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diff --git a/58497-0.txt b/58497-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8656642 --- /dev/null +++ b/58497-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6531 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 58497 *** + + + + + + + + +THE SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER: + +DEVOTED TO EVERY DEPARTMENT OF LITERATURE AND THE FINE ARTS. + + +Au gré de nos desirs bien plus qu'au gré des vents. + _Crebillon's Electre_. + +As _we_ will, and not as the winds will. + + +RICHMOND: +T. W. WHITE, PUBLISHER AND PROPRIETOR. +1834-5. + + + + +SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER. + +Vol. I.] RICHMOND, JULY 1835. [No. 11. + +T. W. WHITE, PRINTER AND PROPRIETOR. FIVE DOLLARS PER ANNUM. + + + + +PROFESSOR BEVERLEY TUCKER'S VALEDICTORY ADDRESS TO HIS CLASS. + +The following correspondence and address have been sent us for +publication, by the members of Professor Tucker's class at William and +Mary College. We give place to them with pleasure, and commend the +admonitions of the amiable and learned professor to all young +gentlemen about to enter upon the practice of the law. The friendly +and paternal spirit of his advice, gives an uncommon interest to this +production, and shows that his have indeed been "labors of love." + + +WILLIAMSBURG, 5th July, 1835. + +_Much Esteemed Friend:_-- + +I am requested, in the name of your class, to solicit you either to +have your Valedictory Address published, or deliver it to us for that +purpose. I sincerely hope for your compliance; and although our +exercises for the present session have ended--although we no longer +stand in the relation of students and professor--and notwithstanding +we are about to part (some of us) perhaps forever, we _must hope_ that +the _tie_ which has bound us together for the last eight months, +instead of _weakening_, will continue to "_grow_ with our growth and +strengthen with our strength," and that the day is _far_ distant when +that union shall break. Go where we may, a fond recollection of your +past services will be long cherished by us. We know the interest you +_have_ felt, and still feel in our welfare, and I hope your exertions +to promote the interest of those who have been placed under your care, +are duly appreciated. You have done _your_ duty, and all that has been +wanting must be charged to _us_. You have given us a chart by which to +steer our political ship, and _should_ we succeed in stemming the +current of opposition, may _you_ live to enjoy our triumph. Permit me +now, in conclusion, to tender you our united sentiments of the highest +esteem and respect. + +WM. T. FRENCH. + + * * * * * + +WILLIAMSBURG, July 5, 1835. + +_My Dear French:_-- + +I have great pleasure in complying with the request of my young +friends, so far as to hand the lecture to the printer. I am not aware +of any merit in it, such as your partiality sees, to justify me in +permitting you to incur the expense of publication. But in that +partiality and its source, I have more pleasure and more pride than I +could have in any composition. Self-love will not permit me to believe +that I possess the friendship of those who have been placed under my +care without having deserved it. Self-love is "much a liar," but is +always believed; and she could hardly tell me a tale more acceptable. +To acquit myself faithfully and satisfactorily of the duties of a new +and untried station, was the engrossing wish of my heart during the +whole course. When I remember the manner in which my class went +through their examination, and reflect on the pleasures of our +intercourse, the marks of confidence which I continually received, and +the affectionate feelings with which we part, I am sure I have not +altogether failed. But I should be unjust to you, if I did not say +that I am sensible how much your assiduity has done to supply the +defects of my instructions. + +May God bless and prosper you all, (for I speak to all,) and make your +success in life not only honorable to yourselves and me, but to your +friends and country. May each of you be a gem added to the bright +crown with which the glory of her sons encircles the gray head of the +venerable and _kindly_ old college. If ever there was a heart in walls +of brick and mortar, it is surely there; and cold is he whose heart +does not warm to it. In her name, once again I say God bless you. + +Yours faithfully, + +B. TUCKER. + + * * * * * + +ADDRESS. + + +Neither duty nor inclination will permit me to take leave of you, +young gentlemen, without offering a few remarks, of general +application to the subject of our late studies. + +We part, perhaps to meet no more. Some of you go into the active +business of life, some to pursue your researches under other guidance. +To both alike, my experience may enable me to suggest thoughts, and to +offer advice, which may be found of some practical value. + +Whether your immediate destination is to the bar or the closet, you +will alike find the necessity of continuing your studies. To give them +such a direction as may be profitable and honorable to you, is my sole +remaining duty. + +There are many branches of the law which you will still find time to +investigate at leisure. Many years will probably elapse, before you +will be called to take the _sole_ management of any case involving +valuable rights or intricate questions. The land law, and the +perplexing minutiæ of chancery jurisdiction, will be of this +description. When engaged in such cases, you will commonly find +yourself associated with older and abler counsel, from whom you will +then obtain, at a glance, more insight into these difficult subjects +than I have been able to afford. Under such guidance, you will have +opportunities to investigate the law, with an eye to its application +to your case. You will then see the practical value of the principles +with which you have been made acquainted, and may execute your first +tasks in that line, as successfully as if you were already imbued with +every thing but that knowledge which nothing but study and practice +combined can afford. + +But though, in regard to matters of this sort, a general acquaintance +with the grand principles of the law is as much as you can be expected +to carry to the bar, there are other duties which you must assume, in +a complete state of preparation. Let me particularize a few of these. + +You will find it then of the utmost importance, to be thoroughly +acquainted with the science of pleading. I have not concealed from you +that the loose practice of our courts dispenses habitually with many +of its rules, and has done much to confuse them all. But they still +retain all their truth, all their reasonableness, and much of their +authority. The courtesy of the bar will indeed save you from the +consequences of any mistake you may make in the outset. But though +this may screen your errors from the public eye, they will not escape +the animadversion of your brethren. They will be prevented from +forming such an estimate of your acquirements, as will lead them to +recommend you to their clients, in the hope of obtaining from you +valuable aid. It is by such recommendations that young men most +frequently gain opportunities to make an advantageous display of +talent, and an introduction into that sort of business which is, at +once, a source of honor and profit. + +It sometimes happens, (though, to the credit of the profession such +occurrences are rare,) that a young man, on his first appearance at +the bar, encounters adversaries who do not extend to him the +forbearance which youth has a right to expect. He is taken at a +disadvantage. His want of experience and readiness lays him open to a +more practised opponent, who ungenerously strikes a blow by which his +client is injured, and he himself is brought into disrepute. To him +who is really deficient in capacity or acquirement, such an attack is +sometimes fatal. To him who, on a fit occasion can retaliate on his +adversary, it is of decisive advantage. Mankind are generally disposed +to take sides with the weak and injured party, and to visit with their +indignation any ungenerous abuse of accidental advantages. A young man +therefore, thus assailed, is sure to have with him the sympathy of the +profession and of the public. They look, for a time at least, with +interest to his course. They are impatient to see him redress himself; +and, until he has done so, all the rules of comity and forbearance +which generally regulate the practice, are suspended in his favor. +_He_ is free to take advantages of his ungenerous assailant, which, +under other circumstances would be denounced as ungentlemanly. And +they would be so, because they would be in violation of the covenanted +rules of the profession. But between him and his adversary there is no +such covenant. A state of war abrogates all treaties. It follows that +all the maxims of courtesy which forbid any advantage to be taken of +slips in pleading, do not restrain him; and he is free to hold the +other up to all the strictness of the law. It is expected he should do +so. If he does not, it is concluded that he does not know how. But if +he has once carefully studied the science and made himself acquainted +with its principles, he stands on strong ground, and sooner or later +his triumph is sure. The older and more hackneyed his adversary, the +greater his advantage; for it is true in law, as in morals, that evil +practice vitiates the understanding. The _habit_ of loose pleading +unsettles the knowledge of the rules and principles of pleading, and +many nice technicalities are totally forgotten. There is not, for +example, one old county-court lawyer in a hundred, who remembers that +$100 means nothing in pleading, and that a declaration in which the +sum should be no otherwise expressed, would be so bad as to make it +doubtful whether even the sovereign panacea of our late Statute of +Jeofails would cure it. But though _this_ be doubtful, there is no +doubt that, on demurrer, it would be fatal. A demurrer then, being +filed and submitted _sub silentio_, it is probable that such a defect +would escape even the eye of the court. In that case a reversal of the +judgment would be sure, and a triumph would be gained that would +gratify the profession, and command the admiration of the multitude. + +A thousand cases of the same sort might be suggested, where an old +practitioner, though on his guard, (as he must be against one whom he +has provoked to retaliation,) would, from a mere defect of memory, or +the established influence of vicious practice, fall into blunders +which would place him at the mercy of an adversary who has his +learning more fresh about him. How many, for example, will remember +where to stop the defence, in drawing a plea in abatement, or to the +jurisdiction of the court? How many ever think of the necessity of +entitling their pleadings? How many know how to take advantage of this +defect, even when it occurs to them? + +But though you should escape the attack of any illiberal practitioner, +yet cases will occur, in which the nature of the controversy will +require great accuracy in drawing out the pleadings to a precise and +well defined issue. In such cases, no disposition to mutual or +_self_-indulgence in the bar, can prevent the necessity of pleading +correctly. In such cases, opportunities will be offered you of +reciprocating the kindness of your seniors, by lending them the aid of +your pen, and assisting them to recall forgotten technicalities. The +value of such aids will raise you in their esteem, establish you in +their regard, and ensure you their good offices. Out of such +circumstances grow alliances which are strength and honor to both +parties. A well read young lawyer, associated with one of less +learning but more experience, sagacious, vigilant, and versed in human +nature and the established though irregular routine of business, is +like the lame man mounted on the shoulders of the blind. Their powers +are not merely united; they are reciprocally multiplied; they fall +together habitually. Their joint success commands confidence and +practice, and finally the fruit of all their triumphs enures to the +benefit of the survivor. + +But there is another point of view in which an intimate knowledge of +the rules and principles of pleading is of permanent advantage, +notwithstanding all the looseness which our practitioners habitually +indulge. It has been well said, that "the record is the lock and key +of the law." You will often find that without this interpreter, the +ancient books are sealed to you. It is by this alone that you will +sometimes be able to discover the point really decided. The concise +notes of the old reporters taken for the use of those already familiar +with the great principles and leading maxims of the science of +pleading, are perfectly unintelligible to the mere sciolist. + +It often happens too, that a lawyer undertakes a suit or defence which +cannot be sustained, and thus involves his client in unnecessary +expense. Such blunders would often be avoided by a ready familiarity +with the science of pleading. The attorney has but to ask himself, +"how shall I frame the declaration or plea?" and the answer shows him +the impossibility of making good his case. He advises accordingly; +and, though the advice be at the moment unpalatable, it will be +afterwards remembered with gratitude and respect. No reproach is +keener or more just, than that of a client who has been decoyed into +expensive litigation by the rapacity of the disingenuous, or the +blunders of the unskilful. A place among those whose advice may be +relied on, is the safest and most honorable at the bar. It cannot be +lost without some great error. It gives a lien on posterity. The +father hands down to the son a respect for his constant and faithful +adviser. Friend communicates it to friend; neighbor to neighbor. The +showy qualities which are the gift of nature to others, are +neutralized by it. The plain man, destitute of such endowments, +becomes the patron, the dispenser of business and benefits to him +whose eloquence shakes the court--commands his gratitude, secures his +friendship, and, on all admissible occasions, makes this envied talent +his own. + +There is another subject on which an ever ready preparation is even +more indispensable than on the subject of pleading. I mean that of +_evidence_. On this, of necessity, we have touched but lightly. It +would be properly, one of the principal subjects of a second course. +To stop short between a cursory notice of it and a thorough +investigation, such as we have not had time to make, might mislead the +student. He might overrate his knowledge if he found himself as well +acquainted with that as with other branches of the law; and supposing +he had enough, might venture to the bar without acquiring more. But +this is a topic of which a superficial knowledge will not do, even at +the beginning. It must be understood perfectly; it must be understood +distinctly; it must be wrought into the very texture of the mind, and +ever present there. The occasions on which this knowledge is wanted, +can rarely be anticipated. They start up like fire from the ground, +and he whose information is not various, exact and ready, is liable to +be disconcerted, embarrassed and disgraced. They often occur in those +apparently plain cases, which the partiality of friends sometimes +intrusts to the sole management of an untried lawyer. To be baffled, +through want of skill in such cases, is to injure those who have +sought to serve you. It mortifies and discourages your friends, and +what is worse, it disheartens you. + +You will be often employed too, to set aside an office judgment, and +plead, _pro forma_, in a case admitting of no defence on the merits. +In such a case, where nothing is expected, your adversary, however +able, may be unprepared through some neglect of his client. Relying on +your rawness and want of skill, he may venture to trial. You strike at +the gap in his armor with the dexterity of a veteran; he is nonsuited, +and your success is the immediate source of honor and emolument. You +find yourself gazed at, followed, and employed by those who never saw +you before, and who know nothing of you but that, in a plain case, +admitting of no meritorious defence, you had just baffled one of the +first men at the bar. The consequence is, you are presently engaged in +business of more consequence, and if you acquit yourself well in it, +your practice is established and your fortune made. + +To these two subjects then, of pleading and evidence, I advise you to +apply so much attention as to make you feel sure that you understand +them thoroughly. Having done this, let them be again revised +immediately before you go to the bar, and let them, in all the early +stages of your practice, be the constant objects of your attention and +study. You can never understand them too well, and your knowledge of +the last especially, can never be too ready. It is by ignorance on +these topics, that men lose causes they ought to gain. Such defeats +are disgraceful and ruinous. When the right of the case is against +you, it is your misfortune; but you are never blamed. But to be +defeated with law and fact both on your side, is to be weighed in the +balance and found wanting. + +And here let me say a word of the cases which you lose, because the +law is against you. For these there is one short rule. "Though you +lose your case, do not lose your temper." It is easy for a young man +to argue himself into a conviction of the justice of his client's +case; but if you do not make others see it too, you must learn to +distrust that conviction. Remember that the argument which has +convinced you, without convincing others, came to you through the +favorable medium of self-love. A young man who doubts the justice of +his first cause just after having argued it, must be either very dull, +or very philosophical, or the case must have been utterly desperate. +On the other hand, remember that the judge is rarely exposed to any +undue bias. He can scarcely ever have a motive to do wrong; and he is +a man of tried integrity, practised to resist and overcome the +influence of such motives. Then remember that he is old, learned and +experienced, selected from among his fellows for his endowments; and +thus learn to acquiesce in his decisions with that cheerful +complacency which so well becomes a young man, distrustful, as all +young men should be, of his own judgment. + +Above all things, never stimulate the dissatisfaction of your client. +You tell him he is wronged. He believes you. _You_ blame the judge. +_He divides_ the blame between the _judge_ and _you_. Was the judge +prejudiced _against you_? Do not say so, or men will not employ you to +practice before him. Was he ignorant? was he dull? was he inattentive? +You had the same chance to awaken his attention, to rouse his dulness, +to enlighten his ignorance, as your adversary. If you did not succeed, +another might, and your client will try another the next time. Let him +believe, if he can bring himself to do so, that he only failed because +the law was against him, and there is nothing to prevent his trying +you again. Better so, than to gratify him for the moment by catering +to his evil passions, at the risque of injustice to another, and +injury to yourself. Apart too from the injustice, prudence forbids +that any blow be struck at men in power, which is not well aimed, and +sure to take effect. He that throws up stones, endangers his own head. +"He that spits against the wind," said Dr. Franklin, "spits in his own +face." + +There is another consideration to be regarded here. The profession is +a _unit_. Its respectability depends on that of the head. It is an +arch, of which the bench is the key-stone. Let them who should uphold +it, withdraw their support, and all will fall together. Would you +degrade the seat to which you aspire? Would you dim the lustre of that +honor, which is to be the brightest reward of a life spent in the +labors of your profession? Hardly more unwise is the youth, who would +revoke the prerogatives of age, forgetting that he shall himself be +old. + +But there is a present advantage in a gentle and complacent +acquiescence in the unfavorable decisions of the court. It engages the +sympathy, the respect, and good will of all who witness it. Among +others it bespeaks the regard of the judge himself. However impartial +he may be, this will not be without its value. If he is seen to be +your friend, men will employ you, in the _hope_ that his friendship +may produce a bias in your favor. Your very enemies will serve you, by +charging him with partiality, in the hearing of those who may wish to +avail themselves of it by engaging your services. Besides, man is but +man. We lean to conviction from those we love. Why else is the +eloquence of a lovely woman so persuasive? We may man ourselves +against prejudice; but the very effort to do so unfixes the attention, +and the words of one who is odious to us are lost in air. But the +voice of a friend is music to the ear, and sinks into the mind. He is +a poor metaphysician who undervalues the influence of the affections +on the very sense of hearing. + +It is of great importance, in this point of view, that you should not +misapprehend the relation between the bar and bench. A young man +entering into life, is apt to magnify the consequence and authority of +office; and he naturally falls into the belief that the incumbent is +disposed to presume upon it, and abuse its powers. There can be no +greater mistake than to apply this notion to a judge. The beautiful +fiction of Law, by which the members of the profession are considered +as brethren, of whom the judge is but the elder, hardly deserves the +name of fiction. There is no corps animated by a spirit so truly +fraternal, nor is there any member of it to whose comfort this spirit +is so essential, as the judge himself. Few men attain to that +elevation, without learning that the sanction of judicial authority is +opinion. The judge is armed indeed with the process of contempt. But +what is its true use? To conciliate the forbearance of others by his +forbearance in refraining from the use of it. In this view, it is +right that he should have it. But his comfort, his respectability, the +very stability of his office are secured, not by the power that he +_does_, but that which he does not exercise. Depend on it, among all +the brethren of your profession, you will find none to whom your +friendship will be so desirable as the judge himself. + +Remarks of the same sort may be made with regard to your intercourse +with the members of the bar. You will find them for the most part +gentlemen and friends, disposed to lead you gently by the hand. +Requite their courtesy in kind. If an advantage is taken of you, I +have told you how to retaliate. You will have the whole bar on your +side. But such cases are rare. You will probably meet with nothing +illiberal. None will crow at you until your spurs are fully grown. No +sarcasm will be dealt out against you, unless by a junior like +yourself. In such case, in general, pass it by. It will be thought +that your self-respect restrains you from affording sport to the +by-standers, and you will rise in the respect of others. Men naturally +respect those who are seen to respect themselves. You may indeed be +sometimes provoked to retort, by attacks which will make a retort +necessary and proper. In that case, your previous habit of forbearance +will stand your friend. It will dispose others to presume you to be in +the right, and to approve your conduct. It will enable you to reflect; +to do nothing rashly; to choose your words; to measure the force of +your blow; and to strike without laying yourself open. To such +rencounters apply the advice of Polonius to his son: + + "Beware + Of entrance into quarrel, but being in + Bear it, that the opposer may beware of you." + +If you are compelled to strike, let no second blow be necessary, and +you will not soon be called to give another. + +I might multiply remarks of this sort without end, and perhaps with +little profit to you; for it is too true, "that no man learns wisdom +by another's experience." I am bound to own that it is not by the +practice of these maxims that I have learned their value. But +experience has perhaps convinced me of it somewhat sooner, because +they were inculcated in my youth, by one whose advice I fear was never +justly appreciated until his voice was hushed forever. My suggestions +to you may answer the same end. If, when my head lies low, the +recollection shall come to your minds accompanied by the feelings it +awakens in mine, my labor will not be lost or unrewarded. + +But there is one maxim learned in that same school, which no one who +expects to thrive by his profession must neglect. The success of a +lawyer and his honor as a man depend on his fidelity and punctuality. +I need not recommend these to you. But a single auxiliary rule, in the +observance of which there is perfect safety, may be of use. + +"Whenever you receive money for a client, always consider that +_specific_ money as his. Set apart the identical dollars and cents, +just as you received them, done up into a parcel labelled with his +name, and accompanied by a statement showing the amount received and +the balance due after deducting your fees and commissions. Let a +counterpart of this statement be drawn up in a book kept for the +purpose, and always carried with you; and at the foot of this +counterpart, take your client's receipt." In this proceeding there is +something level to the apprehension, and obvious to the senses of all +men. It will engage confidence, and multiply in your hands that sort +of business, which, if not the most honorable, is the least laborious, +and not the least profitable. + +And now, my young friends, we close a relation which has been to me +one of the happiest of my life. God grant it may prove equally +profitable to you. If it does not, the fault is in me. I have indeed +the satisfaction to know that my exertions are appreciated by you, at +more than their real value; and that wherever your lots may be cast, +you will long remember the months we have spent together with feelings +responsive to my own. It has been my endeavor to divest the subject of +our studies of its dryness, and to render it, if possible, less +unpalatable than you had expected to find it. The task was difficult, +but I hope I have not altogether failed. I have felt it my duty too, +to lay aside the pedagogue, and to disarm my office of all austerity. +In doing this I had but to yield to my natural disposition. The rules +of our institution indeed placed me _in loco parentis_. But the +relation of an elder brother was more congenial to my feelings. I am +happy to believe that it has been so filled, as to establish the +sentiments appropriate to it in each of our minds; and that, when the +infirmities of age shall overtake me, there is not one of you who +would not extend an arm to stay my tottering steps, as there is not +one on whose shoulder I would not lean with confidence. + +But my method of instruction was not adopted merely because it suited +my disposition. I believed it most appropriate to the subject of your +studies. It in some measure prepares you to enter in its true spirit +into that relation to the heads of your profession, of which I have +spoken. You will find few judges to whom the authority of office will +not be as irksome as it is to me; and it will be in your choice to +establish, between yourselves and your brethren of the bar and bench, +the same sentiments which make our separation at once pleasant and +painful. + +I cannot take leave of you without offering and inviting +congratulations on the distinguished harmony which has pervaded every +department of our venerable institution. It has been a complete +fulfilment of the reciprocal pledges passed at the commencement of the +course, "that you should be treated as gentlemen, and that you would +so demean yourselves." How far this desirable end has been promoted by +the peculiar character and structure of the society of this place, you +are capable of deciding. We must have been unwise, not to avail +ourselves of the aids afforded by the moral influence of a circle of +gentlemen and ladies, intelligent, refined, polite and hospitable, +zealous for the honor and order of the college and the happiness of +its professors and students. It is this ever present influence that +has enabled us to dispense with the rigor of discipline, elsewhere so +necessary. It is this which enables William and Mary College to +preserve its distinctive characteristics. In any other situation they +would soon disappear. The city and the college have grown together. +They are moulded on each other. Each is a part of each. Each is +necessary to the other. You might learn as much, or more, elsewhere; +but where else would you leave behind, from what other place would you +carry with you so much of those kindly affections, the cultivation of +which is not the least important part of education? On these we have +determined to stake the usefulness, the permanency, and the prosperity +of our institution, and in these we find a reward for our labors, +which nothing can take away. + + + + + For the Southern Literary Messenger. + +LETTERS ON THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, + +By a young Scotchman, now no more. + + +_Boston, 1832_. + +DEAR HENRY,--Mr. Paulding and Miss Sedgewick, are, in my opinion, +inferior in genius to the American writers I mentioned in my last. +They may be classed as the secondary novelists of this country, though +in general literature, Paulding is equal if not superior to Cooper. +His tales are usually short and want interest; but his characters are +well sketched, his incidents natural, and his opinions and +observations characterized by good sense. There is, however, an +affectation of humor in what he writes, that does not please me. It +seems to consist more in the employment of quaint terms and odd +phrases, than in the incident or character itself, and would appear to +be the result of an early and frequent perusal of the works of Swift +and Rabelais. His productions are neat and sensible, but not very +imaginative or striking. The interest or curiosity of the reader is +never powerfully excited, but he never fails to please by the manner +in which he conducts his plots; the easy and perspicuous style he +employs, the clear and happy illustration of the vice or folly he +holds up to indignation or scorn, and the successful though sometimes +exaggerated developement of the character he wishes to portray. In +both Paulding and Cooper there is an overwhelming American feeling, +which bursts forth on all occasions, and which, to a foreigner, seems +to partake of the nature of deep rooted prejudice. It results, +however, I have no doubt, from an ardent love of country, increased +perhaps by the silly contumelies and sarcasms of the reviewers and +travellers of our country. Mr. Paulding has not displayed any great +depth or expansion of mind in anything he has yet written, though he +has tried his wing in both prose and verse. His forte is satire, +which, like that of Horace, is more playful than mordant and bitter. +The productions of Miss Sedgewick which I have seen, are remarkable +for good sense, but without much vigor of imagination. She succeeds +best in quiet life. The delineation of the workings of passion, and of +stormy and powerful emotions, are beyond the reach of her powers; but +what she attempts she always does well. Her plots are generally +without complication, and display no great fertility of invention; the +incidents are not very striking and the characters are sometimes tame, +and occasionally extravagant. They are not like the delineations of +Miss Edgeworth, or Miss Mitford. You cannot form an idea of the +nationality of the individual she sketches, and would as soon take him +for a native of any other country as of her own. There is a manifest +defect in this particular, in all the novelists I have mentioned. With +the exception of the Indians who are occasionally introduced, there is +scarcely any difference between their Americans, and the inhabitants +of other lands. Cooper has indeed presented a finer gallery of +American characters than any other writer, especially in his sketches +of the early settlers or pioneers; but his characters, except in a few +instances, are not usually distinguished by striking national +peculiarities. This may possibly originate from the singular fact that +in this country where men are free to rove where inclination leads, +and to be under no other restraint than that which religion, law, or +decency imposes, there is less peculiarity of character or +individuality, than in any other portion of the globe with which I am +acquainted. They have not yet attempted to give as in England, +sketches of American society as it now exists, or may have existed +since the organization of their government. Whether such pictures +would indeed be interesting I am not prepared to say; but from the +society in which I have mingled, I do not think it has variety enough, +or differs sufficiently from that of other civilized nations to render +such pictures striking or amusing. Genius, however, can accomplish +every thing, and might give to what appears to be vapid and +_ennuyant_, some novelty and interest. + +There are some other novelists in the United States, whose +productions, as they have sunk, or are rapidly sinking into oblivion, +it is scarcely necessary to name. One of these is a man of talent, +who, you will recollect, was an occasional contributor to the literary +periodicals of our country, while a resident there. I mean J. Neale. +His romances, from their wildness and extravagance, have been but +little read, and are now nearly forgotten. He still, however, employs +his pen, I understand, in doing what he can to edify and amuse his +countrymen. Novel reading has been legitimatized by Sir Walter Scott, +and though his productions furnish an admirable standard, nothing in +the nature of romance now goes amiss, and the demand for works of +fancy seems to increase in proportion to the number issued from the +press, and the food that is furnished. Although the Americans are +great novel readers, there is not much of romance in their character. +There is too much matter-of-fact about them; they are too calculating +and money-making to serve the purposes of the novelist. They form but +indifferent heroes and heroines of romance, and hence Cooper is +obliged to resort to the sea to rake up pirates and smugglers, or to +go back to the revolution or the early settlement of his country to +find characters and incidents calculated to give verisimilitude and +interest to his tales. + +In dramatic literature, but little has yet been done in the United +States. Few appear to have devoted much of their attention to dramatic +composition. I have seen but ten or twelve American plays in the +course of my researches; and these, though they possessed a good deal +of merit, have been suffered to sink into neglect, and are rarely +performed. A much larger number, however, would appear to have been +written and prepared for the stage. According to a catalogue I have +lately seen, no less than 270 dramatic pieces have either been +prepared for the theatre of this country, or written by Americans. Of +these many were of course got up for temporary purposes, and when +these purposes were answered were no longer remembered; but you will +be surprised to learn that of this number, commencing in 1775, there +are no less than _thirty-three tragedies_, the best of which are those +which have been recently brought out, Metamora, Ouralasqui, a prize +tragedy by a lady of Kentucky, and a combination of tragedies, by +Paine, called Brutus, which has been on the stage for several years. +The rest are scarcely remembered. The writer who seems to have devoted +the largest portion of his time to dramatic literature in this country +and who may be called the father of the American drama, is Mr. Dunlap, +who has figured for many years in the various characters of dramatist, +manager, and painter. His dramatic pieces amount to about 50, and he +has already outlived their fame. Some of his translations from the +German are still exhibited; but his original compositions are now +never performed, and are almost forgotten. Mr. J. N. Barker of +Philadelphia, stands next in point of fecundity, having given birth to +ten dramatic bantlings in the course of his life, some of which are +very creditable to their parent, but none are, I believe, stock plays. +The prejudice against native writers was at one time so strong that +the managers deemed it prudent to announce Mr. Barker's Marmion, Sir +Walter's poem dramatized, as the production of Thomas Morton the +author of Columbus. Mr. Dunlap was also I understand obliged to resort +to the same expedient in relation to two or three of his plays; but as +moon as it was known, their popularity, which had at first been +considerable, immediately ceased, and they were laid upon the shelf. +Such are some of the difficulties with which the American writer has +to struggle; but these I am happy to learn are now giving way, and a +more liberal spirit is beginning to prevail. It is to be hoped that +the dramatic muse of America will soon be enabled to triumph over all +the impediments which she has had to encounter, and repose in the same +bower and be crowned with the same chaplet as her more fortunate +sister of romance. Among the American plays which accident brought +under my notice, was a comedy in five acts, entitled the "Child of +Feeling," published in 1809, and written by a citizen of Washington. +It seems to have been a juvenile production, written without much +knowledge of the world, but with a due regard to the unities. The +dialogue wants sprightliness and the plot interest, and I merely +mention it now because its contains among its _dramatis personæ_ a +character which is to me entirely original, and which if he really +existed, the author must I think have caricatured in his copy. He is +called Etymology, and does not belie his name, for he is constantly +occupied in tracing every word that is spoken by himself or others to +its root, and makes as may easily be supposed, some comic and +ludicrous blunders. Till very recently, the author of even a +successful play received scarcely any compensation for his labor, and +the fame he acquired was but of short duration. Now however, it is +otherwise, and both reputation and emolument attend the successful +dramatist. The comedies, by American writers that I have seen, are not +remarkable for their wit or humor, and therefore do not long retain +their hold upon the stage. Dramatic exhibitions are not however held +by the Americans in very high estimation, and this may be one of the +causes of the low state of dramatic literature here. But the principal +causes would appear to be the want of leisure, the devotion of the +people to higher and more lucrative avocations, and the facility with +which dramatic productions of established merit and popularity can be +obtained from England. These causes operate in like manner I conceive, +to prevent the attainment of that high poetical excellence which has +yet to be reached by the worshippers of the muse in this country. The +following remarks on this subject by an American writer are so +pertinent, that I will transcribe them for your information. "We +regret to say," says he, speaking of American poetry, "that much less +has been done than might reasonably have been expected, even during +our short political existence. We have indeed as yet scarcely done +anything at which an American can look with conscious pride, as a +trophy of native poetic genius. The ponderous and vapid Epic of +Barlow, and the still more leaden and senseless heroics of Emmons, are +far from giving reputation to the poetry of our country; and the +fugitive and occasional pieces of Percival, Bryant, Halleck, &c. are +not exactly such as we should select as a proof that we have done much +in poetry. We have been in existence as a nation for upwards of half a +century, and yet we have produced nothing that is certain to reach +posterity, or that can be classed higher than the minor productions of +Moore, Campbell, or Byron, of the present day. There is an apparent +want of originality, and too great an appearance of imitation in the +poetical efforts of our native bards to carry them far down the stream +of time, though it must be conceded that they have discovered in these +efforts no ordinary portion of genius. There would seem to be +something either in the nature of our political institutions, or in +the general character of our pursuits, which is inimical to the +developement of high poetical power. We are not a very imaginative +people; we prefer the reality to the ideal; we pursue the substance +rather than the shadow. Our ambition is early fired by political +distinction, or our exertions are directed to the attainment of +competency or wealth. The public mind has been led into a train of +thinking somewhat adverse to the indulgence of poetical enthusiasm, +and not calculated to render it susceptible of deep and intense +delight from the contemplation of poetical beauty. It has been led to +consider that the highest efforts of genius are those which are +displayed at the bar or in the senate, and to regard the power of +forensic and parliamentary eloquence as the loftiest exhibition of +intellectual excellence. To that which the mind is early taught to +respect and admire its greatest exertions will be directed, and hence +the number of those who resort to the profession of law, the career of +legislation, or the pursuits of commerce," &c. + +It is unquestionably true, that no great original poetical work of +distinguished merit has yet made its appearance in the United States, +but it cannot at the same time be denied, that the individuals this +writer has named, with Bryant, Sigourney, Willis, and several others, +possess a fine poetical vein, the _mens divinior_ of Horace. Some of +their effusions contain passages of great beauty and splendor, and may +be fairly classed with those of the first poets of our country. Most +of them however, have merely what Mad. De Genlis calls the "art of +making verses;" and either from the want of encouragement, the +stimulus of praise, or continued enthusiasm, wing their flight briefly +into the regions of poetic fancy, and seldom afterwards attempt any +more lofty or daring excursions. But I must pause. I will endeavor in +my next to bring my remarks on the science and literature of the +United States to a close. + + + + +FINE PASSAGE IN HOOKER. + + +Hooker in his Ecclesiastical Polity says, "The time will come when +three words, uttered with charity and meekness, shall receive a far +more blessed reward, than three thousand volumes written with +disdainful sharpness of wit." + + + + + For the Southern Literary Messenger. + +TO ----. + + + The dial marks the sunny hour, + Every brilliant moment noting, + But it loses all its power + When a cloud is o'er it floating, + As if gloom should be forgot! + + Thus on Time has Mem'ry dwelt, + Tracing every fleeting minute, + When thy radiant smiles were felt + Courting each, if they were in it, + Noting none if they were not! + + + + + For the Southern Literary Messenger. + +PARAPHRASE + +Of a figure in the first volume of Eugene Aram. + + + Tho' the Moon o'er yonder river + Seems a partial glance to throw, + Kissing waves that brightly quiver + Whilst the rest in darkness flow, + There's not a ripple of that stream + Unsilvered by some hallowed beam. + + Thus in life the bliss that mellows + Ills, that else the soul would blight, + Seems to fall upon our fellows + Like that glance of partial light; + Yet each spirit sunk in sadness, + Feels in turn its ray of gladness! + + + + + For the Southern Literary Messenger. + +TO MY SISTERS. + + + Tho' I have sworn in other ears, + And kissing, sealed the oath in tears, + Have owned a little world divine, + Between my Sarah's lips and mine, + And more than mortal blessed have felt, + While there in Heav'nly bliss we dwelt, + Yet I _loved_ not. + But when I look, dear girls on ye, + E'en in the look my worlds I see; + No vow has passed--our years have proved + That we have ever truly loved-- + And in your every prayer I hear, + My name so kindly whispered there, + Oh! then I _love_. + +ROSICRUCIUS. + + + + + For the Southern Literary Messenger. + +LINES. + + + Sleep on, thou dear maiden, I'll guard thee from harm, + No foe shall come nigh thee while strength's in this arm; + As thy sweet breath comes o'er me wild wishes may rise, + But honor still whispers--Remember the ties + Which bind her to one to whom she is dear + As his hopes of a heaven, she's all he has here. + Yes, far be it from me my friend to betray-- + To gain thy affections, whilst he, far away, + But little suspects me, or dreams I would dare + To deceive his heart's treasure--so lovely, so fair: + Then sleep on, thou dear maiden, I'll guard thee from harm, + No foe shall come nigh thee while strength's in this arm. + +J. M. C. D. + + + + + For the Southern Literary Messenger. + +GRAYSON GRIFFITH. + + +There is in a pleasant part of the Old Dominion, a thrifty village +named Goodcheer. The inhabitants, from the first settlement of the +place, were kind, and bland, and social. Indeed many of them went +further. They jested, they fiddled, they danced, they sang songs, they +played at cards, they drank wine, they frolicked. Yet was there among +them a strong and steady current of public opinion against acts of +very low and gross meanness or depravity. They were not liars, or +thieves, or swindlers, or rakes. + +In this village lived Gregory Griffith, the tanner, whose industry and +probity earned for him a respectability and an independence rivalled +by none except the old patriarch of the village, more generally known +by the name of the Major. Gregory had married the eldest daughter of +old farmer Ryefield, a woman well suited to make him happy. Her +disposition was easy, and her habits industrious and economical. They +were a bonny couple. + + "The day moved swiftly o'er their heads, + Made up of innocence and love." + +Fourteen months after their marriage, their first born son, a lovely +child, smiled in the face of his parents. Him they called Grayson. Nor +was he the only pledge of their love. They alternately rejoiced over a +daughter and a son, until their quiver was full, having four sons and +three lovely daughters. The death of their second child, who bore her +mother's name, had in the fourth year of their marriage, wrung the +bleeding hearts of these parents, and chastened their feelings to +sober thinking. Between their first born and their third child lay an +interval of nearly five years--a period which Mr. and Mrs. Griffith +always spoke of with deep emotion. + +Grayson, in his childhood, had but feeble health--a circumstance which +secured to him very indulgent treatment. This indulgence rose to +excess after the death of the lovely Martha, his little sister. So +soon after the death of the daughter, as the gay villagers could with +propriety, they planned a general meeting at Mr. Griffith's. They +came, and after some time spent in sober enjoyment, a game of whist +was proposed. The proposal sensibly affected Mrs. Griffith. She seemed +to feel that it was too soon after her babe's death. The tears started +in her eyes, and she sought a place to weep. She went to her toilet +and bathed her face, and returned with an air of constrained +cheerfulness. Meanwhile Mr. Griffith had taken his seat with a second +company who were playing loo. Before Martha's death, Grayson had been +regularly carried to the nursery, as the sun threw his lowest and +latest beams on the summit of a hill in sight from the portico. But +after the death of his sister, he was encouraged to spend the evening +with his parents; and when overcome by sleep, his cradle and his +pillow were the bosom and the lap of parental fondness. And when +company was present, he was often awake until a late hour. On this +evening every one had something to say to Master Grayson. All the +ladies kissed him, and more than one promised him a daughter for a +little sweetheart. When whist and loo became the amusement, Grayson +was much interested, especially when he saw his father dealing out. +The very beaminess of his eye seemed to throw a charm around the +figures on every card. At first he said nothing. At last he went to +his mother and said: "Mamma, won't you teach me to do like papa? O, I +wish sister Martha was not dead, that she might see the pretties papa +has got. Mamma, what are the papers with the hearts on?" The mention +of Martha's name overcame Mrs. Griffith. She led Grayson to her +bed-room, and wept and kissed him until, overcome by sleep, he forgot +his joys and his sorrows until the next day. The nurse having lodged +the sweet boy in the long crib at the side of his parent's bed, Mrs. +Griffith returned to her company. Either her appearance, or a sense of +propriety in her guests, operated a speedy dissolution of the party. +The company being gone, Mr. Griffith said he wished he had not +consented to play that evening--that Martha had been dead but a year, +and that he really thought that as his child had been taken to heaven +when not two years old, it was time for him to begin to think of +preparing to meet her. Mrs. Griffith wept at the mention of Martha's +name, repeated what Grayson had said, observed that she had felt +badly, but that they must not be melancholy. She also said it was very +kind in the neighbors to endeavor to cheer them up. It was after +midnight, in the month of June, before these parents slept at all. At +the very dawn of day Grayson awoke his parents by kissing them often, +and calling their names aloud. So soon as he could get his father's +attention, he said: "O father, what were those pretty things you had +in your hand last night? Father, were they yours? May I have some? +Can't I do as you did with them? Father, what was you doing? Please, +sir, give me some to carry to school to-day." Mr. Griffith was not +displeased that Grayson did not wait for an answer to his +interrogatories. To his request for some to carry to school, he +replied that Mr. Birch, the teacher, was a religious man, and would +not let the boys carry such things to school. Grayson said: "And an't +you religious too, papa?" and kissed him. Mr. Griffith looked at his +wife. They both smiled confusedly. + +After breakfast, some of the neighbors called and inquired for the +welfare of the family. Some of the ladies kissed Grayson, as did his +mother, and he went to school. At play-time he told the children what +he had seen, and one of the older boys explained the matter to the +rest of the company. He said the old people loved fun, and also played +for money--and yet they would not let their boys play. "Never mind," +continued he, "I can make fun, if you will all beg some pins and bring +here to-morrow. Now, fellows, don't forget--bring a good many." The +next morning every mother and sister were faithfully plied for pins, +and every boy's sleeve was brightened with them. Before the teacher +had arrived, the elder boy, before named, had taught all his juniors +two ways of playing pins--one on a hat, and the other called "heads or +points." In a few days one boy had secured all the pins, and kept them +safely in a little case made of a section of reed. The spirit of +gambling, however, did not expire with the loss of the pins. Indeed +the loss of the many was the gain of one, and that one was the object +of profound admiration. + +In a day or two, one of the boys came to school with an ear of white +and another of red corn, and a piece of chalk in his pocket, and +whispered to all his play fellows that now they would have fine fun. +Every urchin was restless for play-time. Grayson Griffith was sure the +master's watch must have stopped or must be too slow, and said so. At +length the hour of recreation came, and as soon as all were fairly out +of the teacher's hearing, the aforesaid boy prepared to teach his +fellows the game of fox and geese. With his chalk he chequered a +board, and arranged his white and red grains in proper order--calling +the white grains of corn geese, and the red foxes. Soon he initiated +every boy, and Grayson Griffith among the number, in the mysteries of +the game. + +Ere long it was proposed that every boy should ask for a cent at home, +and bring it to school. It was done. Grayson Griffith asked for one +cent, and his father gave him two, and his mother one. They said he +was old enough to have pocket money. He was now nearly eight years +old. In the playtime, all the boys agreed to throw heads or tails, +until they had won or lost the money that could be had. At the end of +the sport, Grayson had seven cents--but on his way home, he dropped +one in the grass, and by throwing heads or tails with another boy, he +lost three more--so that at night he had no more and no less than in +the morning. + +That evening he asked if his father would go to the race next day. His +father replied he did not know. "Well," said Grayson, "I bet you three +cents and my barlow knife against ninepence, that Colonel Riley's +Firefly will beat General Hobson's young Medley." "You will bet?" said +Mr. Griffith. "Why, yes," said Grayson, "did not you bet at loo, +father?" Grayson and his father, as by mutual consent, waived the +conversation. + +Next day Grayson told at school what had occurred. Mr. Griffith did +not go to the races; but in the evening some of the gentlemen came to +see him, and induced him to bet as high as twenty dollars on a game at +loo. Grayson seemed hardly to notice the occurrence, yet he was in +reality closely observing, and caught several of the expressions of +the gentlemen visiters. The next day, at a game of fox and geese, he +cried "Damme soul." And as he went to school he kept saying, "Clubs +are trumps--high, low, jack and the game." He thought it sounded +pretty. + +In the meantime Mr. Griffith's family increased. He had now three sons +and a daughter; and Grayson would often promise to show his little +brother how to play fox and geese when he should grow a little larger. +Mrs. Griffith had also played at cards when any very special company +was present, or she was much urged. + +Mr. Griffith about this time gave a hundred dollars towards building a +church in the village, and subscribed twenty dollars a year towards +the minister's salary; and many of the people had become very serious, +and even religious. The good minister, like his master Jesus Christ, +was very fond of children. All the children knew him in six weeks +after he went to live in Goodcheer, and they all loved him. They would +speak to him all the way across the street. One day Mr. Goodnews (for +that was the minister's name) called at Mr. Griffith's, and asked +Grayson if he knew how many commandments there were. His answer was, +"I bet you I do." "But," said Mr. Goodnews, "I never bet, my dear +little boy. Did not you know it was wrong to bet?" "No," said Grayson, +"it is'nt--Father and mother bet." Mrs. Griffith's face colored, and +she stammered out, "My son, you ought not to tell stories, even in +fun. You will make dear Mr. Goodnews think very badly of your +parents." "Any how, mother, it is true," said the boy. + +When Grayson was eleven years old, he was allowed to go to the races. +Here his fondness for sport and gaming was much increased. He also saw +many things that he did not understand, and some that made him +shudder. His parents had given him at different times money, which he +had saved, and adding to which, what he received that morning, the sum +total amounted to one dollar and a quarter. The race that day was +chiefly between two noted animals, Major Clark's Rabbit, and Colonel +Nelson's Yellow Gray. Betting ran high. At first Grayson bet +twenty-five cents in favor of Rabbit; then he bet fifty cents against +twenty-five on the Yellow Gray; then he bet his remaining fifty cents +against another fifty cents in favor of Yellow Gray. In the meantime +he bought some beer and some cakes, and paid away twenty-five cents of +his money. When he first remembered that he might lose, he thought he +would not be able to meet all his engagements; but on reflection he +discovered, that let who would win, he could not lose all. The race +was run. Rabbit was beaten, and Grayson got his seventy-five cents, +and paid what he had lost, and had now left one dollar and a half. At +first he thought he would go home, and started--but a boy stepped +forward and said, he could show him some _tricks_--that he had a +rattle-come-snap, &c. Grayson went with him into the bushes, and there +Grayson lost one dollar at some sort of game, became vexed, and went +home. At night he would have determined never to bet any more, had it +not been that some gentlemen came to his father's, and talked +earnestly about their gains. Then the thought entered his mind that it +was entirely owing to good luck that some succeeded, and that he would +have better luck another day. + +A few days after the races, Mr. Griffith was called to see his mother +die. She had been a very worldly-minded, proud woman--but her last +sickness had humbled her. With her last breath she spoke of herself as +a great sinner, and of her salvation as doubtful, and most solemnly +warned all her children not to follow her example. The minister at +Goodcheer went over to preach the funeral sermon, and returning in +company with Mr. Griffith, he thought he perceived some seriousness in +his manner, and introduced a very friendly and solemn conversation on +the importance of preparing for death. From that time Mr. Griffith +began to change, and in twelve months he and his wife both joined Mr. +Goodnews's church. They also presented their five children to the +Lord. This was a great change, and was much spoken of by the +villagers. It is thought the father and mother were both truly +converted. The day the children were baptized, Grayson did not behave +well in church, yet he dared not to do anything very wrong. The next +day, when one of the boys laughed at him for being baptized, he at +first thought he would say nothing, and had he done so, all would have +been well. But the laugh tormented him. So in going home from school +he made fun of it, and said the old people had got mighty religious. +When he got home he felt dreadfully at seeing Mr. Goodnews at his +father's; but he soon left the house, and took the old cat in his +arms, and called the dogs, and went to chase cats in the old field. + +His parents with difficulty prevailed on him to attend Sabbath school. +He said five days and a half in a week were enough to go to school. He +also disliked to come to prayers. He was frequently out until a late +hour at night, and once was found with some very bad boys in an old +house on a Sabbath night, doing what he called "projecting." His +parents had all along opposed the cold water men, and had allowed +Grayson to have some sweetened dram in the morning out of their cups. +And even after Mr. and Mrs. Griffith joined the church, it did not +seem easy to conquer in a day all their prejudices against the +temperance society. These things led Master Grayson to drink julaps, +and punch, and even grog. But he did not drink much. He had also +learned to use profane language to an extent that was very distressing +to some pious people who had heard him; but his parents supposed he +never swore. + +When Grayson was sixteen years old, he read Hoyle on Games; and though +he understood very little of what he read, he conceived that gaming +must be a very profound science. Especially was this impression +deepened by hearing a member of congress say, that Hoyle was as +profound as Sir Isaac Newton. He read Hoyle again, and even on the +Sabbath. His parents began to suffer much uneasiness about him; they +sometimes wept over his case; they took great pains to make religion +appear amiable--but he was eager in his pursuit of vanity. + +When Grayson was eighteen or nineteen years old, he became acquainted +with Archibald Anderson, a most unworthy young man, of low breeding +and much cunning. Archie persuaded Grayson to go a pleasuring the next +Sunday--told him he had found a bee-tree, and that they would get some +girls and go and take the bee-tree next Sunday. They went, and +although Grayson tried to think it fine fun, it was a very gloomy day. +A thousand times did he wish himself in church. At night he came in +late, and went immediately to bed. Next day his father inquired where +he had been. But Grayson let him understand that young people must not +be watched too closely. In a day or two Mrs. Griffith became alarmed +at finding in Grayson's apparel evident preparations to elope; but +gentle and kind treatment soon seemed to regain his confidence. + +Mr. Griffith had, in the course of business, previously borrowed a +thousand dollars from one of his neighbors, who had since removed to +the city of Allvice--and wishing to raise his bond, he gave Grayson +$1060, being the principal and interest for one year, and money to buy +himself a suit of clothes, and started him to town. Grayson had never +been to the city before, and his hopes were very high. On the evening +of the third day's ride, he arrived in the city of Allvice, and put up +in Blockley Row, at Spendthrift Hotel, next door to the sign of the +Conscience-seared-with-a-hot-iron. After supper he went to the +bar-room, and asked a young man "how far it was to any place where he +could see some fun." "What, the theatre," said the young man. "Any +place where I can see a little fun," said he. The young man said, +"follow me." Ere long they were at the door of the theatre, where +Grayson saw in large letters over a door--"The way to the pit." He +knew not what it meant, but said to the young man, "Don't let us go +that way." "No," said his companion, "we will go to the gallery. You +know _they_ are in the gallery." Grayson knew not who was meant by the +emphatic _they_; but following his guide, was soon in a crowd of black +and white women, and young and old men. Taking the first lesson in the +species of crime there taught, he stepped down a little lower, and +asked to what place a certain door led. He was told, "to the boxes." +Entering that door, he found many a vacant seat, and listened--but +when others laughed, he saw nothing to laugh at, until the clown came +on the stage. At him he laughed--he roared. Yet he felt as if he had +lost something, but could not tell what it was. "In the midst of +laughter the heart is sad," were words he often repeated, as he sat in +a box alone. The play being ended, he endeavored to find his way to +the hotel, but was greatly discomposed at remembering that his money +had been left in his saddle-bags, and they not locked, and that he had +not seen them since he came to town. At length he reached his +lodgings, and found all safe. He went to bed, but could not sleep. +Most of the night was spent in reflection, or rather in wild and vain +imaginations. A little before day a well dressed gentleman was shown +into the room where our young hero lay, there being two beds in the +room. The new inmate took a seat, and sighed; he paced the floor; he +took out his port-folio, and wrote a few words; he dropped his pen and +said, "What a fool." At length Griffith (for he is now too old to be +called by his given name,) ventured to inquire whether he could in any +way assist his room-mate to a greater composure. "O sir," said the +man, and sighed. At length the stranger said: "Eight days ago I left +home with $3,600 to go to the north to buy goods. I came here day +before yesterday, and to-night they have got the last cent from me at +the faro bank. And now, O what a fool!--I had rather take five hundred +lashes than do what I must,--write to my partner or my wife to send me +money to carry me home." Griffith expressed regret, but of course +could offer no consolation. He resolved, however, to pay the $1,060 as +soon as he could find the man to whom it was due. This he accordingly +did before nine o'clock next morning. The rest of the day he walked +the streets. Every little while $3,600 kept ringing in his ears. At +night, not having bought his suit of clothes, he went to the bar, and +there found the same young gentleman who the night before had +accompanied him to the theatre. Griffith took a seat by a window, and +the well dressed young man came to him and said: "Young gentleman, I +see you are fond of real genteel pleasure; let us go down into hell, +and win those fellows' money." Perhaps more mingled emotions never +agitated a bosom. In the first place he had been called a young +gentleman--an honor which, though he had deserved it before, had +seldom been given him. Then the idea of "real and genteel pleasure." +But the very sound of "going down to hell!" He would not go in "the +way to the pit" the night previous--and now could he go to hell? At +length he concluded that it was a mere nickname, and that the place +was really no worse than if it were called heaven, and he replied, "I +don't care if I do." They both left the room and went to the stable. +"Stop a minute," said Griffith, "let me see if Decatur has a good bed +and a plenty to eat." In half a minute he satisfied himself that his +horse fared well, and he followed his young acquaintance into one of +the stalls, through which they passed by a blind door into a long, +narrow and dark entry. "Follow me," said the young man. Presently they +entered a large room. Griffith was struck with the abundance of good +things to eat and drink, which too were all free for visiters. At a +table on one side, sat an old man with a playful countenance. He rose +and said: "Last night a man won $3,600 at this table." Three thousand +six hundred dollars thought Griffith--and "how much had he to begin +with?" said he to the old gentleman. "Only a ten dollar note," was the +reply. In another part of the room, Griffith saw a young man sitting +behind a table, and leaning against the wall, with his hat drawn down +over his forehead, and wearing a heavy set of features. Before him on +the table lay three heaps of money--one of silver--another of gold--a +third of paper. Griffith eat some very fine blanc mange on the table, +and drank a little brandy, after which he concluded he would risk ten +dollars on a card. He did so, and put a ten dollar bill into his +pocket. His next risk was five dollars, which he lost. With various +success he spent an hour, at the end of which he had tripled his +money. He then retired to his room, and slept until a late hour in the +morning. Then he went to a merchant tailor, and ordered his new suit, +and spent the day in musing--visiting factories--attending auctions, +and laying plans for the night. "If I had held on I might have broke +them," said he; "I should have gotten $3,600!" Night came, and with it +a self-confident feeling peculiar to the young gambler. He returned +alone through the stall into "hell," and there lost all he had but +five dollars. The next night he won $150. The next night, which was to +be his last in the city, he went, and for a time succeeded. Once he +had $700 in pocket, but before day-light he had lost every cent he +had, and making known his situation, two men who had won his money, +gave him each five dollars, and advised him to leave town at +day-light. That was a wretched night to Griffith. His couch was a "bed +of unrest." His very dreams were startling. At daylight he paid his +bill, and had remaining three dollars and a quarter. He mounted +Decatur, and with a heavy heart journeyed towards the village of +Goodcheer. When he found himself in sight of home, he felt in his +pocket and found he had seventy-five cents. He also felt for the +cancelled bond, but could not find it. Riding into the woods, he +examined his saddle-bags, and found the bond in a waistcoat pocket. +Seizing it with great joy, he shed a tear, and mounted again. All the +way home he had thought much of the manner in which he should account +for not having the new clothes. At length seeing no way of escape, +from confusion at least, in case his father should inquire respecting +the matter, he cherished the hope that his father would say nothing. +So he paced along, and got home just in time for dinner. There was an +air of affected cheerfulness in young Griffith's gait and manner, that +was unusual. He did the best he could--took care early to deliver the +cancelled bond--said he was not much pleased with the city, and told +something of what he had seen. Next day his father asked if he had +gotten the new suit. He replied that he had concluded not to get it +then, and reddened very much. Mr. Griffith told his wife that he had +fears about Grayson. They both wept, and agreed to pray for him more +than usual. + +In the course of time, young Griffith being twenty-one years old, left +his father's, with $700 and Decatur, to seek his fortune in the West. +He soon obtained employment, and in the course of two years was able +to commence business as partner in a new firm. But, unfortunately, he +was not satisfied in the village where he was, but broke up and went +to the town of Badblood, where he opened a store. He was not long here +until a quarrel commenced betwixt him and one of his neighbors. The +occasion of the quarrel was a disagreement as to the beauty of a piece +of music. One declared the other to have a bad taste, and this was +regarded as insulting. Of course a challenge was given, and accepted. +The day of combat arrived. At the first fire no blood was spilt. This +was owing to the great agitation of both the combatants. At the second +fire Griffith wounded his antagonist slightly, but himself received no +wound. At the third fire Griffith's right arm was broken, and his +antagonist was wounded in the thigh. Here the seconds and friends +interfered, and declared they had fought enough. Had it not been for +public opinion, they would have thought that it was enough to be shot +at once a piece. But they were both content to quit, and even to drink +each other's health, before they left the ground. In the course of +eight or nine weeks, they were both in their usual health, and +attending to their accustomed duties. + +The effect on Mr. Griffith's family on learning that Grayson was +expected to fight, was very distressing. The day the challenge was +given, Griffith wrote to his father thus: + +_My very dear Father:_--On the morning of the day on which this shall +reach you in due course of mail, I shall have settled an affair of +honor. I do not love to fight, because I neither like the idea of +killing or being killed. If I go on the ground, I shall certainly take +life or lose it. I can't help it. I should be posted as a coward, if I +did not. Mr. B. will write you as soon as it is decided. Love to +mother and the children. God bless you. I can't bear an insult. Your's +ever, + +G. GRIFFITH. + +An entire week was this family in suspense, when at last, by request +of the father, dear Mr. Goodnews, the minister, was at the office, and +got the letter and opened it, and read the account as before given. He +immediately went to Mr. Griffith's, and found both the parents in bed +with a high fever, and their countenances covered with wan despair. As +he entered the door he tried to look cheerfully. "Grayson is dead," +said the almost frantic mother. "No, he is'nt," said the minister. +"Then he is mortally wounded," said she. "No, he is not," said he. +"Then he is a murderer; he has killed a man! O, my first-born +Grayson!" "My dear Mrs. Griffith," said the good minister, "the Lord +is better than all your fears. Grayson and his antagonist are both +wounded indeed, but neither mortally." "O bless the Lord, bless the +Lord," said Mrs. Griffith, and swooned away. On using proper means she +was restored, and became calm and quiet; but it was an hour before Mr. +Goodnews could read the whole letter to her. Mr. Griffith suffered +greatly, but was much occupied with the care of his wife. He really +feared that things would have terminated fatally. In a few days the +parents rallied, and wrote Grayson a most affectionate and solemn +letter, which he never answered. + +The next news of importance which these parents received respecting +their son was, that he was married to an amiable, though a thoughtless +and giddy girl. In a year they heard that he was the father of a sweet +boy. In eighteen months more they heard that he had a sweet daughter. +Not long after, they heard that he made frequent and unaccountable +excursions from home, and presently they heard, that on a steam boat +that ran between the town of Badblood and the Bay of Dissipation, he +had by gambling, lost all his money. What they had heard was true. +Losing his money, he hastened home--made some arrangements for his +family--disposed of as much property as was left--received five +hundred dollars in hand--left two hundred with his wife--and with the +other three hundred set out professedly to visit his parents at the +village of Goodcheer. But the demon of gambling had possessed him--and +Griffith in a few weeks found himself with but one hundred dollars, +remaining at Spendthrift Hotel, in Blockley Row, in the city of +Allvice in the Old Dominion. Here Griffith resolved to retrieve his +fortunes. He sought the faro bank, and in an hour was pennyless. Poor +Griffith was not far from perfect ruin. He spent the night in dreadful +tossings, and in the very room where he had lodged years before. He +fancied that he saw "$3,600" in flaming figures before him. In the +morning he walked the streets. He watched to see whether he could +recognize any old friend among the hundreds he met. He read the names +on the sign-boards; he searched the morning papers; yet no bright +prospect opened before him. In the afternoon he wandered into Purity +Lane, and had hardly entered that street, when he saw on the knocker +at the door, "Amos Kindheart." He asked a servant who was washing down +the white marble steps, whether the "_Reverend_" Mr. Kindheart lived +there, and was answered in the affirmative. Asking to be introduced +into his presence, he was soon shown into the study. "Is this the Rev. +Mr. Kindheart?" said he. "It is," replied the good man, "please to be +seated." "Are you not acquainted with Rev. Mr. Goodnews?" "Yes sir." +"Do you not also know Gregory Griffith?" "Yes sir; I stayed at his +house more than a week some years ago; and if I am not deceived, this +is his son Grayson, who used to exercise my horse night and morning +when I was there." Mr. Kindheart expressed much pleasure at seeing +him, and learned that he had a wife and two children in the town of +Badblood, in the State of Misery; he also learned that he had been a +merchant. Mr. Kindheart treated him very affectionately, gave him a +handsome little present, invited him to dinner next day, and excused +himself for that evening, as he had in a remote part of the city an +engagement that could not be broken. Early next morning a little +ragged servant handed Mr. Kindheart a sealed note from Griffith, +stating that he had been imprudent, and requesting him to send by the +bearer a sum sufficient to meet the expenses of a passage to the +pleasant village of Goodcheer, from which place the amount should be +returned at an early date. Mr. Kindheart replied in a note that he had +not the money then, but would get it before the next evening, when the +first stage would leave, and renewed the invitation to dinner that +day. Dinner came, but no Griffith was there. Several hours before it +was time for the stage to start, Mr. Kindheart called with the money +at Griffith's lodgings, but he was not to be seen. In a short time he +called again, and then again. Still he could not be seen. The truth +was, Griffith's conscience would not let him face a man from whom he +knew he desired money only that he might have the means of gambling. +He had no serious purpose of visiting Goodcheer. + +For many days Griffith loitered about the city in perfect +wretchedness, and without one cent of money. At length he went to the +proper city police officer, and told him that there were several +gambling establishments in town, that many persons visited them, and +that he could give important testimony in the case. Then going to +Hardface and Takeall, two gamblers, he told them that unless they +would give him $600, so that he might fairly and speedily escape, he +would be retained as a witness against them at the next sessions. The +gamblers agreed to give him $500, hastened his departure in a private +conveyance, but started after him a man, who overtaking him in the +next post town, horsewhipped him very severely. Griffith bore this +rough treatment like a dog. He squealed, he cried, he howled, he +danced--but he did not resist. + +From this time Griffith wandered about, until, in the course of a few +months, he found himself again with his family. At first he seemed +pleased to kiss his babes and embrace his wife; but the next day went +to a faro bank in Badblood, and lost all he had--even his wife's +wardrobe and toilet. At this time he resolved on destroying his own +life. He went to three different shops, and procured laudanum in a +quantity sufficient to take life. He went home, and as he ascended the +first flight of stairs, he emptied the contents of each vial into his +stomach. O woman, what an angel of mercy thou art! His wife met him at +the door, with unwonted demonstrations of love. His little boy +prattled most sweetly; his little girl breathed in her crib as gently +as a May zephyr. His wife told him of several pleasant and smart +things which the children had said and done that day. He began to +weep--then to tremble--then to dislodge the contents of his stomach. +"My dear Nancy," said Griffith, "I shall be dead in a few hours, but +never mind." His wife perceiving that laudanum was in his stomach, +instantly prepared a potent emetic, and mixing it with a large tumbler +of hot water, offered it to her husband, and he consented to drink it, +supposing it could not be improper. In a few minutes, through the +influence of nausea, from the effects of brandy, and from the dose +just given, the stomach was emptied. Poor Griffith suffered much, but +gradually recovered. None save his wife knew of the attempted violence +on his own life. + +At length a few benevolent people proposed to him to leave Badblood, +and go into the interior. He consented, and they gave him the +necessary money, as he and his family entered the stage. Griffith was +much affected by their kindness, especially that of one old Baptist +gentleman, who said very tenderly, "God bless you all." They travelled +day and night, until they were two hundred miles from the place of +their recent miseries, when a violent fever and painful dysentery in +their little boy compelled them to stop. The house where they stopped, +though not promising much in outward appearance, was yet neat and +clean. Mr. Felix, the landlord, and his wife, were intelligent, +industrious and pious. They were strict temperance people, and no +liquor could be had for drink within fifteen miles. Griffith of course +became very cool. The first day he was very wretched; he had no +employment--he had no heart to assist in nursing the sick boy. Towards +evening he took a gun and walked into the field, and shot a partridge. +At first he seemed pleased that he might thus promote the comfort of +his little son, but then he remembered that animal food of any kind +would injure him. The next day he was more miserable than ever, until +about noon he saw fishing rods, and on inquiry found that there was a +fish-pond not very distant. He went and angled for hours, but the hot +sun had driven every fish under the banks and tussocks. He sat four +long hours, and had not even a nibble. He returned with a heavy heart; +yet it was pleasant to more than his wife, to observe a growing +earnestness and frequency of inquiry into the health of his child. The +next day, being Friday, a meeting commenced at a church not three +hundred yards distant from the house of their kind landlord, and by a +little persuasion, Griffith was prevailed on to attend. The first +sermon was very animated, and was on that text: Isaiah lii. 3: "Thus +saith the Lord; ye have sold yourselves for naught, and ye shall be +redeemed without money." Griffith sat on the back seat, and paid more +attention than one would have supposed from his appearance. The second +sermon was preached by an old gentleman, on the text, 1 Timothy, i. +15: "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that +Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief." +Returning home, Griffith thought the preachers both affectionate and +able; but he really thought some things must be personal. Indeed, the +young man who had preached first, had a very dark and piercing eye, +which when animated in preaching, made almost every one think he was +looking all the while at him alone. When Griffith came home, he sat by +his sick child, and told his wife what he had seen and heard. That +night he was restless and wakeful. In the morning he took a long walk +before breakfast, and at the usual hour repaired to the church. A +sermon was then preached on the Cities of Refuge, and the preacher +earnestly exhorted his hearers to flee for refuge to the hope set +before them in the gospel. The exercises of Saturday afternoon, were +prayer and singing, accompanied by short and solemn exhortations. In +all these services Griffith manifested deep interest, though he said +nothing, except that he detailed to his wife what he had seen and +heard. He also said, that as their boy was now much improved in +health, and as Mr. Felix's oldest daughter would stay at home next +day, his wife must accompany him to church. Sabbath morning came, and +although there seemed to be many difficulties, yet they were all +surmounted, and Mrs. Griffith and her husband, for the first time in +several years, went in company to the house of God. The text was, +Isaiah liii. 5: "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised +for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and +with his stripes we are healed." During the delivery of this sermon, +Griffith was seen to weep. His wife, however, had two reasons for not +feeling easy. Her apparel was really poor; but she was soon relieved, +by seeing that all the people were plainly attired. She also suffered +much uneasiness about her son. But good Mrs. Felix had directed her +eldest son to return home in an hour after the service should begin, +and bring word whether all was right. Her son came with a message, +which she soon, in a whisper, communicated to Mrs. Griffith. The +message was, that the boy had fallen asleep--that his room had been +made dark--that he seemed to sleep very sweetly, and would perhaps not +wake for an hour or two. Mrs. Griffith got the message just in time to +be entirely composed during the administration of the Lord's Supper, +which service immediately succeeded the first sermon. It was a solemn +scene. There were few dry eyes in the house. At the close of the +communion service, the company of believers rose and sang that +favorite spiritual song-- + + "How happy are they + Who the Savior obey," &c. + +Griffith and his wife both thought "how happy are they." They both +hastened home, as did Mrs. Felix also. Finding their boy much better, +and their kind hostess herself determining to remain at home in the +afternoon, both Mr. and Mrs. Griffith returned to the church. When +they came near the church they heard singing, and just as they entered +the door, the congregation sung, and repeated the closing lines of a +hymn as follows: + + "Here, Lord, I give myself away, + 'Tis all that I can do." + +Griffith sighed, and said to himself--"O that I could give myself +away, and the gift be accepted." They had just taken their seats, when +the preacher announced his text in Revelation xxii. 17: "And the +spirit and the bride say, come: and let him that heareth say, come: +and let him that is athirst, come: and whosoever will, let him take +the water of life freely." The sermon did not exceed forty minutes in +length, yet it was a faithful, tender and solemn entreaty to all +sinners, the least and the most vile, to come to Christ and live. +After service, one of the ministers went home with Mr. Felix, and +having observed Griffith's behavior at church, he said many good +things in his presence and for his benefit. Griffith and his wife +spent most of that night in solemn reflection and silent prayer. On +Monday morning a neighbor called to complete some arrangements with +Mr. Felix, in reference to supplying the place of their teacher, who +had recently died. In an unexpected train of conversation, they were +led to speak of Griffith as perhaps a suitable man. In a few days it +was mutually agreed that Griffith should teach the school for the rest +of that session, which was but three months. His family being provided +for, he commenced his school. Yet for days and weeks, both he and his +wife suffered much pain and darkness of mind. At length they both, +about the same time, hoped that they had found him, of whom Moses in +the law and the prophets did write. After trial of some weeks, they +were admitted to the communion. The day after this event, Griffith +wrote an affecting letter to his venerable parents. This letter was +evidently blessed, not only to the comfort of their hearts, but also +many of the pious people in Goodcheer were much affected by it. + + "Great is the grace, the neighbors cried, + And owned the power Divine." + +Griffith immediately established the worship of God in his family, and +rejoiced in God with all his heart. Nor was his wife a whit behind in +holy delight at the change. Griffith's conversion led him to inquire +into the lawfulness of gambling. He had three questions to decide. The +first was, whether he should pay a debt of $60 incurred in gambling? +He soon resolved to pay it, as it was the manner of contracting, and +not the payment of the debt, that was the sin. The next question was, +what should he do respecting the $9,000, which he found by estimate he +had lost at different times? To this he could only say, that most of +it was won by strangers, and by men who had long since died in +wretchedness and poverty. He could not get it. By a careful estimate +of what he had won from men whose names and residence he knew, over +and above what they had won from him, and including the $500 extorted +from the gamblers, by threatening to volunteer as witness against +them, he found that he owed in all, rather more than $1,500. Resolving +to pay the whole sum, if spared and prospered, he engaged to teach +school another session of ten months; and although he could not save +much of his earnings, he resolved to save what he could. + +How astonished was he, when a few days after he formed this purpose, +as he was going to school in the morning, a gentleman hailed him as +Mr. Griffith, and said: "Sir, I won from you several years ago nearly +$700; there is the money, with some interest. I am a christian. I +cannot keep it; there it is." With these few words, the traveller +proceeded. Griffith was so amazed, that he even forgot to ask his +name, or residence, or the course of his journey. Of the $700, +Griffith sent $200 to the widow of a poor silly drunken man, from whom +he had, not long before his complete downfall, won that amount. He +sent $200 more to a young clerk, whom he had well nigh ruined as to +morals and character, and from whom he had won $180 two years before. +He sent $300 to the father of a little blind girl, from whose deceased +brother he had won that amount, saving the interest, and requesting +that it might be employed to send the blind child to the Asylum for +the blind. By the kindness of Providence, other sums were restored to +him, amounting in all to a few hundreds. His economy and industry, and +good capacity as a teacher, also secured to him a growing income from +his school--so that in a few years he had paid every debt, and +restored all money obtained by gambling. He has since bought a small +tract of land, and built a very neat cabin, with two apartments, upon +it. He calls it the Retreat. He is now forty-three years old--still +keeps a school--has a good income from his own industry--enjoys +tolerable health, and has around him many of the comforts of life. His +wife and children still live, and help to make him happy. His +penitence and humility are deep; yet is thankfulness the reigning +exercise of his heart. The goodness and grace of God, through Jesus +Christ, are themes on which he never tires. + + + + +Dryden's genius was of that sort which catches fire by its own motion; +his chariot wheels got hot by driving fast.--_Coleridge_. + + + + + For the Southern Literary Messenger. + +LINES + +Written in Mrs. ----'s Album. + + + Give me a subject! O! propitious fate! + That by collision with my frigid brain + Shall strike out fire![1] Love? Honor? Friendship? Hate? + The jaded ear doth loathe the hackneyed train! + + Give me a subject! thus a Byron sang-- + And from the Poet's mind in perfect form + Like brain-born PALLAS, forth Don Juan sprang, + A captivating Demon--fresh and warm. + + Give me a subject! Alexander raved, + A world to conquer!--and the red sword swept-- + No truant Planet sought to be enslaved, + And bully Ellick disappointed wept! + + A theme, ye stars! that with yon clouds bo-peep-- + They wink, sweet Madam!--but, alas! are dumb: + "I could call spirits from the vasty deep" + To freeze thy gentle blood! But would they come? + + There are no themes in this dull changeless world! + Spinning for aye on its own icy poles-- + Forever in the self-same orbit whirled, + A huge TEE-TOTUM with concentric holes! + + Ev'n Heaven itself had not poetic been + Though filled with seraph hosts in guiltless revel, + Had not one bright Archangel changed the scene-- + Unlucky wight! to play himself the Devil! + + Then came the tug of Gods! for rule and life-- + The unmasked thunders shook the stable sky-- + But MILTON sings of the immortal strife, + And lived much nearer to the times than I. + + Prythee! go seek him, if thou would'st be told + A graphic story, pictured to the ear + With matchless art, by one who did behold, + So thou wouldst think--the war storm raging near. + + Hast read the Poem, Ma'am? So have not I, + But I have heard that what I say is true-- + And by my faith I'm much disposed to try + And give the Devil's bard and Devil his due! + + But I am modest--and do not intend + To outsoar Milton in his lofty flight-- + Nor would my Muse poor Byron's ghost offend, + He hated rivalry--and so--good night! + +[Footnote 1: A familiar suggests that an "_oaken towel_" might produce +the desired effect. No doubt; and hence the expression "cudgel thy +brains."] + + + + + For the Southern Literary Messenger. + +THE DIAMOND CHAIN. + + + While Rosa near me sweetly sung, + And I beheld her blue eyes' light, + A chain around my heart was flung, + Its every link a diamond bright. + + But now that we are forced to part, + And her loved voice no more I hear, + The chain is withering up my heart-- + Its diamonds each a burning tear. + +QUESTUS. + + + + + For the Southern Literary Messenger. + +WHERE SHALL THE STUDENT REST? + +A Parody on Constance's Song in Marmion. + + + Where shall the student rest + Whom the fates destine + Old law-books to digest, + That baffle all digesting? + Where through tomes deep and dry + Spreads the black letter, + Where endless pages lie + Genius to fetter. + Eleu loro, + Eleu loro, + Toil "sans remitter." + There, while the sun shines bright, + In law-fogs he's buried; + There too by candle light, + On law points he's worried: + There must he sit and read, + Puzzled forever-- + When shall his mind be freed? + Never-more, never. + + Where shall the _lawyer_ rest? + He the hors-pleader? + With brass and blunders drest-- + His client's misleader: + In the lost lawsuit, + Borne down by demurrer, + Or forced to withdraw suit, + Or quaking with terror. + Eleu loro, + Eleu loro, + Fearing writ of error. + His sham-pleas the court shall chide, + Disgusted to see them; + His warm blush the crowd deride + Ere he can flee them; + Blund'ring from bad to worse, + Disgraced forever-- + Clients shall fill his purse, + Never! oh, never! + + + + + For the Southern Literary Messenger. + +THE AGE OF REPTILES. + + + Poets affect, that when the Earth was young + All Nature's works were beautiful and bright, + That Planets in their spheres harmonious sung + Like Seraphs--joining in celestial flight; + That flowers bloomed in one eternal spring, + Scenting with luscious sweets the ambient air, + That life was luxury, and pain a thing + Not meant for man, but spirits of despair. + + Lady! it was not so--the world was rude-- + Behold the proof in Mantell's strange narration:[1] + Its form, and elements, and fabric crude, + And REPTILES were the "Lords of the Creation:" + O! ingrate man! bethink thee of thy fate, + Had thy Creator called thee then to being + And left thee to the chances of a fate + Beyond all bearing--hearing--feeling--seeing! + + Then lumbered o'er the rugged Earth strange forms, + Misshapen--huge--gigantic--living wonders-- + Howling fit chorus to discordant storms, + That, like a thousand Ætnas, crashed in thunders. + Cleaving the dismal sky, with rushing sound + Appalling monsters hurl their cumbrous length, + And through the murky sea, in depths profound, + Gambolled Leviathans in mighty strength. + + What thinks Philoclea of the pristine Earth? + Believ'st thou Nature smiled at such beginning? + If those huge occupants inclined to mirth, + Their's was an age of awful ugly grinning! + The seaman's figure of a seventy-four + Showing her teeth--her guns in triple tiers-- + Were no hyperbole in days of yore, + Howe'er extravagant it now appears. + +[Footnote 1: See the Edinburg Philosophical Journal and the 21st No. +of Silliman's Journal, for some account of the Geological Age of +Reptiles, by Gideon Mantell, Esq. F.R.S. &c. &c.] + + + + + For the Southern Literary Messenger. + +ANSWER + +To Willis's "They may talk of your Love in a Cottage." + + + You may talk of your sly flirtation + By the light of a chandelier; + With music to play in the pauses, + And nobody over near: + Or boast of your seat on the sofa, + With a glass of especial wine, + And Mamma too blind to discover + The small white hand in thine. + + Give _me_ the green turf and the river-- + The soul-shine of love-lit eyes-- + A breeze and the aspen leaf's quiver, + A sunset and GEORGIAN skies! + Or give me the moon for an astral, + The stars for a chandelier, + And a maiden to warble a past'ral, + With a musical voice in my ear. + + Your vision with wine being doubled, + You take twice the liberties due, + And early next morning are troubled + With "Parson or pistols for two!" + Unfit for this world or another, + You're forced to be married or killed-- + The lady you choose--or her brother-- + And a grave--or a paragraph's filled. + + True Love is at home among flowers, + And if he would dine at his ease, + A capon's as good in his bowers + As in rooms heated ninety degrees: + On sighs intermingled he hovers, + He foots it as light as he flies, + His arrows, the glances of lovers, + Are shot to the heart from the eyes! + + + + + For the Southern Literary Messenger. + +EPIGRAM. + + + Said a Judge to a culprit he'd known in his youth, + "Well Sandy! What's come of the rest of the fry?" + "Please your worship," said Sandy, "to tell you the truth, + They're every one hanged but your Honor and I." + + + + + For the Southern Literary Messenger. + +VISIT TO THE VIRGINIA SPRINGS, + +_During the Summer of 1834_. + +NO. III. + + +Whilst at the Salt Sulphur, I found it necessary, for a time, to +exchange that for a water of a somewhat different character; and as +the Blue Sulphur had begun to attract considerable attention, I +determined to resort thither. Accordingly, I took the stage for +Lewisburg, twenty-five miles distant from the Salt Sulphur, and within +thirteen miles of the Blue. We travelled over the White Sulphur road +as far as the splendid Greenbrier bridge on this turnpike, where we +were landed at a hotel, to await the arrival of the Fincastle stage, +to carry us on to Lewisburg. It was already dark before the stage came +up, and although but three miles of our road lay before us, yet the +whole distance was ascending, so that we could not travel out of the +slowest walk. We however reached Lewisburg in time to discuss the +merits of an excellent supper, and get into comfortable lodgings by a +very reasonable bed time. + +I was detained at this place for want of a conveyance to the Blue +Sulphur, there being as yet no regular stage. The time, however, +passed off pleasantly. Lewisburg contains about seven or eight hundred +inhabitants; its situation is elevated--the scenery around quite +picturesque; and, if the improvements progress as they have done for +the past few years, it will soon become a very pretty village. This +place is much frequented, during the spring season, by visiters at the +White Sulphur--the distance being only nine miles, over a smooth, and +for the most part, beautiful road. + +After two days, I succeeded in obtaining a horse, and on the following +morning set off, in company with a gentleman of the neighborhood, on +the remaining thirteen miles to the Blue Sulphur. The way usually +travelled by carriages is circuitous; consequently, we struck across +through the country, on the most direct route to the Springs. Our road +was exceedingly rough and hilly, without anything peculiarly +interesting. Indeed, we were so completely imbosomed among the hills +and forests, that nothing could be seen except the long ridge of the +Muddy Creek Mountain, which lay before us. Before reaching the base, +the road had dwindled into a blind bridle path, winding amongst the +spurs of the mountain; and on ascending, it became so precipitious, +and so covered with loose and rolling stones, as to render it almost +impassable. We at length succeeded in reaching the summit--not however +without having been obliged to dismount occasionally, and allow our +horses to clamber after us over the worst parts of the way. We then +travelled for two miles along the top of the mountain, over a level +and beautiful road; after which we descended by a rough and rocky +path, similar to that on the opposite side. A few miles more, over a +fertile and cultivated country, brought us into the vicinity of the +Blue Sulphur, or in the language of the country, to the Muddy Creek +settlement. + +As the accommodations at the Spring were already occupied, we rode up +to an old fashioned log house, with a long piazza in front, surrounded +by lombardy poplars and apple trees, and screened from the road by an +intervening hill, and obtained accommodations with its kind and +pleasant occupants. No part of my time among the mountains, was +attended with more peculiar or deeper interest than that passed in the +Muddy Creek settlement. Every thing about this region is calculated to +bring one back to the early days of our country. The habits and +customs are all after the unpretending fashion of the pioneers; and +human character is here seen in its native simplicity. Refinement, +with its luxuries and follies, has not yet penetrated this secluded +region, to corrupt the plain and simple customs of its generous, +open-hearted and upright yeomanry. Here too, as a friend remarked, we +realize, to some extent, the amazing and almost startling rapidity +with which our nation has sprung into existence. But a few years ago +this was the undisputed home of the Indian. This identical house was +once the last house on the frontier of civilized America; and one of +the family now alive, was among the little band who first ventured +across the Alleghany mountains, and carried the sounds of civilized +life into these desolate wilds. Hers was the last family on the +western frontier. Not a civilized being stood on the wide waste of +wilderness which stretched far away to the shores of the Pacific. But, +with unexampled rapidity, civilization has transformed the whole face +of the country; and this old lady, who thought she "had gotten to the +end of the world when she got to Greenbrier," has, within her own +recollection, seen a nation springing up west of her, already putting +on the vigor and energy of mature years, and outstripping the nations +of the eastern world. + +This interesting old lady, is indeed a complete "chronicler of the +olden time." Her attire is in perfect keeping with her character. She +still preserves the simple style of the by-gone century, uncorrupted +by the supposed improvement of a later generation. The close cut cap, +scarcely concealing the silvered locks of age--the muslin +handkerchief, drawn neatly over the shoulders, covering a part of the +plain tight sleeves, and confined under the girdle of a long-waisted +tea-colored gown, were admirably suited to the bending, yet dignified +and venerable figure which they adorned. Then to sit during the +pensive hours of evening in the old piazza, overlooking the garden a +few feet before us, which was the site of one of the earliest forts, +the fields and the peaks, the scenes of frightful Indian massacres, +and listen to her narratives of the perils and trials of the pioneers +of Greenbrier, is a treat which a few years will probably put it out +of the power of any to enjoy. Her graphic delineations of the horrors +of a frontier life, sometimes excited our imagination to such a pitch, +as to render it difficult to compose the body to repose at the +accustomed time of retirement, or to restrain the mind from frightful +dreams during the sleeping hours. The whole Muddy Creek settlement +abounds with Indian tales. Every mountain, knob and hollow, is +notorious as having been the scene of some bloody deed or memorable +exploit of the red men of the forest, as they made the last struggle, +before giving way to the invaders, and leaving forever their native +wilds. + +But our present destination is the Blue Sulphur. The distance thither +from our house is rather more than a mile. The intermediate region is +level low ground, bounded on each side, at some distance, by a ridge +of mountain. These two ridges gradually converge, until they pass the +Spring about one hundred yards, where a third ridge brings a sweep +immediately across the line of their direction, and closes that end of +the valley. The space about the Spring is a perfect level, amply +extensive, and admirably adapted for improvements on a large and +handsome scale. + +The Blue Sulphur, like many of the valuable mineral springs of this +state, has heretofore been known only as a place of neighborhood +resort. A few diminutive log cabins had been erected by the farmers of +the adjacent country, who, after the labors of harvest, were +accustomed to bring their families, with a wagon load of goods and +chattels, and take up their residence here during one or two of the +summer months. The virtues of the Muddy Creek Springs have long been +known and esteemed by these visiters. A year or two since the property +was purchased by a company, who are now providing extensive and most +inviting accommodations. I do not know that I can be charged with +disloyalty to my native state, in rejoicing that these Springs have +partly fallen into the hands of northern men. Our own citizens have +generally shown such an astonishing want of energy in carrying on +these valuable watering places, that we believe it to be better that +one of them has come into the possession of those, who are willing, at +any expense, to do it and the public justice; and who, in proportion +to the time they have owned the property, have shown a spirit of +improvement greatly surpassing that of the proprietors of most of the +other Springs. One of the first changes under the auspices of the new +administration, was the substitution of the title of Blue Sulphur for +the more ignoble appellation of Muddy Creek Springs. + +The company, immediately after the purchase of the property, commenced +their improvements, and at the period of our visit, were prosecuting +them with a spirit worthy of admiration. These improvements consist of +a long and imposing brick hotel, three stories in height, at the upper +extremity of the valley, and facing the entrance to the Springs. This +is flanked on each side by a row of brick cottages, which at their +outward extremities, unite with similar ranges, running parallel with +the bases of the mountains and each other, until they nearly reach the +Spring, forming together three sides of a hollow square. The +intermediate lawn, can by a little cultivation and exercise of taste, +be rendered very beautiful. A temple, surpassing in appearance that of +any of the other watering places, is to be erected over the Spring, +and the reservoir, &c. to be fitted up in corresponding style. The +Spring is large, discharging a quantity of water nearly equal to the +White Sulphur. The sediment from which the establishment has derived +its modern name, is of a blue or rich dark purple color. + +At the time I visited the Blue Sulphur, some of the new buildings were +partly finished, and a tavern keeper from the neighborhood had opened +a boarding house on the ground; and although the accommodations were +quite rough, there were at one time as many as seventy-five visiters. +Most of these were citizens of Charlestown, who had fled from the +cholera, which was then raging on the Kanawha. + +The mountains in this vicinity abound with game, and accordingly, +hunting is the favorite amusement of the visiters. Almost every +morning a company started, with hounds and horns, on a "deer drive," +and they seldom returned without bringing with them one of these noble +animals. On one morning, a fine buck was driven down, and shot within +a few feet of the Spring. Others of the visiters make excursions +through the mountains, to enjoy the attractions which have been +lavished with such profusion on this section of country. Perhaps one +of the most pleasant of these, is a ride of some ten or fifteen miles +to a spring which has lately come to light, and which for a sulphur +spring is rather _sui generis_. It was discovered by an old farmer, +who was engaged in boring for salt water. When he had sunk his shaft +to the depth of some fifty feet, the water bursted up, and rushed from +the opening of the well. But instead of salt, it was sulphur water; +and it has continued to run with unabated freedom to the present time. +Little is as yet known of its peculiar properties. It deposits a white +sediment. The proprietor, I understand, will neither make improvements +himself, nor allow others to do so. Perhaps, however, we can dispense +with his spring. There are enough already improved, among these +mountains, to meet the case of almost any invalid. Among these, the +Blue Sulphur is by no means the least worthy of notice; and we must +not therefore leave it, before we have said something of its medicinal +qualities. + +Those who know most of the Blue Sulphur, say that it combines the +valuable properties of the White and Red Sulphur. This is probably +true to some extent. The Blue Sulphur operates upon the liver with +great energy, and at the same time acts as a tonic. These are, +respectively, qualities of the White and Red Sulphur. The White +Sulphur, although it scarcely ever fails to rectify derangements of +the liver, depletes, and generally to some extent, produces debility. +The latter effect, we believe, is never produced by the Blue Sulphur, +owing probably to its tonic properties. We do not know, however, how +far either has claim to preference. As to the similarity between this +Spring and the Red Sulphur, we suppose it ascertained that wherever +there is a derangement of the sanguiferous system, except where the +lungs are affected, the action of the Blue Sulphur is equally, if not +more salutary, than that of the Red. This water is, however, very +exciting; perhaps even more so than the White Sulphur, and should +consequently, like that Spring, be avoided by pulmonary invalids. +There is also an approximation in the action of the Blue and Salt +Sulphur waters. Both of these Springs are efficacious in affections of +the stomach. Where the invalid retains a considerable degree of vigor, +or where the system is irritable, the Salt Sulphur would be decidedly +preferable, as that water occasions very little of the unpleasant, and +in such cases, perhaps injurious excitement caused by the Blue Sulphur +water. Where dyspepsy has advanced so far as to occasion extreme +debility, probably the Blue Sulphur should be resorted to, at least +for a while, as that water would sustain and strengthen the system, at +the same time that it removed the disease. These remarks are the +result of the observation of the practical effects of these waters, +and of the experience of others, without pretension to professional +skill. We believe, however, that they will be found strictly correct. + +The similarity between these Springs to which we have alluded, need +not be injurious to either, whilst the probabilities in favor of the +restoration of an individual who comes to these mountains for health, +is increased by this circumstance. It is the opinion of those who have +been most at these watering places, that after two weeks constant use +of any water, it begins to lose its power on the system.[1] If the use +is discontinued for a few days, or if you resort to another Spring for +a short time, a return to the original Spring is attended with the +same effects as when first resorted to. A variety of waters, +therefore, even when their qualities are to some extent similar, is a +decided advantage. The invalid who has gotten his system charged at +one Spring, can resort to another of a sufficiently different +character to secure the object of a change, and yet resembling the +original water sufficiently to suit the necessities of his case. A +turnpike will soon be completed from Lewisburg to the Blue Sulphur, +and again connecting with the Kanawha turnpike, west of the Springs, +which will render this place easily accessible. + +[Footnote 1: Perhaps the Red Sulphur is an exception.] + +After a sojourn of a week, I again turned my face towards the Salt +Sulphur. I had as a companion an intelligent gentleman, extensively +acquainted with the country; and in accordance with his proposition, +we determined to reach that place by a route somewhat different, and +offering more natural attractions than that by which I had come over. +In the course of the evening, we passed through some of the finest +farms in Western Virginia. I do not believe that the prairies of the +"far West" can exhibit more luxuriant fields of corn than some of +those in this section of Greenbrier. We passed the Muddy Creek +Mountain at a _gap_, and our way, although little more than an +indistinct bridle path, was more pleasant than that by which I had +before crossed. The view from the highest point on this gap, almost +defies description. + +From the section of country which we had left behind us, rose Keeny's +Nob, a huge peak upon which the Indians used to light signal fires, +and which derived its name from some romantic circumstance--rearing +its summit far above the adjacent mountains, and spreading out its +swelling sides and the projections of its base over the neighboring +country; from this, and continuing round to the right, before us, were +alternate ridges and vallies, covered with dense forest, as yet +apparently untouched by the woodman's axe, and only broken by the +Greenbrier river, whose high and bleak naked cliffs could be seen at +the distance of some miles. Beyond, was Peter's Mountain, coming down +from the west, and running off to the east, in a straight unbroken +line. Immediately before us, were the variegated fields of a few rich +grazing farms. Farther on, the mountain upon which Lewisburg is +situated, excluding the White Sulphur from the view; and in the +distance, the "back bone" of the Alleghany, which you cross five miles +beyond the White Sulphur on the turnpike, whose line could be +occasionally discerned as it wound among the spurs of the mountain. To +the left lay some cultivated country, terminated by ridges upon ridges +of mountains. The sun was in the last hour of his daily course, and +with his evening rays illumined the hills, giving the varied hues, +from the brightest to the deepest green, to the waste of "silent +wilderness" which stretched far away to that quarter of the horizon. +We were soon, however, obliged to relinquish this scene, combining so +much of the grand, beautiful and sublime, and hasten down the +mountain, in order to get as far as possible through the worst of the +hills and hollows before night should overtake us. + +I took the stage at Lewisburg next morning, and by noon arrived at the +Salt Sulphur, which was now thronged, and exhibiting all the life, and +bustle, and fashion, which crowds of the gay and wealthy bring with +them. Every garret and domicil about the establishment, capable of +being slept in, had been called into requisition the night before. We +heard, before reaching the Springs, that the proprietors, on the +previous evening, had sent on to stop visiters bound thither, in +Union, until quarters should be vacated at the Salt Sulphur. All the +crowding, however, could not interfere with the perfect system of this +establishment. Every thing went on with as much regularity, and in the +same comfortable style, as when there were but fifty visiters. After +spending a few days very pleasantly at this place, I secured a seat in +Shank's fine line of coaches for the Sweet Springs, about twenty-two +miles southeast of the Salt Sulphur. + +The road was generally good, and the country more beautiful and +picturesque, but less romantic, than any we had seen in this section +of country. Our driver was quite a rapid traveller, and by the aid of +fine teams, he carried us over the ground at very good speed, and +before dinner, had landed us in front of the old white tavern at the +Sweet Springs. + +The crowd here surpassed, if possible, that at the Salt Sulphur. On +our arrival, it seemed exceedingly doubtful whether we could remain on +the premises at all. Every room on the ground was full. Many of the +visiters lodged on the bar-room tables, and on the benches of an old +court-house, at present the Spring's church. By dint of perseverance, +and the aid of friends, I at length succeeded in getting a cot +squeezed between two of five or six others, in an old log school-house +on the outskirts of the premises. The accommodations at the Sweet +Springs are generally very good; the fare excellent. The crowd was at +this time so great, as to render it impossible that every one should +be comfortable. The usual dining-room was nothing like large enough +for the company. Two long additional tables were set in the bar-room. + +The "Sweet Springs" are considered by some equal in beauty to the +White Sulphur. Nature has perhaps done as much here as at any watering +place among the mountains; but I do not think the improvements or the +arrangement of the buildings at all equal to those at the White +Sulphur. The extensive undulating lawn, and grove of noble oaks--the +cottages on the open green, or peering from amidst the trees, do +indeed present a beautiful scene. But the latter are scattered in rows +or groups over the ground without any regular order, and the lawn has +never undergone any of the operations of art. The Spring rises under +the piazza of a low and long house, at the foot of the hillock on +which the tavern stands, and in a hollow formed by this, with the +small hill on which the cabins are principally built. The reservoir is +a circle of about five feet diameter, surrounded by a railing two or +three feet high. Great quantities of carbonic acid gas are constantly +emitted, which comes bubbling up through the water, giving it somewhat +the appearance of boiling. + +The "Sweet Springs" derived its name from the taste of the water. I +thought it, however, a complete misnomer. The taste of the water is +very singular, and at first rather unpleasant--but containing, +according to our perception, very little sweetness. The house +adjoining the Spring contains the baths; the finest cold medicinal +baths, probably, in the country. The water rises from a gravelled +bottom, over perhaps the whole extent of the baths, which are very +spacious. + +The Sweet Spring water is a powerful tonic; and after the system has +been thoroughly cleansed at the other Springs, this is an admirable +place for recruiting flesh and strength before leaving the mountains. +The same precaution given to pulmonary invalids, is even more +necessary here than at the White and Blue Sulphur. The water is highly +exciting, and consequently very injurious to such persons. + +As soon as possible after arriving here, I obtained a seat in the +stage for Fincastle--and on a fine morning in the latter part of +August, rendered more balmy and delightful by the mountain breezes, we +set off, in company with two other coaches, for the Valley. The press +of passengers in that direction was so great, that notwithstanding the +two extras, our coach carried, including all sizes, fourteen besides +the driver. We commenced ascending the Sweet Spring Mountain, soon +after setting out, and enjoyed the beautiful view of the Valley of the +Springs and the surrounding country, which is afforded from its +summit. Two other mountains still lay in our way. The second of the +three if called the "Seven Mile Mountain," that being the distance +passed in crossing it. On reaching its base, we chartered two +additional horses, and drove "coach and six" to the top, where we left +them, and with the other coaches went rattling and thundering down the +mountain. We soon after passed the last of this formidable trio, and +after a pleasant drive through the flourishing county of Botetourt, +reached Fincastle. At this place we intersected the "Valley Line," +which carried us over the great Natural Bridge and down the Valley of +Virginia. + +The writer did not visit the Warm and Hot Springs, and consequently +does not notice them. + + + + +Remark the use which Shakspeare always makes of his bold villains, as +vehicles for expressing opinions and conjectures of a nature too +hazardous for a wise man to put forth directly as his own, or from any +sustained character.--_Coleridge's Table Talk_. + + + + + For the Southern Literary Messenger. + +_Extracts from the Auto-biography of Pertinax Placid_. + +MY FIRST NIGHT IN A WATCHHOUSE. + +CHAP. I. + + +The title of this narrative intimates to the reader by a natural +inference, that its writer has spent more nights than one in that +abode of the unruly--a watchhouse. I will be candid, and admit the +fact, that twice during a pretty long and not unadventurous life, it +has been my lot to enjoy the security afforded by that refuge of the +vagrant. _Twice_ only--I confess to no more. The first of these +dilemmas I am about to speak of now--the second may form a subject of +future narration. + +There are few of my readers who have not heard of the city of +Montreal, in the Province of Lower Canada, and fewer still who know +much of its peculiarities, social, political or architectural, on +which it is my design hereafter, supposing that I can keep on good +terms with Mr. White, to enlighten them--but not at present. Well, it +was my happiness, at an early period of my life, to reside in the good +city of Montreal. What carried me there, is my own affair, and I shall +merely say that I was neither a trader who cheated the poor Indians +out of their pelteries, a smuggler of teas and silks across the +frontier, a tin pedlar, nor a bank-note counterfeiter, all of which +classes often find it convenient to take up a temporary residence in +Canada. I was a wild ungovernable lad, with no parent or guardian to +direct me, left entirely to my own impulses, and unfortunately +enjoying the pecuniary means of assisting those impulses to bring me +into all manner of scrapes, from which it required much ingenuity to +extricate myself. + +The long winters in Canada may convey to a southern reader an idea of +dreariness and discomfort, locked up as the people are in enduring +frosts--buried for months in continual snows--with one unvaried +monotony of dazzling white pervading the face of nature--the streams +fast sealed with "thick ribbed ice"--and a thermometer at from twenty +to thirty degrees below zero for weeks together. In short, a southern +fancy paints Old Winter, ruling with despotic sway, unrestrained by +the checks and balances which limit his authority in our more moderate +climate--usurping a portion of the nominal domains of autumn and +spring--and inflicting through his prime minister, Jack Frost, the +most rigorous exactions of a government of force, on the unresisting +people--penetrating into their dwellings at all hours, interfering +even in the mode of their dress, attending all their movements in town +or in country, and invariably assailing the lonely traveller on the +extended prairie or in the dreary forest. Such is undoubtedly the +picture which a southern imagination draws of a Canadian winter. But +social life can modify the worst extremes of nature's inclemency, and +find in the very evils of our condition sources of delight and +enjoyment. So far from suffering during the winters I spent in Canada, +I recall those joyous periods, when I was engaged in the constant +pursuit of gaiety and pleasure, and when care had no control over my +spirits as the brightest spots on the far off waste of memory. + +How different were those winters from the fickle, capricious season +through which we have just passed. Poets and tourists have celebrated +the beauty of Italian skies. I have never seen them--but I can fancy +nothing brighter than the heavens in Canada, on a clear frosty night, +when every breath of vapor is absorbed and rarefied by the intensity +of the cold. Never have I realized in other countries the complete +distinctness with which each star comes forth in the azure vault--the +palpable suspension of each body of light in the field of air. In +other skies the stars and planets seem delineated on a ground of blue. +In a Canadian winter night you realize that each orb is in suspension, +moving and twinkling through the surrounding ether. This is difficult +to describe, and some who have not seen and _felt_ the glories of the +northern heavens as I have--aye, felt them in a double sense, gazing +upon them until my soul was wrapt into sublime ecstasy, and my +upturned nose frost bitten into the bargain--may think that I am +talking nonsense. + +But the social delights of a Canadian winter are more to my purpose, +in disabusing the fancy of those who shiver when they think of these +hyperborean regions. Such tremors may be justified when we fancy a +winter tramp across the steppe of Russia, or a visit to a Koureen of +Zapojoreskies. But Canada--dear, delightful Canada! The gaieties of +thy long winters--the dancing--the driving--the dining--the +flirtation--the lovemaking, with which thy frosty months abound, might +keep warm the heart of a dweller underneath the tropics. + +It was during the winter of 18--, that after a long cessation of +theatrical representations in Montreal, a new theatre, which had +recently been built, was opened under the management of Mr. T----, +with a company principally picked up from the northern theatres of the +United States. Since the performances of Prigmore's old company, +previous to the declaration of war, in which, I believe, George +Barrett, since a favorite in high comedy, was the Roscius, playing +Romeo, Hamlet, &c. and in which Fennel played as a star, there had +been no regular theatrical establishment in Montreal--although the +officers of the garrison gave occasional dramatic exhibitions, and the +young citizens sometimes enacted a play or two during a season. A +regular theatre was a new thing, and excited much attention. The +manager was perhaps the finest specimen of self-conceit that the world +ever saw.[1] He was a short stumpy kind of man, with a face of most +fixed character, which delineated all the passions with the self-same +expression. His smooth pert visage, lit up by two bead-like black +eyes, seemed so entirely contented with its natural expression, as to +render it unnecessary to assume any other. His voice, shrill and +guttural, emulated his face in its uniformity. He had a _game leg_, +about three inches shorter than its brother, which gave him a halt of +so decided a character as not to be disguised. Yet he believed himself +to be a most distinguished actor, and fully competent to the +representation of Richard III, (for which his lameness was often +quoted by him as a _natural_ advantage) and even the more youthful and +well favored heroes of Shakspeare. The vanity of this man might have +been harmless, had he not been the manager. But in that capacity it +interfered most wofully with the well ordering of affairs. The company +was by no means strong. A Mr. Baker played the high tragedy badly +enough. Mc---- and Richards shared the next grade, the former doing +the seconds in tragedy and the ruffians in melo-drama. Of this man I +must say something, as he is connected with my narrative. For some +misconduct, the nature of which I know not, he had been driven from +the stage in England several years before, and enlisted as a foot +soldier in the 40th regiment. As such, he served in Upper Canada +during the war with this country; and when he obtained his discharge +in Montreal, the theatre being about to open, he was engaged to +personate the Cassios, the Horatios, the Baron Steinforts, &c. If his +temper was ever amiable, it had gained nothing by his military +service. He was morose and troublesome; but as the company was +composed, useful and rather a favorite. + +[Footnote 1: He was not only an actor, but a dramatist. He was, or +claimed to be, the author of "Rudolph, or the Robbers of Calabria," a +very tedious piece of Brigandism; and "One o'clock, or the Wood +Dæmon," almost a literal version of Monk Lewis's "Wood Dæmon." He used +to accuse Lewis of having stolen his melo-drama, and told a long and +rather incomprehensible story of the manner in which the theft was +perpetrated. He also wrote a play called "Valdemar, or the German +Exiles," which was performed in the new theatre, at the period alluded +to in my story, and possessed, I think, soma little merit. Besides +being actor and play wright, he was a scene-painter, and kept a tavern +in the good city of Montreal.] + +Of the females I shall notice but one, as she is to be the heroine of +my story for the present, and as, but for her, (like Mr. Canning's +needy knife-grinder) I should have no story to tell. What shall I call +her? Not by her _real name_ surely--for she has since held a high rank +among the heroines of the stage. I will call her _Fenella_; leaving +the curious to guess her real name, while I assure them that she is an +actual entity, whose performances I doubt not, many of my readers have +frequently admired. She was then an interesting woman of about twenty. +There was something a little mysterious in the circumstances under +which she made her first appearance in Montreal, which rendered her +the more attractive. She had with her an infant child; and yet she was +advertised as a _Miss!_ Shocking inferences were of course drawn among +the censorious; and sensations of a different description encouraged +the loose and licentious young men about town, to suppose that this +living indication of Fenella's frailty was a guarantee of the success +of their unhallowed addresses. Those who knew her, told a curious +story of her adventures in ----, the turn of which had driven her to a +temporary exile in Canada. The substance of the story was this: She +was the daughter of a poor widow, who earned her living by her needle. +Fenella was, when very young, remarkable for the beauty and vivacity +of her countenance, the grace of her figure, and an intelligence +beyond her advantages. An ambition to rise from her humble condition, +tempted her to resort to the stage. She appeared and was applauded, +for she exhibited true signs of talent of no common order. She was +engaged, but filled a subordinate station for two or three years. The +management of the ---- theatre changed during this period, and the old +gentleman who had assumed the duties of manager, was not long in +perceiving the merits of Fenella as an actress, while her personal +attractions awakened within him the remnant of amatory fire which time +had not extinguished, and subjected her to the unseasonable ecstatics +of a sexagenary lover. This part of her good fortune had few charms +for a sprightly girl of seventeen. But the ancient manager had a son, +who, while he equalled the old gentleman in the perception of female +attractions, had far greater charms in the eyes of the females +themselves, being a handsome well built fellow, and having had some +practice in the delicate task of making himself agreeable to the _beau +sexe_. It so turned out, that, while the old gentleman was making an +inquiry into the state of his feelings towards the pretty young +actress, which ultimately induced him to persecute her on all +occasions with his protestations of passion, the young man had +actually made successful advances to the discriminating fair one, and +had so far succeeded as to create a reciprocal sentiment in her +breast. They had betrothed themselves, (or as we tamely say, _were +engaged_,) but the old gentleman's passion for Fenella, was a serious +obstacle to their happiness. His temper was irascible, and he required +submission from all beneath him to his most unreasonable fancies. His +son was naturally desirous of avoiding his anger, and having +discovered the state of his father's feelings, he was desirous of +keeping secret the true state of affairs. In this dilemma, the young +couple decided upon a private marriage. Even after that event, her +husband thought it advisable to avoid a rupture with his father; but +when, in the natural course of things, Fenella was about to become a +mother, the secret could no longer be kept, unless by her absenting +herself from ----. She therefore left her husband, and entered upon a +temporary engagement in Montreal. + +Such was the story then told, and believed by all the charitable +portion of Fenella's admirers. I believed it then, and have had some +reason since to think it true, as, after remaining two years in +Canada, she returned to ---- and joined her reputed husband, lived +with him for several years, until his death, and bears his name to +this day. + +Like other young men, I was fond of the theatre, and visited it +frequently. I was a great admirer of Fenella as an actress, but had no +acquaintance with her during her first season. Several of my young +friends were enlisted among her adorers, a numerous train, embracing +all ages, from the beardless boy to the bachelor of threescore. As far +as my observation extended, the managed this retinue of lovers with +great adroitness. To the young, she talked sentimentally, and excited +their fancy--with the old, she was prudent, and went just far enough +to retain their homage without committing herself. I had often rallied +Harry Selden, an inflammable young friend of mine, upon his hopeless +passion, for he was desperately enamored of the bewitching actress. He +confessed his lamentable infatuation, but insisted that I was only +secured from a similar fate by the distance which I kept from the +sphere of her attractions. This opinion I combated, and one evening, +when he proposed to test my stoicism by taking me to Fenella's +lodgings after the play was ended, I was too confident that I could +not be caught by the same snare in which he was entangled, to refuse +the challenge, and readily agreed to his proposition. We went to the +theatre, and Selden having presented me to her in the green room, we +accepted Fenella's invitation to see her home, and partake of a _petit +souper_ at her apartments. + +It is proper perhaps, that I should here describe the lady, according +to the regular rules of tale writing, although as I have no great +talent in that line of description, I shall undoubtedly make a +bungling business of it. Fenella was rather above the middle height, +uncommonly well made, and her form fully developed that graceful +outline which denotes the full grown woman, in contradistinction to +the more angular symmetry of girlhood. Her face was oval, so much so +that there was something Chinese in its contour, although in nothing +else: her hair was a light chestnut, and so exuberant in its growth as +to contribute materially to her beauty. Her eyes were blue, bright and +sparkling when her fancy was excited, or languid and voluptuous when +at rest. But the mouth of this attractive creature was the prime +beauty of her countenance. It is difficult to imbody in words the +varied charms that played about her ripe and tempting lips. Certainly +I had better not attempt it. I will therefore leave my gentleman +readers to finish the sketch, by imagining the prettiest and most +attractive woman of their acquaintance--not _absolutely_ a beauty--and +I think they will have a correct idea of Fenella. + +I was too young to have known much of women, but I was sternly +resolved not to be overcome. Fancy me then _téte à téte_ with Fenella +and my friend Selden, supping on cold tongue, and sipping white +sherry. At first I felt uneasy, but was still sure I should brave all +consequences. Gradually as I looked upon the animated countenance of +my hostess, the ice of my reserve was thawed, for my apparent coldness +seemed to have inspired her with the determination to warm me into +sentiments more complimentary at least to her powers of fascination. I +afterwards learned that Selden had betrayed to her my ridicule of the +devotion of her admirers. It was therefore merely natural that she +should have resolved to rank me in the number. Nor had she misjudged +her power, or the softness of my nature. I melted beneath her smile, +like wax before the flame--and ere we rose from the table I had become +aware of a new and indefinable sensation towards her: all I can say of +it is, that it was not _love_, although it had a close affinity to +that passion. + +The freedom and ease of her conversation was new to me. She spoke of +her numerous lovers without embarrassment, and in some instances with +no little sarcasm; but she constantly qualified her raillery by +confessing that they were _good souls_, and alluded to the presents +which they made her in the most amiable terms. + +Time rolled on, and a month or two found me a constant visiter at the +lodgings of Fenella. I then flattered myself that I was a favorite. I +gallanted her frequently to the theatre, and waiting in the green room +until she had changed her dress, attended her home, supped with her, +and often prolonged my stay to a late hour. I never talked love to +her--for I did not _know how_--and she had so much experience in that +matter that I feared I should make myself ridiculous. Her power over +me was complete, yet I cannot charge her with having exerted it in a +single instance unfairly. Her whole design against me seemed to have +been confined to the excitement of a degree of admiration commensurate +with her personal attractions. At that point she appeared satisfied; +but as I grew in intimacy with her she shewed herself sincerely my +friend, frequently checking my fool hardy impetuosity, and giving me +good advice, which might have come with a better grace from the less +lovely lips of my aunt Deborah. I soon accommodated my sentiments and +conduct to those of Fenella, and while I became her most devoted +friend, I dropped entirely the character and feelings of a lover. A +tacit understanding soon became established between us; and I was +admitted to liberties in my new character, which I could have enjoyed +in no other. These familiarities were misunderstood by my friends; but +in spite of their firm belief, there was nothing amatory in our +intercourse. + +About this time Fenella's benefit at the theatre was announced, an +event of some importance to her, as the second season of the theatre +had been particularly unproductive, and the limping manager had failed +almost entirely to pay the salaries of his performers. I think Douglas +was the play selected by her, in which she was to personate Lady +Randolph; and in order to the effective _cast_ of the piece, it was +essential that Mc---- should perform Glenalvon. He had frequently +treated Fenella with rudeness, and evidently disliked her; he objected +to the part assigned him, and absented himself from the rehearsals of +the tragedy. But as he was notoriously a devotee of the bottle, and +frequently remiss in his duty, little was thought of his absence. The +benefit night arrived; the time came for the curtain to rise; but no +Glenalvon had appeared behind the scenes; and it was soon made known +that Mc---- had not studied the part, and would not appear that night. +The house was crowded; and to Fenella's great mortification, it was +necessary that some other performer should _read the part_. This was +done, and the play came off lamely enough. + +Fenella was not destitute of spirit, and she resented this affront in +the proper manner. Mc----'s benefit took place a few weeks after, and +she resolutely refused to play for him. As she was the only actress in +the company possessing any claim to talent, it was impossible to +_cast_ a piece without her; and the consequence of her name being +absent from the bills for Mc----'s benefit was, that no one attended, +or so few as to render it a most irksome task to go through the +performances. The rage of the disappointed beneficiary was boundless: +he vowed that he would be revenged upon Fenella for the injury she had +done him, although in just resentment of an affront for which he +deserved no better treatment. + +Mc---- was a good draughtsman, and frequently sketched figures with +great accuracy. He resorted to his pencil as the instrument of his +revenge, and caricatured Fenella with so much skill, that while no one +could mistake the original of the sketch, the incongruities of the +details were such as to render it highly ludicrous. + +The chief quality of a caricature seems to be _disproportion_--an +unfitness of parts to each other. Simple exaggeration does not suffice +to produce the effect desired, for if all the details of the picture +be equally exaggerated, it may present a disagreeable likeness, but it +does not produce that deep sense of the ridiculous which arises from +an incongruous classification of the details. This rule is perhaps +better tested than any other, by the _reductio ad absurdum_, and it is +well illustrated by those extravagant French prints, in which heads of +enormous comparative dimensions are placed upon bodies and limbs +ridiculously diminutive, the effect of the disproportion being +heightened by the accessaries of dress, &c. This is perhaps the most +extravagant kind of caricature, but it requires far less skill than +those sketches in which the more minute incongruities of features, +form and costume, are resorted to. These sometimes exhibit much +graphic ability, and it is a curious fact, that in pictures of this +kind, where every feature is distorted, the strongest likenesses are +sometimes preserved.[2] It is _truth_ presented through the medium of +the ludicrous. Like the burlesque in writing, which exhibits an +argument even more forcibly, because it presents the whole matter in a +ridiculous light. But I am forgetting my story. + +[Footnote 2: Some striking examples of this have been produced by the +French caricaturists, who, though far inferior to their English +brethren in broad humor, excel them in the subtilty of their +conceptions. I remember a series of prints representing Charles X and +his ministers, in the forms of various beasts. The king was personated +by the _Giraffe_, then exhibiting at the _Jardin des plantes_ in +Paris--the ministers by other animals, whose instinctive qualities +were intended to represent the several characteristics of those +dignitaries. For instance, as well as I remember, the Fox played +Prince Polignac, the Wolf, Count Peyronnet, &c. to indicate the +cunning and rapacity of those ministers. The accuracy of the +likenesses in those prints was remarkable. I believe Louis Phillippe +and his ministers have more recently been shewn up in a similar +manner.] + +I had not seen Fenella for several days, when passing along St. Paul +street one morning, I met an acquaintance, who accosted me with, + +"Bless me, Pertinax, where have you been so long? I was last evening +at Fenella's, and she actually hinted a suspicion of your defection +from her cause." + +"Why to tell you the truth Nichols, I have absented myself with +_malice prepense_." + +"She is of that opinion, and takes it unkindly of you, that while she +is suffering so much vexation, you of all others, who neither flatter +nor make love to her, should prove recreant." + +"Vexation! what do you mean?" + +"Come, come, you will not pretend that you know of nothing which +should annoy her, when the cause of her annoyance is the talk of the +whole town." + +"Nothing whatsoever--I know of nothing that could give her uneasiness, +unless that stupid Lord William Lenox[3] has been besieging her again. +I saw him driving a tandem carriole this morning. Perhaps he drove to +her lodgings and worried her with his vapid talk." + +[Footnote 3: This sprig of nobility, is the third son of the Duke of +Richmond, who was then Governor of the Canadas. At that early period, +Lord William had made himself notorious by the seduction of a married +woman, whom he kept as a mistress for some time. The people of +Montreal were much scandalized at that affair. He has since become +well known to the world by his marriage with the celebrated singer, +Miss Paton,--by squandering her earnings in the most profligate +manner, and by his divorce from her. The lady is better known in this +country as Mrs. Wood, and under that name her singing has been +universally admired here. Lord William's last enterprise, it appears, +is a theatrical one--as the English newspapers state that he is now +the manager of a provincial theatre.] + +"Nonsense! She has not seen Lord William for a week." + +"Well, what _is_ the matter then?" + +"And you really have not heard?" + +"I tell you I have heard nothing of the kind." + +"And you have not seen Selden, nor Seymour, nor Marryatt, nor +Cleaveland." + +"Neither of them for two days. I have been a perfect hermit, shut up +among my books, during that period." + +"And you have heard nothing of a caricature?" + +"Out upon you--caricature! No!" + +"You surprise me. Well, I must be the first to inform you, that Mc---- +has put his threat of revenge into execution, by making our friend the +subject of a caricature, confoundedly well done, and striking in its +resemblance, but so ludicrous that it is impossible to resist laughing +at it. Here it is"--and he produced the sketch. + +Fenella's costume was peculiar, although no way extravagant. During +the winter, her street dress was a tight fitting blue cloth pelisse, +trimmed in front with gold buttons, with two or three on the waist +behind; a black fur tippet round the throat, and a black fur bonnet +and feather. The picture did not shew her face, but represented her +moving from the spectator. The dress was a perfect copy, and the +figure could not be mistaken; but the skill of the artist had given to +it the most masculine character, and the posture was so ludicrously +vulgar, as to produce great effect. Indignant as I was at this +dastardly method of casting ridicule on an amiable woman, I could not +but be sensible of the talent which had rendered a mere figure so +extremely ridiculous. + +"And where did you get this, Nichols?" said I. + +"Oh, they are to be had for money. This is the first that was +exhibited. Passing by the barber's shop just below the City Hotel, +yesterday morning, I saw it in the window, and purchased it for the +modest sum of two crowns. Before night another was exhibited, and +bought by Cleaveland for three crowns; and this morning another copy +appeared, which Selden bought for _five_. The rascal rises in his +price at every repetition, and is in a fair way to make up for the +loss at his benefit. There is another in the window now, and if we +pass that way you may see it. Our object in buying them was to get +them out of the way, for you cannot conceive how much annoyed Fenella +is, at this vulgar representation of her figure. But as long as we +buy, Mc---- will produce copies." + +"Come along. I will have some talk with this barber"--and we made our +way to the shop, at the window of which, as Nichols had stated, the +picture hung, while a crowd of idlers were stopping to laugh at this +ridiculous effigy of a popular actress. + +We entered the shop and demanded the price of the caricature. + +"Ten dollars," was the reply. + +"Have you the audacity," said I, "to demand such a sum for a daub like +this?" + +"I have." + +"And how do you rate its value so high?" + +"By the demand for it. I have not an article in my shop that commands +so ready a sale. Those who buy know the intrinsic value of the picture +better than I do. I only judge of it by the price which it will +bring"--said the fellow with a roguish smile, which tempted me to +knock him down. + +"Well," said I, "you have killed the golden goose this time, or I am +mistaken. You shall not sell another of them if I can prevent it." + +"Oh I have no fear of that. The lady herself will buy them, rather +than allow them to hang long in my window." + +"You are an impertinent varlet, and I trust will be chastised as you +deserve." + +I should have said more; but Nichols hurried me away, lest my hot +temper should get me into some awkward scrape--and we walked to +Fenella's lodgings. + +What happened there and afterwards, must be deferred to another +chapter, when the reader shall be introduced into the watchhouse, and +his curiosity gratified in regard to my sojourn there. + + + + + For the Southern Literary Messenger. + +DISSERTATION + +On the Characteristic Differences between the Sexes. + +NO. II. + + +_Religious Differences_. + +In no respect do we find the characteristical differences between the +sexes more marked than in regard to religion; and certainly, we see +woman in no attitude more engaging, more interesting or useful, than +in the quiet, but graceful performance of her duties to her Maker. + +The belief in the providence of some superior being or beings, has +ever been a source of obligation to mankind in all ages and countries. +Man may be pronounced to be emphatically a religious being. Every +where, whether savage or civilized, do we behold him looking to the +god or gods of nature, and dreading their punishment, not only in the +world to come, but even in this. It is this spirit of devotion which +"calls forth the hymn of the infant bard, as well as the anthem of the +poet of classic times. It prompts the nursery tale of superstition, as +well as the demonstration of the school of philosophy." "If you search +the world," says Plutarch, "you may find cities without walls, without +letters, without kings, without money; but no one ever saw a city +without a deity, without a temple, or without some form of worship;" +and Maximus Tyrius, another of the ancients, declares that, "in such a +contest, and tumult, and disagreement of opinions on other subjects, +you may see this one law and speech acknowledged by common accord, +that there is one God, the king and father of all, and many gods, the +children of God, and ruling together with him. This the Greek says, +and this the Barbarian says; and the inhabitant of the continent, and +the islander, and the wise and the unwise." + +This universal consent in the operation of a superintending and +controlling providence, is one of the most luminous and important +facts of our nature. It rests the evidence of natural religion not +upon the unsteady basis of argument or reason--not upon the sophisms +of philosophers, or the edicts of monarchs, or popes, or councils; but +upon the immoveable basis of nature--upon _instinct_ itself. "There is +no era," says Mr. Allison, "so barbarous, in which man has existed, in +which traces are not to be seen of the alliance which he has felt +between earth and heaven; and amid the wildest as amid the most genial +scenes of an uncultivated world, the rude altar of the barbarian every +where marks the emotions that swelled in his bosom, when he erected it +to the awful or beneficent deities whose imaginary presence it +records." + +But although there be that within us which leads directly to the +contemplation of divinity, and of the retribution which awaits us in +another world, yet we are not to conclude that this belief is not +strengthened and confirmed by reason and experience. On the contrary, +the argument in favor of a God and rewards and punishments hereafter, +gains strength, with the increasing age, experience and knowledge of +the world. Religion, in the midst of ignorance and barbarism, +degenerates into gross superstition and revolting idolatry. By means +of reason and knowledge, we are the better enabled to overleap the +vast chasm interposed between us and the divine nature; to +contemplate, in the detail and in the aggregate, both the minute and +the great throughout the universe; to observe their beautiful +arrangement and harmony, and the wondrous unity of design in all the +parts: a unity which at once prostrates all the absurdities and +contradictions of the far famed polytheistical religion of the Greek +and the Roman--the fanciful idolatry and star gazing worship of the +Chaldean Shepherd, and the Magi of Babylon--or the more fearful, more +mysterious, and yet more ridiculous superstition of the Egyptian +priests of old, who at a period far back, when time was yet young, and +the history of other nations was scarce begun, officiated in those +mighty temples upon the banks of the Nile, whose awful ruins, now +scattered through the land of Egypt, tell us of the mighty of the +earth, who have lived, and strutted, and bustled for a season, but at +the appointed hour, have been cut down like the flower of the field. +It is this great, this beautiful unity of design, which we see +manifested throughout the works of creation, which proclaims the +existence of the one indivisible God, "Who hath measured the waters in +the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and +comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the +mountains in a scale, and the hills in a balance." It is this same +unity of design, proclaimed by philosophy and comprehended by reason +alone, which so powerfully supports the monotheistic religion of the +christian, and sustains that beautiful, humane and generous scheme of +salvation foretold by the Jewish prophets of old, and consummated by +the sacrifice on Mount Calvary, of the meek and humble Saviour of the +world. + +Again, when we look abroad to animated creation, and see that man +alone has placed within him a principle which guides and directs him, +independently of instinct--a principle which, in spite of all the arts +of sophistry and self-delusion, tells him in language which cannot be +mistaken, that he is responsible for his acts; and when we further see +the immense amount of vice and wickedness in this world which does not +meet with its deserved punishment here, and virtue failing to receive +its reward;--when we behold all this, and reflect, as we cannot fail +to do, that the Creator of the world is a God of justice and +impartiality, we are at once driven into the belief that there must be +a hereafter, where all these things will be equalized. It is when we +see the wicked son, the unnatural father, and the fiendish +mother--when we peruse the histories of such monsters as Nero, +Caligula, Commodus, Louis XI of France, or Richard III of England--of +the Tullias, the Messalinas and the Macbeths, that we are forced to +acknowledge that there must be a _Tartarus_. Again, we meet with +humble virtue and piety in this world, possessed by those who labor +and toil through life, sometimes groaning under the oppression of a +cruel persecutor, who, bloated with vice, is nevertheless wallowing in +apparent luxury and ease, while the victims of his oppression are +overwhelmed with every calamity and misfortune "which flesh is heir +to"--each one of whom, in the hour of death, may truly say, in the +pathetic language of the patriarch of old, "short, but replete with +woe has been my day." When we contemplate this, the mind does not rest +satisfied, without an _elysium_ where the weary are to be at rest, and +the wicked to cease from troubling. "Wherefore do the wicked live, +become old--yea, are mighty in power? Is there no reward for the +righteous? is there no punishment for the workers of iniquity? is +there no God that judgeth in the earth?" It is only the awful +retribution of a hereafter which can satisfactorily explain to all + + "Why unassuming worth, in secret lived + And died neglected; why the good man's share + Was gall and bitterness of soul; + Why the lone widow and her orphans pin'd + In starving solitude; while luxury, + In palaces, lay straining her low thought, + To form unreal wants; why heaven-born truth + And moderation fair, wore the red marks + Of superstition's scourge; why licensed pain, + That cruel spoiler, that imbosom'd foe, + Imbitter'd all our bliss." + +Not only, however, does our belief in the supreme benevolence and +justice of the deity, force upon us the conviction of a future state +of rewards and punishments; but the very contemplation of the human +mind, with its faculties and passions, points us to another world. We +have faculties which are capable of ranging beyond the sphere in which +we move. We have longings which this world, with all its stores of +provisions, cannot satisfy. These faculties and these longings point +distinctly to another world. Lord Bacon has truly asserted, that if +the child in its mother's womb could reason like a philosopher--could +survey its little hands, mouth, eyes, feet, lungs, &c. and perceive +that they discharged no adequate functions in the womb, he would, if +impressed with the belief of the wisdom and design of creation, come +necessarily to the conclusion that this was not the place of his +permanent abode--that he was ultimately to be ushered into some other +world, where all his physical energies and intellectual powers would +be brought into play, and have an ample field to range in. So +likewise, if I may use the beautiful language of Dugald Stewart, "When +tired and disgusted with this world of imperfections, we delight to +contemplate another, where the charms of nature wear an eternal bloom, +and where new sources of enjoyment are opened, suited to the vast +capacities of the human mind." And thus do we find both instinct and +reason contending alike for the truth of the great principles of +religion. + +With these preliminary remarks, I will now proceed to examine into the +differences between the sexes in a religious point of view; and here I +may assert at once, without the fear of contradiction, that woman +always has been, and is now, in almost every country upon the face of +the globe, more religious than man. This difference between the sexes +is still more striking under the christian dispensation, than under +any other religion perhaps, which has ever existed in the world. In +our own country, we all know that the female communicants form an +immense majority in all our churches. "Very many of them (says Timothy +Dwight in the 4th vol. of his Travels, and no one was better qualified +to speak on this subject)--very many of them are distinguished for +moral excellence--are unaffectedly pious, humble, benevolent, patient +and self-denying. In this illustrious sphere of distinction, they put +our own sex to shame. Were the church of Christ stripped of her female +communicants, she would lose many of her brightest ornaments, and I +fear, _two-thirds_ of her whole family."[1] + +[Footnote 1: I have no doubt that President Dwight has underrated the +number of female communicants in the United States. From conversations +with the most intelligent of the clergy, I should be disposed to say +they formed three-fourths, or four-fifths of the communicants.] + +How then does it happen that woman is more religious than man--that +she is every where found yielding a more ready and more perfect +devotion to the God of nature? We have seen that instinct, feeling and +reason concur in the support of religion. Which of these is the main +impelling cause with woman? I am disposed to say the two former. She +is not so much disposed to skepticism as man; she does not wait for +the slow deductions of reason, before she is willing to yield her +assent. She does not withhold her belief, like man, until she can +contemplate the power, majesty and unity of the deity, in the +countless millions of bright orbs, rolling in harmony and +magnificence, along those complicate and luminous paths which have +been assigned to them in the infinitudes of space. She does not wait +until she can descend from the contemplation of this grand, this +sublime prospect, to the infinitesimally minute parts of nature, and +view with the eye of philosophy, their order, harmony and design, +where she may behold the existence of deity proclaimed in those +countless millions of millions of animalculæ, which escape the +unassisted vision of man--each one displaying a form, a structure, a +complexity of organs as perfect, as beautiful, as well adapted to the +sphere in which he moves, on that little atom of creation, which is a +world to him, as the grandest and most imposing animals of nature. No! +She does not require for the generation of her faith, thus to be able +to range from the bottom to the top of creation--from the infinitely +small to the infinitely great--to behold in the vast and the minute + + "The unambitious footsteps of the god + Who gives its lustre to an insect's wing, + And wheels his throne upon the rolling worlds." + +She looks into her own heart, and finds there the want of a consoling +religion. She looks into the pages of holy writ, and builds her faith +on the revealed will of her Maker. "Thus saith the Lord," is the +simple but stable foundation on which her hopes are rested. With man, +religion is much more a matter of speculation, of reason and +philosophy, than with woman. + +Let us now investigate, if possible, the causes of this very +interesting difference between the sexes. + +_Causes.--1st. Education_. + +And in the first place, it is in a great measure attributable to the +peculiar education of the sex. I mean the education which woman +receives from her parents and teachers. The education of man is much +more scientific, according to the present custom of society, than that +of woman. Science, as we shall soon see, whilst it enlarges the powers +of comprehension and ratiocination, by leading us into the mysteries +of nature, and teaching us the "_causas rerum_," is calculated at the +same time rather to curb the feelings, and to control the imagination. +The consequence is, that a scientific education fortifies the mind +against the too ready admission of doctrines, whatever they may be, +and prevents us from yielding assent to truths, when we are not +prepared to give a reason for the faith that is within us. In the +education of woman, every thing is done to preserve her native +feelings in all their original purity and strength. Her studies are of +a more light and literary cast, such as administer to the imagination +or warm the sensibilities. In her case the play of the instincts and +of the feelings is not cramped by the controlling influence of logic +and reason; and hence, no doubt, one cause of the religious +differences between the sexes. + +For the same reason, the religious enthusiasm of woman, is very apt to +degenerate into superstition--that of man, into dogmatism and +fanaticism. Woman, generally, cares very little for mere creeds and +doctrines, but is apt to believe in miraculous interpositions, and a +special providence. Woman possesses more devotion and more genuine +love for her God--her eye is fixed on heaven, and the ardor of her +religious aspirations always points her to the glorious mansion +prepared on high; where, in the fulness of her devotion and piety, +surrounded by the bright effulgence of the throne of omnipotence, she +may pour forth the torrent of her love in hymns sung to the praise of +her Maker. She looks to this grand, this glorious end, and prays to +her God that it may be hers, and that he will direct her into the +right path. + +Man, on the other hand, is so much taken up by the study and +investigation of the circumstances which attend him on his religious +journey through life, that he forgets in the scrupulous study of his +means, the end and object of all his devotion. It is not only +necessary with him, that he should go to heaven, but he is too often +resolved to go there in no other way than his own. And we may almost +assert with the author of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, +that by his vain reasonings, and quibbles, and sophisms, he sometimes +so narrows the bridge which is to conduct us to a blissful eternity, +as almost to reduce its width to that of a razor's edge, to be walked +over only by those whose sophisticated intellects can comprehend the +absurd jargon of his theologico-metaphysical creed. It was very +difficult during the middle ages, to engage the females in those +tremendous, but nonsensical disputes between the Realists and +Nominalists, which involved the peace and happiness of whole nations. +What cared they about _universals genera and species_. Little did they +concern themselves with the learned disputes of the Thomists, the +Scotists, and the Occamites. The amors of Peter Abelard, were much +more interesting to them, than his voluminous dissertations upon the +Scholastic Theology. And we can well imagine, that few women would +care to read that mighty production of the _Angelical Doctor_ Saint +Thomas Aquinas, bearing the imposing title of _Summa Totius +Theologiæ_, containing the formidable amount of 1,250 folio pages of +very small print in double columns, with 19 more of errata, and 200 of +index. But enough of this. Some of the other sex even may _now_ sicken +at the idea of encountering a work so formidable as this, although it +be upon the vital subject of theology. + +Women are much more superstitious, generally, as I have already +remarked, than men. They much more readily believe in dreams, visions +and miraculous interferences. Women deeply in love, have often been +known to die from the effects of unfavorable dreams about a distant +lover, in a perilous situation. McNish, in his interesting work on the +Philosophy of Sleep, tells us of a young lady, a native of Ross-shire, +who was deeply in love with an officer who accompanied Sir John Moore +in the Peninsular war. The constant danger to which he was exposed, +had, of course, a very great effect on her spirits. One night, after +falling asleep, she imagined she saw her lover pale, bloody, and +wounded in the breast, enter her apartment. He drew aside the curtains +of the bed, and with a look of the utmost mildness, informed her that +he had been slain in battle, desiring her at the same time to comfort +herself, and not take his death too seriously to heart. "It is +needless," says McNish, "to say what influence this vision had upon a +mind so replete with woe. It withered it entirely, and the unfortunate +girl died a few days thereafter." Many such instances as these might +be adduced, where all the explanations and consolations of philosophy +have been rejected, and the unfortunate lady has actually died from +the grief produced by the confident expectation of the realization of +a dream or vision. I can well imagine the eagerness with which the +females of antiquity would crowd around their seers, and their +oracles, to have unveiled to them the mysteries of the future. Even +now, women are much more disposed to consult gypsies and fortune +tellers, than men. But they are most apt to incline to these petty +superstitions, if I may use the expression, when under the influence +of strong passion, such as that of love. We all know, that one deeply +in love, is apt to be a little superstitious; and many there are +besides the Phebe of Irving, who can wander forth in the "stilly +night," when the moon is pouring her silvery radiance over the world, +and kneel upon the "stone in the meadow," and repeat the old +traditional rhyme + + "All hail to thee, moon, all hail; + I pray to thee, good moon, now show to me + The youth who my future husband shall be." + +_2nd. Religious Wants_. + +Another reason, no doubt, of the religious differences of the sexes, +is the greater demand or want, if I may use the phraseology of +political economy, which woman experiences for religion. Her whole +education, physical and moral, and her consequent position in society, +contribute to the creation of these religious wants. There are times +and situations in which we all feel in a very peculiar manner the want +of religion. There are periods when the billows of adversity are +rolling high and threatening to overwhelm us with ruin--when all our +ordinary resources have failed--when there is in this world no arm +that can save, no power that can protect us--then does the voice of +nature whisper to us to turn to him who hath promised to be a father +to the fatherless, and a husband to the widow, and to him in the hour +of our peril do we address the fervent prayer. There is no part of the +Journal of the Landers with which I have been more affected, than that +in which John Lander speaks of the disaster of Kirree, while +descending the Niger. Himself and brother had been separated, they met +again on the river, but in the moment of the most heart-rending peril, +when a savage enemy was upon the point of immolating them, and of +destroying at once all those bright visions of glory and usefulness, +which ever float in the ardent imagination of the traveller, and urge +him over seas, and lands, and mountains, and deserts. "This day (says +John Lander,) I thought was to be my last, when I looked up and saw my +brother at a little distance gazing steadfastly upon me; when he saw +that I observed him, he held up his arm with a sorrowful look, and +pointed his finger to the skies. O! how distinctly and eloquently were +all the emotions of his soul at that moment depicted in his +countenance! Who could not understand him. He would have said 'trust +in God.' I was touched with grief. Thoughts of home and friends rushed +upon my mind, and almost overpowered me. My heart hovered over the +scenes of infancy and boyhood. Recollecting myself, I bade them as I +thought an everlasting adieu; and weaning my heart and thoughts from +all worldly associations, with fervor I invoked the God of my life, +before whose awful throne I imagined we should shortly appear, for +fortitude and consolation in the hour of trial. My heart became +subdued and softened; my mind regained its serenity and composure; and +though there was nothing but tumult and distraction without, within +all was tranquillity and resignation." And thus do we find that +adversity often leads us to pay devotion to our God. When the +treasures of this world in which the heart dwelt are swept away, we +are more disposed to look to the imperishable treasures of another +world. "When there is no object on this side the grave on which to fix +our hopes, we delight to extend them beyond the troubled horizon which +bounds our earthly prospects, to wander unconfined in the regions of +futurity," + + "Where all is calm as night, yet all immortal day + And truth, forever shines; and love forever burns." + +On the other hand, how truly dismal and appalling at such hours as +those I have been describing, is the condition of the genuine Atheist. +When the plans, and projects, and schemes of this world have failed +him, and all his earthly hopes are untimely blighted by the sad +strokes of cruel fortune; where is his consolation--where his refuge? +Shall he turn to those whom the world once called his friends? Alas! +they were with him in summer and sunshine, when his flocks were +feeding on a hundred hills--when his indiscriminate and boundless +hospitality was the theme of praise on the tongue of the selfish and +sycophantic sensualist, who delighted in his "glutton meal;" and his +splendid mansion was the scene of music and of revelry. In the hour of +his bereavement they turn from him, and even mock him in his +misfortunes! Shall he attempt again to mend his broken fortunes and +rise once more in the world's thought? Perhaps some insuperable +barrier stands before him; friends have deserted him, and old age may +be fast incapacitating him to run again the race of earthly ambition; +and the base treachery of friends, and the mortifying neglect of a +cold and selfish world, may have implanted in his heart, the deep and +uneradicable feeling of dark and gloomy misanthropy, which may forever +unfit him for wearing the world's honors, or coveting the world's +praise. Shall he throw his thoughts beyond this world's horizon, and +look with the spirit of prayer and supplication to heaven for that +support and consolation which is denied him here? No! no! His fatal +skepticism prevents his hopes from resting on another world. It shuts +him up here amid all the gloom and horror of his terrestrial +mansion--concentrates all his dismal thoughts within his own +overwhelmed soul, and leaves him a prey to misery and despondency. + + "A woe stricken being, to whose heart + The visions of earth can no rapture impart, + On whose brow the pale garlands of Hope have all faded, + While his soul by the midnight of sorrow is shaded; + What balm could you bring to his bosom's deep sorrow, + If eternity promised no glorious to-morrow?" + +I hope then I have said enough to show that there are times and +seasons when the heart of man turns instinctively to the God of nature +for support; that there are times when philosophy, and science, and +friendship, all must fail to administer consolation to the oppressed +heart:--it is then that religion and religion alone can furnish the +balm that can neutralize woe. Under its benign influence the billows +of adversity may roll on--they may break over our heads, but cannot +overwhelm the soul when sheltered securely under its divine panoply. + +Now let us inquire whether woman experiences oftener than man those +moments of sorrow and affliction, which religion alone can assuage; +and this inquiry, I think, must be answered by all, in the +affirmative. The sorrows, and griefs, and trials of woman, are not of +so palpable, conspicuous, and sometimes violent a character as are +those of man. They do not attract so universally the gaze of the +world--their consequences are not so extensive--they do not so much +occupy the pen of the historian, or draw forth the speculations of +philosophy; but they are more numerous, more secret; and for this very +reason more calculated to turn her to her God for consolation. I have +already in the preceding number shown, that woman, from her position +in society, is obliged to conceal more than man. She experiences many +sorrows and afflictions, which like the Viola of Shakspeare, she never +tells to any one, but keeps them locked up in her own bosom to brood +over in solitude. Rousseau says, a man truly happy, neither speaks +much nor laughs much--he hugs, so to speak, the happiness to his +heart. "_Il reserre, pour ainsi dire, le bonheur autour de son +coeur._" The assertion which Rousseau here makes concerning the +happiness of man, is strictly true, when applied to the misery of +woman--especially to that most numerous class of her griefs which +spring from wounded affections. This species of misery, if I may +borrow the pencil of Rousseau "elle reserre autour de son coeur." Her +shrinking modesty dares not confess it to the world; sometimes even +the penetrating scrutiny of an affectionate mother is shunned and +deceived. What then is her resource? She knows there is a God who +inhabiteth the high and lofty places of eternity, who has promised to +turn from none who seek him--she feels that all her sorrows are known +to him. She can truly exclaim in the language of the Psalmist, "thou +hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down sitting, mine +uprising: thou understandest my thoughts afar off. Thou compasseth my +path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there +is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord! thou knowest it +altogether." With this being then, who already knows all her +afflictions, does she commune--to him she pours forth the torrent of +her feelings, and tells the tale of her concentrated woe, which no +vulgar ear shall ever hear. This communion becomes sweet to her in the +hour of her afflictions, and she bestows upon him who has promised to +be the friend of the disconsolate and broken-hearted, that love which +perhaps has been slighted and despised by another. "As the dove (says +Irving,) will clasp its wings to its sides, and cover and conceal the +wound that is preying on its vitals--so is it the nature of woman, to +hide from the world the pangs of wounded affection. Even when +fortunate she scarcely breathes it to herself; but when otherwise, she +buries it in the recesses of her bosom, and there lets it cower and +brood among the ruins of her peace." + +It is at such times as these she feels the great want of religion; and +accordingly we find that on tracing the history of woman, we often see +her religious career commencing after some great disappointment--after +some cruel stroke which has been inflicted on the feelings and +affections. In Catholic countries we frequently see women, after these +great disappointments, retiring from the world and immuring themselves +for the remainder of their lives within the walls of a nunnery, where +at a distance from the world and free from the rude gaze of an +inquisitive society, they may spend the remainder of their days in +silent and pensive melancholy, softened and ameliorated by sweet +communion with God. You rarely hear of this on the part of man. If he +survives the misfortunes that for a time have oppressed him, he +plunges into the active business and bustle of the world, and in the +midst of his employments he finds new occupation for his mind--he +summons it away from the contemplation of his grief. New feelings are +called into play, and often succeed in banishing the old. How often do +we find _ambition_ becoming the succedaneum of _love_. + +But woman has not this opportunity of withdrawing herself from the +scenes of her misfortunes and griefs. Every object around her reflects +back their images upon her mind; and, go where she will, she is still +like those unfortunate beings, laboring under the illusions of +spectral apparitions;--the phantoms are around her still, gazing on +her with lurid glare whilst awake, haunting her whilst asleep. Nothing +but religion can afford her solace, under afflictions so oppressive +and crushing. Without it, she may well exclaim in the language of the +"Dirge," + + "Vain is the boasted force of mind, + When hope has ta'en her flight; + Then memory is most unkind-- + And thought is as the dread whirlwind + That works on earth its blight." + +In addition to what is said above, it may be observed that the +physical infirmities of woman, are greater than those of man; she is +liable to sudden changes in health, which endanger her life. Every +child which comes into the world, is an admonition to the mother on +the precariousness of human life, and the necessity of living in a +state of constant preparation for another world. + +_3d. Dependence and Physical Weakness_. + +Another cause, no doubt, of the more religious character of woman, is +her greater feebleness and dependence upon the powers around her, than +that felt by man. When we look to the stupendous mechanism of the +heavens and the earth, and contemplate the mighty powers that are at +work in the universe, the mind naturally turns, in the spirit of +devotion and prayer, to that infinite, incomprehensible, mysterious +being, who guides and directs those powers. When we contemplate, for +example, the globe on which we stand--think of it as moving at the +rate of more than sixty thousand miles per hour, around that luminous +orb, which at the distance of millions of miles, binds it down to its +prescribed orbit; when we think again of this mass on which we stand, +vast and grand to us, but an atom to him who placed it here, rolling +on its axis, carrying us forward with a compound velocity, which if it +could be suddenly arrested by some opposing mass competent to the +resistance, would be sufficient to tear from their bases all the +mountains and hills of the earth, and hurl their scattered fragments +o'er the vallies--a velocity, whose sudden cessation would prostrate +alike the animal and vegetable kingdoms, burying all in one common +chaotic ruin, from which no one being would escape to sing the funeral +dirge of a _dead world_. When we contemplate all this, and know that +there is a hand competent to the control of these mighty powers; that +under its influence, while thus rapidly hurled along through the +illimitable regions of space, the busy operations of men are going +forward; that the grand tower, the enormous pyramid, the slender reed, +and the delicate spire of grass, stand alike unaffected and unshaken +by this velocity; that the slumbers of the infant on its little couch, +and the spider weaving her delicate web in the "autumnal fields," are +alike undisturbed;--when we look again, and contemplate that thin +elastic medium which we breathe, covering the earth like an invisible +mantle, all quiet and calm at the sunset hour, so that even the +thistle-down lies still and motionless on the earth's surface; then +think again of that same medium, lashed into the fearful tempest, +spreading dismay and destruction along its desolating track, and +scattering the mariner and his cargoes over the billows of the sea; or +when we contemplate that principle of heat which pervades the +universe, constituting the great _vis vivica_, or enlivening power of +nature,--so placid, so sweet, and it would scarcely be metaphor to +add, so _tender_, as it exists around us in the mild and bland +atmosphere of a summer's morning, when + + "The lark, + Shrill voiced and loud, the messenger of morn, + Calls up the tuneful nations. And ev'ry copse + Deep tangled, tree irregular, and bush + Bending with dewy moisture o'er the heads + Of the coy quiristers that lodge within, + Are prodigal of harmony." + +And then think again of this same agent confined in the earth's mass; +by its sudden action laying hold on the globe with the grasp of more +than ten thousand giants, upheaving the dense and mighty stratum which +lies above it, shaking whole continents by its power, and burying the +toppling cities with the accumulated wealth of ages under its fearful +ruins; when we contemplate, I say, all these powers around us, we see +our dependence on _them_, and again _their_ dependence on omnipotence. +The feeling of dependence forced upon the mind, begets a spirit of +devotion and trust towards the God of nature. At first, overwhelmed by +the evidences of mighty power exerted around and over us, we are +almost disposed to cry out in the language of holy writ, "what is man +that thou shouldst be mindful of him, or the son of man that thou +shouldst deign to visit him." But our confidence revives when we +recollect the promise that "if God so clothe the grass of the field, +which to-day is and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much +more clothe you, O ye of little faith." + +This spirit of dependence, wherever felt, always begets more or less a +religious spirit of devotion. It is this spirit which, in ages of +ignorance and superstition, begets the worship of heroes, of +statesmen, and philanthropists. It is this spirit which has added such +as Hercules, Castor, Pollux, Isis, Osiris, &c. to the vast catalogue +of the gods in the polytheistic religions of antiquity. It is this +same spirit, which makes the subordinate officer and the soldier, look +with awe and the most confident reliance on the successful military +chieftain, who has so often manoeuvred them like a machine, and has +gained victory after victory by those rapid combinations and skilful +evolutions, which to the mind that does not comprehend, appear to be +the result of inspiration rather than the effects of human wisdom. +Wherever in fine, there is a system of dependence, there you will find +always more or less a spirit of reverence. How intensely does this +spirit manifest itself in a father or mother, who has knelt before an +emperor or king, and obtained the pardon of a condemned son. Now, as I +have already observed, woman feels this dependency much more strongly +than man. She is the weaker vessel, and hence there is a devotional +feeling excited by this dependence, which follows the chain of +dependence up, link by link, until it reaches the throne of +omnipotence. Woman does not feel this dependence from a contemplation +of the mighty physical energies exerted around her by the great powers +of nature; but it arises from her greater weakness and dependency when +compared with the other sex. + +Do we not all know that there is something much more devotional in the +love of woman than man--a something much more nearly allied to +religion? Do we not know that this same weakness and consequent +dependence, makes woman more confiding, more trusting, more submissive +than man? She feels much greater veneration for the great and the +powerful, and acquiesces much more readily in the tyranny and +oppression of rulers. Even women of the very first order of intellect +feel this reliance and trust on the greater powers around them. Mrs. +Jameson says, in speaking of the Portia of Shakspeare, "I never yet +met in real life, nor ever read in tale or history, of any woman +distinguished for intellect of the highest order, who was not also +remarkable for this _trustingness_ of spirit, this hopefulness and +cheerfulness of temper, which is compatible with the most serious +habits of thought, and the most profound sensibility. Lady Wortley +Montague was one instance; and Madame de Stael furnishes another much +more memorable." + +The physical weakness of woman and her consequent dependence on man, +makes religion more necessary to her for another reason. It is her +interest that every restraint should be imposed on the passions of +man; that he should walk in the paths of virtue and morality; that his +superior strength should be subdued and tempered by motives of +humanity. He is then more kind, more attentive, and more loving to +her. He is then a better father, a better economist,--in fine, a +better citizen, fulfilling more perfectly all the relations of life. +The Christian religion, as we shall soon see, is eminently calculated +to produce this happy result, and consequently woman is deeply +interested in its spread. Let no one start forward with the objection, +that in this way she is the better enabled to _govern_ her husband. I +admit this, if, to govern him, means to restrain him from vice and +immorality; but surely this is a government which no honest good +citizen can object to. Every lady has a fearfully deep interest in the +whole character and temperament of her husband's mind and feelings. +Upon them depend, indeed, her weal or woe. Her condition may be +deplorable, and sometimes irremediable, if a wicked husband choose to +oppress her. But that is certainly a holy and a virtuous selfishness, +if selfishness it can possibly be called, which secures our own +welfare and happiness while adding to that of another, by curbing and +controlling his more violent and malignant feelings and passions, and +attuning the whole inner man to harmony and concord. + +_4th. Seclusion and Meditation_. + +Again, the life of woman, as has been before remarked, is much more +sedentary, more secluded, and consequently more contemplative than +that of man. Solitude and contemplation are very favorable to the +production of religious impressions and the generation of a spirit of +piety and devotion. Man is so constantly occupied amid the busy scenes +of active employment, so much engrossed with his schemes of ambition +and self-aggrandizement, so rapidly whirled forward by the eddying +current of active life, that he scarcely will take time to pause in +the hurry and bustle of existence to contemplate his Maker, and render +to him the homage that is his due. Public devotion even often breaks +in upon his regular routine of life, and frequently mars some little +pet scheme of the day. He is a Sabbath-day worshipper; a worshipper at +spare times and leisure seasons. But the solitary chamber of a woman, +is often by day and by night, the temple from which in her lone hours +she sends her silent prayers to heaven; the temple from which, in her +silent meditations, her thoughts wander forth and hold sweet communion +with the God of nature. + +But, let us investigate a little more philosophically, the effects of +this secluded, meditative, contemplative life of woman. And, in the +first place, all will acknowledge that occasional solitude and +consequent meditation are extremely favorable to the cause of virtue +generally. Whilst we are running our dissipated career, under the +excitement of the passions, we rarely have time, leisure, and +reflection sufficient to determine on reform. "It is not in the +madness of intemperate enjoyment," says Dr. Brown, in one of his most +brilliant lectures, "that we see drunkenness in the goblet, or disease +in the feast. Under the actual seduction of the passion we see dimly, +if we see at all, any of the evils to which it leads." It is in the +hour of solitude and reflection, that the remorseful thought of our +errors and vices, comes across the mind; then, in the coolness and +calmness of solitude, can we trace out the blighting evils that are +likely to follow on our career; then, and then alone, can we +dispassionately view, in the vista of the future, our loss of +character, of health and riches, by the course we are pursuing; then +we behold the melancholy consequences, widening out, until they +embrace our family, friends, neighborhood, and state; we then can +summon, in gloomy review before the mind's eye, our wives and +children, dearer to us than life, living in penury and misfortune, and +perhaps dependent for a scanty subsistence upon the cold hand of +charity. When the mind is capable of reflection--of sketching out this +sad picture, there may be hopes of reform. The individual is never +absolutely, hopelessly lost, who indulges in silent meditations on the +past; such an individual may even be saved at the eleventh hour. +Hence, too, there is virtue in mere intelligence, because intelligence +can always think and meditate. Hence, too, the efficacy of solitary +confinement in the gloomy walls of the prison, and the very +deleterious influence of all prison discipline not based on the +principle of solitary confinement. + +Again, any scene of distress, any monuments or associations, which +remind us of the instability of the boasted works of man; anything +which forces a comparison in the mind between the transitory character +and nothingness of the things of earth, when compared with the +eternity of ages that are to follow, or with the perfections and +immutability of God; all such reflections as these are calculated to +make a deep religious impression upon the mind. What classic scholar, +for example, can stand upon the Capitol on the Capitoline Mount, in +Modern Rome, and look over the mouldering but still magnificent ruins +of the imperial city, as they lie scattered and confused over the +vallies and the seven hills, and cast a retrospective glance at the +ages which have gone by, without a deep feeling of religious awe and +of veneration towards the God of nature? When he reflects that the +poet of antiquity describes this classic ground, over which the eye of +the traveller is now wandering in pensive and bewildering gaze, as a +solitary wilderness; when Evander, and afterwards when Æneas came to +the Latian Coast; that the brier and the bramble then grew together in +wild luxuriance on the Tarpeian Hill; that the foxes had their holes +and the birds their nests on the Palatine and the Aventine. When he +looks again to the time of the poet, and beholds the proud imperial +city, the mistress of the world, enthroned in all her gorgeous +splendor and costly magnificence upon the seven hills, wielding the +sceptre of her dominion over the earth, + + "Until the o'ercanopied horizon fail'd," + +and sees upon the Tarpeian hill, the splendid temple with its golden +ornaments and its stately columns, instead of the brier and the +bramble, and beholds, + + "Pretors, proconsuls to their provinces + Hasting, or on return, in robes of state, + Lictors and rods, the ensigns of their power, + Legions and cohorts, turms of horse and wings: + Or embassies from regions far remote, + In various habits on the Appian road, + Or on the Emilian." + +And then looks to her again--when in the awful language of the poet, + + "The Goth, the Christian, time, war, flood and fire + Have dealt upon the seven hill'd city's pride," + +and sees that the temple upon the Tarpeian mount has been overthrown +and rifled, and the brier and the bramble have come back again, that +owl answers owl upon the Palatine, that the din of arms and the active +bustle and hum of citizens and functionaries of imperial Rome, have +ceased forever on the Appian and Emilian ways, that no stately triumph +mounts the Capitoline hill, to administer to the insatiate ambition of +the rapacious and remorseless Roman, that + + "Cypress, and ivy, weed and wall flower grown + Matted and massed together, hillocks heap'd + On what were chambers, arch'd crush'd, columns strown + In fragments, choked up vaults, and frescos steep'd + In subterranean damps," + +now meets his eye where'er it turns. Well may he exclaim with such a +prospect before him, in the language of the same poet, + + "The Niobe of nations! there she stands, + Childless and crownless in her voiceless woes. + + * * * * * + + Alas! the lofty city! and alas! + The trebly hundred triumphs! and the day + When Brutus made the dagger's edge surpass + The conqueror's sword, in bearing fame away. + Alas for Tully's voice, and Virgil's lay, + And Livy's pictured page!" + +When he sees all these mutations and revolutions on a single spot of +earth, in the hour of his meditations his mind reverts to Him who +alone is immutable and unchangeable, upon whose brow, time writes no +wrinkles. "Alas, the pride of man goes down with him into the dust! it +withers when the lamp of his transient existence flickers out into the +long slumbering of the tomb." Eternal youth, eternal majesty, eternal +duration, belong only to the great, the unchangeable I AM. The +bustling transitory career of the mighty of the earth, when duly +contemplated, should but the more strongly impress on the mind the +infinity, eternity, and omnipotence of Deity. "Where now are they who +sounded the clarion of war along the plains of Thessaly, the mount of +Marathon and Samos's rocky isle. The trumpet's voice hath died upon +the breeze; the thousands which it aroused have gone to rest; the +castles which have been subdued and won, on whose walls the spear +glittered and the cannon pealed, have crumbled into dust; the ivy +lingers about the decaying turrets; the raven builds her nest in the +casement, and sends upon the ear of midnight her desolate wailings; +the owl hoots where the song was heard; and man, proud man, who once +fought and won--he who reared the structure," + + "Sleeps where all must sleep." + +There is religion, yes a deep abiding religion in such a retrospect as +this, and the mind which can trace back in its reflections the history +of man along the pathway of ages, and see how dynasties have been +overthrown, and thrones crumbled, how nations have risen, flourished +for a day, then have declined and fallen, and been numbered among the +things that are past and gone, cannot fail to turn, upon the principle +of contrast, to the God of nature, whose throne is eternal, and whose +dominion can never pass away. + +Such may be the salutary effect of the reflection of man, when man +reflects. Let us now turn to woman, and see the character of her +meditations and reflections. She perhaps may not, in her solitary +musing, so much delight, as man, to look to the history of nations, +and draw the mighty moral from their fluctuations and vicissitudes. +But there are scenes around her--there are events constantly occurring +in her own limited sphere, which much more frequently, upon the +principles just explained, excite her meditations, and lead her on to +religious devotion. Woman, as I before remarked, is the tender, +constant, and affectionate nurse of our race. Hers is the heavenly +office to watch the sorrows of man and mitigate them, by her sweet, +her benevolent ministrations. + + "The very first + Of human life must spring from woman's breast. + Your first small words are taught you from her lips, + Your first tears quenched by her, and your last sighs + Too often breathed out in woman's hearing, + When men have shrunk from the ignoble care + Of watching the last hour of him who led them." + +Now this contemplation of pain and suffering, notwithstanding all the +magnificence which pride or grandeur may spread around the couch of +sickness and death, is calculated to force upon the mind the gloomy +truth of the instability of the things of earth, and that there is +nothing but God upon whom we can rely amid all the vicissitudes of +earthly scenes. "The sight of death," says Dr. Brown, "or of the great +home of the dead, seldom fails to bring before us our common and equal +nature. In spite of all the little distinctions which a churchyard +exhibits in mimic imitations, and almost in mockery of the great +distinctions of life, the turf, the stone with its petty sculpture, +and all the columns and images of the marble monument; as we read the +inscription, or walk over the sod, we think only of what lies beneath, +_in undistinguishable equality_." Here then is the scene to which +woman in her meditations is oftener transported than man. Our last +sufferings are longer remembered by her than by man--they produce a +more mighty influence on her mind, and frequently do we see that the +death of a child, of a husband, of a brother, sister, parent, or even +friend, produces a sudden but lasting impression on woman's mind, +arrests her in her gay and thoughtless career--makes her reflect upon +the vanities of this world, and in the end is the cause of her being +gathered into the fold of the faithful and the righteous, where she +can ever after, with truth and feeling, amid all her earthly +prosperity, exclaim in the beautiful language of Gray, in his +Churchyard, + + "The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, + And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave + Await alike the inevitable hour, + The paths of glory lead but to the grave." + +_5th. Peculiar Character of the Christian Religion_. + +But one of the most important causes of the religious differences of +the sexes, remains yet to be told. _It is the character of the +christian religion, and its peculiar suitability to the whole female +nature and economy._ It may boldly, without fear of contradiction be +asserted, that never since the foundation of the world, has there been +propagated a religion so consolatory to woman in all her sorrows and +difficulties--so liberal in promises--so congenial, in fine, with all +the undefined wants and longings of her heart, as the _Religion of +Christ_. Throughout the world, in all ages and countries where this +religion has not been preached, it may be truly said, that the great +religious wants of woman have not been administered to. She has pined, +if I may use the expression, for the want of religious culture, and +has entirely failed to accomplish, in consequence of it, her sweetest +and most graceful destinies on earth. + +Shall we turn for example to the boasted polytheistical religion of +Greece and Rome? how illy adapted do we find it to the wants, the +habits, the sensibilities, and I may add, the virtue and chastity of +woman. It is true, that in the innumerable host of their divinities, +they numbered some distinguished female goddesses. Minerva, Juno, +Diana, Ceres, Venus, &c. occupied very conspicuous stations in the +celestial hierarchy. But we are not to infer from this compliment to +the ladies, that the religion was one adapted to the female character. +When we come to examine it, we perceive at once its barbarous and +uncivilized origin, and see that the progress of science and +civilization in Greece and Rome, merely refined and polished it, +without adapting it to the real wants of society, or purging it of its +enormities and vices. + +In the first place, Jupiter, the king of the gods, who could shake all +Olympus with his nod, was not omnipotent. He was restrained by the +fates, and in constant apprehension of combinations among other gods, +to resist or cheat him. Nor was Jupiter, with all the gods to back +him, omnipotent. On one occasion, they were all thrown into +consternation, by the formidable array of the giants, who were +attempting to pile mountain on mountain, Ossa upon Pelion, in order +that they might scale the ramparts of heaven. This great dread proved +the want of omnipotence. Again; Xenophon tells us that the +Lacedemonians used to send up their prayers early in the morning, to +be beforehand with their enemies. Sometimes, according to Seneca, +persons bribed the sexton in the temple to secure a place near the +god, so that he might the more certainly hear them. When the Tyrians +were besieged by Alexander the Great, they chained the Hercules in the +temple to prevent his desertion. Augustus Cæsar, after twice losing +his fleet by storm, determined to insult Neptune, the god of the sea, +publicly; and therefore ordered that he should not be carried in +procession with the other gods. And we are told, that after the death +of Germanicus in Rome, who was a great favorite with the people, they +were so much incensed with the gods, that they stoned and renounced +them. + +In the Iliad, after the celebrated quarrel between Agamemnon and +Achilles, when the latter urges his mother Thetis, to lay his +complaints before Jupiter, she tells him that Jupiter has gone in +procession with the other gods, to pay honors to the Ethiopians, and +on his return, she will present his petition. But besides the want of +omnipotence in one or all the gods combined, the polytheistical +religion presented a multitude of gods, among whom reigned the wildest +disorders, the fiercest contentions, and the most revolting vices and +crimes. Jupiter was the king of heaven, and he ruled not like the +Jehovah of the christian, with mildness and love, but depended upon +his thunder and his might. By these terrible means and not by love for +him, his subjects were kept in awe. Listen to him in the 8th book of +the Iliad, where he forbids the gods to take any part in the contest +between the Greeks and Trojans. I give Pope's translation. Jupiter +does not speak in the language of mildness, but threatens and +denounces the most cruel punishment for disobedience, merely because +his power enables him to enforce it. + + "What god but enters yon forbidden field, + Who yields assistance or but wills to yield; + Back to the skies with shame he shall be driven + Gash'd with dishonest wounds, the scorn of heaven," &c. + +And the gods obeyed, not from love or affection to Jupiter, but from +absolute terror, inspired by his power. + + "The Almighty spoke, nor durst the powers reply, + A reverend horror silenced all the sky; + Trembling they stood before the sov'reign's look," &c. + +Poor Juno, the _ox-eyed Juno_, the unfortunate wife of the Olympic +thunderer, was the most unhappy of women, eternally quarrelling with +her imperial husband and complaining of his partiality to her enemies. +Minerva, too, more beloved by Jupiter than his own wife, complains of +him as raging with an evil mind, in perpetual opposition to her +inclinations. Old Vulcan, it is well known, got his lameness by being +thrown out of heaven by Jupiter in a mad fit, occasioned by Vulcan's +interference in behalf of Juno, when persecuted by her unreasonable +and irascible husband. + +The gods, too, are represented as frequently engaged in actual strife +with men, and with one another. In the 20th book of the Iliad, when +Jupiter permits the gods to enter the hitherto forbidden field of +Troy, and take sides according to their inclinations, we have a +regular battle between them. Diomed wounds no less than two gods in +the engagement; Venus, who went off weeping to Jupiter, and Mars, the +great god of war. In the same engagement, we have Neptune pitted +against Apollo, the god of the sun, and Pallas or Minerva, matched +with Mars, and actually prostrating him by a huge rock, a most +unfeminine, _unlady-like_ act. + + "Thundering he falls: a mass of monstrous size, + And seven broad acres covers, as he lies." + +This wise, but most austere and forbidding old maid, appears truly +terrific in this battle of the gods, and seems an overmatch for all, +save the Olympic thunderer. + +But again, the morals of the gods were of the most corrupt and +profligate character. Jupiter was the greatest rake of all the ancient +world. How many wives and maidens was he represented as seducing by +the most unfair means? and so regardless was he of his wife Juno, that +she was obliged to borrow the girdle and charms of Venus, when she +wished to captivate the thunderer. The historian tells us that the +Amphitrion of Aristophanes, was supposed in Greece, to be very +pleasing to Jupiter--that he was like all rakes, exceedingly fond of +the recital of his prowess in the arts of love and seduction. Venus, +the goddess of beauty, as we might well suppose, after hearing a +description of her ungainly hard favored husband, was no better than +the thunderer. Her levities _bred_ disturbances in heaven, and heroes +on earth.[2] In view of these circumstances, no one need wonder at the +account which St. Peter gives of the Gentiles in his time, that "they +walked in lasciviousness, lust, excess of wine, revellings, +banquetings, and abominable idolatries." + +[Footnote 2: The Trojan wanderer, the hero of the Æneid, was the son +of Venus, by Anchises a mortal.] + +Besides all this, the polytheistical religion was entirely inattentive +to all those rules of morality which civilize and humanize the race of +man, while they bind them together in peace and harmony like a band of +brothers. Minerva, for example, is represented in the 4th book of the +Iliad, as advising Pandarus to endeavor to bribe Apollo with the +promise of a Hecatomb to assist him in assassinating Menalaus, +contrary to the faith of a solemn treaty; and even Jupiter himself +joins with that goddess and Juno in promoting so foul a murder. When +we consider the vices and immoralities of the heavenly host, and then +think of the virtues of the first Romans, we are almost disposed to +assert with Rousseau, that virtue seemed to have been banished from +heaven's confines, to take up her residence on earth. Did human nature +in the ancient world, ever appear in a more stern and dignified +attitude, than when Lucretia was represented as worshipping Venus, and +still plunging the dagger in her bosom, because she had lost her +virtue? What a practical rebuke was here given to the lascivious queen +of beauty. + +I need scarcely conclude this little episode in which I have been +indulging, by the assertion that such a religion was unsuited to the +wants of the human race, but particularly of woman. She likes to send +from her closet, or from her silent and solitary chamber her prayers +to heaven. She therefore requires an all-seeing, all-searching eye, +which can behold her in the prayerful moments of her solitude. She +likes to commune with a God who is omnipotent and able to heal and +save. Her nature shudders at the conflicts and broils of the gods of +the heathen--at their immoralities and vices. The female deities are +all gross, lewd, masculine conceptions, unworthy of the delicacy, +chastity, modesty and grace of the virtuous female. The gods were all +unworthy of her confidence and entire _trustingness_. Where is the +virtuous woman of the modern world, who, in the hour of affliction and +trial, would unbosom herself before so terrible, so wicked, and so +licentious a being as the Jupiter of the ancients? Or what female +could bear to contemplate the amours of Venus, or to imitate the acts, +and the monstrous immorality of the goddess of wisdom. Well then might +the worshippers of such beings be described as "dead in trespasses and +sins," and well might St. John, in view of such a religion, exclaim +"the whole world lieth in wickedness." + +If we turn from the Polytheistic religion of the ancient world, to the +Monotheistic religion of the Mohammedan, we shall find the whole of +this system more gloomy, more revolting, and more repugnant to woman's +feelings, than even the Polytheistical. The fiery warlike character of +the prophet, the propagation of the religion by fire and sword--the +total degradation of the female character--the seraglio and the +attendant eunuchs, and the low and sensual offices of the black-eyed +Houris in Mohammed's paradise, are all too revolting to the women of +christian countries, to be even contemplated with composure for a +moment. We are not to wonder at the implacable hostility of christian +females all over the world towards the moslem. Women have always +attended in considerable numbers the armies of Europe, when it was +threatened with invasion by the devastating armies of the Turks. +D'Israeli in his very interesting collection of the curiosities of +literature, has a chapter on "events, which have not happened," and +gives us some speculations on the fate of Europe, if the Saracens +under Abderam had beaten Charles Martel at Tours. What woman now +moving with freedom and grace in the social circles of christendom, +but shudders at the bare idea of such a result. + +Let us now turn to the _religion of Christ_, and contemplate its +character for a moment. And here shall we find a religion in every +respect suited to the character of woman. It has been truly and +emphatically pronounced to be a _religion of love_. The very scheme of +salvation was conceived by the Almighty in a spirit of love. God is +represented as so loving the world, that he gave his only begotten Son +to save it. And when that Son came into the flesh, and was asked by +the Pharisees for the most important commandments of the law, Christ +answered, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with +all thy soul, with all thy mind; and the second is like unto it. Thou +shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all +the law and the prophets." Now I have already shown in my first +number, that woman loves more tenderly, more devotedly, and constantly +than man. This religion of Christ, then, above every other, is fitted +for that deep abiding love which woman feels so much oftener than man. +It is eminently and peculiarly adapted to that being whose whole +history has been pronounced to be a history of the affections. "There +is nothing surely on earth (says Mrs. Butler,) that can satisfy and +utterly fulfil the capacity for loving, which exist in every woman's +nature. Even when her situation in life is such as to call forth and +constantly keep in exercise the best affections of her heart, as a +wife and a mother; it still seems to me as if more would be wanting to +fill the measure of yearning tenderness, which like an eternal +fountain gushes up in every woman's heart; therefore, I think it is, +that we turn, in the plenitude of our affections, to that belief which +is a religion of love, where the broadest channel is open to receive +the devotedness, the clinging, the confiding trustfulness, which are +idolatry when spent upon creatures like ourselves, but becomes a holy +worship when offered to heaven."[3] + +[Footnote 3: In an Epistle supposed to be written by the famous Abbé +Rencé, of la Trappe, this alliance between love and religion is well +described, though rather too much in the peculiar style of a +thoughtless Frenchman, "Je n'avois plus d'amante (says the Abbé,) il +me fallùt un dieu."] + +But again--was there ever a being so congenial, so suitable to the +character of woman, as the Saviour of the world. He condescended to be +born of woman. Mary was his mother; and while executing the high +behests of his father on earth, he treated his mother with the most +affectionate and filial tenderness. And then his character was all +mildness and meekness. He who could come forth in all the might of his +father, + + "Into terror chang'd, + With countenance too severe to be beheld; + And full of wrath," + +hurl the fearful host of fallen and rebellious angels into the +bottomless pit, and chain them there through the endless ages of +eternity--could, whilst in this world, bear the scoffings, the +revilings, the buffetings of sinful man, could beg his father to +forgive his persecutors, because they knew not what they did. His +dominion in this world was not based upon violence, devastation and +bloodshed. In his glorious career, he made no widows and orphans. +Wherever he moved, he carried consolation and healing to the lowly and +the humble. He restored the sick, and made the lame to walk, the blind +to see, and the dead to come forth from their sepulchres. His kingdom +was one of peace, and harmony, and forbearance. He commanded his +disciples to love one another, and to serve his father in spirit and +in truth. He did not, like Mohammed, exclude woman from an equal +participation in all the promises of the gospel; and he declared that +Mary and Martha had chosen that good part which should not be taken +from them. Woman ministered to him while on earth; she was with him at +the cross; she was with him at his grave: + + "Not she with trait'rous kiss her Saviour stung-- + Not she denied him with unholy tongue; + She, while apostles shrank, could danger brave-- + Last at his cross, and earliest at his grave." + +The religion of the cross has been very truly pronounced to be a +species of legislation in behalf of the rights of woman. The +promulgation of the new gospel elevated her at once to that station +which she deserves, and which adds so much to the refinement, +happiness and prosperity of the world. Compare the woman of the modern +with her of the ancient world; compare the woman of christendom with +her of the heathen, and then will you behold the mighty agency of the +religion of Christ in the amelioration of her destiny. Well then may +woman cleave to this religion, as the ark of her safety and +dependence. Well may she worship the Saviour of the world, for he was +the true friend of woman--the husband to the widow, and father to the +fatherless. + +Woman is most deeply interested in the success of every scheme which +curbs the passions and enforces a true morality. She is the weaker +portion of the human family. When wickedness reigns in the land, and +might is recognized as constituting right, she is always the great +sufferer. Behold her among barbarians--among nations and people +engaged in deadly strife, and how miserable do you always find her +condition. Now the new gospel, in addition to the best religion which +has ever been given to the world, contains likewise the very best +system of morality. I have always thought that it was one of the most +beautifully characterising traits of the christian religion, that it +has ever been found better and better adapted to our condition, as the +human race advances in civilization, knowledge and morality; and in +this respect, no religion was ever found like it. The sermon of Christ +on the mount, contains a system of morality which will be more and +more appreciated as long as the world stands. + +_6th. Nervous System_. + +In giving an account of the causes of religious differences between +the sexes, I have not adverted to the effects produced by +physiological differences of the nervous systems of the sexes. The +whole frame and nervous system of woman, is said to be much more +delicate and sensitive than that of man. Hence an additional tendency +to the reception of quick and sudden impressions of all kinds. Hence +too, the great proneness of woman to irritation and to hysteric +affections,[4] and her liability to great and frequently overpowering +excitement, in those religious congregations where enthusiasm is +propagated by contagion. I have frequently seen indiscriminate +multitudes assembled together for worship, when every soul was +concentrated, and every mind was mingled in the same thought; when all +hearts were blended in song--"The poor man by the side of the rich, +without being jealous, had forgotten his miseries--the rich man had +learned his indigence." All seemed to have obtained intelligence of +their bright celestial destiny; all seemed prepared for it, rejoicing +together, and all seemed advancing towards it. On these occasions, I +have always witnessed more feeling, more earnestness, and more +enthusiasm among the women than the men; and not unfrequently have I +seen them cry aloud, and continue in a state of violent agitation for +many minutes. The greater nervous irritability of the female then, +must certainly be ranked among the causes of her peculiarly religious +temperament. But I will not dwell longer on the causes of the +religious differences between the sexes. It is sufficient to know that +woman is more religious every where than man, and that the causes +assigned for this difference, if not the only ones, are certainly the +most important and most powerful in their operation. I will conclude +my remarks on this deeply interesting subject, by a brief +consideration of some of the effects of religion on the character of +woman. + +[Footnote 4: Babington tells us, that in orphan asylums, hospitals and +convents, the effect of contagion is so great, that the nervous +disorder of one female easily and quickly becomes the disorder of all. +He tells us, upon the authority of a medical work, on which he places +the most implicit reliance, of a large convent in France, where the +example of one female who imitated the mewing of a cat, set the whole +convent to mewing, so as to make every day a complete cat concert. And +upon the authority of Carden, he tells of a nun in a German convent, +who commenced biting her companions like a mad dog. The contagion +spread from one to the other, until all in the nunnery were affected +with this rabid humor, which spread from convent to convent until it +reached Rome. These cases, however, if they actually occurred, were of +a very extraordinary character, and could only happen under such +circumstances as generally attend on the secluded, contemplative and +eccentric life of a convent, which nature never intended to be the +life of a rational, active, social being.] + +_Effects of Religion on Woman_. + +Religion, I mean the religion of the heart and of the feelings, such +as woman generally possesses, has undoubtedly a tendency to heighten +and improve all those qualities and attributes which we consider as +most essential to the female character. All the great duties of life, +those of wife, mother, friend, &c. she performs with a double relish, +and under the influence of a double motive. Religion furnishes a new +and powerful impulse to virtue. Virtue, it is true, has its own +charms, and may be said, by the happiness which it affords, to +constitute its own reward; but you have never so well fortified it and +guarded it against dangerous assault, as when you have thrown over it +the sacred panoply of the christian religion. Most of the religions of +the world have chimed in with the prevailing tendencies of the corrupt +portions of our nature, and have flattered and ministered to some of +the worst and most malignant passions of the human heart. Not so with +the christian religion; it has exalted the humble and meek in spirit, +and pulled down the proud and wicked: it has waged war on vice and the +indulgence of evil passions of every description, and has proclaimed +the great law on which the whole code of morality hangs, that +"whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to +them." + +The religious female then, in addition to all the ordinary motives +which can incite to virtue, has the additional one of wishing to +please her God and of providing for her happiness hereafter. Religion +softens and disciplines the feelings, it quickens and heightens the +tender sensibilities, and increases all the sympathies of our nature. +It throws, in fine, a drapery of grace, of amiableness and loveliness +over the whole female character. Woman is never so lovely as in the +quiet unobtrusive discharge of her religious duties. "Men," says Dr. +Cogan, "contemplate a female atheist with more disgust and horror, +than if she possessed the hardest features embossed with carbuncles." +Even those who do not believe in the truth of christianity, turn +frequently with disgust from unbelieving women; they know too well the +value of religion and piety in the mother and the wife; they know full +well that the religious woman is generally the one who loves most +tenderly, most engrossingly, and most constantly. There is a +mysterious connection between even human love and religion. Rousseau +has long ago remarked upon the similarity of the languages of the +two.[5] How soon does a man in love, convert his mistress into an +_angel_; he is ready to make every _sacrifice_ for her; he kneels at +her _shrine_; he _worships_, he _adores_ her; 'tis _heaven_ where she +is, _torment_ where she is not. + +[Footnote 5: He says that "the enthusiasm of devotion borrows the +language of love; the enthusiasm of love borrows the language of +devotion."] + +I have already spoken of some of the effects of human love on man; it +is through the medium of the same powerful, mysterious agent, that +woman can frequently do so much for the cause of religion. There are +few men who can be deeply devoted to a pious female without a deep +sense of the beauty, the loveliness, and the holiness of true +religion. I once knew a being who loved, and loved devotedly a pious +lady. I have seen him gaze on her, as she moved before him in all the +loveliness of modesty and grace. Her looks, her words, her actions, +were all the subject of his intensest thoughts. I do believe he had +wrought them into a science, which he did most dearly love to study. + + "She could bend him to her ev'ry will, + His soul's emotions all were in her power." + +This being was not an unbeliever, but yet he was indifferent towards +religion. As soon, however, as he had felt the sweet influence of +human love, his mind assumed decidedly a religious cast; his thoughts +were more frequently turned on high. He declared, in the plenitude of +his affections, that he felt an indescribable pleasure in kneeling +beside the object of his affections at the altar, and mingling his +prayers with hers. He felt a deeper veneration and love for the God of +nature, because that God was loved by _her_, whose pure love, in his +mind at least, could sanctify and hallow every object which it +embraced. Reader! you who have wandered into distant climes, have you +not sometimes at sunset hour, when the great orb of day was pouring +his last flood of dimmed light over a world fast sinking into rest, +when every breeze had died away and every noise was hushed, reflected, +with feelings which no language could adequately describe, that the +same great luminary might be shedding his light on the dear friends of +your bosom, and that she whom you most tenderly loved, might then, +perhaps far away, be gazing on the same object? With feelings like +these, would the being just described direct his prayers and thoughts +to heaven. It almost seemed to him that they met _hers_ there, and +held communion together. + +And yet, be not surprised, he never told his tale of love to her! She +might have known it, for acts and looks are more eloquent than words. +But the impression produced on this individual by the absorbing +affection which he felt for one pious woman, remained with him; he +declares that the bare remembrance of her who seems to him even now a +vision of loveliness and piety on earth, has made him a better and a +holier man. He can truly and feelingly declare in those exquisite +lines of Petrarch's, whose beauty no translation can express, + + "Gentil mia donna, io veggio + Nel mover de' vostri occhi un dolce lume + Che mi mostra la via che al ciel conduce." + +Yes, and there are thousands besides who, like him, have been indebted +to pious females for that "sweet light" which illumines the path to +heaven. + +I have already said that the female communicants in our country, form +from two-thirds to three-fourths of the whole church. If you will +examine into this small comparative number of male communicants, you +will find that one-half, or perhaps three-fourths have been brought +into the church either directly or indirectly by female influence. But +we must remember that this great, this salutary influence of woman, is +exercised through the medium of her example, and of the sweet +propriety and purity of her demeanor before God and man. She need not +preach her own goodness, like the Pharisee; she need not obtrude her +sentiments, with the enthusiasm of the fanatic, on those around her. +It is not her province to go upon the highway and compel all to come +in to the feast. She is not the being to force you by denunciation and +terror, to enter the church; all this is offensive, but particularly +so in a modest female.[6] + +[Footnote 6: St. Peter speaks in the following terms, to christian +ladies whose husbands were not yet converted to the new faith: +"Likewise ye wives be in subjection to your husbands, that if any obey +not the word, they also without the word, may be won by the +conversation of the wives, while they behold your _chaste conversation +coupled with fear_." This recommendation of the apostle, marks out the +true province of woman in matters of religion.] + +Under the present system of education it is rarely the case that woman +can discuss with grace, and elegance, and truth, the doctrinal points +of religion. "Judge not that ye be not judged," is a text which every +woman should bear constantly in mind. A female persecutor is the most +odious of her sex. I have often thought that the bigoted, +bloody-minded Mary, queen of England, was the most unlovely woman +mentioned in the page of English history; and we can scarcely blame +her equally bigoted husband, in withholding all affection and love +from a woman who resembled him so closely. I do not believe that even +the bigoted husband can love a ferocious, blood-thirsty, bigoted wife. + +Mrs. Sandford blames those enthusiastic females "who wander about from +house to house, retailing the spiritual errors of the day, feeling the +religious pulse, dispensing prescriptions, and giving notoriety, at +least, to every new nostrum which would impose on the credulity of +weak and wayward christians; going about with their little casket of +specifics, they excite and foster the diseases they affect to cure." +Such enthusiasm as this, she well observes, "bears not the rose of +Sharon, but the apple of discord: not clusters of the celestial vine, +but spurious berries, which have the form, but not the sweetness of +the genuine fruit." There is a something in the quiet, meek, gentle, +and unobtrusive aspect and demeanor of the truly pious woman, which, +of itself, produces a mighty influence on the other sex. In the +collection of Lely's famous Windsor Beauties, there is one which +strikes the eye of the beholder, and rivets it in steadfast and +extatic gaze, it is the picture of Mrs. Nott. In Mrs. Jameson's +description of those Beauties, I have been more struck with Mrs. Nott, +although her tale is untold, than with any in the collection, not +excepting even the beautiful, the lovely Miss Hamilton. This fair +creature is represented with her book, and her flowers, and her +_village church_, in the back ground. These are the beautiful and +graceful appendages of piety and virtue. "As for the picture," says +Mrs. J. "it is some satisfaction to know, that slander has never +breathed upon those features to sully them to our fancy; that sorrow, +which comes to all, can never come there." Gazing on such a lovely, I +had like to have said _holy_ picture, well might she exclaim, "Is +there no power in conjuration to make those ruby lips unclose and +reveal all we long to know? Are they forever silent? The soul that +once inhabited there, that looked through those mild eyes, the heart +that beat beneath that modest vest; are they fled and cold? And of all +the thoughts, the feelings, the hopes, the joys, the fears, 'the hoard +of unsunn'd griefs' that once had their dwelling there; is this--this +surface--where beauty yet lives, 'clothed in the rainbow tints of +heaven,' but mute, cold, impassive--all that remains." And such will +ever be the curiosity which a meek, beautiful, and pious female, will +excite in the bosom of sensibility and affection. + + + + + For the Southern Literary Messenger. + +LIONEL GRANBY. + +CHAP. IV. + + She like a solitary rose that springs + In the first warmth of summer days, and flings + A perfume the more sweet because alone + Just bursting into beauty, with a zone-- + Half girl's--half woman's.--_Marcian Colonna_. + + +The gentle ease, and simple tranquillity which reigned at Chalgrave, +found me its most obedient vassal. I lounged in the library the whole +day, devouring with a morbid appetite, romance, poetry, and light +fantasy. I shunned the gay circle of its inmates, not through +misanthropy or boyish modesty, but from an utter contempt of the form +and spirit of social intercourse. I communed alone with myself, and in +the wanton dreams which a sickly fancy conjured before me, I was +alternately the victim of caprice, restlessness, and disquietude. +Though secluded I was not solitary--though a hermit I was not a +misanthrope. Arthur Ludwell was a little nucleus, about whom the +affections and friendships of the whole household gathered themselves. +His occasional visits to the library--his frank and open address, and +his serious and manly sense, all conspired to teach me the value of +his usefulness, and the degradation of my own worthlessness. He could +laugh at my sentimental reveries, yet he had a deep and chastened +taste for poetry; and though he was in the full tide of elastic youth, +he could read me a homily on the errors of an ill regulated mind, with +all the grave solemnity of referend age. His expostulations--the +remonstrances of my mother, and the broad hints about bad breeding +which the old dining-room servant gave me, could not seduce me from my +much loved retreat. I adhered to its fascinations even as the ivy to +the falling tower, and was simple enough to believe that wisdom was +gained by the bopeep game between reason, fancy and folly. + +One morning while I was engaged in my usual speculations, the door of +the library was suddenly opened, and Lucy entered, exclaiming! "Your +cousin Isa has arrived; shut your books! and do, my dear Lionel, +arrange your disordered dress. Look at your dishevelled hair. 'Twill +curl in graceful ringlets! and now do take it away from your pale and +melancholy brow." Twining her fingers in my hair, "I declare," cried +she, "I will not leave you till you come into the parlor. Isa is a +lovely girl, and is now receiving the affectionate salutations of the +whole family. Do, for my sake! for our mother's! and for the character +of the name you bear, grant my request." I could not hesitate, when +she impressed her entreaty with a kiss; and promising that I would +appear before my cousin, I soon commenced the unusual labors of my +toilette. I felt a wish, from some unaccountable emotion, to impress +my cousin with my appearance, and went into my toilette as a warrior +into an armory. Scipio's countenance was lit up with joy, when I +summoned his assistance; and with much deference he ventured to hope +that I would now let the old books rest--that I would sometimes sail +in our pleasure boat--that I would look at the Janus colts--that I +would let him go with me to our old walks, and that we would be boys +again. + +So soon as I had descended into the parlor, my mother advancing +towards me, led me to a recess in the dormant window; and with much +solemnity introduced me in due form to my cousin Isa Gordon! My fair +relative was much abashed at the gravity of my introduction, and +something like fear checked the furtive glance which was beaming over +her countenance. For my own part I was confused, alarmed, and +agitated, and trembled beneath that silent eloquence, and impassioned +sympathy, which in making woman lovely, ever makes man a fool. To me +the situation was painful and singular, for I had never before quailed +under the smiles or frowns of female society. I had gained their +contempt by apathy; and studiously avoiding the little attentions +demanded by the honor of gallantry, I stood among them a heartless +being, whose company was tolerated only because his satire was +dangerous. + +"I am truly happy to see you at Chalgrave," were the first words which +were stammered through my confusion! + +She blushed more deeply when I had spoken, and was hesitating a reply, +when Lucy advancing relieved her from her embarrassment. At the call +of my mother they moved across the room, and I was left gazing in mute +rapture, at the grace and sylph-like gentleness, which characterized +the footsteps of my cousin. + +This was Isa Gordon! that morning star which still shines on with +purity and brightness over the dark horizon of memory, and which even +now pours its bold and mellow light over the dreary waste of my +affections. Though not of tall stature, her form was one of exquisite +grace and symmetry, and her beauty mingled itself with the eye and +memory of the beholder. Her golden locks relieved a blushing cheek, +where laughing summer had set its seal, while her countenance +expressed a sensibility, intelligence, sweetness of temper and +innocence which disarmed flattery, and kindled affection. She was +grave more from gentle thoughtfulness than melancholy; and the low, +rich and soft music of her voice, stole upon the heart like the +swelling cadence of the Æolian harp. To firmness she united delicacy +of character, and possessing softness without weakness, humility +without arrogance, and beauty without affectation, her life became a +rare and happy combination of dignity, elevation and gentleness, with +the virtues which ennoble man, and the winning graces which endear +woman. She was in all the pride and power of conquering seventeen, yet +still no girlishness weakened the unobtrusive dignity of her +character. Romance might have decked her with all the gorgeous hues of +its fond imaginings. Poetry might have lingered around the silent +purity of her life, but reason alone could truly love--and wisdom +adore her. + +On that day I felt a new passion adding itself to my dreamy solitude; +and when I returned to my tranquil room, I found myself the victim of +wild and impassioned love, betraying every symptom of its curious and +wayward power. I was alternately humble and arrogant--stubborn and +infirm--now a gallant cavalier, winning woman's heart by martial +prowess--now a finished coxcomb with a plentiful store of that +harmless folly which is frittered away from common sense, and now a +rhyme stricken poet, drawing inspiration from my own distempered +vanity, and struggling for metre in the odds and ends of language. I +loved with a holy and fervent ardor; yet the purity which I fondly +believed was the characteristic of my passion, was stained into +grossness by individual pride. Self love made me a little deity, and +woman's regard was an offering demanded by my insatiate egotism. I do +not know that I erred more than most young lovers, in thus reasoning +from the cause to the effect, and in believing that the existence of +love arises solely from our own latent merits and fascinations. +Kindness makes us arrogant, while pride deduces from a blush or a +smile, positive evidence of woman's unhesitating love. If she reason +with the folly of our passion, she is cold--if she shew the least +sunshine of tenderness, she is indelicate, and if she exercise the +common prudence of a reasoning being, she is a coquette. Man must have +all the constancy of her love, all the devotion of her guileless +heart, and he alone must mould its delicate texture to the wanton +caprice of his own vanity. He grants her all that love which he can +spare from the faction and turmoil of the world, and demands in return +her esteem for his errors, and her adoration for his infirmities. We +treat them as fools, when we breathe our false and treacherous love, +and thus cheat ourselves into a belief of our own purity and truth. A +woman of dignity will smile at the fantastic tricks which duplicity +enacts before her; and if she truly love she will crush our pride by +coldness, and blind the searching eye of our vanity by indifference. +She risks her total happiness--she nobly throws all her treasured +hopes into the scale of marriage, and when once resolved, she +hesitates no longer over the trembling sacrifice of her implicit +confidence. Man calls the considerations of her judgment +insincerity--and the justifiable warfare of defence--coquetry. He +loves from pride; while prudence teaches her to inspire him with that +true passion, which takes its brightness like the diamond, only from +the attrition of its own fragments. + +Excited by the influence of my new passion, I became a being of +different habits, and boldly entered into the spirit of that social +circle whose gaiety I had shunned. The rays of love had beamed athwart +the darkness of my solitude, and I basked in their brilliancy till +seclusion lost its philosophy and study its excitement. I was happy +only in the company of Isa Gordon, and revelled like a martyr, in the +funereal pyre, which consumed my tranquillity. With the quick +penetration of her sex she perceived my love, and though it hourly +disported its vagaries before her, it failed to move either her +serenity of temper, or unbend her dignity of character. In her +intercourse with me she was courteous, kind and polite, and I vainly +labored to find some of those thousand signs of reciprocal attachment +with which egotism flatters pride, and with which vanity sustains +folly. I thought she was cold and heartless, and have often gazed on +her beauty with that chilled rapture which would dwell on the rainbow +that lends its glittering canopy to the brow of the glacier. + +Time wore away on downy feet, and the period was rapidly approaching +when Isa was to leave Chalgrave, and I was to enter college. I dared +not breathe my love; for though blinded by excess of passion, I had +enough of reason to know that I should be rejected; but could she +refuse when I plainly declared my sentiments? My vanity whispered her +acceptance, and I believed that her indifference proceeded not from +dislike but from my silence on that necessary and important +declaration which the pride and pretended ignorance of every woman +imperiously demands. + +"You are singularly romantic, Lionel!" said she, as I was earnestly +employed in repeating some wild stanzas which I had inscribed to the +evening star! "What a curious conceit to make it the bridal torch of +the moon, and why people it with the genius of light. Many a poet has +sighed away his sense in searching for metaphors to exalt it--yet it +still shines on, careless of the poor folly which labors to adorn it." + +"There is destiny in it, Isa! and even now as it arrests your gaze, +does it not tell thee of futurity? and does it not give a dreamy +melancholy--an incoherent imagining to thy young, thy cold, thy +uncorrupted heart?" + +"My heart cold!" replied she, smiling, "What a happy poet! In one +moment basking in the light of the evening star, and in the next +ungenerously censuring a heart of which you know nothing." + +"I do know it! I know that you have chilled its better feelings by the +dictates of reason, and from long obedience to stern prudence, you +cannot, dare not love! You have seen the sincerity of my passion, and +you have trampled on the purity of that love which adores you! Hear +me, dear Isa," I continued, seizing her hand and arresting her +departure, "hear my unworthy love. I am a wretched, desolate being, +and live alone." + +"Lionel!" said she, suddenly interrupting me, "I do not love you! You +have noble qualities, and a genius which promises the highest +distinctions of fame. Forget your idle passion, and be assured that I +shall ever retain for you the most affectionate friendship. Enter into +the busy throng of the world, and you will quickly gain that chastened +wisdom which can laugh to scorn all your boyish dreams of romance, and +in the race of ambition you must and will forget your fancied sorrows. +Is it not true that + + 'Love seldom haunts the breast where learning lies + And Venus sets--ere Mercury can rise.'" + +"I did not reckon on insult," I replied with much temper, "nor did I +wish you to read me a homily on the extravagance of that passion which +you alone have caused. You may scorn, yet I can love." + +Lucy, accompanied by Arthur Ludwell, appeared at this moment, and +relieved me from a scene of distress, confusion, and embarrassment. +They returned with Isa to the parlor; and I, in a state of tempestuous +feeling and subdued pride, sauntered to the shores of the Chesapeake. +A _whip-poor-will_ seated on the leafless branch of a ruined oak, was +carolling his funereal notes to the responsive echoes of the forest. +The moon was rising far in the East, and the broad sea before me had +already flushed its rippled surface in her mellow light. Here and +there in the fretted horizon, might be dimly discovered the diminished +sail, or the frail bark of the silent fisherman. All nature was +slumbering in deathlike solitude, while I alone was the rude string +whose vibrations jarred into discord the peaceful scene around me. In +the bitterness of wounded pride I solemnly resolved to conquer my +unrequited passion. I returned to Chalgrave, proud, stubborn and +unconquerable. I looked up to its dreary grandeur and my eye caught +the light form of Isa flitting athwart a window. My obstinacy vanished +like the mist of the morning, and I was again the creature of love, +hope, and imagination. + +On the succeeding day she quitted Chalgrave. Her parting interview was +simple and affecting. A kiss for my mother--a tear for Lucy, and a +smile for me, were the little legacies her affections bequeathed. With +strained eye and intense interest, I watched the chariot which bore +her away, and when it had sunk into the forest, I turned off to +meditate on her virtues and dream on her beauty. My old nurse gently +touching me, placed in my hand a little packet which she said Miss Isa +had left for me. I tore off the envelope, and a golden locket fell at +my feet, on which was inscribed in faint though legible lines, "_Dinna +forget_." That momento is now on my heart--a holy relic of the wreck +of my happiness. + + + + + For the Southern Literary Messenger. + +TO H. W. M. + + + When the cup is pledged, and the bright wine flowing, + At the festal board, in the halls of light; + And gentle eyes, like stars are glowing, + In the cloudless sky of a summer's night: + Oh! breathe but my name o'er the wine, for yet + I will dare to believe that all will not forget. + + When the moon looks out on the leafy bowers, + Where the gladsome daughters of beauty are wreathing + The brightest and fairest of all the flowers, + To crown their altars with incense breathing, + Oh, name one flower for the absent one, + Who forgotten by thee is remembered by none. + + In that home, to thee brightest and best upon earth, + Where the spirits thou lovest are yearning to greet thee, + When round the light of the household hearth, + The smiles and the tears of affection greet thee, + Mid the beam of the smile and the glow of the tear, + Shall a thought ever whisper "I wish he were here?" + + For if life were changed, and its beamings of gladness, + Were shrouded in gloom by the veil of sorrow, + And the pale cold shade of unaltered sadness, + Found no ray of hope in the coming morrow; + Each pang could but render more precious to me, + The friendship of M----, the beauty of B. + +MORNA. + + + + + For the Southern Literary Messenger. + +LINES + +Written on being accused of coldness of character and manners by some +friends--1830. + + + They call me cold--they know me not, nor can they understand + The warmth of my affections, by the breeze of _kindness_ fanned; + My feelings may not show themselves in countenance or voice, + But my _heart_ can weep with those who weep--with those who sing, + rejoice! + My best affections lie concealed--I bring them not to light, + For I know that those with whom I dwell can never read them right; + But their fountain, tho' it calmly flow, is warm and full and deep, + And the stream of love within my breast, tho' _silent_, does not + _sleep_. + To all the dearest ties of life I cling most tenderly; + And the few whose unbought love is mine, compose the world to me: + It is not those who feel the most their feelings best express, + Nor those the most sincerely fond, who with the _tongue_ can bless-- + The paltry counterfeit may shine with radiancy as bright + As the costly gem which monarchs wear--may look as pure and white; + The artificial rose may glow with a color full as fair + As the lovely flower which nature rears in sunshine and in air; + 'Tis time, and time alone, can show the real gem and flower, + And time will oft on those we love, exert its magic power; + It may change the beaming smiles to frowns, kind greetings to + disdain, + And cause the _seeming_ friend to scorn our poverty and pain. + Oh! it is not thus with me, I know, the tide of feeling flows; + Affection may not speak in looks, but in my bosom glows, + With a warmth which time can never chill, scarce injuries suppress, + And my heart responds to every tone of the voice of tenderness. + +E. A. S. + + + + + For the Southern Literary Messenger. + +ON THE DEAF, DUMB, AND BLIND GIRL OF THE ASYLUM AT HARTFORD, +CONNECTICUT. + + + Yet deem not, though so dark her path, + Heaven strew'd no comforts o'er her lot, + Or in its bitter cup of wrath + The healing drop of balm forgot. + + Oh no!--with meek, contented mind, + The needle's humble task to ply, + At the full board her place to find, + Or close in sleep the placid eye. + + With order's unobtrusive charm + Her simple wardrobe to dispose, + To press of guiding care the arm, + And rove where Autumn's bounty flows, + + With Touch so exquisitely true, + That vision stands astonish'd by, + To recognize with ardor due + Some friend or benefactor nigh, + + Her hand mid childhood's curls to place, + From fragrant buds the breath to steal, + Of stranger-guest the brow to trace, + Are pleasures left for her to feel. + + And often o'er her hour of thought, + Will burst a laugh of wildest glee, + As if the living forms she caught + On wit's fantastic drapery, + + As if at length, relenting skies + In pity to her doom severe, + Had bade a mimic morning rise, + The chaos of the soul to cheer. + + But who, with energy divine, + May tread that undiscover'd maze, + Where Nature, in her curtain'd shrine, + The strange and new-born Thought arrays? + + Where quick perception shrinks to find + On eye and ear the envious seal, + And wild ideas throng the mind, + Which palsied speech may ne'er reveal; + + Where instinct, like a robber bold, + Steals sever'd links from Reason's chain, + And leaping o'er her barrier cold + Proclaims the proud precaution vain: + + Say, who shall with magician's wand + That elemental mass compose, + Where young affections pure and fond + Sleep like the germ mid wintry snows? + + Who, in that undecipher'd scroll + The mystic characters may see, + Save Him who reads the secret soul, + And holds of life and death the key? + + Then, on thy midnight journey roam, + Poor wandering child of rayless gloom, + And to thy last and narrow home + Drop gently from this living tomb. + + Yes, uninterpreted and drear, + Toil onward with benighted mind, + Still kneel at prayers thou canst not hear, + And grope for truth thou may'st not find. + + No scroll of friendship or of love, + Must breathe its language o'er thy heart, + Nor that Blest Book which guides above, + Its message to thy soul impart. + + But Thou who didst on Calvary die, + Flows not thy mercy wide and free? + Thou, who didst rend of _death_ the tie, + Is _Nature's_ seal too strong for thee? + + And Thou, oh Spirit pure, whose rest + Is with the lowly, contrite train, + Illume the temple of her breast, + And cleanse of latent ill the stain. + + That she whose pilgrimage below + Was night that never hoped a morn, + That undeclining day may know + Which of eternity is born. + + The great transition who can tell? + When from the ear its seal shall part + Where countless lyres seraphic swell, + And holy transport thrills the heart. + + When the chain'd tongue, which ne'er might pour + The broken melodies of time, + Shall to the highest numbers soar, + Of everlasting praise sublime, + + When those blind orbs which ne'er might trace + The features of their kindred clay, + Shall scan of Deity the face, + And glow with rapture's deathless ray. + +L. H. S. + + + + + For the Southern Literary Messenger. + +AN ELEGY + +Sacred to the memory of the infant children of S. M. and C. W. S. of +Campbell county, Va. + +By Frederic Speece. + + + O, they were rose-buds, fresh and bright, + Fair flow'rets breathing of delight; + Young cherubs from a happier sphere, + Too gently sweet to linger here. + + The rose-buds withered ere their bloom, + The flow'rets strewed an early tomb, + The gentle cherubs tasted pain, + Then sought their native skies again. + + Infants are bright immortal things + Though robed in feeble, dying clay: + Death but unfolds their silken wings, + And speeds their joyful flight away; + + Beyond these cold, sublunar skies, + They seek a home among the blest; + On strong unwearied pinions rise, + Cleave the blue vault and are at rest. + + What though no marble may attest + Where slumber lone their cold remains, + Their little cares are hushed to rest, + And terminated all their pains. + + Nor Fame may deign a feeble blast, + To tell the world that _they have been_; + Nor snatch the record of the past + From the dark grave that locks it in. + + Barren the theme--the legend trite + Of joys or griefs it could reveal-- + The interchange of shade and light + That all _have_ felt and all _must_ feel. + + Though grief has lost its keener edge, + Remembrance lingers where they lie, + To muse on ev'ry precious pledge + The loved ones left beneath the sky. + + And ere oblivion's ebon wing + Sweep ev'ry vestige from the spot, + Affection shall its off'rings bring, + Nor leave them to be quite forgot. + + Each lovely flow'r and drooping bell-- + Bright daughters of the op'ning year,-- + Those beauteous things they loved so well + Shall weep their annual tribute here. + + Through dreary Winter's storm and cold, + These sleep from all his terrors free-- + Again their blooming sweets unfold, + Emblem of all that they shall be. + + + + + For the Southern Literary Messenger. + +SONNET. + +BY ALEX. LACEY BEARD. + + + Sunset is past,--and now while all is still, + And softly o'er the plain the moonbeams fall, + I'll hold communion with myself and call + From mem'ry's caverns, feelings deep, that fill + My soul with gladness.... Now I feel the thrill + Of past delights;--I stand in that old hall, + My friends surround me,--yes, I see them all:-- + My heart grows faint, my eyes with tear-drops fill. + + And now they vanish, from my sight they go. + Farewell ye loved ones, we shall meet again + As oft we've met, at the dim twilight's wane;-- + In dreams and visions which shall brightly show + Your sunny faces, and shall bring the glow + Of by-gone joys, back to my soul again. + + + + + For the Southern Literary Messenger. + +TO MARY. + + + Mary, amid the cares--the woes + Crowding around my earthly path, + (Sad path, alas! where grows + Not ev'n one lonely rose,) + My soul at least a solace hath + In dreams of thee, and therein knows + An Eden of sweet repose. + + And thus thy memory is to me + Like some enchanted, far-off isle, + In some tumultuous sea-- + Some lake beset as lake can be + With storms--but where, meanwhile, + Serenest skies continually + Just o'er that one bright island smile. + +E. A. P. + + + + + For the Southern Literary Messenger. + +THE VISIONARY--A TALE. + +BY EDGAR A. POE. + + Stay for me there! I will not fail + To meet thee in that hollow vale. +[_Exequy on the death of his wife, by Henry King, Bishop of +Chichester_. + + +Ill-fated and mysterious man! Bewildered in the brilliancy of thine +own imagination, and fallen in the flames of thine own youth! Again in +fancy I behold thee! Once more thy form hath risen before me!--not--oh +not as thou art--in the cold valley and shadow--but as thou _shouldst +be_--squandering away a life of magnificent meditation in that city of +dim visions, thine own Venice--which is a star-beloved elysium of the +sea, and the wide windows of whose Palladian palaces look down with a +deep and bitter meaning upon the secrets of her silent waters. Yes! I +repeat it--as thou _shouldst be_. There are surely other worlds than +this--other thoughts than the thoughts of the multitude--other +speculations than the speculations of the sophist. Who then shall call +thy conduct into question? Who blame thee for thy visionary hours, or +denounce those occupations as a wasting away of life, which were but +the overflowings of thine everlasting energies? + +It was at Venice, beneath the covered archway there called the _Ponte +di Sospiri_, that I met for the third or fourth time the person of +whom I speak. It is with a confused recollection that I bring to mind +the circumstances of that meeting. Yet I remember--ah! how should I +forget?--the deep midnight, the Bridge of Sighs, the beauty of woman, +and the demon of romance, who stalked up and down the narrow canal. + +It was a night of unusual gloom. The great clock of the piazza had +sounded the fifth hour of the Italian evening. The square of the +Campanile lay silent and deserted, and the lights in the old Ducal +Palace were dying fast away. I was returning home from the Piazetta, +by way of the Grand Canal. But as my gondola arrived opposite the +mouth of the canal San Marco, a female voice from its recesses broke +suddenly upon the night, in one wild, hysterical, and long continued +shriek. Startled at the sound, I sprang upon my feet: while the +gondolier, letting slip his single oar, lost it in the pitchy darkness +beyond a chance of recovery, and we were, consequently, left to the +guidance of the current which here sets from the greater into the +smaller channel. Like some huge and sable-feathered Condor, we were +slowly drifting down towards the Bridge of Sighs, when a thousand +flambeaus flashing from the windows, and down the stair-cases of the +Ducal Palace, turned all at once that deep gloom to a livid and +supernatural day. + +A child, slipping from the arms of its own mother, had fallen from an +upper window of the lofty structure into the deep and dim canal. The +quiet waters had closed placidly over their victim; and, although my +own gondola was the only one in sight, many a stout swimmer, already +in the stream, was seeking in vain upon the surface, the treasure +which was to be found, alas! only within the abyss. Upon the broad, +black marble flagstones, at the entrance of the palace, and a few +steps above the water stood a figure which none who then saw can have +ever since forgotten. It was the Marchesa Aphrodite--the adoration of +all Venice--the gayest of the gay--the most lovely where all were +beautiful--but still the young wife of the old and intriguing +Mentoni--and the mother of that fair child, her first and only one, +who now deep beneath the murky water, was thinking in bitterness of +heart upon her sweet caresses, and exhausting its little life in +struggles to call upon her name. + +She stood alone. Her small, bare, and silvery feet gleamed in the +black mirror of marble beneath her. Her hair, not as yet more than +half loosened for the night from its ball-room array, clustered amid a +shower of diamonds, round and round her classical head, in curls like +the young hyacinth. A snowy white and gauze-like drapery seemed to be +nearly the sole covering to her delicate form--but the midsummer and +midnight air was hot, sullen, and still, and no motion--no shadow of +motion in that statue-like form itself, stirred even the folds of that +raiment of very vapor which hung around it as the heavy marble hangs +around the Niobe. Yet--strange to say!--her large lustrous eyes were +not turned downwards upon that grave wherein her brightest hope lay +buried--but riveted in a widely different direction! The prison of the +Old Republic is, I think, the stateliest building in all Venice--but +how could that lady gaze so fixedly upon it, when beneath her lay +stifling her only child? Yon dark gloomy niche too yawns right +opposite her chamber window--what, then, _could_ there be in its +shadows--in its architecture--in its ivy-wreathed and solemn cornices +that the Marchesa di Mentoni had not wondered at a thousand times +before? Nonsense! Who does not remember that, at such a time as this, +the eye, like a shattered mirror, multiplies the images of its sorrow, +and sees in innumerable far off places, the woe which is close at +hand. + +Many steps above the Marchesa, and within the arch of the Water-Gate, +stood in full dress, the Satyr-like figure of Mentoni himself. He was +occasionally occupied in thrumming a guitar, and seemed _ennuied_ to +the very death, as at intervals he gave directions for the recovery of +his child. Stupified and aghast, I had myself no power to move from +the upright position I had assumed upon first hearing the shriek, and +must have presented to the eyes of the agitated group, a spectral and +ominous appearance, as, with pale countenance and rigid limbs, I +floated down among them in that funereal gondola. + +All efforts proved in vain. Many of the most energetic in the search +were relaxing their exertions, and yielding to a gloomy sorrow. There +seemed but little hope for the child--but now, from the interior of +that dark niche which has been already mentioned as forming a part of +the Old Republican Prison, and as fronting the lattice of the +Marchesa, a figure, muffled in a cloak stepped out within reach of the +light, and pausing a moment upon the verge of the giddy descent, +plunged headlong into the canal. As, in an instant afterwards, he +stood with the still living and breathing child within his grasp upon +the marble flagstones by the side of the Marchesa, his cloak heavy +with the drenching water became unfastened, and, falling in folds +about his feet, discovered to the wonder-stricken spectators, the +graceful person of a very young man, with the sound of whose name the +greater part of Europe was then ringing. + +No word spoke the deliverer. But the Marchesa! She will now receive +her child--she will press it to her heart--she will cling to its +little form, and smother it with her caresses. Alas! _another's_ arms +have taken it from the stranger--_another's_ arms have taken it away, +and borne it afar off, unnoticed, into the palace! And the Marchesa! +Her lip--her beautiful lip trembles: tears are gathering in her +eyes--those eyes which, like Pliny's own Acanthus, are "soft and +almost liquid." Yes! tears are gathering in those eyes--and see! the +entire woman thrills throughout the soul, and the statue has started +into life! The pallor of the marble countenance, the swelling of the +marble bosom, the very purity of the marble feet, we behold suddenly +flushed over with a tide of ungovernable crimson; and a slight shudder +quivers about her delicate frame, as a gentle air at Napoli about the +rich silver lilies in the grass. Why _should_ that lady blush? To this +demand there is no answer--except that, having left in the eager haste +and terror of a mother's heart, the privacy of her own _boudoir_, she +has neglected to enthral her tiny feet in their slippers; and utterly +forgotten to throw over her Venitian shoulders that drapery which is +their due. What other possible reason could there have been for her so +blushing?--for the glance of those wild appealing eyes?--for the +unusual tumult of that throbbing bosom?--for the convulsive pressure +of that trembling hand?--that hand which fell, as Mentoni turned into +the palace, accidentally, upon the hand of the stranger. What reason +could there have been for the low--the singularly low tone of those +unmeaning words which the lady uttered hurriedly in bidding him adieu? +"Thou hast conquered"--she said, or the murmurs of the water deceived +me--"thou hast conquered--one hour after sunrise--we shall meet--so +let it be." + + * * * * * + +The tumult had subsided, the lights had died away within the palace, +and the stranger, whom I now recognized, stood alone upon the flags. +He shook with inconceivable agitation, and his eye glanced around in +search of a gondola. I could not do less than offer him the service of +my own, and he accepted the civility. Having obtained an oar at the +Water-Gate, we proceeded together to his residence, while he rapidly +recovered his self-possession, and spoke of our former slight +acquaintance in terms of great apparent cordiality. + +There are some subjects upon which I take pleasure in being minute. +The person of the stranger--let me call him by this title, who to all +the world was still a stranger--the person of the stranger is one of +these subjects. In height he might have been below rather than above +the medium size: although there were moments of intense passion when +his frame actually _expanded_ and belied the assertion. The light, +almost _slender_ symmetry of his figure, promised more of that ready +activity which he evinced at the Bridge of Sighs, than of that +Herculean strength which he has been known to wield without an effort, +upon occasions of more dangerous emergency. With the mouth and chin of +a deity--a nose like those delicate creations of the mind to be found +only in the medallions of the Hebrew--singular, wild, full, liquid +eyes, whose shadows varied from pure hazel to intense and brilliant +jet, and a profusion of glossy, black hair, from which a forehead +rather low than otherwise, gleamed forth at intervals all light and +ivory--his were features than which I have seen none more classically +regular, except, perhaps, the marble ones of the Emperor Commodus. Yet +his countenance was, nevertheless, one of those which all men have +seen at some period of their lives, and have never afterwards seen +again. It had no peculiar--I wish to be perfectly understood--it had +no _settled predominant expression_ to be fastened upon the memory; a +countenance seen and instantly forgotten--but forgotten with a vague +and never-ceasing desire of recalling it to mind. Not that the spirit +of each rapid passion failed at any time, to throw its own distinct +image upon the mirror of that face--but that the mirror, mirror-like, +retained no vestige of the passion, when the passion had departed. + +Upon leaving him on the night of our adventure, he solicited me, in +what I thought an urgent manner, to call upon him very early the next +morning. Shortly after sunrise, I found myself accordingly at his +Palazzo, one of those huge piles of gloomy, yet fantastic grandeur, +which tower above the waters of the Grand Canal in the vicinity of the +Rialto. I was shown up a broad winding staircase of mosaics, into an +apartment whose unparalleled splendor burst through the opening door +with an actual glare, making me sick and dizzy with luxuriousness. + +I knew my acquaintance to be wealthy. Report had spoken of his +possessions in terms which I had even ventured to call terms of +ridiculous exaggeration. But as I gazed about me, I could not bring +myself to believe that the wealth of any subject in Europe could have +supplied the far more than imperial magnificence which burned and +blazed around. + +Although, as I say, the sun had arisen, yet the room was still +brilliantly lighted up. I judged from this circumstance, as well as +from an air of exhaustion in the countenance of my friend, that he had +not retired to bed during the whole of the preceding night. In the +architecture and embellishments of the chamber, the evident design had +been to dazzle and astound. Little attention had been paid to the +_decora_ of what is technically called _keeping_, or to the +proprieties of nationality. The eye wandered from object to object, +and rested upon none--neither the _grotesques_ of the Greek +painters--nor the sculptures of the best Italian days--nor the huge +carvings of untutored Egypt. Rich draperies in every part of the room +trembled to the vibrations of low, melancholy music, whose unseen +origin, undoubtedly lay in the recesses of the crimson trelliss work +which tapestried the ceiling. The senses were oppressed by mingled and +conflicting perfumes, reeking up from strange Arabesque censers, which +seemed actually endued with a monstrous vitality, as their +particolored fires writhed up and down, and around about their +extravagant proportions. The rays of the newly risen sun poured in +upon the whole, through windows formed each of a single pane of +crimson-tinted glass. Glancing to and fro, in a thousand reflections, +from curtains which rolled from their cornices like cataracts of +molten silver, the beams of natural glory mingled at length fitfully +with the artificial light, and lay weltering in subdued masses upon a +carpet of rich, liquid looking cloth of Chili gold. Here then had the +hand of genius been at work. A chaos--a wilderness of beauty lay +before me. A sense of dreamy and incoherent grandeur took possession +of my soul, and I remained within the door-way speechless. + +Ha! ha! ha!--ha! ha! ha!--laughed the proprietor, motioning me to a +seat, and throwing himself back at full length upon an ottoman. "I +see," said he, perceiving that I could not immediately reconcile +myself to the _bienseance_ of so singular a welcome--"I see you are +astonished at my apartment--at my statues--my pictures--my originality +of conception in architecture and upholstery--absolutely drunk, eh? +with my magnificence. But pardon me, my dear sir, (here his tone of +voice dropped to the very spirit of cordiality) pardon me, my dear +sir, for my uncharitable laughter. You appeared so _utterly_ +astonished. Besides, some things are so completely ludicrous that a +man must laugh or die. To die laughing must be the most glorious of +all glorious deaths! Sir Thomas More--a very fine man was Sir Thomas +More--Sir Thomas More died laughing, you remember. Also there is a +long list of characters who came to the same magnificent end, in the +_Absurdities_ of Ravisius Textor. Do you know, however,"--continued he +musingly--"that at Sparta (which is now Palæochori), at Sparta, I say, +to the west of the citadel, among a chaos of scarcely visible ruins, +is a kind of _socle_ upon which are still legible the letters [Greek: +LASM]. They are undoubtedly part of [Greek: GELASMA]. Now at Sparta +were a thousand temples and shrines to a thousand different +divinities. How exceedingly strange that the altar of Laughter should +have survived all the others! But in the present instance"--he +resumed, with a singular alteration of voice and manner--"in the +present instance I have no right to be merry at your expense. You +might well have been amazed. Europe cannot produce anything so fine as +this, my little regal cabinet. My other apartments are by no means of +the same order--mere _ultras_ of fashionable insipidity. This is +better than fashion--is it not? Yet this has but to be seen to become +the rage--that is with those who could afford it at the cost of their +entire patrimony. I have guarded, however, against any such +profanation. With one exception you are the only human being besides +myself, who has been admitted within the mysteries of these imperial +precincts." + +I bowed in acknowledgement: for the overpowering sense of splendor and +perfume, and music, together with the unexpected eccentricity of his +address and manner, prevented me from expressing in words my +appreciation of what I might have construed into a compliment. + +"Here"--he resumed, arising and leaning on my arm as he sauntered +around the apartment--"here are paintings from the Greeks to Cimabue, +and from Cimabue to the present hour. Many are chosen, as you see, +with little deference to the opinions of Virtû. They are all, however, +fitting tapestry for a chamber such as this. Here too, are some _chéf +d'oeuvres_ of the unknown great--and here unfinished designs by men, +celebrated in their day, whose very names the perspicacity of the +academies has left to silence and to me. What think you"--said he, +turning abruptly as he spoke--"what think you of this Madonna della +Pietà?" + +"It is Guido's own!" I said, with all the enthusiasm of my nature, for +I had been poring intently over its surpassing loveliness. "It is +Guido's own!--how _could_ you have obtained it?--she is undoubtedly in +painting what the Venus is in sculpture." + +"Ha!" said he, thoughtfully, "the Venus?--the beautiful Venus--the +Venus of the Medicis?--she of the gilded hair?--the work of Cleomenes, +the son of the Athenian? Part of the left arm (here his voice dropped +so as to be heard with difficulty,) and all the right are +restorations, and in the coquetry of that right arm lies, I think, the +quintessence of all affectation. The Apollo too!--is a copy--there can +be no doubt of it--blind fool that I am, who cannot behold the boasted +inspiration of the Apollo! I cannot help--pity me!--I cannot help +preferring the Antinous. Was it not Socrates who said that the +statuary _found his statue in the block of marble_? Then Michæl Angelo +was by no means original in his couplet-- + + 'Non ha l'ottimo artista alcun concetto + Chè un marmo solo in se non circunscriva.'" + + * * * * * + +It has been, or should be remarked, that, in the manner of the true +gentlemen, we are always aware of a difference from the bearing of the +vulgar, without being at once precisely able to determine in what such +difference consists. Allowing the remark to have applied in its full +force to the outward demeanor of my acquaintance, I felt it, on that +eventful morning, still more fully applicable to his moral temperament +and character. Nor can I better define that peculiarity of spirit +which seemed to place him so essentially apart from all other human +beings, than by calling it a _habit_ of intense and continual thought, +pervading even his most trivial actions--intruding upon his moments of +dalliance--and interweaving itself with his very flashes of +merriment--like adders which writhe from out the eyes of the grinning +masks in the cornices around the temples of Persepolis. + +I could not help, however, repeatedly observing, through the mingled +tone of levity and solemnity with which he rapidly descanted upon +matters of little importance, a certain air of trepidation--a degree +of nervous _intensity_ in action and in speech--an unquiet +excitability of manner, which appeared to me at all times +unaccountable, and, upon some occasions, even filled me with alarm. +Frequently, too, pausing in the middle of a sentence whose +commencement he had apparently forgotten, he seemed to be listening in +the deepest attention, as if either in momentary expectation of a +visiter, or to sounds which must have had existence in his imagination +alone. + +It was during one of these reveries, or pauses of apparent +abstraction, that, in turning over a page of the poet and scholar +Politian's beautiful tragedy "The Orfeo," (the first native Italian +tragedy) which lay near me upon an ottoman, I discovered a passage +underlined in pencil. It was a passage towards the end of the third +act--a passage of the most heart-stirring excitement--a passage which, +although tainted with impurity, no man shall read without a thrill of +novel emotion--no woman without a sigh. The whole page was blotted +with fresh tears, and, upon the opposite interleaf, were the following +lines, written in a hand so very different from the peculiar +characters of my acquaintance, that I had some difficulty in +recognizing it as his own. + + Thou wast that all to me, love, + For which my soul did pine-- + A green isle in the sea, love, + A fountain and a shrine, + All wreathed around about with flowers; + And the flowers--they all were mine. + + But the dream--it could not last; + And the star of Hope did rise + But to be overcast. + A voice from out the Future cries + "Onward!"--while o'er the Past + (Dim gulf!) my spirit hovering lies, + Mute, motionless, aghast! + + For alas!--alas!--with me + Ambition--all--is o'er. + "No more--no more--no more," + (Such language holds the solemn sea + To the sands upon the shore,) + Shall bloom the thunder-blasted tree, + Or the stricken eagle soar! + + And all my hours are trances; + And all my nightly dreams + Are where thy dark eye glances, + And where thy footstep gleams, + In what ethereal dances, + By what Italian streams. + + Alas! for that accursed time + They bore thee o'er the billow, + From Love to titled age and crime, + And an unholy pillow-- + From me, and from our misty clime, + Where weeps the silver willow! + +That these lines were written in English--a language with which I had +not believed their author acquainted--afforded me little matter for +surprise. I was too well aware of the extent of his acquirements, and +of the singular pleasure he took in concealing them from observation, +to be astonished at any similar discovery; but the place of date, I +must confess, occasioned me no little amazement. It had been +originally written _London_, and afterwards carefully overscored--but +not, however, so effectually, as to conceal the word from a +scrutinizing eye. I say this occasioned me no little amazement; for I +well remember that, in a former conversation with my friend, I +particularly inquired if he had at any time met in London the Marchesa +di Mentoni, (who for some years previous to her marriage had resided +in that city,) when his answer, if I mistake not, gave me to +understand that he had never visited the metropolis of Great Britain. +I might as well here mention, that I have more than once heard, +(without of coarse giving credit to a report involving so many +improbabilities,) that the person of whom I speak was not only by +birth, but in education an _Englishman_. + + * * * * * + +"There is one painting," said he, without being aware of my notice of +the tragedy--"there is still one painting which you have not seen." +And throwing aside a drapery, he discovered a full length portrait of +the Marchesa Aphrodite. + +Human art could have done no more in the delineation of her superhuman +beauty. The same ethereal figure which stood before me the preceding +night upon the steps of the Ducal Palace, stood before me once again. +But in the expression of the countenance, which was beaming all over +with smiles, there still lurked (incomprehensible anomaly!) that +fitful stain of melancholy which will ever be found inseparable from +the perfection of the beautiful. Her right arm lay folded over her +bosom. With her left she pointed downwards to a curiously fashioned +vase. One small, fairy foot, alone visible, barely touched the +earth--and, scarcely discernible in the brilliant atmosphere which +seemed to encircle and enshrine her loveliness, floated a pair of the +most delicately imagined wings. My glance fell from the painting to +the figure of my friend, and the vigorous words of Chapman's _Bussy +D'Ambois_ quivered instinctively upon my lips-- + + "He is up + There like a Roman statue! He will stand + Till Death hath made him marble!" + +"Come!" he said at length, turning towards a table of richly enamelled +and massive silver, upon which were a few goblets fantastically +stained, together with two large Etruscan vases, fashioned in the same +extraordinary model as that in the foreground of the portrait, and +filled with what I supposed to be Vin de Barâc. "Come!" he said +abruptly, "let us drink! It is early--but let us drink! It is _indeed_ +early," he continued thoughtfully as a cherub with a heavy golden +hammer, made the apartment ring with the first hour after sunrise--"It +is _indeed_ early, but what matters it? let us drink! Let us pour out +an offering to the solemn sun, which these gaudy lamps and censers are +so eager to subdue!" And, having made me pledge him in a bumper, he +swallowed in rapid succession several goblets of the wine. + +"To dream," he continued, resuming the tone of his desultory +conversation, as he held up to the rich light of a censer one of the +magnificent vases--"to dream has been the business of my life. I have +therefore framed for myself, as you see, a bower of dreams. In the +heart of Venice could I have erected a better? You behold around you, +it is true, a medley of architectural embellishments. The chastity of +Ionia is offended by antediluvian devices, and the sphynxes of Egypt +are stretching upon carpets of gold. Yet the effect is incongruous to +the timid alone. Proprieties of place, and especially of time, are the +bugbears which terrify mankind from the contemplation of the +magnificent. _Once_ I was myself _a decorist_: but that sublimation of +folly has palled upon my soul. All this is now the fitter for my +purpose. Like these Arabesque censers, my spirit is writhing in fire, +and the delirium of this scene is fashioning me for the wilder visions +of that land of real dreams whither I am now rapidly departing." Thus +saying, he confessed the power of the wine, and threw himself at full +length upon an ottoman. + +A quick step was now heard upon the staircase, and a loud knock at the +door rapidly succeeded. I was hastening to anticipate a second +disturbance, when a page of Mentoni's household burst into the room, +and faltered out, in a voice chokeing with emotion, the incoherent +words, "My mistress!--my mistress!--poisoned!--poisoned! Oh +beautiful--oh beautiful Aphrodite!" + +Bewildered, I flew to the ottoman, and endeavored to arouse the +sleeper to a sense of the startling intelligence. But his limbs were +rigid--his lips were livid--his lately beaming eyes were riveted in +_death_. I staggered back towards the table--my hand fell upon a +cracked and blackened goblet--and a consciousness of the entire and +terrible truth flashed suddenly over my soul. + + + + + For the Southern Literary Messenger. + +PETER'S MOUNTAIN. + +An extract from the unpublished Journal of a Tourist. + + +The third and last mountain over which the traveller passes, as he +proceeds from Fincastle to the Sweet Springs, is Peter's +Mountain--here called the Sweet Spring Mountain. This is, on several +accounts, one of the most remarkable mountains in Virginia. It is +remarkable, in the first place, for the appearance of regularity which +it presents to the eye of the traveller, when viewed from the west. It +extends sixty or seventy miles, between Jackson river on the north, +and New river on the south, apparently in a straight line, and of +nearly a uniform elevation. But this is not its whole extent. The +mountain north of Jackson river, and that south of New river, are +evidently continuations of the same mountain, and exhibit the same +unbroken and regular appearance. While on the east there are numerous +spurs extending from it in every direction, there is nothing of the +kind observable on the west. Were it not for the magnitude of this +mountain, its elevation, and its peculiar structure, we might readily +have imagined it to be, like the Chinese wall, the work of man, +constructed by the line and the plummet, in a former age, as a bulwark +of defence, by some hardier race than ours; but these point us to the +heavens for its great original. + +As we looked back upon it from the valley on its west, our thoughts +reverted to the period, when the red men of the forest took up the +line of march, and relinquished the east to the peaceable possession +of their treacherous invaders. Here, it was natural to suppose, they +halted, and pitched their tents, and constructed their villages, and +began again to feel as though they were "monarchs of all they +surveyed." As they looked upon the mountain behind them, feelings of +security would be restored, and they would consider this mountain as a +barrier, reared by the Great Spirit for their protection. + +"It is true, the white men made them wings--they flapped the winds, +and passed over the wide waters, and up the big rivers. They gathered +on the plains--they cleared the land, and made it theirs. But their +wings were made for the waters, and not for the rugged mountains--and +their feet are tender--they cannot encounter the flinty rock. Here, +then, shall the waves of pride and oppression be stayed. Here may our +wives and our children once more sit them down secure from foes, and +build their fires, and gather their nuts, while we chase the deer and +the buffalo in the far off west." Such we may suppose to have been the +reflections of some savage chieftain, _nescius auræ fallacis_, as he +looked upon the lofty, and seemingly interminable mountain bulwark +before him. But, if such they were, they proved deceptive. A few +revolving years passed away, and the white man was again on his +borders. His track was seen on the mountain, and the stroke of his +axe, and the shrill sound of his rifle were heard in the hollows. A +few years more, and the Indian again disappeared, and the white man +stood in his place--and the green grass grew, and the corn-blade +rustled, and the farm house was seen, where once stood the rude +villages, in which the chieftains had told the tale of the white man's +fraud, and of their own and their father's wrong, and their own and +their father's valor. + +The circumstance which, more than any other, renders this mountain +remarkable, is its intersection with that chain of mountains known as +the Alleghany, which divides the waters that flow east into the +Atlantic, from those which flow west into the Ohio and Mississippi. At +about an equal distance between the Sweet Springs and Peterton, or the +Grey Sulphur, the Alleghany dips under this mountain, and emerges +again on its eastern side. The principal branches of the James river, +head on the west of Peter's Mountain, but east of the Alleghany; while +New river, the principal branch of the Great Kanawha, arises far to +the east of Peter's Mountain, though west of the Alleghany. The waters +of the Warm, Hot and Sweet Springs pass off to the ocean through the +James river; while those of the White, Salt, Red and Grey Sulphur +communicate with the Ohio, through the Kanawha. + +This mountain, though uniform in its outline, is sufficiently +variegated in other respects. In some places it sustains heavy +forests, and is arable nearly to its summit; while in other places it +is nearly denuded, sustaining only a stinted shrubbery. In some +places, the large masses of sandstone which project near its summit, +exhibit the most grotesque and romantic appearance. In the +neighborhood of the Hot and Warm Springs, there are several very +picturesque views. There is one in particular, which seen at the +distance of three, four or five miles, has the appearance of a village +in ruins, with some of its public edifices standing, and numerous +villas or country mansions in a dilapidated state, scattered around +it. In the skirts of this rocky village, is what appears to be an +extensive burying-ground, with its vaults and tomb-stones, protecting +the dust of the dead from the unhallowed tread of the living. In other +places, the projections are less extensive, and resemble fortified +outposts. As one gazes on such scenes, the mind is involuntarily led +back to former ages, and the spectator is apt to fancy that he views +one of the castles or fortified places, in which were transacted the +tragical events of which he had heard or read in the records of a +feudal age. + + + + + For the Southern Literary Messenger. + +THE DUEL. + + +"McCarthy is no more!" said George, as I rushed out on learning his +arrival from the scene of conflict. "Raymond reserved his fire; then +deliberately taking aim, sent his ball through the heart of our +gallant friend, who stood firm and undaunted to receive his fire." + +"Good God!" I exclaimed, "was there no man present whose humanity +prompted him to interpose for the prevention of so murderous a deed?" + +"The attempt was made," said George, "but unavailingly. Raymond was +the challenged party, and with a savage sternness of purpose insisted +on his right, according to the rules which were agreed upon to govern +the conflict." + +"He is a hardened villain," cried I, "stained with the blood of four +victims; and palsied be the hand that has robbed society of so pure +and generous a spirit as McCarthy's." + +Struck with horror at the occurrence, and overwhelmed with sorrow at +the loss of so worthy a friend, needing consolation myself rather than +capable of affording any, I hurried nevertheless to the house of the +deceased, to share, if not to alleviate the sufferings of his bereaved +mother and sister. Never, never shall I forget the scene which there +awaited me. The lifeless body of McCarthy, weltering in his own blood, +lay extended on a large folding table. The ball had entered the right +side, and with fatal energy had passed through the body, leaving a +corresponding wound on the left. The mother and sister, with +disordered hair and the wild expression of maniacs, stood at either +side of the corpse, applying their mouths to the wounds from which the +blood was still oozing; nor could anything short of absolute violence +withdraw them from the body. They wept not--they spoke not; but in all +the wild impassioned energy of despair, kept their mouths still +applied to the gaping wounds of the son and brother. + +The deceased was a young gentleman, who inherited a handsome estate in +the south of Ireland. He had but the year before become of age, and +returned from Trinity College, where his vigorous understanding and +zeal in the pursuit of literature had won for him the first honors of +that venerable institution. Frank, generous and beneficent, he seemed +intent on applying the energies of his active mind and the resources +of an ample fortune, to the moral and physical improvement of his +tenantry and dependants. A year of unexampled scarcity, gave him an +early opportunity of developing those generous purposes of his pure +and elevated mind. To the lower classes of his tenantry he remitted a +part of their rents, and to the surrounding poor he distributed +provisions, exacting from them in return, only increased attention to +cleanliness and neatness in their persons and dwellings. He had +besides a large tract of unreclaimed peat land, on which, at proper +intervals, he erected comfortable stone dwellings, and let portions of +this land to the industrious poor, requiring no rent from them except +the application to the soil which they were to cultivate for their own +benefit, of some bushels of lime, easily procured from the contiguous +quarries. Thus, in a very short period, he effected a perceptible +change in the condition of his tenantry, while he was in fact +developing new resources for the indulgence of further beneficence. +His tenantry already looked to him as a friend and protector; they +submitted their difficulties to his arbitration, and applied to him +for redress for their grievances, when oppressed or maltreated by any +of the petty gentry of the vicinage. In addition to this generous +devotion to their interests, McCarthy possessed advantages, which are +no where more fully appreciated than among the imaginative and half +chivalrous Irish peasantry. With a Moorish head, and face of the +finest cast, often met with among the Milesian gentry of Ireland, he +had a form developed in muscular and beautiful proportions, much above +the common stature, resembling his ancestors in that particular, who +from their large and muscular frames, obtained familiarly the +appellation of _McCarthy Mores_. The cordial frankness of his manners +too, assured the peasants who approached him, that his was no affected +interest in their welfare and happiness. Thus endowed with every +quality of mind, heart and person that could win esteem and +confidence, was it to be wondered at that he should have become, +almost at once, the idol of a warm-hearted and grateful people? Alas! +they had too many opportunities of contrasting his kindness and +generosity, with the indifference, if not harshness of neighboring +landlords; or with the odious oppressions of mercenary agents to whom +they confided their estates. To this latter class Raymond belonged; he +was one of that wretched faction that so long kept Ireland in +degradation. A Palatine by extraction--a member of the Orange +Club--distinguished for his zeal in the unholy objects of that +mischievous and once powerful association--without fortune and without +education, save a limited knowledge of accounts, he possessed cunning +and contrivance enough to win his way to the agency of a large estate, +belonging to an absentee nobleman, who appeared once in three years +among his tenantry, only to exasperate their feelings by walking at +the head of an Orange procession. Raymond had a pecuniary claim +against one of the humblest of McCarthy's tenantry, and in the hour of +his greatest need, was enforcing it with the spirit of a Shylock. +McCarthy remonstrated--offered to insure the payment, if he would +extend the time until the ripening crop should enable the poor man to +meet the demand. Raymond insultingly refused--charged McCarthy with +rendering the tenantry of the surrounding country insubordinate to +their landlords, and creating discontent among his neighbor's +tenantry, by ill-timed indulgence to his own; and intimated in +McCarthy a purpose inconsistent with loyalty to his sovereign. +Unhappily, instead of inflicting on the miscreant the punishment which +his strong arm could so easily have enforced, yielding to a barbarous +usage which his better judgment must have condemned, McCarthy sent him +a hostile message on the following morning. Proud of meeting such an +antagonist--conscious of his unerring dexterity in the use of a weapon +which on three former occasions had been fatally true in his +hands--and anxious to remove a neighbor whose virtues and whose energy +were a painful rebuke, and promised to be a troublesome check on his +own views--Raymond gladly accepted the challenge, and dictated through +his friend, as vindictive as himself, the terms of the combat. The +result is known; and long shall the impressions made by that result, +leave their traces in the breasts of the inhabitants of Kenmare. +Amidst the general sorrow for what was regarded as a public +bereavement, there was one heart on which it fell with a blight that +withered every joy, and dried up at its very source the fountain of +every hope. The mother and the daughter were privileged in their +wailings; but there was one, who had received from him only the first +evidences of newly kindled love, but who, silent and unobserved, had +reposed on that evidence, slight though it was, all that she hoped for +of earthly felicity. It was Ellen--to whom an expression of tenderness +which her love made her interpret aright, and a hurried earnestness of +manner in his last adieu, had whispered that the heart in which she +had unconsciously garnered up her happiness, reciprocated a feeling +which she strove to conceal even from herself. Daily intercourse with +both, too plainly told me that the world contained but one being +capable of interesting Ellen. I saw the wasting of a flame, which I +feared would consume her; and believing her every way worthy of my +noble-hearted friend, I sought to fix his attention on the charms of +her person, and the elegance and purity of her mind, without wounding +his delicacy by an intimation that I believed he had any hold on her +affections. At first his mind was so occupied with schemes for +ameliorating the condition of his tenantry, that they seemed to render +him indifferent to all besides. The natural enjoyments of his age and +station seemed to be shut out by these thoughts; and it was only when +the approach of the fatal rencontre with Raymond caused him to look +more closely into the recesses of his own breast, that McCarthy felt +that Ellen was not to him an object of indifference. He sought her +presence the evening before his fall. There was in his manner that +which told the watchful eye of a lover that her love was returned. Yet +he breathed no word of love--he sought no pledge of affection, lest +the event of the morrow should pierce too deeply a heart which he now +felt he would not wound for the world. Leaving to other friends the +task of consoling, if possible, the distracted relatives of the +deceased, I sought the home of Ellen. I found her alone; she started +wildly on seeing me. + +"Is it true?" she exclaimed; "is he dead? Say, is McCarthy dead?" + +"It is too true, Ellen," said I; "our friend--our generous, +noble-hearted friend, has fallen by the hands of a privileged +assassin." + +"_Friend!_" said Ellen impetuously, "he was to me--" and checking +herself in the expression which to me was not necessary to convey what +she meant, she sunk back, relaxed and colorless, into her chair; her +bosom heaved as if contending with a tide of emotions--she sobbed +hysterically, and at last found temporary relief in a flood of tears. + +Poor Ellen, alas! the relief was but temporary. The wild tide of +passionate sorrow, it is true, subsided soon; but it had left deep +furrows in the broken heart of Ellen, which time could not efface. Her +spirits sunk daily; her beautifully rounded figure became lank and +attenuated; her eye lost its lustre, and she shrunk instinctively from +the gaze of all, as if anxious to hide the secret of that grief which +was consuming her. Her physicians recommended change of air and scene; +they were tried--but no scene had a charm, no air had a balm for poor +Ellen. + +Twelve months rolled by, and a gloomy pageant was seen passing through +the streets of Kenmare; that pageant was conducting to the family +vault, the lifeless remains of Ellen Mahony. + +The fatal ball which drank the life's blood of the generous McCarthy, +broke also the heart of Ellen. Nor were they the only victims +immolated on the altar of a false honor. The mother of McCarthy sunk +prematurely into the grave; and his lovely sister continued to +manifest for many years, by occasional fits of melancholy madness, the +severe shock which her heart and understanding had received from the +premature fall of an idolized brother. + +The pursuit of professional knowledge called me far away from the +scene of these occurrences. The fate of McCarthy and Ellen presented +itself less frequently to my mind, occluded by new scenes and +avocations. In 1818, six years after the fatal catastrophe, I returned +to visit, for the last time, my relatives in Kenmare. Mary, the lovely +sister of my murdered friend, bereft of every nearer relative, was +residing with her uncle, a distinguished officer of the Irish Brigade, +who with a constitution broken down by the fatigues of an eventful +life, had retired to a small estate near the lakes of Killarney. I +owed it to the memory of my deceased friend, to visit the last +surviving object of his affection. The day was full of freshness and +beauty, and the country through which I must travel to reach the seat +of Colonel McCarthy, is not surpassed by any in the world, in the wild +grandeur of its scenery. The road from Kenmare winds along a chain of +lakes, now narrowing into deep channels, hurrying precipitously their +angry and foaming waters into reservoirs below--now expanding into +broad and silvery inland seas, studded with verdant islands, blooming +with Arbutus and Lauristina. From the unruffled surface of these +lakes, you behold reflected, as from an expanded mirror, the images of +the over-hanging mountains, wooded to their tops, and varying in the +hues of the dense foliage that covers them with every varying stratum +of soil, from their bases to their summits. The high and threatening +Turk Mountain yields its reluctant base to the winding road. The +beautiful Peninsula of Mucrus is seen in full view. Its venerable +Abbey, still exhibiting traces of its former grandeur, containing +within its sombre walls the slumbering remains of many a gallant +knight and gentle maiden, of the humble and the great, in +indiscriminate oblivion. The proud mansion of the Herberts, still in +fine keeping--the long vistas opening in every direction on some +cultivated villa or rich demesne; the town of Killarney, with its +spires and undulating lines of white buildings; the mansions of the +Kenmares, the Cronins, and O'Connells,--all seen in distant +perspective, afford a coup d'oeil unsurpassed in beauty and natural +munificence by any in the world. As I revisited these scenes which my +boyhood loved to trace, there stole upon my heart a melancholy joy; it +was indeed "pleasant but mournful to the soul." The friends with whom +I had enjoyed these scenes were gone, or hurried far apart by the +varying engagements of busy life. To one of those friends this journey +was devoted, and his virtues and his fate rose before me in vivid +colors. The tear rose unbidden to my eye, and dimmed for awhile the +bright scene before me. Thus attuned to melancholy, I approached about +ten o'clock the residence of Colonel McCarthy. The modest but tasteful +dwelling was situated on a small eminence in the centre of a basin, +formed by a hill in the rear, and two projecting wings, open and +expanding to the south and southeast, having in full view before it +the ancient castles of Dunloe and Desmond--the beautiful lower lake +and its crowning ornament, the island of Innisfallen--Ross, the +majestic castle of the O'Donoghues--and to the right the bold Mountain +of Tornies, with its foaming cataract, appearing to the distant eye +like the giant guardian of the place, with his silvery beard flowing +on his venerable breast. The grounds were tastefully laid out, and the +regularity and order that was observable in all the decorations of the +place, gave evidence of a superintending mind trained to discipline; +while the surrounding scenery bespoke it an appropriate refuge for the +warrior worn with toil and years. + +As I approached, I beheld a female form sitting on a little eminence +to the right of the house, which was decorated with a cluster of white +pines. I could not mistake the light and graceful form of the +beautiful Mary. It was she, much as I had beheld her six years before. +Her large blue eye had the same wildness of expression which was +observable in it after the death of her brother; her figure was if +anything more beautiful, set off by a dress which she had selected in +the wild imaginings of her sorrow, to fit her in a special manner for +communion with the spirits of her mother and brother; her hair was +loose, but carefully combed, flowing gracefully on her shoulders; her +bust was incased in a plain white spencer, most studiously fitted to +her person; and she wore hanging in loose folds around her, a pure and +virgin white drapery, that was rivalled by the pellucid whiteness of +her uncovered neck, hand and arm. This dress, as I afterwards learned, +she always wore when the mind gave way before periodical melancholy; +and its approach was too truly announced by the cautious vigilance +with which she was observed to hide from her friends the preparations +for her strange attire. As I approached, I saw too plainly that Mary +had no thought for any object before her. + +"Mary," said I, "do you not know me? do you not know E----, the friend +of your brother?" + +"Oh yes," said she, keeping her eye steadily fixed as on some object +towards the lake. "Yes, yes," said she in a hurried manner. Then +placing her soft hand gently in my arm, she said, "Go, good spirit, +go; I want my mother and Sandy. See, they are coming; Mary will yet +have a mother and brother." + +I spoke, I reasoned, I entreated her to come with me into the presence +of her uncle. + +She replied with a hysterical laugh, and said, "He too is gone with +them." + +I turned towards the house, and all there seemed silent and full of +sorrow. The Colonel's servant, with eyes swollen from weeping, replied +to my inquiries about his master, that he had that morning expired, +having for some days suffered intensely from the effects of his old +wounds. + +"And who," said I, "remains to give consolation to the poor and +forlorn Mary?" + +"Ah," said John, "Miss Mary is always light when any sorrow comes on +the family. The Dunloe family are coming here to take Miss Mary home +with them." + +"God grant," said I, "she may be soothed by their kindness. Has she no +attendant, John?" + +"Yes sir, but my poor master said it was best not to trouble her when +she is in her strange way." + +I wound my way back slowly and mournfully from this house of sorrow. I +have since passed from scene to scene; I have witnessed the agonies of +many a breaking heart, and have been myself the subject of much sorrow +and anguish; but never did I witness blight and desolation equal to +that brought on the house of McCarthy by the murderous hand of +Raymond. + +E. + +_Henry County_. + + + + + For the Southern Literary Messenger. + +LINES. + + + The dove of my bosom lies bleeding, + The hopes I once cherished are fled, + I gaze on their ruins unheeding, + Earth's brightest is low with the dead. + + The eye that with rapture was beaming, + Is clouded in silence and gloom, + And those locks that like sunlight were gleaming, + Are damp with the dews of the tomb. + + The smile that I sought as a treasure, + Is gone with the being who gave + To this bosom its throbbings of pleasure, + And my heart is with her in the grave. + + * * * * * + + Above her the wild flowers are growing, + They were nursed by the thoughts of her love, + They are wet by the tears that are flowing, + And shall flow, till I greet her above. + +MORNA. + + + + + For the Southern Literary Messenger. + +MY NATIVE HOME. + +BY GEO. WATTERSTON. + + + When storms howl around me and dark tempests roll, + And Nature seems mov'd and convulsed to each pole-- + When billows o'er billows tempestuously foam, + How dear is the thought of my lov'd native home. + + The Laplander's breast, cold and dreary as night, + Beats wildly with transport, and throbs with delight, + When mem'ry, sad mem'ry, once chances to roam, + And recalls the past joys of his lov'd native home. + + The soldier who combats at tyranny's call, + In far distant climes, where grim terrors appal, + At the last beat of life, when he ceases to roam, + While dying, remembers his dear native home. + + Grim slav'ry's poor victim, long destin'd to mourn + O'er the ruins of peace that will never return, + Views with heart-bursting grief, old Ocean's white foam, + And dies as he thinks of his lov'd native home. + + Misfortune's sad child, while he wanders afar, + Still guided by Destiny's mysterious star, + Heaves a sigh, while visions of intellect roam, + And paint on his mem'ry the sweets of his home. + + When sorrows the cheek of remembrance bedew, + And disease, death, and misery glare dreadful to view, + How grateful, when far from our country we roam, + Are the long cherish'd thoughts of our lov'd native home. + + Who wanders o'er far distant realms to enjoy + Life's baubles of pleasure and wealth's glitt'ring toy, + In his old age returns, no longer to roam, + From the long absent shades of his dear native home. + + Would fortune permit me once more to return + To the cot of my youth, that in sadness I mourn, + Oh! nothing again shall induce me to roam + From the scenes, the lov'd scenes of my sweet native home. + + + + + For the Southern Literary Messenger. + +MEMOIR OF THE AMBITIOUS LAWYER. + +NO. I. + +Will your honor hear me through, before you pronounce sentence.--_Old +Play_. + + +I was the son of a country clergyman, who, passionately fond of +literature himself, determined to send me into the world with a good +collegiate education. I went through the course of study at the +University of ----, studied hard, graduated with considerable +distinction, and was very fully impressed with the idea that I was a +youth of fine parts and acquirements. On leaving college, I determined +to spend a twelvemonth in recreation and amusement, before I entered +upon the study of a profession. + +On my first introduction into the society of the active world, I +expected of course, to command that homage to my superior talents and +acquirements which I thought I so richly merited, and which was so +willingly awarded by the young men at the University of ----. But I +was not only treated with indifference, but contempt. I soon acquired +the character of a conceited coxcomb--a dogmatist without knowledge or +talents. Few of the enlightened part of the community condescended to +converse with me on equal terms; my challenges for argument, in order +to discover my abilities, were disregarded: and I had the +mortification of having the reputation of a fool, without the +opportunity as I thought, of correcting the impression. This treatment +determined me to anticipate the time I had allotted for the +commencement of the study of a profession. The consciousness that I +possessed talents, and the illiberal treatment I conceived I had met +with from the world, excited within me, an ambition of the most +corroding nature. I was determined to extort from an envious world, +that respect which I believed was so unworthily withheld. I had a +restless desire to chalk out my fortunes unassisted. With a single eye +to my purpose, I placed myself somewhat in a hostile attitude to the +world. Such was the uncompromising nature of my pride, and such the +ill-judged confidence in my own abilities, that I enjoyed no man's +friendship, and sought the patronage of none. In two months after I +left the University of ----, I purchased a few books, and commenced +the study of the law. For two years, I gave the most unremitting, +untiring attention to my books. Many nights did I toil over the dry +pages of Coke, until the east was streaked with the approach of +returning day. Many times was my mind so far absorbed, by intense and +abstract thought, that I have been forced suddenly to throw down my +books and count the tiles on the roof of the house, to recall my +aberrated thoughts and prevent absolute derangement. There is always +an exhilaration of feeling which attends mental excitement, that +renders the life of a student happy; and, while my health remained +unimpaired, my hours of study passed pleasantly away. But intense +application began to affect my health, and consequently my spirits; a +melancholy sat continually on my "faded brow." I became unhappy, +without then knowing why; yet I never lost sight of my unalterable +resolve, to make those crouch to my importance, who had once spurned +me from their presence. Occasionally the idea would recur, "would it +not be better to return to my social feelings, unbosom myself to my +relatives, and be content with the good opinion of those with whom I +associated;" but pride and ambition would soon silence such +intimations of my better nature, and goad me on to the attainment of +my object at any sacrifice. In looking back through a period of more +than threescore years, I can distinctly recollect that sullen pride, +that mortified but unsubdued ambition which shut me out from the +pleasures of social intercourse, and "preyed like the canker worm, on +the vitals of my repose." + +On perceiving the decline of my health and spirits, my father, with +little persuasion, prevailed on me to take out license and commence +the practise of my profession. By devotion to my studies, I had +acquired such a knowledge of the elementary works, as enabled me to +pass a sustainable examination before the judges of ----. In the +twenty-first year of my age, on the twenty-fifth day of October, with +my license in my pocket, I set out for a distant county court. It was +a fine morning; the air was bracing, but not cold. When I had mounted +my horse, and set off in a brisk trot, on a level and beaten Virginia +country road, I felt an exhilaration that the novelty of my purpose +and the healthy nature of my exercise was well calculated to inspire. +It is needless to inform the reader of the multifarious and never +realized visions of distinction and applause, that my heated brain +formed that day. There is something rather enervating in the young +dreams of love; but the early visions of ambition instil an ardor into +the soul, which nerves the faculties to the most daring enterprize, or +the most laborious undertaking. Both, however, heighten self-respect, +and diffuse a pleasing tranquillity over even excited feeling. + +The crowd had already gathered when I reached the court house of ----. +The political rivals had commenced haranguing the mob; the shrill cry +of the Yankee pedler vendueing his goods, the hoarse laugh of the +stout Virginia planter, the neighing of horses, the loud voice of the +stump orator, and the menaces of county bullies, met for the purpose +of testing their pugilistic talents, broke upon the tympanum in no +agreeable confusion. Here was a group collected around a decapitated +cask of whiskey, emptying its contents to the health of favorite +candidates; there a collection eyeing with eagerness two combatants +encircled in a ring, struggling for the acclamation of "the best man." +At a respectful distance stood the man of authority, the Virginia +justice, commanding the peace; but his vociferous interference only +met with the response of "Hands off: fair play!" In this promiscuous +assemblage, every grade of society in the county was represented. Here +was the rich, unpopular aristocrat, with his lofty bearing. The +representatives of old, and once rich and aristocratical families, who +had left nothing but a name for their posterity, were here mingling +familiarly with the plebeian herd, seeking popularity as the only +step-stone to political eminence. Here was seen, also, the rich +demagogue--the people's man--the frequenter of militia musters, the +giver of good dinners, without distinction of guests. Here, also, was +the substantial two hundred acre freeholder. Of the most conspicuous +"_minora sidera_," the Kentuckian horsedrover, the horsejockey, the +ganderpuller, might be mentioned. I soon passed this congregated mass, +and reached the bar. One of the fraternity was kind enough to +introduce me to the court and his professional brethren. It is useless +to describe my sensations during the continuance of that term of the +court. I was, generally, either entirely unnoticed, or treated with +marked contempt. So undeserving and discourteous did this treatment +seem, that I asked an old lawyer, who appeared rather more affable +than his brethren, what it meant; he smiled, and whispered that every +young lawyer, and particularly _a college lawyer_, was, _prima facie_, +a fool, until he showed the contrary. I profited so much by this rough +response, as to resolve to push my own way, without soliciting favor, +and careless even of common courtesy. + +After about four months attention to my courts, I found a world of +difference between the life of a student and a lawyer. The one deals +with his fellow at the most confiding and innocent age; the other +deals with every variety of character, and meets with every grade of +vice. When I first discovered with what a cold and selfish set of +creatures I had to mingle, I became melancholy, disgusted with my +profession and every thing attached to it. The fearful thought came +over my mind to turn scoundrel, and manage the _world_ in its own way; +to "carve it like an oyster"--"to ride mankind as Pyrrhus did his +elephant." But my better nature prevailed, and I determined to +persevere in the difficult task of mingling with mankind and +preserving my principles uncontaminated by the contact. + +When we reflect what a trivial occurrence alters one's fortunes, we +are ready to conclude that life is a complete game of hazard, and man +the creature of circumstances. If it had not been for a singular +accident, I might have toiled on through the prime of my existence, +without success in my profession, and deserted it after my glittering +youth was spent, a disappointed and pennyless misanthrope. I took a +small "tide of fortune at its flood, and it led to glory." It was +twelve months from the time I took out license, that I was touched on +the arm by a stranger, who asked me if I was not Owen the lawyer? I +told him I was; he then retained me to defend him in a prosecution +against him for forgery, and added, that my general celebrity as a +criminal advocate, had induced him to employ me. The application was +of a kind so new to me, (for I had never been spoken to either for +counsel or defence) that in the agitation of the moment I did not +discover that I was mistaken for a lawyer of some eminence, of the +same name, who attended the same court. As soon as he left me, cool +reflection came, and I was convinced that I had been retained through +mistake. I immediately went in search of the forger, to suggest the +mistake. I met with him among a number of by-standers and a few +members of the bar. As soon as he saw me, he accused me of practising +a fraud upon him, by designingly confirming him in his error. I +immediately turned from him, remarking that I could be no gainer by +altercation with a forger. But from the reception that his charge met +with among some of the by-standers and lawyers, I was impressed with +the conviction that they either believed, or affected to believe, the +accusation of the forger. I concealed my chagrin as well as I could +until his trial came on, and availing myself of the invitation of the +prosecutor to assist him, I made a speech containing the bitterest +invective and perhaps the best argument that I have ever made since. +As soon as I look my seat I observed approbation or envy on every +countenance that met my eye, for the criminal was very opprobrious to +the multitude. He was convicted by the unanimous voice of the court. I +was congratulated on every side on the success of my "maiden effort," +and by numbers of the obsequious crowd who previously withheld from me +even the ordinary civilities of life. + +NARRATOR. + + + + +LITERARY NOTICES. + + +THE CRAYON MISCELLANY, No. II. containing Abbotsford and Newstead +Abbey. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blanchard. 1835. + +We hailed with pleasure the appearance of the first number of the +Crayon Miscellany, but we knew not what a feast was preparing for us +in the second. In Abbotsford and Newstead Abbey, the author of the +Sketch Book is at home. By no one could this offering to the memories +of Scott and Byron have been more appropriately made. It is the +tribute of genius to its kindred spirits, and it breathes a +sanctifying influence over the graves of the departed. The kindly +feelings of Irving are beautifully developed in his description of the +innocent pursuits and cheerful conversation of Sir Walter Scott, while +they give a melancholy interest to the early misfortunes of Byron. He +luxuriates among the scenes and associations which hallow the walls of +Newstead, and warms us into admiration of the wizard of the north, by +a matchless description of the man, his habits, and his thoughts. The +simplicity and innocence of his heart, his domestic affections, and +his warm hospitality, are presented in their most attractive forms. +The scenes and the beings with which Sir Walter was surrounded, are +drawn with a graphic pencil. All conduce to strengthen impressions +formerly made of the goodness and beneficence of Scott's character, +and to gratify the thousands who have drawn delight from his works, +with the conviction that their author was one of the most amiable of +his species. No man knows better than Washington Irving, the value +which is placed by the world (and with justice) upon incidents +connected with really great men, which seem trifling in themselves, +and which borrow importance only from the individuals to whom they +have relation. Hence he has given us a familiar (yet how beautiful!) +picture of Abbotsford and its presiding genius; but the relics of +Newstead, which his pensive muse has collected and thrown together, +brightening every fragment by the lustre of his own genius, are +perhaps even more attractive. He touches but a few points in Byron's +early history, but they are those on which we could have wished the +illumination of his researches. The whole of the details respecting +Miss Chaworth, and Byron's unfortunate attachment to that lady, are in +his best manner. The story of the White Lady is one of deep interest, +and suits well with the melancholy thoughts connected with Newstead. +An instance of monomania like that of the White Lady, has seldom been +recorded; and the author has, without over-coloring the picture, +presented to his readers the history of a real being, whose whole +character and actions and melancholy fate belong to the regions of +romance. In nothing that he has ever written, has his peculiar faculty +of imparting to all he touches the coloring of his genius, been more +fully displayed than in this work. + +We give a short extract from each of these sketches, although they can +afford no idea of their collective charms. The conversational powers +and social qualities of Sir Walter Scott, are thus described: + +"The conversation of Scott was frank, hearty, picturesque, and +dramatic. During the time of my visit he inclined to the comic rather +than the grave, in his anecdotes and stories, and such, I was told, +was his general inclination. He relished a joke, or a trait of humor +in social intercourse, and laughed with right good will. He talked not +for effect or display, but from the flow of his spirits, the stores of +his memory, and the vigor of his imagination. He had a natural turn +for narration, and his narratives and descriptions were without +effort, yet wonderfully graphic. He placed the scene before you like a +picture; he gave the dialogue with the appropriate dialect or +peculiarities, and described the appearance and characters of his +personages with that spirit and felicity evinced in his writings. +Indeed, his conversation reminded me continually of his novels; and it +seemed to me, that during the whole time I was with him, he talked +enough to fill volumes, and that they could not have been filled more +delightfully. + +"He was as good a listener as talker, appreciating every thing that +others said, however humble might be their rank or pretensions, and +was quick to testify his perception of any point in their discourse. +He arrogated nothing to himself, but was perfectly unassuming and +unpretending, entering with heart and soul into the business, or +pleasure, or, I had almost said folly, of the hour and the company. No +one's concerns, no one's thoughts, no one's opinions, no one's tastes +and pleasures seemed beneath him. He made himself so thoroughly the +companion of those with whom he happened to be, that they forgot for a +time his vast superiority, and only recollected and wondered, when all +was over, that it was Scott with whom they had been on familiar terms, +and in whose society they had felt so perfectly at their ease. + +"It was delightful to observe the generous mode in which he spoke of +all his literary cotemporaries, quoting the beauties of their works, +and this, too, with respect to persons with whom he might be supposed +to be at variance in literature or politics. Jeffrey, it was thought, +had ruffled his plumes in one of his reviews, yet Scott spoke of him +in terms of high and warm eulogy, both as an author and as a man. + +"His humor in conversation, as in his works, was genial and free from +all causticity. He had a quick perception of faults and foibles, but +he looked upon poor human nature with an indulgent eye, relishing what +was good and pleasant, tolerating what was frail, and pitying what was +evil. It is this beneficent spirit which gives such an air of +bonhommie to Scott's humor throughout all his works. He played with +the foibles and errors of his fellow beings, and presented them in a +thousand whimsical and characteristic lights, but the kindness and +generosity of his nature would not allow him to be a satirist. I do +not recollect a sneer throughout his conversation any more than there +is throughout his works." + +It is more difficult to fix upon an extract from the sketch of +Newstead Abbey, but we take the following as coming within the limits +of our notice: + +"I was attracted to this grove, however, by memorials of a more +touching character. It had been one of the favorite haunts of the late +Lord Byron. In his farewell visit to the abbey, after he had parted +with the possession of it, he passed some time in this grove, in +company with his sister; and as a last memento, engraved their names +on the bark of a tree. + +"The feelings that agitated his bosom during this farewell visit, when +he beheld around him objects dear to his pride, and dear to his +juvenile recollections, but of which the narrowness of his fortune +would not permit him to retain possession, may be gathered from a +passage in a poetical epistle, written to his sister in after years. + + "'I did remind you of our own dear lake + By the old hall, _which may be mine no more_; + Lemans is fair; but think not I forsake + The sweet remembrance of a dearer shore: + Sad havoc Time must with my memory make + Ere _that_ or _thou_ can fade these eyes before; + Though, like all things which I have loved, they are + Resign'd for ever, or divided far. + + I feel almost at times as I have felt + In happy childhood; trees, and flowers, and brooks, + Which do remember me of where I dwelt + Ere my young mind was sacrificed to books, + Come as of yore upon me, and can melt + My heart with recognition of their looks, + And even at moments I would think I see + Some living things I love--but none like thee.' + +"I searched the grove for sometime, before I found the tree on which +Lord Byron had left his frail memorial. It was an elm of peculiar +form, having two trunks, which sprang from the same root, and after +growing side by side, mingled their branches together. He had selected +it doubtless, as emblematical of his sister and himself. The names of +BYRON and AUGUSTA were still visible. They had been deeply cut in the +bark, but the natural growth of the tree was gradually rendering them +illegible, and a few years hence, strangers will seek in vain for this +record of fraternal affection. + + * * * * * + +"At a distance on the border of the lawn, stood another memento of +Lord Byron; an oak planted by him in his boyhood, on his first visit +to the abbey. With a superstitious feeling inherent in him, he linked +his own destiny with that of the tree. 'As it fares,' said he, 'so +will fare my fortunes.' Several years elapsed, many of them passed in +idleness and dissipation. He returned to the abbey a youth scarce +grown to manhood, but as he thought with vices and follies beyond his +years. He found his emblem oak almost choked by weeds and brambles, +and took the lesson to himself. + + "'Young oak, when I planted thee deep in the ground, + I hoped that thy days would be longer than mine, + That thy dark waving branches would flourish around, + And ivy thy trunk with its mantle entwine. + + Such, such was my hope--when in infancy's years + On the land of my fathers I reared thee with pride; + They are past, and I water thy stem with my tears-- + Thy decay not the weeds that surround thee can hide.' + +"I leaned over the stone ballustrade of the terrace, and gazed upon +the valley of Newstead, with its silver sheets of water gleaming in +the morning sun. It was a Sabbath morning, which always seems to have +a hallowed influence over the landscape, probably from the quiet of +the day, and the cessation of all kinds of week day labor. As I mused +upon the mild and beautiful scene, and the wayward destinies of the +man whose stormy temperament forced him from this tranquil paradise to +battle with the passions and perils of the world, the sweet chime of +bells from a village a few miles distant, came stealing up the valley. +Every sight and sound this morning, seemed calculated to summon up +touching recollections of poor Byron. The chime was from the village +spire of Hucknall Torkard, beneath which his remains lie buried! + +"I have since visited his tomb. It is in an old gray country church, +venerable with the lapse of centuries. He lies buried beneath the +pavement, at one end of the principal aisle. A light falls upon the +spot through the stained glass of a gothic window, and a tablet on the +adjacent wall announces the family vault of the Byrons. It had been +the wayward intention of the poet to be entombed with his faithful dog +in the monument erected by him in the garden of Newstead Abbey. His +executors showed better judgment and feeling, in consigning his ashes +to the family sepulchre, to mingle with those of his mother and his +kindred. + + * * * * * + +"How nearly did his dying hour realize the wish made by him but a few +years previously in one of his fitful moods of melancholy and +misanthropy: + + "'When time, or soon or late, shall bring, + The dreamless sleep that lulls the dead, + Oblivion! may thy languid wing + Wave gently o'er my dying bed! + + No band of friends or heirs be there, + To weep or wish the coming blow: + No maiden with dishevelled hair, + To feel or feign decorous woe. + + But silent let me sink to earth, + With no officious mourners near: + I would not mar one hour of mirth, + Nor startle friendship with a fear.' + +"He died among strangers, in a foreign land, without a kindred hand to +close his eyes, yet he did not die unwept. With all his faults, and +errors, and passions, and caprices, he had the gift of attaching his +humble dependants warmly to him. One of them, a poor Greek, +accompanied his remains to England, and followed them to the grave. I +am told that during the ceremony, he stood holding on by a pew in an +agony of grief, and when all was over, seemed as if he would have gone +down into the tomb with his master.--A nature that could inspire such +attachments, must have been generous and beneficent." + + * * * * * + +THE CONQUEST OF FLORIDA, by Hernando de Soto; by Theodore Irving. +Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blanchard. + +There is so much of romance in the details of Spanish conquests in +America, that a history of any one of the numerous expeditions for +discovery and conquest, possesses the charm of the most elaborate +fiction, even while it bears the marks of general truth. These +adventures occurred during the age of chivalry, when danger was +courted for distinction, before the progress of science and literature +had opened other avenues to renown, and when personal valor was looked +upon as the pre-eminent quality--skill in arms as the highest +accomplishment of an aspiring spirit. No nation was more celebrated +during that chivalrous age than Spain, and in none did the genius of +chivalry longer resist the influences under which it finally fell into +decay. Upon the discovery of America, a wide field was opened for the +warlike spirit of the age, and Spain sent forth her hosts of +adventurers, filled with wild visions of boundless wealth, and the +easy conquest of the barbarian nations of those golden regions. There +are in the histories of their exploits, so many displays of dauntless +courage--of skill in overcoming difficulties--of the power of a few +disciplined warriors, to contend successfully with hosts of equally +brave, but untutored savages--and so many exhibitions of the generous +qualities of the soldier, that in the glare of brilliant achievements, +and the excitement of thrilling incident, we are tempted to overlook +the injustice and cruelty which marked the footsteps of the +conquerors. + +Mr. Irving's work is one of great interest. The conquest of Florida by +De Soto, while it is contrasted with the conquest of Mexico by Cortez, +(which immediately preceded it) in regard to its results to those +engaged in it, resembles it in the patient suffering and indomitable +bravery of the adventurers, and in the numerous thrilling scenes +through which they passed. While the conquest of Mexico enriched the +followers of Cortez, and poured the wealth of the new world into the +lap of Spain, that of Florida proved fatal to all who attempted it, +and ended in disaster to the ultimate conquerors. Ponce de Leon, the +visionary, who sought in Florida the Fountain of Youth, Vasques de +Ayllon, the ruthless kidnapper, and Pamphilo de Narvaez, the well +known rival and opponent of Cortez, had made fruitless attempts to +colonize this disastrous coast. But the last and most splendid effort +of that day, was made by Hernando de Soto, a cavalier who had served +with Cortez, and had returned to Spain in the possession of immense +wealth derived from the spoil of Mexico. The enjoyment of the highest +favor at the court of his sovereign, the charms of a young and lovely +bride, and the allurements of his splendid position at home, were +insufficient to repress the spirit of adventure which he had imbibed +in the wars in Mexico, and the prevalent belief that Florida presented +a scene for conquest still more magnificent than Mexico. De Soto was +doomed to prove that the golden dreams of wealth with which the +unexplored regions of Florida had been invested, were baseless +illusions. But his adventures and achievements afford a rich mine of +romantic incidents which Mr. Irving has presented in a most attractive +form: + +"Of all the enterprises," says he, "undertaken in this spirit of +daring adventure, none has surpassed for hardihood and variety of +incident, that of the renowned Hernando de Soto and his band of +cavaliers. It was poetry put in action; it was the knight-errantry of +the old world carried into the depths of the American wilderness: +indeed, the personal adventures, the feats of individual prowess, the +picturesque descriptions of steel-clad cavaliers, with lance and helm +and prancing steed, glittering through the wildernesses of Florida, +Georgia, Alabama, and the prairies of the Far West, would seem to us +mere fictions of romance, did they not come to us recorded in +matter-of-fact narratives of cotemporaries, and corroborated by minute +and daily memoranda of eye witnesses." + +Hernando de Soto was in every respect qualified for the task he +undertook in this ill-starred expedition. But the Floridian savage was +a more formidable foe than his Mexican brother--more hardy of frame, +and more implacable in his revenge. Hence, although the imagination is +not dazzled in the conquest of Florida, with descriptions of boundless +wealth and regal magnificence--although the chiefs are not decked in +"barbaric pearls and gold"--their sturdy resistance, and the varied +vicissitudes created by the obstacles which nature presented to the +conqueror's march, afford numberless details of great interest. The +book abounds with thrilling passages, from which, but for the crowded +state of our pages, we should make a few extracts. Whether it is the +merit of the writer or his subject, (probably it is a combination of +both,) which gives to this work so much fascination, we will not +decide; but it is scarcely possible to commence it, (at least we found +it so) and lay it aside until its perusal is concluded. + + * * * * * + +CHANCES AND CHANGES; a Domestic Story, by the author of "Six Weeks on +the Loire." Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blanchard. + +This is an uncommon book. In these days of high excitement and +_powerful_ writing, it is refreshing to be introduced among characters +of so much purity, benevolence and intelligence as those delineated in +"Chances and Changes." The moral of the book, although it is not +ostentatiously pressed upon the attention, is obvious and forcible. A +lovelier being than Catherine Neville, the heroine, can scarcely be +imagined. There is nothing new in the story--the events are such as +might easily be supposed to have occurred, and the leading features of +the plot may be stated in a few words: Colonel Hamilton, a man of +fashion and something of a _roué_, is engaged in a duel with a +baronet, in consequence of an intrigue between the Colonel and the +titled wife of his antagonist. The latter is dangerously wounded, and +Colonel Hamilton seeks a refuge for several months in the remote +dwelling of his former tutor, Mr. Neville, a benevolent and +conscientious clergyman. Hamilton becomes enamored of Catherine +Neville, who returns his passion with all the ardor of a first love. +He at length mingles with the world of fashion again, is involved once +more in his former intrigue, and although struggling to retain and +deserve the affections of Catherine, becomes completely entangled in a +criminal attachment. Catherine, after a long and painful conflict with +her feelings, resolves to conquer her ill-placed affection, and is +ultimately united to a worthier object. The struggles between passion +and duty in her breast, and the conflict of good and evil in Hamilton, +are admirably portrayed. The sentiments and opinions are often +striking, and the style elegant and attractive. We give a few +extracts, taken at random: + +"Come along with me," said she, "come and look by the side of the +little stream that runs through the garden." + +"This girl, after all, can do whatever she likes with me," thought +Hamilton, as he rose with affected effort, from the chair which he had +just before vowed to himself nothing should induce him to stir from, +until it was time to dress for dinner. Away they went to the brook, +and found Mr. Neville standing there, looking at the daffodils with +all the delight of the poet whose words were on his lips. + + "I wandered lonely as a cloud, + That flits on high, o'er vales and hills, + When all at once I saw a crowd, + A host of dancing daffodils. + Beside the lake, beneath the trees, + Fluttering and dancing near the trees. + + Continuous as the stars that shine + And twinkle in the milky way, + They stretched in never-ending line, + Along the margin of a bay. + Ten thousand saw I at a glance, + Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. + + The waves beside them danced, but they + Out-did the sparkling waves in glee, + A poet could not but be gay, + In such a jocund company. + I gazed and gazed, but little thought + What wealth to me the show had brought. + + For oft when on my couch I lie, + In vacant or in pensive mood, + They flash upon that inward eye + Which is the bliss of solitude. + And then my heart with pleasure fills + And dances with the daffodils." + +Hamilton was so unused to hear Wordsworth quoted in any other tone +than that of ridicule, or absurd parody, that he was amazed to hear +his old tutor, whose taste he revered, not more from habit than +experience of its correctness, repeat these lines with the enthusiasm +of Catherine herself, and conclude them with a panegyric on their +author, as having formed a new school in poetry, and finding + + "Books in the running brooks, + Sermons in stones, and good in ev'ry thing." + + * * * * * + +"Well, sir, what do you think of our daffodils?" said Mr. Neville, +pointing to them exultingly, "are they not enough to inspire a poet?" + +"I am not poet enough to answer the question," said Hamilton, "but I +remember the eldest of poets says they make very good salads." + +"Ah ha!" said Mr. Neville, "I am glad you have not forgotten old +Hesiod--but, however, I did not think of getting into Greek when I +quoted Wordsworth." + +"Nor I of hearing anything like common sense spring out of a quotation +from him," said Hamilton. "Not but that all he says may be very fine, +but I am of another school--I am a Byronian--he is the only man that +is read in Town--those Lakeists that go and make faces at themselves +on the waveless waters, and then run home to put their reflections +upon paper, are quite outvoted now; even the ladies never think of +them." + +"No, I suppose not," said Mr. Neville, "any more than they would think +of seeing hay-makers in their verandas, or a sheep-shearing in their +drawings-rooms. But 'the children of darkness are wiser in their +generation than the children of light,' and he who sings of nothing +but lawless crimes, and sated vices, does wisely to address his song +to the inhabitants of an overgrown and luxurious metropolis." + +"Yes, yes; he is sure enough of sympathy, plenty of dancing daffodils +there,--only of rather an opposite species. What do you say, Miss +Neville, do you like the titled Bard?" + +"Quite well enough, as a poet, to wish he had made choice of better +subjects. Edward Longcroft says he has in him a fragment of almost +every other poet's distinguishing excellence, but unfortunately his +own genius is only a fragment itself, and, therefore, he produces +nothing but fragments after all." + +"Very wise in Mr. Longcroft--I dare say he could prove every thing he +says most mathematically; but I fancy he will find the generality of +his acquaintance admire diamond sparks more than brick-bats--though +one is only a part, and the other a whole." + +"Very good! very good!" said Mr. Neville, "but who have we here?" he +added, as he looked towards the little gate. "Ah ha! here he is +himself--now we can have diamond sparks versus brick-bats, as long as +you like, and see who has the better of the argument." + +A matter-of-fact-man is well portrayed in the following: + +"Henry Barton," said she to herself, "is a good creature, as ever was +born; and he has great merit, too, in cultivating his mind so +sedulously, surrounded as he is only by the clodpoles his father has +brought him up amongst. But, after all, he is such a mere +matter-of-fact-man, that one soon tires of him--he tells one an +anecdote just as he reads it, and there's an end of it. And then he +moralizes, too, in such a common-place way, and wonders how the Romans +could degenerate so as to suffer themselves to be conquered by the +Goths, and finds out that it was an abominable thing in Henry VIII to +cut off his wives' heads, and not much better in Queen Elizabeth to +sign Essex's death warrant. There is no play of imagination about +him--no whim, no wit--he would as soon think of launching a man of +war, as maintaining a paradox." + +The subjoined sentiment is beautifully expressed: + +"Ah, is there any happiness like that of the affections! from the +soul-absorbing influence of individual love, through all the endearing +gradations of natural ties, and selected friends, down to the +generalized claims of our fellow-creatures: it will ever be found that +all our real enjoyments are solid only as the feelings of the heart +are connected with them; and long after the traces of external objects +may be effaced from the memory, the kindly sentiments and participated +feelings, with which they may have been connected, remain indelible in +the interior recesses of the breast, which they fill with a sweet +indistinctness of recollected enjoyment." + +And how much truth in Catherine's criticism of Byron: + +"I cannot feel the beauties of any poetry whatsoever," said Catherine, +"when I think the poet has no feeling himself--I have admired many +passages in Lord Byron's earlier works, even to enthusiasm; but when I +came to his most unfeeling mockery of the agonizing sympathies he had +raised in his description of a storm, by the odious levity with which +he concludes it, I closed the book, and never read another page of his +writing. I thought of it ever after as of those monstrosities in +painting, of beautiful heads, and cloven feet, and it inspired me with +the same disgust." + + * * * * * + +_North American Review, No. LXXXVIII: July 1835_.--The last number of +this periodical contains several admirable articles. We subjoin a list +of its contents: + +Art. I. A Tour on the Prairies, by the author of the Sketch Book.--II. +The American Almanac for the year 1835.--III. Memoirs of +Casanova.--IV. Machiavelli.--V. Life and Character of William +Roscoe.--VI. Mrs. Butler's Journal.--VII. Dunlap's History of the +Arts.--VIII. Slavery; an Appeal in favor of that Class of Americans +called Africans, by Mrs. Child.--IX. Audubon's Biography of Birds.-X. +Webster's Speeches. + +The first article is a noble eulogy on the genius of Washington +Irving, well according with the merits of the writer, and the honest +pride which every American feels in the possession of such a luminary +in our native literature. Great as has been the praise lavished upon +his works, we feel with the reviewer that full justice has not as yet +been accorded them--and it is with pleasure we perceive that the world +at large is becoming more alive to his merits. The following rapid +glance at the various triumphs of his genius, will be read with a +general concurrence in its truth: + +"Compare him," says the reviewer, "with any of the distinguished +writers of his class of this generation, excepting Sir Walter Scott, +and with almost any of what are called the English classics of any +age. Compare him with Goldsmith, one of the canonized names of the +British pantheon of letters, who touched every kind of writing, and +adorned every kind that he touched. In one or two departments, it is +true, that of poetry and the drama--departments which Mr. Irving has +not attempted, and in which much of Goldsmith's merit lies--the +comparison partly fails; but place their pretensions, in every other +respect, side by side. Who would think of giving the miscellaneous +writings of Goldsmith a preference over those of Irving, and who would +name his historical compositions with the Life of Columbus? If in the +drama and in poetry Goldsmith should seemed to have extended his +province greatly beyond that of Irving, the Life of Columbus is a +_chef d'oeuvre_ in a department which Goldsmith can scarcely be said +to have touched; for the trifles on Grecian and Roman history, which +his poverty extorted from him, deserve to enter into comparison with +Mr. Irving's great work, about as much as Eutropius deserves to be +compared with Livy. Then how much wider Irving's range in that +department, common to both the painting of manners and character! From +Mr. Irving we have the humors of cotemporary politics and every-day +life in America--the traditionary peculiarities of the Dutch founders +of New York--the nicest shades of the school of English manners of the +last century--the chivalry of the middle ages in Spain--the glittering +visions of Moorish romance--a large cycle of sentimental creations, +founded on the invariable experience--the pathetic sameness of the +human heart--and lastly, the whole unhackneyed freshness of the +West--life beyond the border--a camp outside the frontier--a hunt on +buffalo ground, beyond which neither white nor Pawnee, man nor muse, +can go. This is Mr. Irving's range, and in every part of it he is +equally at home. When he writes the history of Columbus, you see him +weighing doubtful facts in the scales of a golden criticism. You +behold him, laden with the manuscript treasures of well-searched +archives, and disposing the heterogeneous materials into a +well-digested and instructive narration. Take down another of his +volumes, and you find him in the parlor of an English country inn, of +a rainy day, and you look out of the window with him upon the +dripping, dreary desolation of the back yard. Anon he takes you into +the ancestral hall of a baronet of the old school, and instructs you +in the family traditions, of which the memorials adorn the walls, and +depend from the rafters. Before you are wearied with the curious lore, +you are in pursuit of Kidd, the pirate, in the recesses of Long +Island; and by the next touch of the enchanter's wand, you are rapt +into an enthusiastic reverie of the mystic East, within the crumbling +walls of the Alhambra. You sigh to think you were not born six hundred +years ago, that you could not have beheld those now deserted halls, as +they once blazed in triumph, and rang with the mingled voices of +oriental chivalry and song,--when you find yourself once more borne +across the Atlantic, whirled into the western wilderness, with a +prairie wide as the ocean before you, and a dusky herd of buffaloes, +like the crowded convoy of fleeing merchantmen, looming in the +horizon, and inviting you to the chase. This is literally _nullum fere +genus scribendi non tigit nullum quod titigit non ornviit_. Whether +anything like an equal range is to be found in the works of him on +whom the splendid compliment was first bestowed, it is not difficult +to say." + +The articles on Machiavelli, and on the life of Roscoe, are both +excellent in their way. The former has particular attractions, as it +is a luminous disquisition on the character and writings of one who +for ages was an enigma in the political and intellectual world, whose +works, like those of Dante and Faust, have been interpreted by +opposing critics in the most conflicting manner, and whose name, error +and prejudice handed down from century to century, have rendered +synonymous with all that is crafty and corrupt in the art of +government. + +The notice of Mrs. Butler's work is the best we have seen. The +reviewer performs his task with redoubtable good humor. The gentleness +with which he calls the lady to account for her literary offences, and +the hearty tribute of praise he bestows on the best portions of her +work, show that he is determined to + + "Be to her faults a little blind, + And to her merits very kind." + +But the review of Mrs. Child's ill-judged appeal on the subject of +slavery, has for us a more powerful attraction than any in the number. +It is not possible that we should be witnesses of the momentous +occurrences of the day, and not feel most sensitively every reference +to a topic in the discussion of which all that we love and reverence +is involved. The impatient zeal of pretending enthusiasts, who in the +pursuit of what to them seems good, disregard the frightful evils +which their blind impetuosity may produce, cannot but awaken in those +upon whom these evils must fall, a trembling anxiety for the future, +and an indignant resentment against the madmen who are blindly +jeoparding the peace of the country and the lives of thousands. We +cannot trust our feelings upon this subject. We see too clearly the +horrors in perspective, which fanaticism is preparing for us, and we +humbly hope that the results of its insane excess, may be averted. The +reviewer in the North American, thinks and feels correctly on this +subject, and we regret that we can only make room for the closing +passages of his remarks: + +"That we must be rid of slavery at some day, seems to be the decided +conviction of almost every honest mind. But when or how this is to be, +God only knows. If in a struggle for this end the Union should be +dissolved, it needs not the gift of prophecy to foresee that our +country will be plunged into that gulf which in the language of +another, 'is full of the fire and the blood of civil war, and of the +thick darkness of general political disgrace, ignominy, and ruin.' + +"There is much error upon this as well as other subjects, to be +corrected, before the public can act deliberately or wisely in +relation to it. It is too common to associate with the slave-holder +the character of the slave-merchant. And we regret to see the +abolitionist of the day seizing upon the cruelties and abuses of power +by a few slave-owners in regard to their slaves, in order to excite +odium against slave-holders as a class. This is alike unreasonable and +unjust. Very many of them are deeply solicitous to free the country of +this alarming evil, but no feasible means by which this is to be +accomplished has yet been offered for their adoption. Such +denunciations are no better than the anathemas of fanaticism, and +ought to be discountenanced by every well wisher of his country. The +subject of slavery is one, in regard to which, more than almost any +other, there are clouds and darkness upon the future destinies of +these states. It is one upon which all think and feel more or less +acutely, and it is moreover one upon which all may be called upon to +act. It is, therefore, we repeat, with regret that we see intellects +like that of Mrs. Child, and pens like hers, which may be otherwise so +agreeably and beneficially employed, diverted from their legitimate +spheres of action, and employed in urging on a cause so dangerous to +the union, domestic peace, and civil liberty, as the immediate +emancipation of the slaves at the South." + + * * * * * + +_American Republication of Foreign Quarterlies_.--The London, Edinburg +and Westminster Reviews for April, 1835, have been republished by Mr. +Foster, in his cheap and valuable series of periodicals. The Edinburg +Review contains an article on American Poetry, in the course of which +a general glance at the literature of this country is taken; and a +more favorable opinion expressed of its achievements than that work +has hitherto entertained. This fact is worthy of remark, when it is +recollected that the taunting query, "Who reads an American book?" +emanated from that journal not many years since. The most attractive +articles in the Westminster, are those upon "Lucy Aiken's Court of +Charles II," and "Dunlop's Memoirs of Spain." To us, an article in the +Quarterly on "Maria, or Slavery in the United States, a picture of +American Manners, by Gustave de Beaumont, one of the authors of a work +on the Penitentiary System in the United States"[1]--"The Stranger in +America, by F. Leiber," and "New England and her Institutions, by one +of her sons," is the most attractive in the April number. The work of +M. de Beaumont has not, as we have heard, been translated or +republished in this country. His views of our manners and institutions +are exhibited in the form of a novel, which the Quarterly declares to +possess considerable interest, and to display in parts a large share +of the true genius of romance, notwithstanding that the incidents are +few and the commentaries copious. The author declares in a preface, +that "though his personages are fictitious, every trait of character +has been sketched from the life, and that almost every incident in his +tale may be depended on as a fact that had fallen under his own +observation." The reviewer is somewhat scandalized at the author's +avowal of "his belief that the democratic system of government, as now +established in America, is the best machinery that ever was invented +for developing the political independence and happiness of mankind," +and endeavors to show that M. de Beaumont's strictures upon our +manners and condition (and he cannot be charged with undue lenity in +his censure) are inconsistent with that avowal. The reviewer makes +copious extracts from the work, which show that the author is disposed +to censure severely the condition of the colored population in this +country, without a fair consideration of the circumstances which +produced it. But we can scarcely judge of the book from the extracts +in the review, which are probably the most unfavorable that could be +found, as the reviewer displays a strong desire to draw from the +opinions of the French author, support for the assertions of English +travellers. + +[Footnote 1: "Marie, ou l'Esclavage aux Etas-Unis, Tableau de Moeurs +Americaines par Gustave de Beaumont, l'un des Auteurs de l'ouvrage +intitulé Du Systeme Pénitentiare aux Etas-Unis."] + + * * * * * + +MY LIFE, by the author of Tales of Waterloo, &c. New York: Harper & +Brothers. 1835. + +This is the production of a lively and spirited writer. He describes +skirmishes, onslaughts and battles, with the familiarity of one who +has not seldom taken a part in such actions--traces the Irish +character with great fidelity, and best of all, his book abounds in +humorous incidents. The _contre-pieds_ between the hero and his +cousin, "Jack the Devil," are admirably detailed. Jack is a rare +specimen of the Wild Irishman, and we have seldom been more amused +than we were with the history of the scrapes in which he involved +himself and his cousin. The battle of Waterloo is sketched briefly, +but with a graphic pen. The last struggle of that day, when Ney led +the Old Guard to the charge, and the description of the "field red +with slaughter," after the work of death had concluded, give evidence +of the painting of an eye-witness. + + * * * * * + +BELFORD REGIS, or Sketches of a Country Town, by Miss Mitford. +Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blanchard. 1835. + +Like "Our Village," these are delightful productions, abounding with +wholesome satire of folly and prejudice, and displaying in strong +relief the humble virtues of retired life. Some of the characters are +conceptions of great loveliness, and many of the scenes are wrought +with most pathetic effect. The story of Hester is admirable. We have +seldom dwelt with more delighted interest over a picture of juvenile +virtue and self-devotion. + + + + +EDITORIAL REMARKS. + + +We have but a few words to offer upon the contents of the present +number. Generally they must speak for themselves; but in regard to +others we may be permitted a passing comment. + +No. II of the Dissertation on the characteristic differences between +the sexes, sustains the high character of the first number. And +although the branch of the subject--Religious Differences--which the +author has discussed in the present number, seems to promise little +amusement for the general reader, it will be found upon perusal, to +have been so ingeniously treated, so beautifully illustrated, that +even he who entirely eschews polemics, will be edified and delighted. +It was upon this point that we felt the most solicitude for the +success of the writer, for there is no part of his subject so +difficult to manage, or in which he was so liable to fall below the +expectations of his readers. But he has overcome its difficulties, and +presents us with a disquisition, entirely free from the narrowness of +sectarian views, and deeply grounded in the philosophy of the human +mind. His view of the religion of woman is accurate and +beautiful,--her proneness to lean on the strength of a more powerful +being, her confiding nature, her facility in believing where man +cavils and doubts, and the tendency of her religious sentiments to +degenerate into superstition, contrasted with the besetting evils of +man's religious faith--bigotry and fanaticism--are admirably +portrayed. His illustration of this contrast is clear and convincing, +whilst his style throughout is easy and attractive. He seems to have +drawn the true inspiration from his subject, and is doubtless a +believer in the doctrine of the ingenious Biron-- + + "From woman's eyes this doctrine I derive: + They sparkle still the right promethean fire; + They are the books, the arts, the academes, + That show, contain, and nourish all the world; + Else, none at all in aught proves excellent." + +Grayson Griffith is a religious story. We approve of the moral, as a +matter of course--who will not? But we do not come quite up to the +writer's standard of perfection, for we candidly confess we cannot see +the germs of perdition in a social game of whist; and while we detest +gambling and gamblers, the proscription of amusements innocent in +themselves, because some remote analogy may be traced between them and +practices at once immoral and every way destructive, seems to us +irreconcileable with sound logic or true philosophy. The attempt to +trace the vices of men to early habitudes is not always successful, as +the power of good or evil impressions over the mind and habits, is +essentially modified by the character of each individual. Besides, +accident often determines the destinies of men, so far as we can see, +in very spite of every previous tendency. We doubt, for instance, +whether the fascinations of the faro-table would not have been as +great to Grayson if he had never seen a card, as they proved to be, as +related in the story. But we are getting into the discussion of a +question which requires more time and space than we have to spare. + +The "Letter on the United States, by a _Young Scotchman_," is +generally amusing; but some of the passages in it strike us with +surprise. He tells us that, "although the Americans are great novel +readers, there is too much matter-of-fact about them; they are too +calculating and money-making [this from a Scotchman!] to serve the +purposes of the novelist. They form but indifferent heroes and +heroines of romance, and hence Cooper is obliged to resort to the sea +to rake up pirates and smugglers, or to go back to the revolution or +the early settlement of his country to find characters and incidents +calculated to give verisimilitude and interest to his tales." This +seems to us hasty and jejune criticism. Cooper was not, as we know, +"_obliged_" to rake up pirates and smugglers; but as this writer has +told us in the ninth number of the Messenger, "He (Cooper) had been +for some years an officer in the American Navy, where he acquired a +knowledge of all the minutiæ of nautical life, which was of great +service to him in the composition of some of his tales. These are +justly considered as his best"--and he might have added, are written +with power peculiar to Cooper, of whom it may truly be said: + + "His march is on the mountain wave + _His home_ is on the deep." + +And well would it have been for his fame had he never abandoned his +proper element. On shore he generally makes as awkward a figure as one +of his nautical heroes would do, after a voyage, before he had gotten +rid of his "sea legs." We have read Cooper's last, the Monikins, but +at too late a period to allow a regular notice of it in this number. +_En passant_, however, we must say that it is an entire +failure--vapid, pointless, and inane. It appears to be an attempted +satire on mankind, a bungling imitation of Swift's account of the +_Houynhmins_, Mr. Cooper's monkies are a tedious race, and his Yankee +captain, "Noah Poke," the principal interlocutor, as the lawyers would +term him, is little better. We believe that all who have read this +work, will agree, that the sooner its author is "_obliged_" to take +again to salt water, and "rake up pirates and smugglers," the better +it will be for his own reputation, and the purses of his booksellers. + +In regard to the poetry of this number, we must content ourselves with +drawing attention to the pathetic effusion "on the Deaf, Dumb and +Blind Girl." + + + + +TO CORRESPONDENTS. + + +Many favors have been again unavoidably postponed. The communication +of _Scriblerus_ exhibits talent, and is written well, but is not +adapted to the pages of the Messenger. The writer would doubtless +succeed upon other subjects, and we invite him to make the experiment. +"A fragment of the thirteenth century," has held us in doubt for some +days; but we have finally decided upon its exclusion. We are not +better pleased with the poetry of _Timandi_, than with his prose. + +The quantity of rhyme poured in upon us, is indeed a matter of +admiration. The effusions which we consign to outer darkness monthly, +are past enumeration. Such, for instance, as one containing the +following lines, and which purports to be "copyed from a young ladies +Album"-- + + Miss E---- we have oftimes met before + And--we may--meet no more + What shall I say at parting + Many years have run their race + Since first I saw your face + Around this gay and giddy place + Sweet smiles and blushes darting. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. +I., No. 11, July, 1835, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 58497 *** |