico." And again, "besides +other gallants, oysterwomen, sailors' wives, tobacco-men--another +Pimlico." _Apropos_ of the gin-palaces which have replaced the +old-fashioned public-houses that abounded some twenty years ago +in Westminster, Mr Smith makes a digression on the subject of +drunkenness, and quotes some curious particulars from an old +treatise, called _The London and Country Brewer_. "Our drunkenness, +as a national vice," says the writer, "takes its date from the +restoration of Charles the Second, or a few years later." It may +be questioned whether drunkenness was not pretty well established +as an English vice long before the period here referred to. We +have the authority of various writers, however, for its having +greatly increased about the time of the Stuarts' restoration. "A +spirit of extravagant joy," says Burnet, in his _History of his +own Times_, "spread over the nation. All ended in entertainments +and drunkenness, which overrun the three kingdoms to such a +degree, that it very much corrupted all their morals. Under the +colour of drinking the King's health, there were great disorders, +and much riot every where." This was no unnatural reaction after +the stern austerity of the Protectorate. "As to the materials, +(of drunkenness,") continues _The Brewer_, "beer and ale were +considerable articles; they went a great way in the work at first, +but were far from being sufficient; and then strong waters came into +play. The occasion was this: In the Dutch wars it had been observed +that the captains of the Hollanders' men-of-war, when they were +about to engage with our ships, usually set a hogshead of brandy +abroach afore the mast, and bid the men drink _sustick_, that they +might fight _lustick_; and our poor seamen felt the force of the +brandy to their cost. We were not long behind them; but suddenly +after the war we began to abound in strong-water shops." Even +the chandlers and the barber-surgeons kept stores of spirituous +compounds, for the most part of exceeding bad quality, but sweetened +and spiced, and temptingly displayed in rows of glass bottles, under +Latin names of imposing sound. Aniseed-water was the favourite +dram; until the French, finding out the newly-acquired taste of +their old enemies, deluged the English markets with brandy, which +was recommended by the physicians, and soon acquired universal +popularity. It was sold about the streets in small measures, at a +halfpenny and a penny each; and the consumption was prodigious, +until a war broke out with France, when the supply of course +stopped, and the poor were compelled to return to their _aqua vitae_ +and _aqua mirabilis_, or, better than either, to the ale-glass. +When speaking of the royal cockpit at Whitehall, Mr Smith tells +us of "Admiral M'Bride, a brave sailor of the old school, who +constantly kept game-cocks on board his ship, and on the morning of +an action, endeavoured, and that successfully, to animate his men by +the spectacle of a cock-fight between decks." This, if not a very +humane expedient, according to modern notions, was at any rate an +improvement upon Dutch courage, with which British seamen of the +present day would scorn to fortify themselves. + +St James's Park, originally a swamp, was first inclosed by Harry +the Eighth, but little was done towards its improvement and +embellishment until after the Restoration. It was within its +precincts, that in July 1626 Lord Conway assembled the numerous +and troublesome French retinue of Queen Henrietta Maria, and +communicated to them the king's pleasure that they should +immediately quit the country. The legion of hungry foreigners, +including several priests and a boy bishop, scarcely of age, had +hoped long to fatten upon English soil, and they received their +dismissal with furious outcry and loud remonstrance. Their royal +mistress also was greatly incensed, and broke several panes of glass +with her fists, in no very queenly style. But Charles for once was +resolute; the Frenchmen had, to use his own expressions, so dallied +with his patience, and so highly affronted him, that he could no +longer endure it. They found, however, all sorts of pretexts to +delay their departure, claiming wages and perquisites which were +not due, and alleging that they had debts in London, and could not +go away till these were discharged. L'Estrange, in his Life of +Charles I., and D'Israeli in his _Commentaries_, gives many curious +particulars of the proceedings of this troop of bloodsuckers. +Under pretence of perquisites, they pillaged the queen's wardrobe +and jewel-case, not leaving her even a change of linen. The king +accorded them a reasonable delay for their preparations, but +at last he lost all patience, as will be seen by the following +characteristic letter to the Duke of Buckingham, dated from Oaking, +the 7th of August 1626: + + "STEENIE,--I have received your letter by Dic Greame, (Sir + Richard Graham.) This is my answer: I command you to send all + the French away to-morrow out of the towne, if you can by fair + means, (but stike not long in disputing,) otherways force them + away, dryving them away lyke so manie wilde beastes, until ye + have shipped them, and so the devil goe with them. Let me heare + no answer, but of the performance of my command. So I rest your + faithful, constant, loving friend, C. R." + +Thereupon the debts of the obnoxious French were paid, their claims, +both just and unjust, satisfied, presents given to some of them, +and they set out for Dover, nearly forty coaches full. "As Madame +St George, whose vivacity is always described as extremely French, +was stepping into the boat, one of the mob could not resist the +satisfaction of flinging a stone at her French cap. An English +courtier, who was conducting her, instantly quitted his charge, ran +the fellow through the body, and quietly returned to the boat. The +man died on the spot, but no further notice appears to have been +taken of the inconsiderate gallantry of the English courtier." + +The Stuarts were commonly plagued with the foreign attendants +of their wives. When Charles the Second's spouse, Catherine of +Braganza, arrived in England, she was escorted by a train of +Portuguese ladies, who highly disgusted the king and his court, +less, however, by their Papistry and greediness, than by their +surpassing ugliness and obstinate adherence to the fashions of +their country. "Six frights," says Anthony Hamilton in his memoirs +of Count Grammont, "who called themselves maids of honour, and a +duenna, another monster, who took the title of governess to these +extraordinary beauties. Among the men were Francisco de Melo, and +one Tauravedez, who called himself Don Pedro Francisco Correo +de Silva, extremely handsome, but a greater fool than all the +Portuguese put together; he was more vain of his names than his +person; but the Duke of Buckingham, a still greater fool than he, +though more addicted to raillery, gave him the name of Peter of +the Wood. He was so enraged at this, that, after many fruitless +complaints and ineffectual menaces, poor Pedro de Silva was +obliged to leave England; while the happy duke kept possession of +a Portuguese nymph more hideous than the queen's maids of honour, +whom he had taken from him, as well as two of his names. Besides +these, there were six chaplains, four bakers, a Jew perfumer, and a +certain officer, probably without an office, who called himself her +highness's barber." Evelyn also tells us, that "the queen arrived +with a train of Portuguese ladies in their monstrous fardingals +or guard-infantas, their complexions olivader, and sufficiently +unagreeable;" and Lord Clarendon talks of "a numerous family of men +and women, that were sent from Portugal"--the women "old and ugly +and proud, incapable of any conversation with persons of quality and +a liberal education; and they desired, and indeed had conspired so +far to possess the queen herself, that she should neither learn the +English language, nor use their habit, nor depart from the manners +and fashions of her own country in any particulars." Although the +Infanta herself was by no means ill-looking, her charms did not +come up to those of the flattered portrait which her mother, the +old Queen of Portugal, had sent to Charles; and it is possible that +the selection of plain women for her retinue had been intentional, +that their ugliness might serve as a foil to her moderate amount of +beauty. After a short time, however, the majority of these uncomely +Lusitanians were sent back to their native country. + +To return to Mr Smith and St James's Park. After his Restoration, +Charles the Second, who, as worthy Thomas Blount says in his +Boscobel, had been hunted to and fro like a "partridge upon the +mountains," became very _casanier_, decidedly stay-at-home, in +his habits, and cared little to absent himself from London and +its vicinity. He had had buffeting and wandering enough in his +youth, and, on ascending the throne of his unfortunate father, +he thought of little besides making himself comfortable in his +capital, careless of expense, which, even in his greatest need, he +seems never to have calculated. He planted the avenues of the park, +made a canal and an aviary for rare birds, which gave the name to +Bird-Cage Walk. Amongst other freaks, and to provide for a witty +Frenchman who amused him, he erected Duck Island into a government. +Charles de St Denis, seigneur of St Evremond, who had been banished +from France for a satire on Cardinal Mazarine, was the first and, +it is believed, the last governor. He drew the salary attached +to the appointment, which was certainly a more lucrative than +honourable one for a man of his talents and reputation. According +to Evelyn, Charles stored the park with "numerous flocks of fowle. +There were also deer of several countries--white, spotted like +leopards; antelopes, as elk, red deer, roebucks, staggs, Guinea +grates, Arabian sheep," &c. In the Mall, also made by him, Charles +played at ball and took his daily walk. "Here," says Colley Cibber, +"Charles was often seen amid crowds of spectators, feeding his +ducks and playing with his dogs, affable even with the meanest of +his subjects." Mr Smith regrets the diminished affability and less +accessible mood of sovereigns of the nineteenth century, although he +admits that the populace of France and England are at the present +day too rude for it to be advisable that kings and queens should +walk amongst them with the easy familiarity of the second Charles. +Of that there can be very little doubt. Even Charles, whose dislike +of ceremony and restraint, and love of gossip and new faces, were +cause, at least as much as any desire for popularity, that he thus +mingled with the mob, occasionally experienced the disagreeables +of his undignified manner of life. Aubrey the credulous, Mr Smith +tells us, relates in his Miscellanies the following anecdote of +an incident that occurred in the Park. "Avise Evans had a fungous +nose, and said that it was revealed to him that the king's hand +would cure him: and at the first coming of King Charles II. into St +James's Park, he kissed the king's hand, and rubbed his nose with +it, which disturbed the king, but cured him." It was whilst walking +on the Mall that the pretended Popish plot of Oates and Bedloe was +announced to Charles. "On the 12th of August 1678," says Hume, +"one Kirby, a chemist, accosted the king as he was walking in the +Park. 'Sir,' said he, 'keep within the company; your enemies have +a design upon your life, and you may be shot in this very walk.' +Being asked the reason of these strange speeches, he said that two +men, called Grove and Pickering, had engaged to shoot the king, and +Sir George Wakeman, the queen's physician, to poison him." Charles, +unlike his grandfather, the timid James, was little apprehensive +of assassination, and, when sauntering in the Park, preferred the +society of two or three intimates to the attendance of a retinue. +On one occasion, however, as a biographer has recorded, an impudent +barber startled him from his usual happy _insouciance_. Accustomed +to chat familiarly with his good-humoured master, the chin-scraper +ventured to observe, whilst operating upon that of the king, that +he considered no officer of the court had a more important trust +than himself. "Why so, friend?" inquired the king. "Why," replied +the barber, "I could cut your majesty's throat whenever I chose." +Charles started up in consternation, swore that the very thought +was treason, and the indiscreet man of razors was deprived of his +delicate charge. + +In the _Daily Post_ for October 31st, 1728, is an order of the Board +of Green Cloth for clearing St James's Park of the shoe-cleaners +and other vagrants, and sending them to the House of Correction. +This reminds us of what has often excited our surprise, the absence +from the streets of London of an humble but very useful class of +professionals, who abound in many continental towns, in all French +ones of any size. Abundant ingenuity is displayed in London in the +discovery and invention of strange and out-of-the-way employments. +Men convert themselves into "animated sandwiches" by back and +breastplates of board, encase themselves in gigantic bottles to +set forth the merits of some famed specific or potent elixir, or +walk about with advertisements printed on their coats, peripatetic +fly-sheets, extolling the comfort and economy of halfpenny steamers, +and of omnibuses at a penny a mile. Some sweep crossings, others +hold horses; but none of the vast number of needy _industrials_ +who strain their wits to devise new means of obtaining their daily +ration and nightly shelter, have as yet taken pattern by the French +_decrotteur_ and German _stiefel-wichser_, and provided themselves +for stock in trade with a three-legged stool, a brace of brushes, +and a bottle of blacking. No one has been at Paris without finding +the great convenience of the _ateliers de decrottage_ which abound +in the passages and in the more frequented of the streets, where, +for three or four _sous_, the lounger who has had boots and +trousers bemired by rapid cab or lumbering _diligence_, is brushed +and polished with unparalleled rapidity and dexterity. But a very +moderate capital is required for the establishment of these temples +of cleanliness, and we recommend the subject to the consideration of +decayed railway "stags." + +"Duke Street Chapel, with a flight of steps leading to the Park, +formed originally a wing of the mansion of the notorious Judge +Jeffries. The house was built by him, and James the Second, as a +mark of especial favour, allowed him to make an entry to the Park by +the steps alluded to. The son of Jeffries inhabited it for a short +time." It was this son and successor of the infamous Jeffries, who, +with a party of rakes and debauchees, mohocks as they were at that +time called, insulted the remains of the poet Dryden, and the grief +of his widow. They happened to pass through Gerrard Street, Soho, +when Dryden's remains were about to be conveyed from his house, No. +43, in that street, to Westminster Abbey. Although it was in the +daytime, Jeffries was drunk; he swore that Dryden should not be +buried in so shabby a manner, (eighteen mourning coaches waited to +form the procession,) and that he would see due honour done to his +remains. After frightening Lady Elizabeth, who was ill in bed, into +a fainting fit, these aristocratic ruffians stopped the funeral, +and sent the body to an undertaker in Cheapside. The bishop waited +several hours in Westminster Abbey, and at last went away. When +Jeffries became sober, he had forgotten all about the matter, and +refused to have any thing to do with the interment. The corpse lay +unburied for three weeks. At last the benevolent Dr Garth had it +taken to the College of Physicians, got up a subscription for the +expenses of the funeral, and followed the body to Westminster Abbey. +The poet's son challenged Jeffries, but Jeffries showed the white +feather, and, to avoid personal chastisement, kept carefully out +of the way for three years, when Charles Dryden was drowned near +Windsor. + +Mr Smith is most indulgent to the blunders and blockheadism of our +modern architects and monument-makers, far too much so, indeed, +when he speaks approvingly of Trafalgar Square and its handsome +fountains, and without positive disapprobation of the vile +collection of clumsy buildings and ill-executed ornament defacing +that site. There has been a deal of ink spilt upon this subject, and +we have no intention of adding to the quantity, especially as there +is no chance that any flow of fluid, however unlimited, shall blot +out the square and its absurdities. But we defy any Englishman, with +the smallest pretensions to taste, to pass Charing Cross without +feelings of shame and disgust at the mismanagement and ignorance +there manifest. Such an accumulation of clumsiness was surely never +before witnessed. The wretched National Gallery with its absurd +dome, crushed beneath the tall and symmetrical proportions of St +Martin's portico, overtopped even by the private dwelling-houses +in its vicinity; the dirty, ill-devised, and worse-executed +fountains, with their would-be-gracefully curved basins, the steps +and parapets, which give the whole place the appearance of an +exaggerated child's toy. Well may foreigners shrug their shoulders, +and smile at the public buildings of the great capital of Britain. +A fatality attends all our efforts in that way. In regard to +architecture and ornament, we pay more and are worse served than +any body else. So habituated are we to failure in this respect, +that when a public building is completed, scaffolding removed, and +a fair view obtained, we wonder and exult if it is found free from +glaring defects, and in no way particularly obnoxious to censure. As +to its proving a thing to be proud of, to be gazed at and admired, +and to be spoken of out of England, or even in England, after the +fuss and ceremony of its inauguration is over, we never dream of +such a thing. The negative merit of having avoided the ridiculous +and the grotesque, is subject for satisfaction, almost for pride. +Assuredly we love not to exalt other countries at the expense of our +own, to draw invidious comparisons between things English and things +foreign. But the difference between public buildings of modern +erection in London and in Paris is so immense, that it can escape no +one. Take, for instance, the Paris _Bourse_ and the London Exchange. +The former, it has been objected, is out of character; a Greek +temple is no fitting rendezvous for the sons of commerce; a less +classic fane were more appropriate for the discussion of exchanges, +for sales of cotton and muscovado. The objection, according to us, +is flimsy and absurd, and must have originated with some Vandalic +and prejudiced booby, with whom consistency was a monomania. +Nevertheless we will, for argument's sake, admit its validity. Is +that a reason that the traders and capitalists of London should meet +in a building which, for heaviness and exaggerated solidity, rivals +a South American Inquisition? Do the Barings and the Rothschilds +anticipate an attack upon their strong boxes, and intend to stand a +siege within the massive walls of the Royal Exchange? Assuredly the +narrow doorways may easily be defended; for a time, at least, the +ponderous walls will mock the cannonade. The curse of heaviness is +upon our architects. There is total want of grace, and lightness, +and airiness in all their works. Behold our new Senate House! Do +its florid beauties and overdone decorations, unsparingly as they +have been lavished, and convenient as they will doubtless be found +as receptacles for bird's nests, contrast favourably with the +elegant and dignified simplicity of the Chamber of Deputies? The +two, it will be said, cannot be assimilated: the vast difference +of size precludes a comparison. We reply, that the buildings are +for the same purpose; but were they not, proportion at least should +be observed. The Parliament House is far too low for its length. +Want of elevation is the common fault, both in the ideas and in the +productions of our architects. + +Are we more successful in statues than in buildings? Mr Smith has +some sensible remarks on this score. Speaking of the equestrian +statue of George III. in Cockspur Street, he says, that "critics +object to the cocked hat and tie-wig in the royal figure; but, +some ages hence, these abused parts will be the most valuable in +the whole statue. It may very reasonably be asked, why an English +gentleman should be represented in the dress of a Roman tribune? +Let the man appear, even in a statue, in his habit as he lived; and +whatever _we_ may say, posterity will be grateful to us. We should +like to know exactly the ordinary walking-dress of Caesar or Brutus, +and how they wore their hair; and we should not complain if they +had cocked hats or periwigs, if we knew them to be exact copies of +nature." It is certain that modern physiognomy rarely harmonises +with ancient costume. What is to be said of the aspect of the "first +gentleman of Europe," wrapped in his horsecloth, and astride on his +bare-backed steed, in the aforesaid Square of Trafalgar? Assuredly +nothing in commendation. There are portraits of Napoleon in classic +drapery, and, even with his classically correct countenance, he +looks a very ordinary, under-sized Roman. But, in his grey _capote_ +and small cocked hat, the characteristic is preserved, and we at +once think of, and wonder at, the hero of Austerlitz and Marengo. + +Leicester Square, as Mr Smith justly observes, has more the +appearance of the _Grande Place_ of some continental city than of +a London square. The headquarters and chief rendezvous of aliens, +especially of Frenchmen, it bears numerous and unmistakeable marks +of its foreign occupancy. French hotels and restaurants replace +taverns and chop-houses. French names are seen above shops; +promises of French, German, and Spanish conversation, are read in +the windows; and grimy-visaged, hirsute individuals, in plaited +pantaloons and garments of eccentric cut, saunter, cigar in mouth, +over the shabby pavement. It is curious to remark the different +tone and station taken by English in Paris and French in London. +In the former capital, nothing is too good for the intruding +islanders. In the best and most expensive season, they throng +thither, and strut about like lords of the soil, perfectly at home, +and careless of the opinions of the people amongst whom they have +condescended to come. The best houses are for their use; the most +expensive shops are favoured with their custom; and if occasionally +tormented by a troublesome consciousness of paying dearly for +their importance, they easily console themselves by a malediction +on the French _voleurs_, who thus take advantage of their long +purses and open hands. How different is it with the Frenchman in +London! He comes over, for the most part, at the dullest time of +the year, in the autumn, when the town is foggy, and dreary, and +empty; when the Parks are deserted, shutters shut, the theatres +dull, and exhibitions closed. He has certain vague apprehensions of +the tremendous expense entailed by a visit to the English capital. +To avoid this, he makes a toil of a pleasure; wearies himself with +economical calculations; and creeps into some inferior hotel or dull +lodging-house, tempted by low prices and foreign announcements. +We find French deputies abiding in Cranbourn Street, and counts +contenting themselves with a garret at Pagliano's. Thence they +perambulate westwards; and ignorant, or not choosing to remember, +that London is out of town, and that they have selected the very +worst possible season to visit it, they greatly marvel at the +paucity of equipages, at the abundance of omnibuses and hack-cabs, +and the scarcity of sunbeams; and return home to inform their +friends that London is a _ville monstre_, with spacious streets, +small houses, few amusements; very great, but very gloomy; and +where the nearest approach to sunshine resembles the twinkling of a +rushlight through a plate of blue earthenware. + +"The foreign appearance of Leicester Square is not of recent growth. +It seems to have been the favourite resort of strangers and exiles +ever since the place was built. Maitland, who wrote more than a +hundred years ago, describing the parish of St Anne's, in which +it is situate, says--'The fields in these parts being but lately +converted into buildings, I have not discovered any thing of great +antiquity in this parish. Many parts of it so greatly abound with +French, that it is an easy matter for a stranger to imagine himself +in France.'" + +Sydney Alley is named after the Earls of Leicester, who had their +town-house on the north side of the square, where Leicester Place +has since been opened. Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, daughter of +James I., occupied, for some years, this residence of the Sydneys. +She also inhabited a house in Drury Place, where Craven Street +now stands, which was built for her by Lord Craven. It was called +Bohemia House for many years afterwards, and at last became a +tavern, at the sign of the Queen of Bohemia. "The Earl of Craven +was thought to have been privately married to the queen, a woman of +great sweetness of temper and amiability of manners--a universal +favourite both in this country and Bohemia, where her gentleness +acquired her the title of 'The Queen of Hearts.' By right of their +descent from her, the House of Hanover ascended the throne of this +kingdom." Lord Craven was the eldest son of Sir William Craven, +lord-mayor of London in 1611. He fought under Gustavus Adolphus with +great distinction, and returned to England at the Restoration, when +Charles II. made him viscount and earl. He commanded a regiment of +the guards until within three or four years of his death, which +occurred in 1697, at the advanced age of eighty-five. "He was an +excellent soldier," says the advertisement of his decease in No. +301 of the _Postman_, "and served in the wars under Palsgrave of +the Rhine, and also under the great Gustavus Adolphus, where he +performed sundry warlike exploits to admiration; and, in a word, he +was then in great renowne." + +However indifferently Leicester Square may at present be inhabited, +and notwithstanding its long-standing reputation as a foreign +colony, it has been the chosen abode of many distinguished men. +Hogarth and Reynolds lived and died there. Hogarth's house is now +part of the Sabloniere Hotel. Sir Joshua's was on the opposite side +of the square; and both of them, especially the latter, were much +resorted to by the wits and wise men of the day. Johnson, Boswell, +and, at times, Goldsmith, were constant visitors to Reynolds. John +Hunter, the anatomist, lived next-door to Hogarth's house; and in +1725, Lords North and Grey, and Arthur Onslow, the Speaker, also +inhabited this square. Leicester House, where the Queen of Bohemia +lived, is called by Pennant the "pouting-place of princes." George +II. retired thither when he quarrelled with his father; and his son +Frederick, the father of George III., did the same thing for the +same reason. Whilst Prince Frederick and the Princess of Wales lived +there, they received the wedding visit of the Hon. John Spencer, +ancestor of the present Earl Spencer, and of his bride, Miss Poyntz. +Contrary to established etiquette, the bridal party went to visit +the Prince before paying their respects to the King. They came in +two carriages and a sedan chair; the latter, which was lined with +white satin, contained the bride, and was preceded by a black page, +and followed by three footmen in splendid liveries. The diamonds +presented to Mr Spencer, on occasion of his marriage, by Sarah, +Duchess of Marlborough, were worth one hundred thousand pounds. The +bridegroom's shoe-buckles alone cost thirty thousand pounds. An old +gentleman, born more than a century ago, from whom Mr Smith obtained +some of these particulars, informed him, that about that time the +neighbourhood was so thinly built, that when the heads of two men, +executed for participation in the Scotch rebellion, were placed on +Temple Bar, a man stood in Leicester Fields with a telescope, to +give the boys a sight of them for a penny a-piece. + +A house in Leicester Fields was the scene of some of the +eccentricities of that semi-civilised hero, Peter the Great of +Russia. It belonged to the Earl of Aylesbury, and was inhabited, +during the Czar's visit to this country, by the Marquis of +Carmarthen, who gave a grand ball there, on the 2d April 1698, in +honour of the imperial stranger. The Marquis was Peter's particular +chum and boon companion, and the Czar preferred his society to +all the gaieties and visitors that beset him during his residence +in England. Peter was very shy of strangers, and when William the +Third gave him a magnificent entertainment at St James's, he would +not mix with the company, but begged to be put into a cupboard, +whence he could see without being seen. He drank tremendously, and +made Lord Carmathen do the same. Hot brandy, seasoned with pepper, +was his favourite drink. Something strong he certainly required +to digest his diet of train-oil and raw meats. On one occasion, +when staying in Leicester Fields with the Marquis, he is said to +have drunk a pint of brandy and a bottle of sherry before dinner, +and eight bottles of sack after it, and then to have gone to the +play, seemingly no whit the worse. He lodged in York Buildings, in +a house overlooking the river, supposed by some to be that at the +left-hand corner of Buckingham Street. A house in Norfolk Street +also had the honour of sheltering him. "On Monday night," says No. +411 of the _Postman_ "the Czar of Muscovy arrived from Holland, and +went directly to the house prepared for him in Norfolk Street." His +principal amusement was being rowed on the Thames between London +and Deptford; and at last, in order to live quietly and avoid the +hosts of visitors who poured in upon him, he took Admiral Benbow's +house at the latter place. It stood on the ground now occupied by +the Victualling Office, and was the property of the well-known John +Evelyn. + +"Horne Tooke," says Mr Smith, "in his _Diversions of Purley_, +derives the word Charing from the Saxon _Charan_, to turn; and the +situation of the original village, on the bend or turning of the +Thames, gives probability to this etymology." Every body knows that +Charing, now so central a point, was once a little hamlet on the +rural high-road between London and Westminster, and that the "Cross" +was added to it by Edward the First, who, when escorting his wife's +remains from Lincolnshire to Westminster Abbey, erected one at each +place where the beloved corpse rested. The first cross, which was +of wood, and probably of rude enough manufacture, gave way to one +of stone, designed by Cavalini. About the middle of the seventeenth +century, that period of puritanical intolerance, this was removed by +order of the Commons' House, an order which the royalists took care +to ridicule by song and lampoon. According to Lilly the astrologer +and quack, the workmen were three months pulling it down, and some +of the stones were used for the pavement before Whitehall. Others +were made into knife-handles, and Lilly saw some of them which were +polished and looked like marble. Those were days in which kingly +memorials found as little favour as popish emblems; and after the +death of Charles the First, the statue that now stands at Charing +Cross, and which had been cast by Le Sueur in 1633 for the Earl of +Arundel, was sold and ordered to be broken up. It was bought by one +Rivet, a brazier, who, instead of breaking, buried it. This did not +prevent the ingenious mechanic from making a large and immediate +profit by the effigy of the martyred monarch; for he melted down +old brass into knife and fork-handles, and sold them as proceeding +from the King's statue. Roundheads and cavaliers all flocked to buy; +the former desiring a trophy of their triumph, the latter eager to +possess a memento of their lamented sovereign. In 1678, L70,000 +was voted by Parliament for the obsequies of Charles I., and for a +monument to his memory, and with a portion of this sum, how large a +one is not known, the statue was repurchased. + +The historian of the streets and houses of a great and ancient +city, has, in many ways, a most difficult task to perform. Not only +must he read much, observe closely, and diligently inquire, display +ingenuity in deduction and judgment in selection, but he must be +steadfast to resist temptation. For, assuredly, to the lover of +antiquarian and historical lore, the temptation is immense, whilst +culling materials from quaint old diaries, black-letter pamphlets, +and venerable newspapers, to expatiate and extract at a length +wholly inconsistent with the necessary limits of his work. Some +writers are at pains to dilate their matter--his chief care must +be to compress. What would fairly fill a sheet must be packed into +a page--the pith and substance of a volume must be squeezed into a +chapter. The diligent compiler should not be slightly considered by +the creative and aspiring genius. Like the bee, he forms his small, +rich store, from the fragrance of a thousand flowers--adopting the +sweet, rejecting the nauseous and insipid. Nor must he dwell too +long on any pet and particular blossom, lest what would please +in due proportion should cloy by too large an admixture. To vary +the metaphor, the writer of such a work as this _Antiquarian +Ramble_, should be a sort of literary Soyer, mixing his materials +so skilfully that the flavour of each is preserved, whilst not one +unduly predominates. He must not prance off on a hobby, whether +architectural, historical, social, or romantic, but relieve his +cattle and his readers by jumping lightly and frequently from one +saddle to another. + +How many books might be written upon the themes briefly glanced at +in Mr Smith's book! Let us take, for instance, the places of public +executions in London. Charing Cross was for centuries one of them, +and its pillory was the most illustrious amongst the many that +formerly graced the capital--illustrious by reason of the remarkable +evil-doers who underwent ignominy in its wooden and unfriendly +embrace. The notorious Titus Oates, and Parsons, the chief contriver +of the Cock-Lane Ghost, were exposed in it. To the rough treatment +which, in former days, sometimes succeeded exposure in the pillory, +the following paragraph, from the _Daily Advertiser_ of the 11th +June 1731, abundantly testifies:--"Yesterday Japhet Crook, _alias_ +Sir Peter Stranger, stood on the pillory for the space of one hour; +after which he was seated in an elbow-chair, and the common hangman +cut both his ears off with an incision knife, and showed them to +the spectators, afterwards delivered them to Mr Watson, a sheriff's +officer; then slit both his nostrils with a pair of scissors, and +sear'd them with a hot iron, pursuant to his sentence. He had a +surgeon to attend him to the pillory, who immediately applied things +necessary to prevent the effusion of blood. He underwent it all with +undaunted courage; afterwards went to the Ship tavern at Charing +Cross, where he stayed some time; then was carried to the King's +Bench Prison, to be confined there for life. During the time he +was on the pillory he laughed, and denied the fact to the last." +Petty punishments these, although barbarous enough, inflicted for +paltry crimes upon mean malefactors. Criminals of a far higher grade +had, previously to that, paid the penalty of their offences at the +Cross of Charing. Hugh Peters, Cromwell's chaplain, was there hung, +as were Scrope, Jones, Harrison, and others of the king-killers. +Long had been their impunity; but vengeance at last overtook them. +To the end they showed the stern fanatical resolution of Oliver's +iron followers. "Where is your GOOD OLD CAUSE?" cried a scoffer +to Harrison, as he was led to the scaffold. "Here!" he replied, +clapping hand on breast; "I go to seal it with my blood." At the +foot of the ladder, which he approached with undaunted mien, his +limbs were observed to tremble, and some amongst the mob made a +mockery of this weakness. "I judge," said Harrison, "that some do +think I am afraid to die, by the shaking I have in my hands and +knees. _I_ tell you NO! but it is by reason of much blood that I +have lost in the wars, and many wounds I have received in my body, +which caused this shaking and weakness in my nerves." And he spoke +further, and told the populace how he gloried in that he had done, +and how, had he ten thousand lives, he would cheerfully lay them +down in the same cause. "After he was hanged, a horrible scene took +place. In conformity to the barbarous sentence then, and for many +years afterwards, executed upon persons convicted of treason, he +was cut down alive and stripped, his belly was cut open, his bowels +taken out and burned before his eyes. Harrison, in the madness of +his agony, rose up wildly, it is said, and gave the executioner +a box on the ear, and then fell down insensible. It was the last +effort of matter over mind, and for the time it conquered." The +other regicides died with the same firmness and contempt of death. +"Their grave and graceful demeanour," says the account in the state +trials, "accompanied with courage and cheerfulness, caused great +admiration and compassion in the spectators." So much so, and so +strong was the sympathy excited, that the government gave orders +that no more of them should be executed in the heart of London. +Accordingly the remainder suffered at Tyburn. + +Upon the old Westminster market-place a most barbarous event +occurred in the time of that tyrannical, acetous old virgin, Queen +Bess, who assuredly owes her renown and the sort of halo of respect +that surrounds her memory, far less to any good qualities of her +own, than to the galaxy of great men who flourished during her +reign. The glory that encircles her brow is formed of such stars as +Cecil, Burleigh and Bacon, Drake and Raleigh, Spencer, Shakspeare, +and Sydney. Touching this barbarity, however, enacted by order of +good Queen Bess. At the mature age of forty-eight, her majesty took +it into her very ordinary-looking old head to negotiate a marriage +with the Duke of Anjou. Commissioners came from France to discuss +the interesting subject, and were entertained by pageants and +tournaments, in which Elizabeth enacted the Queen of Beauty; and +subsequently the duke came over himself, as a private gentleman, to +pay his court to the last of the Tudors. The duke being a papist, +the proposed alliance was very unpopular in England, and one John +Stubbs, a barrister of Lincoln's-Inn, wrote a pamphlet against it, +entitled, "The Discoverye of a gaping gulphe, whereinto England is +like to be swallowed by another French marriage, if the Lord forbid +not the banns, by letting her Majestye see the sin and punishment +thereof." Certain expressions in this imprudent publication greatly +angered the Queen; Stubbs and his servant, Page, were brought to +trial, and condemned to lose their right hands. This cruel and +unusual sentence was carried into effect on the market-place at +Westminster, and witnessed by Camden, who gives an account of it. +Both sufferers behaved with great fortitude and courage. Their hands +were cut off with a butcher's cleaver and mallet, and as soon as +Stubbs had lost his, he pulled off his cap with his left, waved it +in the air, and cried--"God save the Queen!" He then fainted away. +It took two blows to sever Page's hand, but he flinched not, and +pointing to the block where it lay, he exclaimed--"I have left there +the hand of a true Englishman!" And so he went from the scaffold, +says the account, "stoutlie and with great courage." + +Amongst spots of sanguinary notoriety, Smithfield, of course, stands +prominent. The majority of the two hundred and seventy-seven persons +burned for heresy during Mary's short reign, suffered there; and +here also, upon two occasions, the horrible punishment of boiling +to death, formerly inflicted on poisoners, was witnessed. In France +this was the punishment of coiners, and there is still a street +at Paris known as the _Rue de l'Echaude_. In Stow's _Annals_ it +is recorded, that on the fifth of April 1531, "one Richard Rose, +a cook, was boiled in Smithfield for poisoning of divers persons, +to the number of sixteen or more." Two only of the sixteen died, +but the others were never restored to health. If any thing could +reconcile us to torture, as a punishment to be inflicted by man on +his offending brother, it is such a crime as this. + +If the punishments of our ancestors were cruel, if trials were +sometimes over hasty, and small offences often too severely +chastised, on the other hand, culprits formerly had facilities of +escape now refused to them. The right of sanctuary was enjoyed by +various districts and buildings in London. Pennant and many other +writers have stigmatised this practice as absurd; Mr Smith defends +it upon very reasonable grounds. "In times when every man went +armed, when feuds were of hourly occurrence in the streets, when the +age had not yet learned the true superiority of right over might, +and when private revenge too often usurped the functions of justice, +it was essential that there should be places whither the homicide +might flee, and find refuge and protection until the violence of +angry passions had subsided, and there was a chance of a fair trial +for him." Not all sanctuaries, however, gave protection to the +murderer, at least in later times. Whitefriars, for instance, once a +refuge for all criminals, except traitors, afforded shelter, after +the fifteenth century, to debtors only. In 1697 this sanctuary was +abolished entirely, at the same time with a dozen others. It is not +well ascertained how it acquired the slang name of Alsatia, which +is first found in a play of Shadwell's, _The Squire of Alsatia_. +Immortalised by the genius of Scott, no sanctuary will longer be +remembered than Whitefriars. It was one of the largest; many others +of the privileged districts being limited to a court or alley, a +few houses or a church. Thus Ram Alley and Mitre Court in Fleet +Street, and Baldwin's Gardens in Gray's Inn Lane, were amongst these +refugees of roguery and crime. Whitefriars was much resorted to by +poets and players, dancing and fencing masters, and persons of the +like vagabond and uncertain professions. The poets and players were +attracted by the vicinity of the theatre in Dorset Gardens, built +after the fire of London, by Sir Christopher Wren, upon the site +of Dorset House, the residence of the Sackvilles. Here Sir William +Davenant's company of comedians--the Duke of York's servants, as +they were called--performed for a considerable time. It appears, +however, that even before the great fire, there was a theatre in +that neighbourhood. Malone, in his _Prologomena_ to Shakspeare, +quotes a memorandum from the manuscript book of Sir Henry Herbert, +master of the revels to King Charles I. It runs thus:--"I committed +Cromes, a broker in Long Lane, the 16th of February 1634, to the +Marshalsey, for lending a church robe with the name of Jesus upon it +_to the players in Salisbury Court_, to represent a Flamen, a priest +of the heathens. Upon his petition of submission and acknowledgement +of his faults, I released him the 17th of February 1634." + +The ancient sanctuary at Westminster is of historical and +Shaksperian celebrity, as the place where Elizabeth Grey, Queen of +Edward the Fourth, took refuge, when Warwick the king-maker marched +to London to dethrone her husband, and set Henry the Sixth on the +throne. It was a stone church, built in the form of a cross, and +so strongly, that its demolition, in 1750, was a matter of great +difficulty. The precinct of St Martin's-le-Grand was also sanctuary. +Many curious particulars respecting it are to be found in Kempe's +_Historical Notices of the Collegiate Church, or Royal Free Chapel +and Sanctuary of St Martin's-le-Grand, London_, published in 1825. +In the reign of Henry the Fifth, this right of sanctuary gave rise +to a great dispute between the Dean of St Martin's and the city +authorities. "A soldier, confined in Newgate, was on his way to +Guildhall, in charge of an officer of the city, when on passing +the south gate of St Martin's, opposite to Newgate Street, five +of his comrades rushed out of Panyer Alley, with daggers drawn, +rescued him, and fled with him to the holy ground." The sheriff had +the sanctuary forced, and sent rescued and rescuers to Newgate. +The Dean of St Martin's, indignant at this violation of privilege, +complained to the king, who ordered the prisoners to be liberated. +Thereat the citizens, ever sticklers for their rights, demurred, +and at last it was made a Star-Chamber matter. The dean pleaded his +own cause, and that right skilfully and wittily. He denied that +the chapel of St Martin's formed any part of the city of London, +as claimed by the corporation; quoted a statute of Edward III. +constituting St Martin's and Westminster Abbey places of privilege +for treason, felony, and debt; and mentioned the curious fact, +that "when the King's justices held their sittings in St Martin's +Gate, for the trial of prisoners for treason or felony, the accused +were placed before them, _on the other side of the street_, and +carefully guarded from advancing forward; for if they ever passed +the water-channel which divided the middle of the street, they +might claim the saving franchise of the sacred precinct, and the +proceedings against them would be immediately annulled." The dean +also expressed his wonder that the citizens of London should be the +men to impugn his church's liberties, since more than three hundred +worshipful members of the corporation had within a few years been +glad to claim its privilege. The Star-Chamber decided against the +city, and the prisoners were restored to sanctuary. The Savoy was +another sanctuary; and it was the custom of the inhabitants to tar +and feather those who ventured to follow their debtors thither. + +In the theatrical district of London, Mr Smith lingers long +and fondly; for there each house, almost every brick, is rich +in reminiscences, not only of players and playhouses, but of +wits, poets, and artists. In the burial-ground of St Paul's, +Covent-Garden, repose not a few of those who in their lifetime +inhabited or frequented the neighbourhood. There lies the author of +Hudibras. "Mr Longueville, of the Temple, Butler's steady friend, +and who mainly supported him in his latter days, when the ungrateful +Stuart upon the throne, whose cause he had so greatly served, had +deserted him, was anxious to have buried the poet in Westminster +Abbey. He solicited for that purpose the contributions of those +wealthy persons, his friends, whom he had heard speak admiringly of +Butler's genius, and respectfully of his character, but none would +contribute, although he offered to head the list with a considerable +sum." So poor Butler was buried in Covent-Garden, privately but +decently. He is in good company. Sir Peter Lely, the painter of +dames, the man who seemed created on purpose to limn the languishing +and voluptuous beauties of Charles the Second's court, is also +buried in St Paul's; as are also Wycherley and Southerne, the +dramatists; Haines and Macklin, the comedians; Arne, the musician; +Strange, the engraver; and Walcot, _alias_ Peter Pindar. Sir Peter +Lely lived in Covent-Garden, in very great style. "The original name +of the family was Vandervaes; but Sir Peter's father, a gallant +fellow, and an officer in the army, having been born at a perfumer's +shop, the sign of the Lily, was commonly known by the name of +Captain Lily, a name which his son thought to be more euphonious +to English ears than Vandervaes, and which he retained when he +settled here, slightly altering the spelling." Wycherley, a dandy +and a courtier, as well as an author, had lodgings in Bow Street, +where Charles II. once visited him when he was ill, and gave him +five hundred pounds to go a journey to the south of France for the +benefit of his health. When he afterwards married the Countess of +Drogheda, a young, rich, and beautiful widow, she went to live with +him in Bow Street. She was very jealous, and when he went over to +the "Cock" tavern, opposite to his house, he was obliged to make the +drawer open the windows, that his lady might see there was no woman +in the company. This "Cock" tavern was the great resort of the rakes +and mohocks of that day; of Buckhurst, Sedley, Killigrew, and others +of the same kidney. In fact, Bow Street was then the Bond Street of +London; and the "Cock," its "Long's" or "Clarendon." Dryden, in an +epilogue, talks of the "Bow Street beaux," and several contemporary +writers have similar allusions. Like most places where the rich +congregate, this fashionable quarter was a fine field for the +ingenuity of pick-pockets, and especially of wig and sword-stealers, +a class of thieves that appeared with full-bottomed periwigs and +silver-hilted rapiers. In those days, to keep a man's head decently +covered, cost nearly as much as it now does to fill his belly and +clothe his back. Wigs were sometimes of the value of forty or fifty +pounds. Ten or fifteen pounds was an exceeding "low figure" for +these modish incumbrances. Out of respect to such costly head-dress, +hats were never put on, but carried under the arm. The wig-stealers +could demand no more. Mr Smith quotes a passage from Gay, describing +their manoeuvres:-- + + "Nor is thy flaxen wig with safety worn: + High on the shoulder, in a basket borne, + Lurks the sly boy, whose hand, to rapine bred, + Plucks off the curling honours of thy head." + +Will's coffeehouse was in Bow Street, and "being the grand resort +of wits and critics, it is not surprising," says Mr Smith, "that +it should become also the headquarters of envy, slander, and +detraction." There was then a lack of printed vehicles for the +venting of the evil passions of rival _literati_; lampoons were +circulated in manuscript, and read at Will's. As the acknowledgment +of the authorship might sometimes have had disagreeable consequences +for the author, a fellow of the name of Julian, who styled himself +"Secretary to the Muses," became the mouthpiece of libeller and +satirist. He read aloud in the coffee-room the pasquinades that were +brought to him, and distributed written copies to all who desired +them. Concerning this base fellow, Sir Walter Scott gives some +curious particulars in his edition of Dryden's works. There is no +record of cudgelings bestowed upon Julian, though it is presumed +that he did not escape them. "He is described," says Malone, "as +a very drunken fellow, and at one time was confined for a libel." +Dryden was a great sufferer from these violent and slanderous +attacks--a sufferer, indeed, in more senses than one; for, besides +being himself made the subject of venomous lampoons, he was +suspected unjustly of having written one, and was waylaid and beaten +on his way from Will's to his house in Gerrard Street. A reward of +fifty pounds was offered for the apprehension of his assailants, but +they remained undiscovered. Lord Rochester was their employer: Lord +Mulgrave the real author of the libel. + +In James Street, Covent-Garden, where Garrick lodged, there +resided, from 1714 to 1720, a mysterious lady, who excited great +interest and curiosity. Malcolm, in his _Anecdotes of London +during the Eighteenth Century_, gives some account of her. She +was middle-sized, dark-haired, beautiful and accomplished, and +apparently between thirty and forty years old. She was wealthy, +and possessed very valuable jewels. Her death was sudden, and +occurred after a masquerade, where she said she had conversed with +the King. It was remembered that she had been seen in the private +apartments of Queen Anne; but after that Queen's death, she lived +in obscurity. "She frequently said that her father was a nobleman, +but that, her elder brother dying unmarried, the title was extinct; +adding, that she had an uncle then living, whose title was his least +recommendation. It seems likely enough that she was connected in +some way with the Stuart family, and with their pretensions to the +throne." + +Dr Arne was born in King Street. His father, an honest upholsterer, +at the sign of the "Two Crowns and Cushions," is said to have been +the original of Murphy's farce of _The Upholsterer_. He did not +countenance his son's musical propensities; and young Arne had to +get up in the night, and practise by stealth on a muffled spinet. +The first intimation received by the worthy mattress-maker of his +son's proficiency in music, was one evening at a concert, where he +quite unexpectedly saw him officiating as leader of the orchestra. + +Voltaire, when in England, after his release from the Bastille, +whither he had been sent for libel, lodged in Maiden Lane, at the +White Peruke, a wigmaker's shop. When walking out, he was often +annoyed by the mob, who beheld, in his spare person, polite manners, +and satirical countenance, the personification of their notion of +a Frenchman. "One day he was beset by so great a crowd that he +was forced to shelter himself against a doorway, where, mounting +the steps, he made a flaming speech in English in praise of the +magnanimity of the English nation, and their love of freedom. +With this the people were so delighted, that their jeers were +turned into applauses, and he was carried in triumph to Maiden +Lane on the shoulders of the mob." From which temporary elevation +the arch-scoffer doubtless looked down upon his dupes with glee, +suppressed, but immeasurable. + +Quitting the abodes of wit and the drama for those of legal +learning, we pass from Covent-Garden to Lincoln's Inn Fields, +through Great Queen Street, in the Stuarts' day one of the most +fashionable in London. Here dwelt Lord Herbert of Cherbury, and +here he wrote the greater part of his treatise _De Veritate_, +concerning the publication of which he believed himself, according +to his own marvellous account, to have had a special revelation +from heaven. A strange weakness, or rather madness, on the part of +a man who disbelieved, or at least doubted, of general revelation. +For himself, he thought an exception possible. Insanity alone could +explain and excuse such illogical vanity. Near to this singular +enthusiast lived Sir Godfrey Kneller, whose next-door neighbour +and friend was Radcliffe the physician. "Kneller," says Horace +Walpole, in his Anecdotes of Painting, "was fond of flowers, and had +a fine collection. As there was great intimacy between him and the +physician, he permitted the latter to have a door into his gardens; +but Radcliffe's servants gathering and destroying the flowers, +Kneller sent him word he must shut up the door. Radcliffe replied +peevishly, "Tell him he may do any thing with it but paint it." "And +I," answered Godfrey, "can take any thing from him but his physic." +Pope and Gay were frequent visitors at the painter's studio. At the +wall of Lincoln's Inn Garden, Ben Jonson is by some asserted to have +laboured as a bricklayer. "He helped," says Fuller, "in the building +of the new structure of Lincoln's Inn, where, having a trowel in his +hand, he had a book in his pocket." Aubrey tells the same story, +which is discredited by Mr Gifford, who denies that the poet ever +was a bricklayer. Lord William Russell was executed in Lincoln's +Inn Fields, it being, Pennant tells us, the nearest open space from +Newgate, where he was confined. + +Passing through Duke Street, where Benjamin Franklin lodged, when +working as a journeyman printer in the adjacent Great Wyld Street, +into Clare Market, the scene of Orator Henley's holdings-forth, we +thence, by Drury-Lane, the residence of Nell Gwynne and Nan Clarges +before they became respectively the King's mistress and a Duke's +wife, get back to the Strand and move Citywards. But to refer, +although merely nominally, to one half the subjects of interest +met with on the way, and suggested by Mr Smith, would be to write +an index, not a review. Here, therefore, we pause, believing that +enough has been said to convince the reader of the vast amount of +information and amusement derivable from the bricks and stones of +London, and able to recommend to him, should he himself set out +on a street pilgrimage, an excellent guide and companion in the +_Antiquarian Ramble_. + + + + +MARLBOROUGH'S DISPATCHES. + +1711-1712. + + +After the reduction of Bouchain, Marlborough was anxious to +commence without delay the siege of Quesnoy, the capture of which +would, in that quarter, have entirely broken through the French +barrier. He vigorously stimulated his own government accordingly, +as well as that at the Hague, to prepare the necessary supplies +and magazines, and expressed a sanguine hope that the capture of +this last stronghold would be the means of bringing about the grand +object of his ambition, and a general peace.[5] The ministry, to +appearance, went with alacrity into his projects, and every thing +bore the aspect of another great success closing the campaign with +honour, and probably leading to a glorious and lasting peace. Mr +Secretary St John, in particular, wrote in the warmest style of +cordiality, approving the project in his own name as well as in that +of the Queen, and reiterating the assurances that the strongest +representations had been made to the Dutch, with a view to their +hearty concurrence. But all this was a mere cover to conceal what +the Tories had really been doing to overturn Marlborough, and +abandon the main objects of the war. Unknown to him, the secret +negotiation with the French Cabinet, through Torcy and the British +ministers, through the agency of Mesnager, had been making rapid +progress. No representations were made to the Dutch, who were fully +in the secret of the pending negotiation, about providing supplies; +and on the 27th September, preliminaries of peace, on the basis of +the seven articles proposed by Louis, were signed by Mesnager on +the part of France, and by the two English secretaries of state, in +virtue of a special warrant from the Queen.[6] + + [5] "The siege, so far as it depends on me, shall be pushed with + all possible vigour, and I do not altogether despair but that, from + the success of this campaign, we may hear of some advances made + towards that which we so much desire. And I shall esteem it much the + happiest part of my life, if I can be instrumental in putting a good + end to the war, which grows so burdensome to our country, as well as + to our allies."--_Marlborough to Lord Oxford_, Aug. 20, 1711; Coxe, + vi. 92. + + [6] Coxe, vi. 93. + +The conditions of these preliminaries, which were afterwards +embodied in the Treaty of Utrecht, were the acknowledgement of the +Queen's title to the throne, and the Protestant succession, by +Louis; an engagement to take all just and reasonable measures that +the crowns of France and Spain should never be united on the same +head,--the providing a sufficient barrier to the Dutch, the empire, +and the house of Austria; and the demolition of Dunkirk, or a proper +equivalent. But the crown of Spain was left to the Duke of Anjou, +and no provision whatever made to exclude a Bourbon prince from +succeeding to it. Thus the main object of the contest--the excluding +the Bourbon family from the throne of Spain, was abandoned: and +at the close of the most important, successful, and glorious war +ever waged by England, terms were agreed to, which left to France +advantages which could scarcely have been hoped by the Cabinet of +Versailles as the fruit of a long series of victories. + +Marlborough felt deeply this clandestine negotiation, which not +only deprived him of the main object for which, during his great +career, he had been contending, but evinced a duplicity and want of +confidence on the part of his own government at its close, which +was a melancholy return for such inappreciable public services.[7] +But it was of no avail; the secession of England proved, as he +had foreseen from the outset, a deathblow to the confederacy. +Finding that nothing more was to be done, either at the head of the +army, or in direction of the negotiations, he returned home by the +Brille, after putting his army into winter-quarters, and landed at +Greenwich on the 17th November. Though well aware of the private +envy, as well as political hostility of which he was the object, he +did nothing that could lower or compromise his high character and +lofty position; but in an interview with the Queen, fully expressed +his opinion on the impolicy of the course which ministers were +now adopting.[8] He adopted the same manly course in the noble +speech which he made in his place in Parliament, in the debate on +the address. Ministers had put into the royal speech the unworthy +expression--"I am glad to tell you, that notwithstanding _the arts +of those who delight in war_, both place and time are appointed for +opening the treaty of a general peace." Lord Anglesea followed this +up, by declaring, in the course of the debate, that the country +might have enjoyed the blessing of peace soon after the battle of +Ramilies, if it had not been deferred by some person whose interest +it was to prolong the war. + + [7] "As you have given me encouragement to enter into the strictest + confidence with you, I beg your friendly advice in what manner I am + to conduct myself. You cannot but imagine it would be a terrible + mortification for me to pass by the Hague when our plenipotentiaries + are there, and myself a stranger to their transactions; and what + hopes can I have of any countenance at home if I am not thought fit + to be trusted abroad?"--_Marlborough to the Lord Treasurer_, 21st + Oct. 1711. + + [8] I hear, that in his conversation with the Queen, the Duke of + Marlborough has spoken against what we are doing; in short, his fate + hangs heavy upon him, and he has of late pursued every counsel which + was worst for him.--_Bolingbroke's Letters_, i. 480. Nov. 24, 1711. + +Rising upon this, with inexpressible dignity, and turning to where +the Queen sat, Marlborough said, "I appeal to the Queen, whether I +did not constantly, while I was plenipotentiary, give her Majesty +and her Council an account of all the propositions which were made; +and whether I did not desire instruction for my conduct on this +subject. I can declare with a good conscience, in the presence of +her Majesty, of this illustrious assembly, and of God himself, who +is infinitely superior to all the powers of the earth, and before +whom, by the ordinary course of nature, I shall soon appear to +render account of my actions, that I was very desirous of a safe, +honourable, and lasting peace, and was very far from wishing to +prolong the war for my own private advantage, as several libels +and discourses have most falsely insinuated. My great age, and my +numerous fatigues in war, make me ardently wish for the power to +enjoy a quiet repose, in order to think of eternity. As to other +matters, I have not the least inducement, on any account, to desire +the continuance of the war for my own interest, since my services +have been so generously rewarded by her Majesty and her parliament; +but I think myself obliged to make such an acknowledgment to her +Majesty and my country, that I am always ready to serve them, +whenever my duty may require, to obtain an honourable and lasting +peace. Yet I can by no means acquiesce in the measures that have +been taken to enter into a negotiation of peace with France, upon +the foot of some pretended preliminaries, which are now circulated; +since my opinion is the same as that of most of the Allies, that _to +leave Spain and the West Indies to the House of Bourbon, will be the +entire ruin of Europe_, which I have with all fidelity and humility +declared to her Majesty, when I had the honour to wait upon her +after my arrival from Holland."[9] + + [9] _Parl. Hist._, 10th December 1711. + +This manly declaration, delivered in the most emphatic manner, +produced a great impression; and a resolution against ministers +was carried in the House of Peers by a majority of twelve. In the +Commons, however, they had large majority, and an address containing +expressions similar to those used by Lord Anglesea, reflecting on +Marlborough, was introduced and carried there. The Whig majority, +however, continued firm in the Upper House; and the leaders of that +party began to entertain sanguine hopes of success. The Queen had +let fall some peevish expressions in regard to her ministers. She +had given her hand, in retiring from the House of Peers on the +15th December, to the Duke of Somerset, instead of her own Lord +Treasurer; it was apprehended her old partiality for Marlborough was +about to return; Mrs Masham was in the greatest alarm; and St John +declared to Swift that the Queen was false.[10] The ministers of +the whole alliance seconded the efforts of the Whigs, and strongly +represented the injurious effects which would ensue to the cause of +European independence in general, and the interests of England in +particular, if the preliminaries which had been agreed to should +be made the basis of a general peace. The Dutch made strong and +repeated representations on the subject; and the Elector of Hanover +delivered a memorial strongly urging the danger which would ensue +if Spain and the Indies were allowed to remain in the hands of a +Bourbon prince. + + [10] SWIFT'S _Journal to Stella_, Dec. 8, 1711.--Swift said to the + Lord Treasurer, in his usual ironical style, "If there is no remedy, + your lordship will lose your head; but I shall only be hung, and so + carry my body entire to the grave."--Coxe, vi. 148, 157. + +Deeming themselves pushed to extremities, and having failed in +all attempts to detach Marlborough from the Whigs, Bolingbroke +and the ministers resolved on the desperate measure of bringing +forward the accusation against him, of fraud and peculation in +the management of the public monies entrusted to his management +in the Flemish campaign. The charges were founded on the report +of certain commissioners to whom the matter had been remitted; +and which charged the Duke with having appropriated L.63,319 of +the public monies destined for the use of the English troops, +and L.282,366, as a per-centage of two per cent on the sum paid +to foreign ambassadors during the ten years of the war. In reply +to these abominable insinuations, the letter of the Duke to the +commissioners was published on the 27th December, in which he +entirely refuted the charges, and showed that he had never received +any sums or perquisites, not sanctioned by previous and uniform +usage, and far less than had been received by the general in the +reign of William III. And in regard to the L.282,000 of per-centage +on foreign subsidies, this was proved to have been a voluntary +gift from those powers to the English general, authorised by their +signatures and sanctioned by warrants from the Queen. This answer +made a great impression; but ministers had gone too far to retreat, +and they ventured on a step which, for the honour of the country, +has never, even in the worst times, been since repeated. Trusting +to their majority in the Commons, they dismissed the Duke from all +his situations on the 31st December; and in order to stifle the +voice of justice in the Upper House, on the following day patents +were issued calling _twelve_ new peers to the Upper House. On the +following day they were introduced amidst the groans of the House: +the Whig noblemen, says a contemporary annalist, "cast their eyes +on the ground as if they had been invited to the funeral of the +peerage."[11] + + [11] Cunningham, ii. 367. + +Unbounded was the joy diffused among the enemies of England by these +unparalleled measures. On hearing of Marlborough's fall, Louis XIV. +said with triumph, "The dismission of Marlborough will do all we can +desire." The Court of St Germains was in exultation; and the general +joy of the Jacobites, both at home and abroad, was sufficient to +demonstrate how formidable an enemy to their cause they regarded the +Duke; and how destitute of truth were the attempts to show that he +had been engaged in a secret design to restore the exiled family. +Marlborough disdained to make any defence of himself in Parliament; +but an able answer on his part was prepared and circulated, which +entirely refuted the whole charges against the illustrious general. +So convinced were ministers of this, that, contenting themselves +with resolutions against him in the House of Commons, where their +influence was predominant, they declined to prefer any impeachment +or accusation, even in the Upper House swamped by their recent +creations. In the midst of this disgraceful scene of passion, +envy, and ingratitude, Prince Eugene arrived in London to endeavour +to stem the torrent and, if possible, prevent the secession of +England from the confederacy. He was lodged with the Lord Treasurer; +and the generous prince omitted no opportunity of testifying his +undiminished respect for his illustrious rival in the day of his +tribulation. The Treasurer having said to him at a great dinner, +"I consider this day as the happiest of my life, since I have the +honour to see in my house the greatest captain of the age." "If it +be so," replied Eugene, "I owe it to your lordship;" alluding to +his dismissal of Marlborough. On another occasion, some one having +pointed out a passage in one of the libels against Marlborough, in +which he was said to have been "perhaps once fortunate." "It is +true," said Eugene; "he was _once_ fortunate; and it is the greatest +praise which can be bestowed on him; for, as he was _always_ +successful--that implies that all his other successes were owing to +his own conduct."[12] + + [12] BURNET'S _History of his Own Times_, vi. 116. + +Alarmed at the weight which Marlborough might derive from the +presence and support of so great a commander, and the natural +sympathy of all generous minds with the cordial admiration which +these two great men entertained for each other, the ministers had +recourse to a pretended conspiracy, which it was alleged had been +discovered on the part of Marlborough and Eugene to seize the +government and dethrone the Queen, on the 17th November. St John and +Oxford had too much sense to publish such a ridiculous statement; +but it was made the subject of several secret examinations before +the Privy Council, in order to augment the apprehensions and +secure the concurrence of the Queen in their measures. Such as it +was, the tale was treated as a mere malicious invention, even by +the contemporary foreign annalists,[13] though it has since been +repeated as true by more than one party native historian.[14] This +ridiculous calumny, and the atrocious libels as to the embezzlement +of the public money, however, produced the desired effect. They +inflamed the mind of the Queen, and removed that vacillation in +regard to the measures of government, from which so much danger was +apprehended by the Tory administration. Having answered the desired +end, they were allowed quietly to go to sleep. No proceedings in +the House of Peers, or elsewhere, followed the resolutions of the +Commons condemnatory of Marlborough's financial administration in +the Low Countries. His defence, published in the newspapers, though +abundantly vigorous, was neither answered nor prosecuted as a libel +on the Commissioners or House of Commons; and the alleged Stuart +conspiracy was never more heard of, till it was long after drawn +from its slumber by the malice of English party spirit. + + [13] _Mem. de Torcy_, iii. 268, 269. + + [14] SWIFT'S _Four Last Years of Queen Anne_, 59; _Continuation of_ + RAPIN, xviii. 468. 8vo edit. + +Meanwhile the negotiations at Utrecht for a general peace continued, +and St John and Oxford soon found themselves embarrassed by the +extravagant pretensions which their own conduct had revived in the +plenipotentiaries of Louis. So great was the general indignation +excited by the publication of the preliminaries at Utrecht, that St +John felt the necessity of discontinuing any general negotiation, +and converting it into a private correspondence between the +plenipotentiaries of the English and French crowns.[15] Great +difficulty was experienced in coming to an accommodation, in +consequence of the rising demands of the French plenipotentiaries, +who, deeming themselves secure of support from the English ministry, +not only positively refused to abandon Spain and the Indies, but +now demanded the Netherlands for the Elector of Bavaria, and the +cession of Lille and Tournay in return for the seizure of Dunkirk. +The sudden death, however, first of the Dauphiness of France, +and then of the Dauphin, the former of whom was carried off by +a malignant fever on the 12th, the latter on the 18th February +1712, followed by the death of their eldest son on the 23d, +produced feelings of commiseration for the aged monarch, now in his +seventy-third year and broken down by misfortunes, which rendered +the progress of the separate negotiation more easy. England agreed +to abandon its allies, and the main object of the war, on condition +that a guarantee should be obtained against the crowns of France +and Spain being united on the same head. On this frail security, +the English ministry agreed to withdraw their contingent from the +Allied army; and to induce the Dutch to follow their example, Ipres +was offered to them on the same terms as Dunkirk had been to Great +Britain.[16] + + [15] "The French will see that there is a possibility of reviving + the love of war in our people, by the indignation that has been + expressed at the plan given in at Utrecht."--_Mr Secretary St + John to British Plenipotentiary_, Dec. 28, 1711.--BOLINGBROKE'S + _Correspondence_, ii. 93. + + [16] Coxe, vi. 189, 184. + +The disastrous effects of this secret and dishonourable secession, +on the part of England, from the confederacy, were soon apparent. +Great had been the preparations of the continental Allies for +continuing the contest; and while the English contingent remained +with them, their force was irresistible. Prince Eugene was at the +head of the army in Flanders, and, including the British forces +under the Duke of Ormond, it amounted to the immense force of +122,000 effective men, with 120 guns, sixteen howitzers, and an +ample pontoon train. To oppose this, by far the largest army he had +yet had to confront in the Low Countries, Villars had scarcely at +his command 100,000 men, and they were ill equipped, imperfectly +supplied with artillery, and grievously depressed in spirit by +their long series of disasters. Eugene commanded the army of the +confederates; for although the English ministry had been lavish +in their promises of unqualified support, the Dutch had begun to +entertain serious suspicions of their sincerity, and bestowed the +command on that tried officer instead of the Duke of Ormond, who +had succeeded Marlborough in the command of the English contingent. +But Marlborough's soul still directed the movements of the army; +and Eugene's plan of the campaign was precisely that which that +great commander had chalked out at the close of the preceding one. +This was to besiege Quesnoy and Landrecies, _the last_ of the iron +barrier of France which in this quarter protected the frontier, +and immediately after to inundate the open country, and advance as +rapidly as possible to Paris. It was calculated they might reach +it in _ten_ marches from Landrecies; and it was well known that +there was neither a defensible position nor fortress of any sort to +arrest the invaders' march. The Court of Versailles were in despair: +the general opinion was, that the King should leave Paris, and +retire to Blois; and although the proud spirit of Louis recoiled +at such a proposal, yet, in taking leave of Marshal Villars, he +declared--"Should a disaster occur, I will go to Peronne or St +Quentin, collect all my troops, and with you risk a last effort, +determined to perish, or save the State."[17] + + [17] _Mem. de Villars_, ii. 197. + +But the French monarch was spared this last desperate alternative. +The defection of the British Cabinet saved his throne, when all his +means of defence were exhausted. Eugene, on opening the campaign on +the 1st May, anxiously inquired of the Duke of Ormond whether he +had authority to act vigorously in the campaign, and received an +answer that he had the same authority as the Duke of Marlborough, +and was prepared to join in attacking the enemy. Preparations were +immediately made for forcing the enemy's lines, which covered +Quesnoy, previous to an attack on that fortress. But, at the very +time that this was going on, the work of perfidious defection +was consummated. On May 10, Mr Secretary St John sent positive +orders to Ormond to take no part in any general engagement, as the +questions at issue between the contending parties were on the +point of adjustment.[18] Intimation of this secret order was sent +to the Court of France, but it was directed to be kept a positive +secret from the Allied generals. Ormond, upon the receipt of these +orders, opened a private correspondence with Villars, informing +him that their troops were no longer enemies, and that the future +movements of the troops under his command were only to get forage +and provisions. This correspondence was unknown to Eugene; but +circumstances soon brought the defection of England to light. In +the middle of it, the Allied forces had passed the Scheldt, and +taken post between Noyeller and the Boiase, close to Villars's +position. To bring the sincerity of the English to a test, Eugene +proposed a general attack on the enemy's line, which was open and +exposed, on the 28th May. _But Ormond declined_, requesting the +operation might be delayed for a few days. The defection was now +apparent, and the Dutch deputies loudly condemned such dishonorable +conduct; but Eugene, anxious to make the most of the presence of the +British troops, though their co-operation could no longer be relied +on, proposed to besiege Quesnoy, which was laid open by Villars's +retreat. Ormond, who felt acutely the painful and discreditable +situation in which, without any fault of his own, he was placed, +could not refuse, and the investment took place that very day. The +operations were conducted by _the Dutch and Imperial troops alone_; +and the town was taken, after a siege of six weeks, on the 10th +July.[19] + + [18] "Her Majesty, my lord, has reason to believe that we shall + come to an agreement upon the great article of the union of the + monarchies, as soon as a courier sent from Versailles to Madrid can + return. It is, therefore, the Queen's _positive command_ to your + Grace that _you avoid engaging in any siege, or hazarding a battle_, + till you have further orders from her Majesty. I am, at the same + time, directed to let your Grace know, that you are _to disguise + the receipt of this order_; and her Majesty thinks you cannot want + pretences for conducting yourself, without owning that which might + at present have an ill effect if it was publicly known. _P.S._ I + had almost forgot to tell your Grace that communication is made + of this order _to the Court of France_, so that if the Marshal de + Villars takes, in any private way, notice of it to you, your Grace + will answer it accordingly."--_Mr Secretary St John to the Duke of + Ormond_, May 10, 1712. BOLINGBROKE'S _Correspondence_, ii. 320. + + [19] Eugene to Marlborough, June 9, 1712.--Coxe vi. 199. + +This disgraceful defection on the part of the English government +excited, as well it might, the utmost indignation among the Allies, +and produced mingled feelings of shame and mortification among all +real patriots or men of honour in this country. By abandoning the +contest in this manner, when it was on the very point of being +crowned with success, the English lost the fruit of TEN costly +and bloody campaigns, and suffered the war to terminate without +attaining the main object for which it had been undertaken. Louis +XIV., defeated, and all but ruined, was permitted to retain for his +grandson the Spanish succession; and England, victorious, and within +sight, as it were, of Paris, was content to halt in the career +of victory, and lost the opportunity, never to be regained for a +century to come, of permanently restraining the ambition of France. +It was the same as if, a few days after the battle of Waterloo, +England had concluded a separate peace, guaranteeing the throne of +Spain to Joseph Buonaparte, and providing only for its not being +held also by the Emperor of France. Lord Halifax gave vent to the +general indignation of all generous and patriotic men, when he said, +in the debate on the address, on 28th May, after enumerating the +proud list of victories which, since the commencement of the war, +had attended the arms of England,--"But all this pleasing prospect +is totally effaced by the orders given to the Queen's general, not +to act offensively against the enemy. I pity that heroic and gallant +general, who, on other occasions, took delight to charge the most +formidable corps and strongest squadrons, and cannot but be uneasy +at his being fettered with shackles, and thereby prevented from +reaping the glory which he might well expect from leading on troops +so long accustomed to conquer. I pity the Allies, who have relied +upon the aid and friendship of the British nation, perceiving that +what they had done at so great an expense of blood and treasure is +of no effect, as they will be exposed to the revenge of that power +against whom they have been so active. I pity the Queen, her royal +successors, and the present and future generations of Britain, when +they shall find the nation deeply involved in debt, and that the +common enemy who occasioned it, though once near being sufficiently +humbled, does still triumph, and design their ruin; and are informed +that this proceeds from the conduct of the British cabinet, in +neglecting to make a right use of those advantages and happy +occasions which their own courage and God's blessing had put into +their hands."[20] + + [20] _Parl. Hist._, May 28, 1712. _Lockhart Papers_, i, 392 + +Marlborough seconded the motion of Halifax, in a speech of peculiar +interest, as the last which he made on the conduct of this eventful +war. "Although," said he, "the negotiations for peace may be far +advanced, yet I can see no reason which should induce the Allies +or ourselves to remain inactive, and not push on the war with the +utmost vigour, as we have incurred the expense of recruiting the +army for the service of another year. That army is now in the +field; and it has often occurred that a victory or a siege produced +good effects and manifold advantages, when treaties were still +further advanced than in the present negotiation. And as I am of +opinion that we should make the most we can for ourselves, the +only infallible way to force France to an entire submission, is +to besiege and occupy Cambray or Arras, and to carry the war into +the heart of the kingdom. But as the troops of the enemy are now +encamped, it is impossible to execute that design, unless they are +withdrawn from their position; and as they cannot be reduced to +retire for want of provisions, they must be attacked and forced. For +the truth of what I say I appeal to a noble duke (Argyle) whom I +rejoice to see in this house, because he knows the country, and is +as good a judge of these matters as any person now alive." Argyle, +though a bitter personal enemy of Marlborough, thus appealed to, +said,--"I do indeed know that country, and the situation of the +enemy in their present camp, and I agree with the noble duke, that +it is impossible to remove them without attacking and driving them +away; and, until that is effected, neither of the two sieges alluded +to can be undertaken. I likewise agree that the capture of these two +towns is the most effectual way to carry on the war with advantage, +and would be a fatal blow to France."[21] + + [21] _Coxe_, vi. 192, 193. + +Notwithstanding the creation of twelve peers to swamp the Upper +House, it is doubtful how the division would have gone, had not +Lord Strafford, a cabinet minister, observed, in reply to the +charge, that the British government was about to conclude a separate +peace,--"Nothing of that nature has ever been intended; for such +a peace would be so _foolish, villanous, and knavish_, that every +servant of the Queen must answer for it with his head to the nation. +The Allies _are acquainted with our proceedings, and satisfied with +our terms_." This statement was made by a British minister, in his +place in Parliament, on the 28th May, eighteen days _after_ the +private letter from Mr Secretary St John to the Duke of Ormond, +already quoted, mentioning the private treaty with Louis, enjoining +him to keep it secret from the Allies, and communicate clandestinely +with Villars. But such a declaration, coming from an accredited +minister of the crown, produced a great impression, and ministers +prevailed by a majority of sixty-eight to forty. In the course of +the debate, Earl Poulett let fall such cutting expressions against +Marlborough for having, as he alleged, led his troops to certain +destruction, in order to profit by the sale of the officers' +commissions,[22] that the Duke, without deigning a reply, sent him a +challenge on leaving the house. The agitation, however, of the Earl, +who was less cool than the iron veteran on the prospect of such a +meeting, revealed what was going forward, and by an order of the +Queen, the affair was terminated without bloodshed.[23] + + [22] "No one can doubt the Duke of Ormond's bravery; but he is not + like a certain general who led troops to the slaughter, to cause a + great number of officers to be knocked on the head in a battle, or + against stone walls, in order to fill his pockets by the sale of + their commissions."--Coxe, vi. 196. + + [23] _Lockhart Papers_, i. 392; Coxe, vi. 196, 199. + +It soon appeared how much foundation there was for the assertion +of the Queen's ministers, that England was engaged in no separate +negotiation for a peace. On the 6th June were promulgated the +outlines of the treaty which afterwards became so famous as the +PEACE OF UTRECHT. The Duke of Anjou was to renounce for ever, for +himself and his descendants, all claim to the French crown; and the +crown of Spain was to descend, by _the male line_ only, to the Duke +of Anjou, and failing them to certain princes of the Bourbon line +by _male_ descent, always excluding him who was possessed of the +French crown.[24] Gibraltar and Minorca remained to England; Dunkirk +was to be demolished; the Spanish Netherlands were to be ceded to +Austria, with Naples, Milan, and Sardinia; the barrier towns were +to be ceded to the Dutch, as required in 1709, with the exception +of two or three places. Spain and her Indian colonies remained +with the Duke of Anjou and his male heirs, as King of Spain. And +thus, at the conclusion of the most glorious and successful war +recorded in English history, did the English cabinet leave to +France the great object of the contest,--the crown of Spain, and +its magnificent Indian colonies, placed on the head of a prince of +the Bourbon race. With truth did Marlborough observe, in the debate +on the preliminaries--"The measures pursued in England for the last +year are directly contrary to her Majesty's engagements with the +Allies, sully the triumphs and glories of her reign, and will render +the English name odious to all other nations."[25] It was all in +vain. The people loudly clamoured for peace; the Tory ministry was +seconded by a vast numerical majority throughout the country. The +peace was approved of by large majorities in both houses. Parliament +was soon after prorogued; and Marlborough, seeing his public career +terminated, solicited and obtained passports to go abroad, which he +soon afterwards did. + + [24] The words of the treaty, which subsequent events have rendered + of importance, on this point, were these:--Philippe V. King of + Spain renounced "a toutes pretentions, droits, et titres que lui et + sa posterite avaient ou pourraient avoir a l'avenir a la couronne + de France. Il consentit pour lui et sa posterite que ce droit fut + tenu et considere comme passe au Duc de Berry son frere et a ses + descendans et posterite _male_; et en defaut de ce prince, et de sa + posterite _male_, au Duc de Bourbon son cousin et _a ses heritiers_, + et aussi successivement a tous les princes du sang de France." The + Duke of Saxony and his _male_ heirs were called to the succession, + failing Philippe V. and his male heirs. This act of renunciation + and entail of the crown of Spain on _male_ heirs, was ratified by + the Cortes of Castile and Arragon; by the parliament of Paris, + by Great Britain and France in the sixth article of the Treaty + of Utrecht.--_Vide_ SCHOELL, _Hist. de Trait._, ii. 99, 105, and + DUMONT, _Corp. Dipl._, tom. viii. p. 1. p. 339. + + [25] Coxe, vi. 205. + +Great was the mourning, and loud the lamentations, both in the +British and Allied troops, when the fatal day arrived that the +former were to separate from their old companions in arms. On the +10th July, the very day on which Quesnoy surrendered, the last of +their long line of triumphs, Ormond, having exhausted every sort of +procrastination to postpone the dreaded hour, was compelled to order +the English troops to march. He in vain, however, gave a similar +order to the auxiliaries in British pay; the hereditary Prince of +Cassel replied--"The Hessians would gladly march, if it were to +fight the French." Another, "We do not serve for pay, but fame." +The native British, however, were compelled to obey the order of +their sovereign, and they set out, twelve thousand strong, from +the camp at Cambresis. Of all the Germans in British pay, only one +battalion of Holstein men, and a regiment of dragoons from Liege, +accompanied them. Silent and dejected they took their way; the men +kept their eyes on the ground, the officers did not venture to +return the parting salute of the comrades who had so long fought +and conquered by their side. Not a word was spoken on either side, +the hearts of all were too big for utterance; but the averted eye, +the mournful air, the tear often trickling down the cheek, told +the deep dejection which was every where felt. It seemed as if the +Allies were following to the grave, with profound affection, the +whole body of their British comrades. But when the troops reached +their resting-place for the night, and the suspension of arms was +proclaimed at the head of each regiment, the general indignation +became so vehement, that even the bonds of military discipline were +unable to restrain it. A universal cry, succeeded by a loud murmur, +was heard through the camp. The British soldiers were seen tearing +their hair, casting their muskets on the ground, and rending their +clothes, uttering all the while furious exclamations against the +government which had so shamefully betrayed them. The officers were +so overwhelmed with vexation, that they sat apart in their tents +looking on the ground, through very shame; and for several days +shrunk from the sight even of their fellow-soldiers. Many left their +colours to serve with the Allies, others withdrew, and whenever they +thought of Marlborough and their days of glory, tears filled their +eyes.[26] + + [26] Cunningham, ii. 432; Milner, 356. + +It soon appeared that it was not without reason that these gloomy +presentiments prevailed on both sides, as to the consequences of the +British withdrawing from the contest. So elated were the French by +their secession, that they speedily lost all sense of gratitude and +even honesty, and refused to give up Dunkirk to the British, which +was only effected with great difficulty on the earnest entreaties +of the British government. So great were the difficulties which +beset the negotiation, that St John was obliged to repair in person +to Paris, where he remained _incognito_ for a considerable time, +and effected a compromise of the objects still in dispute between +the parties. The secession of England from the confederacy was +now openly announced; and, as the Allies refused to abide by her +preliminaries, the separate negotiation continued between the two +countries, and lingered on for nearly a year after the suspension of +arms. + +Meanwhile Eugene, after the departure of the British, continued his +operations, and laid siege to Landrecies, the last of the barrier +fortresses on the road to Paris, in the end of July. But it soon +appeared that England had been the soul of the confederacy; and that +it was the tutelary arm of Marlborough which had so long averted +disaster, and chained victory to its standard. Nothing but defeat +and misfortune attended the Allies after her secession. Even the +great and tried abilities of Eugene were inadequate to procure for +them one single success, after the colours of England no longer +waved in their ranks. During the investment of Landrecies, Villars +drew together the garrisons from the neighbouring towns, no longer +threatened by the English troops, and surprised at Denain a body of +eight thousand men, stationed there for the purpose of facilitating +the passage of convoys to the besieging army. This disaster +rendered it necessary to raise the siege of Landrecies, and Villars +immediately resumed the offensive. Douay was speedily invested: a +fruitless effort of Eugene to retain it only exposed him to the +mortification of witnessing its surrender. Not expecting so sudden a +reverse of fortune, the fortresses recently taken were not provided +with provisions or ammunition, and were in no condition to make +any effectual resistance. Quesnoy soon fell from this cause; and +Bouchain, the last trophy of Marlborough's victories, opened its +gates on the 10th October. The coalition was paralysed; and Louis, +who so lately trembled for his capital, found his armies advancing +from conquest to conquest, and tearing from the Allies the fruits of +all their victories.[27] + + [27] _Mem. de Villars_, ii. 396, 421. + +These disasters, and the evident inability of the Allied armies, +without the aid of the English, to keep their ground in Flanders, +in a manner compelled the Dutch, how unwilling soever, to follow +the example of Great Britain, in treating separately with France. +They became parties, accordingly, to the pacification at Utrecht; +and Savoy also concluded peace there. But the barrier for which +they had so ardently contended was, by the desertion of England, +so much reduced, that it ceased to afford any effectual security +against the encroachments of France. That power held the most +important fortresses in Flanders which had been conquered by Louis +XIV.--Cambray, Valenciennes, and Arras. Lille, the conquest on +which Marlborough most prided himself, was restored by the Allies, +and with it Bethune, Aire, St Venant, and many other places. The +Dutch felt, in the strongest manner, the evil consequences of a +treaty which thus, in a manner, left the enemy at their gates; +and the irritation consequently produced against England was so +violent that it continued through the greater part of the eighteenth +century. Austria, indignant at being thus deserted by all her +Allies, continued the contest alone through another campaign. But +she was overmatched in the contest; her resources were exhausted; +and, by the advice of Eugene, conferences were opened at Rastadt, +from which, as a just reward for her perfidy, England was excluded. +A treaty was soon concluded on the basis of the Treaty of Ryswick. +It left Charles the Low Countries, and all the Spanish territories +in Italy, except Sicily; but, with Sardinia, Bavaria was restored. +France retained Landau, but restored New Brisach, Fribourg, and +Kehl. Thus was that great power left in possession of the whole +conquests ceded to Louis XIV. by the treaties of Aix-la-Chapelle, +Nimeguen, and Ryswick, with the vast addition of the family alliance +with a Bourbon prince, possessing Spain and the Indies. A century +of repeated wars on the part of England and the European powers, +with France, followed by the dreadful struggle of the Revolutionary +contest, and the costly campaigns of Wellington, were the legacy +bequeathed to the nation by Bolingbroke and Harley, in arresting +the course of Marlborough's victories, and restoring France to +preponderance, when it was on the eve of being reduced to a level +consistent with the independence of other states. Well might Mr Pitt +style the Treaty of Utrecht "the indelible reproach of the age!"[28] + + [28] Mr Pitt to Sir Benjamin Keene.--_Memoirs of the Spanish Kings_, + c. 57. + +Marlborough's public career was now terminated; and the dissensions +which had cast him down from power had so completely extinguished +his political influence, that during the remaining years of his +life, he rarely appeared at all in public life. On landing on +the Continent, at Brille, on the 24th November, he was received +with such demonstrations of gratitude and respect, as showed how +deeply his public services had sunk into the hearts of men, and how +warmly they appreciated his efforts to avert from England and the +Coalition, the evils likely to flow from the Treaty of Utrecht. At +Maestricht he was welcomed with the honours usually reserved for +sovereign princes; and although he did his utmost, on the journey to +Aix-la-Chapelle, to avoid attracting the public attention, and to +slip unobserved through byways, yet the eagerness of the public, or +the gratitude of his old soldiers, discovered him wherever he went. +Wherever he passed, crowds of all ranks were waiting to see him, +could they only get a glimpse of the hero who had saved the empire, +and filled the world with his renown. All were struck with his noble +air and demeanour, softened, though not weakened, by the approach +of age. They declared that his appearance was not less conquering +than his sword. Many burst into tears when they recollected what he +had been, and what he was, and how unaccountably the great nation +to which he belonged had fallen from the height of glory to such +degradation. Yet was the manner of Marlborough so courteous and yet +animated, his conversation so simple and yet cheerful, that it was +commonly said at the time, "that the only things he had forgotten +were his own deeds, and the only things he remembered were the +misfortunes of others." Crowds of all ranks, from the highest to +the lowest, hastened to attend his levee at Aix-la-Chapelle on the +17th January 1713, and the Duke de Lesdeguieres, on leaving it, +said, with equal justice and felicity,--"I can now say that I have +seen the man who is equal to the Marechal de Turenne in conduct, +to the Prince of Conde in courage, and superior to the Marechal de +Luxembourg in success."[29] + + [29] _Life of Marlborough_, 175. + +But if the veteran hero found some compensation, in the unanimous +admiration of foreign nations, for the ingratitude with which he +had been treated by the government of his own, he was soon destined +to find that gratitude for past services was not to be looked +for among foreign nations any more than his own countrymen. Upon +the restoration of the Elector, by the treaty of Rastadt, the +principality of Mendleheim, which had been bestowed upon Marlborough +after the battle of Blenheim by the Emperor Joseph, was resumed +by the Elector. No stipulation in his favour was made either by +the British government or the Imperial court, and therefore the +estate, which yielded a clear revenue of L2000 a-year, was lost to +Marlborough. He transmitted, through Prince Eugene, a memorial to +the Emperor, claiming an indemnity for his loss; but though it was +earnestly supported by that generous prince, yet being unaided by +any efforts on the part of the English ministry, it was allowed to +fall asleep. An indemnity was often promised, even by the Emperor +in writing,[30] but performance of the promise was always evaded. +The Duke was made a prince of the Holy Roman Empire, but obtained +nothing but empty honours for his services; and at this moment, +these high-sounding titles are all that remain in the Marlborough +family to testify the gratitude of the Caesars to the hero who saved +their Imperial and Royal thrones.[31] + + [30] "At the future congress, his Imperial Majesty will do all + that is possible to sustain my Lord Duke in the principality + of Mendleheim, but if it should so happen that any invincible + difficulty should occur in that affair, his Imperial Highness + will give his Highness an equivalent out of his own hereditary + dominions."--_Emperor Charles VI. to Duchess of Marlborough_, August + 8, 1712.--Coxe, vi. 248. + + [31] Coxe, vi. 249, 251. + +The same oblivion of past and inappreciable services, when they +were no longer required, pursued the illustrious general in his +declining years, on the part of his own countrymen. The got-up +stories about embezzlement and dilapidation of the public money, in +Flanders, were allowed to go to sleep, when they had answered their +destined purpose of bringing about his fall from political power. +No grounds were found for a prosecution which could afford a chance +of success, even in the swamped and now subservient House of Peers. +But every thing that malice could suggest, or party bitterness +effect, was done to fill the last days of the immortal hero with +anxiety and disquiet. Additional charges were brought against him +by the commissioners, founded on the allegation that he had drawn +a pistole per troop, and ten shillings a company, for mustering +the soldiers, though, in the foreign auxiliaries, it was often not +done. Marlborough at once transmitted a refutation of those fresh +charges, so clear and decisive, that it entirely silenced those +accusations.[32] But his enemies, though driven from this ground, +still persecuted him with unrelenting malice. The noble pile of +Blenheim, standing, as it did, an enduring monument at once of the +Duke's services and the nation's gratitude, was a grievous eyesore +to the dominant majority in England, and they did all in their +power to prevent its completion. + + [32] Duke of Marlborough's Answer, June 2, 1713. + +Orders were first given to the Treasury, on June 1, 1712, to suspend +any further payments from the royal exchequer; and commissioners +were appointed to investigate the claims of the creditors and +expense of the work. They recommended the payment of a third to each +claimant, which was accordingly made; but as many years elapsed, and +no further payments to account were made, the principal creditors +brought an action in the Court of Exchequer against the Duke, as +personally liable for the amount, and the court pronounced decree +in favour of the plaintiffs, which was affirmed, after a long +litigation, in the House of Lords. Meanwhile the works, for want +of any paymaster, were at a stand; and this noble pile, this proud +monument of a nation's gratitude, would have remained a modern ruin +to this day, had it not been completed from the private funds of the +hero whose services it was intended to commemorate. But the Duke +of Marlborough, as well as the Duchess, were too much interested +in the work to allow it to remain unfinished. He left by his will +fifty thousand pounds to complete the building, which was still in +very unfinished state at the time of his death, and the duty was +faithfully performed by the Duchess after his decease. From the +accounts of the total expense, preserved at Blenheim, it appears, +that out of three hundred thousand pounds, which the whole edifice +cost, no less than sixty thousand pounds was provided from the +private funds of the Duke of Marlborough.[33] + + [33] Coxe, vi. 369, 373. + +It may readily be believed that so long-continued and unrelenting a +persecution of so great a man and distinguished benefactor of his +country, proceeded from something more than mere envy at greatness, +powerful as that principle ever is in little minds. In truth, it was +part of the deep-laid plan for the restoration of the Stuart line, +which the declining state of the Queen's health, and the probable +unpopularity of the Hanover family, now revived in greater vigour +than ever. During this critical period, Marlborough, who was still +on the Continent, remained perfectly firm to the Act of Settlement, +and the Protestant cause. Convinced that England was threatened +with a counter-revolution, he used his endeavours to secure the +fidelity of the garrison of Dunkirk, and offered to embark at its +head in support of the Protestant succession. He sent General +Cadogan to make the necessary arrangements with General Stanhope +for transporting troops to England, to support the Hanoverian +succession, and offered to lend the Elector of Hanover L20,000 to +aid him in his endeavour to secure the succession. So sensible was +the Electoral house of the magnitude of his services, and his zeal +in their behalf, that the Electress Sophia entrusted him with a +blank warrant, appointing him commander-in-chief of her troops and +garrisons, on her accession to the crown.[34] + + [34] Coxe, vi. 263. + +On the death of Queen Anne, on August 1, 1714, Marlborough +returned to England, and was soon after appointed captain-general +and master-general of the ordnance. Bolingbroke and Oxford were +shortly after impeached, and the former then threw off the mask, by +flying to France, where he openly entered into the service of the +Pretender at St Germains. Marlborough's great popularity with the +army was soon after the means of enabling him to appease a mutiny +in the guards, which at first threatened to be alarming. During the +rebellion in 1715, he directed, in a great degree, the operations +against the rebels, though he did not actually take the field; and +to his exertions, its rapid suppression was in a great measure to be +ascribed. + +But the period had now arrived when the usual fate of mortality +awaited this illustrious man. Severe domestic bereavements preceded +his dissolution, and in a manner weaned him from a world which +he had passed through with so much glory. His daughter, Lady +Bridgewater, died in March 1714; and this was soon followed by +the death of his favourite daughter, Anne Countess of Sunderland, +who united uncommon elegance and beauty to unaffected piety and +exemplary virtue. Marlborough himself was not long of following +his beloved relatives to the grave. On the 28th May 1716, he was +seized with a fit of palsy, so severe that it deprived him, for a +time, alike of speech and recollection. He recovered, however, to +a certain degree, and went to Bath, for the benefit of the waters; +and a gleam of returning light shone upon his mind when he visited +Blenheim on the 18th October. He expressed great satisfaction at the +survey of the plan; which reminded him of his great achievements; +but when he saw, in one of the few rooms which were finished, a +picture of himself at the battle of Blenheim, he turned away with +a mournful air, with the words--"Something then, but now----" On +November 18th he was attacked by another stroke, more severe than +the former, and his family hastened to pay the last duties, as +they conceived, to their departing parent. The strength of his +constitution, however, triumphed for a time even over this violent +attack; but though he continued contrary to his own wishes, in +conformity with those of his friends, who needed the support of +his great reputation, to hold office, and occasionally appeared in +parliament, yet his public career was at an end. A considerable +addition was made to his fortune by the sagacity of the Duchess, +who persuaded him to embark part of his funds in the South Sea +scheme; and foreseeing the crash which was approaching, sold out so +opportunely, that, instead of losing, she gained L100,000 by the +transaction. On the 27th November 1721, he made his last appearance +in the House of Lords; but in June 1722, he was again attacked with +paralysis so violently, that he lay for some days nearly motionless, +though in perfect possession of his faculties. To a question from +the Duchess, whether he heard the prayers read as usual at night, on +the 15th June, in his apartment; he replied, "Yes; and I joined in +them." These were his last words. On the morning of the 16th he sunk +rapidly, and, at four o'clock, calmly breathed his last, in the 72d +year of his age.[35] + + [35] Lediard, 496. Coxe, vi. 384, 385. + +Envy is generally extinguished by death, because the object of it +has ceased to stand in the way of those who feel it. Marlborough's +funeral obsequies were celebrated with uncommon magnificence, and +all ranks and parties joined in doing him honour. His body lay in +state for several days at Marlborough House, and crowds flocked +together from all the three kingdoms to witness the imposing +ceremony of his funeral, which was performed with the utmost +magnificence, on the 28th June. The procession was opened by a +long array of military, among whom were General, now Lord Cadogan, +and many other officers who had suffered and bled in his cause. +Long files of heralds, officers-at-arms, and pursuivants followed, +bearing banners emblazoned with his armorial achievements, among +which appeared, in uncommon lustre, the standard of Woodstock, +exhibiting the arms of France on the Cross of St George. In the +centre of the cavalcade was a lofty car, drawn by eight horses, +which bore the mortal remains of the Hero, under a splendid canopy +adorned by plumes, military trophies, and heraldic devices of +conquest. Shields were affixed to the sides, bearing the names of +the towns he had taken, and the fields he had won. Blenheim was +there, and Oudenarde, Ramilies and Malplaquet; Lille and Tournay; +Bethune, Douay, and Ruremonde; Bouchain and Mons, Maestricht and +Ghent. This array of names made the English blush for the manner +in which they had treated their hero. On either side were five +generals in military mourning, bearing aloft banderoles, on which +were emblazoned the arms of the family. Eight dukes supported +the pall; besides the relatives of the deceased, the noblest and +proudest of England's nobility joined in the procession. Yet the +most moving part of the ceremony was the number of old soldiers who +had combated with the hero on his fields of fame, and who might now +be known, in the dense crowds which thronged the streets, by their +uncovered heads, grey hairs, and the tears which trickled down their +cheeks. The body was deposited, with great solemnity, in Westminster +Abbey, at the east end of the tomb of Henry VII.; but this was not +its final resting-place in this world. It was soon after removed +to the chapel at Blenheim, where it was deposited in a magnificent +mausoleum; and there it still remains, surmounted by the noble pile +which the genius of Vanbrugh had conceived to express a nation's +gratitude.[36] + + [36] Coxe, vi. 384-387. + +The extraordinary merit of Marlborough's military talents will not +be duly appreciated, unless the peculiar nature of the contest he +was called on to direct, and the character which he assumed in his +time, is taken into consideration. + +The feudal times had ceased--at least so far as the raising of +a military force by its machinery was concerned. Louis XIV., +indeed, when pressed for men, more than once summoned the ban +and arriere-ban of France to his standards, and he always had a +gallant array of feudal nobility in his antechambers, or around his +headquarters. But war, both on his part and that of his antagonists, +was carried on, generally speaking, with standing armies, supported +by the belligerent state. The vast, though generally tumultuary +array which the Plantagenet or Valois sovereigns summoned to their +support, but which, bound only to serve for forty days, generally +disappeared before a few months of hostilities were over, could no +longer be relied on. The modern system invented by revolutionary +France, of making war maintain war, and sending forth starving +multitudes with arms in their hands, to subsist by the plunder +of the adjoining states, was unknown. The national passions had +not been roused, which alone would bring it into operation. The +decline of the feudal system forbade the hope that contests could +be maintained by the chivalrous attachment of a faithful nobility: +the democratic spirit had not been so aroused as to supply its place +by popular fervour. Religious passions, indeed, had been strongly +excited; but they had prompted men rather to suffer than to act: the +disputations of the pulpit were their natural arena: in the last +extremity they were more allied to the resignation of the martyr, +than the heroism of the soldier. Between the two, there extended a +long period of above a century and a half, during which governments +had acquired the force, and mainly relied on the power, of standing +armies; but the resources at their disposal for their support were +so limited, that the greatest economy in the husbanding both of men +and money was indispensable. + +Richard Coeur de Lion, Edward III., and Henry V., were the models +of feudal leaders, and their wars were a faithful mirror of the +feudal contests. Setting forth at the head of a force, which, if +not formidable in point of numbers, was generally extremely so +from equipment and the use of arms, the nobles around them were +generally too proud and high-spirited to decline a combat, even +on any possible terms of disadvantage. They took the field as +the knights went to a _champ clos_, to engage their adversaries +in single conflict; and it was deemed equally dishonourable to +retire without fighting from the one as the other. But they had no +permanent force at their disposal to secure a lasting fruit even +from the greatest victories. The conquest of a petty province, +a diminutive fortress, was often their only result. Hence the +desperate battles, so memorable in warlike annals, which they +fought, and hence the miserable and almost nugatory results which +almost invariably followed their greatest triumphs. Cressy, +Poictiers, and Azincour, followed by the expulsion of the English +from France; Methven and Dunbar, by their ignominious retreat from +Scotland; Ascalon and Ptolemais, by their being driven from the +Holy Land, must immediately occur to every reader. This state of +war necessarily imprinted a corresponding character on the feudal +generals. They were high-spirited and daring in action--often +skilful in tactics--generally ignorant of strategy--covetous of +military renown, but careless of national advancement--and often +more solicitous to conquer an adversary in single conflict, than +reduce a fortress, or win a province. + +But when armies were raised at the expense, not of nobles, but of +kings--when their cost became a lasting and heavy drain on the royal +exchequer--sovereigns grew desirous of a more durable and profitable +result from their victories. Standing armies, though commonly +powerful, often irresistible when accumulated in large bodies--were +yet extremely expensive. They were felt the more from the great +difficulty of getting the people in every country, at that period, +to submit to any considerable amount of direct taxation. More +than one flourishing province had been lost, or powerful monarchy +overturned, in the attempt to increase such burdens; witness the +loss of Holland to Spain, the execution of Charles I. in England. +In this dilemma, arising from the experienced necessity of raising +standing armies on the one hand, and the extreme difficulty of +permanently providing for them on the other, the only resource was +to spare both the blood of the soldiers and the expenses of the +government as much as possible. Durable conquests, acquisitions of +towns and provinces which could yield revenues and furnish men, +became the great object of ambition. The point of feudal honour was +forgot in the inanity of its consequences; the benefits of modern +conquests were felt in the reality of their results. A methodical +cautious system of war was thus impressed upon generals by the +necessities of their situation, and the objects expected from them +by their respective governments. To risk little and gain much, +became the great object: skill and stratagem gradually took the +place of reckless daring; and the reputation of a general came to be +measured rather by the permanent addition which his successes had +made to the revenues of his sovereign, than the note with which the +trumpet of Fame had proclaimed his own exploits. + +Turenne was the first, and, in his day, the greatest general in this +new and scientific system of war. He first applied to the military +art the resources of prudent foresight, deep thought, and profound +combination; and the results of his successes completely justified +the discernment which had prompted Louis XIV. to place him at the +head of his armies. His methodical and far-seeing campaigns in +Flanders, Franche Comte, Alsace, and Lorraine, in the early part of +the reign of that monarch, added these valuable provinces to France, +which have never since been lost. They have proved more durable than +the conquests of Napoleon, which all perished in the lifetime of +their author. Napoleon's legions passed like a desolating whirlwind +over Europe, but they gave only fleeting celebrity, and entailed +lasting wounds on France. Turenne's slow, or more methodical and +more cautious conquests, have proved lasting acquisitions to the +monarchy. Nancy still owns the French allegiance; Besancon and +Strasbourg are two of its frontier fortresses; Lille yet is a +leading stronghold in its iron barrier. Napoleon, it is well known, +had the highest possible opinion of that great commander. He was +disposed to place him at the head of modern generals; and his very +interesting analysis of his campaigns is not the least important +part of his invaluable memoirs. + +Conde, though living in the same age, and alternately the enemy +and comrade of Turenne, belonged to a totally different class of +generals, and, indeed, seemed to belong to another age of the +world. He was warmed in his heart by the spirit of chivalry; he +bore its terrors on his sword's point. Heart and soul he was +heroic. Like Clive or Alexander, he was consumed by that thirst for +fame, that ardent passion for glorious achievements, which is the +invariable characteristic of elevated, and the most inconceivable +quality to ordinary, minds. In the prosecution of this object, no +difficulties could deter, no dangers daunt him. Though his spirit +was chivalrous--though cavalry was the arm which suited his genius, +and in which he chiefly delighted, he brought to the military art +the power of genius and the resources of art; and no man could make +better use of the power which the expiring spirit of feudality +bequeathed to its scientific successors. He destroyed the Spanish +infantry at Rocroy and Lens, not by mere desultory charges of the +French cavalry, but by efforts of that gallant body as skilfully +directed as those by which Hannibal overthrew the Roman legions at +Thrasymene and Cannae. His genius was animated by the spirit of the +fourteenth, but it was guided by the knowledge of the seventeenth, +century. + +Bred in the school of Turenne, placed, like him, at the head of a +force raised with difficulty, maintained with still greater trouble, +Marlborough was the greatest general of the methodical or scientific +school which modern Europe has produced. No man knew better the +importance of deeds which fascinate the minds of men; none could +decide quicker, or strike harder, when the proper time for action +arrived. None, when the decisive crisis of the struggle approached, +could expose his person more fearlessly, or lead his reserves +more gallantly into the very hottest of the enemy's fire. To his +combined intrepidity and quickness, in thus bringing the reserves, +at the decisive moment, into action, all his wonderful victories, +in particular Ramilies and Malplaquet, are to be ascribed. But, in +the ordinary case, he preferred the bloodless methods of skill and +arrangement. Combination was his great _forte_, and there he was not +exceeded by Napoleon himself. To deceive the enemy as to the real +point of attack--to perplex him by marches and countermarches--to +assume and constantly maintain the initiative--to win by skill +what could not be achieved by force, was his great delight; and in +that, the highest branch of the military art, he was unrivalled +in modern times. He did not despise stratagem. Like Hannibal, he +resorted to that arm frequently, and with never-failing success. +His campaigns, in that respect, bear a closer resemblance to those +of the illustrious Carthaginian than those of any general in modern +Europe. Like him, too, his administrative and diplomatic qualities +were equal to his military powers. By his address, he retained in +unwilling, but still effective union, an alliance, unwieldy from its +magnitude, and discordant by its jealousies; and kept, in willing +multitudes, around his standards, a _colluvies omnium gentium_, of +various languages, habits, and religions--held in subjection by no +other bond but the strong one of admiration for their general, and a +desire to share in his triumphs. + +Consummate address and never-failing prudence were the great +characteristics of the English commander. With such judgment did he +measure his strength with those of his adversary--so skilfully did +he choose the points of attack, whether in strategy or tactics--so +well weighed were all his enterprises, so admirably prepared the +means of carrying them into execution, that none of them ever +miscarried. It was a common saying at the time, which the preceding +narrative amply justifies, that he never fought a battle which he +did not gain, nor laid siege to a town which he did not take. This +extraordinary and unbroken success extended to all his manoeuvres, +however trivial; and it has been already noticed, that the first +disaster of any moment which occurred to his arms during _nine_ +successive and active campaigns, was the destruction of a convoy +destined for the siege of St Venant, in October 1710, by one of +Villars' detachments.[37] It was the admirable powers of arrangement +and combination which he brought to bear on all parts of his army, +equally from the highest to the lowest parts, which was the cause of +this extraordinary and uninterrupted success. + + [37] Marlborough's Dispatches. _Blackwood's Magazine_, Nov. 1846, p. + +He was often outnumbered by the enemy, always opposed by a +homogeneous army, animated by one strong national and military +spirit; while he was at the head of a discordant array of many +different nations, some of them with little turn for warlike +exploit, others lukewarm, or even treacherous in the cause. But +notwithstanding this, he never lost the ascendant. From the time +when he first began the war on the banks of the Maese in 1702, till +his military career was closed in 1711, within the iron barrier +of France, by the intrigues of his political opponents at home, he +never abandoned the initiative. He was constantly on the offensive. +When inferior in force, as he often was, he supplied the defect of +military strength by skill and combination; when his position was +endangered by the faults or treachery of others, as was still more +frequently the case, he waited till a false move on the part of his +adversaries enabled him to retrieve his affairs by some brilliant +and decisive stroke. It was thus that he restored the war in +Germany, after the affairs of the Emperor had been wellnigh ruined, +by the brilliant cross march into Bavaria, and splendid victory at +Blenheim; and regained Flanders for the Archduke by the stroke at +Ramilies, after the imperial cause in that quarter had been all but +lost by the treacherous surrender of Ghent and Bruges, in the very +centre of his water communications. + +Lord Chesterfield, who knew him well, said that he was a man of +excellent parts, and strong good sense, but of no very shining +genius. The uninterrupted success of his campaigns, however, joined +to the unexampled address with which he allayed the jealousies +and stilled the discords of the confederacy whose armies he led, +decisively demonstrates that the polished earl's opinion was not +just; and that his partiality for the graces led him to ascribe +an undue influence in the great duke's career to the inimitable +suavity and courtesy of his manner. His enterprises and stratagems, +his devices to deceive the enemy, and counterbalance inferiority +of force by superiority of conduct; the eagle eye which, in the +decisive moment, he brought to bear on the field of battle, and the +rapidity with which in person he struck the final blow from which +the enemy never recovered, bespeak the intuitive genius of war. It +was the admirable _balance_ of his mental qualities which caused his +originality to be under-valued;--no one power stood out in such bold +relief as to overshadow all the others, and rivet the eye by the +magnitude of its proportions. Thus his consummate judgment made the +world overlook his invention; his uniform prudence caused his daring +to be forgotten; his incomparable combinations often concealed +the capacious mind which had put the whole in motion. He was so +uniformly successful, that men forgot how difficult it is always to +succeed in war. It was not till he was withdrawn from the conduct +of the campaign, and disaster immediately attended the Allied arms, +and France resumed the ascendant over the coalition, that Europe +became sensible who had been the soul of the war, and how much had +been lost when his mighty understanding was no longer at the head of +affairs. + +A most inadequate opinion would be formed of Marlborough's +mental character, if his military exploits alone were taken into +consideration. Like all other intellects of the first order, he was +equally capable of great achievements in peace as in war, and shone +forth with not less lustre in the deliberations of the cabinet, or +the correspondence of diplomacy, than in directing columns on the +field of battle, or tracing out the line of approaches in the attack +of fortified towns. Nothing could exceed the judgment and address +with which he reconciled the jarring interests, and smoothed down +the rival pretensions, of the coalesced cabinets. The danger was not +so pressing as to unite their rival governments, as it afterwards +did those of the Grand Alliance in 1813, for the overthrow of +Napoleon; and incessant exertions, joined to the highest possible +diplomatic address, judgment of conduct, and suavity of manner, were +required to prevent the coalition, on various occasions during the +course of the war, from falling to pieces. As it was, the intrigues +of Bolingbroke and the Tories in England, and the ascendency of Mrs +Masham in the Queen's bedchamber councils, at last counterbalanced +all his achievements, and led to a peace which abandoned the most +important objects of the war, and was fraught, as the event has +proved, with serious danger to the independence and even existence +of England. His winter campaign at the Allied courts, as he himself +said, always equalled in duration, and often exceeded in importance +and difficulty, that in summer with the enemy; and nothing is more +certain, than that if a man of less capacity had been entrusted +with the direction of its diplomatic relations, the coalition would +have soon broken up without having accomplished any of the objects +for which the war had been undertaken, from the mere selfishness and +dissensions of the cabinets by whom it was conducted. + +With one blot, for which neither the justice of history, nor the +partiality of biography either can or should attempt to make +any apology, Marlborough's private character seems to have been +unexceptionable, and was evidently distinguished by several noble +and amiable qualities. That he was bred a courtier, and owed his +first elevation to the favour with which he was regarded by one +of the King's mistresses, was not his fault:--It arose, perhaps, +necessarily from his situation, and the graces and beauty with which +he had been so prodigally endowed by nature. The young officer of +the Guards, who in the army of Louis XIV. passed by the name of the +"handsome Englishman," could hardly be expected to be free from the +consequences of female partiality at the court of Charles II. But +in maturer years, his conduct in public, after William had been +seated on the throne, was uniformly consistent, straightforward, +and honourable. He was a sincere patriot, and ardently attached +both to his country and the principles of freedom, at a time when +both were wellnigh forgotten in the struggles of party, and the +fierce contests for royal or popular favour. Though bred up in a +licentious court, and early exposed to the most entrancing of its +seductions, he was in mature life strictly correct, both in his +conduct and conversation. He resisted every temptation to which his +undiminished beauty exposed him after his marriage, and was never +known either to utter, or permit to be uttered in his presence, a +light or indecent expression. He discouraged to the utmost degree +any instances of intemperance or licentiousness in his soldiers, and +constantly laboured to impress upon his men a sense of moral duty +and Supreme superintendence. Divine service was regularly performed +in all his camps, both morning and evening; previous to a battle, +prayers were read at the head of every regiment, and the first act, +after a victory, was a solemn thanksgiving. "By those means," says a +contemporary biographer, who served in his army, "his camp resembled +a quiet, well-governed city. Cursing and swearing were seldom heard +among the officers; a drunkard was the object of scorn: and even the +soldiers, many of them the refuse and dregs of the nation, became, +at the close of one or two campaigns, tractable, civil, sensible, +and clean, and had an air and spirit above the vulgar." + +In political life, during his career after that event, he was +consistent and firm; faithful to his party, but more faithful still +to his country. He was a generous friend, an attached, perhaps too +fond a husband. During the whole of his active career, he retained a +constant sense of the superintendence and direction of the Supreme +Being, and was ever the first to ascribe the successes which he had +gained, to Divine protection; a disposition which appeared with +peculiar grace amidst the din of arms, and the flourish of trumpets +for his own mighty achievements. Even the one occasion on which, +like David, he fell from his high principles, will be regarded by +the equitable observer with charitable, if not forgiving eyes. He +will recollect, that perfection never yet belonged to a child of +Adam; he will measure the dreadful nature of the struggle which +awaits an upright and generous mind when loyalty and gratitude impel +one way, and religion and patriotism another. Without attempting to +justify an officer who employs the power bestowed by one government +to elevate another on its ruins, he will yet reflect, that in such +a crisis, even the firmest heads and the best hearts may be led +astray. If he is wise, he will ascribe the fault--for fault it +was--not so much to the individual, as the time in which he lived; +and feel a deeper thankfulness that his own lot has been cast in a +happier age, when the great moving passions of the human heart act +in the same direction, and a public man need not fear that he is +wanting in his duty to his sovereign, because he is performing that +to his country. + +Marlborough was often accused of avarice: but his conduct through +life sufficiently demonstrated that in him the natural desire +to accumulate a fortune, which belongs to every rational mind, +was kept in subjection to more elevated principles. His repeated +refusal of the government of the Netherlands, with its magnificent +appointment of L.60,000 a-year, was a sufficient proof how much he +despised money when it interfered with public duty; his splendid +edifices, both in London and Blenheim, attest how little he valued +it for any other sake but as it might be applied to noble and worthy +objects.[38] He possessed the magnanimity in every thing which is +the invariable characteristic of real greatness. Envy was unknown, +suspicion loathsome, to him. He often suffered by the generous +confidence with which he trusted his enemies. He was patient +under contradiction; placid and courteous both in his manners and +demeanour; and owed great part of his success, both in the field and +in the cabinet, to the invariable suavity and charm of his manner. +His humanity was uniformly conspicuous. Not only his own soldiers, +but his enemies never failed to experience it. Like Wellington, +his attention to the health and comforts of his men was incessant; +and, with his daring in the field and uniform success in strategy, +endeared him in the highest degree to the men. Troops of all nations +equally trusted him; and the common saying, when they were in any +difficulty, "Never mind--'Corporal John' will get us out of it," +was heard as frequently in the Dutch, Danish, or German, as in the +English language. He frequently gave the weary soldiers a place in +his carriage, and got out himself to accommodate more; and his first +care, after an engagement, invariably was to visit the field of +battle, and do his utmost to assuage the sufferings of the wounded, +both among his own men and those of the enemy. + + [38] Marlborough House in London cost about L.100,000.--Coxe, vi. + 399. + +The character of this illustrious man has been thus portrayed by two +of the greatest writers in the English language, the latter of whom +will not be accused of undue partiality to his political enemy. "It +is a characteristic," says Adam Smith, "almost peculiar to the great +Duke of Marlborough, that ten years of such uninterrupted and such +splendid successes as scarce any other general could boast of, never +betrayed him into a single rash action, scarce into a single rash +word or expression. The same temperate coolness and self-command +cannot, I think, be ascribed to any other great warrior of later +times--not to Prince Eugene, nor to the late King of Prussia, nor to +the great Prince of Conde, not even to Gustavus Adolphus. Turenne +seems to have approached the nearest to it: but several actions of +his life demonstrate that it was in him by no means so perfect as +in the great Duke of Marlborough."[39] "By King William's death," +says Bolingbroke, "the Duke of Marlborough was raised to the head +of the army, and indeed of the confederacy, where he, a private +man, a subject, obtained by merit and by management a more decided +influence than high birth, confirmed authority, and even the crown +of Great Britain, had given to King William. Not only all the parts +of that vast machine, the Grand Alliance, were kept more compact and +entire, but a more rapid and vigorous motion was given to the whole; +and instead of languishing or disastrous campaigns, we saw every +scene of the war full of action. All those wherein he appeared, +and many of those wherein he was not then an actor, but abettor, +however, of their actions, were crowned with the most triumphant +success. I take with pleasure this opportunity of doing justice to +that great man, whose faults I know, whose virtues I admire, and +whose memory, _as the greatest general and greatest minister that +our country or any other has produced_, I honour."[40] + + [39] SMITH'S _Moral Sentiments_, ii. 158. + + [40] BOLINGBROKE'S _Letters on the Study of History_, ii. 172. + + + + +MILDRED; + +A TALE. + + +PART I. CHAP. I. + +The town of Wimborne, in Dorsetshire, boasts the possession of +a very ancient cathedral-like church, dignified with the title +of Minster, but, with this exception, is as utterly devoid, we +believe, of all interest to the traveller, as any of the numerous +country-towns which he rapidly passes through, and so gladly quits, +wondering for the moment how it is that any one can possibly consent +to be left behind in them. He who has journeyed from Southampton +to Poole will remember the town, from the circumstance that he +quitted by the same narrow streets by which he entered it, his road +not passing directly through, but forming an angle at this point. +He will call to mind what appeared an unaccountable turning and +twisting about of the coach, whilst the horses were being changed, +and a momentary alarm at finding that he was retracing his steps; +he will remember the two massive square towers of the old church, +peering above the roofs of the houses; and this is all that he will +know, or have the least desire to know, of the town of Wimborne. + +If, however, the traveller should be set down in this quiet place, +and be compelled to wait there half a day for the arrival of some +other coach to carry him to his destination, he will probably wile +away his time by a visit to its antique and venerable church; and +after climbing, by the dark and narrow staircase, to the top of one +of its towers, he will be somewhat surprised to find himself--in +a library! A small square room is fitted up with shelves, whereon +a number of books are deposited, and the centre is occupied by a +large reading-desk, and a massive oak table, apparently coeval +with the tower itself, and which was probably placed there before +the roof was put on, since it never could have been introduced by +the stairs or through the window. It is no modern library, be it +understood--no vestry reading-room connected with the Sunday school +of the place; they are old books, black-letter quartos, illuminated +missals, now dark and mouldy, and whose parchment has acquired no +pleasant odour from age. By no means is it a circulating library, +for some of the books are still chained to the reading-desk; and +many more have their rusty iron chain twisted about them, by which +they, in their turn, were bound to the desk. If the traveller should +not be favoured with that antiquarian taste which finds a charm in +decyphering, out of mouldy and black-letter volumes, what would not +be worth his perusal in the most luxurious type of modern days, he +will at least derive some pleasure from opening the little windows +of the tower, and inhaling the fresh breeze that will blow in upon +him, and in looking over an extensive prospect of green meadows, +with their little river meandering about in them. It must have +formed a pleasant retreat at one time to the two or three learned +clerks, or minor canons, or neighbouring monks or friars--we may be +sure there were never many of such students--who used to climb this +turret for their morning or their evening lucubrations. + +The only student who had, perhaps for some centuries, frequented +it--and she brought her own books with her, and was very unlike +either learned clerk, or monk, or friar--was Mildred Willoughby. She +used to delight--a taste savouring of extreme youth--to bring the +book she was perusing from her own comfortable parlour, to climb +up with it to this solitary height, and there read it alone. She +had no difficulty in obtaining from the parish-clerk permission to +be left in this chosen solitude--to draw the one wooden chair it +possessed to the window, and there to sit, and read, or muse, or +look upon the landscape, just as long as she pleased. It did not +very frequently happen that this functionary was called upon to +exhibit the old tower to the curiosity of strangers; but if this +occurred whilst she was thus occupied, she would rise from her seat, +and for a moment put on the air of a visitor also--walk slowly round +the room, looking at the backs of the books, or out of the window at +the prospect, as if she saw them for the first time! and when the +company had retreated, (and there was little to detain them long,) +would quietly return to her chair, her study, or her reverie. + +One reason she might have given, beside the romantic and pensive +mood it inspired, for her choice of this retreat--the charm of being +alone. Nothing could be more quiet--to look at the exterior--than +the house she called her home. It stood at the extremity of the +town, protected from the road by its own neat inclosure of turf and +gravel-walk--surely as remote from every species of disturbance or +excitement as the most devoted student could desire. We question +even whether a barrel-organ or a hurdy-gurdy was ever known to +commit an outrage upon its tranquillity; and for its interior, were +not Mr and Miss Bloomfield (they were brother and sister, uncle and +aunt of Mildred) the most staid, orderly, methodical persons in the +world? Did not the bachelor uncle cover every part of the house, +and the kitchen stairs in particular, with thick carpet, in order +that the footsteps of John and the maid should not disquiet him? The +very appearance of the garden, both before and behind the house, was +sufficient to show how orderly a genius presided over it. Could box +be cut more neatly? or gravel-walks be kept cleaner? You saw a tall +lance-like instrument standing by the steps of the back-door, its +constant place. With this Mr Bloomfield frequently made the circuit +of his garden, but with no hostile purpose: he merely transfixed +with it the dry leaves or the splinters of wood that had strayed +upon his gravel, carrying them off in triumph to a neat wooden +receptacle, where they were both imprisoned and preserved. And Miss +Bloomfield, she also was one of the most amiable of women, and as +attached to a quiet and orderly house as her brother. Neither could +any two persons be more kind, or more fond of their niece, than +they were. But it was from this very kindness, this very fondness, +that Mildred found it so pleasant at times to escape. Her aunt, +especially, was willing to grant her any indulgence but that of +being alone. This her love for her niece, and her love of talking, +would rarely permit. Neither could Mildred very graciously petition +for this unsocial privilege. In youth, nothing is so delightful +as solitude, especially when it is procured by stealth, by some +subtle contrivance, some fiction or pretence; and many a time did +her aunt find it necessary to pursue Mildred to her own chamber, +and many a time did she bring her down into the parlour, repeating, +with unfeigned surprise, and a tone of gentle complaint, the always +unanswerable question--what she _could_ be doing so long in her own +room? Therefore it was that she was fain to steal out alone--take +her walk through the churchyard, ascend the tower, enter its little +library, and plant herself in its old arm-chair for an hour of +solitary reading or thinking. + +Mildred Willoughby was born in India, and her parents (the greatest +misery attendant upon a residence in that climate) were compelled +to send her to England to be reared, as well as educated. She had +been placed under the care of her uncle and aunt. These had always +continued to live together--bachelor and spinster. As their united +incomes enabled them to surround themselves with every comfort and +personal luxury, and as they were now of a very mature age, it was +no longer considered to be in the chapter of probabilities that +either of them would change their condition. Miss Bloomfield, in +her youth, was accounted a beauty--the _belle_ of Wimborne; and we +may be sure that personal charms, a very amiable disposition, and a +considerable fortune, could not fail to bring her numerous admirers +and suitors. But her extreme placidity of temper no passion seems +ever to have ruffled; and it did so happen, that though her hand had +often been solicited, no opportunity of marriage had been offered to +her which would not have put in jeopardy some of those comforts and +indulgences to which she was habituated. She was pleased with the +attentions of gentlemen, and was studious to attract them; but there +was nothing in that word _love_ which could have compensated for the +loss of her favourite attendants, or of that pretty little carriage +that drew her about the country. + +As for Mr Bloomfield, it was generally supposed that he had +suffered from more than one tender disappointment, having always +had the misfortune to fix his affections just where they could not +be returned. But those who knew him well would say, that Josiah +Bloomfield was, in fact, too timid and irresolute a man ever to have +married--that being himself conscious of this, yet courting, at the +same time, the excitement of a tender passion, he invariably made +love where he was sure to be rejected. Many a fascinating girl came +before him, whom he might have won, from whose society, for this +very reason, he quietly withdrew, to carry his sighs to some quarter +where a previous engagement, or some other obstacle, was sure to +procure him a denial. He thus had all the pleasing pains of wooing, +and earned the credit for great sensibility, whilst he hugged +himself in the safe felicity of a single life. By this time, a more +confirmed or obdurate bachelor did not exist; yet he was pleased +to be thought to wear the willow, and would, from time to time, +endeavour to extort compassion by remote hints at the sufferings he +had endured from unreturned affection. + +Two such persons, it will be supposed, were at first somewhat +alarmed at the idea of taking into their establishment a little +girl about four or five years old. Indeed, they had, in the first +instance, only so far agreed to take charge of her as to find her +a fit school--to receive her at the holidays--and, in this distant +manner, superintend her education. But Mildred proved so quiet, so +tractable, and withal so cheerful a child, that they soon resolved +to depart from this plan. She had not been long in the house before +it would have been a great distress to both of them to have parted +with her. It was determined that she should reside perpetually +with them, and that the remittances received from India should be +employed in obtaining the very best masters that could be procured +from Bath or Exeter. Mr Bloomfield found, in the superintendence of +Mildred's education, an employment which made the day half as short +as it had ever been before. He was himself a man fond of reading; +and if he had not a very large store of thoughts, he had at least an +excellent library, into which Mildred, who had now arrived at the +age of fifteen, had already begun to penetrate. + +And books--her music--&c., a few friends, more distinguished by +good-breeding and good-nature than by any vivacity of mind, were +all the world of Mildred Willoughby, and it was a world that there +seemed little probability of her getting beyond. It had been +expected that about this time she would have returned to India to +her parents; but her mother had died, and her father had expressed +no wish that she should be sent out to him. On the contrary, beyond +certain pecuniary remittances, and these came through an agent's +hands, there was nothing to testify that he bore any remembrance +of his daughter. Of her father, very contradictory reports had +reached her; some said that he had married again, and had formed +an engagement of which he was not very proud; others that he had +quitted the service, and was now travelling, no one knew where, +about the world. At all events, he appeared to have forgotten that +he had a daughter in England; and Mildred was almost justified in +considering herself--as she did in her more melancholy moments--as +in fact an orphan, thrown upon the care of an uncle and aunt, and +dependent almost entirely upon them. + +One fine summer's day, as she was enjoying her lofty solitude in +the minster tower, a visitor had been allowed to grope up his way +unattended into its antique library. On entering, he was not a +little startled to see before him in this depository of mouldering +literature a blooming girl in all the freshness and beauty of +extreme youth. He hesitated a moment whether to approach and +disturb so charming a vision. But, indeed, the vision was very soon +disturbed. For Mildred, on her side, was still more startled at this +entrance, alone and suddenly, of a very handsome young man--for +such the stranger was--and blushed deeply as she rose from her +chair and attempted to play as usual the part of casual visitor. He +bowed--what could he less?--and made some apology for his having +startled her by his abrupt entrance. + +The stranger's manner was so quiet and unpresuming, that the +timidity of Mildred soon disappeared, and before she had time to +think what was most _proper_ to do, she found herself in a very +interesting conversation with one who evidently was as intelligent +as he was well-bred and good-looking. She had let fall her book in +her hurry to rise. He picked it up, and as he held the elegantly +bound volume in his hand, which ludicrously contrasted with the +mouldy and black-letter quartos that surrounded them, he asked with +a smile, on which shelf he was to deposit it. "This fruit," said +he, "came from another orchard." And seeing the title at the back, +he added, "Italian I might have expected to find in a young lady's +hand, but I should have looked for a Tasso, not an Alfieri." + +"Yes," she replied gaily, "a damsel discovered reading in this old +turret ought to have book of chivalry in her hand. I have read +Tasso, but I do not prefer him. Alfieri presents me quite as much as +Tasso with a new world to live in, and it is a more real world. I +seem to be learning from him the real feelings of men." + +The stranger was manifestly struck by this kind of observation +from one so young, and still more by the simple and unpretending +manner in which it was uttered. Mildred had not the remotest idea +of talking criticism, she was merely expressing her own unaffected +partialities. He would have been happy to prolong the conversation, +but the clerk, or verger, who had missed his visitor--as well he +might, for his visitor had purposely given him the slip, as all wise +men invariably do to all cicerones of whatever description--had at +length tracked his fugitive up the tower, and into the library. His +entrance interrupted their dialogue, and compelled the stranger very +soon afterwards to retreat. He made his bow to the fair lady of the +tower and descended. + +Mildred read very little more that day, and if she lingered somewhat +longer in meditation, her thoughts had less connexion than ever +with antiquities of any kind. She descended, and took her way +home. The probability that she might meet the stranger in passing +through the town--albeit there was nothing, disagreeable in the +thought--made her walk with unusual rapidity, and bend her eyes +pertinaciously upon the ground. The consequence of which was, that +in turning the corner of a street which she passed almost every day +of her life, she contrived to entangle her dress in some of the +interesting hardware of the principal ironmonger of the place, who, +for the greater convenience of the inhabitants, was accustomed to +advance his array of stoves and shovels far upon the pavement, and +almost before their feet. As she turned and stooped to disengage +her dress, she found that relief and rescue were already at hand. +The stranger knight, who had come an age too late to release her +as a captive from the tower, was affording the best assistance he +could to extricate her from entanglement with a kitchen-range. Some +ludicrous idea of this kind occurred to both at the same time--their +eyes met with a smile--and their hands had very nearly encountered +as they both bent over the tenacious muslin. The task, however, +was achieved, and a very gracious "thank you" from one of the most +musical of voices repaid the stranger for his gallantry. + +That evening Mildred happened to be sitting near the window--it +must have been by merest hazard, for she very rarely occupied that +part of the room--as the Bath coach passed their gates. A gentleman +seated on the roof appeared to recognise her--at least, he took +his hat off as he passed. Was it the same?--and what if it were? +Evidently he was a mere passer-by, who had been detained in the town +a few hours, waiting for this coach. Would he ever even think again +of the town of Wimborne--of its old minster--or its tower--and the +girl he surprised sitting there, in its little antique library? + + +CHAPTER II. + +Between two or three years have elapsed, and our scene changes from +the country town of Wimborne to the gay and pleasant capital of +Belgium. + +Mr and Miss Bloomfield had made a bold, and, for them, quite a +tremendous resolution, to take a trip upon the Continent, which +should extend--as far as their courage held out. The pleasure and +profit this would afford their niece, was no mean inducement to the +enterprise. Mr Bloomfield judged that his ward, after the course of +studies she had pursued, and the proficiency she had attained in +most feminine accomplishments, was ripe to take advantage of foreign +travel. Mr Bloomfield judged wisely; but Mr Bloomfield neither +judged, nor was, perhaps, capable of judging how far, in fact, the +mind of his niece _had_ advanced, or what singular good use she +had made of his own neglected library. She had been grappling with +all sorts of books--of philosophy and of science, as well as of +history and poetry. But that cheerful quietude which distinguished +her manner, concealed these more strenuous efforts of her mind. She +never talked for display--she had, indeed, no arena for display--and +the wish for it was never excited in her mind. What she read and +thought, she revolved in herself, and was perfectly content. How it +might have been had she lived amongst those who would have called +her forth, and overwhelmed her with praise, it would be difficult to +tell. As it was, Mildred Willoughby presented to the imagination the +most fascinating combination of qualities it would be possible to +put together. A young girl of most exquisite beauty, (she had grown +paler than when we last saw her, but this had only given increased +lustre to her blue eye)--of manners the most unaffected--of a temper +always cheerful, always tranquil--was familiar with trains of deep +reflection--possessed a practised intellect and really cultivated +mind. In this last respect, there was not a single person in all +Wimborne or its neighbourhood who had divined her character. That +she was a charming girl, though a little too pale--very amiable, +though a little too reserved--of a temper provokingly calm, for +she was not ruffled even where she ought to be--and that she sang +well, and played well; such would have been the summary of her good +qualities from her best and most intimate friends. She was now +enjoying, with her uncle and aunt--but in a manner how different +from theirs!--the various novelties, great and small, which a +foreign country presents to the eye. + +Those who, in their travels, estimate the importance of any spot by +its distance or its difficulty of access, will hardly allow such +a place as Brussels to belong to _foreign parts_. It is no more +than an excursion to Margate: it is but a day's journey. True; but +your day's journey has brought you to another people--to another +religion. We are persuaded that a man shall travel to Timbuctoo, +and he shall not gain for himself a stronger impression of novelty, +than a sober Protestant shall procure by entering the nearest +country where the Roman Catholic worship is in full practice. +He has seen cathedrals--many and beautiful--but they were mere +architectural monuments, half deserted, one corner only employed for +the modest service of his church--the rest a noble space for the +eye to traverse, in which he has walked, hat in hand, meditating +on past times and the middle ages. But if he cross the Channel, +those past times--they have come back again; those middle ages--he +is in the midst of them. The empty cathedral has become full to +overflowing; there are the lights burning in mid-day, and he hears +the Latin chant, and sees high-priests in gorgeous robes making +mystic evolutions about the altar; and there is the incense, and +the sprinkling of holy water, and the tinkling bell, and whatever +the Jew or the Pagan has in times past bequeathed to the Christian. +Or let him only look up the street. Here comes, tottering in the +air, upon the shoulders of its pious porters, Our Lady herself, +with the Holy Child in one arm, and her sceptre in the other, and +the golden crown upon her head. Here she is in her satin robe, +stiff with embroidery, and gay with lace, and decked with tinsel +ornaments beyond our power of description. If the character of the +festival require it, she is borne by six or eight maidens clad in +white, with wreaths of white roses on their heads; and you hear it +whispered, as they approach, that such a one is beautiful Countess +of C----; and, countess or not, there is amongst those bearers a +face very beautiful, notwithstanding that the heat of the day, and +a burden of no light weight, has somewhat deranged the proportions +of the red and white which had been so cunningly laid on. And then +comes the canopy of cloth of gold, borne over the bare head of the +venerable priest, who holds up to the people, inclosed in a silver +case, imitative of rays of glory, the sacred host; holds it up with +both his hands, and fastens both his eyes devoutly on the back of +it; and boys in their scarlet tunics, covered with white lace, are +swinging the censor before it; and the shorn priests on each side, +with lighted tapers in their hands, tall as staves, march, chanting +forth--we regret to say, with more vehemence than melody. + +Is not all this strange enough? The state-carriage of the King of +the Ashantees was, some years ago, captured in war, and exhibited in +London; and a curious vehicle it was, with its peacocks' feathers, +and its large glass beads hung round the roof to glitter and jingle +at the same time. But the royal carriage of the Ashantees, or all +that the court of the Ashantees could possibly display, is not half +so curious, half so strange to any meditative spirit, as this image +of the Holy Virgin met as it parades the streets, or seen afterwards +deposited in the centre of the temple, surrounded by pots of +flowers, real and artificial, by vases filled with lilies of glazed +muslin, and altogether tricked out with such decorations as a child +would lavish on its favourite doll if it had an infinite supply of +tinsel. + +And they worship _that_! + +"No!" exclaims some very candid gentleman. "No sir, they by no means +worship it; and you must be a very narrow-minded person if you think +so. Such images are employed by the Catholic as representatives, +as symbols only--visible objects to direct his worship to that +which is invisible." O most candid of men! and most liberal of +Protestants! we do not say that Dr Wiseman or M. Chateaubriand +worship images. But just step across the water--we do not ask you to +travel into Italy or Spain, where the symptoms are ten times more +violent--just walk into some of these churches in Belgium, _and +use your own eyes_. It is but a journey of four-and-twenty hours; +and if you are one of those who wish to bring into our own church +the more frequent use of form and ceremony and visible symbol, it +will be the most salutory journey you ever undertook. Meanwhile +consider, and explain to us, why it is--if images are understood +to have only this subordinate function--that one image differs so +much from another in honour and glory. This Virgin, whom we have +seen parade the streets, is well received and highly respected; but +there are other Virgins--ill-favoured, too, and not at all fit to +act as representatives of any thing feminine--who are infinitely +more honoured and observed. The sculpture of Michael Angelo never +wins so much devotion as you shall see paid here, in one of their +innumerable churches, to a dark, rude, and odious misrepresentation +of Christ. They put a mantle on it of purple cotton, edged with +white, and a reed in its hand, and they come one after the other, +and kiss its dark feet; and mothers bring their infants, and put +their soft lips to the wound that the nail made, and then depart +with full sense of an act of piety performed. And take this into +account, that such act of devotion is no casual enthusiasm, no +outbreak of passionate piety overleaping the bounds of reason; +it is done systematically, methodically; the women come with +their green tin cans, slung upon their arm, full of their recent +purchases in the market, you see them enter--approach--put down the +can--kiss--take up the can, and depart. They have fulfilled a duty. + +But we have not arrived in Brussels to loiter in churches or discuss +theology. + +"Monsieur and the ladies will go to the ball to-night," said their +obliging host to our party. "It is an annual ball," he continued, +"given by the Philanthropical Society for the benefit of the poor. +Their Majesties, the king and the queen, will honour it with their +presence, and it is especially patronised by your fair countrywomen. + +"Enough," said Mr Bloomfield; "we will certainly go to the ball. +To be in the same room with a living king and queen--it is an +opportunity by no means to be lost." + +"And then," said Miss Bloomfield, "it is an act of charity." + +This species of charity is very prevalent at Brussels. You dance +there out of pure commiseration. It is an excellent invention, this +gay benevolence. You give, and you make no sacrifice; you buy balls +and concerts with the money you drop into the beggar's hat; charity +is all sweetness. Poverty itself wears quite a festive air; the poor +are the farmers-general of our pleasures; it is they who give the +ball. Long live the dance! Long live the poor! + +They drive to the ball-room in the Rue Ducale. They enter an oblong +room, spacious, of good proportions, and brilliantly lit up with +that gayest of all artificial lights--the legitimate wax candle, +thickly clustered in numerous chandeliers. Two rows of Corinthian +columns support the roof, and form a sort of arcade on either side +for spectators or the promenade, the open space in the centre being, +of course, devoted to the dance. At the upper end is a raised dais +with chairs of state for their Majesties. What, in day-time, were +windows are filled with large mirrors, most commodiously reflecting +the fair forms that stand or pass before them. How smooth is the +inlaid polished floor! and how it seems to foretell the dance +for which its void space is so well prepared! No incumbrance of +furniture here; no useless decorations. Some cushioned forms covered +with crimson velvet, some immense vases occupying the corners of the +room filled with exotic plants, are all that could be admitted of +one or the other. + +The orchestra, established in a small gallery over the door, strikes +up the national air, and the royal party, attended by their suite, +proceed through the centre of the room, bowing right and left. They +take their seats. That instant the national air changes to a rapid +waltz, and in the twinkling of an eye, the whole of that spacious +floor is covered thick with the whirling multitude. The sober Mr +Bloomfield, to whom such a scene is quite a novelty, grows giddy +with the mere view of it. He looks with all his might, but he ought +to have a hundred pairs of eyes to watch the mazes of this dance. +One couple after another appear and vanish as if by enchantment. He +sees a bewitching face--he strives to follow it--impossible!--in +a minute fifty substitutes are presented to him--it is lost in a +living whirlpool of faces. + +To one long accustomed to the quiet and monotony of a country life, +it would be difficult to present a spectacle more novel or striking +than this of a public ball-room; and though for such a novelty it +was not necessary to cross the water, yet assuredly, in his own +country, Mr Bloomfield would never have been present at such a +spectacle. We go abroad as much to throw ourselves for a time into +new manners of life, as to find new scenes of existence. He stood +bewildered. Some two hundred couples gyrating like mad before him. +Sometimes the number would thin, and the fervour of the movement +abate--the floor began, in parts, to be visible--the storm and the +whirlwind were dying away. But a fresh impulse again seized on both +musicians and dancers--the throng of these gentle dervishes, of +these amiable maenads, became denser than ever--the movement more +furious--the music seemed to madden them and to grow mad itself: he +shut his eyes, and drew back quite dizzy from the scene. + +It is a singular phenomenon, this waltz, retained as it is in the +very heart of our cold and punctilious civilisation. How have we +contrived, amidst our quiet refinement and fastidious delicacy, +to preserve an amusement which has in it the very spirit of the +Cherokee Indian? There is nothing sentimental--nothing at all, +in the waltz. In this respect, mammas need have no alarm. It is +the mere excitement of rapid movement--a dextrous and delirious +rotation. It is the enthusiasm only of the feet--the ecstacy of +mere motion. Yes! just at that moment when, on the extended arm of +the cavalier, the soft and rounded arm of his partner is placed so +gently and so gracefully--(as for the hand upon the whalebone waist +no electricity comes that way)--just then there may be a slight +emotion which would be dangerous if prolonged; but the dance begins, +and there is no room for any other rapture than that of its own +swift and giddy course. There are no beatings of the heart after +that; only pulsations of the great artery. + +Found where it is, it is certainly a remarkable phenomenon, this +waltz. Look now at that young lady--how cold, formal, stately!--how +she has been trained to act the little queen amongst her admirers +and flatterers! See what a _reticence_ in all her demeanour. Even +feminine curiosity, if not subdued, has been dissimulated; and +though she notes every thing and every body, and can describe, +when she returns home, the dress of half the ladies in the room, +it is with an eye that seems to notice nothing. Her head has just +been released from the hair-dresser, and every hair is elaborately +adjusted. To the very holding of an enormous bouquet, "round +as my shield," which of itself seems to forbid all thoughts of +motion--every thing has been arranged and re-arranged. She sits +like an alabaster figure; she speaks, it is true, and she smiles as +she speaks; but evidently the smile and the speech have no natural +connexion with one another; they co-exist, but they have both been +quite separately studied, prepared, permitted. Well, the waltz +strikes up, and at a word from that bowing gentleman, himself a +piece of awful formality, this pale, slow, and graceful automaton +has risen. Where is she now? She is gone--vanished--transformed. +She is nowhere to be seen. But in her stead there is a breathless +girl, with flushed cheeks, ringlets given to the wind, dress flying +all abroad, spinning round the room, darting diagonally across it, +whirling fast as her little feet can carry her--faster, faster--for +it is her more powerful cavalier, who, holding her firmly by the +waist, sustains and augments her speed. + +Perhaps some ingenious mind may discover a profound philosophy in +all this; perhaps, by retaining this authorised outlet for the mere +rage of movement, the rest of civilised life is better protected +against any disturbance of that quietude of deportment which it is +so essential to maintain. + +But if the waltz appeared to Mr Bloomfield like dancing gone mad, +the quadrille which divided the evening with it, formed a sort of +compensation by carrying matters to the opposite extreme. A fly in +a glue-pot moves with about the same alacrity, and apparently the +same amount of pleasure, as did the dancers this evening in their +crowded quadrille. As no one, of course, could be permitted to stand +with his back to royalty, they were arranged, not in squares, but +in two long files as in a country-dance. The few couples that stood +near their majesties were allowed a reasonable share of elbow-room, +and could get through their evolutions with tolerable composure. But +as the line receded from this point, the dancers stood closer and +closer together, and at the other extremity of the room it became +nothing less than a dense crowd; a crowd where people were making +the most persevering and ingenious efforts to accomplish the most +spiritless of movements--with a world of pains just crawling in +and out again. The motions of this _dancing_ crowd viewed from a +proper elevation, would exactly resemble those slow and mysterious +evolutions one sees, on close examination, in the brown dust of a +cheese, in that condition which some people call ripe, and others +rotten. + +As to Miss Bloomfield, she keeps her eyes, for the most part, on the +king and queen. Having expected to see them rise and join the dance, +she was somewhat disappointed to find them retain their seats, the +king chatting to a lady at his right, the queen to a lady on her +left. Assuredly, if there were any one in that assembly who had +come there out of charity, it was their Majesties. Or rather, they +were there in performance of one of the duties of royalty, perhaps +not the least onerous, that of showing itself in public on certain +occasions. When they rose, it was to take their leave, which they +were doubtless very glad to do. Nor, indeed, were those who had +been most attracted by the advertised presence of their Majesties +sorry to witness their departure. They would carry many away with +them--there would be more room for the dance--and the quadrille +could reassume its legitimate form. + +But Mildred--what was she doing or thinking all this time? To her +the scene was entirely new; for though Mr and Miss Bloomfield +probably attended county balls in their youth, they had not, for +some years, so far deviated from the routine of their lives as +to frequent any such assemblies. Besides, she had to encounter, +what they certainly had not, the gaze of every eye as she passed, +and the whispered exclamations of applause. But to have judged +from her manner--from that delightful composure which always +distinguished it, as free from insipidity as from trepidation or +fluster, you would have thought her quite familiar with such scenes +and such triumphs. Reflection supplied the place of experience. +You saw that those clear blue eyes, from which she looked out with +such a calm and keen inquiry, were by no means to be imposed on; +that they detected at once the true meaning of the scene before +her. She was solicited to dance, but neither the waltz nor the +quadrille were at all enticing, and she contented herself with the +part of spectator. Her chief amusement was derived from the novel +physiognomies which the room presented; and indeed the assortment, +comprising, as it did, a sprinkling of many nations--French and +Belgian, English and German--was sufficiently varied. There were +even two or three _lions_ of the first magnitude, who (judging from +the supreme _hauteur_ with which they surveyed the scene) must have +been imported from the patron capital of Paris. Lions, bearded +magnificently--no mere luxuriance, or timid overgrowth of hair, but +the genuine full black glossy beard--faces that might have walked +out of Titian's canvass. Mildred would have preferred them in the +canvass; they were much too sublime for the occasion. Then there +were two or three young English _exquisites_, gliding about with +that published modesty that proclaimed indifference, which seeks +notoriety by the very graceful manner in which it seems struggling +to avoid it. You see a smile upon their lips as they disengage +themselves from the crowd, as if they rallied themselves for taking +any share in the bustle or excitement of the scene; but that smile, +be it understood, is by no means intended to escape detection. + +There were a greater number of fat and elderly gentlemen than +Mildred would have expected, taking part in the dance, or +circulating about the room with all or more than the vivacity +of youth. How happy!--how supremely blest!--seems that rotund +and bald-headed sire, who, standing on the edge of the dais, now +forsaken by their Majesties, surveys the whole assembly, and invites +the whole assembly to return the compliment. How beautifully the +bland sympathy he feels for others mingles with and swells his sense +of self-importance! How he dominates the whole scene! How fondly +patronises! And then his smile!--why, his heart is dancing with them +all; it is beating time to twice two hundred feet. An old friend +approaches him--he is happy too--would shake him by the hand. The +hand he gives; but he cannot withdraw his eye from the wide scene +before him; he cannot possibly call in and limit his sympathies at +that moment to one friend, however old and dear. And he who solicits +his hand, he also is looking around him at the same time, courting +the felicitations of the crowd, who will not fail to observe that he +too is there, and there amongst friends. + +In the female portion of the assembly there was not so much novelty. +Mildred could only remark that there was a large proportion of +_brunettes_, and that the glossy black hair was parted on the +head and smoothed down on either side with singular neatness and +precision. Two only out of this part of the community attracted her +particular notice, and they were of the most opposite description. +Near to her stood a lady who might have been either thirty, +or forty, or fifty, for all that her sharp and lively features +betrayed. She wore one of those small round hats, with the feather +drooping round it, which formed, we believe, a part of the costume +of Louis XV.; and that which drew the notice of Mildred was the +strange resemblance she bore, in appearance and manner, to the +portraitures which some French memoirs had made familiar to her +imagination. As she watched her in conversation with an officer in +full regimentals, who stood by her side, her fancy was transported +to Versailles or St Cloud. What a caustic pleasantry! What a +malicious vivacity! It was impossible to doubt that the repartees +which passed between her and her companion were such as to make the +ears of the absent tingle. There were some reputations suffering +there as the little anecdote was so trippingly narrated. Her +physiognomy was redolent of pleasant scandal-- + + "Tolerably mild, + To make a wash she'd hardly stew a child;" + +but to extract a jest, there was no question she would have +distilled half the reputations in the room. + +The other object of Mildred's curiosity, we pause a moment to +describe, because she will cross our path again in the course of +this narrative. Amongst all the costly and splendid dresses of her +sex, there was a young girl in some simple striped stuff, the most +unsophisticated gown imaginable, falling flat about her, with a +scanty cape of the same material about her neck--the walking-dress, +in short, of a school-girl. The only preparation for the ball-room +consisted of a wreath imitative of daisies, just such a wreath as +she might have picked up in passing through a Catholic cemetry. And +the dress quite suited the person. There she stood with eyes and +mouth wide open, as if she saw equally through both apertures, full +of irrepressible wonder, and quite confounded with delight. She +had been asked to dance by some very young gentleman, but as she +elbowed her way through the quadrille, she was still staring right +and left with unabated amazement. Mildred smiled to herself as she +thought that with the exception of that string of white tufts round +her head, no larger than beads, which was to pass for a wreath, she +looked for all the world as if some spirit had suddenly snatched her +up from the pavement of the High Street of Wimborne, and deposited +her in the ball-room of Brussels. Little did Mildred imagine that, +that crude little person, absurd, untutored, ridiculous as she was, +would one day have it in her power to subdue, and torture, and +triumph over her! + + +CHAPTER III. + +Mildred was at this moment checked in her current of observation, +and reduced to play something more than the part of spectator. Her +ear caught a voice, heard only once before, but not forgotten; she +turned, and saw the stranger who had surprised her when, in her +girlish days, she was sitting in the minster tower. He immediately +introduced himself by asking her to dance. + +"I do not dance," she said, but in a manner which did not seem to +refuse conversation. The stranger appeared very well satisfied with +the compromise; and some pleasant allusion to the different nature +of the scene in which they last met, put them at once upon an easy +footing. + +"You say you _do_ not dance--that is, of course, you _will_ not. I +shall not believe," he continued, "even if you had just stepped from +your high tower of wisdom, but that you can do any thing you please +to do. Pardon so blunt a speech." + +"Oh, I _can_, I think," she replied. "My uncle, I believe, would +have taught me the broad-sword exercise, if any one had suggested +its utility to him." + +And saying this, she turned to her uncle, to give him an +opportunity, if he pleased, of joining the conversation. It was an +opportunity which Mr Bloomfield, who had heard a foreign language +chattered in his ear all the evening, would have gladly taken; +but the patience of that gentleman had been for some time nearly +exhausted; he had taken his sister under his arm, and was just going +to propose to Mildred to leave the room. + +The stranger escorted them through the crowd, and saw the ladies +into their carriage. + +"Can we set you down any where?" said Mr Bloomfield, who, though +impatient to be gone, was disposed to be very cordial towards his +fellow-countryman. "We are at the _Hotel de l'Europe_." + +"And I opposite at the _Hotel de Flandres_--I will willingly accept +your offer;" and he took the vacant seat in their carriage. + +"How do you like Brussels?" was on the lips of both gentlemen at the +same time. + +"Nay," said the younger, "I have been here, I think, the longest; +the question is mine by right of priority of residence." + +Mr Bloomfield was nothing loath to communicate his impression of all +that he had seen, and especially to dilate upon a grievance which, +it seemed, had sorely afflicted him. + +"As to the town, old and new, and especially the Grande Place, with +its Hotel de Ville, I have been highly interested by it; but, my +dear sir, the torture of walking over its horrid pavement! Only +conceive a quiet old bachelor, slightly addicted to the gout, +accustomed to take his walk over his well-rolled paths, or on his +own lawn, (if not too damp,) suddenly put down amongst these cruel +stones, rough and sharp, and pitched together in mere confusion, +to pick his way how he can, with the chance of being smashed by +some cart or carriage, for one is turned out on the same road with +the horses. I am stoned to death, with this only difference, that +I fall upon the stones instead of the stones falling upon me. And +when there is a pavement--_a trottoir_, as they call it--it is often +so narrow and slanting, and always so slippery, and every now and +then broken by some step put there purposely, it would seem, to +overthrow you, that it is better to bear the penance at once of the +sharp footing in the centre of the street. _Trottoirs_, indeed! I +should like to see any one trot upon them without breaking his neck! +A spider or a black beetle, or any other creature that crawls upon +a multitude of legs, and has not far to fall if he stumbles, is the +only animal that is safe upon them. I go moaning all the day about +these jogged pointed stones, that pitch me from one to the other +with all the malice of little devils; and, would you believe it? +my niece there only smiles, and tells me to get thick shoes! They +cannot hurt her; she walks somehow over the tops of them as if they +were so many balls of Indian rubber, and has no compassion for her +gouty uncle." + +"Oh, my dear uncle"---- + +"No, none at all; indeed you are not overburdened with that +sentiment at any time for your fellow-travellers. You bear all the +afflictions of the road--your own and other people's--very calmly." + +"Don't mind him, my dear," said Miss Bloomfield, "he has been +exclaiming again and again what an excellent traveller you make; +nothing puts you out." + +"That is just what I say--nothing does put her out. In that she is a +perfect Mephistophiles. You know the scene of confusion on board a +steamer when it arrives at Antwerp, and is moored in under the quay +on a hot day, with its full complement of passengers. There you are +baked by the sun and your own furnaces; stunned by the jabber around +you, and the abominable roar over your head made by the escape of +the steam; the deck strewed with baggage, which is then and there to +be publicly examined--turned over by the revenue officers, who leave +you to pack up your things in their original compass, if you can. +Well, in all this scene of confusion, there sat my niece with her +parasol over her little head, looking quite composedly at the great +cathedral spires, as if we were not all of us in a sort of infernal +region there." + +"No, uncle, I looked every now and then at our baggage, too, +and watched that interesting process you have described of its +examination. And when the worthy officer was going to crush aunt's +bonnet by putting your dressing-case on the top of it, I rose, and +arrested him. I had my hand upon his arm. He thought I was going to +take him prisoner of war, for he was about to put his hand to his +sword; but a second look at his enemy reassured him." + +"Oh, you did squeak when the bonnets were touched," cried the uncle, +"I am glad of that: it shows that you have some human, at least some +feminine, feeling in your composition." + +"But _apropos_ of the pavement," said the young stranger, who +could not join the uncle in this banter on his niece, and was +therefore glad to get back to some common ground. "I took up, in a +reading-room, the other day, a little pamphlet on phrenology, by +_M. Victor Idjiez_, _Fondateur du Musee Phrenologique_ at Brussels. +It might as well have been entitled, on animal magnetism, for he +is one of those who set the whole man in motion--mind and body +both--by electricity. Amongst other things, he has discovered that +that singular strength which madmen often display in their fits, +is merely a galvanic power which they draw (owing, I suppose, to +the peculiar state of their nerves,) from the common reservoir the +earth, and which, consequently, forsakes them when they are properly +isolated. In confirmation of this theory, he gives a singular _fact_ +from a Brussels journal, showing that _asphalte pavement_ will +isolate the individual. A madman had contrived to make his escape +from confinement, having first thrown all the furniture of his room +out of the window, and knocked down and trampled upon his keeper. +Off he ran, and no one would venture to stop him. A corporal and +four soldiers were brought up to the attack: he made nothing of +them; after having beaten the four musketeers, he took the corporal +by the leg and again ran off, dragging him after upon the ground. +A crowd of work-people emerging from a factory met him in full +career with the corporal behind him, and undertook his capture. All +who approached him were immediately thrown down--scattered over +the plain. But his triumph was suddenly checked; he lighted upon +a piece of asphalte pavement. The moment he put his foot upon it, +his strength deserted him, and he was seized and taken prisoner. +The instant, however, he stepped off the pavement, his strength +revived, and he threw his assailants from him with the same ease as +before. And thus it continued: whenever he got off the pavement, his +strength was restored to him; the moment he touched it, he was again +captured with facility. The asphalte had completely isolated him." + +"Ha! ha!" cried Mr Bloomfield; "the fellow, after all, was not +quite so mad as not to know what he was about. A Brussels pavement, +asphalte or not, is no place for a wrestling match. Isolated, +indeed! Oh, doubtless, it would isolate you most completely--at +least the soles of your feet--from all communication with the earth. +But does Mr--what do you call him?--proceed to theorise upon such +_facts_ as these?" + +"You shall have another of them. Speaking of animal magnetism or +electricity, he says--'There are certain patients the iron nails +of whose shoes will fly out if they are laid in a direction due +north.'"[41] + + [41] "Il existe des malades dont les clous jai'lissent des + chaussures quand ils sont etendus dans la direction du nord." + +"But you are quoting from Baron Munchausen." + +"Not precisely." + +Miss Bloomfield, who had been watching her opportunity, here brought +in her contribution. "Pray, sir, do you believe the story they tell +of the architect of the Hotel de Ville--that he destroyed himself +on finding, after he had built it, that the tower was not in the +centre?" + +"That the architect should not discover that till the building was +finished, is indeed _too good a story to be true_." + +"But, then, why make the man kill himself? Something must have +happened; something must be true." + +"Why, madam, there was, no doubt, a committee of taste in those days +as in ours. They destroyed the plan of the architect by cutting +short one of his wings, or prolonging the other; and he, out of +vexation, destroyed himself. This is the only explanation that +occurs to me. A committee of taste is always, in one sense at least, +the death of the artist." + +"Yes, yes," said Mildred; "the artist can be no longer said to +exist, if he is not allowed, in his own sphere, to be supreme." + +This brought them to the door of the hotel. They separated. + +The next morning, on returning from their walk, the ladies found +a card upon their table which simply bore the name of "Alfred +Winston." The gentleman who called with it, the waiter said, had +left word that he regretted he was about to quit Brussels, that +evening, for Paris. + +Mildred read the name several times--Alfred Winston. And this was +all she knew of him--the name upon this little card! + +There were amongst the trio several discussions as to who or what +Mr Alfred Winston might be. Miss Bloomfield pronounced him to be +an artist, from his caustic observations on committees of taste, +and their meddling propensities. Mr Bloomfield, on the contrary, +surmised he was a literary man; for who but such a one would +think of occupying himself in a reading-room with a pamphlet on +phrenology, instead of the newspapers? And all ended in "wondering +if they should fall upon him again?" + + + + +THE LAW AND ITS PUNISHMENTS. + + +It is no uncommon boast in the mouth of Englishmen, that the system +of jurisprudence under which they have the happiness to live, is +the most perfect the world has ever seen. Having its foundation in +those cabalistic words, "Nullus liber homo," &c., engraved with +an iron pen upon the tablets of the constitution by the barons of +King John, the criminal law, in their estimation, has been steadily +improved by the wisdom of successive ages, until, in the present +day, it has reached a degree of excellence which it were rashness to +suppose can by any human sagacity be surpassed. Under its protecting +influence, society reposes in security; under its just, but merciful +administration, the accused finds every facility for establishing +his innocence, and is allowed the benefit of every doubt that +ingenuity can suggest to rebut the probability of guilt; before +its sacred tribunals, the weak and the powerful, the poor and the +rich, stand in complete equality; under its impartial sentence, all +who merit punishment are alike condemned, without respect of any +antecedents of rank, wealth, or station. In such a system, no change +can take place without injury, for it is (not to speak irreverently) +a system of perfection. + +This is the dream of many--for we must characterise it rather as a +dream than a deliberate conviction. Reason, we fear, has but little +to do with the opinions of those who hold that English jurisprudence +has no need of reform. + +The praises which are so lavishly bestowed upon our criminal law may +be, to a great extent, just; but it is to be doubted whether they +are altogether judicious. It is true, that in no other system of +jurisprudence throughout the civilised world, or among the nations +of antiquity, has there existed, or is there so tender a regard for +the rights of the accused. In Germany, the wretch who falls under +suspicion of the law is subjected to a tedious and inquisitorial +examination, with a view to elicit from his own lips the proof, and +even the confession of guilt. This mental torture, not to speak +of the imprisonment of the body, may be protracted for years, and +even for life. In France, the facts connected with an offence are +published by authority, and circulated throughout the country, +to be greedily devoured by innumerable lovers of unwholesome +excitement; and not the simple facts alone, but a thousand +incidental circumstances connected with the transaction, together +with the birth, parentage, and education, and all the previous +life of the supposed offender, making in the whole a romance of +considerable interest, and possessing an attraction beyond the +ordinary tales which fill the _feuilleton_ of a newspaper. In +England, the position of the accused is widely different. We avoid +the errors and the tyranny of our neighbours; but have we not fallen +into the opposite extreme? Our magistrates scrupulously caution +prisoners not to say any thing that may criminate themselves. Every +thing that authority can effect by means of advice, which, under +the circumstances, is equivalent to command, is carefully brought +forward to prevent a confession. And if, in spite of checks, +warnings, and commands, the accused, overcome by the pangs of +conscience, and urged by an irresistible impulse to disburden his +soul of guilt, should perchance confess, the testimony is sometimes +rejected upon some technical point of law, which would seem to have +been established for the express purpose of defeating the ends +of justice. Indeed, the technicalities which surround our legal +tribunals have been, until very lately, and are still, in too many +instances, most strangely favourable to the escape of criminals. +The idlest quibbles, most offensive to common sense, and utterly +disgraceful in a court of criminal investigation, have at various +times been allowed as valid pleas in defence of the most palpable +crimes. Many a thief has escaped, on the ground of some slight and +immaterial misdescription of the stolen article, such as a horse +instead of a mare, a cow instead of an ox, a sheep for a ewe, and +so on. True, these absurdities exist no longer; but others still +remain, less ridiculous perhaps, but not less obstructive of the +course of justice, and quite as pernicious in their example. Great +and beneficial changes have been effected in the criminal code, and +too much praise cannot be bestowed upon Sir Robert Peel for his +exertions in this behalf. To her Majesty's commissioners, also, +some thanks are due for the labour they have expended with a view +to the consolidation and subsequent codification of the various +statutes. Their labours, however, have not hitherto been very +largely productive. The excellent object of simplifying our criminal +laws still remains to be accomplished, and so long as it does so, so +long will it be obnoxious to the censures which are not unsparingly +heaped upon it. + +But if our jurisprudence be in one respect too favourable to the +criminal, in another, as it appears to us, the balance is more than +restored to its equilibrium. If, in the process of investigation, +justice leans too much to the side of mercy, the inquiry once over, +she quickly repents of her excessive leniency, and is careful to +justify her ways by a rigorous severity. The accused, if he is not +lucky enough to avail himself of the thousand avenues of escape that +are open during the progress of his trial, must abandon all hope of +further consideration, and look to undergo a punishment, of which +the full extent cannot be estimated by any human sagacity. Once +condemned, he ceases to be an object of care or solicitude, except +so far as these are necessary to preserve his life and restrain +his liberty. Through crime he has forfeited all claim upon the +fostering care of the state. He is an alien and an outcast, and has +no pretence for expecting any thing but misery. + +Surely there is something vindictive in all this--something not +quite consistent with the calm and unimpassioned administration of +justice. The first impressions of any man of ordinary humanity must +be very much against a system which fosters and encourages such a +state of things. We believe that those first impressions would be +confirmed by inquiry; and it is our purpose in the present article +briefly to state the reasons for our belief. + +The treatment of criminals under sentence of imprisonment must now +be well known to the public. Repeated discussion and innumerable +writings have rendered it familiar to every body. A man is condemned +to undergo, let us say, three years' incarceration in a jail. A +portion of the time is to be spent in hard labour. He commences +his imprisonment with no other earthly object than to get through +it with the least possible amount of suffering. Employment, which +might, under better circumstances, be a pleasant resource, is +distasteful to him because it is compulsory, and because it is +productive of no benefit to himself. The hours that are unemployed +are passed in company with others as bad as, or worse than, +himself. They amuse themselves by recounting the history of their +lives, their hairbreadth escapes, their successful villanies. Each +profits by the experience of the whole number, and stores it in +his memory for future guidance. Every good impulse is checked, and +every better feeling stifled in the birth. There is no room in a +jail for the growth of virtue; the atmosphere is not congenial to +its development. The prisoner, however well disposed, cannot choose +but listen to the debasing talk of those with whom he is compelled +to associate. Should he resist the wicked influence for a while, he +can hardly do so long. The poison will work. By little and little +it insinuates itself into the mind, and vitiates all the springs of +good. In the end, he yields to the irresistible force of continued +bad example, and becomes as bad as the worst. + +But let us believe, for an instant, that one prisoner has resisted +the ill effects of wicked association--let us suppose him to have +escaped the contamination of a jail, to have received no moral hurt +from bad example, to be untainted by the corrupting atmosphere of +congregated vice--in short, to return into the world at the end +of his imprisonment a better man than he was at its commencement. +Let us suppose all this, although the supposition, it must be +confessed, is unsupported by experience, and directly in the teeth +of probability. He sallies forth from his prison, full of good +resolutions, and determined to win the character of an honest man. +Perhaps he has a small sum of money, which helps him to reach a part +of the country most distant from the scene of his disgrace. He seeks +for work, and is fortunate enough to obtain it. For a short time, +all goes well with him. He is industrious and sober, and gains the +good-will of his employer. He is confirmed in his good intentions, +and fancies that his hopes of regaining his position in society are +about to be realised. Vain hopes! Rumour is busy with his name. +His fellow-labourers begin to look coldly on him. The master does +not long remain in ignorance. The discharged convict is taxed with +his former degradation, and made to suffer again the consequences +of a crime he has well and fully expiated. His brief hour of +prosperity is over. He is cast forth again upon the world, denied +the means of gaining an honest livelihood, with nothing before him +but starvation or a jail. What wonder should he choose the latter! +Goaded by despair, or stimulated by hunger, he yields to the first +temptation, and commits a crime which places him again within prison +walls. It is his second conviction. He is a marked man. He were more +than mortal if he escaped the deteriorating effects of repeated +association with the hardened and the vicious. His future career +is certain. He falls from bad to worse, and ends his life upon the +scaffold. + +We have imagined, for the sake of argument, a case which, in one of +its features, is unfortunately of very rare occurrence. Criminals +seldom, perhaps never, leave a jail with the slightest inclination +to a course of honesty. Their downward progress, when they have +once been exposed to the contamination of a prison life, may be +calculated almost with certainty. No sooner is the term of their +imprisonment expired, than they step forth into the world, eager to +recommence the old career of systematic villany. Good intentions, +and the desire of doing well, are almost always strangers to their +breasts. But should they, perchance, be alive to better things, and +be moved by wholesome impulses, what an awful responsibility rests +upon those who, by individual acts, or by a pernicious system, check +and render abortive the efforts of a dawning virtue! In the case +we have supposed, there is doubtless much that must be laid to the +score of human nature. Men will not easily be persuaded, that he who +has once made a grievous lapse from the path of honesty, will not +be ever prone to repeat the offence. None but the truly charitable +(an infinitesimal portion of every community) will expose themselves +to the risk of employing a discharged convict. But whilst this much +evil is justly attributed to the selfish cruelty of society, a much +larger share of blame attaches to the system which affords too +plausible a pretext for such uncharitable conduct. It is not merely +because a man has offended against the laws, and been guilty of +what, in legal parlance, may be a simple misdemeanour, that he is +regarded with suspicion and treated with ignominy; but much more, +because he has been confined in a jail, and exposed to all the +pernicious influences which are known to be rife within its walls. +It is deemed a thing incredible, that a man can issue from a hot-bed +of corruption, and not be himself corrupt. To have undergone a term +of imprisonment, is very generally thought to be equivalent to +taking a degree in infamy. On the system, therefore, rests much of +the blame which would otherwise attach to the world's cold charity; +to its account must be charged every subject who might have been +saved, and who, through despair, is lost to the service of the state. + +The evils we have described are patent and notorious; the only +question, therefore, that arises is, whether they are inevitable and +inherent in the nature of things, or whether they may be avoided +by greater care and an improved system. Before entering upon this +question, it may be well to notice briefly the various opinions +that are entertained concerning the proper end and aim of criminal +punishment. We take for granted, that in every community, under +whatever political constitution it may exist and be associated, +the sole object of criminal _law_ is the peace and security of +society. With regard to the means by which this object may be best +attained, or, in other words, with regard to the whole system of +jurisprudence, from a preventive police down to the discipline +of jails and the machinery of the scaffold, a great diversity +of sentiment must naturally be expected. The pure theorist and +the subtle disciple of Paley, maintain that the proper, nay, the +sole object of punishment should be the prevention of crime. The +philanthropic enthusiast, and the man of strict religious feeling, +reject all other motives save only that of reforming the criminal. +The dispassionate inquirer, the practical man, and he who has +learned his lessons in the school of experience, take a middle +course, though inclining a little to the theory of Paley. They +hold that, whilst the amount, and to some extent the quality, of +punishment should be settled and defined chiefly with a view to +prevent the increase of crime by the deterring effect of fear, +yet the details ought, if possible, to be so managed as in the +end to bring about the reformation of the prisoner. We have no +hesitation in avowing, that this last opinion is our own. There is +an argument in its favour, which the most rigid disciple of the +pure "prevention" theory must recognise immediately as one of his +own most valued weapons. The "peace and security of society" are +his watchwords. They are ours also. But whilst, in his opinion, the +only way to produce the desired result is by a system of terrorism, +such as will deter from the perpetration of crime, we believe that +a careful solicitude concerning the moral conduct of the criminal +during his imprisonment, and an anxious endeavour to instruct and +improve his mind, by enforcing good habits, and taking away bad +example, would be found equally powerful in their operation upon +the well-being of society. For although it is a lamentable fact, +that the number of our criminals is always being kept up to its full +complement, by the addition of juvenile offenders, so that it would +be vain to indulge a hope, without cutting off the feeding-springs, +of materially diminishing our criminal population; yet it is equally +true that the most desperate and dangerous offenders are they who +have served their apprenticeship in jails, and there accomplished +themselves in all the various devices of ingenious wickedness. It +is these who give the deepest shade to the calendar of crime, and +work incalculable mischief both in and out of prison, by instructing +the tyros in all the most subtle varieties of villany. To reform +such men may seem an arduous, perhaps an impossible task; but it is +far less arduous, and certainly not impossible, to prevent their +becoming the hardened ruffians which we have, without exaggeration, +described them. + +The truth must be told. The system of secondary punishments (as +they are called, though why we know not) is radically wrong. There +is something radically wrong in the discipline and regulations of +our jails. The details of imprisonment are faulty and imperfect. +Surely this is proved, when it is shown that men are invariably +rendered worse, instead of better, by confinement in a jail. Even +though it be admitted, for the sake of argument, that the state lies +under no obligation to attempt the reformation of its criminals, the +admission serves no whit to support a system under which criminals +are confirmed and hardened in their vicious courses. The state may +refuse to succour, but it has no right to injure. This, as it seems +to us, is the strong point against our present system. It does not +so much punish the body as injure the mind of the criminal; and, in +so doing, it eventually endangers rather than secures the peace of +society. + +Many remedies have been proposed, but all, with an exception that +will presently be mentioned, are rather palliative than corrective. +Solitary confinement, for instance, is an undoubted cure for +the diseases engendered by bad example and evil communications; +but it breeds a host of other diseases, peculiar to itself, and +in many cases worse than those it cures. Not to speak of the +indulgence which so much idleness allows for vicious thoughts and +recollections, the chief objection to solitary confinement is, +that, if continued for any length of time, it unfits a man wholly +for subsequent intercourse with the world. He leaves his prison +with a mind prostrated to imbecility, and a body reduced to utter +helplessness; yet he retains, perhaps, the cunning of the idiot, and +just sufficient use of his limbs to serve him for a bad purpose. On +these painful considerations, however, it is unnecessary to dwell +at length. Solitary confinement, without occupation and without +intervals of society, was an experiment upon the human animal. It +has been tried in this country and elsewhere, and has signally +failed. At this moment, we believe, it has few or no supporters. + +The plan which has most largely and most deservedly attracted public +attention, is that of Captain Maconochie, known by the name of the +"Mark System." Captain Maconochie was superintendent of the penal +establishment at Norfolk Island, where he had constantly about +2000 prisoners under his command. This office he held for eight +years, and had, consequently, the most favourable opportunity of +observing the practical working of the old system. Finding it to +be defective, and injurious in every particular, he tried, with +certain unavoidable modifications, a plan of his own, which, as +he asserts, succeeded beyond his expectation. Having thus proved +its practicability in Norfolk Island, and satisfied himself of its +advantages, he wishes now to introduce it into England; and, with +a view of obtaining a favourable hearing and efficient support, he +has procured it to be referred to a committee of the "Society for +Promoting the Amendment of the Law." The committee have reported in +its favour; and their report, which is said to have been drawn up by +the learned Recorder of Birmingham, contains so concise and clear +a statement of the Captain's plan, that we take leave to extract a +portion of it:-- + +"Captain Maconochie's plan," says Mr M. D. Hill, "had its origin in +his experience of the evil tendency of sentences for a time certain, +and of fixed gratuitous jail rations of food. These he practically +found opposed to the reformation of the criminal. A man under a +time-sentence looks exclusively to the means of beguiling that +time. He is thereby led to evade labour, and to seek opportunities +of personal gratification, obtained, in extreme cases, even in +ways most horrible. His powers of deception are sharpened for the +purpose; and even, when unable to offend in act, he seeks in fancy +a gratification, by gloating over impure images. At the best, +his life stagnates, no proper object of pursuit being presented +to his thoughts. And the allotment of fixed gratuitous rations, +irrespective of conduct or exertion, further aggravates the evil, +by removing even the minor stimulus to action, furnished by the +necessity of procuring food, and by thus directly fostering those +habits of improvidence which, perhaps even more than determined +vice, lead to crime. + +"In lieu of sentences to imprisonment or transportation, measured +thus by months or years, Captain Maconochie recommends sentences +to an amount of labour, measured by a given number of marks, to be +placed to the debit of the convict, in books to be kept for the +purpose. This debit to be from time to time increased by charges +made in the same currency, for all supplies of food and clothing, +and by any fines that may be imposed for misconduct. The duration +of his sentence will thus be made to depend on three circumstances. +_First_, The gravity of the original offence, or the estimate made +by the judge of the amount of discipline which the criminal ought +to undergo before he is restored to liberty. This regulates the +amount of the original debit. _Second_, The zeal, industry, and +effectiveness of his labour in the works allotted to him, which +furnish him with the means of payment, or of adding from time to +time to the credit side of his account. And, _Third_, His conduct +in confinement. If well conducted, he will avoid fines; and if +economical in food, and such other gratifications as he is permitted +to purchase with his marks, he will keep down the amount of his +debits. + +"By these means, Captain Maconochie contends, that a term of +imprisonment may be brought to bear a close resemblance to adversity +in ordinary life, which, being deeply felt, is carefully shunned; +but which, nevertheless, when encountered in a manful spirit, +improves and elevates the character. All the objects of punishment +will be thus attained. There will be continued destitution, unless +relief is sought by exertion, and hence there will be labour and +suffering; but, with exertion, there will be not only the hope, but +the certainty of recovery--whence there will be improvement in good +habits, and right thinking. And the motives put into operation to +produce effort and economy, being also of the same character with +those in ordinary life, will advantageously prepare the prisoner for +their wholesome action on him after his discharge. + +"The only other very distinctive feature in Captain Maconochie's +system is, his proposal that, after the prisoner has passed through +a term of probation, to be measured not by lapse of time, but by +his conduct as indicated by the state of his account, he shall be +advanced from separate confinement into a social state. For this +purpose, he shall become a member of a small class of six or eight, +these classes being capable of being separated from each other, just +as individuals are separated from individuals during the earlier +stage, the members of each class to have a common interest, the +marks earned or lost by each to count to the gain or loss of his +party, not of himself exclusively. By this means, Captain Maconochie +thinks prisoners will be rescued from the simply gregarious state +of existence, which is, in truth, a selfish one, now incident +to imprisonment in those jails to which the separate system is +not applied, and will be raised into a social existence. Captain +Maconochie is convinced, by experience, that much good feeling will +be elicited among them in consequence of this change. Indolence and +vice, which either prevent the prisoner from earning, or compel him +to forfeit his marks, will become unpopular in the community; and +industry and good conduct, as enabling him to acquire and preserve +them, will, on the contrary, obtain for him its approbation. On much +experience, he asserts that no portion of his _modus operandi_ is +more effective than this, by which, even in the depraved community +of Norfolk Island, he succeeded, in a wonderfully short time, in +giving an upward direction to the public opinion of the class of +prisoners themselves." + +This brief outline of the Mark System undoubtedly presents to view +one of the boldest projects of reform that ever proceeded from a +private individual. It seeks to root up and utterly annihilate the +whole system of secondary punishments, and necessarily involves +a radical change in the criminal law. To a plan of so sweeping +a character, a thousand objections will of course be made. Some +will deny the necessity of so fundamental a change. Many will be +startled by the magnitude of the innovation alone, and refuse at +the very outset to accept a proposition which, whatever be its +intrinsic merits, presents itself to their imagination surrounded +with incalculable perils. Others will shake their heads, and doubt +the possibility of working out a problem, which, from the beginning +of time, has baffled the ingenuity of man. A few there may be, who +will regard the new system with a favourable eye, albeit on no other +ground than because it offers a prospect of escape from evils which +exist, and are increasing, and which can hardly be exchanged for +worse. For want of better companions, we shall take our position in +the last-mentioned class; confessing that there is much in Captain +Maconochie's system which seems at present Utopian, and savours too +strongly of an enthusiasm which can see none but its own colours, +but deeply impressed, at the same time, with the plausibility of his +general theory. It is vain to hope that the unaided efforts of the +chaplain will ever reform the inmates of a jail. No man was ever +yet preached into good habits, except by a miracle. It is vain to +hope that a discipline (if such it can be called) which enforces +sometimes idleness, and sometimes useless labour, providing at the +same time for all the wants of the body, with an abundance never +enjoyed beyond the prison walls, will ever make men industrious, +or frugal, or any thing else than dissolute and idle. In short, it +is vain to hope, in the present state of things, that the criminal +population of these kingdoms will ever be diminished, or even +checked in its steady tendency to increase. If, then, all these +hopes, which are exactly such as a philanthropist may reasonably +indulge, be vain and futile, no man would be open to a charge of +folly, should he embrace any, even the wildest proposition that +holds out the prospect of improvement. + +Captain Maconochie's system may be divided into two distinct +and very different parts; namely, the general principles and +the details. Concerning the latter, we are unwilling to hazard +an opinion, deeming them peculiarly a matter of experiment, and +incapable of proof or refutation by any other test than experience. +But principles are universal, and, if true, may always be supported +by argument, and strengthened by discussion; those of the Mark +System, we think, will bear the application of both. No one +possessed of the smallest experience of the human mind, will deny +that it is utterly impossible to inculcate and fix good habits +by a process which is continually distasteful to the patient. +With regard to labour, which is compulsory and unproductive, the +labourer, so far from becoming habituated to it, loathes it the more +the longer he is obliged to continue it. Such labour, moreover, +has no good effect upon the mind; it produces nothing but disgust +and discontent. A similar result is produced upon the body under +similar circumstances. Exercise is only beneficial when taken with +a good will, and enjoyed with a zest: a man who should walk but +two or three miles, grumbling all the way, would be as tired at +the end as though he had walked twenty in a more contented mood. +What, then, will some one say, are prisoners not to be punished +at all? Is every thing to be made easy to them, and ingenuity +taxed for devices to render their sentences agreeable, and to take +the sting from imprisonment? The answer is ready. The law is not +vindictive, and does not pretend to inflict suffering beyond what is +necessary for the security of society. The thief and the homicide +cannot be allowed to go at large. They must either be sent out of +the country, or shut up within it. By some means or other, they +must be deprived of the power of inflicting further injury upon +their fellow-creatures. But how long are they to be cut off from +the world? For a time fixed and irrevocable, and irrespective of +subsequent good conduct, or reformation of character, or any other +consideration than only the magnitude of the original offence? +Surely neither reason nor humanity can approve such a doctrine; +for does it not, in fact, involve the very principle which our +law repudiates, namely, the principle that its punishments are +vindictive? If a man who steals a horse, and is condemned to three +years' imprisonment, be compelled to undergo the whole sentence, +without reference to his conduct under confinement, this surely is +vengeance, and not, what it assumes to be, a punishment proportioned +to the necessity of the case. It is, no doubt, proper that a +criminal should be condemned to suffer some loss of liberty, more +or less, according to the nature of his delinquency, and a minimum +should always be fixed; but it seems equally proper, and consistent +with acknowledged principles, that a power should reside somewhere +of diminishing the maximum, and where more advantageously than in +the criminal himself? If the motives which govern the world at +large, and operate upon men in ordinary life, to make them frugal +and industrious, and to keep them honest, can be brought to bear +upon the isolated community of a jail, why should they not? The +object is humane; not injurious, but, on the contrary, highly +beneficial to society; and not opposed to any established rule +of law or general policy. We can conceive no possible argument +against it, save that which we have already noticed, and, we trust, +satisfactorily. + +It is worthy of notice, as being calculated to satisfy the scruples +of those who may be alarmed at the introduction of what they imagine +a novel principle into our criminal jurisprudence, that this, the +main feature of the Mark System, is not new. It is sanctioned by +long usage in our penal settlements. In the Australian colonies, a +man under sentence of transportation for years or for life may, by +his own conduct, both shorten the duration and mitigate the severity +of his punishment. By industry, by a peaceable demeanour, by the +exercise of skill and ingenuity acquired in better times, he may +obtain advantages which are not accorded to others. By a steady +continuance in such behaviour, he may acquire the privilege of +working for himself, and enjoying the produce of his labour. In the +end, he may even be rewarded by a free pardon. If all these things +may be done in Australia, why not also in England? Surely there is +more to be said on behalf of convicts sentenced to imprisonment than +for those sentenced to transportation. If our sympathy, or, to speak +more correctly, our mercy, is to be inversely to the enormity of the +offence, then the English prisoner is most entitled to our regard. +It is possible that the transportation system may be wrong, but, at +least, let us be consistent. + +It is not necessary that Captain Maconochie's plan should be adopted +_in extenso_, to the immediate and active subversion of the ancient +system. We may feel our way. There is no reason why a single prison +should not be set apart, or, if necessary, specially constructed, +for the purpose of applying the test of practice to the new theory. +A short act might be passed, empowering the judges to inflict labour +instead of time-sentences--of course, within a certain limit as +to number. Captain Maconochie himself might be entrusted with the +superintendence of the experiment, in order to avoid the possibility +of a suspicion that it had not received a fair trial. If, with +every reasonable advantage, the scheme should eventually prove +impracticable, then, of course, it will sink into oblivion, and be +consigned to the limbo of impossible theories. The country will +have sustained no loss, save the insignificant expense of the model +machinery. + +Considering the whole subject--its importance, its difficulty, the +novelty of the proposed amendments, and their magnitude--we are +disposed to agree with the learned Recorder of Birmingham, that +"the plan is highly deserving of notice." Objections, of course, +might be made in abundance, over and above those we have thought +proper to notice. These, however, may be all reduced to one, namely, +that the scheme is impracticable. That it may prove so, we do not +deny; nor could any one, with a grain of prudence, venture to deny +it, seeing how many promising projects are daily failing, not +through their own intrinsic defects, but through miscalculation +of opposing forces. The test of the Mark System, we repeat, must +be experience. All that we seek to establish in its favour is the +soundness of its principles. Of these we do not hesitate to avow a +perfect approval; and, in doing so, we do not fear being classed +among the disciples of the new school of pseudo-philanthropy, whose +academy is Exeter Hall, and whose teachers are such men as Lord +Nugent and Mr Fox. It is quite possible to feel compassion for the +guilty, and a solicitude for their temporal as well as eternal +welfare, without elevating them into the dignity of martyrs, and +fixing one's attention upon them, to the neglect of their more +honest and less protected neighbours. It is no uncommon thing to +hear comparisons drawn between the conditions of the prisoner and +the pauper--between the abundant nourishing food of the former, +and the scanty meagre rations of the latter! There is no doubt that +better fare is provided in a jail than in a workhouse. Good reasons, +perhaps, may be given for the distinction, but in appearance it is +horribly unjust. No system which proposed to encourage it would ever +receive our approbation. The Mark System is adverse to the pampering +of criminals. It seeks to enforce temperance and frugality, both +by positive rewards, and by punishing gluttony and indulgence. +Its object is the improvement, not of the physical, but the moral +condition of the prisoner. His mind, not his body, is its especial +care--a prudent, humane, we will even say, a pious care! Visionary +it may be, though we think not--absurd it can never be, except in +the eyes of those to whom the well-being of their fellow-creatures +is matter of indifference, and who, too frivolous to reflect, or too +shallow to penetrate the depths of things, seek to disguise their +ignorance and folly under cover of ridicule. To such we make no +appeal. But to the many really humane and sensible persons who are +alive to the importance of the subject, we recommend a deliberate +examination of the Mark System. + + M. + + + + +LAYS AND LEGENDS OF THE THAMES. + + +Never was there such a summer on this side of the Tropics. How is +it possible to exist, with the thermometer up to boiling point! +London a vast caldron--the few people left in its habitable parts +strongly resembling stewed fish--the aristocratic portion of the +world flying in all directions, though there are three horticultural +fetes to come--the attaches to all the foreign embassies sending in +their resignations, rather than be roasted alive--the ambassadors +all on leave, in the direction of the North Pole--the new governor +of Canada congratulated, for the first time in national history, +on his banishment to a land where he has nine months winter;--and +a contract just entered into with the Wenham Lake Company for ten +thousand tons of ice, to rescue the metropolis from a general +conflagration. + +--Went to dine with the new East India Director, in his Putney +paradise. Sir Charles gives dinners worthy of the Mogul, and +he wants nothing of the pomps and pleasures of the East but a +harem. But, in the mean time, he gathers round him a sort of +human menagerie; and every race of man, from the Hottentot to the +Highlander, is to be found feeding in his Louis Quatorze saloons. + +This certainly variegates the scene considerably, and relieves us +of the intolerable topics, of Parliament, taxes, the last attempt +on Louis Philippe, the last adventure of Queen Christina, or the +last good thing of the last great bore of Belgrave Square; with +the other desperate expedients to avoid the inevitable yawn. We +had an Esquimaux chief, who, however, dwelt too long on the luxury +of porpoise steaks; a little plump Mandarin, who indulged us with +the tricks of the tea trade; the sheik Ben Hassan Ben Ali, who had +narrowly escaped hanging by the hands of the French; and a New +Zealand chief, strongly suspected of habits inconsistent with the +European _cuisine_, yet who restricted himself on this occasion to +every thing at the table. + +At length, in a pause of the conversation, somebody asked where +somebody else was going, for the dog-days. The question engaged us +all. But, on comparing notes, every Englishman of the party had been +everywhere already--Cairo, Constantinople, Calcutta, Cape Horn. +There was not a corner of the world, where they had not drunk tea, +smoked cigars, and anathematised the country, the climate, and the +constitution. Every thing was _use_--every soul was _blase_. There +was no hope of novelty, except by an Artesian perforation to the +centre, or a voyage to the moon. + +At last a curious old personage, with a nondescript visage, and who +might, from the jargon of his tongue and the mystery of his costume, +have been a lineal descendant of the Wandering Jew, asked, had any +one at table seen the Thames? + +The question struck us all at once. It was a grand discovery; it +was a flash of light; it was the birth of a new idea; it was an +influx of brilliant inquiry. It was ascertained, that though we had +all steamed up and down the Thames times without number, not one of +us had seen the river. Some had always steamed it in their sleep; +some had plunged at once into the cabin, to avoid the passengers on +deck; some had escaped the vision by the clouds of a cigar; some by +a French novel and an English dinner. But not one could recollect +any thing more of it than it flowed through banks more or less +miry; that it was, to the best of their recollection, something +larger than the Regent's Canal; and some thought that they had seen +occasional masts and smoke flying by them. + +My mind was made up on the spot. Novelty is my original passion--the +spring of all my virtues and vices--the stimulant of all my desires, +disasters, and distinctions. In short, I determined to see the +Thames. + + * * * * * + +Rose at daybreak--the sky blue, the wind fragrant, Putney throwing +up its first faint smokes; the villa all asleep. Leaving a billet +for Sir Charles, I ordered my cab, and set off for the Thames. "How +little," says Jonathan Swift, "does one-half of the world know what +the other is doing." I had left Putney the abode of silence, a +solitary policeman standing here and there, like the stork which our +modern painters regularly put into the corner of their landscapes to +express the sublime of solitude--no slipshod housemaid peeping from +her window; no sight or sound of life to be seen through the rows of +the flower-pots, or the lattices of the suburb gardens. + +But, once in London, what a contrast. From the foot of London +bridge what a rush of life; what an incursion of cabs; what a +rattle of waggons; what a surge of population; what a chaos of +clamour; what volcanic volumes of everlasting smoke rolling up +against the unhappy face of the Adelaide hotel; what rushing of +porters, and trundling of trunks; what cries of every species, +utterable by that extraordinary machine the throat of man; what +solicitations to trust myself, for instant conveyance to the +remotest shore of the terraqueous globe!--"For Calais, sir? Boat +off in half-an-hour."--"For Constantinople? in a quarter."--"For +Alexandria? in five minutes."--"For the Cape? bell just going to +ring." In this confusion of tongues it was a thousand to one that I +had not jumped into the boat for the Niger, and before I recovered +my senses, been far on my way to Timbuctoo. + +In a feeling little short of desperation, or of that perplexity +in which one labours to decypher the possible purport of a maiden +speech, I flung myself into the first steamer which I could reach, +and, to my genuine self-congratulation, found that I was under no +compulsion to be carried beyond the mouth of the Thames. + +I had now leisure to look round me. The bell had not yet chimed: +passengers were dropping in. Carriages were still rolling down +to the landing-place, laden with mothers and daughters, lapdogs +and bandboxes, innumerable. The surrounding scenery came, as the +describers say, "in all its power on my eyes."--St Magnus, built by +Sir Christopher Wren, as dingy and massive as if it had been built +by Roderic the Goth; St Olave's, rising from its ruins, as fresh as +a fairy palace of gingerbread; the Shades, where men drink wine, as +Bacchus did, from the bunghole; the Bridge of Bridges, clambered +over and crowded with spectators as thick as hiving bees! + +But--prose was never made for such things. I must be Pindaric. + + +LONDON BRIDGE. + +_"My native land, good-night!"_ + + Adieu, adieu, thou huge, high bridge + A long and glad adieu! + I see above thy stony ridge + A most ill-favour'd crew. + The earth displays no dingier sight; + I bid the whole--Good-night, good-night! + + There, hang between me and the sky + She who doth oysters sell, + The youth who parboil'd shrimps doth cry, + The shoeless beau and belle, + Blue-apron'd butchers, bakers white, + Creation's lords!--Good-night, good-night! + + Some climb along the slippery wall, + Through balustrades some stare, + One wonders what has perch'd them all + Five hundred feet in air. + The Thames below flows, ready quite + To break their fall.--Good-night, good-night! + + What visions fill my parting eyes! + St Magnus, thy grim tower, + _Almost_ as black as London skies! + The Shades, which are no bower; + St Olave's, on its new-built site, + In flaming brick.--Good-night, good-night! + + The rope's thrown off, the paddles move, + We leave the bridge behind; + Beat tide below, and cloud above;-- + Asylums for the blind, + Schools, storehouses, fly left and right; + Docks, locks, and blocks--Good-night, good-night! + + In distance fifty steeples dance. + St Catherine's dashes by, + The Customhouse scarce gets a glance, + The sounds of Bowbell die. + With charger's speed, or arrow's flight, + We steam along.--Good-night, good-night! + + The Tower seems whirling in a waltz, + As on we rush and roar. + Where impious man makes Cheltenham salts, + We shave the sullen shore; + Putting the wherries all in fright, + Swamping a few.--Good-night, good-night! + + We brave the perils of the Pool; + Pass colliers chain'd in rows; + See coalheavers, as black and cool + As negroes without clothes, + Each bouncing, like an opera sprite, + Stript to the skin.--Good-night, good-night! + + And now I glance along the deck + Our own live-stock to view-- + Some matrons, much in fear of wreck; + Some lovers, two by two; + Some sharpers, come the clowns to bite; + Some plump John Bulls.--Good-night, good-night! + + A shoal of spinsters, book'd for France, + (All talking of Cheapside;) + An old she-scribbler of romance, + All authorship and pride; + A diner-out, (timeworn and trite,) + A _gobe-mouche_ group.--Good-night, good-night! + + A strolling actor and his wife, + Both going to "make hay;" + An Alderman, at fork and knife, + The wonder of his day! + Three Earls, without an appetite, + Gazing, in spleen.--Good-night, good-night! + + Ye dear, delicious memories! + That to our midriffs cling + As children to their Christmas pies, + (So, all the New-School sing; + In collars loose, and waistcoats white,) + All, all farewell!--Good-night, good-night! + +The charming author of that most charming of all brochures, _Le +Voyage autour de ma Chambre_, says, that the less a man has to +write about, the better he writes. But this charming author was a +Frenchman; he was born in the land where three dinners can be made +of one potato, and where moonshine is a substantial part of every +thing. He performed his voyage, standing on a waxed floor, and +making a circuit of his shelves; the titles of his books had been +his facts, and the titillations of his snuff the food of his fancy. +But John Bull is of another style of thinking. His appetite requires +solid realities, and I give him docks, wharfs, steam-engines, and +manufactures, for his powerful mastication.--But, what scents are +these, rising with such potentiality upon the morning breeze? What +sounds, "by distance made more sweet?" What a multitude of black, +brown, bustling beings are crushing up that narrow avenue, from +these open boats, like a new invasion of the pirate squadrons from +the north of old. Oh, Billingsgate!--I scent thee-- + + ----"As when to them who sail + Beyond the Cape of Hope, and now are past + Mozambic, far at sea the north winds blow + Sabaean odours from the spicy shore + Of Araby the Blest. With such delay + Well-pleased, they slack their course, and many a league, + Cheer'd with the grateful smell, old Ocean smiles." + +The effect was not equally rapturous in the Thames; but on we flew, +passing groups of buildings which would have overtopped all the +castles on the Rhine, had they but been on fair ground; depots of +wealth, which would have purchased half the provinces beyond the +girdle of the Black Forest; and huge steamers, which would have +towed a captive Armada to the Tower. + +The TOWER! what memories are called up by the name! How frowning are +those black battlements, how strong those rugged walls, how massive +those iron-spiked gates! Every stone is historical, and every era +of its existence has been marked by the mightiest changes of men, +monarchs, and times; then I see the fortress, the palace and the +prison of kings! + +But, let me people those resounding arches, dim passages, and +solemn subterraneans, with the past. Here, two thousand years ago, +Julius Caesar kept his military court, with Quaestors, Prefects, +and Tribunes, for his secretaries of state; Centurions for his +chamberlains; and Augurs for his bishops. On this bank of the +stately river, on which no hovel had encroached, but which covered +with its unpolluted stream half the landscape, and rolled in quiet +majesty to meet the ocean; often stood the man, who was destined +to teach the Republican rabble of Rome that they had a master. I +leave antiquarians to settle the spot trodden by his iron sandal. I +disdain the minute meddling of the men of _fibulae_ and _frustums_ of +pitchers. But I can see--"in my mind's eye, Horatio"--the stately +Roman casting many an eager glance eastward, and asking himself, +with an involuntary grasp of his hilt, and an unconscious curl of +his lip, how long he was to suffer the haranguers of the populace, +the pilferers of the public, the hirelings of Cinna and Sylla, and +of every man who would hire them, the whole miry mass of reformers, +leaguers, and cheap-bread men, to clap their wings like a flight of +crows over the bleeding majesty of Rome. + +Then the chance sound of a trumpet, or the tread of a cohort along +the distant rampart, would make him turn back his glance, and think +of the twenty thousand first-rate soldiers whom a wave of his finger +would move across the Channel, send through Gaul, sacking Lutetia, +darting through the defiles of the Alps, and bringing him in triumph +through the Janiculum, up to the temple of the Capitoline Jove. +Glorious dreams, and gloriously realised! How vexatious is it that +we cannot see the past, that we cannot fly back from the bustle +of this blacksmith world, from the jargon of public life, and the +tameness of private toil; into those majestic ages, when the world +was as magnificent as a theatre; when nations were swallowed up in +the shifting of a scene; when all were fifth acts, and when every +catastrophe broke down an empire! + +But, what sounds are these? The steamer had shot along during +my reverie, and was now passing a long line of low-built strong +vessels, moored in the centre of the river. I looked round, and here +was more than a dream of the past; here was the past itself--here +was man in his primitive state, as he had issued from the forest, +before a profane axe had cropped its brushwood. Here I saw perhaps +five hundred of my fellow-beings, no more indebted to the frippery +of civilisation than the court of Caractacus.--Bold figures, daring +brows, Herculean shapes, naked to the waist, and with skins of the +deepest bronze. Cast in metal, and fixed in a gallery, they would +have made an incomparable rank and file of gladiatorial statues. + +The captain of the steamer explained the phenomenon. They were +individuals, who, for want of a clear perception of the line to be +drawn between _meum_ and _tuum_, had been sent on this half-marine +half-terrestrial service, to reinforce their morals. They were now +serving their country, by digging sand and deepening the channel of +the river. The scene of their patriotism was called the "hulks," and +the patriots themselves were technically designated felons. + +Before I could give another glance, we had shot along; and, to my +surprise, I heard a chorus of their voices in the distance. I again +applied to my Cicerone, who told me that all other efforts having +failed to rectify their moral faculties; a missionary singing-master +had been sent down among them, and was reported to be making great +progress in their conversion. + +I listened to the sounds, as they followed on the breeze. I am not +romantic; but I shall say no more. The novelty of this style of +reformation struck me. I regarded it as one of the evidences of +national advance.--My thoughts instinctively flowed into poetry. + + +SONG FOR THE MILLION. + +_"Mirth, admit me of thy crew."_ + + Song, admit me of thy crew! + Minstrels, without shirt or shoe, + Geniuses with naked throats, + Bare of pence, yet full of _notes_. + Bards, before they've learn'd to write, + Issuing their notes at _sight_; + Notes, to tens of thousands mounting, + Careless of the Bank's discounting. + Leaving all the world behind, + England, in thy march of Mind. + + Now, the carter drives his cart, + Whistling, as he goes, Mozart. + Now, a shilling to a guinea, + Dolly cook, _sol-fas_ Rossini. + While the high-soul'd housemaid, Betty, + Twirls her mop to Donizetti. + Or, the scullion scrubs her oven + To thy Runic hymns, Beethoven. + All the sevants' hall combined, + England, in thy march of Mind. + + Now, may maidens of all ages + Look unharm'd on pretty _pages_. + Now, may paupers "_raise the wind_," + Now, may _score_ the great undined. + Now, unblamed, may tender pairs + Give themselves the tenderest _airs_. + Now, may half-pay sons of Mars + Look in freedom through their _bars_, + Though upon a _Bench_ reclined, + England, in thy march of Mind. + + Soon we'll hear our "London cries" + Dulcified to harmonies; + Mackerel sold in canzonets, + Milkmen "calling," in duets. + Postmen's bells no more shall bore us, + When their clappers ring in chorus. + Ears no more shall start at, Dust O! + When the thing is done with _gusto_. + E'en policemen grow refined, + England, in thy march of Mind. + + Song shall settle Church and State, + Song shall supersede debate. + Owlet Joe no more shall screech, + We shall make him sing his speech. + Even the Iron Duke's "sic volo" + Shall be soften'd to a _solo_. + Discords then shall be disgrace, + Statesmen shall play _thorough base_; + Whigs and Tories intertwined, + England, in thy march of Mind. + + Sailors, under canvass stiff, + Now no more shall dread a _cliff_. + From Bombay to Coromandel, + The Faqueers shall chorus Handel. + Arab sheik, and Persian maiden, + Simpering serenades from Haydn. + Crossing then the hemisphere, + Jonathan shall chant Auber, + All his love of pelf resign'd, + England, to thy march of Mind. + +--Still moving on, still passing multitudinous agglomerations of +brick, mortar, stone, and iron, rather than houses.--Docks crowded +with masts, thicker than they ever grew in a pine forest, and +echoing with the sounds of hammers, cranes, forges and enginery, +making anchors for all the ships of ocean, rails for all the roads +of earth, and chain-cables for a dozen generations to come. In +front of one of those enormous forges, which, with its crowd of +brawny hammerers glaring in the illumination of the furnace, gave +me as complete a representation of the Cyclops and their cave, as +any thing that can be seen short of the bowels of AEtna; stood a +growing church, growing of iron; the walls were already half-way +grown up. I saw them already pullulating into windows, a half-budded +pulpit stood in the centre, and a Gothic arch was already beginning +to spread like the foliage of a huge tree over the aisle. It was +intended for one of the colonies, ten thousand miles off. + +As the steamer is not suffered in this part of the river to run down +boats at the rate of more than five miles an hour; I had leisure +to see the operation. While I gazed, the roof had _leaved_; and my +parting glance showed me the whole on the point of flourishing among +the handsomest specimens of civic architecture. + +In front of another forge stood a lighthouse; it was consigned to +the West Indies. Three of its stone predecessors had been engulfed +by earthquakes, a fourth had been swept off by a hurricane. This was +of iron, and was to defy all the chances of time and the elements, +by contract, for the next thousand years. It was an elegant +structure, built on the plan of the "Tower of the Winds." Every +square inch of its fabric, from the threshold to the vane, was iron! +"What will mankind come to," said George Canning, "in fifty years +hence? The present age is impudent enough, but I foresee that the +next will be all _Irony_ and _Raillery_." + +But all here is a scene of miracle. In our perverseness we laugh +at our "Lady of Loretto," and pretend to doubt her house being +carried from Jerusalem on the backs of angels. But what right have +I to doubt, where so many millions are ready to take their oaths +to the fact? What is it to us how many angels might be required +for the operation? or how much their backs may have been galled in +the carriage? The result is every thing. But here we have before +our sceptical eyes the very same result. We have St Catherine's +hospital, fifty times the size, transported half-a-dozen miles, and +deposited in the Regent's Park. The Virgin came alone. The hospital +came, with all its fellows, their matrons, and their master. The +virgin-house left only a solitary excavation in a hillside. The +hospital left a mighty dock, filled with a fleet that would have +astonished Tyre and Sidon, buildings worthy of Babylon, and a +population that would have sacked Persepolis. + +But, what is this strangely shaped vessel, which lies anchored stem +and stern in the centre of the stream, and bearing a flag covered +over with characters which as we pass look like hieroglyphics? The +barge which marks the Tunnel. We are now moving above the World's +Wonder! A thousand men, women, and children, have marched under +that barge's keel since morning; lamps are burning fifty feet under +water, human beings are breathing, where nothing but the bones of a +mammoth ever lay before, and check-takers are rattling pence, where +the sound of coin was never heard since the days of the original +Chaos. + +What a field for theory! What a subject for a fashionable Lecturer! +What a topic for the gossipry of itinerant science, telling us (on +its own infallible authority) how the globe has been patched up for +us, the degenerated and late-born sons of Adam! How glowingly might +their fancy lucubrate on the history of the prior and primitive +races which may now be perforating the interior strata of the +globe--working by their own gas-light, manufacturing their own +metals, and, from their want of the Davy-lamp, (and of an Act of +Parliament, to make it burn,) producing those explosions which _we_ +call earthquakes, while our volcanoes are merely the tops of their +chimneys! + +I gave the Tunnel a parting aspiration-- + + +THE TUNNEL. + + Genii of the Diving-bell! + Sing Sir Is-mb-rt Br-n-l, + Whether ye parboil in steam, + Whether float in lightning's beam, + Whether in the Champs Elyses + Dance ye, like Carlotta Grisi. + Take your trumps, the fame to swell, + Of Sir Is-mb-rt Br-n-l. + + Phantoms of the fiery crown! + Plunged ten thousand fathoms down + In the deep Pacific's wave, + In the Ocean's central cave, + Where the infant earthquakes sleep, + Where the young tornadoes creep. + Chant the praise, where'er ye dwell, + Of Sir Is-mb-rt Br-n-l. + + What, if Green's Nassau balloon + (Ere its voyage to the moon) + 'Twixt Vauxhall and Stepney plies, + Straining London's million eyes, + Dropping on the breezes bland, + (Good for gazers,) bags of sand; + Green's a blacksmith to a belle, + To Sir Is-mb-rt Br-n-l. + + Great magician of the Tunnel! + Earth bows down before thy funnel, + Darting on through swamp and crag, + Faster than a Gaul can brag; + All Newmarket's tip-top speed, + To thy stud is broken-knee'd; + Zephyr spavin'd, lightning slow, + To thy fiery rush below. + + Ships no more shall trust to sails, + Boats no more be swamp'd by whales, + Sailors sink no more in barks, + (Built by contract with the sharks,) + Though the tempest o'er us roar; + Flying through thy Tunnel's bore, + What care we for mount or main, + What can stop the Monster-Train? + + There let Murchison and Lyell + Of our Tunnel make the trial. + We shall make them cross the Line, + Fifty miles below the brine-- + Leaving blockheads to discuss + Paving-stones with Swiss or Russ, + Or in some Cathedral stall, + Still to play their cup and ball. + + What, if rushes the Great Western + Rapid as a racer's pastern, + At each paddle's thundering stroke, + Blackening hemispheres with smoke, + Bouncing like a soda-cork; + Raising consols in New York, + E'er the lie has time to cool, + Forged in bustling Liverpool. + + Yet, a river to a runnel, + To the steamer is the Tunnel; + Screw and sail alike shall lag, + To the "Rumour" in thy bag. + While _she_ puffs to make the land, + Thou shalt have the Stock in hand, + Smashing bill-broker and banker + Days, before she drops her anchor. + + Then, if England has a foe, + We shall rout him from below. + Through our Ocean tunnel's arch, + Shall the bold battalions march, + Piled upon our flying waggons, + Spouting fire and smoke like dragons; + Sweeping on, like shooting-stars, + Guardsmen, rifles, and hussars. + + We shall _tunnelize_ the Poles, + Bringing down the cost of coals; + Making Yankees sell their ice + At a Christian sort of price; + Making China's long-tail'd Khan + Sell his Congo as he can, + In our world of fire and shade, + Carrying on earth's grand "Free Trade." + + We shall bore the broad Atlantic, + Making every grampus frantic; + Killing Jonathan with spite, + As the Train shoots up to light. + Mexico her hands shall clap, + Tahiti throw up her cap, + Till the globe one shout shall swell + To Sir Is-mb-rt Br-n-l. + +But this scene is memorable for more ancient recollections. It was +in this spot, that once, every master of a merchant ship took off +his hat in reverence to the _genius loci_; but never dared to drop +his anchor. It was named the Pool, from the multitude of wrecks +which had occurred there in the most mysterious manner; until it was +ascertained that it was the chief resort of the mermen and mermaids, +who originally haunted the depths of the sylvan Thamesis. + +There annually, from ages long before the Olympiads, the youths and +maidens came, to fling garlands into the stream, and inquire the +time proper for matrimony. It was from one of their chants, that +John Milton borrowed his pretty hymn to the presiding nymph-- + + "Listen, where thou art sitting, + Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave, + In twisted braids of lilies knitting + The loose trains of thy amber-dropping hair. + Listen, for dear honour's sake, + Goddess of the Silver Lake, + Listen and save!" + +On the coast of Norway there is another Pool, entitled the +Maelstrom, where ships used to disappear, no one knew why. But +the manner was different; they no sooner touched the edge of the +prohibited spot than they were swept with the fury of a hurricane +into the centre, where they no sooner arrived than they were +pulled down, shattered into a thousand fragments, and never heard +of more. This was evidently the work of the mermen, who however, +being of Northern breed, had, like the usual generation of that +wild and winterly region, tempers of indigenous ferocity. But the +tenants of the Thames, inheriting the softer temper of their clime, +were gentler in their style of administering justice, which they +administered effectually, notwithstanding. Every unlucky vessel +which stopped upon the exclusive spot, quietly sank. The operation +regularly took place in the night. By morning the only remnant of +its existence was discoverable among the huts along the shore, +exhibiting foreign silks, Dutch drams, French brandy, and other +forbidden articles, which, somehow or other, had escaped from the +bosom of the deep. + +The legend goes on to say, that from those fatalities the place was +cautiously avoided, until, about a hundred and fifty years ago, one +fine evening in May, a large merchantman came in full sail up the +river, and dropped her anchor exactly in the spot of peril. All the +people of the shore were astounded at this act of presumption, and +numberless boats put off to acquaint the skipper with his danger. +But, as the legend tells, "he was a bold vain man, with a huge +swaggering sword at his side, a purse in his girdle, and a pipe in +his mouth. Upon hearing of the aforesaid tale, he scoffed greatly, +saying, in most wicked and daring language, that he had came from +the East Indian possessions of the Dutch republic, where he had seen +jugglers and necromancers of all kinds; but he defied them all, and +cared not the lighting of his meerscham for all the mermaids under +the salt seas." Upon the hearing of which desperate speech all the +bystanders took to their boats, fearing that the good ship would be +plucked to the bottom of the river without delay. + +But at morning dawn the good ship still was there, to the surprise +of all. However, the captain was to have a warning. As he was +looking over the stern, and laughing at the story, the steersman +saw him suddenly turn pale and fix his eyes upon the water, then +running by at the rate of about five knots. The crew hurried +forward, and lo and behold! there arose close to the ship a merman, +a very respectable-looking person, in Sunday clothes and with his +hair powdered, who desired the captain to carry his vessel from the +place, because "his anchor had dropt exactly against his hall door, +and prevented his family from going to church." + +The whole history is well known at Deptford, Rotherhithe, and places +adjacent; and it finishes, by saying, that the captain, scoffing +at the request, the merman took his leave with an angry expression +on his countenance, a storm came on in the night, and nothing of +captain, crew, or ship, as ever heard of more. + +But the spot is boundless in legendary lore. A prediction which +had for centuries puzzled all the readers of Mother Shipton, was +delivered by her in the small dwelling whose ruins are still visible +on the Wapping shore. The prophecy was as follows:-- + + Eighteene hundred thirty-five, + Which of us shall be alive? + Many a king shall ende his reign; + Many a knave his ende shall gain; + Many a statesman be in trouble; + Many a scheme the worlde shall bubble; + Many a man shall selle his vote; + Many a man shall turne his coat. + Righte be wronge, and wronge be righte, + By Westminster's candle-lighte. + But, when from the top of Bow + Shall the dragon stoop full low. + When from church of holy Paul + Shall come down both crosse and ball. + When all men shall see them meete + On the land, yet by the Fleet. + When below the Thamis bed + Shall be seen the furnace red; + When its bottom shall drop out, + Making hundreds swim about, + Where a fishe had never swum, + Then shall doleful tidings come. + Flood and famine, woe and taxe, + Melting England's strength like waxe; + Till she fights both France and Spain, + Then shall all be well again! + +I shall have an infinite respect for Mother Shipton in future. All +was amply verified. The repairs of St Paul's, in the year stated, +required that the cross and ball should be taken down, which was +done accordingly. Bow Church, whose bells are supposed to thrill +the _intima praecordia_ of every Londoner's memory in every part of +the globe, happening to be in the same condition, the dragon on +the spire was also taken down, and cross, ball, and dragon, were +sent to a coppersmith's, in Ludgate Hill, beside the Fleet prison, +where they were to be seen by all the wondering population, lying +together. The third feature of the wisdom of Mother Shipton was +fulfilled with equal exactitude. The Thames Tunnel had been pushed +to the middle of the river's bed, when, coming to a loose portion of +the clay, the roof fell in; the Thames burst through its own bottom, +the Tunnel was instantly filled, and the workmen were forced to +swim for their lives. The remainder of the oracle, partly present, +is undeniable while we have an income tax, and the _finale_ may be +equally relied on, to the honour of the English Pythonness. + + + + +RECENT ROYAL MARRIAGES. + + +At this dull season, the long vacation of legislators, when +French deputies and English members, weary of bills and debates, +motions and amendments, take their autumnal ramble, or range +their well-stocked preserves, and when newspapers are at their +wits' end for subjects of discussion, a topic like the Spanish +marriages, intrinsically so important, in arrival so opportune, has +naturally monopolised the attention of the daily press. For some +time previously, the English public had paid little attention to +Spanish affairs. Men were weary of watching the constant changes, +the shameless corruption, the scandalous intrigues, from which +that unfortunate country and its unquiet population have so long +suffered; they had ceased in great measure to follow the thread of +Peninsular politics. The arbitrary and unconstitutional influences +employed at the last elections, and the tyranny exercised towards +the press, deprived foreigners of the most important data whence +to judge the real state of public feeling and opinion south of +the Pyrenees. The debates of Cortes elected under circumstances +of flagrant intimidation, and whose members, almost to a man, +were creatures of a _Camarilla_, were no guide to the sentiments +of a nation: journalists, sorely persecuted, writing in terror of +bayonets, in peril of ruinous fine and arbitrary imprisonment, +dared not speak the voice of truth, and feared to echo the wishes +and indignation of the vast but soldier-ridden majority of their +countrymen. Thus, without free papers or fair debates to guide them, +foreigners could attain but an imperfect perception of the state +of Spanish affairs. The view obtained was vague--the outline faint +and broken--details were wanting. Hence the Spanish marriages, +although so much has been written about them, have in England been +but partially understood. Much indignation and censure have been +expended upon those who achieved them; many conjectures have been +hazarded as to their proximate and remote consequences; but one very +curious point has barely been glanced at. Scarcely an attempt has +been made to investigate the singular state of parties, and strange +concurrence of circumstances, that have enabled a few score persons +to overbalance the will of a nation. How is it that a people, once +so great and powerful, still so easy to rouse, and jealous of its +independence, has suffered itself to be fooled by an abandoned +Italian woman, and a wily and unscrupulous foreign potentate--by a +corrupt _Camarilla_, and a party that is but a name? How is it that +Spain has thus unresistingly beheld the consummation of an alliance +so odious to her children, and against which, from Portugal to the +Mediterranean, from Gibraltar's straits to Cantabria's coast, but +one opinion is held, but one voice heard--a voice of reprobation and +aggrieved nationality? + +Yes, within the last few weeks, wondering Europe has witnessed a +strange spectacle. A queen and her sister, children in years and +understanding, have been wedded--the former completely against her +inclinations, the latter in direct opposition to the wishes and +interests of her country, and in defiance of stern remonstrance and +angry protest from allied and powerful states--to most unsuitable +bridegrooms. The queen, Isabella of Spain, has, it is true, a +Spaniard for her husband; and him, therefore, her jealous and +suspicious subjects tolerate, though they cannot approve. Feeble +and undecided of character, unstable in his political opinions--if, +indeed, political opinions he have other than are supplied to him, +ready formed, by insidious and unworthy advisers--Don Francisco de +Assis is the last man to sit on the right hand of a youthful queen, +governing an unsettled country and a restless people, to inspire her +with energy and assist her with wise counsels. It redounds little +to the honour of the name of Bourbon, that if it was essential the +Queen should marry a member of that house, her present husband was, +with perhaps one exception, as eligible a candidate as could be +selected. That marriage decided upon, however, it became doubly +important to secure for the Infanta Luisa--the future Queen of Spain +should her sister die without issue--a husband in all respects +desirable; and, above all, one agreeable to the Spanish nation. Has +this been done? What advantages does the husband of the girl of +fourteen, of the heir-presumptive to the Spanish crown, bring to +Spain, in exchange for the rich dowery of his child-bride--for the +chance, not to say the probability, of being a queen's husband--and +for an immense accession of influence to his dynasty in the country +where that dynasty most covets it? The advantages are all of a +negative kind. By that marriage, Spain, delivered over to French +intrigues, exposed to the machinations and vampire-like endearments +of an ancient and hereditary foe, becomes _de facto_ a vassal to her +puissant neighbour. + +The question of the Queen of Spain's marriage was first mooted +within a very few days after her birth. In the spring of 1830, +Queen Christina found herself with child for the first time; and +her husband, Ferdinand VII., amongst whose many bad and unkingly +qualities want of foresight could not be reckoned, published the +Pragmatic Sanction that secured the crown to his offspring should +it prove a girl. A girl it was; and scarcely had the infant been +baptised, when her father began to think of a husband for her. "She +shall be married," he said, "to a son of my brother Francisco." +By and by Christina bore a second daughter, and then the King +said--"They shall be married to the two eldest sons of my brother +Francisco." + +Ferdinand died; and, as he had often predicted--comparing himself +to the cork of a bottle of beer, which restrains the fermented +liquor--at his death civil war broke out. Isabella was still an +infant; the first thing to be done was to secure her the crown; and +for the time, naturally enough, few thought about her marriage. +Queen Christina was an exception. She apparently remembered and +respected her husband's wishes; and in her conversations and +correspondence with her sister, Luisa Carlota, wife of the Infante +Don Francisco de Paulo, she frequently referred to them, and +expressed a strong desire for their fulfilment. In the month of +June of the present year, a Madrid newspaper, the _Clamor Publico_, +published a letter of hers, written most strongly in that sense. It +bears date the 23d of January 1836, and is the reply to one from +Dona Luisa Carlota, in which reference was made to conversations +between the two sisters and Ferdinand, respecting the marriage of +his daughters to the sons of Don Francisco. "The idea has always +flattered my heart," Christina wrote, "and I would fain see its +realisation near at hand; for it was the wish and will of the +beloved Ferdinand, which I will ever strive to fulfil in all that +depends on me. * * * Besides which, I believe that the national +representation, far from opposing, will approve these marriages, +as advantageous not only to our family, but to the nation itself, +your sons being Spanish princes. I will not fail to propose it +when the moment arrives." Notwithstanding these fair promises, +and her respect for the wishes of Ferdinand the well-beloved, we +find Christina, less than two years later, negotiating for her +royal daughter a very different alliance. Irritated, on the one +hand, against the Liberal party, to whose demands she had been +compelled to yield; and alarmed, upon the other, at the progress +of the Carlist armies, which were marching upon Madrid, then +defended only by the national guards, she treated with Don Carlos +for a marriage between the Queen and his eldest son. The Carlists +were driven back to their mountain strongholds, and, the pressing +danger over--although the war still continued with great fury--that +project of alliance was shelved, and another, a very important one, +broached. It was proposed to marry the Queen of Spain to an archduke +of Austria, who should command the Spanish army, and to whom +Christina expressed herself willing to give a share of the Regency, +or even to yield it entirely. This was the motive of the mission of +Zea Bermudez to Vienna. That envoy stipulated, as an indispensable +condition of the success of his negotiations, that they should be +kept a profound secret from the King of the French. The condition +was not observed. Christina herself, it is said, unable to keep +any thing from her dear uncle, told him all, and Bermudez had to +leave Vienna almost before the matter in hand had been entered +upon. Thereupon the queen-mother reverted to the marriage with a +son of Don Carlos. The Conde de Toreno, for a moment weak enough to +enter into her views, endeavoured to prepare the public for their +disclosure, by announcing in the Cortes, that wars like the one then +devastating Spain could only be terminated by a compromise--meaning +a marriage. The Cortes thought differently, and, by other means, the +war was brought to a close. + +The year 1840 witnessed the expulsion of Christina from Spain, and +the appointment of Espartero to the Regency. During his three years' +sway, that general refused to make or meddle in any way with the +Queen's marriage. He said, that as she was not to marry till her +majority, and as he should then no longer be Regent, his government +had no occasion to busy itself with the matter. The friends of Spain +have reason to wish that the Duke de la Victoria had shown himself +less unassuming and reserved with respect to that most important +question. Whilst it was thus temporarily lost sight of at Madrid, +the queen-mother, in her retirement at Paris, took counsel with +the most wily and far-sighted sovereign of Europe, and from that +time must doubtless be dated the plans which Christina and Louis +Philippe have at last so victoriously carried out. They had each +their own interests in view--their own objects to accomplish--and +it so chanced that those interests and objects were easily made to +coincide. Concerning those of Christina, we shall presently speak +at some length; those of the French king are now so notorious, that +it is unnecessary to do more than glance at them. His first plan--a +bold one, certainly--was to marry the Queen of Spain to the Duke +d'Aumale. To this, Christina did not object. Her affection for +her daughter--since then grievously diminished--prompted her to +approve the match. The duke was a fine young man, and very rich. +To a tender mother--which she claimed to be--the temptation was +great. Doubtless, also, she received from Louis Philippe, as price +of her concurrence, an assurance that certain private views and +arrangements of her own should not to be interfered with--certain +guardianship accounts and unworthy peculations not too curiously +investigated. Of this, more hereafter. The result of the intrigues +and negotiations between the Tuileries and the Hotel de Courcelles, +was the diplomatic mission of M. Pageot, who was sent to London and +to the principal continental courts, to announce, on the part of +the King of the French, that, considering himself the chief of the +Bourbon family, he felt called upon to declare that, according to +the spirit of the treaty of Utrecht, the Queen of Spain could marry +none but a Bourbon prince. The success of this first move, intended +as a feeler to see how far he could venture to put forward a son +of his own, was not such as to flatter the wishes of the French +monarch. The reply of the British government was, that, according to +the constitution of Spain, the Cortes must decide who was to be the +Queen's husband and that he whom the Cortes should select, would, +for England, be the legitimate aspirant. Without being so liberal in +tone, the answers given by the cabinets of Vienna and Berlin were +not more satisfactory; and the spleen of the French king manifested +itself by the mouth of M. Guizot, who, with less than his usual +prudence, went so far as to menace Spain with a war, if the Queen +married any but a Bourbon. This occurred in March 1843. + +In the following June, Espartero, in his turn, was driven from +power and from his country. Well known as it was, that French +manoeuvres and French gold had, by deluding the nation, and +corrupting the army, powerfully contributed to the overthrow of +the only conscientious and constitutional ruler with whom Spain +had for a long period been blessed, it was expected that Christina +and her friends would do their utmost to bring about the immediate +marriage of the Queen and the Duke d'Aumale. Then occurred the +long projected and much talked of visit of Queen Victoria to the +castle of Eu, where the question of Isabella's marriage was made +the subject of a conference between the sovereigns of France and +England, assisted by their ministers for foreign affairs, M. Guizot +and Lord Aberdeen. It was shortly afterwards known that the King +of the French had given the most satisfactory pledges, which were +communicated to the principal foreign courts, that he not only would +not strive to effect a marriage between the Queen of Spain and a +son of his, but that he would positively refuse his consent to any +such union. Further that if a marriage should be arranged between +the Duke of Montpensier and the Infanta Luisa, it should not take +place till Isabella was married and had issue. As an equivalent to +these concessions, the English minister for foreign affairs had to +declare, that without entering into an examination of the Treaty +of Utrecht, or recognising any right contrary to the complete +independence of the Spanish nation, it was desirable that the Queen +should wed a descendant of Philip the Fifth, provided always such +marriage was brought about conformably with the rules prescribed by +the constitution of Spain. + +Compelled to abandon the design of marrying Isabella to a French +prince, Louis Philippe, like a wary and prudent general, applied +himself to improve the next best position, to which he had fallen +back, and where he determined to maintain himself. Aumale could not +have the Queen, but Montpensier should have the Infanta; and the +aim must now be to increase the value of prize No. 2, by throwing +prize No. 1 into the least worthy hands possible. In other words, +the Queen must be married to the most incapable and uninfluential +blockhead, who, being of Bourbon blood, could possibly be foisted +upon her and the Spanish nation. To this end Count Trapani was +pitched upon; and the first Narvaez ministry--including Senor Pedal +and other birds of the same disreputable feather--which succeeded +the one presided over by that indecent charlatan Gonzales Bravo, +did all in its power to forward the pretensions of the Neapolitan +prince, and accomplish his marriage with the Queen. To this end it +was absolutely necessary to dispense with the approbation of the +Cortes, required by the constitution. For although those Cortes had +been chosen without the concurrence of the Progresista party--whose +chiefs were all in exile, in prison, or prevented by the grossest +intimidation from voting at the elections--on the question of the +Trapani marriage they were found indocile. This profound contempt +and marked antipathy with which Spaniards view whatever comes from +Naples, and the offence given to the national dignity by the evident +fact, that this candidate was imposed upon the country by the +French government, convinced the latter, and that of Spain, which +was its instrument, that even the Cortes they themselves had picked +and chosen, lacked baseness or courage to consent to the Trapani +alliance. Then was resolved upon and effected the constitutional +REFORM, suppressing the article that required the approbation of +the Cortes, and replacing it by another, which only rendered it +compulsory to _announce_ to them the husband chosen by the Queen. +But the manoeuvres of France were too clumsy and palpable. It was +known that Christina had promised the hand of the Infanta to the +Duke of Montpensier; Louis Philippe's object in backing Trapani +was easily seen through; and so furious was the excitement of the +public mind throughout Spain, so alarming the indications of popular +exasperation, that the unlucky Neapolitan candidate was finally +thrown overboard. + +Here we must retrace our steps, and consider Queen Christina's +motives in sacrificing what remained to her of prestige and +popularity in her adopted country, to assist, through thick and +thin, by deceit, subterfuge, and treachery, the ambitious and +encroaching views of her French uncle. There was a time--it is now +long past--when no name was more loved and respected by the whole +Spanish nation, excluding of course the Carlist party, than that of +Maria Christina de Borbon. She so frankly identified herself with +the country in which marriage fixed her lot, that in becoming a +Spanish queen she had apparently become a Spanish woman; and, in +spite of her Neapolitan birth, she speedily conquered the good-will +of her subjects. Thousands of political exiles, restored to home and +family by amnesties of her promotion, invoked blessings on her head: +the great majority of the nation, anxious to see Spain governed +mildly and constitutionally, not despotically and tyrannically, +hailed in her the good genius who was to accord them their desires. +Her real character was not yet seen through; with true Bourbon +dissimulation she knew how to veil her vices. She had the credit +also of being a tender and unselfish parent, ever ready to sacrifice +herself to the interests of her children. Her egotism was as yet +unsuspected, her avarice dormant, her sensuality unrevealed; and +none then dreamed that a day would come, when, impelled by the +meanest and most selfish motives, she would urge her weeping +daughter into the arms of a detested and incompetent bridegroom. + +By her _liaison_ with Munoz, the first blow was given to Christina's +character and popularity. This scandalous amour with the son of a +cigar-seller at Tarancon, a coarse and ignorant man, whose sole +recommendations were physical, and who, when first noticed by +the queen, occupied the humble post of a private garde-de-corps, +commenced, in the belief of many, previously to the death of +Ferdinand. Be that true or not, it is certain that towards the +close of the king's life, when he was helpless and worn out by +disease, the result of his reckless debaucheries, she sought the +society of the stalwart lifeguardsman, and distinguished him by +marks of favour. It was said to be through her interest that he was +promoted to the rank of cadet in the body-guard, which gave him +that of captain in the army. Ferdinand died, and her intrigue was +speedily manifest, to the disgust and grief of her subjects. In +time of peace her degrading devotion to a low-born paramour would +doubtless have called forth strong marks of popular indignation; but +the anxieties and horrors of a sanguinary civil war engrossed the +public attention, and secured her a partial impunity. As it was, her +misconduct was sufficiently detrimental to her daughter's cause. The +Carlists taunted their opponents with serving under the banner of +a wanton; and the Liberals, on their part, could not but feel that +their infant queen was in no good school or safe keeping. + +The private fortune of Ferdinand the Seventh was well known to be +prodigious. Its sources were not difficult to trace. An absolute +monarch, without a civil list, when he wished for money he had but +to draw upon the public revenue for any funds the treasury might +contain. Of this power he made no sparing use. Then there was the +immense income derived from the Patrimonia Real, or Royal Patrimony, +vast possessions which descend from one King of Spain to another, +for their use and benefit so long as they occupy the throne. The +whole of the town of Aranjuez, the estates attached to the Pardo, +La Granja, the Escurial, and other palaces, form only a portion of +this magnificent property, yielding an enormous annual sum. Add to +these sources of wealth, property obtained by inheritance, his gains +in a nefariously conducted lottery, and other underhand and illicit +profits, and it is easy to comprehend that Ferdinand died the +richest capitalist in Europe. The amount of his savings could but be +guessed at. By some they were estimated at the incredibly large sum +of eight millions sterling. But no one could tell exactly, owing to +the manner in which the money was invested. It was dispersed in the +hands of various European bankers; also in those of certain American +ones, by whose failure great loss was sustained. No trifling sum was +represented by diamonds and jewels. It was hardly to be supposed +that the prudent owner of all this wealth would die intestate, and +there is scarcely a doubt that he left a will. To the universal +astonishment, however, upon his decease, none was forthcoming, and +his wole property was declared at sixty millions of francs, which, +according to the Spanish law, was divided between his daughters. No +one was at a loss to conjecture what became of the large residue +there unquestionably was. It was well understood, and her subsequent +conduct confirmed the belief, that the lion's share of the royal +spoils was appropriated by the young widow, whose grief for the loss +of the beloved Ferdinand was not so violent and engrossing as to +make her lose sight of the main chance. After so glorious a haul, +it might have been expected that she would hold her hand, and rest +contented with the pleasing consciousness, that should she ever be +induced or compelled to leave Spain, she had wherewithal to live in +queenly splendour and luxury. But her thirst of wealth is not of +those that can be assuaged even by rivers of gold. Though the bed of +the Manzanares were of the yellow metal, and she had the monopoly +of its sands, the mine would be all insufficient to satiate her +avarice. After appropriating her children's inheritance, she applied +herself to increase her store by a systematic pillage of the Queen +of Spain's revenues. As Isabella's guardian, the income derived from +the Patrimonio Real passed through her hands, to which the gold +adhered like steel-dust to a loadstone. Whilst the nation strained +each nerve, and submitted to the severest sacrifices, to meet the +expenses of a costly war--whilst the army was barefoot and hungered, +but still stanch in defence of the throne of Isabella--Christina, +with her mouth full of patriotism and love of Spain, remitted to +foreign capitalists the rich fruits of her peculations, provision +for the rainy day which came sooner than she anticipated, +future fortunes for Munoz's children. The natural effect of her +disreputable intrigue or second marriage, whichever it at that +time was to be called, was to weaken her affection for her royal +daughters, especially when she found a second and numerous family +springing up around her. To her anxiety for this second family, and +to the influence of Munoz, may be traced her adherence to the King +of the French, and the cruel and unmotherly part she has recently +acted towards the Queen of Spain. + +Previously to Christina's expulsion from the Regency in the year +1840, little was seen or known of her children by Munoz. During her +three years' residence at Paris, a similar silence and mystery was +observed respecting them, and they lived retired in a country-house +near Vevay, upon the Lake of Geneva, whither those born in the +French capital were also dispatched. This prudent reserve is now +at an end, and the grandchildren of the Tarancon tobacconist sit +around, almost on a level with, the throne of the Spanish Queen. +Titles are showered upon them, cringing courtiers wait upon their +nod, and the once proud and powerful grandees of Spain, descendants +of the haughty warriors who drove the Saracens from Iberian soil, +and stood covered in the presence of the Fifth Charles, adulate +the illegitimate progeny of a Munoz and a Christina. Subtile have +been the calculations, countless the intrigues, shameful the +misdeeds that have led to this result, so much desired by parents +of the ennobled bastards, so undesirable for the honour and dignity +of Spain. It is obvious that, with the immense wealth, whose +acquisition has been already explained, Christina would have had no +difficulty in portioning off her half-score children, and enabling +them to live rich and independent in a foreign county. But this +arrangement did not suit her views; still less did it accord with +those of the Duke of Rianzares. He founded his objections upon a +patriotic pretext. He wished his children, he said, to be Spanish +citizens, not aliens--to hold property in their own country--to +live respected in Spain, and not as exiles in a foreign land. It +may be supposed there was no obstacle to their so doing, and that +in Spain, as elsewhere, they could reckon at least upon that amount +of ease and consideration which money can give. But here came the +sticking-point, the grand difficulty, only to be got over by grand +means and great ingenuity. Christina had been the guardian of the +Queen and Infanta during their long minority: guardians, upon the +expiration of their trust, are expected to render accounts; and +this the mother of Isabel was wholly unprepared to do, in such a +manner as would enable her to retain the plunder accumulated during +the period of her guardianship. She had certainly the option of +declining to render any--of taking herself and her wealth, her +husband and her children, out of Spain, and of living luxuriously +elsewhere. But it has already been seen, that neither she nor Munoz +liked the prospect of such banishment, however magnificent and +numerous the appliances brought by wealth to render it endurable. +What, then, was to be done? It was quite positive that the husbands +of the Queen and Infanta would demand accounts of their wives' +fortune and of its management during their minority. How were their +demands to be met--how such difficulties got over? It was hard to +say. The position resembled what the Yankees call a "fix." The +cruel choice lay between a compulsary disgorgement of an amount of +ill-gotten gold, such as no moral emetic could ever have induced +Christina to render up, and the abandonment of Munoz's darling +project of making himself and his children lords of the soil in +their native land. The only chance of an exit from this circle +of difficulties, was to be obtained by uniting the Queen and her +sister to men so weak and imbecile, or so under the dominion and +influence of Christina, that they would let bygones be bygones, take +what they could get and be grateful, without troubling themselves +about accounts, or claiming arrears. To find two such men, who +should also possess the various qualifications essential to the +husbands of a Queen and Infanta of Spain, certainly appeared no +easy matter--to say nothing of the odious selfishness and sin +of thus sacrificing two defenceless and inexperienced children. +But Christina's scruples were few; and, as to difficulties, her +resolution rose as they increased. Had she not also a wise and +willing counsellor in the most cunning man in Europe? Was not her +dear uncle and gossip at hand to quiet her qualms of conscience, if +by such she was tormented, and to demonstrate the feasibility--nay, +more, the propriety of her schemes? To him she resorted in her hour +of need, and with him she soon came to an understanding. He met her +half-way, with a bland smile and words of promise. "Marry one of +your daughters," was his sage and disinterested advice, "to a son of +mine, and be sure that my boys are too well bred to pry into your +little economics. We should prefer the Queen; but, if it cannot +be managed, we will take the Infanta. Isabella shall be given to +some good quiet fellow, not over clever, who will respect you far +too much to dream of asking for accounts. Of time we have plenty; +be stanch to me, and all shall go well." What wonder if from the +day this happy understanding, this real _entente cordiale_, was +come to, Christina was the docile agent, the obedient tool, of her +venerable confederate! No general in the jaws of a defile, with foes +in front and rear, was ever more thankful to the guide who led him +by stealthy paths from his pressing peril, than was the daughter of +Naples to her wary adviser and potent ally. And how charming was +the union of interest--how touching the unanimity of feeling--how +beautifully did the one's ambition and the other's avarice dovetail +and coincide! The King's gain was the Queen's profit: it was the +slaughter with one pebble of two much-coveted birds, fat and savoury +mouthfuls for the royal and politic fowlers. + +In the secret conclave at the Tuileries, "all now went merry +as a marriage bell." In the ears of niece and uncle resounded, +by anticipation, the joyous chimes that should usher in the +Montpensier marriage, proclaim their triumph, drown the cries +of rage of the Spanish nation, and the indignant murmurs of +Europe;--not that the goal was so near, the prize so certain and +easy of attainment. Much yet remained to do; a false step might be +ruinous--over-precipitation ensure defeat. The King of the French +was not the man to make the one, or be guilty of the other. With +"slow and sure" for his motto, he patiently waited his opportunity. +In due season, and greatly aided by French machinations, the +downfall of the impracticable and incorruptible Espartero was +effected. But the government of Spain was still in the hands of the +Progresistas. For it will be remembered that the immediate cause +of Espartero's fall was the opposition of a section of his own +party, which, united now in their adversity, unfortunately tunately +knew not, in the days of their power, how to abstain from internal +dissensions. The Lopez ministry held the reins of government. It was +essential to oust it. As a first step, a _Camarilla_ was organised, +composed of the brutal and violent Narvaez, the daring and +disreputable Marchioness of Santa Cruz, and a few others of the same +stamp, all ultra-Moderados in politics, and fervent partisans of +Christina. So successfully did they use their backstairs influence, +and wield their weapons of corruption and intrigue, that, within +four months, and immediately after the accelerated declaration of +the Queen's majority, Lopez and his colleagues resigned. Olozaga +succeeded them; but he, too, was a Progresista and an upholder of +Spanish nationality; there was no hope of his giving in to the +plans of Christina the Afrancesada. Moreover, he was hated by the +_Camarilla_, and especially detested by the Queen-mother, whose +expulsion from Paris he had demanded when ambassador there from +Espartero's government. She determined on a signal vengeance. The +Palace Farce, that strange episode in the history of modern Spanish +courts, must be fresh in every one's memory. An accusation, as +malignant as absurd, was trumped up against Olozaga, of having +used force, unmanly and disloyal violence, to compel Isabella to +sign a decree for the dissolution of the Cortes. No one really +believed the ridiculous tale, or that Salustiano de Olozaga, the +high-bred gentleman, the uniformly respectful subject, could have +afforded by his conduct the shadow of a ground for the base charge. +Subsequently, in the Cortes, he nobly faced his foes, and, with +nervous and irresistible eloquence, hurled back the calumny in their +teeth. But it had already served their turn. To beat a dog any stick +will do; and the only care of the _Camarilla_ was to select the one +that would inflict the most poignant wound. Olozaga was hunted from +the ministry, and sought, in flight, safety from the assassin's +dagger. Those best informed entertained no doubt that his expulsion +was intimately connected with the marriage question. With him the +last of the Progresistas were got rid of, and all obstacles being +removed, the Queen-mother returned to Madrid. + +Were the last crowning proof insufficient to carry conviction, +it would be easy to adduce innumerable minor ones of Christina's +heartless selfishness--of her disregard to the happiness, and +even to the commonest comforts, of her royal daughter. We read in +history of a child of France, the widow of an English king, who, +when a refugee in the capital of her ancestors, lacked fuel in a +French palace, and was fain to seek in bed the warmth of which the +parsimony of a griping Italian minister denied her the fitting +means. It is less generally known, that only six years ago, the +inheritress of the throne of Ferdinand and Isabella was despoiled of +the commonest necessaries of life by her own mother, a countrywoman +of the miserly cardinal at whose hands Henrietta of England +experienced such shameful neglect. When Christina quitted Spain +in 1840, she not only carried off an enormous amount of national +property, including the crown jewels, but also her daughter's own +ornaments; and, at the same time, even the wardrobe of the poor +child was mysteriously, but not unaccountably, abstracted: Isabella +was left literally short of linen. As to jewels, it was necessary +immediately to buy her a set of diamonds, in order that she might +make a proper appearance at her own court. Such was the considerate +and self-denying conduct of the affectionate mother, who, in the +winter of 1843, resumed her place in the palace and counsels of the +Queen of Spain. In her natural protector, the youthful sovereign +found her worst enemy. + +Persons only superficially acquainted with Spanish politics commonly +fall into two errors. They are apt to believe, first, that the two +great parties which, with the exception of the minor factions of +Carlists and Republicans, divide Spain between them, are nearly +equally balanced and national; secondly, that Moderados and +Progresistas in Spain are equivalent to Conservatives and Radicals +in other countries. Blunders both. Eccentric in its politics, as in +most respects, Spain cannot be measured with the line and compass +employed to estimate its neighbours. It is impossible to conceal +the fact, that to-day the numerous and the national party in Spain +is that of the Progresistas. The tyranny of Narvaez, the misconduct +of Christina, and, above all, the French marriage, have greatly +strengthened their ranks and increased their popularity. Their +principles are not subversive, nor their demands exorbitant: they +aim at no monopoly of power. Three things they earnestly desire +and vehemently claim: the freedom of election guaranteed by the +existing constitution of Spain, but which has been so infamously +trampled upon by recent Spanish rulers, liberty of the press, and +the preservation of Spain from foreign influence and domination. + +Let us examine the composition and conduct of the party called +Moderado. This party, now dominant, is unquestionably the most split +up and divided of any that flourish upon Spanish soil. It is not +deficient in men of capacity, but upon none of the grave questions +that agitate the country can these agree. When the Cortes sit, this +is manifest in their debates. Although purged of Progresistas, the +legislative chambers exhibit perpetual disagreement and wrangling. +At other times, the dissensions of the Moderados are made evident +by their organs of the press. In some of these appear articles +which would not sound discordant in the mouths of Progresistas; in +others are found doctrines and arguments worthy of the apostles +of absolutism. Between Narvaez and Pacheco the interval is wider +than between Pacheco and the Progresistas. The first, in order +to govern, sought support from the Absolutists; the second could +not rule without calling the Liberals to his aid. Subdivided into +fractions, this party, whose nomenclature is now complicated, relies +for existence less upon itself than upon extraneous circumstances, +foreign support, and the equilibrium of the elements opposed to it. +The anarchy to which it is a prey, has been especially manifest +upon the marriage question. Whilst one of its organs shamelessly +supported Trapani, others cried out for a Coburg; and, again, others +insisted that a Spanish prince was the only proper candidate--thus +coinciding with the Progresistas. In fact, the Moderados, afraid, +perhaps, of compromising their precarious existence had no candidate +of their own; and in their fluctuations between foreign influence +and interior exigencies, between court and people, between their +wish to remain in power and the difficulty of retaining it, they +left, in great measure, to chance, the election in which they +dared not openly meddle. This will sound strange to the many who, +as we have already observed, imagine the Moderado party to be the +Conservative one of England or France; but not to those aware of the +fact, that it is a collection of unities, brought together rather by +accidental circumstances than by homogeneity of principles, united +for the exclusion of others, and for their own interests, not by +conformity of doctrines and a sincere wish for their country's good. + +Such was the party, unstable and unpatriotic, during whose +ascendancy Christina and her royal confederate resolved to carry +out their dishonest projects. The Queen-mother well knew that the +mass of the nation would be opposed to their realisation; but she +reckoned on means sufficiently powerful to render indignation +impotent, and frustrate revolt. She trusted to the adherence of +an army, purposely caressed, pampered, and corrupted; she felt +strong in the support of a monarch, whose interest in the affair +was at least equal to her own; she observed with satisfaction the +indifferent attitude assumed by the British government with respect +to Spanish affairs. A Progresista demonstration in Galicia, although +shared in by seven battalions of the army--an ugly symptom--was +promptly suppressed, owing to want of organisation, and to the +treachery or incapacity of its leader. The scaffold and the galleys, +prison and exile, disposed of a large proportion of the discontented +and dangerous. Arbitrary dismissals, of which, for the most part, +little was heard out of Spain, purified the army from the more +honest and independent of its officers, suspected of disaffection to +the existing government, or deemed capable of exerting themselves +to oppose an injurious or discreditable alliance. Time wore on; +the decisive moment approached. Each day it became more evident +that the Queen's marriage could not with propriety be much longer +deferred. Setting aside other considerations, she had already fully +attained the precocious womanhood of her country; and it was neither +safe nor fitting that she should continue to inhale the corrupt +atmosphere of the Madrid court without the protection of a husband. +At last the hour came; the plot was ripe, and nothing remained but +to secure the concurrence of the victim. One short night, a night of +tears and repugnance on the one hand, of flatteries, of menaces and +intimidation, on the other decided the fate of Isabella. With her +sister less trouble was requisite. It needed no great persuasive art +to induce a child of fourteen to accept a husband, as willingly as +she would have done a doll. It might have been thought necessary to +consult the will of the Spanish nation, fairly represented in freely +elected Cortes. Such, at least, was the course pointed out by the +constitution of the country. It would also have been but decorous to +seek the approval and concurrence of foreign and friendly states, +to establish beyond dispute, that the proposed marriages were in +contravention of no existing treaties; for, with respect to one of +them, this doubt might fairly be raised. But all such considerations +were waived; decency and courtesy alike forgotten. The double +marriage was effected in the manner of a surprise; and, if +creditable to the skill, it most assuredly was dishonourable to the +character of its contriver. Availing himself of the moment when the +legislative chambers of England, France, and Spain, had suspended +their sittings; although, as regards those of the latter country, +this mattered little, composed, as they are, of venal hirelings--the +French King achieved his grand stroke of policy, the project on +which, there can be little doubt, his eyes had for years been +fixed. His load of promises and pledges, whether contracted at Eu +or elsewhere, encumbered him little. They were a fragile commodity, +a brittle merchandise, more for show than use, easily hurled down +and broken. Striding over their shivered fragments, the Napoleon +of Peace bore his last unmarried son to the goal long marked out +by the paternal ambition. The consequences of the successful race +troubled him little. What cared he for offending a powerful ally and +personal friend? The arch-schemer made light of the fury of Spain, +of the discontent of England, of the opinion of Europe. He paused +not to reflect how far his Machiavelian policy would degrade him in +the eyes of the many with whom he had previously passed for wise +and good, as well as shrewd and far-sighted. Paramount to these +considerations was the gratification of his dynastic ambition. +For that he broke his plighted word, and sacrificed the good +understanding between the governments of two great countries. The +monarch of the barricades, the _Roi Populaire_, the chosen sovereign +of the men of July, at last plainly showed, what some had already +suspected, that the aggrandisement of his family, not the welfare +of France, was the object he chiefly coveted. Conviction may later +come to him, perhaps it has already come, that _le jeu ne valoit +pas la chandelle_, the game was not worth the wax-lights consumed +in playing it, and that his present bloodless victory must sooner +or later have sanguinary results. That this may not be the case, +we ardently desire; that it will be, we cannot doubt. The peace of +Europe may not be disturbed--pity that it should in such a quarrel; +but for poor Spain we foresee in the Montpensier alliance a gloomy +perspective of foreign domination and still recurring revolution. + +A word or two respecting the King-consort of Spain, Don Francisco +de Assis. We have already intimated that, as a Spanish Bourbon, +he may pass muster. 'Tis saying very little. A more pitiful race +than these same Bourbons of Spain, surely the sun never shone upon. +In vain does one seek amongst them a name worthy of respect. What +a list to cull from! The feeble and imbecile Charles the Fourth; +Ferdinand, the cruel and treacherous, the tyrannical and profligate; +Carlos, the bigot and the hypocrite; Francisco, the incapable. Nor +is the rising generation an improvement upon the declining one. How +should it be, with only the Neapolitan cross to improve the breed? +Certainly Don Francisco de Assis is no favourable specimen, either +physically or morally, of the young Bourbon blood. For the sake of +the country whose queen is his wife, we would gladly think well of +him, gladly recognise in him qualities worthy the descendant of a +line of kings. It is impossible to do so. The evidence is too strong +the other way. If it be true, and we have reason to believe it is, +that he came forward with reluctance as a candidate for Isabella's +hand, chiefly through unwillingness to stand in the light of his +brother Don Enrique, partly perhaps through consciousness of his own +unfitness for the elevated station of king-consort, this at least +shows some good feeling and good sense. Unfortunately, it is the +only indication he has given of the latter quality. His objections +to a marriage with his royal cousin were overruled in a manner +that says little for his strength of character. When it was found +that his dislike to interfere with his brother's pretensions was +the chief stumbling-block, those interested in getting over it set +the priests at him. To their influence his weak and bigoted mind +was peculiarly accessible. Their task was to persuade him that Don +Enrique was no better than an atheist, and that his marriage with +the Queen would be ruinous to the cause of religion in Spain. This +was a mere fabrication. Enrique had never shown any particularly +pious dispositions, but there was no ground for accusing him of +irreligion, no reason to believe that, as the Queen's husband, +he would be found negligent of the church's forms, or setting a +bad example to the Spanish nation. The case, however, was made +out to the satisfaction of the feeble Francisco, whose credulity +and irresolution are only to be equalled in absurdity by the +piping treble of the voice with which, as a colonel of cavalry, he +endeavoured to convey orders to his squadrons. Sacrificing, as he +thought, fraternal affection to the good of his country, he accepted +the hand reluctantly placed in his, became a king by title, but +remained, what he ever must be, in reality a zero. + +It was during the intrigues put in practice to force the Trapani +alliance upon Spain, that the Spanish people turned their eyes +to Don Francisco de Paulo's second son, who lived away from the +court, following with much zeal his profession of a sailor. Not +only the Progresistas, but that section of the Moderados whose +principles were most assimilated to theirs, looked upon Don Enrique +as the candidate to be preferred before all others. For this there +were many reasons. As a Spaniard he was naturally more pleasing +to them than a foreigner; in energy and decision of character he +was far superior to his brother. Little or nothing was known of +his political tendencies; but he had been brought up in a ship +and not in a palace, had lived apart from _Camarillas_ and their +evil influences, and might be expected to govern the country +constitutionally, by majorities in the Cortes, and not by the aid +and according to the wishes of a pet party. The general belief was, +that his marriage with Isabella would give increased popularity to +the throne, destroy illegitimate influences, and rid the Queen of +those interested and pernicious counsellors who so largely abused +her inexperience. These very reasons, which induced the great mass +of the nation to view Don Enrique with favour, drew upon him the +hatred of Christina and her friends. He was banished from Spain, +and became the object of vexatious persecutions. This increased +his popularity; and at one time, if his name had been taken as a +rallying cry, a flame might have been lighted up in the Peninsula +which years would not have extinguished. The opportunity was +inviting; but, to their honour be it said, those who would have +benefited by embracing it, resisted the temptation. It is no secret +that the means and appliances of a successful insurrection were +not wanting; that money wherewith to buy the army was liberally +forthcoming; that assistance of all kinds was offered them; and +that their influence in Spain was great; for in the eyes of the +nation they had expiated their errors, errors of judgment only, by +a long and painful exile. But, nevertheless, they would not avail +themselves of the favourable moment. So long as a hope remained of +obtaining their just desires by peaceable means, by the force of +reason and the _puissante propagande de la parole_, they refused +again to ensanguine their native soil, and to re-enter Spain on +the smoking ruins of its towns, over the lifeless bodies of their +mistaken countrymen. + +By public prints of weight and information, it has been estimated, +that during Don Enrique's brief stay at Paris, he indignantly +rejected certain friendly overtures made to him by the King of +the French. The nature of these overtures can, of course, only be +conjectured. Perhaps, indeed, they were but a stratagem, employed +by the wily monarch to detain his young cousin at Paris, that the +apparent good understanding between them might damp the courage +of the national party in Spain, and win the wavering to look with +favour upon the French marriage. There can be little question +that in the eyes of Louis Philippe, as well as of Christina, Don +Francisco is a far more eligible husband for the Queen than his +brother would have been, even had the latter given his adhesion to +the project of the Montpensier alliance. Rumour--often, it is true, +a lying jade--maintained that at Paris he firmly refused to do so. +She now whispers that at Brussels he has been found more pliant, +and that, within a brief delay, the happy family at Madrid will be +gratified by the return of that truant and mutinous mariner, Don +Enrique de Borbon, who, after he has been duly scolded and kissed, +will doubtless be made Lord High Admiral, or rewarded in some +equally appropriate way for his tardy docility. We vouch not for +the truth of this report; but shall be noway surprised if events +speedily prove it well founded. Men there are with whom the love +of country is so intense, that they would rather live despised in +their own land than respected in a foreign one. And when, to such +flimsy Will-o'-the-wisp considerations as the esteem and love of +a nation, are opposed rank, money, and decorations, a palace to +live in, sumptuous fare, and a well-filled purse, and perhaps, +ere long, a wealthy bride, who would hesitate? If any would, seek +them not amongst the Bourbons. Loath indeed should we be to pledge +ourselves for the consistency and patriotism of a man whose uncle +and grandfather betrayed their country to a foreign usurper. The +fruit of a corrupt and rotten stem must ever be looked upon with +suspicion. It is the more prized when perchance it proves sound and +wholesome. + +Of the Duke of Montpensier, previously to his marriage, little +was heard, and still, little is generally known of him, except +that his exterior is agreeable, and that he had been rapidly +pushed through the various military grades to that of general of +artillery. That any natural talents he may be endowed with, have +been improved to the utmost by careful education, is sufficiently +guaranteed by the fact of his being a son of Louis Philippe. We +are able to supply a few further details. The Infanta's husband +is a youth of good capacity, possessing a liberal share of that +mixture of sense, judgment, and wit, defined in his native tongue +by the one expressive word _esprit_. His manners are pleasant and +affable; he is a man with whom his inferiors in rank can converse, +argue, even dispute--not a stilted Spanish Bourbon, puffed up with +imaginary merit, inflated with etiquette, and looking down, from +the height of his splendid insignificance and inane pride, upon +better men then himself. He is one, in short, who rapidly makes +friends and partisans. Doubtless, during his late brief visit to +Spain, he secured some; hereafter he will have opportunities of +increasing their number; and the probabilities are, that in course +of time he will acquire a dangerous influence in the Peninsula. The +lukewarm and the vacillating, even of the Progresista party, will +be not unlikely, if he shows or affects liberalism in his political +opinions, to take him into favour, and give him the weight of their +adherence; forgetting that by so doing they cherish an anti-national +influence, and twine more securely the toils of France round the +recumbent Spanish lion. On the other hand, there will always be a +powerful Spanish party, comprising a vast majority of the nation, +and by far the largest share of its energy and talent, distinguished +by its inveterate dislike of French interlopers, repulsing the +duke and his advances by every means in their power, and branding +his favourers with the odious name of AFRANCESADOS. To go into this +subject, and enlarge upon the probable and possible results of the +marriage, would lead us too far. Our object in the present article +has rather been to supply FACTS than indulge in speculations. For +the present, therefore, we shall merely remind our readers, that +jealousy of foreign interference is a distinguishing political +characteristic of Spaniards; and that, independently of this, the +flame of hatred to France and Frenchmen still burns brightly in many +a Spanish bosom. Spain has not yet forgiven, far less forgotten, +the countless injuries inflicted on her by her northern neighbours: +she still bears in mind the insolent aggressions of Napoleon--the +barbarous cruelties of his French and Polish legions--the officious +interference in '23. These and other wrongs still rankle in her +memory. And if the effacing finger of Time had begun to obliterate +their traces, the last bitter insult of the forced marriage has +renewed these in all their pristine freshness. + +We remember to have encountered, in a neglected foreign gallery, +an ancient picture of a criminal in the hands of torturers. +The subject was a painful one, and yet the painting provoked a +smile. Some wandering brother of the brush, some mischievous and +idly-industrious TINTO, had beguiled his leisure by transmogrifying +the costumes both of victim and executioners, converting the ancient +Spanish garb into the stiff and unpicturesque apparel of the present +day. The vault in which the cruel scene was enacted, remains in +all its gloomy severity of massive pillars, rusty shackles, and +cobwebbed walls; the grim unshapely instruments of torture were +there; the uncouth visages of the executioners, the agonised +countenance of the sufferer, were unaltered. But, contrasting with +the antique aspect and time-darkened tints of these details, were +the vivid colouring and modern fashions of Parisian _paletots_, trim +pantaloons, and ball-room waistcoats. We have been irresistibly +reminded of this defaced picture by the recent events in Spain. +They appear to us like a page from the history of the middle ages +transported into our own times. The daring and unprincipled intrigue +whose _denoument_ has just been witnessed, is surely out of place +in the nineteenth century, and belongs more properly to the days of +the Medicis and the Guise. A review of its circumstances affords +the elements of some romantic history of three hundred years ago. +At night, in a palace, we see a dissolute Italian dowager and a +crafty French ambassador coercing a sovereign of sixteen into a +detested alliance. The day breaks on the child's tearful consent; +the ambassador, the paleness of his vigil chased from his cheek by +the flush of triumph, emerges from the royal dwelling. Quick! to +horse!--and a courier starts to tell the diplomat's master that the +glorious victory is won. A few days--a very few--of astonishment to +Europe and consternation to Spain, and a French prince, with gay and +gallant retinue, stands on the Bidassoa's bank and gazes wistfully +south-wards. Why does he tarry; whence this delay? He waits an +escort. Strange rumours are abroad of ambuscade and assassination; +of vows made by fierce guerillas that the Infanta's destined husband +shall never see Madrid. At last the escort comes. Enclosed in +serried lines of bayonets and lances, dragoons in van, artillery +in rear, the happy bridegroom prosecutes his journey. What is his +welcome? Do the bright-eyed Basque maidens scatter flowers in his +path and Biscay's brave sons strain their stout arms to ring peals +in his honour? Do the poor and hardy peasantry of Castile line the +highway and shout _vivas_ as he passes? Not so. If bells are rung +and flowers strewn, it is by salaried ringers and by women hired, +not to wail at a funeral, but to celebrate a marriage scarcely more +auspicious. If hurrahs, few and faint, are heard, those who utter +are paid for them. Sullen looks and lowering glances greet the +Frenchman, as, guarded by two thousand men-at-arms, he hurries to +the capital where his bride awaits him. In all haste, amidst the +murmurs of a deeply offended people, the knot is tied. Not a moment +must be lost, lest something should yet occur to mar the marriage +feast. And now for the rewards, shamefully showered upon the venal +abettors of this unpopular union. A dukedom and grandeeship of Spain +for the ambassador's infant son; titles to mercenary ministers; +high and time-honoured decorations, once reserved as the premium +for exalted valour and chivalrous deeds--to corrupt deputies; +diamond snuff-boxes, jewels and gold, to the infamous writers of +prostituted journals; Christina rejoices; her _Camarilla_ are in +ecstasies; Bresson rubs his hands in irrepressible exultation; in +his distant capital the French monarch heaves a sigh of relief and +satisfaction as his telegraph informs him of the _fait accompli_. +Then come splendid bullfights and monster _pucheros_, to dazzle the +eyes and stop the mouths of the multitude. _Pan y toros--panisac +circenses_--to the many-headed beast. And in all haste the prince +hurries back to Paris with his bride, to receive the paternal +benediction, the fraternal embrace, and the congratulations of the +few score individuals, who alone, in all France, feel real pleasure +and profit in his marriage. And thus, by foreign intrigue and +domestic treachery, has the independence of Spain been virtually +bought and sold. + + + + +ST MAGNUS', KIRKWALL. + + + See yonder, on Pomona's isle-- + Where winter storms delight to roam; + But beaming now with summer's smile-- + The Sainted Martyr's sacred dome! + + Conspicuous o'er the deep afar + It sheds a soft and saving ray, + A landmark sure, a leading star, + To guide the wanderer on his way. + + It tells the seaman how to steer + Through swelling seas his labouring bark + It helps the mourner's heart to cheer, + And speeds him to his heavenly mark. + + With joy of old this northern sky + Saw holy men the fabric found, + To lift the Christian Cross on high, + And spread the Healer's influence round. + + By beauty's power they sought to raise + Rude eyes and ruder hearts to Heaven: + They sought to speak their Maker's praise + With all the skill His grace had given. + + And now, where passions dark and wild + Were foster'd once at Odin's shrine, + A people peaceful, just, and mild, + Live happy in that light divine. + + Preserved through many a stormy age, + Let pious zeal the relic guard: + Nor Time with slow insidious rage + Destroy what fiercer foes have spared. + + + + +THE GAME LAWS. + + +From our youth upwards we have entertained a deep feeling of +affection for the respectable fraternity of the Quakers. Our love, +probably, had its date and origin from very early contemplation +of a print, which represented an elderly pot-bellied individual, +with a broad-brimmed hat and drab terminations, in the act of +concluding a treaty with several squatting Indians, only redeemed +from a state of nature by a slight garniture of scalps and wampum. +Underneath was engraved a legend which our grand-aunt besought +us to treasure in our memory as a sublime moral lesson. It ran +thus:--THE BLOODLESS TRIUMPH, OR PENN'S TREATY WITH THE CHIEFS; and +we were told that the fact thereby commemorated was one of the most +honourable achievements to be found in the pages of general history. +With infantine facility we believed in the words of the matron. No +blood or rapine--no human carcasses or smoking wigwams, deformed +the march of the Quaker conqueror. Beneath a mighty tree, in the +great Indian wilderness, was the patriarchal council held; and +the fee-simple of a territory, a good deal larger than an average +kingdom, surrendered, with all its pendicles of lake, prairie, and +hunting-ground, to the knowing philanthropist, in exchange for some +bales of broad-cloth, a little cutlery, a liberal allowance of +beads, and a very great quantity, indeed, of adulterated rum and +tobacco. Never, we believe, since Esau sold his birth-right, was a +tract of country acquired upon terms so cheap and easy. Some faint +idea of this kind appears to have struck us at the time; for, in +answer to some question touching the nature of the goods supposed +to be contained in several bales and casks which were prominently +represented in the picture, our relative hastily remarked, that she +did not care for the nature of the bargain--the principle was the +great consideration. And so it is. William Penn unquestionably acted +both wisely and well: he brought his merchandise to a first-rate +market, and left a valuable legacy of acuteness to his children +and faithful followers. Our grand-aunt--rest her soul!--died in +the full belief of ultimate Pennsylvanian solvency. She could not +persuade herself, that the representatives of the man who had +acquired a principality at the expense of a ship-load of rubbish, +would prove in any way untrue to their bonds; and by her last will +and testament, whereof we are the sole executor, she promoted us to +the agreeable rank of a creditor on the Pennsylvanian government. If +any gentleman is desirous to be placed in a similar position, with +a right to the new stock which has been recently issued in lieu of +a monetary dividend, he may hear of an excellent investment by an +early application to our brokers. We also are most firm believers in +the fact of American credit, and we shall not change our opinion--at +least until we effect the sale. + +All this, however, is a deviation from our primary purpose, which +was to laud and magnify the Brotherhood. We repeat that we loved +them early, and also that we loved them long. It is true that +some years ago a slight estrangement--the shadow of a summer +cloud--disturbed the harmony which had previously existed between +Maga and the Society of Friends. A gentleman of that persuasion had +been lost somewhere upon the skirts of Helvellyn, and our guide and +father, Christopher, in one of those sublime prose-poeans which have +entranced and electrified the world, commemorated that apotheosis +so touchingly, that the whole of Christendom was in tears. +Unfortunately, some passing allusion to the garments of the defunct +Obadiah, grated uncomfortably on the jealous ear of Darlington. An +affecting picture of some ravens, digging their way through the +folds of the double-milled kerseymere, was supposed to convey an +occult imputation upon the cloth, and never, since then, have we +stood quite clear in the eyes of the offended Conventicle. Still, +that unhappy misunderstanding has by no means cooled our attachment. +We honour and revere the Friends; and it was with sincere pleasure +that we saw the excellent Joseph Pease take his seat and lift up +his voice within the walls of Parliament. Had Pease stood alone, we +should not now, in all human probability, have been writing on the +subject of the game laws. + +We are, however, much afraid that a great change has taken place +in the temper and disposition of the Society. Formerly a Quaker +was considered most essentially a man of peace. He was reputed to +abhor all strife and vain disputation--to be laconic and sparing +in his speech--and to be absolutely crapulous with humanity. +We would as soon have believed in the wrath of doves as in the +existence of a cruel Quaker; nor would we, during the earlier +portion of our life, have entrusted one of that denomination with +the drowning of a superfluous kitten. Barring a little absurd +punctilio in the matter of payment of their taxes--at all times, we +allow, a remarkably unpleasant ceremony--the public conduct of our +Friends was blameless. They seldom made their voices heard except +in the honourable cause of the suffering or the oppressed; and +with external politics they meddled not at all, seeing that their +fundamental ideas of a social system differed radically from those +entertained by the founders of the British constitution. Such, and +so harmless, were the lives of our venerated Friends, until the +demon of discord tempted them by a vision of the baleful hustings. + +Since then we have remarked, with pain, a striking alteration in +their manner. They are bold, turbulent, and disputatious to an +almost incredible extent. If there is any row going on in the +parish, you are sure to find that a Quaker is at the bottom of it. +Is there to be a reform in the Police board--some broad-brimmed +apostle takes the chair. Are tithes obnoxious to a Chamber of +Commerce--the spokesman of the agitators is Obadiah. Indeed, we +are beginning to feel as shy of a quarrel with men of drab as we +formerly were with the militant individuals in scarlet. We are not +quite so confident as we used to be in their reliance upon moral +force, and sometimes fear the latent power which lurks in the +physical arm. + +Of these champions, by far the most remarkable is Mr John Bright, +who, in the British House of Commons, represents the town of Durham. +The tenets of his peaceful and affirmative creed, are, to say the +least of it, in total antagonism to his character. Ever since he +made his first appearance in public, he has kept himself, and +every one around him, in perpetual hot-water. In the capacity of +Mr Cobden's bottle-holder, he has displayed considerable pluck, +for which we honour him; and he is not altogether unworthy to have +been included in that famous eulogy which was passed by the late +Premier--no doubt to the cordial satisfaction of his friends--upon +the Apostle of cotton and free-trade. The name of John is nearly as +conspicuous as that of Richard in the loyal annals of the League; +and we are pleased to observe, that, like his great generalissimo, +Mr Bright has preferred his claim for popular payment, and has, +in fact, managed to secure a few thousands in return for the +vast quantity of eloquence which he has poured into the pages of +Hansard. We are not of that old-fashioned school who object to +the remuneration of our reformers. On the contrary, we think that +patriotism, like every other trade, should be paid for; and with +such notable examples, as O'Connell in Ireland, and the Gamaliel of +Sir Robert in the south, we doubt not that the principle hereafter +will be acted upon in every case. The man who shall be fortunate +enough to lead a successful crusade against the established +churches, and to sweep away from these kingdoms all vestiges both +of the mitre and the Geneva gown, will doubtless, after sufficient +laudation by the then premier, of the talent and perseverance which +he has exhibited throughout the contest, receive from his liberated +country something of an adequate douceur. What precise pension is +due to him who shall deliver us from the thraldom of the hereditary +peerage, is a question which must be left to future political +arithmetic. In the mean time, there are several minor abuses which +may be swept away on more moderate scavenger wages; and one of +these which we fully expect to hear discussed in the ensuing session +of Parliament, is the existence of the Game laws. + +Mr Bright, warned by former experience, has selected a grievance +for himself, and started early in his expedition against it. The +part of jackal may be played once, but it is not a profitable one; +and we can understand the disappointed feelings of the smaller +animal, when he is forced to stand by an-hungered, and behold the +gluttonous lion gorging himself with the choicest morsels of the +chase. It must be a sore thing for a patriot to see his brother +agitator pouching his tens and hundreds of thousands; whilst he, who +likewise has shouted in the cause, and bestowed as much of his sweet +breath as would have served to supply a furnace, must perforce be +contented with some stray pittances, doled hesitatingly out, and not +altogether given without grudging. No independent and thoroughgoing +citizen will consent, for a second time, to play so very subsidiary +a part; therefore he is right in breaking fresh ground, and becoming +the leader of a new movement. It may be that his old monopolising +ally shall become too plethoric for a second contest. Like the +desperate soldier who took a castle and was rewarded for it, he may +be inclined to rest beneath his laurels, count his pay, and leave +the future capture of fortalices to others who have less to lose. A +hundred thousand pounds carry along with them a sensation of ease +as well as dignity. After such a surfeit of Mammon, most men are +unwilling to work. They unbutton their waistcoats, eschew agitation, +eat, drink, are merry, and become fat. + +Your lean Cassius, on the contrary, has all the pugnacity of a +terrier. He yelps at every body and every thing, is at perpetual +warfare with the whole of animated nature, and will not be +quieted even by dint of much kicking. The only chance you have of +relieving yourself from his everlasting yammering and impertinence, +is to throw him an unpicked bone, wherewith he will retreat in +double-quick time to the kennel. And of a truth the number of +excellent bones which are sacrificed to the terriers of this world, +is absolutely amazing. Society in general will do a great deal +for peace; and much money is doled out, far less for the sake of +charity, than as the price of a stipulated repose. + +It remains, however, to be seen whether Mr Bright, under any +circumstances, will be quiet. We almost doubt it. In the course of +his stentorial and senatorial career, he has more than once, to +borrow a phrase from _Boxiana_, had his head put into chancery; and +some of his opponents, Mr Ferrand for example, have fists that smite +like sledge-hammers. But Friend John is a glutton in punishment; and +though with blackened eyes and battered lips, is nevertheless at his +post in time. The best pugilists in England do not know what to make +of him. He never will admit that he is beaten, nor does he seem to +know when he has enough. It is true that at every round he goes down +before some tremendous facer or cross-buttock, or haply performs the +part of Antaeus in consequence of the Cornish hug. No matter--up he +starts, and though rather unsteady on his pins, and generally groggy +in his demeanour, he squares away at his antagonist, until night +terminates the battle, and the drab flag, still flaunting defiance, +is visible beneath the glimpses of the maiden moon. + +At present, Mr Bright's senatorial exertions appear to be directed +towards the abolition of the Game laws. Early in 1845, and before +the remarkable era of conversion which must ever render that year +a notorious one in the history of political consistency, he moved +for and obtained a select committee of the House to inquire into +the operation of these laws. Mr Bright's speech upon that occasion +was, in some respects, a sensible one. We have no wish to withhold +from him his proper meed of praise; and we shall add, that the +subject which he thus virtually undertook to expiscate, was one in +every way deserving of the attention of the legislature. Of all the +rights of property which are recognised by the English law, that of +the proprietor or occupier of the land to the _ferae naturae_ or game +upon it, is the least generally understood, and the worst defined. +It is fenced by, and founded upon, statutes which, in the course +of time, have undergone considerable modification and revision; +and the penalties attached to the infringement of it are, in our +candid opinion, unnecessarily harsh and severe. Further, there can +be no doubt, that in England the vice of poaching, next to that of +habitual drinking, has contributed most largely to fill the country +prisons. Instances are constantly occurring of ferocious assault, +and even murder, arising from the affrays between gamekeepers and +poachers; nor does it appear that the statutory penalties have had +the effect of deterring many of the lower orders from their violent +and predatory practices. On these points, we think an inquiry, +with a view to the settlement of the law on a humane and equitable +footing, was highly proper and commendable; nor should we have said +a single word in depreciation of the labours of Mr Bright, had he +confined himself within proper limits. Such, however, is not the +case. + +An abridgement of, or rather extracts from, the voluminous evidence +which was taken before that select committee, has been published +by a certain Richard Griffiths Welford, Esq., barrister at law, +and member of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. With this +gentleman hitherto, it is our misfortune or our fault that we have +had no practical acquaintance; and judging from the tone, humour, +and temper of the text remarks which are scattered throughout the +volume, and the taste of the foot-notes appended, we do not see any +reason to covet exuberant intimacy for the future. The volume is +prefaced by a letter from Mr John Bright to the Tenant Farmers of +Great Britain, which is of so remarkable a nature that it justly +challenges some comment. The following extract is the commencement +of that address:-- "I am invited by my friend Mr Welford, the +compiler of the abstract of the evidence given before the committee +on the Game laws, to write a short address to you on the important +question which is treated of in this volume. I feel that an +apology is scarcely necessary for the liberty I am taking; the +deep interest I have long felt in the subject of the Game laws, my +strong conviction of its great importance to you as a class, and the +extensive correspondence in reference to it which I have maintained +with many of your respected body in almost every county of England +and Scotland, seem to entitle me to say a few words to you on this +occasion. + +"From the perusal of this evidence--and it is but a small portion +of that which was offered to the committee--you will perceive +that, as capitalists and employers of labour, _you are neither +asserting your just rights, nor occupying your proper position_. By +long-continued custom, which has now obtained almost the force of +law, when you became tenants of a farm, you were not permitted to +enjoy the advantages which pertain to it so fully as is the case +with the occupiers of almost every other description of property. +A farmer becomes the tenant of certain lands, which are to be the +basis of his future operations, and the foundation of that degree +of prosperity to which he may attain. To secure success, it is +needful that capital should be invested, and industry and skill +exercised; and in proportion as these are largely employed, in order +to develop to the utmost extent the resources of the soil, will be +the amount of prosperity that will be secured. The capital, skill, +and industry, will depend upon the capacity of the farmer; but the +reward for their employment will depend in no small degree upon the +free and unfettered possession of the land--of its capabilities, of +all that it produces, and of all that is sustained upon its surface. +There is a mixture of feudalism and of commercial principles in your +mode of taking and occupying land, which is in almost all cases +obstructive, and in not a few utterly subversive, of improvement. +You take a farm on a yearly tenantry, or on a lease, with an +understanding, or a specific agreement, that the game shall be +reserved to the owner; that is, you grant to the landlord the right +to stock the farm--for which you are to pay him rent for permission +to cultivate, and for the full possession of its produce--with +pheasants, partridges, hares, and rabbits, to any extent that may +suit his caprice. There may be little game when you enter upon the +farm; but in general you reserve to yourselves no power to prevent +its increase, and it may and often does increase so, as to destroy +the possibility of profit in the cultivation of the farm. You +plough, and sow, and watch the growing crops with anxiety and hope; +you rise early, and eat the bread of carefulness; rent-day comes +twice a-year with its inexorable demand; and yet you are doomed +too frequently to see the fertility which Providence bestows and +your industry would secure, blighted and destroyed _by creatures +which would be deemed vermin_, but for the sanction which the law +and your customs give to their preservation, and which exist for +no advantage to you, and for no good to the public, but solely to +afford a few day's amusement in the year to the proprietors of the +soil. The seed you sow is eaten by the pheasants; your young growing +grain is bitten down by the hares and rabbits; and your ripening +crops are trampled and injured by a live stock which yields you +no return, and which you cannot kill and take to market. No other +class of capitalists are subjected to these disadvantages--no other +intelligent and independent class of your countrymen are burdened +with such impositions." + +We pity the intelligence of the reader who does not behold in these +introductory paragraphs the symbol of the cloven foot. The sole +object of the volume, for which Mr Bright has the assurance to stand +as sponsor, is to sow the seeds of discord between the landowners +and the tenants of England, by representing the former to the +latter in the light of selfish monopolists, who, for the sake of +some little sport or yearly battue, or, it may be, from absolute +caprice, make havoc throughout the year, by proxy, of the farmers' +property, and increase their stock of game whenever they have an +opportunity, at his expense, and sometimes to his actual ruin. +Such is the tendency of this book, which is compiled for general +circulation; and which, we think, in many respects is calculated +to do a deal of harm. As a real treatise or commentary upon the +Game laws, it is worthless; as an attack upon the landed gentry, it +will doubtless be read in many quarters with extreme complacency. +Already, we observe, a portion of the press have made it a text-book +for strong political diatribes; and the influence of it will no +doubt be brought to bear upon the next general election. As we +ourselves happen to entertain what are called very liberal opinions +upon this subject of the Game laws, and as we maintain the principle +that in this, as in every other matter, the great interests and +rights of the community must be consulted, without reference to +class distinctions--as we wish to see the property of the rich and +the liberties of the poor respected--as we consider the union and +cordial co-operation between landlord and tenant the chief guarantee +which this country yet possesses against revolution, and the triumph +of insolent demagogues--our remarks upon the present subject may +not be ill-timed, or unworthy of the regard of those who think with +us, that, in spite of recent events, there yet may be something to +preserve. + +But, first, let us consider who this gentleman is that comes +forward, unsolicited, to tender his advice, and to preach agitation +to the tenantry of Great Britain. He is one of those persons who +rose with the League--one of those unscrupulous and ubiquitous +orators who founded and reared their reputation upon an avowed +hostility to the agricultural interests of the country. Upon this +point there can be no mistake. John Bright, member for Durham, is +a child of the corn, or rather the potato revolution, as surely as +Anacharsis Clootz was the _enfant trouve_ of the Reign of Terror. +With the abstract merits of that question we have nothing to do at +present. It is quite sufficient for us to note the fact, that he, +in so far as his opportunities and his talents went, was amongst +the most clamorous of the opponents to the protection of British +agriculture; and that fact is a fair and legitimate ground for +suspicion of his motives, when we find him appearing in the new +part of an agricultural champion and agitator. It is not without +considerable mistrust that we behold this slippery personage in +the garb and character of Triptolemus. He does not act it well. +The effects of the billy-roller are still conspicuous upon his +gait--he walks ill on hobnails--and is clearly more conversant +with devil's-dust and remnants than with tares. Some faint +suspicion of this appears at times to haunt even his own complacent +imagination. He is not quite sure that the farmers--or, in the +elegant phraseology of the League, the hawbucks and chawbacons--whom +he used to denounce as a race of beings immeasurably inferior in +intellectual capacity to the ricketty victims of the factories, +will believe all at once in the cordiality and disinterestedness of +their adviser; and therefore he throws out for their edification +a specious bit of pleading, which, no doubt, will be read with +conflicting feelings by some of those who participated in the +late conversion. "You have been taught to consider me, and those +with whom I have acted, as your enemies. You will admit that we +have never deceived you--that we have never TAMELY SURRENDERED +that which we have taught you to rely upon as the basis of your +prosperity--that we have not pledged ourselves to a policy +you approved, and then abandoned it; and as you have found me +persevering in the promotion of measures, which many of you deemed +almost fatal to your interests, but which I thought essential to the +public good, so you will find me as resolute in the defence of those +rights, which your own or your country's interests alike require +that you should possess." + +All this profession, however, we hope, will fail to persuade the +farmers that their late enemy has become their sudden friend; and +they will doubtless look with some suspicion upon the apocryphal +catalogue of grievances which Mr Bright has raked together, and, +with the aid of his associate, promulgated in the present volume. It +is not our intention at present to extract or go over the evidence +at large. We have read it minutely, and weighed it well. A great +part of it is utterly irrelevant, as bearing upon questions of +property and contract with which the legislature of no country could +interfere, and which even Mr Bright, though not over scrupulous in +his ideas of parliamentary appropriation, has disregarded in framing +the conclusions of the rejected report which he proposed for the +adoption of the committee. That portion, however, we shall not pass +over in silence. It is but right that the country at large should +see that this volume has been issued, not so much for the purpose +of obtaining a revision of the law, as of sowing discord amongst +the agriculturists themselves; and it is very remarkable that Mr +Bright, throughout the whole of his inflammatory address, _takes +no notice whatever of the Game laws_, or their prejudicial effect, +or their possible remedy by legislative enactment, but confines +himself to denunciation of the landlords as a class antagonistic +to the tenantry, and advice to the latter to combine against the +game-preserving habits of the gentry. + +Now this question between landlord and tenant has nothing to do +with the Game laws. The man who purchases an estate, purchases it +with every thing upon it. He has, strictly speaking, as much right +to every wild animal which is bred or even lodges there--if he can +only catch or kill them--as he has to the trees, or the turf, or any +other natural produce. The law protects him in this right, in so +far, that by complying with certain statutory regulations--one of +which relates to revenue, and requires from him a qualification to +sport, and another prescribes a period or rotation for shooting--he +may, within his own boundaries, take every animal which he meets +with, and may also prevent any stranger from interfering with or +encroaching upon that privilege. We do not now speak of penalties +for which the intruder may be liable. That is a separate question; +at present we confine ourselves to the abstract question of right. + +But neither game nor natural produce constitute that thing called +RENT, without which, since the days of forays have gone by, a +landowner cannot live. Accordingly, he proposes to let a certain +portion of his domains to a farmer, whose business is to cultivate +the soil, and to make it profitable. He does so; and unless a +distinct reservation is made to the contrary, the right to take +the game upon the farm so let, passes to the tenant, and can be +exercised by him irrespective of the wish of the landlord. If, on +the contrary, the landlord refuses to part with that right which is +primarily vested in his person, and which, of course, he is at full +liberty either to reserve or surrender, the proposing tenant must +take that circumstance into consideration in his offer of rent for +the farm. The game then becomes as much a matter of calculation as +the nature of the soil, the necessity of drainage, or the peculiar +climate of the farm. The tenant must be guided by the principles +of ordinary prudence, and make such a deduction from his offer as +he considers will compensate him for the loss which his crop may +sustain through the agency of the game. If he neglects to do this, +he has no reasonable ground for murmuring--if he does it, he is +perfectly safe. Such is the plain simple nature of the case, from +which one would think it difficult to extract any clamant grievance, +at least between the landlord and the tenant. No doubt the tenantry +of the country individually and generally may, if they please, +insist in all cases on a complete surrender of the game; and if +they do, it is far more than possible that their desire will be +universally complied with. But, then, they will have to pay higher +rents. The landlord is no gainer in respect of game, nay, he is a +direct loser; for the fact of his preservation and reserval of it +reduces the amount of rent which he otherwise would receive, and, +besides this, he is at much expense in preserving. Game is his hobby +which he insists upon retaining: he does so, and he actually pays +for it. Therefore, when a tenant states that he has lost so much in +a particular year in consequence of the game upon his farm, that +statement must be understood with a qualification. His crop may +indeed have suffered to a certain extent; but then he has been paid +for that deterioration already, the payment being the difference +of rent, fixed between him and the landlord for the occupation of +a game farm, less than what he would have offered for it had there +been no game there, or had the right to kill it been conceded. + +"O but," says Mr Bright, or some other of the _soi-disant_ friends +of the farmer, "there is an immense competition for land, and +the farmers will not make bargains!" And whose fault is that? We +recollect certain apothegms rather popular a short while ago, about +buying in the cheapest and selling in the dearest market, and so +forth, and we have always understood that the real price of an +article is determined by the demand for it. If any farm is put up +to auction under certain conditions, there is no hardship whatever +in exacting the rent from the highest successful competitor. +The reservation of the right to kill game is as competent to +the proprietor as the fixing the rotation of the crops, or the +conditions against scourging the soil. The landlord, when he lets a +farm, does not by any means, as Mr Bright and his legal coadjutor +appear to suppose, abandon it altogether to the free use of the +tenant. He must of necessity make conditions, because he still +retains his primary interest in the soil; and if these were not +made, the land would in all probability be returned to him after +the expiry of the lease, utterly unprofitable and exhausted, it +being the clear interest of the tenant to take as much out of it +as possible during the currency of his occupation. Now all these +conditions are perfectly well known to the competing farmer, and if +he is not inclined to assent to them, he need not make an offer for +the land. Does Mr Bright mean to assert that the competition for +land is so great, that the tenant-farmers are absolutely offering +more than the subjects which they lease are worth? If so, the most +gullible person on the face of this very gullible earth would not +believe him. To aver that any body of men in this country, are +wilfully and avowedly carrying on a trade or profession at a certain +loss, is to utter an absurdity so gross as to be utterly unworth a +refutation. And if Mr Bright does not mean this, we shall thank him +to explain how the competition for land is a practical grievance to +the farmer. + +Nevertheless, we are far from maintaining that the system of strict +game preservation is either wise or creditable, and we shall state +our arguments to the contrary hereafter. At present let us proceed +with Mr Welford. + +About one-half, or even more, of this volume, is occupied with +evidence to prove that the preservation of game upon an estate is +more or less detrimental to the crops. Who denies it? Pheasants, +though they may feed a great deal upon wild seeds and insects, +are unquestionably fond of corn--so are partridges; and hares +and rabbits have too good taste to avoid a field of clover or of +turnips. And shall this--says Mr Bright, having recourse to a late +rhetoric--shall this be permitted in a Christian or a civilised +country? Are there not thousands of poor to whom that grain, wasted +upon mere vermin, would be precious? Are our aristocracy so selfish +as to prefer the encouragement of brute animals to the lives of +their fellow men? &c. &c; to all of which eloquent bursts the pious +Mr Welford subjoins his ditto and Amen. For our own part, we can +see no reason why hares, and pheasants, and partridges, should not +be fed as well as Quakers. While living they are undoubtedly more +graceful creatures, when dead they are infinitely more valuable. +When removed from this scene of transitory trouble, Mr Bright, +except in an Owhyhean market, would fetch a less price than an +ordinary rabbit. Our taste may be peculiar, but we would far rather +see half-a-dozen pretty leverets at play in a pasture field of an +evening, than as many hulking members of the Anti-Corn-Law League +performing a ponderous saraband. Vermin indeed! Did Mr Bright ever +see a Red-deer? We shrewdly suspect not; and if, peradventure, he +were to fall in with the monarch of the wilderness in the rutting +season, somewhere about the back of Schehallion or the skirts of +the moor of Rannoch, there would be a yell loud enough to startle +the cattle on a thousand hills, and a rapid disparition of the +drab-coloured integuments into the bosom of a treacherous peat-bog. +But a Red-deer, too, will eat corn, and often of a moonlight night +his antlers may be seen waving in the crofts of the upland tenant; +therefore, according to Mr Bright, he too is vermin, and must be +exterminated accordingly. + +And this brings us to Mr Welford's grand remedy, which is abundantly +apparent from the notes and commentaries interspersed throughout the +volume. This gentleman, in the plenitude of his consideration for +the well-being of his country, is deliberately of opinion that game +should be exterminated altogether! Here is a bloody-minded fellow +for you with a vengeance! + + "What! all my pretty chickens and their dam! + Did you say all?" + +What! shall not a single hare, or pheasant, or partridge, or +plover, or even a solitary grouse, be spared from the swoop of +this destroying kite? Not one. Richard Griffiths Welford, Esquire, +Barrister-at-law, has undertaken to rouse the nation from its +deadly trance. Yet a few years, and no more shall the crow of the +gorcock be heard on the purple heath, or the belling of the deer +in the forest, or the call of the landrail in the field. No longer +shall we watch at evening the roe gliding from the thicket, or the +hare dancing across the lawn. They have committed a crime in a +free-tradeland--battened incontinently upon corn and turnips--and, +therefore, they must all die! Grain, although our ports are to be +opened, has now become a sacred thing, and is henceforward to be +dedicated to the use of man alone. Therefore we are not without +apprehension that the sparrows must die too, and the thrushes and +blackbirds--for they make sad havoc in our dear utilitarian's +garden--and the larks, and the rooks, and the pigeons. Voiceless now +must be our groves in the green livery of spring. There shall be no +more chirping, or twittering, or philandering among the branches--no +cooing or amorous dalliance, or pairing on the once happy eve of +St Valentine. All the _fauna_ of Britain--all the melodists of the +woods--must die! In one vast pie must they be baked, covered in +with a monumental crust of triumphant flour, through which their +little claws may appear supplicantly peering upwards, as if to +implore some mercy for the surviving stragglers of their race. +But stragglers there cannot be many. Timber, according to our +patriotic Welford, is, "next to game, the farmer's chief enemy!" +What miserable idiots our infatuated ancestors must have been! They +thought that by planting they were conferring a boon upon their +country; and in Scotland in particular they strove most anxiously to +redeem the national reproach. But they were utterly wrong: Welford +has said it. Timber is a nuisance--a sort of vegetable vermin, we +suppose--so down must go Dodona and her oaks; and the pride of the +forests be laid for ever low. Nothing in all broad England--and +we fear also with us--must hereafter overtop the fields of wheat +except the hedgerows! Timber is inimical to the farmer; therefore, +free be the winds to blow from the German ocean to the Atlantic, +without encountering the resistance of a single forest--no more +tossing of the branches or swaying of the stems--or any thing save +the steeples, fast falling in an age of reason into decay, the bulk +of some monstrous workhouse, as dingy and cheerless as a prison, and +the pert myriads of chimney-stalks of the League belching forth, in +the face of heaven, their columns of smoke and of pollution! Happy +England, when these things shall come to pass, and not a tree or a +bush be left as a shelter for the universal vermin! No--not quite +universal, for a respite will doubtless be given to the persecuted +races of the badger, the hedgehog, the polecat, the weasel, and the +stoat. All these are egg-eaters or game-consumers, and so long as +they keep to the hedgerows and assist in the work of extermination, +they will not only be spared but encouraged. Let them, however, +beware. So soon as the last egg of the last English partridge is +sucked, and the last of the rabbits turned over in convulsive +throes, with the teeth of a fierce little devil inextricably +fastened in its jugular--so soon as the rage of hunger drives the +present Pariahs of the preserve to the hen-roost--human forbearance +is at an end, and their fate also is sealed. The hen-harrier and +the sparrowhawk, so long as they quarter the fields, pounce upon +the imprudent robin, or strike down the lark while caroling upon +the verge of the cloud, will be considered in our new state of +society, as sacred animals as the Ibis. But let them, after having +fulfilled their mission, deviate from the integrity of their ways, +and come down upon a single ginger-pile, peeping his dirty way over +the shards of a midden, towards his scrauching and be-draggled +mother--and the race will be instantly proscribed. A few years more, +and, according to the system of Messrs Bright and Welford, not a +single wild animal--could we not also get rid of the insects?--will +be found within the confines of Great Britain, except the gulls who +live principally upon fish; and possibly, should there be a scarcity +of herring, it may be advisable to exterminate them also. + +Here is a pretty state of matters! First, there is to be no more +sporting. That, of course, in the eyes of Messrs Bright and Welford, +who know as much about shooting as they do of trigonometry, is a +very minor consideration; but even there we take leave to dissent. +Gouty and frail as we are, we have yet a strong natural appetite for +the moors, and we shall wrestle to the last for our privilege with +the sturdiest broadbrim in Quakerdom. Our boys shall be bred as we +were, with their foot upon the heather, in the manliest and most +exhilarating of all pastimes; and that because we wish to see them +brought up as Christians and gentlemen, not as puzzle-pated sceptics +or narrow-minded utilitarian theorists. We desire to see them +attain their full development, both of mind and body--to acquire a +kindly and a keen relish for nature--to love their sovereign and +their country--to despise all chicanery and deceit--and to know +and respect the high-minded peasantry and poor of their native +land. We have no idea that they shall be confined in their exercise +or their sports to the public highway. We do not look upon this +earth or island as made solely to produce corn for the supply of +Mr Bright and his forced population. We wish that the youth of our +country should be taught that God has created other beings besides +the master and the mechanic--that the beasts of the field and the +fowls of the air have a value in their Maker's eye, and that man +has a commisson to use them, but not to exterminate and destroy. +"My opinion is," says Mr Bright, speaking with a slight disregard +to grammar, of the sporting propensities of the landed gentry--"my +opinion is, that there are other pursuits which it will better +become them to follow, and which it will be a thousand times better +for the country if they turn their attention to them." For Mr +Bright's opinion, we have not the smallest shadow of respect. We can +well believe that, personally, he has not the slightest inclination +to participate in the sports of the field. We cannot for a moment +imagine him in connexion with a hunting-field, or toiling over +moor or mountain in pursuit of his game, or up to his waist in a +roaring river with a twenty-pound salmon on his line, making its +direct way for the cataract. In all and each of these situations we +are convinced that he would be utterly misplaced. We can conceive +him, and no doubt he is, much at home in the superintendence of the +gloomy factory--in the centre of a hecatomb of pale human beings, +who toil on day and night in that close and stifling atmosphere, as +ceaselessly and almost as mechanically as the wheels which drone and +whistle and clank above and around them--in the midst of his stores +of calico, and cotton, and corduroy--in the midnight councils of the +grasping League, or the front of a degraded hustings. But from none +of these situations whatever, has he any right to dictate to the +gentlemen of Britain what they should do, or what they should leave +undone. He has neither an eye for nature, nor a heart to participate +in rural amusements. And a very nice place an English manor-house +would be under his peculiar superintendence and the operation of the +new regime! In the morning we should meet, ladies and gentlemen, in +the breakfast-room, all devoutly intent upon the active demolition +of the muffins. Tea and coffee there are in abundance--but not good, +for the first has the flavour of the hedges, and the second reminds +us villanously of Hunt's roasted corn. There are eggs, however, and +on the sideboard rest a large round of beef, with a thick margin +of rancid yellow fat, and a ham which is literal hog's-lard. There +are no fish. The trouting stream has been turned from its natural +course to move machinery, and now rolls to the shrinking sea, not +in native silver, but in alternate currents of indigo, ochre, or +cochineal, according to the hue most in request for the moment at +the neighbouring dye-work. In vain you look about for grouse-pie, +cold partridge, snipe, or pheasant. You might as well ask for a +limb of the ichthyosaurus as for a wing of these perished animals. +Deuce a creature is there in the room except bipeds, and they are +all of the manufacturing breed. You recollect the days of old, +when your entry into the breakfast-room used to be affectionately +welcomed by terrier, setter, and spaniel, and you wonder what has +become of these ancient inmates of the family. On inquiry you are +informed, that--being non-productive animals, and mere consumers of +food which ought to be reserved for the use of man alone--they have +one and all of them been put to death: and your host points rather +complacently to the effigy of old Ponto, who has been stuffed by +way of a specimen of an extinct species, and who now glares at you +with glassy eyes from beneath the shelter of the mahogany sideboard. +Tired of the conversation, which is principally directed towards +the working of the new tariff, the last improvement in printed +calicoes, and the prices of some kind of stock which appears to +fluctuate as unaccountably as the barometer, you rise from table +and move towards the window in hopes of a pleasant prospect. You +have it. The old park, which used to contain some of the finest +trees in Britain--oaks of the Boscobel order, and elms that were +the boast of the country--is now as bare as the palm of your hand, +and broken up into potato allotments. The shrubbery and flower +parterres, with their elegant terrace vases and light wire fences, +have disappeared. There is not a bush beyond a few barberries, +evidently intended for detestable jam, nor a flower, except some +chamomiles, which may be infused into a medicinal beverage, and a +dozen great stringy coarse-looking rhubarbs, enough to give you the +dyspepsia, if you merely imagine them in a tart. At the bottom +of the slope lies the stream whereof we have spoken already, not +sinuous or fringed with alders as of yore; but straight as an arrow, +and fashioned into the semblance of a canal. It is spanned on the +part which is directly in front of the windows, by a bridge on the +skew principle, the property of a railway company; and at the moment +you are gazing on the landscape in a sort of admiring trance, an +enormous train of coal and coke waggons comes rushing by, and a +great blast of smoke and steam rolling past the house, obscures for +a moment the utilitarian beauty of the scene. That dissipated, you +observe on the other side of the canal several staring red brick +buildings, with huge chimney-stalks stinking in the fresh, frosty +morning air. These are the factories of your host, the source of +his enviable wealth; and yonder dirty village which you see about +half a mile to the right, with its squab Unitarian lecture room, +is the abode of his honest artisans. Nevertheless, you see nobody +stirring about. How should you? The whole population is comfortably +housed, for the next twelve hours at least, within brick, and +assisting the machinery to do its work. No idleness now in England. +Had you, indeed, risen about five or six in the morning, when the +clatter of a sullen bell roused you from your dreams of Jemima, you +might have seen some scores of lanterns meandering like glow-worms +along the miry road which leads from the village to the factories, +until absorbed within their early jaws. That is the appointed time +for the daily emigration, and until all the taskwork is done, no +straggling whatever is permitted. The furthest object in view is a +parallelogram Bastile on the summit of a hill, once wooded to the +top, and well known to the rustics as the place where the fullest +nuts and the richest May-flowers might be gathered, but now in +turnips, and you are told that the edifice is the Union Workhouse. + +Breakfast over, you begin to consider how you shall fill up the +dreary vacuum which still yawns between you and dinner. Of course +you cannot shoot, unless you are inclined to take a day at the ducks +and geese, which would be rather an expensive amusement. You covet +a ride, and propose a scamper across the country. Our dear sir, it +is as much as your life is worth! What with canals and viaducts, +and railways and hedgerows, you could not get over a mile without +either being plunged into water, or knocked down by tow ropes, or +run into by locomotives, or pitched from embankments, or impaled +alive, or slain by a stroke of electricity from some telegraphic +conductor! Recollect that we are not now living in the days of +steeple-chasing. Then as to horses, are you not aware that our +host keeps only two--and fine sleek, sturdy Flanders brutes they +are--for the purpose of conveying Mrs Bobbins and her progeny to the +meeting-house? There is no earthly occasion for any more expensive +stud. The railway station is just a quarter of a mile from the door, +and Eclipse himself could never match our new locomotives for speed. +But you may have a drive if you please, and welcome. Where shall we +go to? There used to be a fine waterfall at an easy distance, with +rocks, and turf, and wildflowers, and all that sort of thing; and +though the season is a little advanced, we might still make shift +under the hazels and the hollies; could we not invite the ladies +to accompany us, and extemporise a pic-nic? Our excellent friend! +that waterfall exists no longer. It was a mere useless waste; has +been blown up with gun-cotton; and the glen below it turned into a +reservoir for the supply of a manufacturing town. The hazels are +all down, and the hollies pounded into birdlime. And that fine old +baronial residence, where there were such exquisite Claudes and +Ruysdaels? Oh! that estate was bought by Mr Smalt the eminent dyer, +from the trustees of the late Lord--the old mansion has been pulled +down, a cottage _ornee_ built in its place, and the pictures were +long ago transferred to the National Gallery. And is there nothing +at all worth seeing in the county? Oh yes! There is Tweel's new +process for making silk out of sow's ears, and Bottomson's clothing +mills, where you see raw wool put into one end of the machinery, +and issue from the other in the shape of ready-made breeches. Then +a Socialist lecture on the sin and consequences of matrimony will +be delivered in the market-town at two o'clock precisely, by Miss +Lewdlaw--quite a lady, I assure you--whom you will afterwards meet +at dinner. Or you may, if you please, attend the meeting of the +Society for the Propagation of a Natural Religion, at which the +Rev. Mr Scampson will preside; or you may go down to the factories, +or any where else you please, except the village, for there is a +great deal of typhus fever in it, and we are a little apprehensive +for the children! You decline these tempting offers, and resolve to +spend the morning in the house. Is there a billiard room? How can +you possibly suppose it? Time, sir, is money; and money is not to +be made by knocking about ivory balls. But there is the library if +you should like to study, and plenty material within it. Delighted +at the prospect of passing some congenial though solitary hours, you +enter the apartment, and, disregarding the models upon the table, +which are intended to elucidate the silk and sow's-ear process, +you ransack the book-shelves for some of your ancient favourites. +But in vain you will search either for Shakspeare or Scott, Milton +or Fielding, Jeremy Taylor or Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine: all +these are proscribed antiquities. Instead of these you will find +Essays by Hampden, junior, and Ethics by Thistlewood, senior, +Paine's Age of Reason, Jeremy Bentham's Treatises, Infanticide +Vindicated, by Herod Virginius Cackell, Esq., Member of the Literary +Institute of Owenstown, Cobden's Speeches, Wheal's Exposition of +the Billy-roller, Grubb's Practical Deist, Welford's Influences of +the Game Laws, and much more such profitable reading. What would +you not give for a volume by Willison Glass! Disgusted with this +literary miscellany, you chuck the Practical Deist into the fire, +and walk up-stairs to rejoin the ladies. You find them in the +drawing-room hard at work upon cross-stitch and pincushions for +the great Bazar which is shortly to be opened under the auspices +of the Anti-Christian League, and you feel for a moment like an +intruder. But Emily Bobbins, a nice girl, who will have thirty +thousand pounds when her venerated sire is conveyed to the Mausoleum +of the Bobbinses, and who has at this present moment a very pretty +face, trips up and asks you for a contribution to her yearly album. +Yearly?--the phrase is an odd one, and you crave explanation. +The blooming virgin informs you that she edits an annual volume, +popular in certain circles, for the Society for the Abolition of +all Criminal Punishment, she being a corresponding Member; and she +presents you with last year's compilation. You open the work, and +find some literary _bijouterie_ by the disciples of the earnest +school, poems on the go-a-head principle, and tales under such +captivating titles as the Virtuous Poacher, Theresa, or the Heroine +of the Workhouse, and Walter Truck, an Easy Way with the Mechanic. +There are also sundry political fragments by the deep-thinkers of +the age, from which you discover that Regicide is the simplest cure +for "Flunkeyism, Baseness, and Unveracity," and that the soundest +philosophers of the world are two gentlemen, rejoicing in the +exotic names of Sauerteig and Teufelsdroeckh. You, being a believer +in the Book of Common Prayer, decline to add your contribution +to the Miscellany, and make the best of your way from the house +for a stroll upon the public highway. For some hours you meander +through the mud, between rows of stiff hedges; not a stage-coach, +nor even a buggy is to be seen. You sigh for the old green lanes +and shady places which have now disappeared for ever, and you begin +to doubt whether, after all, regenerated England is the happiest +country of the universe. It appears an absolute desert. At a turn +of a road you come in sight of a solitary venerable crow--the sole +surviving specimen of his race still extant in the county--whose +life is rendered bitter by a system of unceasing persecution. He +mistakes you for Mr Richard Griffiths Welford, and, with a caw of +terror, takes flight across a Zahara of Swedish turnips. On your +way home you meet with three miserable children who are picking the +few unwithered leaves from the hedges. You cross-question them, +and ascertain that they receive a salary of twopence a-day from +the owner of the truck-shop at the factory, in return for their +botanical collections. You think of China, with a strong conviction +of the propriety of becoming a Mandarin. + +At dinner you are seated betwixt Miss Lewdlaw and the Rev. Mr +Scampson. The appearance of the lady convinces you that she has +excellent reasons for her deep-rooted hatred of matrimony--for +what serpent (in his senses) would have tempted that dropsical +Eve? The gentleman is a bold, sensual-lipped, pimply individual, +attired in a rusty suit of black, the very picture of a brutal +Boanerges. He snorts during his repast, clutches with his huge red +fingers, whereof the nails are absolute ebony, at every dish within +his reach, and is constantly shouting for a dram. The dinner is a +plentiful one, but ill-cooked and worse served; and the wines are +simply execrable. Very drearily lags the time until the ladies +rise to retire, a movement which is greeted by Mr Scampson with +a coarse joke and a vulgar chuckle. Then begin the sweets of the +evening. Old Bobbins draws your especial attention to his curious +old free-trade port, at eighteen shillings the dozen; and very +curious, upon practical examination, you will find it. After three +glasses, you begin to suspect that you have swallowed a live crab +unawares, and you gladly second Mr Scampson in his motion for +something hot. The conversation then becomes political, and, to a +certain extent, religious. Bobbins, who has a brother in Parliament, +is vehement in his support of the Twenty Hours' Labour Bill, and +insists upon the necessity of a measure for effectually coercing +apprentices. Bugsley, his opposite neighbour, can talk of nothing +but stock and yarn. But Scampson, in right of his calling, takes +the lion's share of the conversation. He denounces the Church, +not yet dis-established--hopes to see the day when every Bishop +upon the Bench shall be brought to the block--and stigmatises the +Universities as the nests of bigotry and intolerance. With many +oaths, he declares his conviction that Robespierre was a sensible +fellow--and as he waxes more furious over each successive tumbler, +you wisely think that there may be some danger in contradicting so +virulent a champion, and steal from the room at the first convenient +opportunity. In the drawing-room you find Miss Lewdlaw descanting +upon her favourite theories. She is expounding to Emily Bobbins her +rights as a socialist and a woman, and illustrating her lecture by +some quotations from the works of Aurora Dudevant. The sweet girl, +evidently under the magnetic influence of her preceptress, regards +you with a humid eye and flushed cheek as you enter; but having no +fancy to approach the charmed circle of the Lewdlaw, you keep at +the other end of the room, and amuse yourself with an illustrated +copy of Jack Sheppard. In a short time, Bobbins, Bugsley, and +Scampson, the last partially inebriated, make their appearance; and +an animated erotic dialogue ensues between the gentleman in dubious +orders, and the disciple of Mary Wolstonecraft. You begin to feel +uncomfortable, and as Bugsley is now snoring, and Bobbins attempting +to convince his helpmate of the propriety of more brandy and water, +you desert the drawing-room, bolt up-stairs, pack your portmanteau, +and go to bed with a firm resolution to start next morning by the +earliest train; and as soon as possible to ascertain whether Jemima +will consent to accompany you to Canada or Australia, or some other +uncivilised part of the world where trees grow, waters run, and +animals exist as nature has decreed, and where the creed of the +socialist and jargon of the factory are fortunately detested or +unknown. + +Such, gentle reader, is the England which the patriots of the Bright +school are desirous to behold; and such it may become if we meekly +and basely yield to revolutionary innovations, and conciliate every +demagogue by adopting his favourite nostrum. We have certainly been +digressing a good deal further than is our wont; but we trust you +will not altogether disapprove of our expedition to the new Utopia. +We hope that your present, and a great many future Christmasses may +be spent more pleasantly; and that, in your day at least, peace may +never be effected at the expense of a virtual solitude. Let us now +consider what alterations may properly and humanely be made upon the +present existing Game laws. + +On the whole, we are inclined to agree with the resolutions adopted +by the committee. These appear to recognise the principle of a +qualified right of property in game, and that this property is now +vested in the _occupier_ of the soil. By this rule which may if +necessary be declared by enactment, the tenant has at all times +the power to secure the game to himself, unless he chooses to part +with that right by special bargain. It is of course inconsistent +with this qualified right of property, that any person should +kill game upon lands which he is not privileged to enter; and the +committee are therefore of opinion, that the violation of that +right should still continue to be visited with legal penalties. But +they think--and in this we most cordially agree with them--that +considerable alteration should be made in the present penal code, +and that, in particular, cumulative penalties for poaching should +be abolished. It is monstrous that such penalties, to which the +poorer classes in this country are most peculiarly liable, should +be any longer allowed to exist, while the offence which these are +intended to punish is in every proper sense a single one. We are +inclined to get rid of every difficulty on this head by an immediate +discontinuance of the certificates. The amount of revenue drawn from +these is really insignificant, and in many cases it must stand in +the way of a fair exercise of his privilege by the humbler occupant +of the soil. If a poor upland crofter, who rents an acre or two from +a humane landlord, and who has laid out part of it in a garden, +should chance to see, of a clear frosty night, a hare insinuate +herself through the fence, and demolish his winter greens--it is +absolute tyranny to maintain, that he may not reach down the old +rusty fowling-piece from the chimney, take a steady vizzy at puss, +and tumble her over in the very act of her delinquency, without +having previously paid over for the use of her gracious Majesty +some four pounds odds; or otherwise to be liable in a penalty +of twenty pounds, with the pleasant alternative of six months' +imprisonment! In such a case as this the man is not sporting; he +is merely protecting his own, is fairly entitled to convert his +enemy into wholesome soup, and should be allowed to do so with a +conscience void of offence towards God or man. We must have no state +restrictions or qualifications to a right of property which may be +enjoyed by the smallest cotter, and no protective laws to debar him +from the exercise of his principle. And therefore it is that we +advocate the immediate abolition of the certificate. + +What the remaining penalty should be is matter for serious +consideration. It appears evident that the common law of redress +is not sufficient. Game is at best but a qualified property; for +your interest in it ceases the moment that it leaves your land; +but still you _have_ an interest, may be a considerable pecuniary +loser by its infringement, and therefore you are entitled to demand +an adequate protection. But then it is hardly possible, when we +consider what human nature with all its powerful instincts is, to +look upon poaching in precisely the same light with theft. By no +process of mental ratiocination can you make a sheep out of a hare. +You did not buy the creature, it is doubtful whether you bred it, +and in five minutes more it may be your neighbour's property, and +that of its own accord. You cannot even reclaim it, though born in +your private hutch. Now this is obviously a very slippery kind of +property; and the poor man--who knows these facts quite as well +as the rich, and who is moreover cursed with a craving stomach, a +large family, and a strong appetite for roast--is by no means to be +considered, morally or equitably, in the same light with the ruffian +who commits a burglary for the sake of your money, or carries away +your sheep from the fold. It ought to be, if it is not, a principle +in British law, that the temptation should be considered before +adjudging upon the particular offence. The schoolboy--whose natural +propensity for fruit has been roused by the sight of some far too +tempting pippins, and who, in consequence, has undertaken the +hazard of a midnight foray--is, if detected in the act, subjected to +no further penalty than a pecuniary mulct or a thrashing, especially +if his parents belong to the more respectable classes of society. +And yet this is a theft as decided and more inexcusable, than if the +nameless progeny of a vagrant should, hunger-urged, filch a turnip +or two from a field, and be pounced upon by some heartless farmer, +who considers that he is discharging every heavenly and earthly duty +if he pays his rent and taxes with unscrupulous punctuality. It is +a crying injustice that any trifling piccadillo on the part of the +poor or their children, should be treated with greater severity than +is used in the case of the rich. This is neither an equitable nor a +Christian rule. We have no right to subject the lowest of the human +family to a contamination from which we would shrink to expose the +highest; and the true sense of justice and of charity, which, after +all, we believe to be deeply implanted in the British heart, will, +we trust, before long, spare us the continual repetition of class +Pariahs of infant years brought forward in small courts of justice +for no other apparent reason than to prove, that our laws care more +leniently for the rich than they do for the offspring of the poor. + +While, therefore, we consider it just that game should be protected +otherwise than by the law of trespass, we would not have the +penalty made, in isolated cases, a harsh one. A trespass in pursuit +of game should, we think, be punished in the first instance by a +fine, not so high as to leave the labourer no other alternative +than the jail, or so low as to make the payment of it a matter of +no importance. Let Giles, who has intromitted with a pheasant, be +mulcted in a week's wages, and let him, at the same time, distinctly +understand the nature and the end of the career in which he has +made the incipient step. Show him that an offence, however venial, +becomes materially aggravated by repetition; for it then assumes +the character of a daring and wilful defiance of the laws of the +realm. For the second of offence mulct him still, but higher, and +let the warning be more solemnly repeated. These penalties might be +inflicted by a single justice of the peace. But if Giles offends +a third time, his case becomes far more serious, and he should be +remitted to a higher tribunal. It is now almost clear that he has +become a confirmed poacher, and determined breaker of the laws--it +is more than likely that money is his object. Leniency has been +tried without success, and it is now necessary to show him that the +law will not be braved with impunity. Three months' imprisonment, +with hard labour, should be inflicted for the purpose of reclaiming +him; and if, after emerging from prison, he should again offend, let +him forthwith be removed from the country. + +Some squeamish people may object to our last proposal as severe. +We do not think it so. The original nature of the offence has +become entirely changed; for it must be allowed on all hands, +that habitual breach of the laws is a very different thing from +a casual effraction. It would be cruelty to transport an urchin +for the first handkerchief he has stolen; but after his fourth +offence, that punishment becomes an actual mercy. Nor should the +moral effect produced by the residence of a determined poacher in +any neighbourhood be overlooked. A poacher can rarely carry on +his illicit trade without assistance: he entices boys by offering +them a share in his gains, introduces them to the beer and the gin +shop, and thus they are corrupted for life. It is sheer nonsense to +say that poaching does not lead to other crimes. It leads in the +first instance to idleness, which we know to be the parent of all +crime; and it rapidly wears away all finer sense of the distinction +between _meum_ and _tuum_. From poacher the transition to smuggler +is rapid and easy, and your smuggler is usually a desperado. With +all deference to Mr Welford, his conclusion, that poaching should be +prevented by the entire extermination of game, is a most pitiable +instance of calm imperturbable imbecility. He might just as well say +that the only means of preventing theft is the total destruction of +property, and the true remedy for murder the annihilation of the +human race. + +We agree also with the committee, that some distinction must +be made between cases of simple poaching, and those which are +perpetrated by armed and daring gangs. To these banditti almost +every instance of assault and murder connected with poaching is +traceable, and the sooner such fellows are shipped off to hunt +kangaroos in Australia the better. But we think that such penalties +as we have indicated above, would in most cases act as a practical +detention from this offence, and would certainly remove all ground +for complaint against the unnecessary severity of the law. + +With regard to the destruction of crops by game, especially when +caused by the preserves of a neighbouring proprietor, the committee +seems to have been rather at a loss to deal. And there is certainly +a good deal of difficulty in the matter. For on the one hand, the +game, while committing the depredation, is clearly not the property +of the preserver, and may of course be killed by the party to whose +ground it passes: on the other hand, it usually returns to the +preserve after all the damage has been done. This seems to be one +of the few instances in which the law can afford no remedy. The +neighbouring farmer may indeed either shoot in person, or let the +right of shooting to another; and in most cases he has the power to +do so--for if his own landlord is also a preserver, it is not likely +that the damage will be aggravated--and he has taken his farm in the +full knowledge of the consequences of game preservation. Still there +must always remain an evil, however partial, and this leads us to +address a few words to the general body of the game-preservers. + +Gentlemen, some of you are not altogether without fault in this +matter. You have given a handle to accusations, which your +enemies--and they are the enemies also of the true interests of the +country--have been eager and zealous in using. You have pushed your +privileges too far, and, if you do not take care, you will raise a +storm which it may be very difficult to allay. What, in the name of +common sense, is the use of this excessive preserving? You are not +blamed, nor are you blamable, for reserving the right of sporting +in your own properties to yourselves; but why make your game such +utterly sacred animals? Why encourage their over-increase to such a +degree as must naturally injure yourselves by curtailing your rent; +and which, undoubtedly, whatever be his bargain, must irritate the +farmer, and lessen that harmony and good-will which ought to exist +betwixt you both? Is it for sport you do these things? If so, your +definition of sport must be naturally different from ours. The +natural instinct of the hunter, which is implanted in the heart +of man, is in some respects a noble one. He does not, even in a +savage state, pursue his game, like a wild beast of prey, merely +for the sake of his appetite--he has a joy in the strong excitement +and varied incidents of the chase. The wild Indian and the Norman +disciple of St Hubert, alike considered it a science; and so it +is even now to us who follow our pastime upon the mountains, and +who must learn to be as wary and alert as the creatures which we +seek to kill. The mere skill of the marksman has little to do with +the real enjoyment of sport. That may be as well exhibited upon a +target as upon a living object, and surely there is no pleasure +at all in the mere wanton destruction of life. The true sportsman +takes delight in the sagacity and steadiness of his dogs--in seeking +for the different wild animals each in its peculiar haunt--and his +relish is all the keener for the difficulty and uncertainty of his +pursuit. Such at least is our idea of sport, and we should know +something about it, having carried a gun almost as long as we can +remember. But it is possible we may be getting antiquated in our +notions. Two months ago we took occasion to make some remarks upon +the modern murders on the moors, and we are glad to observe that our +humane doctrine has been received with almost general acquiescence. +We must now look to the doings at the Manor House, at which, Heaven +be praised, we never have assisted; but the bruit thereof has gone +abroad, and we believe the tidings to be true. + +We have heard of game preserved over many thousands of acres, not +waste, but yellow corn-land, with many an intervening belt of +noble wood and copse, until the ground seems actually alive with +the number of its animal occupants. The large, squat, sleek hares +lie couched in every furrow; each thistle-tuft has its lurking +rabbit; and ceaseless at evening is the crow of the purple-necked +pheasant from the gorse. The crops ripen, and are gathered in, +not so plentifully as the richness of the land would warrant, but +still strong and heavy. The partridges are now seen running in the +stubble-fields, or sunning themselves on some pleasant bank, so +secure that they hardly will take the trouble to fly away as you +approach, but generally slip through a hedge, and lie down upon the +other side. And no wonder; for not only has no gun been fired over +the whole extensive domain, though the autumn is now well advanced; +but a cordon of gamekeepers extends along the whole skirts of the +estate, and neither lurcher nor poacher can manage to effect an +entrance. Within ten minutes after they had set foot within the +guarded territory, the first would be sprawling upon his back in the +agonies of death, and the second on his way to the nearest justice +of peace, with two pairs of knuckles uncomfortably lodged within +the innermost folds of his neckcloth. The proprietor, a middle-aged +gentleman of sedentary habits, does not, in all probability, care +much about sporting. If he does, he rents a moor in Scotland, +where he amuses himself until well on in October, and then feels +less disposed for a tamer and a heavier sport. But in November he +expects, after his ancient hospitable fashion, to have a select +party at the manor-house, and he is desirous of affording them +amusement. They arrive, to the number, perhaps, of a dozen males, +some of then persons of an elevated rank, or of high political +connexion. There is considerable commotion on the estate. The staff +of upper and under keepers assemble with a large train of beaters +before the baronial gateway. They bring with them neither pointers +nor setters--these old companions of the sportsman are useless in +a battue; but there are some retrievers in the leash, and a few +well-broken spaniels. It is quite a scene for Landseer--that antique +portico, with the group before it, and the gay and sloping uplands +illuminated by a clear winter's sun. The guests sally forth, all +mirth and spirits, and the whole party proceed to an appointed +cover. Then begins the massacre. There is a shouting and rustling of +beaters: at every step the gorgeous pheasant whirs from the bush, or +the partridge glances slopingly through the trees, or the woodcock +wings his way on scared and noiseless pinion. Rabbits by the hundred +are scudding distractedly from one pile of brushwood to another. +Loud cries of "Mark!" are heard on every side, and at each shout +there is the explosion of a fowling-piece. No time now to stop and +load. The keeper behind you is always ready with a spare gun. How +he manages to cram in the powder and shot so quickly is an absolute +matter of marvel; for you let fly at every thing, and have lost all +regard to the ordinary calculations of distance. You had better take +care of yourself, however, for you are getting into a thicket, and +neither Sir Robert, who is on your right, nor the Marquis, who is +your left-hand neighbour, are remarkable for extra caution, and the +Baronet, in particular, is short-sighted. We don't quite like the +appearance of that hare which is doubling back. You had better try +to stop her before she reaches that vista in the wood. Bang!--you +miss, and, at the same moment, a charge of number five, from the +weapon of the Vavasour, takes effect upon the corduroys of your +thigh, and, though the wound is but skin-deep, makes you dance an +extempore fandango. + +And so you go on from cover to cover, for five successive hours, +through this rural poultry-yard, slaying, and, what is worse, +wounding without slaying, beyond all ordinary calculation. You +have had a good day's amusement, have you? Our dear sir, in the +estimation of any sensible man or thorough sportsman, you might as +well have been amusing yourself with a ride in the heart of Falkirk +Tryst, or assisting at one of those German Jagds, where the deer +are driven into inclosures, and shot down to the music of lute, +harp, cymbal, dulcimer, sackbut, and psaltery. In fact, between +ourselves, it is not a thing to boast of, and the amusement is, to +say the least of it, an expensive one. For the sake of giving you, +and the Marquis, and Sir Robert, and a few more, two or three days' +sport, your host has sacrificed a great part of the legitimate +rental of his estate--has maintained, from one end of the year to +the other, all those personages in fustian and moleskin--and has, +moreover, made his tenantry sulky. Do you think the price paid is in +any way compensated by the value received? Of course not. You are a +man of sense, and therefore, for the future, we trust that you will +set your face decidedly against the battue system: shoot yourself, +as a gentleman ought to do--or, if you do not care about it, give +permission to your own tenantry to do so. Rely upon it, they will +not abuse the privilege. + +The fact is, there never should be more than two coveys in one +field, or half-a-dozen hares in each moderate slip of plantation. +That, believe us, with the accession you will derive from your +neighbours, is quite sufficient to keep you in exercise during the +season, and to supply your table with game. No tenant whatever will +object to find food for such a stock. If you want more exciting +sport, come north next August, and we shall take you to a moor which +is preserved by a single shepherd's herd, where you may kill your +twenty brace a-day for a month, and have a chance of a red-deer +into the bargain. But, if you will not leave the south, do not, we +beseech you, turn yourself into a hen-wife, and become ridiculous +as a hatcher of pheasants' eggs. The thing, we are told, has been +done by gentlemen of small property, for the purpose of getting up +an appearance of game: it would be quite as sane a proceeding to +improve the beauty of a prospect by erecting cast-iron trees. Above +all things, whatever you do, remember that you are the denizen of a +free country, where individual rights, however sacred in themselves, +must not be extended to the injury of those around you. + +To say the truth, we have observed with great pain, that a far too +exclusive spirit has of late manifested itself in certain high +places, and among persons whom we regard too much to be wholly +indifferent to their conduct. This very summer the public press +has been indignant in its denunciation of the Dukes of Atholl and +Leeds--the one having, as it is alleged, attempted to shut up a +servitude road through Glen Tilt, and the other established a +cordon for many miles around the skirts of Ben-na-Mac-Dhui, our +highest Scottish mountain. We are not fully acquainted with the +particulars; but from what we have heard, it would appear that this +wholesale exclusion from a vast tract of territory is intended to +secure the solitude of two deer-forests. Now, we are not going to +argue the matter upon legal grounds--although, knowing something of +law, we have a shrewd suspicion that both noble lords are in utter +misconception of their rights, and are usurping a sovereignty which +is not to be found in their charters, and which was never claimed or +exercised even by the Scottish Kings. But the churlishness of the +step is undeniable, and we cannot but hope that it has proceeded far +more on thoughtlessness than from intention. The day has been, when +any clansman, or even any stranger, might have taken a deer from +the forest, tree from the hill, or a salmon from the river, without +leave asked or obtained: and though that state of society has long +since passed away, we never till now have heard that the free air +of the mountains, and their heather ranges, are not open to him +who seeks them. Is it indeed come to this, that in bonny Scotland, +the tourist, the botanist, or the painter, are to be debarred from +visiting the loveliest spots which nature ever planted in the heart +of a wilderness, on pretence that they disturb the deer! In a few +years we suppose Ben Lomond will be preserved, and the summit of Ben +Nevis remain as unvisited by the foot of the traveller as the icy +peak of the Jungfrau. Not so, assuredly, would have acted the race +of Tullibardine of yore. Royal were their hunting gatherings, and +magnificent the driving of the Tinchel; but over all their large +territory of Atholl, the stranger might have wandered unquestioned, +except to know if he required hospitality. It is not now the gate +which is shut, but the moor; and that not against the depredator, +but against the peaceful wayfaring man. Nor can we as sportsmen +admit even the relevancy of the reasons which have been assigned for +this wholesale exclusion. We are convinced, that in each season not +above thirty or forty tourists essay the ascent of Ben-na-Mac-Dhui, +and of that number, in all probability, not one has either met +or startled a red deer. Very few men would venture to strike out +a devious path for themselves over the mountains near Loch Aven, +which, in fact, constitute the wildest district of the island. +The Quaker tragedy of Helvellyn might easily be re-enacted amidst +the dreary solitudes of Cairn Gorm, and months elapse before your +friends are put in possession of some questionable bones. Nothing +but enthusiasm will carry a man through the intricacies of Glen +Lui, the property of Lord Fife, to whom it was granted at no very +distant period of time out of the forfeited Mar estates, and which +is presently rented by the Duke of Leeds; and nothing more absurd +can be supposed, than that the entry of a single wanderer into that +immense domain, can have the effect of scaring the deer from the +limits of so large a range. This is an absurd and an empty excuse, +as every deer-stalker must know. A stag is not so easily frightened, +nor will he fly the country from terror at the apparition of the +Cockney. Depend upon it, the latter will be a good deal the more +startled of the two. With open mouth and large gooseberry eyes, +he will stand gazing upon the vision of the Antlered Monarch; the +sketch-book and pencil-case drop from his tremulous hands, and +he stands aghast in apprehension of a charge of horning, against +which he has no defence save a cane camp-stool, folded up into the +semblance of a yellow walking-stick. Not so the Red-deer. For a few +moments he will regard the Doudney-clad wanderer of the wilds, not +in fear but in surprise; and then, snuffing the air which conveys +to his nostrils an unaccustomed flavour of bergamot and lavender, +he will trot away over the shoulder of the hill, move further up +the nearest corrie, and in a quarter of an hour will be lying down +amidst his hinds in the thick brackens that border the course of the +lonely burn. + +We could say a great deal more upon this subject; but we hope that +expansion is unnecessary. Throughout all Europe the right of passage +over waste and uncultivated land, where there never were and never +can be inclosures, appears to be universally conceded. What would +his Grace of Leeds say, if he were told that the Bernese Alps were +shut up, and the liberty of crossing them denied, because some Swiss +seigneur had taken it into his head to establish a chamois preserve? +The idea of preserving deer in the way now attempted is completely +modern, and we hope will be immediately abandoned. It must not, +for the sake of our country, be said, that in Scotland, not only +the inclosures, but the wilds and the mountains are shut out from +the foot of man; and that, where no highway exists, he is debarred +from the privilege of the heather. Whatever may be the abstract +legal rights of the aristocracy, we protest against the policy and +propriety of a system which would leave Ben Cruachan to the eagles, +and render Loch Ericht and Loch Aven as inaccessible as those mighty +lakes which are said to exist in Central Africa, somewhere about the +sources of the Niger. + + + + +INDEX TO VOL. LX. + + + Abd-el-Kader, sketches of, 348. + + Adelaide, Queen, anecdote of, 584. + + Advice to an intending Serialist, 590. + + Affghanistan, sketch of the recent history of, 540. + + Agave Americana, the, 266. + + Agriculture in Mexico, 266. + + Aird, Thomas, a summer day by, 277. + + Aire, siege of, 529. + + Algeria, 534. + + America, effects of the discovery of, 261. + + Americans and Aborigines, the, a tale of the short war--Part + Last, 45. + + Anhalt, Prince of, 529. + + Annals and antiquities of London, 673. + + Anti-corn-law league, the, 250. + + Arabs, sketches of the, 341. + + Army, the, 129 + --present defects in, and their improvement, 131 + --punishments, 133 + --rewards, 136 + --sale of commissions, 137 + --education, 138 + --dress, 142. + + Arras, siege of, 527. + + Ascherson, Herr, 101. + + + Badger, habits of the, 497. + + Barrados, General, defeat of, 274. + + Barrett, Miss, poems by, 488. + + Bautzen, battle of, 579. + + Ben Douda, an Arab chief, 341. + + Bethune, capture of, 528. + + Blanco, General, 2. + + Blidah, town of, 339. + + Bocca di Cattaro, the, 431. + + Bona, town of, 344. + + Boston, town of, 474. + + Bouchain, siege of, 537. + + Bright, Mr, on the game laws, 757. + + British Association, remarks on the, 640. + + Burnes, Sir Alexander, murder of, 553. + + Bustamente, president of Mexico, 274. + + + Cabanero, General, 302. + + Cabellos' life of Cabrera, 295. + + Cabrera, sketch of the career of, 293. + + Callao, fort of, 3. + + Canada, sketches of, 464. + + Carbunculo of Peru, the, 193. + + Carlist war, sketches of the, 293. + + Carnicer, Colonel, 293, 294. + + Carnival in Peru, the, 9. + + Castel Fuerte, viceroy of Peru, 7. + + Cathedral of Mexico, the, 269. + + Cattaro, town of, 431. + + Cerro de Parco, silver mines of, 182. + + Change on Change, 492. + + Charles Russell, the gentleman commoner, Chap. I., 145 + --Chap. II., 309. + + Chili, war of, with Peru, 2. + + Christina of Spain, notices of, 741. + + Coco-tree of Peru, the, 189. + + Columbus, from Schiller, 333. + + Commissions, sale of, in the army, 137. + + Conde, Prince of, 704. + + Conde's Daughter, the, 496. + + Condor, the, 3. + + Cookery and Civilisation, 238. + + Cordilleras of Peru, the, 181. + + Corn-law repeal, on the, 249. + + Cortes, armour of, 270 + --conquest of Mexico by, 272. + + Coursing, passion for, in Peru, 15. + + Creoles of Peru, the, 8. + + Criminal law, on the, 721. + + + Dance, the, from Schiller, 480. + + Dead Rose, a, by E. B. Barrett, 491. + + Death of Zumalacarregui, the, 56. + + Dedomenicis, Signor, 103. + + Dejazet the actress, 413. + + Denmark, sketches of, 645. + + Diseases of Peru, the, 179, 181. + + Ditmarschers, the, 646. + + Dost Mohammed, sketch of the life of, 540. + + Douay, siege of, 525. + + Drama, the romantic, 161. + + Dramatic mysteries in Peru, 187. + + Dress of the army, the, 143. + + Dudevant, Madame, 423. + + Dumas, Alexander, notices of, 417. + + + Earthquakes in Lima, 13. + + Education of the soldier, on the, 138. + + Elinor Travis, a tale, Chap. II., 83. + --Chapter the Last, 444. + + England in the new world, 464. + + English Hexameters, letters on, + --Letter I., 19 + --Letter II., 327 + --Letter III., 477. + + English Poor laws, operation of the, 555. + + Epic poem, on the, 163. + + Espartero, General, 301. + + Espinoza, Major, anecdote of, 303. + + Esteller, death of, 303. + + Eugene, Prince, 34, 698. + + + Fergusson's notes of a professional life, review of, 129. + + Fishes of Peru, the, 18. + + Flogging in the army, on, 133. + + France, state of criminal procedure in, 721. + + Free trade, on, 249. + + Frieslanders, the, 651. + + From Schiller, 333. + + + Game laws, on the, 754. + + Gaming, prevalence of, in Mexico, 267. + + Germany, state of criminal law in, 721. + + Ghent, capture of, by Marlborough, 23. + + Girardin, M., 420. + + Gomez, General, 299. + + Guano deposits in Peru, the, 17. + + Gutzkow's Paris, review of, 411. + + + Hanging bridges of Peru, the, 182. + + Hector in the garden, by Elizabeth B. Barrett, 493. + + Heron, habits of the, 397. + + Hexameters, English, letters on + --Letter I., 19. + --Letter II., 327. + --Letter III., 477. + + Hidalgos, insurrection of, in Mexico, 272. + + Highland wild sports, 389. + + Historical romance, on the, 162. + + Hochelaga, or England in the New World, review of, 464. + + Holsche, Lieutenant, anecdotes of, 587, 588. + + Holstein, sketches of, 645. + + Honour to the Plough, 613. + + Horses of Algeria, the, 345 + --of Peru, 11. + + How I became a Yeoman--Chap. I., 358 + --Chap. II., 362 + --Chap. III., 366 + --Chap. IV., 371. + --Chap. V., 374. + + How to build a house and live in it--No. II., 349. + + Howden, Lord, death of Zumalacarregui by, 56. + + Hydropathy, on, 376. + + + Ignazio, 102. + + Imprisonment as a punishment, on, 722. + + Indians of Peru, the, 183, 185. + + Inns of Peru, the, 181. + + Inquisition in Peru, the, 7. + + Isabella of Spain, marriage of, 740. + + Iturbide, rise and fall of, 273. + + + Jalapa, city of, 265. + + Jamaica, Metcalfe's government of, 662. + + Janin, Jules, 421. + + Jesuits, expulsion of the, from Peru, 6. + + Jews in Algiers, the, 344. + + Juan Fernandez, island of, 3. + + Juan Santos, insurrection of, 190. + + + Kabyles, the, 345. + + Kennedy's Algeria, review of, 334. + + Kingston, town of, 470. + + Kleist, General, 579. + + Kohl in Denmark and the Marshes, review of, 645. + + Kulm, battle of, 581. + + + Lal, Mohan, Life of Dost Mahommed by, 539. + + Last recollections of Napoleon, 110. + + Late and present Ministry, the, 249. + + Lays and legends of the Thames, 729. + + Law, the, and its punishments, 721. + + Letters and impressions from Paris, 411. + + Letters on English Hexameters + --Letter I., 19. + --Letter II., 327. + --Letter III., 477. + + Life at the water cure, review of, 376. + + Lille, siege and citadel of, 22. + + Lima, town of, 5. + + Lodge, A., the Minstrel's Curse, by, 177. + + London, annals and antiquities of, 673. + + London Bridge, 730. + + Louis XIV., character of, 517 + --contrasted with William III., 522. + + Louis Philippe and the Spanish marriages, 742. + + Lowe, Sir Hudson, 122, 126. + + Luigia de Medici, 614. + + Lutzen, battle of, 578. + + + Maconochie, Captain, on punishment, 725. + + Malplaquet, battle of, 33. + + Man's requirements, by Elizabeth B. Barrett, 489. + + Marey, General, 340. + + Market of Lima, the, 12. + + Marlborough's Dispatches, 1708, 1709, 22 + --1710, 1711, 517 + --1711, 1712, 690 + --his death and character, 702. + + Marshall's Military Miscellany, review of, 129. + + Maude's Spinning, by E. B. Barrett, 490. + + Medeah, town of, 340. + + Mesmeric mountebanks, 223. + + Metcalfe, Lord, government of Jamaica by, 662. + + Mexico, its history and people, 261 + --valley and city of, 269. + + Mildred, a tale--Part I., chapter I., 709 + --chapter II., 713 + --chapter III., 718. + + Military Education in Prussia, 573. + + Mine, forest, and cordillera, the, 172. + + Minstrel's Curse the, from Uhland, 177. + + Mohan Lal in Affghanistan, 539. + + Monasteries of Spain, state of, when suppressed, 295. + + Mons, siege of, 31. + + Montalban, siege of, 305. + + Montenegro, visit to the Vladika of, 428. + + Montesquieu, Marshal, 525. + + Montholon's Napoleon, review of, 110. + + Montpensier, Duke of, 751. + + Montreal, town of, 470. + + More Rogues in Outline--the sick antiquary, 101 + --Signor Dedomenicis, 103 + --Scaling a coin, 107. + + Moreau, death of, 580. + + Morella, capture of, by Cabrera, 301. + + Morellos, insurrection of, 272. + + Moriamur pro Rege Nostro--Chap. I., 194 + --Chap. II., 201 + --Chap. III., 210 + --Chap. IV., 216 + --Conclusion, 221. + + Morning and other poems, review of, 62. + + Mules of Peru, the, 12. + + Museum of Mexico, the, 270. + + My College Friends--No. IV., Charles Russell, the gentleman commoner + --Chap. I., 145 + --Chap. II., 309. + + + Napoleon and Louis XIV., parallel between, 520 + --last recollections of, 110. + + Negro carnival in Peru, the, 17. + + Negroes of Peru, the, 9. + + Niagara, Falls of, 471. + + Nogueras, General, 297. + + North America, features of, 262. + + New Scottish Plays and Poems, 62. + + New Sentimental Journey, a--At Moulins, 481 + --Clermont, 484 + --on a stone, 606 + --the Philosopher, 608 + --a Shandrydan, 611. + + Newspapers, on, 629. + + + Odysseus, from Schiller, 333. + + Ogilvy's Highland Minstrelsy, review of, 62. + + Old Ignazio, 102. + + Opera in Paris, state of the, 415. + + Operation of the English Poor-laws, 555. + + Orizaba, mountain of, 265. + + + Palace of Mexico, the, 269. + + Pardinas, General, defeat and death of, 303. + + Paredes, General, 275. + + Paris, letters and impressions from, 411. + + Peel, Sir Robert, policy of, 249 + --his financial system, 252. + + Pellicer, Colonel, cruelties of, 306. + + Perote, town of, 265. + + Peru, 1 + --the mine, forest, and cordillera, 179. + + Poaching in the Highlands, 403. + + Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Barrett + --a woman's shortcomings, 488 + --a man's requirements, 489 + --Maude's spinning, 490 + --a dead rose, 491 + --change on change, 492 + --a reed, ib. + --Hector in the garden, 493. + + Poetry--The minstrel's curse, 177 + --a summer day, by Thomas Aird, 277 + --Columbus, &c., from Schiller, 333 + --the Dance, from Schiller, 480 + --poems by Miss Barrett, 488 + --honour to the plough, 613 + --London Bridge, 730 + --Song for the million, 733 + --Thames Tunnel, 736 + --St Magnus', Kirkwall, 753. + + Poor-Law, operation of the, 555. + + Prussian military memoirs, 572. + + Puebla, city of, 268. + + Pulque, manufacture of, 266. + + Puna of Peru, the, 186. + + Punishment, state of, under the English law, 722 + --objects of, 724. + + Punishments in the army, 134 + --of the law, 721. + + + Quebec, city of, 465. + + Quesnoy, capture of, 694. + + Quinte, bay of, 470. + + + Rachel the actress, 413. + + Rahden's wanderings of a soldier, review of, 572. + + Raven, anecdotes of the, 402. + + Recent royal marriages, on 740. + + Red deer, habits of the, 408. + + Reed, a, by Elizabeth Barrett Barrett, 492. + + Reichenbach, count, anecdote of, 577, 584. + + Requiera, Padre, 15. + + Rewards for the army, on, 136. + + Roads of Peru, the, 80. + + Robbers of Mexico, the, 267 + --of Peru, 14. + + Romantic drama, the, 161. + + Russell minstry, the, 257. + + + St John's wild sports of the Highlands, review of, 389. + + St John's, town of, 464. + + St Juan D'Ulloa, fort of, 265. + + St Magnus', Kirkwall, 753. + + St Marie's Algeria, review of, 334. + + St Venant, capture of, 529. + + Salcedo silver mine, the, 184. + + San Jose silver mine, 185. + + Sand, George, 423. + + Santa Anna, rise of, 273. + + Santa Cruz, protector of Peru, 2. + + Santos, Juan, 190. + + Scaling a coin, 107. + + Schiller, translations from, 333, 480. + + Scorpion eaters among the Arabs, 342. + + Scottish plays and poems, 62. + + Seal, habits of the, 401. + + Segura, destruction of the town of, 304. + + Serialist, advice to an intending, 590. + + Shark, combat with a, 3. + + Short enlistments, advantages of, 132. + + Shujah, Shah, sketches of, 541. + + Sick antiquary, the, 101. + + Signor Dedomenicis, 103. + + Silver mines of Mexico, the, 271 + --of Peru, 182. + + Smith, Hannibal, letter to, 590. + + Smith's antiquarian ramble in the streets of London, review of, 673. + + Solitary confinement, on, 725. + + Song for the million, 733. + + South America, features of, 262. + + Soyer's cookery, review of, 238. + + Spanish marriage, on the, 631-740. + + Steffens, Professor, anecdote of, 577. + + Storms of Peru, the, 182. + + Summer day, a, by Thomas Aird, 277. + + Superstitions of Mexico, the, 275. + + Surville, defence of Tournay by, 29. + + Swan, wild, habits of the, 398. + + + Thames, Lays and Legends of the, 729 + --tunnel, 735. + + Things in general, 625. + + Tournay, siege of, 28. + + Tower of London, the, 732. + + Tschudi's Peru, review of, 1, 179. + + Tupac Amaru, 191. + + Turenne, Marshal, 704. + + + Uhland, the minstrel's curse by, 177. + + United States, sketches of the, 471. + + Utrecht, peace of, 693. + + + Valparaiso, town of, 3. + + Vampire bat of Peru, the, 192. + + Vandamme, General, 581. + + Vera Cruz, town of, 263. + + Vigo, General, death of, 304. + + Villars, Marshal, 33, 526. + + Visit to the Vladika of Montenegro, a, 428. + + Von Rahden's wanderings of a soldier, review of, 575. + + + Water cure, the, 376. + + Waterloo, Napoleon on, 123. + + Welford's evidence on the game laws, 757. + + West Indies, recent history of the, 662. + + White's Earl of Gowrie, &c., review of, 62. + + Wild Sports and Natural History of the Highlands, 389. + + Wild swan, habits of the, 398. + + William III., parallel between, and Louis XIV., 522. + + Woman's shortcomings, by E. B. Barrett, 488. + + Woods of Peru, the, 192. + + + Yanez, colonel, death of, 268. + + Yca, province of, 17. + + Yussuf, an Arab leader, 347 + + + Zettinie, city of, 439 + + Zumalacarregui, death of, 56. + +_Edinburgh: Printed by Ballantyne and Hughes, Paul's Work, Canongate._ + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's note: + +Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. +Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as +printed. + +Mismatched quotes are not fixed if it's not sufficiently clear where +the missing quote should be placed. + +The cover for the eBook version of this book was created by the +transcriber and is placed in the public domain. + +Page 727: "that a ower should reside somewhere" ... the transcriber +has added the missing "p" in "power". + +Page 734: "All the sevants' hall combined," ... the transcriber has +added "r" to read "servants'". + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. +60, No. 374, December, 1846, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE, DEC 1846 *** + +***** This file should be named 44378.txt or 44378.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/4/3/7/44378/ + +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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