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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 58729 ***
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+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, AUGUST 1835.  [No. 12.
+
+T. W. WHITE, PRINTER AND PROPRIETOR.  FIVE DOLLARS PER ANNUM.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+SKETCHES OF THE HISTORY
+
+And Present Condition of Tripoli, with some account of the other
+Barbary States.
+
+No. VII.
+
+
+Events of great importance had also occurred in Algiers, by which this
+ancient stronghold of piracy was stripped of its terrors, and its
+impotence fully demonstrated.
+
+The resources of this state were even more severely affected by the
+wars of Europe, than those of Tunis and Tripoli, as it depended less
+than either of them upon native industry for support. A Pasha of
+Algiers, who wished to retain his throne and consequently his life,
+was forced to keep his troops engaged in wars from which they might
+individually derive profit; to increase their pay at the expense of
+the public treasury was ineffectual, and he who attempted thus to win
+their favor was soon despised and overthrown. They required the
+excitement of contests and plunder, and bread not won at the dagger's
+point seems to have had no relish with them. In 1805, these
+desperadoes murdered their Dey Mustapha, only because he was of too
+peaceable a disposition. Under Achmet his successor, they had a war
+with Tunis, but it was conducted in a very languid manner, for no
+plunder could be expected.
+
+The United States continued to pay the enormous annual tribute which
+had been stipulated in the treaty of 1796, but not punctually. The
+little respect which was paid to neutral rights at that period by
+France and England, rendered the transmission of the naval stores
+composing the tribute difficult and unsafe, and this was the reason
+always alleged by the American Consul in accounting for the delay; but
+it was also in a great measure intentional, from the idea on which the
+other nations tributary to Algiers acted, that by thus remaining
+always in arrears, the fear of losing the whole sum due, would render
+the Dey less inclined to make any sudden depredations on their
+commerce. A strict adherence to engagements voluntarily entered into,
+would have been perhaps the better, and certainly much the more
+dignified course, as the Dey would have found it to his interest to
+conciliate those who paid so regularly.
+
+Whilst the American squadron remained in the Mediterranean, these
+excuses were listened to without many signs of impatience, but on its
+departure Achmet raised his tone, and after threatening for some time,
+he at length in the latter part of 1807 sent out his cruisers with
+orders to seize American vessels, informing Mr. Lear at the same time,
+that this was not to be considered as a hostile proceeding, and should
+not disturb the peace between the two countries.
+
+The Algerine cruisers took three American vessels, of which two were
+brought into port and condemned; the crew of the third the schooner
+Mary Anne, rose upon their captors, killed four of them, and having
+set the remaining four adrift in a boat, carried the vessel safe into
+Naples. As soon as the Dey received the news of this, he ordered the
+American Consul instantly to pay sixteen thousand dollars as
+satisfaction for the lives of his eight subjects. Mr. Lear endeavored
+to obtain a delay until he could receive the orders of his government;
+but he was threatened with imprisonment, and a number of ships of war
+were ready to sail for the purpose of plundering American vessels; he
+therefore, after a formal protest, paid the sixteen thousand dollars
+for the Algerines killed, as well as the whole amount of the tribute
+then due.
+
+Shortly after this occurrence, on the 7th of November, 1808, the
+Turkish soldiery revolted, and having killed Achmet, placed in his
+stead Ali the keeper of a small mosque. What were their reasons for
+such a choice cannot be stated, but the expectations of the Turks seem
+not to have been fulfilled; for on the 4th of March, 1809, they
+quietly took their sovereign to the common house of correction, and
+there strangled him. They then raised to the throne a decrepid old man
+named Hadji Ali, whose character was much more conformable with their
+wishes, for he proved to be one of the most energetic, as well as most
+ferocious tyrants ever known even in Algiers. He determined to revive
+the old glory of his state, and again to offer to all Christian
+nations the alternative of war or tribute.
+
+Great Britain and France were at that time the only commercial nations
+at peace with Algiers and paying no fixed tribute, yet they vied with
+each other in the richness of their presents, which were made with
+great regularity on all public occasions. Great Britain too, passively
+encouraged the piratical propensity of the Algerines, by allowing them
+to plunder and carry off the miserable inhabitants of the territories
+which were occupied by her troops and at least nominally under her
+protection, while France and the countries subject to or in alliance
+with her, were secure from such depredations. The British did more;
+for in 1810,--when neutral commerce had been extinguished, and the
+resources of Algiers were in consequence almost cut off, as neither
+could tribute be sent nor compensation be obtained for it by
+piracy--at this conjuncture two large ships and a brig entered the
+harbor, laden with warlike munitions, the whole sent as a present to
+the Dey from the government of Great Britain. Seventy thousand dollars
+were soon after received through the agency of the same government
+from Spain, in satisfaction for a pretended injury committed by a
+Spanish vessel.
+
+By the aid of this timely supply, Hadji Ali was enabled to fit out a
+respectable naval force, which under the command of the Rais Hamida a
+daring and skilful corsair, sailed for the coast of Portugal, and for
+some time continued to insult and plunder the vessels of that wretched
+kingdom; this too, at a period when its fortresses were held by
+British troops, and its harbors filled with British ships of war.
+
+At the commencement of 1812, it was almost certain that war would soon
+take place between the United States and Great Britain; in expectation
+of this, it was important to the latter power to raise up as many
+enemies as possible to the Americans, and to deprive them of places of
+refuge for their vessels. It was principally with this object, that an
+Envoy was sent to the Barbary States; and he was made the bearer of a
+letter from the Prince Regent to the Dey, containing an offer of
+alliance, with the obligation on the part of Great Britain to protect
+Algiers against all its enemies, on condition of the observance of
+existing treaties between the two nations. The Envoy, Mr. A'Court,[1]
+was a man well calculated for carrying into effect the objects for
+which he was chosen, and he here first gave proofs of those talents
+which have since raised him to exalted stations in his country. He
+soon acquired great influence over the savage Turk; he demonstrated to
+him the designs and advances of Napoleon towards universal dominion,
+and made him tremble for the safety of his own Regency. On the other
+hand, he exhibited the mighty naval power of Great Britain, and
+endeavored to convince the Dey, that he could only escape the fate of
+the greater part of the European sovereigns, by seconding her efforts
+in resisting the insatiable conqueror. The United States were
+represented as the allies of France, possessing an extensive commerce,
+but having no naval force to protect it.
+
+[Footnote 1: Now Lord Haytesbury.]
+
+These views were confirmed by the assurances of the Jewish merchants,
+who conducted nearly all the outward trade of Algiers, and who were
+generally consulted on points of foreign policy. A truce was in
+consequence obtained for Sicily, the captives from that island being
+however retained in slavery. A peace was also negotiated between
+Algiers and Portugal, the latter agreeing to pay a large sum
+immediately, and a heavy annual tribute in future. However, the Dey
+could not be led to declare war against the dreaded Emperor of France,
+although he had no objection to a quarrel with the United States,
+conceiving that it might be made very profitable, either by
+depredations on their commerce, or by obtaining an increase of their
+tribute. He gave the first hint of his intentions to the American
+Consul, by sending him the Prince Regent's letter, under pretence of
+requesting a translation of it into Italian, but really for the
+purpose of inducing him to bid higher for the friendship of Algiers.
+No notice being taken of this, he became more insolent in his demands
+and threats.
+
+At length, on the 17th of July, 1812, the ship Alleghany arrived at
+Algiers, laden with naval and military stores, which were sent to the
+Dey and Regency by the United States, according to the terms of the
+treaty of 1796. The Dey at first expressed his entire satisfaction
+with what was sent, and a part of the cargo was landed; a few days
+after, the Minister of Marine informed the American Consul, that his
+master had been much astonished on examining the lists of the
+articles, to find that several of them were not in such quantities as
+he had required, and also that some cases containing arms had been
+landed at Gibraltar, for the Emperor of Morocco; that he considered
+the latter circumstance as an insult to himself, and he would not,
+therefore, receive any part of the cargo of the ship. Mr. Lear
+endeavored to show that the value of the articles sent, was more than
+equal to the amount due by the United States, and that if this were
+true, the Dey should not complain if a part of the cargo originally
+shipped were destined for another purpose.
+
+In reply to this a new demand was made. By the treaty of 1796 the
+United States engaged to pay, "annually to the Dey the value of twelve
+thousand Algerine sequins (21,000 dollars) in maritime stores," and
+payment to this amount had been made for each year since 1796. The Dey
+now contended that the time should have been counted by the Mahometan
+calendar which gives only 354 days to the year, and that consequently
+the United States owed him arrears of tribute for six months, to which
+the differences between the Mahometan and Christian years since 1796,
+when added together would amount. Against this novel demand, the
+Consul remonstrated and protested in vain; he was ordered to pay the
+whole sum due immediately in cash, the stores offered as tribute not
+being receivable, otherwise he would be sent in chains to prison, the
+Americans in Algiers be made slaves, the Alleghany with her cargo be
+confiscated, and war be declared against the United States. With such
+a prospect before him, the Consul could only pay the money, which was
+effected through the agency of the Jewish mercantile house of Bacri.
+As soon as this was done, the Consul and all the Americans were
+commanded to quit Algiers immediately; they accordingly embarked in
+the Alleghany for Gibraltar, where they arrived on the 4th of August.
+
+Orders were then given by the Dey to his cruisers to take American
+vessels; but the apprehension of war with Great Britain had caused
+most of them to leave the Mediterranean, and the only prize made by
+the Algerines, was a small brig the Edwin of Salem.
+
+Information of these outrageous acts was officially communicated to
+Congress by President Madison on the 17th of November, 1812; but war
+had been declared by the United States against Great Britain, and the
+American flag was not seen in the Mediterranean until 1815, in which
+year ample satisfaction was obtained for the indignities which it had
+suffered from Algiers.
+
+In 1814 Hadji Ali was murdered, and his Prime Minister was invested
+with the sovereign authority; within a fortnight afterwards, the
+latter underwent the fate of his predecessor, and Omar the Aga or
+commander of the forces was made Pasha. Napoleon had by this time been
+overcome, and a congress of European potentates and ministers was
+assembled at Vienna, engaged in regulating the affairs of that portion
+of the world, which circumstances had placed under their control. To
+this congress a memorial was presented by the celebrated Sir Sidney
+Smith, the object of which was the formation of a naval and military
+force, by means of contingents furnished and supported by the nations
+most interested, for the purpose of protecting commerce and abolishing
+piracy in the Mediterranean. It was declared that the Ottoman Porte
+would willingly contribute to the attainment of this end, and that
+Tunis was also disposed to relinquish its unlawful attacks upon the
+commerce of Christian nations, provided it were sure of protection
+against the other two states of Barbary.
+
+This romantic proposition seems to have engaged but little the
+attention of the congress, and a petition of the Knights of Malta for
+a restoration of their island was equally disregarded. Sir Sidney's
+plan was impracticable, and the Knights of St. John could never have
+seriously imagined that Great Britain would give up such a possession
+as Malta on considerations of doubtful philanthropy; they probably
+only hoped for some individual indemnification. No question concerning
+the Barbary States indeed seems to have been debated at the Congress
+of Vienna; the execution of any plan respecting them, must have
+depended on the approval of Great Britain, the commerce of which being
+secure from interruption, she had no interest in the suppression of
+these pirates.
+
+Attempts had been made on the part of the United States, to obtain the
+liberation of the crew of the Edwin and of some other Americans who
+were held captive in Algiers; but Hadji Ali refused to part with them
+for any sum that would probably be offered, his object being to
+increase the number of his captives, in order to compel a renewal of
+the treaty on terms still more favorable to himself than those of the
+convention of 1796. Omar, who was a much more rational being than
+Hadji Ali, would probably have acceded to these offers, but they were
+not again proposed; no sooner were the difficulties between the United
+States and Great Britain arranged by the Treaty of Ghent, than the
+former power made preparations to rescue its citizens from slavery by
+force, and to punish the Algerines for the outrages committed in 1812.
+
+A squadron consisting of three frigates, a sloop, a brig and three
+schooners, was fitted out and sent under Commodore Stephen Decatur to
+the Mediterranean, which sea it entered on the 14th of June, 1815. The
+Dey had already been notified of its approach by a British frigate,
+which appears to have been despatched for this purpose to Algiers; but
+the warning was disregarded, for his ships were all sent out, and no
+measures were taken by him to put the city in a state of defence.
+
+On arriving at Gibraltar, the American Commodore received information
+that several Algerine ships were in the vicinity, and he immediately
+sailed in pursuit of them. On the 17th, the frigate Guerriere
+Decatur's flag ship overtook near Cape de Gatte the Algerine frigate
+Mazouda, commanded by the famous Rais Hamida; after a short action the
+Mazouda was taken, Hamida and thirty of his crew being killed. On the
+19th an Algerine brig of twenty-two guns was also captured and sent
+into the port of Carthagena, in Spain; on the 28th the American
+squadron appeared before Algiers, and proposed to the astounded Dey
+the terms on which he might obtain peace with the United States.
+
+Confounded at the loss of his ships and the death of his daring
+Admiral, and dreading that the rest of his cruisers which were out,
+might fall into the hands of the Americans, Omar at once assented to
+the terms proposed, and a treaty was signed on the 30th of June, 1815.
+By its terms all the American prisoners were instantly to be
+surrendered without ransom, indemnification being made for their
+injuries and losses, and for all the seizures of American property in
+1812; the Americans on their part, surrendering without ransom all
+their prisoners. No demands for tribute, under any name or form, were
+ever after to be made by Algiers on the United States; all American
+citizens taken on board the vessels of any other country, were to be
+set at liberty and their property to be restored as soon as their
+citizenship should be proved; vessels of either party were to be
+protected in the ports, or within cannon shot of the forts of the
+other, and no enemy's vessel was to be allowed to leave a port of one
+country in pursuit of a vessel of the other, until twenty-four hours
+after the sailing of the latter; with many other provisions highly
+favorable to the United States. The American commander promised to
+restore to the Dey, the frigate and brig which he had taken, and the
+frigate was in consequence immediately given up; the brig was for some
+time detained by the authorities at Carthagena, on the pretence that
+it had been captured within the jurisdiction of Spain.
+
+The peace being thus made, and the stipulations of the treaty complied
+with as far as possible, Mr. William Shaler was installed as Consul
+General of the United States for the Barbary Regencies, and the
+squadron sailed on the eighth of July for Tunis, where its presence
+was required by circumstances which it will be necessary to detail.
+
+During the great European war, the armed ships of France and England
+were in the habit of conducting their prizes into the Barbary ports
+and there selling them; a number of American vessels were indeed thus
+disposed of by the French, under the infamous Decrees of Berlin and
+Milan. The British Government, not content with this species of
+neutrality, sent Admiral Freemantle with a squadron to Tunis and
+Tripoli, and thus obtained from each of these powers, an engagement
+not to suffer any of the belligerents on the other side, to bring
+British vessels as prizes into its ports. After the declaration of war
+by the United States against Great Britain, no American armed vessel
+had ventured to pass the Streights of Gibraltar, until December 1814,
+when the privateer brig Abællino, from Boston, commanded by W. F.
+Wyer, entered the Mediterranean and took a number of prizes, some of
+which were sent into Tunis and Tripoli.
+
+On the arrival of the first of these prizes at Tunis, Mr. Noah, the
+American Consul, at the request of the master, applied to the Bey for
+permission to sell her and her cargo. Mahmoud in reply showed him the
+engagement with Great Britain, which forbade his granting such a
+license; and the British Consul threatened, in case it were allowed,
+to send to Sicily for a squadron, in order to avenge this infraction
+of the treaty with his country. License to sell the vessel was however
+obtained by Mr. Noah, and she was accordingly disposed of with her
+cargo, Prince Mustapha the Bey's youngest son, contriving by fraud and
+by force, to become the purchaser of the greater part of the cargo, at
+very reduced prices.
+
+Information of this having been conveyed to Admiral Penrose, who
+commanded the British naval forces on the Sicily Station, he sent a
+ship of the line and two brigs of war to Tunis, with a letter to the
+Bey, enjoining him to arrest the sale of the prize, and to forbid
+admission to others in future. With the latter requisition Mahmoud
+declared his readiness to comply; and two other prizes having soon
+after been sent in by Captain Wyer, he permitted the British to take
+possession of them, although they were at the time actually at anchor
+under the guns of the Goletta fortress. The vessels were immediately
+carried to Malta, where they were restored to their original owners,
+the prize crews being retained as prisoners.[2]
+
+[Footnote 2: It may be proper here to observe, that although the
+treaty of peace between the United States and Great Britain, had been
+signed at Ghent on the 24th December 1814, and ratified at Washington
+on the 17th of February 1815, yet a space of forty days after the
+ratification was allowed by the terms of that treaty, during which all
+prizes taken by either party in the Mediterranean, were to be
+retained; and hostilities were in fact continued in that sea until the
+29th of March.]
+
+Mr. Noah protested against these proceedings, as being contrary not
+only to the general principles of national law, but also expressly to
+the terms of the tenth article of the treaty between the United States
+and Tunis, which stipulates that "the vessels of either party if
+attacked by an enemy under the cannon of the forts of the other party,
+shall be defended as much as possible;" he at the same time gave
+notice to the Bey, that he would be required to make indemnification
+for the prizes which he had thus suffered to be carried off. Mahmoud,
+who had not had so much experience with regard to the customs and
+institutions of the Franks as had been acquired by Hamouda, could not
+comprehend this; he offered to intercede for the restoration of the
+vessels, and plainly told the Consul that if the captain of the
+Abællino chose to cut out two British merchant vessels which were then
+lying in the harbor, no attempt would be made to obstruct him.
+
+Things were in this state on the 20th of July, when the American
+squadron arrived at Tunis from Algiers. The Bey was instantly required
+to pay forty-six thousand dollars, at which the two prizes which had
+been carried off were estimated; he of course refused, endeavored to
+evade the demand, and finally threatened resistance. But he had by
+this time been fully informed of what had taken place at Algiers, and
+the martial appearance and determined bearing of Decatur, who treated
+with him personally, not a little contributed to intimidate him; under
+these circumstances he thought it expedient to yield, and paid the
+money on the 31st, making some remarks on the occasion, which clearly
+showed that he had been encouraged by the British Consul to persevere
+in resisting the demand.
+
+As soon as this business was concluded, Decatur sailed with his whole
+force for Tripoli, where he arrived on the 10th of August. Into this
+port the Abællino had carried two prizes; shortly after their
+entrance, the British armed brig Paulina with another vessel of war
+entered the harbor, and retook the prizes, the commander of the
+Paulina at the same time declaring his intention to pursue the
+Abællino if she should leave the place. This was done immediately
+under the castle walls, without any attempt at interference on the
+part of the Pasha. The American Consul, Mr. Jones, instantly requested
+Yusuf to cause the vessels to be restored, intimating that in case
+they were not, the Pasha would be compelled to pay for them himself;
+the Consul also demanded, that measures should be taken, in compliance
+with the tenth article of the treaty, to retain the British ships of
+war in the harbor, twenty-four hours after the sailing of the
+Abællino, which was about to put to sea. To both these demands Yusuf
+refused to yield assent; the prizes were in consequence sent to Malta,
+and the Abællino was detained in Tripoli. The American Consul then
+pulled down his flag, and sent information of the circumstances to the
+other Mediterranean Consulates, in order that it might be communicated
+to the commander of the squadron immediately on its arrival.
+
+As soon as Decatur entered the harbor, he required the Pasha to pay
+twenty-five thousand dollars for the two prizes which he had suffered
+the British to carry off; it was paid in two days. In recompense for
+the assistance which had been rendered to the Americans by the king of
+Naples and the Danish Consul, the commodore also demanded the delivery
+without ransom, of eight Neapolitans and two Danes, who were held in
+slavery in Tripoli; they were immediately surrendered and restored to
+their homes.
+
+Thus, in a great measure, in consequence of the promptitude and energy
+of the gallant officer who commanded the American squadron, within
+fifty-four days after its arrival in the Mediterranean, were these
+three piratical powers completely humbled by a force apparently
+inadequate to make any impression on the weakest of them. The treaty
+with Algiers was doubtless extorted by fear, and the Dey had no
+intention to keep his engagements longer than he was obliged, as facts
+afterwards showed; but important benefits were obtained at once, in
+the liberation of the captives and the restoration of the property
+taken in 1812. The moral effects produced in favor of the United
+States, not only in Barbary but in Europe, were incalculable; since
+that period, no Americans have been enslaved in either of those
+countries, and not a cent of tribute has been paid by the United
+States to any foreign power.
+
+Scarcely had the Americans quitted Algiers, when a Dutch squadron
+consisting of four frigates, a sloop and a brig, under the command of
+an admiral, made its appearance. The object of this display was merely
+to propose a renewal of the treaty made before the subjugation of the
+United Netherlands by France, on conditions of annual tribute. Omar
+however refused to renew the treaty, unless all arrearages of tribute,
+which were for more than twenty years, were paid; negotiations on
+these terms was impossible, and the admiral sailed away.
+
+The Barbary cruisers, then undisturbed, renewed their depredations on
+Sardinia and Naples; the vessels of these defenceless countries were
+taken, and the inhabitants of the coasts were dragged away in great
+numbers to the slave markets of Africa. Great Britain alone could put
+a stop to these outrages; the French navy was disorganized, those of
+the other European powers were inadequate. But the British government
+was unwilling to give up the old system with respect to the
+Mediterranean pirates, and a relation of its proceedings will suffice
+to show, that they were by no means to be ascribed to a more liberal
+policy, and that their results were not proportioned to the means
+employed.[3]
+
+[Footnote 3: It may not be improper here to quote the observations
+contained in the London Annual Register, [for 1816, page 97] a work
+generally remarkable for its temperance and impartiality. "It has long
+been a topic of reproach which foreigners have brought against the
+boasted maritime supremacy of England, that the piratical states of
+Barbary have been suffered to exercise their ferocious ravages upon
+all the inferior powers navigating the Mediterranean sea, without any
+attempt on the part of the mistress of the ocean to control them, and
+reduce them within the limits prescribed by the laws of civilized
+nations. The spirited exertions of the United States of America in the
+last year, to enforce redress of the injuries they had sustained from
+these pirates, were calculated to excite invidious comparisons with
+respect to this country; and either a feeling of national glory, or
+some other unexplained motives, at length inspired a resolution in the
+British government, to engage in earnest in that task which the
+general expectation seems to assign it."]
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+EXTRAORDINARY INDIAN FEATS OF LEGERDEMAIN.
+
+[From the Manuscripts of D. D. Mitchell, Esq.]
+
+
+I have felt some reluctance in narrating the following singular feats,
+(I had almost said miracles) which I saw performed among the Arickara
+Indians, not because I considered them unworthy the attention of the
+curious, but lest I should be accused of sporting with the reader's
+credulity, or of availing myself too largely of what is supposed by
+some to be the _traveller's privilege_. I acknowledge that the
+performance was altogether above my comprehension, and greatly excited
+my astonishment.
+
+In civilized life, we know the many expedients to which men resort in
+order to acquire a subsistence, and are not therefore surprised, that
+by perseverance and long practice, stimulated by necessity, they
+should attain great dexterity in the art of deception. To find it,
+however, carried to such great perfection by wild and untutored
+savages, who are neither urged by necessity, nor indeed receive the
+slightest reward for their skill, is certainly very surprising.
+
+In travelling up the Missouri during the summer of 1831, we lost our
+horses near the Arickara village, which caused our detention for
+several days. As this nation has committed more outrages upon the
+whites than any other on the Missouri, and seem to possess all the
+vices of the savage without a redeeming virtue, we found ourselves
+very unpleasantly situated near the principal village, without
+sufficient force to repel an attack if one should be made. After some
+deliberation, we adopted the advice of an old Canadian hunter, and
+determined to move our chattels directly into the village, and, whilst
+we remained, to take up our lodgings with the tribe. We were
+emboldened to this step, by the assurance of the hunter, that the
+Arickarees had never been known to kill but one man who had taken
+refuge within the limits of their town, and that their forbearance
+originated in the superstitious belief that the ghost of the murdered
+had haunted their encampment, and had frightened away the buffalo by
+his nightly screams.
+
+We were received in the village with much more politeness than we
+expected; a lodge was appropriated to our use, and provisions were
+brought to us in abundance. After we were completely refreshed, a
+young man came to our lodge and informed us that a band of bears, (as
+he expressed it) or medicine men, were making preparations to exhibit
+their skill, and that if we felt disposed we could witness the
+ceremony. We were much gratified at the invitation, as we had all
+heard marvellous stories of the wonderful feats performed by the
+Indian medicine men or jugglers. We accordingly followed our guide to
+the medicine lodge, where we found six men dressed in bear skins, and
+seated in a circle in the middle of the apartment. The spectators were
+standing around, and so arranged as to give each individual a view of
+the performers. They civilly made way for our party, and placed us so
+near the circle that we had ample opportunity of detecting the
+imposture, if any imposition should be practised. The actors (if I may
+so call them) were painted in the most grotesque manner imaginable,
+blending so completely the ludicrous and frightful in their
+appearance, that the spectator might be said to be somewhat undecided
+whether to laugh or to shudder. After sitting for some time in a kind
+of mournful silence, one of the jugglers desired a youth who was near
+him, to bring some stiff clay from a certain place which he named on
+the river bank. This we understood, through an old Canadian named
+_Garrow_, (well known on the Missouri,) who was present and acted as
+our interpreter. The young man soon returned with the clay, and each
+of these human bears immediately commenced the process of moulding a
+number of little images exactly resembling buffaloes, men and horses,
+bows, arrows, &c. When they had completed nine of each variety, the
+miniature buffaloes were all placed together in a line, and the little
+clay hunters mounted on their horses, and holding their bows and
+arrows in their hands, were stationed about three feet from them in a
+parallel line. I must confess that at this part of the ceremony I felt
+very much inclined to be merry, especially when I observed what
+appeared to me the ludicrous solemnity with which it was performed.
+But my ridicule was changed into astonishment, and even into _awe_, by
+what speedily followed.
+
+When the buffaloes and horsemen were properly arranged, one of the
+jugglers thus addressed the little clay men or hunters:
+
+"My children, I know you are hungry; it has been a long time since you
+have been out hunting. Exert yourselves to-day. Try and kill as many
+as you can. Here are white people present who will laugh at you if you
+don't kill. Go! don't you see that the buffalo have already got the
+scent of you and have started?"
+
+Conceive, if possible, our amazement, when the speaker's last words
+escaped his lips, at seeing the little images start off at full speed,
+followed by the Lilliputian horsemen, who with their bows of clay and
+arrows of straw, actually pierced the sides of the flying buffaloes at
+the distance of three feet. Several of the little animals soon fell,
+apparently dead--but two of them ran round the circumference of the
+circle, (a distance of fifteen or twenty feet,) and before they
+finally fell, one had three and the other five arrows transfixed in
+his side. When the buffaloes were all dead, the man who first
+addressed the hunters spoke to them again, and ordered them to ride
+into the fire, (a small one having been previously kindled in the
+centre of the apartment,) and on receiving this cruel order, the
+gallant horsemen, without exhibiting the least symptoms of fear or
+reluctance, rode forward at a brisk trot until they had reached the
+fire. The horses here stopped and drew back, when the Indian cried in
+an angry tone, "why don't you ride in?" The riders now commenced
+beating their horses with their bows, and soon succeeded in urging
+them into the flames, where horses and riders both tumbled down, and
+for some time lay baking on the coals. The medicine men gathered up
+the dead buffaloes and laid them also on the fire, and when all were
+completely dried they were taken out and pounded into dust. After a
+long speech from one of the party, (of which our interpreter could
+make nothing,) the dust was carried to the top of the lodge and
+scattered to the winds.
+
+I paid the strictest attention during the whole ceremony, in order to
+discover, if possible, the mode by which this extraordinary deception
+was practised; but all my vigilance was of no avail. The jugglers
+themselves sat motionless during the performance, and the nearest was
+not within six feet of the moving figures. I failed altogether to
+detect the mysterious agency by which inanimate images of clay were to
+all appearance suddenly endowed with the action, energy and feeling of
+living beings.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[From the same.]
+
+Remarkable Dream and Prediction, with their fulfilment.
+
+
+Many whose opinions are entitled to profound respect, have believed
+that man in his primitive or savage state, without the means of
+cultivating or exercising his reasoning powers, has been occasionally
+favored by divine or supernatural illumination. Whatever difference of
+opinion may exist however, in reference to this subject, there can be
+none as to the _facts_ about to be recorded. In the fall of 1827, an
+old Mandan chief proclaimed early in the morning, through the village
+or town of his tribe, the following dream, which he alleged to have
+had the over night. "The Great Spirit," said he, "appeared to me last
+night and told me that my feast had given him much satisfaction--that
+he had concluded to take pity on me, and afford me an opportunity to
+avenge the death of my son. He told me when the sun had performed
+about half his journey, that I must start and go down to the little
+lake, (about ten miles distant)--that there I should find four of my
+enemies lying asleep, and that amongst them was the one who had slain
+my son--that I should attack and kill all four, and return safe to the
+village with their scalps." This dream the old Mandan repeated to
+William P. Pilton and James Kipp, traders, who were then present, and
+who are now living and can vouch for the fact. About noon he departed
+for the lake, and would suffer none to accompany him. In the evening,
+to the astonishment of every one who had heard the dream, he returned
+with four scalps and the arms and clothing of four Arickara warriors.
+This chief was afterwards called "Four Men," in commemoration of this
+exploit.
+
+But the following extraordinary prophecy, and its subsequent exact
+fulfilment, came within my personal knowledge. If it does not prove
+direct supernatural interference, it at least shows that events
+previously foretold, have come to pass in a manner which no human
+sagacity can well understand.
+
+In the spring of 1829, about the 14th of March, I was preparing to
+leave my wintering ground, which was just below the fork of the _River
+Des Moins_. A camp, consisting of about fourteen lodges of Menomonies,
+or Wild Rice Indians, situated a few hundred yards below my house, was
+also prepared to move down the river immediately on the breaking up of
+the ice, which was then daily expected. The wife of one of the
+principal men was very sick, and inasmuch as her illness would delay
+their departure, they felt much solicitude for her recovery, and
+requested an old man among them called "_The Bears Oil_," to call down
+the Spirit who presides over human life and question him respecting
+her recovery. The venerable doctor or seer at first seemed reluctant
+to comply, but on receiving several presents he commenced
+preparations. The first thing to be done was the erection of a house
+or lodge for the reception of the Spirit. Four poles of about ten feet
+in length were planted in the ground, forming a square of about four
+feet. The whole camp brought out their blankets, which were wrapped
+around the poles from the bottom to the height of about eight feet. On
+the ends of the poles was suspended all the finery which the camp
+could afford, as a greater inducement, I suppose, for the Spirit to
+descend. When these preparations were completed, the old man raised up
+the lower edge of the blankets and crawled into the lodge, where he
+remained entirely concealed from the spectators--not forgetting
+however to take with him his drum and medicine bag. From the time he
+entered, he was silent for nearly an hour, when at last he commenced
+singing in a low voice, accompanying himself on the drum. The words of
+the song, as well as the conversations which he afterwards carried on
+with the Great Spirit, were in a language entirely unknown to any
+except the initiated; and I have observed in all ceremonies of a
+similar kind, and among all tribes of Indians, the same unintelligible
+jargon is used. The Great Spirit delayed making his appearance so
+long, that I began to think the inducements were not sufficient; and
+being anxious to witness the conclusion of the ceremony, I sent to my
+house for some tobacco and ammunition as an additional offering. This
+gave much satisfaction to the Indians, and appeared also to be highly
+acceptable to the Spirit,--for a violent shaking of the lodge, and the
+jingling of the hawk bills which were fastened to the end of the pole,
+announced his arrival.
+
+The old man proceeded immediately to business. In a short time he
+announced to the wondering crowd which surrounded the lodge, that the
+woman would die about sunrise on the following morning. He also stated
+that the cause which would produce her death was a fever in the heart,
+and this was occasioned by her always being in a bad, angry humor. The
+object of invoking the Spirit was accomplished in what had been
+announced; but the priest of the oracles further observed, that the
+Great Spirit had signified his willingness to answer any one question
+which might be asked. As the Menomonies were apprehensive of an attack
+from the Sioux, their fears naturally induced them to ask if any other
+person belonging to their camp should die or be killed previously to
+their reaching the Mississippi. The old man soon returned the answer
+of the Great Spirit, which was, that three of those who were then
+present would never see the Mississippi again. I was astonished at the
+old fellow's boldness in thus hazarding his reputation on a prophecy,
+the fulfilment of which seemed so very improbable. Some of the young
+men ventured a second question, and inquired the names of the persons
+who were sentenced to die--but immediately the shaking of the lodge
+and the jingling of the hawk bills, as before, announced the sudden
+departure of the Spirit. The old man made his appearance, but was
+evidently much displeased that the last inquiry was made. His look was
+sullen and angry, and he maintained a stubborn silence. Finding that
+nothing more was to be learned, I returned home, and amused myself
+with what I then supposed a ridiculous superstition.
+
+Early next morning I walked to the Indian camp, in order to ascertain
+if the sick woman was still living; and before I proceeded far, I met
+several of her own sex, provided with hoes and axes, going to prepare
+her grave. They told me that she died precisely at the time that
+_Bears Oil_ had predicted; and they further informed me that the
+Indians were preparing to move down the river as soon as the ice had
+started, not doubting that the other three condemned to death by the
+prophet were doomed to be killed by the Sioux.
+
+Two days after the woman's death, an Indian ran into my house and told
+me, that a tree which they had commenced cutting down the evening
+before, and which had been imprudently left standing cut half way
+through, had just blown down, and had fallen across one of the lodges,
+by which a woman and child had been instantly killed. He congratulated
+himself that, according to the prophecy, only one more person was to
+die, and earnestly hoped that it might not be himself.
+
+On the 20th of the month the ice broke up, and on the 22d the Indians
+and traders started in company to descend the _Des Moins_ in boats.
+For several days we journeyed on without accident or annoyance--and
+when we at length arrived within ten miles of the Mississippi, several
+of the men began to teaze and joke the old prophet, asking if he meant
+to throw himself overboard in order to verify his own prediction. The
+old man paid no attention to their jests, but sat silently smoking his
+pipe, and apparently absorbed in deep thought. He was an object of
+general attention, nor shall I ever forget his appearance. His tall
+and emaciated form lay stretched at some length on the deck; his
+hollow sunken eyes were turned upward, and appeared straining in
+search of some invisible object; and ever and anon long streams of
+tobacco smoke were blown through his nose, ascending in curling vapors
+above his head. His imagination appeared to be busied in forming
+figures out of the smoke, and when a breeze scattered it away, he
+immediately sent forth another whiff, again to resume his ideal
+occupation. As we approached the Mississippi, the laugh and jests of
+the boatmen became more loud and frequent--but he appeared to be
+entirely insensible to surrounding objects, and I had almost come to
+the conclusion that the venerable seer was about to fulfil his own
+prophecy. Just at that moment the man who was steering my boat
+complained of a violent headach, and begged me to place some other
+person at the helm, which was accordingly done. He seated himself on
+deck, but I remarked that his countenance underwent various changes in
+quick succession. He paused for a moment, and then exclaimed,
+apparently in great agony, "I am the third person destined never to
+see the Mississippi, for I am now dying. Oh, my friends, raise me up
+and let me but behold the river, for it may possibly change my
+destiny!" I exhorted him to keep up his spirits, and to dismiss such
+apprehensions from his mind, assuring him that it was impossible for
+him to die before we reached the Mississippi, for that as soon as we
+turned the point below we should be in sight of the river. Thinking
+that some slight indisposition had concurred with the words of the
+prophet to excite his imagination highly, I stepped to the bow of the
+boat, and ordered the men to row round the point as quick as possible.
+I stood on the bow until the point was turned, and the majestic
+Mississippi lay stretched before us in full view. I immediately called
+to _Baptiste_, (the sick man's name,) and told him he might now see
+the river; but the only answer I received was from one of the
+men--"_He is dead!_" "Impossible!" I thought, and ran to the body--but
+it was too true; the man was a corpse, and his eye now glazed in death
+_had not perceived the perturbed waters of the Father of Floods!_ I
+turned to the old sorcerer, whom I now considered as such, and was
+struck with the calm indifference with which he received the
+intelligence. "Villain!" I exclaimed, seizing him at the same time,
+with strong indignation, by the arm, "it was you who killed this man!
+You have poisoned him, and I will have you drowned for it." The old
+man replied with great composure, and without the least symptom of
+fear--"if you believe it was I who raised the wind which blew the tree
+across the lodge and killed the woman and child, then you may believe
+that I poisoned this man." I was struck with the justness of the
+defence, and said nothing more to the prophet.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+ON THE DEATH OF JAMES GIBBON CARTER.
+
+
+    O'er the fam'd seat of science and of arms,
+  What dire disaster spreads such wild alarms?
+  What requiem sad is chanted o'er that bier?
+  Why streams the silent, sympathetic tear?
+  Why droop the ensigns of our sister state,
+  As though they mourn'd a fallen nation's fate?
+  In long procession through the crowded hall,
+  With measur'd footsteps and uncover'd pall,
+  Columbia's youthful chivalry appears
+  With crape-clad banners, and with trailing spears;
+  Whilst o'er each head funereal cypress bends,
+  And the sad streamer from each arm descends;
+  They weep the young--the noble--and the brave,
+  Consign'd by "doom" to an untimely grave;
+  Ere manhood stamp'd its image on his brow,
+  Or gave his lips the soldier's gen'rous vow,
+  Snapt was this scion in an evil hour.
+  Nor ling'ring  death, nor sickness claim'd their pow'r;
+  But full of life--joy sparkling in his eye--
+  The fell destroyer came, commission'd from on high,
+  And Carter perish'd! Casuists, be still!
+  Was it without his mighty Maker's will?
+  Has not Omnipotence itself the pow'r
+  To bring repentance in the final hour?
+  Oh sad vicissitudes of earthly trust--
+  Hopes--bright as seraph's smile, consign'd to dust!
+  Here would we drop the veil o'er mortal woe,
+  Or give the dark'ning picture brighter glow,
+  But Truth forbids. At duty's call we come
+  To paint the horrors at his distant home.
+    Lo! by the patriot's couch a group appears,
+  Repressing anguish, and restraining tears;
+  Though at the effort nature's self recoils,
+  (For nature claims her tributes and her spoils,)
+  Brief are the hours which now the sick man claims,
+  Nor asks he more, since Zionward he aims:
+  The feeble sands of life are almost spent--
+  Dim is his eye--his locks with silver blent;
+  He, with the Patriarch of eld, may say,
+  "Short, but replete with woe, has been my day."
+  Then spare the agony his heart must know,
+  Ere waning life should sink beneath this blow.
+  But, oh! the Mother's desolated heart!
+  What charm can sooth--or what a balm impart?
+  Her hope--her stay--snatch'd to an early tomb,
+  Involving life itself in tenfold gloom!
+
+MARCELLA.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+LINES.
+
+
+  When in my life's propitious morn
+    The sun of joy and hope once smiled,
+  Fair Poesy, of Pleasure born,
+    Each fancied sorrow oft beguiled.
+
+  But when the blast of real woe
+    Withered the brightness of my soul--
+  Bade me to dream of bliss no more,
+    And yet denied the Lethean bowl,
+
+  Did Poesy, like that bright star
+    That burns upon the brow of night,
+  Scatter misfortune's clouds afar,
+    And with her beauty glad my sight?
+
+  Ah, no! She flies the wretched breast,
+    To seek the gay and happy throng;
+  In mirth's soft bowers she loves to rest,
+    And speed the flying hours along.
+
+  Where fountains play, and flowrets bloom,
+    And where no thoughts of care intrude,
+  To beauty's halls the Muse has flown,
+    And left me to my solitude.
+
+  But lo! a fairer form appears,
+    On heavenly pinions hovering nigh;
+  She bids me dry repining tears,
+    And points me to her native sky.
+
+  She tells me of repose and peace
+    Which to the pure in heart are given,
+  And bids my sorrowing bosom cease
+    To mourn for those who're blest in heaven.
+
+  Religion! on thy brow doth glow
+    The rainbow hues of hope and joy;
+  That perfect peace thou canst bestow,
+    Which nothing earthly can destroy.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+STANZAS.
+
+
+  The moon as brightly shines to-night,
+    The scene as lovely ought to be,
+  As when I gazed upon its light
+    And thought sweet Hope was born for me;
+  'Tis _I_ am changed, and not the hour--
+    Alas! the darkness centres _here_;
+  No clouds about yon planet lower,
+    I only view it through a tear.
+
+  Soft, lovely orb! some smiling eye
+    Ev'n now reposes on thy beams,
+  Some maid that never breathed a sigh,
+    Forsakes for thee her tranquil dreams;
+  Methinks I view her buoyant breast,
+    And mark the hopes that tremble there;
+  I also dreamed that I was blest,
+    'Till waked from slumber by a tear.
+
+F. L. B.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+LIONEL GRANBY.
+
+CHAP. V.
+
+  The voice of youth! the air is rife
+    With a dream of glorious things,
+  And our harp is thrilling with the life
+    Of all its shining strings.--_Newspaper_.
+
+
+The famed drinking song of Rabelais "_Remplio tous verre vuide_," the
+offspring of that wonderful man whose humor electrified an age, and
+whose sarcasm did as much for religious reformation as the logic of
+Luther, greeted my ears when I descended at the Raleigh in
+Williamsburg. Before me was a huge and curiously misshapen edifice,
+surmounted by a box, which looked more like a coffin than a porch.
+Over it the frowning head of the immortal patron of tobacco and
+potatoes ghastly smiled through its gamboge and vermilion, looking
+like one of those rough portraits, which in the earlier maps of
+Virginia, are placed amid the _terra incognito_, where "divers
+salvages inhabit." The porch was filled with young men, sitting in
+that peculiar posture, which resembled them to the mortars which
+grimly flank some armed fort, moving themselves and their legs from
+the banisters, only to examine a case of pistols, on which an
+atrabilarious youth was lecturing with great spirit. A few seemed to
+be absorbed in a newspaper, while more than one was employed in
+catching the echo of the bacchanial song, and murmuring it back to the
+festive board. The arrival of Arthur Ludwell and myself, produced a
+momentary sensation of curiosity and attention, and we had scarcely
+dismounted from our horses, ere we were frankly invited to join in the
+festivities of the club. With his accustomed prudence, Arthur declined
+the dangerous honor, while I, through an utter recklessness of heart,
+and a burning thirst for excitement, quickly accepted the offer, and
+was immediately ushered into the "_Apollo_," a long and dimly lighted
+room, in which, around a table, were gathered the bloom of boyhood and
+the bud of adolescence. Wine, adulterated into poison by its union
+with brandy, and that original sin of southern intemperance mint
+julap, stood forth the bold heralds of an incipient debauch. A young
+man of dark complexion and melancholy countenance, acted as the
+president of the board, occasionally struggling with himself for a bad
+pun, or joining in the chorus of each mirthful song.
+
+"How has the affair between Leger and Allan terminated?" inquired a
+faint voice near me.
+
+"Diffugere _vives_," responded the president, "for they fought this
+morning at the hay-yard with my pistols. Leger had the advantage of
+the ground, '_mutat terra vices_,' and hit Allan at the third fire.
+However, his wound is not dangerous; they are now friends. Here's to
+their health, and to the ball, which in purifying honor, exalts
+friendship."
+
+I did not comprehend either the logic or morality of this toast--yet I
+drank it through common civility; and from my desire to be considered
+as a youth of spirit, I soon reeled in the full grossness of
+intoxication. The lights were now extinguished, and we sallied forth,
+fired with the ambition of "putting the town to rights." At the door I
+met Scipio, who gazing on me for a moment, averted his face and burst
+into tears. I passed rapidly by him, and with difficulty smothered a
+curse which my pride aimed at his weakness. Unnoticed by my companions
+he silently followed me; and it was his hand which raised me from the
+earth where I had fallen, and his arm which bore me to my room.
+
+I arose the next morning with a shattered frame and an aching heart,
+nor could my crazed philosophy destroy the blush with which memory
+every moment bitterly suffused my cheek. But was not drunkenness the
+attribute of genius! the unerring characteristic of intellect!--for
+while tradition sighed over the memory of the victims of intemperance,
+the lustre of genius awoke the pity of sympathy, the pardon of virtue,
+and the emulation of folly. All the promising young men who have sunk
+into a drunkard's grave, were full of high and lofty intelligence, and
+would have realized the proudest hope of fame but for this fatal
+excess of genius. Strange fatuity! and stranger that its rottenness
+should excite either our pity or forgiveness!
+
+College life is a little dream of human passion and human infirmity.
+It is the same eternal track of disappointment, over which folly
+vaults and ambition staggers--a record of youthful happiness written
+on a summer's leaf, it glitters for the moment, and fades away beneath
+the spirit which freshens it into beauty. 'Tis the miniature arena in
+which human life first disports its vices, its hopes, and its
+imaginings--and if no other knowledge be acquired, the collegian can
+look with pride on his acquaintance with the world, its follies and
+its pleasures, and hug to his bosom that kernel of truth which has
+been wrested from the hard husk of disappointment. We had numerous
+debating societies, where the elements of government, the subtleties
+of law, and the vagaries of taste were nightly discussed. We were
+either orators or philosophers--the former declaiming in all the pomp
+of verbosity, the latter deciding in all the solemnity of silence.
+Newspapers were eagerly read, and many a maiden pen first fleshed
+itself in these shambles of faction. All write in Virginia for these
+greedy receptacles of morbid ire and political venom--and he who can
+sketch the hundredth-told tale, in improved bombast, or provincial
+dialect, becomes the little great man of the cross-roads, or struts
+the swelling Junius of the courtyard. Write in jagged orthography--the
+dictionary is at hand; scuffle through the rules of grammar--the
+printer has a happy talent of correcting by his own grammar; violate
+the sense of language and the chastity of style, for this is a trait
+of towering genius; but write, and write again, until you can gaze
+with triumph on the tenth number of some masterly Cato--some learned
+Sidney--or some eloquent Curtius. These compliments are the certain
+rewards of your labors--for the printer's praise is measured by your
+fustian, and that of his readers is gained by the length of your
+numbers.
+
+I found Pilton, a student of reputation and character, which added
+bitterness to the malignity of my hate. Our meeting was cold, formal
+and ceremonious; and on my part, I was repulsive almost to direct
+insult. My hate was fierce, violent and untamed--but still it was open
+and undisguised, apparently losing its malice in good breeding, and
+its assassin-like propensity in honor. As usual, his habits of intense
+application had given him a high rank both in his class and in the
+esteem of the professors, while his ill-breeding was forgotten in the
+light which learning threw around him. To all my open attacks, secret
+insinuations, and malevolent hints, he exposed that affected candor
+and subtle magnanimity, which neutralized the poison and blunted the
+edge of my weapons.
+
+There was a ball at the Old Raleigh during the Christmas holydays, to
+which the city as well as its vicinity sent a numerous representation
+of those soft, fragile and dove-like females, who, springing like so
+many Venus' from the bosom of the sea, claim their home only in the
+tranquil and affectionate hearths of tide-water Virginia. Like the
+mocking bird, their dwelling place is amid the ripple of the murmuring
+tide, while their song is the melody which thrills into life the
+fearful and eternal solitude of the pine forests. When I entered the
+room, the dance was exultingly triumphant, and each mazy figure was
+softened into intense interest by that joyousness of mirth which takes
+its pride of place only from early hearts and youthful hopes. One girl
+instantly arrested my attention; and the long, deep and ardent gaze
+which I directed towards her, mantled her cheek with a deep and
+struggling blush, giving that delicate tint which, like the fabled
+rose, twines itself around, only to bloom over the pallid countenance
+of disease. She was pale, attenuated and fragile, with that dewy-like
+softness which is stolen from the couch of sickness, and that tranquil
+firmness which shows both a capability of happiness, and a peaceful
+resignation at the want of it. Her form was full of grace and
+symmetrical beauty, and her eye, like a glow-worm, lit up the saddened
+paleness of her face. How wonderful is the contagion of friendship!
+How curious are the hallowed sympathies of love! Unseen though
+felt--unknown though experienced, they breathe that pathos of
+congeniality, which in exciting attachment, confirms constancy, and
+which ever leaves us to wonder not so much at their commencement as at
+their continuance. I do not know that my appearance was calculated to
+impress the heart of the fair girl who trembled under my searching
+gaze; but her blush truly responded to the passion, poetry and
+sympathy which my eyes discoursed, and I soon found that the shadowy
+gloom of my countenance had arrested her kindness and excited her
+curiosity. I was soon formally introduced, though in the confusion of
+the moment I did not hear her name; and on her complaint of fatigue, I
+led her to a retired seat, and in a short time we were fairly launched
+into that great sea of conversation, the mental difference of the
+sexes--a subject on which man ever shows his ill-nature, and woman her
+superiority. I found her mind opening like the flowers of the
+wilderness in richness, variety and freshness, and her wit leaping and
+gambolling like an uncaged bird. I poured out all the long-hived
+treasures of my erudition, disclosed the whole extent of my learning,
+and disported all the little elegancies and graces of my nature. I
+could tell her no secret of taste, or display no gem of literature,
+with which she was not familiar; and looking up in her tranquil and
+placid face, I took no note of time, or of the whispers of the crowd,
+which had declared me "a case."
+
+Towards the conclusion of the ball, a gentleman taking advantage of a
+pause in our conversation, addressed her by the name of Miss Pilton.
+Good God! how that word rang and tingled through the deepest recesses
+of my heart, and how quickly did my hate leap up to it as a fortuitous
+gift for its demoniac revenge.
+
+"Are you the sister," I inquired, "of Mr. Henry Pilton, now at William
+and Mary?"
+
+"I am his only sister," was her reply. "You certainly know him, and if
+you do not, you must seek his acquaintance. I will tell him that I am
+about to make you my friend, and he will love you for my sake."
+
+"I do know him," I answered; "he is studious and intelligent, and
+possesses the esteem and confidence of all the professors."
+
+She rewarded this constrained, though frank avowal, with a smile--and
+in the rapture of her joy, she betrayed all that confidence which her
+brother's pride had deposited in her bosom, and told with enthusiasm
+the little history of his ambition, his fears, and his hopes. He
+boldly anticipated every honor within the compass of society; and that
+proud determination to be great, which invigorated his youthful
+ambition, added a deeper hue of malignity to the venom of my hate.
+
+"He hardly gives me time," she said, "to love him; for gazing like the
+eagle on the sun, he never looks down on the insipid dulness of earth.
+I do not admire students, Mr. Granby; they are cold and selfish, and
+though they gain our flattery, they rarely win our hearts."
+
+I construed this remark, though made at the expense of her brother, as
+a compliment to myself, and soon gained her smiles, by many sarcasms
+which I levelled at pedants, scholars and students. Without professing
+flattery, I pleased her by a ready acquiescence of sentiment and
+opinion; and anticipating her pride of sex and her tenderness of
+heart, I lauded in the richest language of quotation, woman's love,
+and woman's constancy. The artlessness of her character, and the
+simplicity of her nature, could not hide from my vanity the favorable
+impression I had made on her heart. I looked on my victim with some
+emotions of pity, and paused for a moment under the goading sting of
+conscience; yet the fiend-like passion which rioted on my life, told
+me that the ruin of her peace, and the destruction of her happiness,
+would be the proudest victory which my hate could achieve.
+
+Leaving her for a few moments, I looked around at the mirthful throng
+which filled the room, and sauntered to the _bar_, which was a point
+where conversation converged its focus. About a table prodigally
+ornamented with decanters and glasses, were collected numerous groups
+of young men, who were all talking at the same time on beauty,
+horseracing, politics and duelling. Here and there a solitary tobacco
+chewer might be seen, stealing to some fire place or window, and
+enjoying in mute rapture, the filth, excitement and grossness of his
+depraved appetite. Two or three youthful legislators from the
+adjoining counties, were flaunting their maiden honors in the broad
+light of political vanity--while four elderly gentlemen, in
+embroidered waistcoats and fair-top boots, were eloquently deprecating
+the onward march of democracy, which made the legislature a mob of
+demagogues, and the ball room a collection of fine clothes and
+vulgarity. This was my uncle's favorite theme, and from the folly of
+such croaking aristocracy, common sense and not education had
+delivered me. An aged negro, the "harmonious Phillips" of the country,
+dressed in the ample costume of the old school, with a powdered head,
+a large knob of watch seals, and a silver ship in his bosom,
+controlled with fierce tyranny his partners of the bow, fife and
+triangle. Bowing almost to the floor, he would ever and anon cry out
+in a magisterial tone, _cross over_--_forward_--_turn your
+partners_--_done_, and catching the inspiration of catgut and rosin,
+his ivory teeth were displayed like the keys of a piano-forte, while
+his broad face fairly laughed itself into ecstasy.
+
+At the conclusion of the ball, I became the solitary escort of Miss
+Pilton. The moon was shining coldly and brightly over the world; and
+when I was about to leave my fair charge, looking up she exclaimed,
+"How beautiful!--how melancholy!--it makes me almost a poetess. What a
+contrast to the busy crowd we have just left; oh! that human life was
+as cloudless, and human love as pure!"
+
+There was no affectation in this rhapsody--no girlish sentiment in the
+display; for nature called forth the gushing softness of her heart,
+and I quickly took advantage of this moment of philosophic
+romance.--Where is the lover who has not found the moon his silent yet
+most impassioned advocate, and who, when gazing on its mellow light,
+has not caught that saddened sympathy which brightens every dark spot
+in the horizon of the heart.
+
+"Yes," I replied, "it is the same cloud-wrapt sphere which has always
+looked down on the little drama of human folly, unmoved amid the
+desolations of death and the fall of empires, forever whispering love,
+and exalting the best affections of our nature. Marriages must be made
+in _heaven_--and this pale messenger, in expanding the heart, almost
+persuades me that it is commissioned to teach love and awaken
+affection."
+
+Ere she could reply, I placed a leaf of evergreen in her hand, and
+uttered enough of love to call a burning blush to her cheek. I
+lingered for a few moments at the door, and on leaving the scene, I
+turned around to gaze on the being who was thus insensibly falling
+into the toils of my duplicity. I saw her place in her bosom the
+treacherous emblem which I had given her; and as the silvery light of
+the moon trembled over her marbled brow and placid countenance, I
+almost believed that its rays had claimed that spot, as the only
+tranquil home in the wide world on which they might kiss themselves
+into slumber.
+
+THETA.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+LETTERS FROM A SISTER.
+
+LETTER SEVENTEENTH.
+
+The Garden of Plants--The Camel Leopard--The Library, Museum, and
+Cabinet of Anatomy--Manufactory of Gobelin Tapestry.
+
+
+PARIS, ----.
+
+_My dear Sister:_--
+
+I do not wonder that you are surprised at my not having yet described
+to you the "Royal Garden of Plants." The fact is, we have been thrice
+disappointed in our arrangements to go there, but at last have
+accomplished our project, and devoted both Tuesday and Wednesday to
+the investigation of this famed spot, and we have seen nothing in
+Paris that has interested us more. It is of great extent, and affords
+the visiter as much information as amusement. It was founded by Jean
+de Brosses, the physician of Louis XIII, and much improved by the
+exertions of Buffon the naturalist. It contains various enclosures,
+some of which are appropriated to botany, and display every plant,
+flower and shrub, native and foreign, that can be made to grow there.
+Each is labelled, and bears its botanical name; and there are spacious
+hot-houses for such as require shelter and extreme care. We remarked
+here some fine specimens of the bread tree and sugar cane. Other
+enclosures are filled with all sorts of culinary vegetables. There are
+besides, nurseries of fruit trees and samples of different kinds of
+fences, hedges and ditches, and of various soils and manures. The
+enclosures are separated by wide gravel walks,
+
+  "Bounded by trees, with seats beneath the shade,
+   For talking age and whispering lovers made."
+
+In the centre of the garden is an artificial hill, crowned with a
+temple, from which you enjoy a view of the city, and may aid your
+sight with a spy glass, by paying a trifle to a man who owns it and
+generally sits there, for the purpose of hiring it, and indicating to
+strangers the names of the public edifices visible in the perspective.
+On the way to the temple, you pass under a huge and towering cedar of
+Lebanon, which De Jussieu the botanist planted more than eighty years
+ago. This superb tree was considerably injured during the revolution;
+and had it not been for the remonstrances and influence of Humboldt
+the traveller, the whole garden would probably be now in a ruinous
+condition--for when the allies were in Paris, it was owing to his
+exertions that the Prussians were prevented encamping there.
+
+The menagerie exhibits the greatest variety of animals. The ferocious
+are kept in iron cages; those that are gentle, in enclosures and
+habitations suitable to their propensities and natures, and
+embellished with such trees and shrubs as are found in their native
+climes. Goats for instance, are furnished with artificial acclivities
+for climbing, and bears with dens and rugged posts. The populace often
+throw biscuits and fruit to the bears, in order to witness their
+endeavors to catch them; but this is dangerous diversion, for in doing
+this, a boy was not sufficiently alert in his movements, and ere he
+withdrew his arm, had it severely lacerated by the eager animal. On
+another occasion, a careless nurse, while amusing herself in a similar
+manner, let a child fall in, which was instantly devoured! Among the
+gentlest and most curious of the quadrupeds, is the giraff, or camel
+leopard, which was brought from Africa about two years ago, and threw
+all Paris into commotion. Thousands visited him daily, and belts,
+reticules, gloves, kerchiefs, and even cakes and blanc mangés were
+decorated with his image. It is said that he possesses both sagacity
+and sensibility, to prove which the following anecdote is related of
+him. As his keepers were bringing him to Paris, they were joined by a
+man on horseback, who continued to bear them company for several
+miles, until he came to another road. The giraff, which had manifested
+great delight when the traveller first appeared, then evinced deep
+distress, and even shed tears! Upon inquiry, it was found that the
+traveller's horse and the giraff were from the same part of Africa,
+and probably old acquaintances. This is a marvellous story, I must
+confess; nevertheless, many persons believe it. I will now tell you
+another less incredible, and which shews to what perfection the flower
+makers here carry their art. The giraff is very fond of rose leaves;
+and not long since, seeing a bunch of artificial roses in a lady's
+bonnet, and thinking them natural, he seized hold of them, and pulled
+with such force, that he soon had possession of hat and all. It must
+have been a ludicrous scene. He is so delicate, that strict attention
+is obliged to be paid to his food and lodging. The first consists of
+_delicate_ vegetables, and the heat of the last is regulated by a
+thermometer; and his African attendant sleeps near to guard him and
+supply his wants. Leaving the quadrupeds, we proceeded to look at the
+birds, which are also admirably arranged. The water fowls have their
+pools and lakes--the ostrich its sands, and so on.
+
+I have now detailed what we saw on Tuesday. On Wednesday we returned
+to the garden, and examined the Library, the Museum of Natural
+History, and the Cabinet of Comparative Anatomy, where, for the first
+time in my life, I beheld the human form, divested of its skin and
+flesh, and changed to a machine of dried bones and sinews, and
+bloodless veins! The sight made me shudder, and I felt relieved when
+we came away.
+
+Not far from the Garden of Plants, at the corner of the Rue
+Mouffetarde, is the celebrated manufactory of Gobelin Tapestry, which
+derives its name from a dyer who first owned the establishment, and
+employed himself in coloring worsteds. Colbert, the patriotic champion
+of the arts and sciences, during his ministry, occasioned the rise and
+perfection of it in the following manner. He engaged workmen to weave
+tapestry in imitation of that of Flanders. The attempt succeeded, and
+such has been the proficiency of those who have since carried on the
+work, that their productions are now equal to any others of the kind.
+You may imagine what care and expense is required in the business,
+when I inform you that a single piece of tapestry frequently demands
+two years labor to finish it, and has cost almost three hundred pounds
+sterling!
+
+The clock is striking two, and I must prepare for a ride in the Bois
+de Boulogne. It being a delightful afternoon, we shall no doubt find
+it alive with carriages, pedestrians and equestrians. Those who repair
+there in coaches, usually drive to a pleasant spot, and then descend
+to walk to and fro in the shade, for air and exercise, until the
+approach of the dinner hour, or some other engagement calls them
+elsewhere. Farewell.
+
+LEONTINE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+LETTER EIGHTEENTH.
+
+Ceremony of taking the Veil--Palace of the Warm Baths, a Roman Ruin.
+
+
+PARIS, ----.
+
+Oh! Jane, how we wished for you yesterday! Early in the morning we
+received a note from Madame F---- saying, that if the ladies of our
+party would like to witness the ceremony of "taking the veil," and
+would repair to her house by nine o'clock, she would accompany them to
+a neighboring convent where it was to be performed about the hour of
+ten. The Abbess being her friend and cousin, she had obtained her
+consent to our attending on the occasion in case we wished it. We
+_wished_ it, you may be sure, and her kindness was eagerly and
+thankfully accepted. On reaching the convent its portal was opened by
+two of the sisterhood, who greeted Madame F---- very cordially, made
+their curtsies to us, and then conducted us to the gallery of a small
+chapel, the main body of which was filled with nuns clad in black, and
+seated on rows of benches each side of the aisle. In the centre of it,
+upon a damask chair, sat a young lady richly dressed. She wore a
+yellow silk frock trimmed with lace, white satin shoes, long white kid
+gloves, and ornaments of pearl. A wreath of orange blossoms mingled
+and contrasted with her dark hair, and were partly concealed by a
+flowing veil. Madame F---- related her history, and to our surprise we
+learned she was an English girl who had been placed in the convent at
+an early age to be educated. As might have been expected, associating
+so constantly and closely with Catholics from childhood, she became
+one herself; and when her parents came over to France for the purpose
+of carrying her home, they found her resolved on becoming a nun.
+Having tried in vain to dissuade her from it, they at length yielded
+to her entreaties, and were even present when she took the vows; and
+as they did not appear distressed on the occasion, I suppose they had
+finally become reconciled to their bereavement. I wonder they did not
+_compel_ her to relinquish her determination. But to proceed to the
+ceremony. Long prayers were said, incense scattered, and a fine hymn
+chanted--the novice kneeling down before a table covered with a
+crimson cloth, and reclining her head upon it, in humble submission to
+that Divine Power to whom she was dedicating her heart and days! When
+the music ceased the Abbess advanced, and taking her hand, led her out
+through a side door; and while they were absent, a nun distributed
+among the sisterhood a number of large wax candles, which she
+afterwards illumined. The Abbess now re-entered with her charge, and
+prayers and incense were again offered, a second hymn sung, and the
+novice had her hair, or a portion of it, cut off; she then prostrated
+herself before the altar, and a black pall was cast over her, to
+signify she was dead to the world. On rising, she retired a second
+time with the Superior, and in a few minutes re-appeared, clad in the
+habiliments of the cloister, and went round the chapel to receive the
+kiss of congratulation and welcome from each of the community; after
+which the lights were extinguished, and every one departed, leaving
+her to solitude, meditation and prayer, until the vesper bell should
+tell the hour for rejoining her. How awful I felt while a spectator of
+the solemn scene; and how strange, is it not? that reflecting beings
+who know the fickleness of human nature--that "nature's mighty law is
+change," can venture thus to bind themselves for life to stay in one
+limited space, and pursue one unvaried mode of existence! I hope and
+think I love religion truly; but I am sure if I were a _saint_ upon
+earth, I should never hide my light in a monastery. I ought to
+mention, that except the father and brothers of the new nun, no
+gentlemen were admitted to the ceremony; and I ought also to state
+that she was very pretty. Leonora says that notwithstanding the scene
+and place, she was constantly imagining the interference of some brave
+youth, to save the fair creature from her fate, by rushing in and
+bearing her off by force; but alas! the age of chivalry is long past,
+and now-a-days a _hero_ in _love_ would be thought a prodigy and hard
+to find, unless perhaps, he was sought for is a certain old fashioned
+fabric in the vicinity of Morven Lodge. _There_, peradventure, such an
+_odd personage might be discovered_.
+
+From the convent we drove to what is called the "Palace of the Warm
+Baths." This is a relic of Roman antiquity. In it, the Roman emperors,
+and after their dominion ceased in France, the French monarchs, used
+to reside. Its foundation is attributed to Julian the Apostate. The
+sole remaining apartments consist of an extensive and lofty hall, and
+some cells beneath it. The hall is lighted by an immense arched
+window, and its vaulted roof for several ages supported a garden. By
+this we may judge how firmly and strongly the Romans used to build. I
+cannot, for lack of space, express to you the kind messages with which
+I am charged. Suffice it to know, we all love you dearly.
+
+LEONTINE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+LETTER NINETEENTH.
+
+Visit to Versailles--The Little Trianon--The Grand Trianon--Church of
+St. Louis, and Monument of the Duke de Berri--Mendon--Chalk
+Quarries--Tortoni's--Wandering Musicians--An Evening at Count
+Ségur's--Children's Fancy Ball.
+
+
+PARIS, ----.
+
+_My dear Sister:_--
+
+I have really a great mind to give you a _scolding_, instead of a
+_description_, for your perusal. What are you all about at the Lodge,
+that you have not written to us for this fortnight. Papa and Mamma are
+quite out of patience with you, and desire me to request you will
+answer this the moment it reaches you. Indeed I hope you _will_, for
+they are evidently uneasy in consequence of your long silence.
+
+Now let me tell you of our visit to Versailles. We spent Friday there,
+and carrying with us a cold dinner, partook of it under the trees near
+the Petit Trianon, having gained a keen appetite by first walking over
+the immense palace and its garden; of the splendors of both you are
+well aware. We were not much pleased with our rustic mode of eating on
+the grass, the premises of the table cloth being frequently invaded by
+insects. Like dancing on the turf, such arrangements are pleasanter in
+description than in reality. The Petit Trianon was the favorite
+residence of Marie Antoinette, and there she passed a great deal of
+her time, free from the bustle and formality of the court, and devoted
+to rural occupations. The place still exhibits evidences of her taste
+and innocent amusements. The grounds are diversified with grottos,
+cottages, temples, mimic rivers and cascades. Then there is a
+beautiful little music room, a labyrinth, a dairy, and a lake. The
+palace is a tasteful edifice, and a part of the furniture is the same
+that was used by the decapitated queen.
+
+The Grand Trianon, another palace situated in the park of Versailles,
+is superior to this in elegance and embellishments, but not half so
+interesting. The parterre behind the mansion, teems with Flora's
+choicest gifts, and reminded me of the saying, that "Versailles was
+the garden of waters; Marly the garden of trees; but Trianon that of
+flowers." In the orangery at Versailles we were shown an orange tree
+which is computed to be three hundred years old! It is denominated
+"The Old Bourbon," and has been the property of several kings of that
+race. Its trunk and foliage are remarkably thick. The garden and park
+are five miles in circumference; and only think of these and the
+magnificent structure overlooking them, being completed in seven
+years! But perhaps did we know the number of workmen employed upon
+them during that period, the fact would not seem so amazing.
+
+We rode through the wide streets of the town, visited the Church of
+St. Louis, where a simple monument is erected in honor of the Duke de
+Berri, and then turned our course homewards, stopping for an hour at
+Mendon, a royal chateau that Napoleon fitted up elegantly for his son;
+it is now unoccupied, though I believe the Duke de C---- sometimes
+spends a few weeks there. A noble avenue leads to the house, and from
+the terrace in front of it the prospect is very fine. As we traversed
+the grounds, guided by an old soldier, we were quite diverted at the
+astonishment he expressed, on discovering from an observation of
+Leonora's that she and her family were Americans. "Mais comme vous
+êtes blondes!" cried he, "et j'ai toujours en tendu dire que les
+habitans d'Amerique étaient rouges ou noirs!"[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: But how fair you are! and I have always heard that the
+inhabitants of America are _red_ or _black_.]
+
+At the foot of the hill of Mendon, near the banks of the Seine, are
+large quarries of chalk, that we were told merited our attention; but
+it was too late to profit by the information, and we hastened on to
+Paris.
+
+After resting ourselves and drinking tea, we sallied forth again, and
+strolled on the Boulevard as far as Tortoni's, to eat ices. He is
+master of a grand caffé, and famous for his ices and déjeunés à la
+fourchette. His establishment is splendidly illuminated every night,
+and so thronged with customers, that it is often difficult to procure
+a seat. Some prefer regaling themselves before the door in their
+carriages; and there is generally a range of stylish equipages in
+front of the house, filled with lords and ladies, and beaux and
+belles, partaking of the cooling luxuries of iced lemonade and creams,
+and listening to the bands of ambulatory musicians, that here are
+always to be found and heard, wherever there is a crowd. They select
+the popular airs of the theatres and those of the first composers of
+the day, which are as familiar to the common people as they are to
+amateurs.
+
+We recently spent another delightful evening at Count Ségur's. We
+found him, as usual, surrounded by the learned and refined; and he met
+us with his accustomed smile of benevolence and bonhomie. There was a
+lively young relative of his present, and when most of his visiters
+had departed, she insisted on his joining her and myself in playing
+"l'Empereur est Mort," &c., and with the utmost amiability he complied
+with her wishes. The play of l'Empereur is similar to that termed the
+"Princess Huncamunca."
+
+While we were at the Count's, Mr. and Mrs. Danville attended a levee
+at the Hotel Marine, and the girls accompanied a young friend of
+Marcella's, (a Miss Y---- from Soissons) to a fancy ball given by the
+children of Madame Clément's seminary. Miss Y---- being a pupil, had
+the privilege of inviting two acquaintances, and chose Marcella and
+Leonora as her guests. They were highly entertained. All the scholars
+wore costumes, and several supported the characters they assumed with
+proper spirit. There was a little round, rosy faced girl, of five
+years old, decked as a Cupid. She was entwined with a silken drapery,
+thickly studded with golden stars; sandals laced on her feet, and a
+quiver slung over her plump and naked little shoulders! In her right
+hand she held a gilt bow, and her curls were confined by a glittering
+bandeau. They danced until ten o'clock, and as none of the masculine
+gender were admitted, the elder Misses played the part of beaux. I
+should have liked to join in the frolic, I confess, though not upon
+condition of foregoing the pleasure we had at No. 13, Rue Duphot,
+Count Ségur's residence.
+
+Papa has presented me a beautiful watch, and intends purchasing
+another for you. With tender regards to aunt M---- and Albert, I
+remain your attached sister
+
+LEONTINE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+LETTER TWENTIETH.
+
+Mechanical Theatre--The Boulevards--the derivation of the term.
+
+
+PARIS, ----.
+
+"Joy! joy!" cried I, on looking out of the window yesterday, and
+spying Arnaud returning from the post office with a letter, which,
+according to our wishes, proved to be from our naughty Jane. Arrant
+scribbler that I am, I hasten to answer it, though you must feel you
+do not deserve to be replied to so speedily. However, as this is the
+first time you have been negligent, we ought not to be relentless--so
+here is my _hand_ in token of forgiveness and good will; but beware of
+repeating the offence.
+
+Having finished my lecture, and knowing you are fond of listening to
+adventures, I will now recount a droll one that happened to us last
+evening. At sunset we were walking on the Boulevard du Temple, which
+abounds in every variety of the lower order of amusements, when
+suddenly a violent shower began to fall, and of course every body to
+scamper to some shelter. _We_ took refuge in the portico of an
+illuminated building, entitled in large transparent letters over the
+door, "Theàtre Mecanique," and finally determined to enter and witness
+the acting within. We accordingly purchased tickets of the woman
+employed to sell them, and following her up a narrow flight of stairs,
+were ushered into a confined gallery, overlooking a dirty pit, the
+highest grade of whose occupants seemed to be that of a cobbler. Four
+tallow candles lighted the orchestra, where _two hard_ plying fiddlers
+performed their tasks. We began to think we might be in "Alsatia!" and
+then the actors and actresses! what were they? Why, a set of clumsy
+wooden figures that tottered in and out, and were suspended by cords
+so coarse, as to be visible even amidst the gloom that surrounded
+them. A ventriloquist made these puppets appear very loquacious; and
+whenever they stopped to make a speech it was quite ludicrous, for
+they vacillated to and fro like the pendulum of a clock, for more than
+a minute. We would have rejoiced to get out, but the rain still
+poured, and we were compelled to remain. After the piece was
+concluded, and the fiddlers had put up their instruments, and were
+puffing out and pocketing the bits of candles, and we were reluctantly
+preparing to issue forth into the storm, up came the above mentioned
+vender of billets, (who it seems was manager likewise,) and calling to
+the musicians to resume their operations, begged us to be re-seated,
+in order to see the first act repeated, which we had lost by arriving
+too late. We availed ourselves of her politeness and _honesty_, but
+could scarcely refrain from laughing as we did so--and fortunately,
+during the half hour that succeeded, the weather cleared, and we were
+thus enabled to get home without the dreaded wetting; but the
+Boulevards not being paved, the walking was exceedingly muddy, and it
+was so long ere we reached a stand of carriages, that when we did, we
+thought it more prudent to continue our route on foot, than to risk
+sitting in our wet shoes.
+
+As you may not know what is meant by the "_Boulevards_," I will tell
+you. They are wide roads, or streets, edged with spreading umbrageous
+elms, and formerly _bounded_ the city, but now, from its increase in
+size, they are _within_ it. Their appellation of "Boulevards" is
+derived from "bouler sur le vert," to "bowl upon the green"--being
+once covered with turf, and the frequent scene of playing at bowls.
+Here, nightly, the citizens forget the cares and labors of the day,
+and resign themselves to pleasure and mirth. Rows of chairs, owned and
+placed there by poor persons, may be hired for two sous a piece.
+Adieu.
+
+LEONTINE.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+BURNING OF THE RICHMOND THEATRE.
+
+The following lines are from the pen of a venerable lady of Virginia,
+widow of one of the patriots of the revolution. They were written in
+1812, shortly after the conflagration, and are now for the first time
+published.
+
+  What is this world? thy school, oh misery!
+  Our only lesson is to learn to suffer,
+  And they who know not _that_ were born for nothing.
+                                  [_Young's Night Thoughts_.
+
+
+    Whence the wild wail of agonizing woe
+  That heaves each breast, and bids each eye o'erflow?
+  Ah, me! amid the all involving gloom
+  That wrapt the victims of terrific doom,
+  While _palsied fancy_ casts an anguish'd glance,
+  What _phrenzied_ spectres to my view advance!
+  Appalled nature shrinks--my harrowed soul
+  Dares not the direful scene of death unrol;
+  Yet o'er the friends she loved the muse would mourn,
+  And weep for others' sorrows and her own;
+  To their sad obsequies would _grateful_ pay
+  The heartfelt tribute of a mourning lay.
+  And lo! through the dark horrors of the night,
+  What form revered now rushes on my sight!
+  Ye blasting flames, oh spare the cheek of age!
+  Ah, heaven! they with redoubled fury rage!
+  Yet undismay'd she view'd the fiery flood,
+  Resign'd amid the desolation stood--
+  To God alone address'd her feeble cry,
+  Oh! save my child, and willingly I die!
+  Approving heaven propitious heard her prayer,
+  To bliss receiv'd her, and preserv'd her care.
+  Oh, long lov'd friend! oh, much lamented Page!
+  How did thy goodness every heart engage--
+  How oft for _me_ thy generous tears have flow'd,
+  What kind attention still thy love bestow'd;
+  When sickness mourn'd or sorrow heav'd a sigh,
+  Thy useful aid benignant still was nigh;
+  The best of neighbors, and the truest friend,
+  O'er thy sad urn disconsolate we bend.
+  Heardst thou that shriek? the accent of despair!
+  The mother's deep felt agony was there:
+  My only hope, Louisa, art thou gone?
+  Is thy pure spirit to thy Maker flown?
+  Oh! take me too! the mourner frantic cries,
+  When such friends part _'tis the survivor_ dies!
+  She was my all--so gentle, good, and kind;
+  Then she is blest, and be thy heart resign'd!
+  And see, of sympathy, alas! the theme,
+  In woes experience'd, and in griefs supreme!
+  Yon aged matron now to view appears,
+  One thought alone her anguish'd bosom cheers;
+  For while on vacancy she bends her eye,
+  She sees her children angels in the sky!
+  Juliana! Edwin! beauteous Mary too!
+  To yon bright realm from earthly suffering flew;
+  Well tried in fortune's ever changing scene,
+  A mourner now with calm resigned mien,
+  Who bears a name to every patriot dear,
+  Nelson! who long Virginia shall revere,
+  Ah, see! submissive to the direful stroke,
+  No murmurs from her pallid lips have broke;
+  Though lov'd Maria, long her age's stay,
+  Whose duteous care watch'd o'er her setting day,
+  The awful mandate bade, alas, depart!
+  "Lean not on earth--'twill pierce thee to the heart;"
+  Yet must our sorrows stain the mournful bier,
+  When virtue lost demand the flowing tear!
+  And youthful Mary shares Maria's fate,
+  Her gentle cousin and endearing mate;
+  For hand in hand they mount the ethereal way,
+  To brighter regions and unclouded day.
+    Great God! whose fiat gives the general doom,
+  Speaks into life, or lays within the tomb,
+  Oh! teach our hearts submissive to resign;
+  Thy will be done--be much obedience mine.
+  And lo! advancing from the deepest shade,
+  A generous youth sustains a sainted maid;
+  Down his pale cheeks the gushing tears o'erflow,
+  And fancy's ear attends the plaint of woe.
+  Oh, much lov'd Conyers! lov'd so long in vain,
+  Could but my death thy fleeting soul retain,
+  Far happier I, than doom'd, alas! to prove
+  The bitter pangs of unrequited love;
+  My constant heart disdains on earth to stay,
+  While thou art borne to native realms away--
+  Nor at my hapless fate can I repine,
+  Since bless'd in death to call thee ever mine!
+  Oh, gallant youth! Oh, all accomplish'd maid!
+  At your sad shrine shall votive rites be paid;
+  There oft at eve shall pensive lovers stray,
+  And future Petrarchs pour the plaintive lay;
+  For, ah! behold a faithful wedded pair,
+  Blest _too_ in death, an equal fate to share!
+  In their sad breasts no _selfish_ fears arise,
+  _Each_ for the other _feels_--_each_ in the _other dies!_
+  Yon man of woes, oh! mark his furrowed cheek;
+  What deep-drawn sighs his misery bespeak:
+  'Tis Gallego! Each bosom comfort flown,
+  In the dark vale of years he walks alone.
+  And now amid the victim train appears
+  A friend of worth, approv'd through twenty years;
+  Just, wise, and good, true to his country's cause,
+  He from opposing parties gain'd applause:
+  From life and usefulness forever torn,
+  Virginia long for Venable shall mourn;
+  And for her chief, lamented Smith, shall share
+  His orphan's grief, his wretched widow's care.
+  Nutall--a man obscure, of humble name,
+  Virtuous, industrious, tho' unknown to fame,
+  Escap'd in safety--heard his wife's sad cries!
+  "Safe tho' we are, alas! my daughter dies!"
+  He heard, nor paus'd, but dar'd again the fire,
+  Resolv'd to save or in the attempt expire;
+  Oh! noble daring--worthy to succeed--
+  But Heaven forbade, yet bless'd the generous deed:
+  The daughter lives--the father's toils are o'er--
+  Where sorrow, pain and want, can wound no more;
+  In the bright glow of youthful beauties bloom,
+  Ill-fated Anna sinks beneath the gloom:
+  Her lovely orphan--yet too young to know
+  Her cruel loss or the extent of woe--
+  In deepest grief while all around her mourn,
+  Still piteous cries, "When will Mamma return!"
+  What tender cries, what anguish'd moans prevail,
+  How many orphans join the plaintive wail!
+  For Gibson, Heron, Greenhow, Gerardin,
+  And Wilson, borne from the heart-rending scene!
+  While frantic husbands, mothers, widows rave,
+  O'er the _vast urn_ the _all-containing grave!_
+  But ah! my muse the death-fraught theme forbear,
+  Nor longer tread the abyss of wild despair;
+  I sink with life's distracting cares oppress'd,
+  And fain with those would share eternal rest;
+  Yet impious, let me not presume to scan--
+  Great God--thy ways mysterious all to man!
+  But while for mercy humbly I implore,
+  "Rejoice with trembling," and resign'd adore.
+
+M. L. P.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+LINES WRITTEN IN AN ALBUM.
+
+
+  I'll neither call thee beautiful
+    Nor say that thou art fair;
+  I will not praise thy witching eye,
+    Nor compliment thy hair;
+  I'll speak not of the roses sweet,
+    That blush upon thy cheek,
+  Nor of the tresses richly hung
+    About thy snowy neck.
+
+  For thou wouldst deem it flattery,
+    Altho' it would not be,
+  And flattery would never do
+    To win a smile from thee;
+  And surely I would proudly win,
+    Without the help of guile,
+  A look that would be mellowed
+    By the magic of thy smile.
+
+JACK TELL.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+GIRL OF BEAUTY.
+
+
+  Girl of Beauty! can you tell,
+  Gazing in the crystal well,
+  Who it is that madly dreams
+  Of thine eye's bewildering beams?
+
+  Girl of Beauty! is the bird,
+  In the spring, with pleasure heard,
+  When the melody of song
+  Leaps the listening boughs among?
+  If the birds delight the grove,
+  Can I hear thee, and not love?
+
+  Girl of Beauty! does the Bee
+  Love the rose's purity?
+  Does the Miser love his dross?
+  Does the Christian love his cross?
+  Then _I love thee_, gentle girl,
+  Dearer than the crown of earl.
+
+  Girl of Beauty! does the sky
+  Seem all beauteous to thine eye,
+  When the stars with silver rays
+  Brightly beam before thy gaze?
+  Thou art dearer far to me,
+  Than the stars _can be_ to thee.
+
+  Girl of Beauty! does the tar
+  Love to dream of scenes afar,
+  When the mildly sighing gale
+  Fills the proudly swelling sail?
+  Then I love to dream of thee,
+  And thy sweet simplicity.
+
+  Girl of Beauty! does the boy
+  Kiss his sister's cheek with joy
+  When they meet in after years,
+  Having parted once in tears?
+  May you kiss your brother soon--
+  Ere the rounding of the moon.
+
+JACK TELL.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+THE RECLAIMED.
+
+
+It was a bright and beautiful summer evening. All nature seemed to
+speak the language of peace and joy; the birds warbled in the groves,
+the gentle breezes sported among the lofty trees, and all objects wore
+the soothing aspect of that benevolent spirit who had spread them
+before the eye of man. While indulging the pleasing sensations which
+scenes like this never fail to inspire, my attention was directed to
+an elegant mansion situated on the opposite hill, and my companion
+asked whether I had ever heard the history of its present inmates. To
+my reply in the negative, he remarked, that being personally
+acquainted with the family, and knowing their history, he would relate
+it, aware of the deep interest I felt in every thing which bore any
+relation to the subject, to which the narrative will afford a
+sufficient clue.
+
+In the summer of 1824, Mrs. Loraine removed to this neighborhood with
+two children, a son and a daughter; the former twelve, the latter ten
+years of age. Her husband alike distinguished for talents and humanity
+in his medical profession as well as social relations, had died during
+the previous autumn in New Orleans, where he had removed shortly after
+his marriage with Miss Allen, who was adorned with the virtues and
+graces which are requisite to make the amiable wife, the prudent
+mother, and valuable friend. Deeply affected at the loss of a husband
+tenderly and deservedly beloved, and being herself a native of
+Virginia, and having relations in this county she resolved to remove
+to her native spot; preferring the retirement of the country to the
+gaieties of a city, not only on her own account, but also on that of
+her children. A young lady who had been for several years the
+instructress of her two children, agreed to accompany her and continue
+their education till such time as it might seem advisable to employ
+more extended means of instruction for one or both. In Miss Medway
+were happily blended a strong and energetic mind, a correct judgment
+and taste, affectionate heart, polished manners, and an education
+liberal and elegant. Born to high expectations, reared in the lap of
+wealth and indulgence, _loving_ and _beloved_, a cruel tide of
+misfortune deprived her of all, and threw her at the age of nineteen,
+poor and dependant, on a cold and unfeeling world. But why descend to
+particulars which intercept the thread of our narrative? Of her much
+remains to be told, which you yet will hear, but for the present let
+it suffice to say, that in this state of sorrow Dr. Loraine became her
+friend and bountiful benefactor. At this retired and beautiful spot,
+the minds of William and Lavinia were not only expanded by the
+faithful care of their mother and tutoress in literature, but in the
+richer and far more valuable lessons of virtue, which were daily
+enforced by precept and example. Six years rolled round, and found
+little change in the domestic circle. William was now eighteen, and
+his mother determined to enter him the ensuing session at the college
+of ----, in order to prepare him for the study of that profession in
+which his father had excelled, and for which he seemed peculiarly
+adapted by the tender benevolence of his heart, and the discriminating
+powers of his mind. In William Loraine were strangely blended the
+softness and gentleness of woman, with the noble firmness and
+independence of man. Beloved by all who knew him, and reared up in the
+precincts of his mother's influence, it was not unreasonable to
+believe that he had grown sufficiently strong in the theory and
+practice of virtue, to stand uncontaminated, among the vices and
+follies of a collegiate life. But alas! how often is the morning which
+dawned in cloudless beauty soon succeeded by storm and tempest; and
+the bud which promised beauty and fragrance, withered ere it expands
+to maturity: and how often, thus linger on the bright visions of fancy
+and hope, while before us lie the sad realities of life.
+
+With many tears, and tender caresses, and regrets, William left his
+peaceful happy home, to mix with strangers in a distant state. Deeply
+did he feel the trial, and while his mother's tender and ardent
+benediction and admonitions sounded in his ear, the tear of love and
+promised obedience trickled down his manly cheek. Soon after his
+introduction to the beings with whom he was to associate, he resolved
+to watch for awhile the conduct of all the students, and choose for
+his friend that youth whose feelings and conduct most nearly accorded
+with his own views and intentions. Nor did he wait long ere he found
+an object to love and confide in. There is in the heart of all a
+desire for friendship which nothing can satisfy but the belief that it
+is possessed. Various are the properties which may lead to a selection
+of the object in different minds, but congeniality in some respects is
+almost indispensable to the formation of friendship. James Drayton, of
+South Carolina, seemed to the confiding heart of William, the very
+being he had sought. In James Drayton was presented a union of the
+most opposite traits of character, yet so blended as to almost add
+effect and interest to each other. Singularly handsome, of polished
+and elegant manners--of a gay disposition, but a deeply reserved and
+shrewd mind--generous to a fault, and possessing every facility for
+the gratification of every wish--ardent but injudicious in
+attachments, and above all of a memory which required no exertion to
+make a conspicuous figure in his studies, he was at once beloved,
+envied, flattered, and caressed. In such a being the innocent heart of
+William confided, and to imitate him and gain his affection,
+constituted his great delight. Nor were his affections unreturned.
+Drayton loved him with a passion at once impetuous and sincere.
+Pleasures were but half enjoyed when William Loraine was not a
+participant, while his presence rendered pleasant scenes otherwise
+unpleasing. Twelve months rolled round and found their hearts fondly
+united, not only by scenes of profitable research and benevolent acts,
+but also by the baneful yet fascinating pleasures of wildness and
+dissipation. The regular examination which as usual concluded the
+collegiate year, was to them a time of real and almost unalloyed
+pleasure. Distinguished in their various studies, and improved by
+their teachers for moral deportment and dutiful demeanor, generally
+beloved by their companions, few youths seemed to enjoy a more
+enviable lot. It was determined that James should accompany William to
+Virginia, to spend the vacation at Roseville, with his friends and
+relations. Accordingly the day after the close of their examination,
+they took seats in the stage, and in about eight days arrived at the
+lovely spot. In silence we pass the meeting scene, and all the usual
+events which mark such periods, the welcome given the friend of their
+William, and the joy felt by all who knew the amiable inmates, at
+again seeing him among his friends. Time had dealt bountifully with
+Lavinia, and to the eye of her brother, every day had added to her
+charms, since they parted.
+
+James saw her with admiration and delight. True she was young, being
+little over sixteen, but to the playful innocence of the child, was
+added the grace and dignity of manners, befitting the woman. She was
+not strictly beautiful, yet a spell seemed thrown around her, that
+insensibly drew the hearts of all who lingered in her presence. Tall
+and elegantly formed, her dark brown hair hung in natural ringlets on
+her white neck, the rose and lily mingled their choicest tints on her
+cheek, while her full dark eye spoke the strong and polished mind, the
+soft and innocent heart that illuminated it. Her features were not
+what the connoisseur would term unexceptionable, while the less
+critical observer would almost declare them perfect. Such was the
+_person_ of Lavinia: but who can paint the endowments of her heart and
+mind? the casket was indeed pleasingly garnished, but the jewel within
+was of transcendent brightness. To the enthusiastic mind of Drayton,
+she was a being of unearthly mould; and while he almost gave to her
+his adoration, it was blended with a serious awe. In Lavinia Loraine
+he beheld a christian, and while he loved the woman he feared to
+approach what he deemed the saint. We have said Drayton was wild and
+dissipated: but it was not that grosser kind of dissipation which is
+visible and disliked by all. He loved the social card table and
+glass--the night spent in folly and mirth--but morning found him in
+the path of the gentleman, pure in honor, and unstained in truth.
+
+William too loved the pleasures of his friend, and though he dipped
+deep in the gilded pool that allured him to its banks, he found it
+bitterness in the end. His mother's tender admonitions sounded in his
+ears--his sister's kind counsels, and the earnest appeals of his
+beloved friend Miss Medway, turned every cup to gall. Yet still he
+went on, and vainly hoped to find a solace in the thought, that to
+them he was a moral and religious youth. Two months flew on rapid
+wing, and the two young men were again to return to the college.
+
+With many swelling emotions William left the maternal roof, and with
+many tender regrets bade adieu to the friends who had welcomed him to
+their mansion. But James felt what his proud soul could not own even
+to itself. He felt he left his heart with one who gave only friendship
+in return; whom he must honor and adore, feeling he could never be
+beloved, and for once the thought of his unworthiness of such a being
+darted with painful sensations through his heart. He knew he was not
+what the pure and pious mind of Lavinia would choose for a companion,
+and feeling his inferiority he had not dared to breathe his flame.
+Sadly he entered the halls he lately left, the gayest of the
+gay--coldly he received the greetings of his collegiates, and with
+loathing opened the learned volume it was his duty to explore. Even to
+William he was altered. He avoided his presence as though it conjured
+up some phantom to torment. Grieved at this change, William sought
+some means to draw from him the cause of his altered appearance and
+manner, but sought in vain. Six months at length passed by, and he
+gradually began to assume his former self. Again William was his
+favorite companion, and again they mingled in the same seductive joys.
+Gradually intemperance was seizing upon them, and in like manner they
+were becoming dead to the ennobling feelings of the heart.
+
+The next vacation came. They still wore a mask that few could
+penetrate: again honors were awarded them, and William was now to
+accompany his friend to South Carolina. James welcomed him with feasts
+and revelry: his parents poured out the richest allurements to joy and
+indulgence. He seemed to be in Elysian fields, and almost forgot the
+quiet and rational delights of his own home. Splendid profusion marked
+the whole domain, while races, balls, and the like amusements filled
+up every hour.
+
+Yet even here could _James_ find room for ennui. He would sometimes
+stroll away from all, and seem lost in a deep and painful reverie. He
+appeared to enjoy few of the objects around them, and although he
+loved his parents, he avoided their presence, as though he dreaded to
+meet their scrutiny. With pleasure he welcomed the day that he was to
+be again seated among his books and papers--not that he delighted in
+their pages, but they drew his mind from other thoughts.
+
+In six months the two young men were to complete their course, and
+James resolved then to visit Roseville again, and see the object of
+his ardent love. Their course is finished--they went together--and
+once more the heart of Drayton felt a gleam of joy. He saw Lavinia
+more beautiful than ever, and fondly fancied she was less indifferent;
+but he was still unhappy--he felt that he had been unworthy of
+her--that he had been seducing the heart of her brother from the path
+of piety she trod--and that he was endeavoring, by deep dissimulation,
+to win a being free from guile, and who knew vice but to detest it.
+Lavinia saw her William changed. She heard the unguarded expressions
+of profanity that sometimes escaped his lips; she saw him disposed to
+leave the family hearth, and go she knew not whither--yet feared to
+ask; she saw the smile of contempt that curled his lip when religion
+was the theme of conversation; nor could she fail to see that the
+society of his family was a painful restraint.
+
+Young Drayton, deeply skilled in dissimulation, had as yet retained
+the esteem of Mrs. Loraine and Miss Medway, while the heart of Lavinia
+had owned his fascinating power. He saw he was not to her an object of
+indifference. The glowing cheek and downcast eye, when _he_ approached
+her, he could not fail to understand. Six weeks he remained at
+Roseville, ere he dared to breath to Lavinia the love that glowed in
+his bosom. One lovely evening, after a long conflict between
+inclination, hope and fear, he determined to pour out his heart, and
+hear from her own lips that doom which would either seal his weal or
+woe. According to his determination, he proposed a walk on the banks
+of the river, to which she reluctantly acceded. He then informed her
+of the ardor of his affection, and urged his suit with such address,
+that the heart of Lavinia almost resisted the voice of prudence and
+duty. But the conflict was to be but short, as the impetuous youth
+would hear of no postponement. Lavinia discarded him; but not without
+candidly acknowledging, that his want of true morality, proper
+sobriety and religion, (facts long suspected, but recently ascertained
+beyond a doubt,) had induced her to relinquish the hand of the only
+man she had ever loved. In vain he attempted to shake her resolution;
+and the next morning's sun rose not, till he was far from the hitherto
+happy Roseville.
+
+When Lavinia arose, she was handed the following note:
+
+"_Lavinia!_--A fond, a long, an eternal adieu. I leave you, and with
+you, all I ever valued or loved. I go where none will know my sorrow
+or my shame. Lost to all that made my life desirable, I go--where--it
+matters not what I may become. May you be happy, if the thoughts of my
+misery will allow it. _You_ deserve it--_you_ are virtuous; but as for
+me, I am only left to drink _that cup_ of misery which a life of
+dissipation never fails to prepare for its votaries. Your brother's
+principles I have corrupted; and, wretch that I was, who have madly
+sought to unite an angel to a demon. Oh! Lavinia, I deserved you not.
+You are born to bless, and to be blessed--and I, alas! to curse, and
+to be cursed. _Farewell_--again _farewell!_--but know, that while life
+and memory last, you will be dear to the heart of the wretched
+
+JAMES DRAYTON."
+
+The heart of Lavinia bled over every line of that impassioned note.
+She saw her brother changed from what he once had been--her mother's
+cheek pallid--and the fond friend and instructress of her youth
+sharing the sorrows of all.
+
+Four years rolling round, brought to her many admirers--but to her
+they talked of love in vain. William had married a lovely, wealthy
+girl--but was bowing her happy spirit by his folly and extravagance.
+Her mother was gradually sinking; and but for the stay of religion,
+_she_ too would have sunk under the pressure of her sorrows--but he
+whose promises she trusted, never forsook those who lean on his
+almighty arm. Renowned for piety and benevolence, beloved, admired,
+she moved around the circle of her acquaintance like a spirit of light
+and peace. But her youthful attachment haunted her riper years--of
+James no tidings had been heard--vain had proved her numerous
+endeavors to learn his fate. She was one day alone, when a young man
+of fine appearance knocked at the door. She arose and admitted him,
+when he asked if she had ever known a Mr. Drayton. To her reply in the
+affirmative, he arose and presented her the following letter, which
+she no sooner took, than bowing, he wished her a happy evening, and
+withdrew. Hastily she broke the seal, and read as follows:
+
+"Will Lavinia now remember him whom once she knew, and who gave to her
+the only sincere portion of his nature which he possessed? Does she
+remember him whose follies and vices removed him from her and
+happiness? Yes, she cannot have forgotten the once wretched, but now
+comparatively happy Drayton. But you shall know what I owe you, and
+though I may be disregarded, you will joy that you have saved a being
+from misery and disgrace. But to my narrative.
+
+"The day I left you, I resolved to join some lawless band, and strike
+your heart with sorrow by your hearing of my crimes. But the thought
+of your piety and virtue, were like a mountain between me and crime. I
+went from place to place, but found no peace. Home I dreaded to
+approach; but after three months of wandering, determined again to
+behold my parents, and fix on some course of conduct. I went--my
+father was on his death-bed. His illness was augmented by anxiety for
+my return, as he had not heard from me since I left Roseville. I
+received his dying blessing; and in less than two months my mother lay
+beside him. Watching and grief had been too much, and perhaps the
+folly of her son added another mortal wound. I was now left sole
+master of about fifty thousand dollars, and with it a heart almost
+lost to virtue. I sold out my lands, &c., vested nearly all the amount
+in stock, and embarked for the Indies, determined to see my native
+land no more. Tossed on the wide ocean, I was surrounded by ten
+thousand dangers, more lawless in feeling than the billows around,
+beneath, above me. I cared for nothing--regarded nothing--and often
+hoped to find a watery grave. A storm arose--we were shipwrecked--and
+the near approach of death brought with it the instinctive love of
+life. A vessel bound to England spied out the wreck; a few only had
+clung to its ruins. I was taken on board, and after a voyage of a few
+days was landed at Liverpool. I was then an altered man; five days of
+hunger, cold and suffering had brought me to reason. I had thought of
+what had caused all the woes I then endured. I thought of Roseville,
+and of you--of my native land, and all it once contained; _they_ were,
+I felt, lost to me, and I sunk into despair. On board the English
+vessel I had found a pious Quaker and his family. I now longed again
+to behold them. Having sought them in vain in Liverpool, I advertised
+for tidings of them; and hearing they were in London, I went thither
+and found them. They received me like a child, and to them I related
+my history and my misery. They pointed out to me the only means of
+present and future happiness. I thought of you, Lavinia, and of your
+frequent, modest and affectionate exhortations to your brother and
+myself, to seek the pearl of matchless price. I resolved to strive to
+win the smile of heaven, and to give up all on earth.
+
+"America I never expected again to behold, but the joys of religion to
+seek till life was o'er. Yes, often in the anguish of despair, I
+recollected some passage you had marked in the Bible I took as I left
+the house at Roseville for the last time. It lay on your work-table; I
+knew you loved it--I took it to give you a pang. I read it to
+cavil--to disbelieve. I was tempted to burn it; but it had been yours,
+and I could not give it up. In the horrors of the storm, I kept it
+near my heart. It raised my hopes--for I felt that though I had
+despised its truths, _they_ were still immutable. Even now I have
+it--dear, precious volume. But I have wandered from my narrative.
+
+"After many months of struggling--sometimes for truth, then to forget
+it--I at length gave up all as lost, and in anguish sought my friend.
+He bade me look to him who alone could save. I looked with faith--I
+seized the promises--I was blessed. Yes, Lavinia, I felt what was
+worth a world. I immediately resolved to engage in business, and not
+return to America, till I had tested the truth of my present feelings.
+I entered into a life of activity. I read and grew in knowledge, and I
+trust in grace. I thought of you, but feared to trust my heart. You
+had been, and might be again its idol. I resolved to tear it from the
+throne I had vowed to give to God. But I could not forget. Three years
+had at length rolled round since we had parted. You were, I doubted
+not, another's. But for me, I could not love again. I consulted my
+friend, who had returned to America, as to what course I should take.
+He advised me to return. Of my fortune I had not heard; but I was able
+to defray the expenses of my voyage. I left London; four months ago I
+landed in New York. From thence I went to Philadelphia--remained a
+month with the Quakers--thence to South Carolina, and was joyfully
+received by all except the 'nearest of kin.' Of you I could hear
+nothing. William I heard was married, and wild enough. I sent my
+friend Mr. Alston to Virginia. He heard you were single--saw you at
+church--heard the whole history of your family. He wrote me; I came to
+----. He is the bearer of this. I there await an answer, saying
+whether or not you will again behold your ever faithful
+
+J. DRAYTON."
+
+Immediately after she concluded this interesting epistle, she poured
+out her heart in praise to God for preserving and reclaiming him for
+whom she had so often wept and prayed, and whom she had loved with
+unaltered fervor. She then hastened to communicate the glad tidings to
+her mother and Miss Medway, and to despatch a servant to the village
+to bring to Roseville the still dear Drayton. He came. Again he beheld
+the being he so long had loved. Again he saw William, and exercised
+his former influence--but in a holier channel. You can imagine the
+scene--the mutual relations--the ensuing courtship, and the result.
+Yes, my friend, Lavinia is the wife of Drayton. His large fortune is
+now useful in acts of pious benevolence and zeal. His fine talents are
+employed in dispensing good; his fascinating manners in winning others
+to admire that which made him what he is. William Loraine is snatched
+from ruin. His amiable mother is again blessed with duteous and
+devoted children. And whence the mighty change? In this simple
+narrative stands forth in glowing colors the truth of that maxim, that
+the influence of the female sex is great, when enlisted either on the
+side of virtue or of vice. Had Lavinia been less prudent and pious,
+how great would have been the contrast; and amidst all the blessings
+that have attended her through life, none diffuse such thrills of
+rapture through her grateful, peaceful heart, as when reflecting on
+the history of him, to whom is not inaptly applied the title of "The
+Reclaimed."
+
+The evening was far spent. My friend and myself bade each other adieu,
+to return to our respective homes--but not without his promising at
+some future day to inform me of the history of that young lady, to
+whose eventful life he had briefly hinted. Ruminating on the moral of
+the narrative, I could but deplore that the fair sex of our state did
+not more nearly resemble Lavinia--refuse to unite their destinies with
+the slaves of dissipated pleasure, and thereby reclaim from vice
+thousands of her victims.
+
+PAULINA.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+THIS OCEAN.
+
+
+  I've stood and watch'd the inconstant Ocean's wave,
+    Till it within my mind has grown to life,
+  And when the hoarse, loud storm did wildly rave,
+    I've loved the dashing, boisterous, foaming strife;
+  And when the angry tempest died away,
+    I've gazed upon its bright unruffled breast,
+  Till my responsive soul in quiet lay,
+    Just like the scene it view'd--so calm--so blest.
+
+  Wide Ocean! I have mark'd thy silvery sheen,
+    And when the dark cloud frown'd upon thy face,
+  I've felt my soul expanding with the scene,
+    And glowing with thy bright enchanting grace;
+  But when I think that thy proud billows heave
+    Between ten thousand hearts that once have twined,
+  And still to their lost friends would fondly cleave,
+    A pensive sadness steals upon my mind.
+
+  'Tis hard that in our pilgrimage below,
+    In all the storms and trials of the heart,
+  A friend, the only balm to sooth our woe,
+    That from that friend we should be forced to part,
+  Proud Ocean, thou hast borne a brother o'er
+    Thy heaving bosom to another strand;
+  Tho' not unfriended was the distant shore,
+    Still, still, it was a strange and foreign land.
+
+  My brother--if my heart could but disclose
+    Its warmest wish, it is with thee to be.
+  My brother--if the fondest feeling glows
+    Within my bosom, it still points to thee.
+  My brother--does thy heart in transport hear
+    The name of friends, of country, and of home?
+  My brother--does thy soul these things revere,
+    As once in early days untaught to roam?
+
+  My brother--does a hope thy breast inflame,
+    To clasp those dear loved objects to thy heart?
+  I fear the charm has faded from their name,
+    The bliss forgot, that it could once impart:
+  No, no--upon thy heart are deep portray'd
+    The home, the friends that thou hast left behind;
+  'Tis not in time's destructive power to fade
+    Those generous feelings from a noble mind.
+
+J. M. C. D.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+DISSERTATION
+
+On the Characteristic Differences between the Sexes, and on the
+Position and Influence of Woman in Society.
+
+
+No. III.
+
+_Resignation--Fortitude_.
+
+In my first number I described woman as modest and timid, and man as
+bold and courageous, and endeavored to explain the causes of this
+characteristic difference between them. In the same number, however, I
+showed that so strong are the humane feelings of woman, so powerful
+are her kindly sympathies, that under peculiar circumstances she will
+sometimes conquer all the weaknesses of her nature, triumph over all
+opposing obstacles, and finally carry consolation and relief to man,
+when overwhelmed by misfortunes of so appalling a character as even to
+intimidate the hardier sex, and keep them at a distance. In my last I
+pointed out the religious differences between the sexes together with
+their causes, and the subject naturally invites me to compare them
+together in relation to their _fortitude and resignation_ under
+calamities and misfortunes.
+
+I think there can be no doubt that woman is generally more resigned
+than man under any very severe infliction which cannot be avoided. Her
+calm resignation under the severest strokes of fortune, has been the
+theme of eulogy for the poet, and the puzzle for the philosopher, from
+the earliest times to the present. She who in her "hours of ease" is
+so timid, so shrinking, so fearful of even a shadow, has always been
+found in the dark hour of adversity to bear up with more fortitude and
+resignation against the tide of woe than man. This character belongs
+to woman even in the most savage state. She supports, in that state,
+misfortunes both physical and moral with more resignation than man.
+Ask, says Gisborne in his "Duties of Woman," among barbarians in the
+ancient and the modern world who is the best daughter and wife, and
+the answer is "she who bears with superior perseverance the
+vicissitudes of the seasons, the fervor of the sun, the dews of
+night." In fine, she who is most resigned and meek under the heavy and
+intolerable burthen which is ever placed upon her.
+
+Physicians tell us that woman supports sickness, pain and suffering,
+much better than man. We are told that in the great earthquake in
+Calabria, in 1783, which destroyed 40,000 persons, there was a very
+noted difference between the men and women in regard to their
+resignation. The very bodies of the sexes dug from the ruins marked
+the difference in this respect between them--those of the women
+exhibited calmness and resignation in the hour of death--their arms
+were generally found hanging by their sides, or calmly folded over
+their breasts; all struggle seemed to have ceased before death, and
+they quietly submitted to their fate. Not so with the men. Their
+bodies when dug from the ruins exhibited a mortal struggle to the
+last--a leg thrust out here, an arm protruded there, and the whole
+body thrown into an agonizing contortion, but too clearly marked the
+fearful conflict which endured till the moment of dissolution, and the
+great reluctance with which they let go their hold on life.
+
+Let us then inquire into the causes of this difference between the
+sexes, and we shall find them to spring out of circumstances already
+pointed out and explained. I shall therefore be very brief on this
+point.
+
+I have already said that woman is physically weaker and consequently
+less capable of laborious and constant exertion than man. The latter,
+therefore, occupies the front station, whilst the former takes
+possession of the back ground in the picture of human society. The
+former is more self reliant, more bold, more confident and active--the
+latter more modest, more timid, more dependent and passive. Man
+depends on his activity, his energy and his strength, for the mastery
+of all around him. Woman depends on her modesty, grace, beauty, in
+fine upon her fascinations to command those energies which she finds
+not within herself. _Activity_ is eminently the character of the one,
+_passivity_ of the other. Now I have already pointed out the effect of
+this dependence of woman on her feelings of devotion and religion. A
+similar effect is produced on her resignation when visited by some
+remediless calamity. Her weakness and dependence, at an early period
+of her life admonish her of the hopelessness of all conflicts with the
+mightier powers around her. When visited by any great misfortune,
+therefore, whether the work of nature or of man, she is more resigned
+and patient under her suffering, whilst man in the vain confidence of
+his powers is disposed to battle and struggle with fate even to the
+last.
+
+Her religion, her superior devotional feelings, have likewise a mighty
+influence in the production of that calm resignation which woman so
+often exhibits amid the storms and calamities of this world. She has a
+more abiding and implicit faith in the protection of heaven--her
+trust, her reliance is greater; and whether she be overtaken by
+calamity upon the land, or on the sea, she at once throws herself into
+the arms of the divinity and quietly awaits the result. Man is like
+the mariner aboard the ship--he must be always on the alert--he must
+trim the sails, watch the midnight blast, and steer the ship on her
+way over the rolling billows. Woman is like the passenger in the
+vessel. She is carried forward by powers that are not hers, by
+energies that she is unable to control. When then the tempest comes,
+and the sea is lashed into the mountain wave--while every sailor is on
+the deck at his post, battling against the storm, she is calm and
+quiet within--she knows full well that all her efforts will be in
+vain--she therefore looks to heaven for aid and protection: she trusts
+in God whose arm alone is mighty, and able to save, and in the full
+devotion of a confiding and trusting heart, she can truly exclaim:
+
+  "Secure I rest upon the wave
+   For thou, my God, hast power to save,
+   I know thou wilt not slight my call,
+   For thou dost mark the sparrow's fall;
+   And calm and peaceful is my sleep,
+   Rock'd in the cradle of the deep."[1]
+
+There is certainly nothing which contrasts so beautifully with the
+restless activity and feverish impatience of man, as the calm and
+subdued countenance of woman in the hour of resignation, amid the
+stern powers that are at work around her. How beautiful, how
+transcendently lovely does the Thekla of Schiller's Wallenstein appear
+in the camp surrounded by soldiers encased in iron. I borrow from the
+graphic pen of M. B. Constant. "Sa voix si douce au travers le bruit
+des armes, sa form delicate au milieu des hommes tout couverts de fer,
+la pureté de son âme opposée a leurs calculs avides, son calm celeste
+qui contraste avec leurs agitations, remplissent le spectateur d'une
+emotion constante et melancholique, telle que ne la fait ressentir
+nulle tragedie ordinaire."
+
+[Footnote 1: These beautiful lines are taken from the Ocean Hymn,
+published in the 10th number of the Messenger, from the pen of Mrs.
+Emma Willard.]
+
+Again, I have already explained how it happens that woman is capable
+of suffering more than man in silence, without wearing even such an
+aspect of countenance as may betray the internal agony. For the same
+reason, of course, she has more resignation and fortitude.
+
+Lastly, her physical organization renders her much more liable than
+man to constitutional derangements, to periodical sickness, and
+physical infirmities of all descriptions. Disease gradually inures the
+mind to resignation and patience, and at last teaches us to bear with
+fortitude all the ills we have. "We seldom," says Bulwer, "find men of
+great animal health and power, possessed of much delicacy of mind.
+That impetuous and reckless buoyancy of spirit which mostly
+accompanies a hardy and iron frame, is not made to enter into the
+infirmities of others;" and he might well have added, is not made to
+bear its own infirmities and calamities with resignation and
+fortitude, when at last overtaken by them. It is well, perhaps, in the
+order of nature, that we should be afflicted sometimes. It improves
+all our sensibilities, and strengthens our patience and resignation,
+to have our thoughts occasionally directed to
+
+  "The knell, the shroud, the mattock, and the grave,
+   The deep damp vault, the darkness, and the worm."
+
+"Non ignara mali, miseris succurrere disco," is the noble motto which
+disease and infirmity have written on the heart of many a female.
+
+Having thus cursorily pointed out the causes of the superiority of
+woman in regard to the resignation and fortitude with which she bears
+misfortune, I cannot refrain from indulgence in a few remarks on the
+admirable adaptation of the sexes to each other in this particular.
+There is nothing more grateful to the feeling of piety, than to be
+able to trace out in the works of nature, such adaptations as not only
+mark the intelligence and unity of divinity, but proclaim in language
+as clear as revelation itself, his unbounded benevolence and goodness.
+It is this superior resignation and fortitude of woman, which so well
+befits her to be the comfort and support of man in the hour of
+remediless misfortune. Man is necessarily an active, restless,
+energetic, impatient being. This character is generated by the
+functions which he has to discharge in this world. He must not too
+soon retire from the conflict. He must not bear too calmly and
+quietly, the misfortunes and ills of this life. He must arouse
+himself, and be in action. He must oppose and conquer all the
+obstacles around him. In the beautiful language of one of the
+ancients, "he must remember that nature has not intended him for a
+lowspirited or ignoble being, but brought him into life in the midst
+of this vast universe, as before a multitude assembled at some heroic
+solemnity, that he might be a spectator of all her magnificence, and a
+candidate for the high prize of glory." Under these circumstances
+resignation and patience could not, perhaps ought not to have been
+prominent traits in his character. Woman, however, moves in a
+different sphere, and acquires, of course, a different character. Her
+resignation and fortitude not only supports herself but man likewise,
+amid the calamities of the world. "As the vine," says Irving, "which
+has long twined its graceful foliage about the oak, and been lifted by
+it into sunshine, will, when the hardy plant is rifled by the
+thunderbolt, cling round it with its caressing tendrils, and bind up
+its shattered boughs, so is it beautifully ordered by providence, that
+woman, who is the mere dependent and ornament of man in his happier
+hours, should be his stay and solace when smitten with sudden
+calamity, winding herself into the rugged recesses of his nature,
+tenderly supporting the drooping head, and binding up the broken
+heart."
+
+It is in the conjugal state where all the kind and humane attributes
+of woman are augmented and softened by the mighty influence of human
+love, that we most frequently behold her supporting and cheering her
+partner, when visited by the rough blasts of adversity; and sometimes,
+when all hope on this side the grave has fled, when his doom is fixed,
+and disease or the execution of the law is quickly to hurry him into
+another world, we find woman still his dearest solace, sometimes
+encouraging him by examples which mark so much devotion, so much
+self-sacrifice, as frequently to rise into the region of the moral
+sublime. It is well known that the stoic religion of the ancients
+justified suicide, when the individual, after a due consideration of
+all the circumstances, came to the conclusion that he had fulfilled
+all his more glorious destinies on earth. Hence it was frequently
+considered a duty incumbent on man to put an end to his existence,
+when calamity and misfortune seemed to mark him out as a nuisance on
+earth. Hence, too, according to Dr. Smith, this religion may be
+considered as "the noblest death-song ever sung by man." We must go
+back then, to antiquity, when this religion was prevalent, and of
+course when suicide was justified, to see what woman is capable of
+doing to console or encourage her husband in the midst of his
+calamities.
+
+Pliny the younger, tells us of a neighbor, in the humbler walks of
+life, who was visited by a loathsome, painful disease, of an incurable
+character. Himself and wife came to the conclusion that it would be
+better for him to end his existence; and in order that she might
+encourage him to execute this resolve, she determined to die with him.
+The death which she chose, was truly characteristic of that devoted
+affection which she had so constantly felt for him whilst alive. She
+was bound in his arms, and in this condition they precipitated
+themselves from a window into the sea beneath. Montaigne seems to have
+been particularly struck with this act of heroism on the part of a
+female who was of an humble and obscure family, and remarks, that
+"even amongst that condition of people, it is no very new thing to see
+some examples of uncommon good nature."
+
+          ----"Extrema per illos
+  Justitia excedens terris vestigia facit."
+
+Seneca, the philosopher and tutor of Nero, was condemned to death by
+his pupil, in the decline of life, after having married Pompeia
+Paulina, a young and noble Roman lady, who loved and was loved
+devotedly by him. She too, in the plenitude of her grief and
+affection, nobly determined to die with her husband, and thus to
+encourage him by her example, quietly but firmly to bear the last
+struggle of humanity. She, however, was saved, after having opened her
+veins, by the emissaries of Nero, who feared the effect which this act
+of self-immolation might produce on the excitable populace of Rome.
+
+Plutarch, in one of his most interesting Dialogues, makes Daphneus
+assert that there is something divine in the love of woman, and
+compares it to the sun that animates all nature. He places the
+greatest felicity in conjugal love, and gives us as an
+exemplification, the very interesting tale of the adventures of
+Eppopina, which passed before the eyes of Plutarch, as he was at that
+time living in the house of Vespasian. Sabinus, the husband of
+Eppopina, being vanquished by the troops of the Emperor Vespasian,
+concealed himself in a deep cavern between Franche Compté and
+Champagne. The unbounded affection of Eppopina and her untiring
+researches, soon enabled her to find the hiding place of him who
+commanded all the affections of her heart. She determined to be the
+consoler and the comforter of her husband, who was buried from the
+world. She accordingly shut herself up with him, attended on him in
+that dark cavern for many years, and bore children whilst there; and
+all this she encountered for his sake. When brought before Vespasian,
+who was astonished at her heroism and fortitude, she said to him, "I
+have lived more happily under ground, than thou in the light of the
+sun, and in the enjoyment of power."
+
+But one of the most celebrated examples on record, of the ardent
+desire of woman to console and encourage her husband in the dismal
+hour of despair, is furnished by Arria, the wife of Cecina Pætus. This
+Pætus, after the defeat by the troops of the Emperor Claudius of the
+army of Scribonianus, whose party he had espoused, was condemned to
+death by the same emperor. It was the custom under the emperors, to
+leave condemned individuals to terminate their existence themselves,
+provided they could have the resolution to do it. Pætus wavered and
+hesitated. The dreadful struggle which it cost him, made a deeper
+impression upon the devoted and tender heart of Arria than even the
+sentence of death had inflicted. After caressing and encouraging him
+by the most tender offices to nerve himself to the act, she took the
+poniard which he wore by his side, and exclaiming, "Pætus, do thus!"
+she plunged it into her own bosom; then drawing it from the reeking
+wound, she presented the dagger to her husband "with this noble,
+generous, and immortal saying:" _Pæte non dolet!_ "Pætus, it is not
+painful!"[2]
+
+[Footnote 2: This death has afforded Martial the subject of one of his
+most elegant epigrams, which has been thus rendered:
+
+  "When to her husband Arria gave the sword,
+   Which from her chaste, her bleeding breast she drew,
+   She said, 'My Pætus, this I do not feel;
+   But, oh! the wound that must be made by you!'
+   She could no more--but on her Pætus still,
+   She fix'd her feeble, her expiring eyes;
+   And when she saw him raise the pointed steel,
+   She sunk--and seem'd to say, 'Now Arria dies!'"]
+
+Such instances as these we do not find in modern times, because the
+introduction of a more humane and rational religion, together with
+juster and more philosophical notions upon the subject of morality,
+have taught us that under no circumstances short of _absolute
+necessity_, can suicide be justified. But we are not to infer that
+woman is not as kind, as tender now as in the days of antiquity, when
+her religious creed did not forbid suicide. What, for example, can
+show more kind solicitude, more tender anxiety about the last moments
+of a condemned husband, than the letter written by Lady Jane Grey to
+her husband Lord Guilford Dudley, a short time previous to his
+execution, when she herself at the same time was lying under a
+sentence of condemnation. "Do not let us meet, Guilford," she says,
+"we must see each other no more, until we are united in a better
+world. We must forget our joys so sweet, our loves so tender and so
+happy. You must now devote yourself to none but serious thoughts. No
+more love, no more happiness here upon earth! We must now think of
+nothing but death! Remember, my Guilford, that the people are waiting
+for you, to see how a man can die. Show no weakness as you approach
+the scaffold; your fortitude would be overcome perhaps, were you to
+see me. You could not quit your poor Jane without tears; and tears and
+weakness must be left to us women. Adieu, my Guilford adieu! be a
+man--be firm at the last hour--let me be proud of you." Well then
+might Guilford die like a hero, when he had such a wife to encourage
+and be proud of him. And who was this tender, kind, consoling wife, in
+the hour of death? Her political history is known to all. Almost
+forced for a moment to wear the crown of England, she incurred the
+guilt of treason, was condemned to death at the very time when she
+forgets herself in trying to impart resignation and fortitude to her
+husband, and was executed a few days afterwards. She is described as
+having been lovely beyond measure. Her features were beautifully
+regular, and her large and mild eyes were the reflection of a pure and
+virtuous soul, peaceful and unambitious. Yet even she could forget
+blood and royalty, and all the weakness of her own nature, and the
+terrors of her own execution, to impart moral courage and resignation
+to a husband about to die.
+
+Many most affecting instances of the same kind might be cited from the
+French revolution; but my limits will permit me to adduce no more. I
+hope then, all my readers are ready to acknowledge the justice of the
+celebrated eulogy which the Duke de Lioncourt passed upon the merits
+of woman in this particular--a eulogy whose justice and truth his
+condition and career in life, seem to have well befitted his head to
+comprehend and his heart to feel. "Their friendship," says he, "is
+inviolable, their fidelity unshaken, their courage invincible. They
+are intimidated by no difficulty, and bid defiance to dangers. Amiable
+woman! while man desponds, she animates him with new hopes. When he is
+sick, she ministers unto him; when in distress, she comforts him, bids
+him live, and makes him in love with himself. And well can she sooth
+and comfort him: she is all patience, she is all fortitude. The
+endearments of her smiles, the melting accents of her voice, and her
+bewitching softness, beguile him of his sorrows, and make his prison a
+palace." Enough has been said to prove the admirable adaptation of the
+sexes to each other in the particular under discussion, and to show
+what a kind ministering angel woman can become in the dark hour of
+adversity.
+
+It has been truly remarked, that when a married man falls into
+adversity, he is more apt to retrieve his situation in the world than
+a single one, "because his spirits are soothed and relieved by
+domestic endearments, and his self-respect is kept alive by finding
+that though all abroad is darkness and humiliation, yet there is still
+a little world of love at home of which he is the monarch." He can
+truly say, "if I am unacceptable to all the world beside, there is one
+whom I entirely love, that will receive me with joy and transport, and
+think herself obliged to double her kindness and caresses of me, from
+the gloom with which she sees me overcast. I need not dissemble the
+sorrow of my heart to be agreeable there; that very sorrow quickens
+her affection." Let every husband then remember this, and never keep
+from his wife his misfortunes, no matter how heartrending they may be.
+Woman is always full of resources on these occasions, and will ever
+submit with cheerfulness to every privation, which her altered
+circumstances may demand. There is many a husband who has never known
+the true character and value of his wife, until he has seen her
+resignation, fortitude, and almost angelic cheerfulness under the dark
+clouds of misfortune. It is then "she openeth her mouth in wisdom; and
+in her tongue is the law of kindness." Then may the husband well
+acknowledge that he has found a truly virtuous woman, and her price to
+him at least, is far above all rubies. One of the most beautiful tales
+of Washington Irving, is that which is entitled "The Wife," and owes
+its great merit to the singular beauty with which he describes the
+fortitude and encouraging cheerfulness of a young wife whose husband
+is ruined. Women even who have been reckless and dissipated, and have
+ruined their husbands by their extravagance, have frequently reformed
+in adversity, and become the stay and solace of their husbands when
+stript of all their possessions. It is then we may truly say of the
+reformed woman in the language of holy writ, "she looketh well to the
+ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness." Even
+Bulwer, in his England and the English, makes his fictitious Mrs.
+Thurston, after ruining her husband by her extravagance, occasioned by
+vanity and ambition, consent with cheerfulness to assume the coarser
+and more homely garments of penury, and forget her own proud self in
+the desire to console and comfort her ruined husband. And Miss
+Edgeworth too, in that beautiful romance, "The Absentee," after
+misfortune had visited the Clonbronny family, makes the vain and
+haughty Lady Clonbronny, who was so desirous to reside in London, and
+whose very heart and soul yearned after the society of the fashionable
+circles of that great metropolis, consent to return to her deserted
+castle in Ireland, on the _reasonable condition_ that she might never
+be mortified with the sight of the old _yellow damask curtains_ which
+hung in the windows of the hall. Well then may we truly say of woman
+what Cicero so beautifully asserted of the genuine friend. She doubles
+our enjoyments by the pleasures which they afford her, and she halves
+our sorrows by the comforts, and consolations, and sympathies which
+_she_ affords us.
+
+  "'Tis woman's smiles that lull our cares to rest;
+   Dear woman's charms that give to life its zest:
+   'Tis woman's hand that smooths affliction's bed,
+   Wipes the cold sweat, and stays the sinking head."
+
+
+_Intellectual Differences between the Sexes_.
+
+I shall now proceed to the consideration of the differences between
+the sexes in regard to their intellectual powers; and here we shall
+find differences of the most marked and important character, which
+perhaps have more puzzled the philosophers, and given rise to more
+speculation, sophism and false reasoning, than any others observable
+between the sexes. At one time a spirit of gallantry and blind
+devotion, at another time of revenge and jealousy, has mixed itself
+more or less with the spirit of speculation upon this subject, and of
+course warped and biassed the conclusions of authors. Hobbes, in his
+writings, has asserted that if the interests or passions of men, could
+ever be steadily opposed to the mathematical axiom that the whole is
+equal to all the parts, its truth would quickly be denied and boldly
+reasoned against. It stands because neither interest nor feeling is
+opposed to it. Out feelings are more or less to be guarded against in
+all our moral speculations, but particularly in discussions relative
+to the comparative merits of the sexes.
+
+Shortly after the revival of letters, when the institution of chivalry
+was still in successful operation, there seemed to be a combination
+among the literati in Europe, to place woman in every respect above
+man. The celebrated Boccaccio, the most beautiful writer, one of the
+most devoted lovers, and perhaps the greatest favorite of his time
+with women, led on the van of this band of gallant authors. In his
+work "On Illustrious Women," he runs through the whole circle of
+history and fable. He ransacks the Grecian, Roman and sacred
+histories, and brings together Cleopatra and Lucretia, Flora and
+Portia, Semiramis and Sappho, Athalia and Dido, &c.--and lavishes out
+his sweetest praises on charming woman. We are not to wonder then at
+his popularity and authority among the women of his age, when we
+remember his devotion and his eulogy. His harangue against the
+marriage of christian widows, did not however share the same
+popularity with those to whom it was addressed, although backed by
+quotations and ingenious explanations thereof, from the apostle Paul.
+
+Boccaccio was followed by a host of imitators, singing the praises of
+the sex. Throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the tide of
+discussion, if I may be allowed the expression, ran almost wholly on
+the side of the females. Love, polytheism, christianity, and the
+worship of the saints, were strongly blended by the over-zealous
+gallantry of the times, into one incongruous heterogeneous compound,
+calculated to excite the smile of the philosopher, and the frown of
+the theologian. Ruscelli, for example, one of the most celebrated
+writers of his day, maintains the decided superiority of woman over
+man. "But the effect of his reasoning," says a modern writer, "is
+destroyed by the confused impression which is made on the mind of the
+reader by the mixture of divinity and platonism; by blending through
+the whole the name of God and woman; by placing Moses by the side of
+Petrarch and of Dante; and by giving in the same page, and even in the
+same period, quotations from Boccaccio and St. Augustine, from Homer
+and from St. John." "This however," says the same writer, "must
+necessarily be found in a country where we often meet with the ruins
+of a temple of Jupiter in the neighborhood of a church, a statue of
+St. Peter upon a column of Trajan, and a Madonna beside an Apollo."
+
+Throughout the whole of this period it seems to have been ungallant in
+the highest degree in an author not to place woman decidedly above man
+in every particular. Even in intellectual power she was considered as
+superior; and in perusing the voluminous proofs which were so
+industriously, and sometimes so ingeniously brought forward to prove
+it, we find ourselves as bewildered as the _femme de chambre_ of
+Molière, under the learned remarks of the doctor upon the death of the
+coachman. The poor woman at last exclaims, "Le Medecin peut dire ce
+qu'il veut, mais le cocher est mort." Whatever may have been written
+or said in praise of the intellectual powers of woman during the very
+gallant period of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, it is now a
+conceded point, that under the actual constitution of society, and
+with the superior education of our sex, the intellectual endowments
+and developments of man are generally found superior to those of woman
+at the age of maturity. In fact, the remark is susceptible of the
+greatest possible extension. Among all the barbarous nations--among
+the half civilized, as well as among the refined and polished, we find
+the intellectual powers of man every where and in every age superior
+to those of woman.[3]
+
+[Footnote 3: I do not mean to assert here that woman has been found
+inferior to man in _every_ department or modification of the
+intellect; for in some kinds of intelligence she always has been, as
+we shall soon see, man's superior;--but my meaning is, that in the
+higher department of the intellectual powers, and in the general range
+of the mind, man is superior to woman.]
+
+It is fable alone which tells us of whole nations of Amazons. There is
+no well authenticated history of any people where the women have taken
+the lead, and governed the men by their superior intellectual
+endowments. Of course, as already remarked, individual exceptions
+prove nothing. We are here concerned with masses of individuals; and
+from the foundation of the world to the present time, we find that man
+has been uniformly the commander in the field; he has formed the
+material of the armies; he has led them to battle, won the victories
+and achieved the conquest. He has directed at the council board; his
+eloquence has been most powerfully felt in the senate and the popular
+assembly; he has established and pulled down dynasties--built up and
+overthrown empires, and achieved the mighty and convulsive revolutions
+of the nations of the earth. All the great, and learned, and lucrative
+occupations of life are filled by him. 'Tis he who studies the
+wondrous mechanism of our frame, the nature and character of our
+diseases and physical infirmities, and applies the healing balm to the
+suffering individual stretched on the couch of pain and sickness. 'Tis
+he who made the law--who studies its complicate details, its massive
+literature and profound reasoning, and traces out the chain of system
+and order, which like the delicate thread of the labyrinth, runs
+through the whole range of its subtleties and sinuosities. 'Tis he who
+has studied most profoundly and elaborately the record of man's fall
+and redemption. 'Twas he who conducted the children of Israel, under
+the guidance of heaven, out of Egypt, through the wilderness, into the
+promised land of Canaan. 'Twas a man who first preached the new gospel
+of Christ at Jerusalem, before the assembled nation, on the great day
+of Pentecost. It is man upon whom devolves the sacred functions of
+preaching and spreading the gospel through the world. It is
+
+  "He that negotiates between God and man,
+   As God's ambassador, the grand concerns
+   Of judgment and of mercy."
+
+It is he whose sublime and warning eloquence is heard from the pulpit,
+arousing and awakening the apathy of the listless, and stimulating the
+ardor of the pious. 'Tis man who carries forward, by his restless
+energies, all the complicate business of that great commerce, which
+binds together by the indissoluble ties of interest, all the nations
+of the earth. 'Tis he who creates the stocks, charters companies of
+enterprise, and works by his skill the mighty machinery of capital and
+trade. And if we look to the rich and varied fields of literature and
+science, we shall find his footstep every where, and see that his
+labors have reared the choicest fruit, and produced the most stately
+and enduring trees. We cannot then for a moment question his past and
+present intellectual superiority in society.
+
+But whence arises this actual superiority? Is it the result of nature?
+or is it the result of education in that enlarged sense which I have
+already explained in my first number? Is the capacity of man naturally
+greater than that of woman? or are they born with equal natural
+endowments in this respect? and are the great differences which we
+observe in the full maturity of age, generated by the different
+circumstances under which they act, and the different positions which
+they occupy in society? I have already said that we have no data by
+which this question can be positively and satisfactorily settled; that
+long before the child arrives at that age at which we are able to
+detect the development of the intellectual powers, his education both
+physical and moral, has already advanced to such an extent as to
+render all our deductions from mere experiment and observation
+entirely fallacious. I am inclined however to the belief, that there
+is _no natural_ difference between the intellectual powers of man and
+woman, and that the differences observable between them in this
+respect at mature age, are wholly the result of education, physical
+and moral. At all events, I think I shall be able to show that the
+difference in education is fully sufficient to explain these
+differences, without looking to any other causes.
+
+First then, we find that the education which boys receive from
+teachers, is much more scientific and complete than that of the girls.
+The latter are sent to school but a few years, and those during the
+earlier period of their lives, before the development of the reasoning
+powers. What they learn at school, therefore, must be acquired by the
+exercise of memory alone, and not by the employment of the far higher
+powers of judgment, reason and reflection. These latter powers are not
+generally developed before the age of seventeen or eighteen, and in
+some cases still later. It is for this reason we so often find the
+mature man failing to fulfil the promise of his youth. In the early
+part of our lives we learn principally by memory, and the boy with the
+most ready memory therefore, is he who treasures up the knowledge
+generally acquired in youth with most facility. He, therefore, is apt
+to pass for the brightest genius. But it may happen that this bright
+youth may never develope to any extent the reasoning powers; and if
+so, he will rarely go much beyond the mere smartness and quickness of
+youth. Memory will ever be his principal and greatest faculty, and
+with it alone he can never travel out of the common routine of
+knowledge, or disenthral himself from the dominion of mere precedent
+and example. On the other hand, we frequently see the dull boy
+developing at the age of maturity a large share of the reasoning
+power, and infinitely surpassing, in stretch of mind and depth of
+research, the individual who far outstripped him in his boyhood. Every
+man can readily call to mind illustrations of the remarks here made.
+Newton never exhibited any very great range of faculty till he
+commenced the study of the mathematics; and Dean Swift, the great wit
+and philosopher, is said to have been rather a dull boy.
+
+Now then, just at the period when the reasoning faculties are about
+developing themselves--when a new intellectual apparatus is just
+coming into play, by which we are capable of achieving at school, in
+one or two years, more than we have done by all our past labors--the
+girl is taken from her studies, enters into society, plunges into all
+the scenes of gaiety and fashion, and is frequently married before
+that age at which the boy is sent to college. It is impossible then,
+under the prevalence of such a system as this, to give an education at
+all scientific to the female. Her mind at school is not sufficiently
+developed to receive such an education. You frequently find our female
+teachers professing to teach the higher branches of science, such as
+chemistry, natural philosophy, moral and mental philosophy, and
+political economy. I do not pretend to call in question the capacity
+of such teachers, or their ability to teach what they profess to do;
+but I do assert that most of our young ladies are not competent at the
+time they are sent to school to acquire such knowledge. They skip, at
+so early a period of life, as lightly and fantastically over the
+buried treasures of science, as they would over the floor of the ball
+room. I have never known an individual, no matter how apparently
+bright his intellect--no matter how much Latin and Greek, and Grammar
+and English he had studied, who was capable, at the age of sixteen, of
+mastering the abstruse principles of the philosophy of the human mind.
+Such a science as this absolutely requires a development of the higher
+powers of the mind, before it can be studied with any degree of
+success; and that development very rarely takes place before the age
+of seventeen, no matter how stimulating may have been the previous
+education of the youth.
+
+But again: not only is the female stopped in her studies at a time of
+life when she is becoming most capable of acquiring knowledge, but,
+even whilst at school, her studies are of a lighter character,
+contributing more to _accomplishment and grace_, but far less to
+intellectual vigor than those of the boy. Much of her time is consumed
+in music, painting, needle work, &c. while the boy is laboring over
+his Greek and Latin. I do not pretend to condemn this difference in
+education. It arises principally from the opposite position of the two
+sexes in society, as we shall soon see. But I would like to see a
+classical education become more fashionable among the ladies than it
+has heretofore been. I would not insist upon such studies at a later
+period of life, when the mind might be capable of mastering those of a
+higher and more useful order; but between the ages of ten and fifteen,
+there is nothing with which I am acquainted that can be so
+advantageously studied as the Latin and Greek. "The grammatical
+education," it has been justly observed by D. Stewart, "which boys
+receive while learning Latin, by teaching them experimentally the aid
+which the memory derives from general rules, prepares them for
+acquiring habits of generalization when they afterwards enter on their
+philosophical studies." I am happy to find the great authority of Mr.
+Stewart to be decidedly in favor of giving to females a classical
+education. In a foot note of Vol. III of Philosophy of the Human Mind,
+he says: "Latin, I observe with pleasure, is now beginning to enter
+more into the system of female education, and nothing could have so
+long delayed so obvious an improvement, but those exceptionable
+passages with which the Latin classics abound, and from which it is
+devoutly to be wished that the common school books were carefully
+purged, in editions fitted for the perusal of youth of both sexes."
+
+Not only, however, are boys confined to studies which invigorate and
+discipline the mind more thoroughly than those of the girls, but they
+are much more stimulated and encouraged by parents, guardians, and
+friends, to persevere in the arduous, and at first excessively
+disagreeable career of study and literary labor. Whilst the father is
+perfectly contented with the most superficial knowledge--with the
+little music, and the few graces and accomplishments which his
+daughter acquires at a boarding school--he watches narrowly the
+progress of his son. He stimulates him by every means to assiduity and
+exertion. He impresses upon his mind the important truth, that his
+standing, his career in after life, his ultimate success, all may
+depend upon these his preparatory exertions. It is to be expected,
+under this unequal system of stimulation, that the efforts of the boys
+will generally be greater than those of the girls.
+
+Those who have not reflected much upon this subject, can form no
+adequate conception of the vast influence exerted over the minds of
+students by that discipline which depends upon a well directed system
+of opinion and encouragement, entirely extraneous to the school or the
+academy. Those who have attempted to teach the children of savages in
+New Zealand and New Holland, in the isles of the Pacific, or on our
+own continent, have all borne witness to the truth of this remark. For
+example, a teacher in New Zealand tells us that the first day his
+scholars met they were exceedingly anxious to learn; it was a new
+thing: they, and their parents too, expected some sudden, mysterious
+kind of benefit which was to result from this system, requiring no
+great lapse of time, or exertion on the part of the children. In a day
+or two the confinement and tedium of school hours became intolerable;
+the children became lazy in spite of all the efforts of the teacher.
+Parents knew not the advantages of an education, and consequently did
+not enforce the regular attendance of the pupils, nor stimulate them
+to exertion; and for this reason the school soon became a total
+failure.
+
+From all these causes combined, we are not to wonder that the
+education of a boy up to the age of seventeen or eighteen, is of a
+more invigorating character than that of the girl. At this age the
+girl is taken home to be _turned out_, as it is termed, and the boy is
+sent, when the parent's circumstances will admit it, to college. The
+college education, therefore, of the young men, may be considered as a
+clear superaddition to that which young ladies receive. It is the
+college education which is decidedly the most efficacious, when
+properly conducted, in nurturing and developing the higher powers of
+the mind. The lecturers in well endowed institutions, are generally
+men of superior attainments and intellectual powers. The division of
+mental labor, in consequence of the number of professors, renders each
+one more perfect in his department. The library and apparatus are
+great advantages not possessed at common schools. Well delivered
+lectures too, upon the text of some good author, though they may not
+impart a greater fund of positive information than might be acquired
+by reading, yet they deeply interest the attention, and stimulate the
+exertions of the student; they awaken a spirit of inquiry and
+research; they teach him to examine and sift all he peruses with a
+skeptical mind. They break the charm which is created by mere
+precedent and written authority, and furnish, if I may so express
+myself, the leading strings by which we are gently led forth to more
+hardy and manly explorations in the field of science and literature.
+All these are advantages _exclusively_ enjoyed by our young men, and
+hence, so far as the school education of the sexes is concerned, there
+is no question that men have decidedly the advantage over women.
+
+This then must certainly be looked upon as one of the most powerfully
+operating causes of the intellectual differences between the sexes.
+But it is only a proximate cause, and the question immediately
+presents itself, how has it happened that the young men have been so
+much more universally and deeply educated in all ages and countries?
+
+And here we are led to a consideration of the effects of that more
+enlarged and general education which arises from physical and moral
+causes, independently of mere teachers. I have already explained the
+causes which assign to woman the domestic sphere, and all the
+occupations pertaining to it, and to man the out of door world with
+all the business, occupations, and cares pertaining to its management.
+These separate, distinct, and widely different spheres in which the
+two sexes move, as we have already observed, generate characters
+distinctly marked and widely different. And it is not to be wondered
+at that these characters, so totally different, belonging to persons
+moving in different spheres, should require different kinds and
+degrees of intellectual powers. Woman is domestic in her habits, she
+requires therefore a knowledge of all those minutiæ--all those details
+which can best befit her for her domestic occupations. She is more
+concerned with the individual than with the multitude. She feels more
+deeply interested in a mere family, than in a whole nation. Hence she
+studies individual character, individual disposition, and the motives
+by which individuals are governed, more than she does the general
+traits of the multitude, the distinctive character of nations, or the
+great and general principles by which they are governed. Woman is the
+delight and ornament of the social circle. She therefore aims to
+acquire that knowledge, and become possessed of those graces and
+accomplishments which may cause her to be admired by all while she is
+walking the golden round of her pleasures and duties; her object is
+rather to please and fascinate the imagination than to instruct the
+understanding. She is more humane, more tender, sympathetic, and moral
+than man, and, consequently, she is more interested in the study of
+the feelings and the passions than in that of the understanding and
+the intellectual powers. In general she is more eager for the perusal
+of all that addresses itself to the fancy and the feelings, such as
+novels, romances, and poems, than for the study of philosophy and
+science. In fine she is much more literary than scientific.
+
+
+_Abstraction and Generalization_.
+
+We can now easily account for that great difference which we observe
+in the intellectual powers of the sexes, dependent on habits of
+abstraction and generalization. Undoubtedly one of the greatest and
+most useful powers of the human mind, is that by which we are enabled
+to classify and generalize our ideas--that power which enables us,
+from the observance of multitudes of facts and details, to seize on
+those which possess a resemblance, to arrange them together under
+genera and species, and thus to arrive at general principles or facts
+applicable to thousands of cases which may occur in our passage
+through life. It is this power of abstraction and generalization which
+may be truly said to give to our reasoning faculties the wings of the
+eagle. We are enabled thereby to soar to a height, and command an
+extension of prospect which cannot be reached by those who do not
+cultivate this power. It is the great labor saving machinery in the
+economy of the human mind, and belongs in all its perfection only to a
+few gifted and educated minds, capable of rising to an altitude far,
+very far beyond the common intellectual level. According to the degree
+in which this noble faculty is possessed, the metaphysicians have made
+a division of the human race, very unequal as to numbers, into _men of
+general principles_ or _philosophers_, and _men of detail_. The former
+possessing minds inured to habits of abstraction and generalization,
+the latter more conversant with mere individuals and individual
+character, with the details and minutiæ of common life, and therefore
+better suited to the ordinary routine of every day duties in the
+common transactions of the world. But if I may borrow the sentiment of
+Mr. Burke, when the path is broken up, the high waters out, and the
+file affords no precedent, then men who possess minds of comprehension
+and generalization, are required to lead the way through the chaos of
+difficulties and dangers which surround them.
+
+When we compare the sexes together in this particular, we see that man
+has generally, and _necessarily_ must have, from the very nature and
+requisitions of that extended sphere in which he moves, a greater
+share of this power of abstraction and generalization than is commonly
+found developed in the female mind. The confined sphere in which woman
+moves, requires, as I have already observed, close attention to all
+the details and minutiæ of the little events daily and hourly
+transpiring around her. Instead of studying the general traits of
+character which belong alike to the whole human family, she studies
+most deeply the individual characters of those who compose her
+household, and her circle of friends and relatives. Her mind becomes
+one of detail and minute observation, rather than of abstraction and
+generalization. The intellectual eye of woman is like the pleasing
+microscope; it detects little objects, and movements, and motives,
+upon the theatre of life, which wholly escape the duller but more
+comprehensive vision of our sex. Man, in the wider sphere in which he
+moves, deals not so much with the individual as with masses of
+individuals. Take for example the statesman. Is he a legislator? Then
+he must make laws not only for the few individuals with whom he has
+been raised, but for the whole nation. In doing this he is obliged to
+discard the mere individual from his mind, and look to the population
+in the aggregate. He must abstract himself from the consideration of
+the minutiæ, the little details and peculiar circumstances which
+operate _exclusively_ on his own little narrow neighborhood, and
+attend to those general circumstances which affect alike the condition
+of the whole body politic. His intellectual vision should not be too
+microscopic. He must look to generals rather than particulars. The
+minute vision of the fly would perhaps best survey the little specks
+and blemishes that may exist on the vast and mighty fabric of St.
+Peter's church, but it requires the more comprehensive vision of a man
+to survey the whole building at a glance. In like manner the honest,
+high minded, intellectual statesman looks to the good of the
+whole--discards the more petty consideration of self and friends. In
+contemplating the compound fabric of mind, law, and human rights, if
+he survey mere individual peculiarities with too intense a vision he
+will never be able to form in the mind one comprehensive, connected
+whole with the position and relation of all the prominent and distinct
+parts fully exhibited and well defined. Now there are few women who
+can wholly abstract themselves from the influence of those peculiar
+circumstances which operate exclusively on the circle in which they
+move. The circle they live in, conceals from them the rest of the
+world. The general remark made on this subject by Madame de Stael in
+her _Corinne_, is particularly applicable to woman. "The smallest
+body," says she, "placed near your eye, hides from it the body of the
+sun; and it is the same with the little _coterie_ in which you live.
+Neither the voice of Europe nor of posterity can make you insensible
+to the noise of your neighbor's family; and therefore whoever would
+live happily, and give scope to his genius, must first of all choose
+carefully the atmosphere by which he is to be surrounded."
+
+
+_Politics and Patriotism_.
+
+We can now easily explain why woman has, in general, less patriotism,
+and is more unfitted for the field of politics than man. The very
+intensity of her domestic and social virtues makes her less patriotic
+than man. The ardor with which she loves her husband, her children,
+her intimate friends and associates, concentrates the mind within the
+little circle by which she is surrounded, and clips the wings of that
+more expanded but less ardent love which embraces whole states and
+nations. Her _individuality_ is much too strong for the feeling of
+patriotism. She is, in this respect, like the knight of the twelfth
+and thirteenth centuries, who coveted individual honor and glory
+alone. He lived only for his mistress, his God, and himself, and did
+not like to share his glories and his honors with an army, a nation,
+or mankind. Hallam, in his "Middle Ages," has pronounced the Achilles
+of Homer to be the most beautiful picture that ever was portrayed of
+this character (of chivalry). And strange as it may appear, the
+political character of woman in general, bears a very close and
+striking analogy to that of Achilles; who has been pronounced by
+competent judges, to be the most terrific human personage ever
+portrayed in prose or poetry. In search of individual glory and renown
+Achilles consents to join the allied army of Greece, with his
+myrmidons, in the siege of Troy. He receives an insult from Agamemnon,
+the chief of the Grecian forces, who determines to take from him a
+captive female slave. Instantly he resolves on revenge; his patriotism
+yields to his intense feeling of individuality, and he sullenly
+withdraws his troops from the field of battle, remains unmoved while
+the Trojans are gaining victory after victory, until they begin to
+burn the ships; then the security of himself and his particular
+friends required that he should drive back the Trojan army.
+Reluctantly he consents that Patroclus might lead forth the myrmidons
+to battle, but with strict injunction to retire from the field the
+moment the Trojans were beaten from the ships. Patroclus goes forth
+and is slain by Hector, the great rival of Achilles in war. Then is
+the wrath and jealousy of Achilles raised against the Trojan hero who
+has slain Patroclus, for whom his bosom throbbed with the intensest
+friendship. He now arms himself for the fight, and consents to go
+forth to battle; not for any love he has for Greece, not for any
+hatred which he bears to the Trojan state, but because he loved
+Patroclus and his own glory, and hated Hector, who had wreathed his
+brow with the laurel won by the death of his dearest friend.
+
+Such is the patriotism of woman. Her husband and children are more to
+her than her country. You never hear of woman consenting to sacrifice
+her son for the country's welfare; the reverse is much apter to be the
+result. She would sooner sacrifice the welfare of the nation, for the
+promotion and happiness of her family. In the various political
+contests of our country, it has sometimes been my lot to be present
+when ladies have received intelligence of the defeat of brothers,
+husbands, &c. in their political aspirations. Such defeats I have
+generally found to disgust them at once with the whole subject of
+politics, and almost instantly to extinguish the little patriotism
+which their political hopes had kindled. It is well known that
+misfortune of all kinds has a most wonderful influence in darkening
+the picture which the imagination sketches of the future. Pope has
+admirably hit off this feature of the mind in his allusion to the
+pensioner who suddenly has his pension stopped.
+
+  "Ask men's opinions, Scoto now can tell
+   How trade increases, and the world goes well;
+   Strike off his pension, by the setting sun,
+   And Britain, if not Europe, is undone."
+
+So have I known ladies, from the defeat of their husbands at a county
+election, to predict more disaster and calamity to the nation, than if
+an army were on the frontier or a revolution threatened from within. I
+have known brother arrayed against brother, and father against son in
+politics, so decisively as to attempt to defeat each other's election;
+but I do not know that I have ever yet seen a mother, sister, or wife,
+whose politics were of that stern, unbending character which would
+lead her to vote, if allowed, against a son, brother, or husband
+opposed to her in political sentiments. Their affections and
+sympathies for those connected with them, are sure to triumph over the
+general feelings of patriotism and justice.
+
+Woman therefore cannot make a good politician, because she has too
+much feeling, too much sympathy and kindness for her friends; her very
+virtues lead to injustice. Let us take, on this subject, the testimony
+of a lady who is well acquainted with the whole moral and mental
+constitution of her sex. "I never heard," says Mrs. Jameson, "a woman
+_talk_ politics, as it is termed, that I could not discern at once the
+motive, the affection, the secret bias which swayed her opinions and
+inspired her arguments. If it appeared to the Grecian sage so
+'difficult for a man not to love himself, nor the things that belong
+to him, but justice only,' how much more for a woman." Bulwer, too,
+tells us that women always make prejudiced politicians in England. "No
+one will assert," says he, "that these soft aspirants have any ardor
+for the public--any sympathy with measures that are pure and
+unselfish. No one will deny that they are first to laugh at principles
+which, it is but just to say, the education we have given precludes
+them from comprehending--and to excite the parental emotions of the
+husband, by reminding him that the advancement of his sons requires
+interest with the minister." Again, he says, "how often has the
+worldly tenderness of the mother been the secret cause of the
+tarnished character and venal vote of the husband; or to come to a
+pettier source of emotion, how often has a wound or an artful
+pampering to some feminine vanity, led to the renunciation of one
+party, advocating honest measures, or the adherence to another
+subsisting upon courtly intrigues." Doctor Johnson is reported by
+Boswell to have said, that in these matters no woman stops short of
+integrity.
+
+Women, therefore, whose husbands are engaged in political life, ought
+ever to recollect their foibles in this respect, and beware of
+yielding too much to their sympathies and partialities, lest they ruin
+the political reputation of their husbands, or alienate their
+affections by too much tampering in matters which do not belong to
+them. Madame Junot thinks that the constant interference of Josephine
+in politics, her constant, ardent desire to serve her friends,
+weakened very much the attachment of Napoleon for her. Nothing so much
+tormented Charles II, as the constant intermeddling of his mistresses
+in politics; and one reason of his very sincere attachment to Nell
+Gwyn was, that she rarely gave herself any concern about the political
+squabbles of the day. She never interfered, except on behalf of her
+own children and one or two friends.
+
+But although woman is much apter to err in politics than man, we must
+ever bear in mind, as some mitigation and justification of her errors,
+that they arise in a great measure from those kindly feelings, those
+strong sympathies, those family endearments and social ties which,
+whilst they mark her unfitness for the ruder arena of political life,
+demonstrate unequivocally the goodness of her heart.
+
+Even women of corrupt hearts do sometimes manifest strongly the most
+amiable feelings and tender sympathies in their political intrigues;
+take, for example, the Duchess de Longueville, that bold, arbitrary,
+intriguing, profligate, vain, facetious heroine of the _Fronde_, who
+is described as making rebels by her smiles--or if that were not
+enough, she was not scrupulous; without principle and without shame,
+nothing was too much! Now "think of this same woman," says a modern
+writer, "protecting the virtuous philosopher Arnauld, when he was
+denounced and condemned; and from motives which her worst enemies
+could not malign, secreting him in her house, unknown even to her own
+servants; preparing his food herself, watching for his safety, and at
+length saving him. Her tenderness, her patience, her discretion, her
+disinterested benevolence, not only defied danger, (that were little
+to a woman of her temper) but endured a lengthened trial, all the
+ennui caused by the necessity of keeping her house, continual
+self-control, and the thousand small daily sacrifices which to a vain,
+dissipated, proud, impatient woman, must have been hard to bear."
+
+Again, let us look to the celebrated Duchess de Pompadour--the
+corrupt, profligate, and intriguing mistress of that weak, effeminate,
+heartless monarch, King Lewis XV, whose abandoned, lewd court, is so
+well described as plunged in the sink of corruption and debauchery,
+and dead to all shame of decency and morality. Even she is represented
+by some of the wisest men of the day, as being exceedingly kind and
+beneficent to her friends, or tender and sympathetic in the highest
+degree towards misfortune of all kinds, when the parties concerned had
+not in any manner wounded her feminine vanity or prejudices. How
+interesting even does this woman become in that scene in which
+Marmontel, pleading the claims of Boissy to a pension, so works on her
+feelings by the recital of the galling poverty of Boissy, as to make
+her exclaim, "Good God! you make me shudder. I'll go and recommend him
+to the king." Marmontel was so much influenced by her kind attentions
+to her personal friends, of whom he was one, that he every where
+speaks of her in the most grateful terms as one not only willing to do
+a kindness, but to do it in the most flattering, affectionate and
+pleasing manner, frequently adding little injunctions or
+recommendations, which communicated the highest pleasure whilst they
+imposed no heavy obligation. For example, when he applied to the king,
+through Mad. de P. for a favor relative to a work of his entitled the
+"_Poetique_," he says, "I owe this testimony to the memory of this
+beneficent woman, that at this simple and easy method of publicly
+deciding the king in my favor, her beautiful countenance beamed with
+joy. 'Most willingly,' said she, 'will I ask for you this favor of the
+king, and it will be granted.' She obtained it without difficulty, and
+in announcing it to me, 'You must give,' said she, 'all possible
+solemnity to this presentation; and on the same day all the royal
+family and all the ministers, must receive your work from your own
+hand.'"
+
+When, however, any prejudice exists in the mind of woman, from pique
+at the conduct of a particular individual, or from any cause which
+wounds her feminine vanity, you may in vain expect such kindness and
+sympathy. All a woman's benevolence is dried up the moment the object
+of it becomes _disagreeable_ to her. Madame de Pompadour disliked the
+king of Prussia, and she could never be prevailed on to do anything
+for d'Alembert, because he was a great admirer eulogist of that
+celebrated monarch. Racine basked in the royal sunshine of courtly
+favor, while Madame de Maintenon was the ascendant at court. He
+happened one day, in presence of the king and Madame de M. in one of
+those fits of absence for which he was remarkable, to observe that the
+theatre had fallen into disrepute, because the managers selected plays
+of too inferior a character, such as those of Scarron, &c. Now Scarron
+had been the husband of Maintenon, and from that day poor Racine, the
+immortal tragedian of France, was never more invited into the royal
+presence, or loaded with the royal favors.
+
+Not only, however, does woman's feelings, sympathies, prejudices, &c.
+make her an unsafe and most partial, and sometimes very unjust
+politician, but her mind is rarely of that order, from reasons already
+pointed out, which will enable her to take large, and comprehensive,
+and unbiassed views of political subjects. Woman's individuality is
+too strong for general principles and abstract considerations. She has
+too much pleasure in the particulars and details around her, to
+develope much of the higher and more comprehensive powers of
+generalization. She judges of the great characters who are moving
+forward the mighty drama of politics as she would judge of beaux in a
+ball room, or friends and relatives in a parlor. Henrietta, queen of
+Charles I, is an admirable specimen of female politicians. She viewed
+the characters of great men with all the sensations of a woman.
+"Describing the Earl of Strafford," says D'Israeli, in his Curiosities
+of Literature, "to a confidential friend, and having observed that he
+was a great man, she dwelt with far more interest on his _person_.
+'Though not _handsome_,' said she, 'he was _agreeable_ enough, and he
+had the finest _hands_ of any man in the world.'" The same author
+tells us, that when "landing at Burlington Bay in Yorkshire, she
+lodged on the quay; the parliament's admiral barbarously pointed his
+cannon at the house; and several shot reaching it, her favorite Jermyn
+requested her to fly; she safely reached a cavern in the fields, but,
+recollecting that she had left a _lapdog asleep_ in its bed, she flew
+back, and, amidst the cannon-shot returned with this other
+_favorite_." Well might this have been termed a complete _woman's_
+victory. With such feelings, and sympathies, and judgments as these,
+however amiable and pure they may be, you can never expect to meet
+with the comprehensive views and well arranged plans of the great
+statesman: a Jermyn or a lapdog may disarrange or defeat them.
+
+The peculiarities and minuteness of woman's speculations may be
+observed on all subjects, even on the graver and more impressive topic
+of religion. Although the celebrated Eloisa was deeply learned in all
+the cumbrous learning of the schools and the fathers, yet when
+speaking of the apostles, she seems to forget their religious
+character in order that she might express her astonishment that "even
+in the company of their master, they were so _rustic_ and _ill-bred_,
+that regardless of _common decorum_, as they passed through cornfields
+they plucked the ears and ate them like children. Nor did they _wash
+their hands_ before they sat down to table." Pope, who in his Abelard
+and Eloisa, has followed with wonderful exactness, the real history of
+these two lovers, makes Eloisa, when speculating on the use of
+letters, think of no advantage but those furnished to lovers.
+
+  "Heaven first taught letters for some wretch's aid,
+   Some banished lover, or some captive maid."
+
+This is truly characteristic of the woman, and it manifests an order
+of mind admirably adapted to the circumscribed sphere in which nature
+seems to have destined her to move. But it does not suit the wide
+arena of the statesman. Go, for example, into the great deliberative
+body of this country, and listen to the polemical combats of the minds
+that are there brought together, and mark particularly the powerful
+effusions of that individual with the master mind of this country--I
+had like to have said of the age in which he lives--and you will be
+amazed at the vast power of generalization and consequent condensation
+which his capacious mind displays. Is it the complicate and difficult
+subject of the banking system which has fallen under his review, then
+observe how he passes by unheeded, the petty details and minute
+histories of the little institutions around him which engage the
+little minds of the body, and fixes his eagle gaze on the great and
+prominent points of the subject; shows you that the _general_ nature
+of man, and the _general_ nature of this institution, is the same at
+Amsterdam, at Venice, at London, as at Philadelphia, Washington, or
+Baltimore. He points out the great and general circumstances which
+lead on to the corruption and final destruction of the system, and
+shows you that the straining and breaking of our banks in by-gone
+times, was not the result of chance and accident, but of causes as
+fixed and unerring in their operation as the law of gravity or the
+force of elasticity. Or is he on the great subject of the dangers to
+be apprehended from irresponsible power in the hands of a dominant
+majority, then observe how his mind ranges over the history of the
+past, and culls from the page of Greece and Rome, and even from that
+more sacred one of Israel's people, the great lessons which they
+inculcate upon this point. He shows you that the contests of
+patricians and plebeians, the forcible establishment of the power of
+the tribunes in ancient Rome, and the division of a modern parliament
+into the lords and commons, or the fearful disputes between the _tiers
+état_ and the nobles and clergy in France, all prove the same great
+truth and teach the same great lesson, _that every great interest to
+be safe, must have the means of defending itself_. Such a mind as this
+when it fails, fails (if I may use the language of the logician) from
+not attending to specific and individual differences in the
+application of general principles: it fails because while leaping from
+the Appenines to the Alps, and from the Alps to the Pyrennees, it does
+not perceive the rivulets, the flowers, the little hills and dales
+which lie beneath. Such a mind is the very opposite of that of woman.
+
+But it may be said there are women who have reigned with glory and
+lustre, and merited well of their country and mankind. Christina, for
+example, in Sweden, Isabella in Castile, and Elizabeth in England,
+have merited the esteem of their age and posterity. The two Catharines
+in Russia, and Maria Theresa, during the long wars about the pragmatic
+sanction, have each manifested the abilities of statesmen. To this
+however, I would remark in the first place, that we are concerned here
+with general rules and not with particular exceptions. Now the general
+rule is what I have stated; women make bad politicians, unsafe
+depositaries of power, and most partial and unequal administrators of
+justice. In the second place, you will find that the weakness and
+errors of the good female sovereigns have almost always arisen from
+their feminine foibles or womanly judgments. Take, for example, Queen
+Elizabeth, whom Mr. Hume has pronounced to have been perhaps the
+greatest female sovereign who ever sat upon a throne. It was said of
+her that her inclinations and the coquetries of her sex, stole beneath
+the cares of her throne and the grandeur of her character. And it has
+been said, with perhaps too much truth, that if Mary Queen of Scotland
+had been less beautiful, Elizabeth had been less cruel; she always
+believed too readily, that the mere power of pleasing implied genius.
+The exaggerated but well-timed gallantries of Raleigh,[4] and the
+personal beauty and accomplishments of the earl of Leicester, made the
+fortunes of those individuals.
+
+[Footnote 4: Raleigh threw a new plush cloak into the mud over which
+the queen was passing; she stepped cautiously on it, and shot forth a
+smile upon the young captain. This cunning gallantry introduced him to
+the queen for the first time; his advancement was rapid, and the title
+of captain was soon changed for that of Sir Walter.]
+
+This celebrated queen has been described as passionately admiring
+handsome persons, and he was already far advanced in her favor who
+approached her with beauty and grace. It is said she had so
+unconquerable an aversion to ugly and ill-made men, that she could not
+endure their presence. Her aversion to boots was very marked, and
+highly characteristic of the woman. I think it is Sir Walter Scott
+who, in one of his romances, represents her as having had so much
+aversion to the boots of the Duke of Suffolk, who was brought forward
+by his party for the honor of knighthood, as to fly into a passion
+about it, and for some time to refuse to knight him in such a
+dress.[5] She is well known to have been a great coquette, giving all
+her suitors some hopes of finally obtaining her hand. She had likewise
+a most ardent desire to be thought beautiful. Raleigh was well aware
+of this excessive vanity, and made it a means of securing her favor
+and continuing in her good graces. Mr. Hume tells us that Sir Walter,
+in a love-letter written to the queen when she was sixty years old,
+after exhausting his poetic talent in exalting her charms and his
+devotion, concludes by _comparing_ her to _Venus and Diana_. D'Israeli
+says that Du Maurier, in his Memoirs, writes: "I heard from my father,
+that having been sent to her, at every audience he had with her
+Majesty, she pulled off her gloves more than a hundred times, to
+_display her hands_, which were indeed beautiful and very white." And
+he says, "She never forgave Buzenval for ridiculing her bad
+pronunciation of the French language; and when Henry IV sent him over
+on an embassy, she would not receive him. So nice was the irritable
+vanity of this great queen, that she made her private injuries matters
+of state." Well then has it been said, that "the toilet of Elizabeth
+was indeed an altar of devotion, of which she was the idol, and all
+her ministers were her votaries: it was the reign of coquetry, and the
+golden age of millinery."
+
+[Footnote 5: In the Memoirs of the Duchess d'Abrantes, it is stated
+that Madame Permon, mother of the Duchess, had a very great aversion
+to the boots of the Republican generals, particularly when wet and
+passing through the process of drying.]
+
+It is true, in spite of all these foibles and defects of character,
+she made a great sovereign; but it is easy to mark throughout the
+whole course of her administration, even in the graver matters of
+legislation, the constantly modifying influence of feminine weakness.
+It was Elizabeth who granted, more extensively than any other
+sovereign, privileges and monopolies to her favorites, which is one of
+the worst forms which the restrictive system can assume. In doing
+this, she seems to have been anxious to solve the problem of doing
+every thing for her friends and pretended admirers, without disturbing
+her conscience by the infliction of too much injury on the body
+politic. But experience has shown that she most wofully failed by her
+plan in the solution of the problem, and took by these monopolies and
+privileges even a great deal more out of the pockets of the people,
+than could ever come into those of her favorites and flatterers. Even
+the celebrated laws of this reign in regard to the paupers of England,
+in my opinion, mark the overweening humanity of the woman, combined
+with a deficiency of that power of generalization, which can alone
+enable us to arrive at just conclusions on so delicate and complicated
+a subject. When she ordered the overseers of the poor to see that
+every individual in the kingdom should be well fed, clothed and
+employed, the order, although a humane one, was certainly
+impracticable. Mr. Malthus asserts, that when king Canute seated
+himself on the sea shore, and ordered the rising tide not to approach
+his royal feet, he was not guilty of more vanity than this celebrated
+order of Elizabeth displayed; but there was certainly humanity in the
+intention.
+
+In addition to the preceding remarks upon the incapacity of woman in
+general for the able discharge of political duties, we may observe
+that she is more disposed to despotism while in power than man. This
+may be ascribed to greater physical weakness, and consequent
+dependence in general. When, therefore, she wields the sceptre, she is
+constantly disposed to manifest her power--to let the world see she is
+really a ruler. She makes a show of her authority, precisely for the
+same reason that a newly created nobleman is more tenacious of his
+title than an old one, or a legitimate monarch less suspicious on the
+throne than a usurper. Thomas says that great men are more carried to
+that species of despotism which arises from lofty ideas; and women
+above the ordinary class, to the despotism which proceeds from
+passion. The last is rather a sally of the heart than the effect of
+system. The despotism of woman however, very rarely, except when
+stimulated by violent love and jealousy, leads on to cruelty; they
+have too much feeling, sympathy and kindness to be cruel. Their
+despotism arises rather from caprice, and a desire to promote the
+interest of friends and flatterers, than from any regular system of
+ambition and vice. Give them unlimited sway, and you rarely find them
+exercising that merciless tyranny which delights in blood. Their
+sensibility rarely forsakes them, even on the throne. Deny them power,
+and they make monarchs as jealous and suspicious as rival beauties in
+a ball room. There never was on the throne of England a more
+determined stickler for prerogative than Queen Elizabeth. She was
+exceedingly jealous of the powers of her parliament; and up to the
+very last hour of her long life, a shuddering came over her whenever
+she thought of a successor to the throne. Yet Elizabeth was far from
+beings as cruel as many of the male sovereigns who have sat on the
+English throne.
+
+The passion of love, however, is the most dangerous one in the breast
+of the female sovereign. As I have already observed, it is the
+strongest of our nature whilst it lasts, even in the breast of man;
+but with woman, it is not only the strongest, but like Aaron's rod, it
+swallows up all the rest. Elizabeth's lovers were her dependents, and
+she was withal a woman of strong masculine mind, cultivated by an
+education of the most classical and severe character, yet we have seen
+the mighty influence which even her lovers exerted over her, in spite
+of all her caution.
+
+Mary, the sister of Elizabeth, the bigoted Catholic, is a melancholy
+instance of the influence of even unrequited love, upon the politics
+of a female sovereign. While married to Philip of Spain, England was
+very little more than a Spanish province. Perhaps it was the example
+of Mary which in a great measure deterred Elizabeth from ever
+marrying, although repeatedly pressed to it by the Parliament. The
+caricature gotten up during the reign of Queen Mary is an admirable
+burlesque of the errors and weaknesses of female rule. It represented
+her Majesty "naked, meager, withered and wrinkled, with every
+aggravated circumstance of deformity which could disgrace a female
+figure, seated in a regal chair; a crown on her head, surrounded with
+the letters M. R. A. accompanied with Maria Regina Angliæ in smaller
+letters! A number of Spaniards were sucking her to the skin and bone,
+and a specification was added of the money, rings, jewels, and other
+presents with which she had secretly gratified her husband Philip."
+
+To see what woman may be capable of doing under the influence of the
+passion of love accompanied by jealousy, let us at once recur to a
+state of semi-barbarism, where but little restraint is imposed on the
+feelings and passions, and where nature consequently manifests itself
+in all its most horrid deformities without wearing the mask which
+civilized manners and an enlightened and moral public opinion, aided
+by the printing press have imposed even upon the most hardy and most
+wicked in the polished countries of Europe. Among the Memoirs of
+Celebrated Women by Madame Junot, we find that of Zingha, a great
+African princess who ruled in her dominions with absolute sway. In the
+contemplation of her character we are fully disposed to acquiesce in
+the truth of Shakspeare's assertion, that "proper deformity shows not
+in the fiend so horrid as in woman." This princess was a perfect
+tigress when for a moment her argus-eyed jealousy conceived the least
+interruption to her amours, from the beauty, or the affections, or the
+accomplishments of another. We are told that "a young girl who waited
+on her had the misfortune to be attached to a man upon whom the queen
+had herself cast an eye of affection. Having discovered that the
+feeling was mutual between the youthful lovers, Zingha had them
+brought before her; and giving her poniard to the young man, ordered
+him to plunge it into the bosom of his mistress, to open her bosom and
+eat her heart! The moment he had obeyed this cruel order she turned to
+the wretched man, who perhaps expected his pardon, and looked at him
+as if to confirm this expectation. But she ordered his head to be
+severed from his body, and it fell upon the mutilated corpse of his
+mistress." On another occasion she had spared a particular female from
+among those doomed to destruction, when perceiving a paramour looking
+with tenderness upon her, she immediately recalled her executioner,
+and coldly said, "take this woman also and throw her into the grave
+with her companion." Such is the influence of the passion of love and
+jealousy upon the female mind even in _Negro land_, and well may we
+join Madame Junot in the remark, that "this memoir (of Zingha) which
+is strictly true may lead to much reflection in those who so bitterly
+attack the whites for their treatment of negro slaves. The latter in
+our colonies have _never yet undergone such degradation_."[6]
+
+[Footnote 6: "Add to this the horrible superstitions of the Giagas,"
+says the same writer, "and our colonial slaves must have little to
+regret in their native country."]
+
+A woman in love, whilst she is willing to sacrifice all for the object
+beloved, may occasionally demand all. She is very apt to be too
+capricious for wise and prosperous government. A little experiment in
+love matters might occasionally be of more moment to her, than the
+regulation of trade, the modification of the corn laws, or the raising
+or lowering of the taxes. We all know that woman is sometimes
+extremely capricious and even despotic in the wars of Cupid. She does
+sometimes make most fearful exactions merely to manifest her power, or
+to confirm her faith in the fidelity and devotedness of her lover. Now
+all this will do well enough in private life, because it chequers the
+path of love with the powerfully exciting alternations of hope and
+disappointment, and throws around the object of our affections all
+those attractions, and all that more ethereal and imaginative
+loveliness, which the extreme difficulty of attainment ever generates
+in the mind. Although the lover may sometimes groan under such a
+despotism, and even attempt to renounce it,[7] yet the public sustains
+no injury. But when this capricious lover is a queen upon the throne,
+or an ambitious aspirant for political power, then the consequences
+may be truly disastrous. Rousseau tells us upon the authority of
+Brantome, that during the reign of Francis I, a young girl had a lover
+who was a great _babbler_. So capricious was she, and so fond of the
+exercise of power, that she ordered him to keep an absolute and
+profound silence, as the condition of her love, until she might
+release his tongue. He actually remained silent two years, when every
+body believed him dumb. Then one day in the presence of a large
+assembly, she boasted that by _one word_ she could restore speech to
+the _dumb_. She looked him in the face and said, "_parlez!_"
+"_speak!_" when the man began to speak again! Now in this case no one
+suffered but the poor man, and he had no doubt hours of ecstatic
+felicity in her occasional kindness, and sympathy, and love, for so
+much devotion. He gloried in the chains which he wore: he might be a
+little restive at times, under the caprice and whim of his mistress,
+but was no doubt in all his difficulties ever ready to apply to her
+the language of one of Martial's Epigrams on the whimsical waywardness
+of a friend,
+
+  "Difficilis, facilis, jucundus, acerbus es idem
+   Nec tecum possum vivere, nec sine te."
+
+but when such love or caprice as this reaches the throne, the people
+pay for the folly. _Delirant reges plectuntur Achivi._
+
+[Footnote 7: We are informed that during the age of chivalry, a lady
+and her lover knight, at the Court of Vienna, were looking over a
+palisade at a very ferocious lion, when the lady designedly let fall
+her glove within the enclosure, and asked the knight to pick it up for
+her. Without hesitation he leaped the enclosure, threw a cloak at the
+lion, which diverted his attention for a moment, and escaped unhurt
+with the glove, and then in presence of the whole court renounced the
+lady and her love forever, because she had imposed so cruel and
+dangerous a test of his affections.]
+
+The poor Dutch saw but little sport or justice in those harassing
+campaigns of Lewis XIV in Holland, undertaken principally to please
+and amuse his mistresses, and exalt himself in their estimation as a
+military chieftain. The English too saw nothing but degradation and
+misfortune while Mademoiselle Queraille, the celebrated Duchess of
+Portsmouth, was the favorite mistress of Charles, and by her
+predilections for France, and influence on Charles, made him the
+subservient tool of Lewis XIV, and England but a province to France.
+And the ill-fated Protestants of the same country had before but too
+mournfully lamented at the stake that England's Queen was the wife of
+the most sullen, dark, and ferocious bigot of his age.
+
+But I have said enough, I hope, to show that the field of politics
+does not furnish the proper theatre for woman's glory and fame. It is
+strewed with too many brambles and thorns for her delicate and timid
+nature. It presents too many temptations to wander from the path of
+justice and equity, to be resisted by the modest gentleness and the
+unresisting pliancy of her sympathetic and humane temperament. Let her
+not then be over-ambitious in politics, lest she be brought to realize
+at last the maxim which is but too true--"Corruptio optimi pessima
+est." Let her ever remember that she who has the ornament of a meek
+and quiet spirit, as Gisborne has well observed, enjoys a decoration
+superior to all the glories of the peerage. Not only, however, has the
+custom of the world generally excluded woman from political stations,
+but she has been excluded likewise from the right of suffrage or of
+voting. Her condition in society, her physical organization, the
+bearing and nursing of children, her delicacy, modesty, weakness and
+dependency on man, all concur to make such exclusion proper.[8] The
+_utilitarians_ say, that no evil can result to the fair sex from this
+exclusion, because their interests are involved in the interests of
+the males, and consequently the former cannot be oppressed by the
+latter. Thus they say almost every woman has a husband, a brother, or
+a father, all of whom are interested in her welfare. She need not
+consequently fear an invasion of her rights, for those in power are
+interested in defending them. To a certain extent this assertion is
+true. But the condition of woman in past ages, and in the eastern
+nations, shows most conclusively that she may be oppressed by the
+stronger sex, and that her interests therefore have not been so
+completely involved in those of man as to make oppression
+impracticable. Well then, under these circumstances, does it behoove
+man, in the possession of _all_ the political power, to guard against
+its abuse--to remember that the frailer and weaker member of our race
+is placed necessarily under his protection, and lies at his
+mercy--that humanity, magnanimity, and even self-interest, alike
+require that her rights should be guarded, and her condition
+ameliorated--that she who is the delight and ornament of society, the
+Corinthian capital of our race, should not be permitted to pine under
+neglect and oppression, but should be conducted tenderly to that
+exalted eminence whence she may diffuse her benign influence over all
+the ramifications of social intercourse. And the more I have been
+enabled to read the page of history have I become convinced, that the
+continued amelioration of woman's condition is one of the most
+unerring symptoms of the continuing prosperity and civilization of the
+world.
+
+[Footnote 8: I do not then agree entirely with Talleyrand in the
+assertion that, "to see one half of the human race excluded by the
+other from all participation of government, is a political phenomenon
+that, according to abstract principles, it is impossible to explain."]
+
+But although I would say that woman is not fitted to take the lead in
+politics, or to vote at elections, yet would I recommend to all men in
+political life, or in any other situation, generally to consult female
+friends before they act in any very important matters. Their opinions
+and counsels are rarely to be despised, even in politics. The
+politician ought always to be possessed of their views, though he
+should not be implicitly governed by them. There is a chain of
+connection running through and binding together all the events of this
+world, moral, social, religious, and political. The mind of man, to
+act with perfect wisdom in any department, must survey all the causes
+and events, both great and small, which may have a bearing either
+direct or remote on the issue at which he aims. Now, although man may
+be able to generalize more extensively, and take a wider and more
+comprehensive view of the events which are passing around him, yet
+that very generalization and comprehension of mind, do often make him
+overlook those little causes, those secret motives, those nice and
+evanescent springs of action, which are frequently the real causes of
+the greatest events transpiring in the political drama. "It was not
+from a massive bar of iron, but from a small and tiny needle," as my
+lord Bacon observes, "that we discovered the great mysteries of
+nature." And thus it frequently happens, that by looking attentively
+at apparently unimportant passions or small events, we are enabled to
+arrive at the true causes of individual and even national
+distinctions. It is in this latter department of knowledge that the
+sagacity of woman is infinitely beyond that of man. She divines more
+certainly than he all those secret motives of the heart, and detects
+more readily those delicate, invisible springs of action which so
+frequently control the course of events. She is more thoroughly
+acquainted with the nature and character of that mighty influence
+which woman exerts over man in every condition of life in which he may
+be placed, and therefore her advice is never to be neglected. In
+reading the history of any epoch, I always consider my reading as
+incomplete until I can peruse the histories and the memoirs written by
+females. They are almost sure to fill the chasms left by the writers
+of our sex. They frequently enter some of the _penetralia_ of the mind
+and heart which are inaccessible to man; they perceive the vibration
+of certain chords invisible to our duller optics. Their views may
+often be partial, prejudiced, and incomplete, yet when taken in
+connexion with the more enlarged and philosophical accounts of other
+writers, they enable the future historian to form a more perfect, more
+consistent, and more philosophical picture of the whole.
+
+Historians have sometimes puzzled their brains to assign a
+philosophical cause for this or that course of conduct of a great
+statesman, when a woman would have told you at once that it originated
+from some little family feud, or perhaps from an ardent attachment to
+some sweet, coy, unobtrusive, timid creature, the bare mention of
+whose name on the page of history would crimson her cheeks with the
+deep blush of modesty. The historian may be puzzled to account for the
+sudden and injudicious march of Mareschal Villars, at the head of the
+grand army of France, towards Brussels. Reader, the true cause was
+that he was anxious to see his wife, who was staying in a small town
+on the road to Brussels.[9] It has been said that the course which
+Cicero pursued towards the conspirators in Rome, resulted principally
+from the instigation of Terentia, who had her private reasons for
+hating them. And the hatred of the great orator for Clodius the
+Demagogue was likewise inspired principally by his wife Terentia, on
+account of her jealousy of Clodia, the sister of Clodius, who had been
+anxious to marry Cicero. Now in regard to all those more impalpable
+and delicate causes which take their origin in the heart, the
+affections, the social relations, woman is much more sagacious than
+man; she sees them when they escape his vision; and consequently her
+penetration may enable her to make discoveries or applications which
+man would never have thought of. Hence, I repeat again, the counsel of
+woman ought ever to be taken before we enter upon important events.
+Dufresnay has shown that many conspiracies even have failed because
+not confided to woman. And many a man who has kept his transactions
+secret from his wife, has rued the consequences. Rousseau tells us
+that while travelling through Switzerland he frequently found the
+views and advice of _Therese_ of the utmost importance; sometimes
+rescuing him from the great difficulties that surrounded him, and
+which could not have been so well overcome without her. And yet he
+tells us that she was not a well educated woman. The fact is, woman
+excels man, as has been well observed, in attaining her _present_
+purposes; her invention is prompt, her boldness happy, and her
+execution facile.
+
+[Footnote 9: This celebrated general of Louis XIV, according to St.
+Simon, often turned his army aside from the great object which he had
+in view, from some such causes as these.]
+
+Even the warnings and cautions of women, for which no good reason can
+be assigned, ought not always to be disregarded. They are frequently
+inferences drawn from that nice discernment and tact so characteristic
+of the sex amid the little incidents of life, or from their capability
+of reading the varying features of the human countenance, or marking
+more distinctly the altered shades of manner, even when individuals
+are attempting to wear the mask of deception and hypocrisy. Cæsar's
+wife, we are told, implored him not to go to the Senate Chamber of
+Rome on the fatal day of the Ides of March; and although she could
+give no better reasons for her solicitude than dreams, visions, and
+strange feelings, yet it is more than probable that these were
+produced by the acute, the penetrating, microscopic observation of a
+woman's mind upon the events and characters which surrounded her in
+Rome. Brutus, Cassius, Dolabella, &c. might conceal their purposes
+during their daily intercourse, from him who had led the armies of
+Rome to victory in Gaul, and Britain, and Illirium, and had, by the
+majesty and force of his own mind, overturned the liberties of his
+country, and grasped in his single hand the sceptre of the world, but,
+in all probability, they were unable to wear that countenance and
+assume those manners which would impose upon the more minute
+discernment of Cæsar's wife, amid the troubles, solicitudes, and
+suspicions, incident to a season of revolution. Pontius Pilate would
+have released the Saviour of the world, and quieted a troubled
+conscience, if he had given heed to the solemn warning of his wife, to
+have nothing to do with that just man, (Jesus.) Yet she could give no
+better reason for her warning, than that she had suffered many things
+that day in a dream, because of him.
+
+
+_Conversation--Epistolary Writing._
+
+I come now to the consideration of the relative merits of the sexes,
+in that most pleasing attitude in which we generally find them
+indulging familiar converse in the social circle. And here, I think,
+we shall be forced to assign the palm to the fair sex. The social
+talents of woman all over the world, where her education is not too
+much neglected, are superior to those of man. Her conversation we
+generally find more varied, more natural, more allied with the
+interesting incidents and events of life than that of man. She is a
+nicer, and more acute observer of what is passing around her. She
+treasures up more interesting details and occurrences; she is much
+better acquainted with that most interesting of all subjects, the play
+of the social and amorous affections; and she studies the most
+pleasing and fascinating manner of communicating her thoughts to
+others; hence she becomes the ornament and the boast of the social
+circle.
+
+Some persons may imagine the conversational power to bear some
+proportion to the general strength of the intellect, and that, as man
+cultivates the higher powers of the mind more thoroughly than woman,
+he must therefore excel her in the social circle. This, however, is
+very far from being true. The beauty of conversation depends on two
+things: 1st. On the character of the facts, anecdotes, knowledge, &c.
+which form the staple of what is said. 2d. On the manner and style of
+communicating them. Now I conceive that the subjects most generally
+pleasing in promiscuous society, are not those of a deeply
+philosophical or abstract character, not those which require the
+greatest stretch of intellect to comprehend, but those subjects
+generally which have reference to the ordinary occurrences and
+transactions of life; those in which all are interested, and which all
+can comprehend: those, in fine, which concern ourselves _immediately_
+and particularly. Grave disquisitions and lectures on abstract
+subjects, are out of place in the drawing room; those who indulge much
+in them may be called learned, but they are generally considered
+intolerable _prosers_. The divine who is always talking to us about
+_grace_ and its operation on the heart, the lawyer who is lavish of
+his profound learning on contingent remainders and executory devises,
+or the physician who tries to instruct us in the mysteries of animal
+life, by recounting theory after theory upon the subject, are ever
+looked upon as great bores in the social circle. Not only, however, is
+the character of the subject of importance in conversation, but there
+must be variety. No matter how important and interesting the topic,
+the patience of a company will soon be worn out by even an intelligent
+and fluent man who will discourse of nothing else. The most
+insufferable of all bores, says the author of Vivian Grey, is the man
+whose mind is engrossed with one single subject, who thinks of no
+other, and of course talks of no other.
+
+So far as the subject matter, or _materiel_ of conversation is
+concerned, let us enter a little into the _metaphysics_ of the
+subject, and see, upon philosophical principles, how woman becomes
+superior to man in this respect.
+
+The principle of association, or of suggestion as it is termed by the
+more recent writers on the philosophy of the human mind, is the great
+and controlling law of the mental frame; it is that principle which
+enables us to supply all our wants, to adapt means to ends, to call up
+the knowledge of the past, to look into the undeveloped events of the
+future. It is this associating faculty which may be looked upon as
+truly the master workman of the mind. Its agency is requisite in the
+action of all our mental powers, and consequently in pointing out the
+intellectual differences between the sexes, it is proper never to lose
+sight of so important a modifier of mental character. Metaphysicians
+tell us that there are three principles or laws, according to which
+the association of ideas operates. 1st. Resemblance. 2d. Contiguity in
+time or place. And 3d. Contrast. Now if we examine into these three
+divisions, we shall find each one susceptible of a subdivision into
+two classes, marked and distinct. Thus 1st. There may be resemblance
+in the objects themselves. Or 2d. In the effects or emotions which
+they excite. For example, I see a man--he is like, in face and
+feature, to one I knew well in France--I think immediately of the
+Frenchman: here is resemblance in objects themselves. I see a violent
+hurricane--it reminds me of the desolating ravages of a Zenghis Khan,
+or Tamerlane: here is resemblance in the effects, and not in the
+objects themselves. I hear the cooing of the dove, and I think of the
+gentleness and innocence of the child. I hear a man reviling and
+blaspheming his God, and I think of midnight darkness: here is
+similarity in the emotions excited by the objects. A corresponding
+division may be made of contrast. Thus I see a dwarf, and he calls
+instantly to my mind the largest man I ever saw: this is contrast in
+the objects. I see a raging, destructive lion, and think immediately
+of the meek and humble Saviour of the world: here is contrast in the
+effects. I see the white and tender lily on the drooping stalk, and I
+think of the fiendish passions of a Macbeth or a Richard: here is
+contrast in the emotions excited by the objects. Lastly, contiguity in
+time and place may be divided into casual and fixed; thus I see a man
+today whom I saw yesterday in company with another: I instantly think
+of that other. I hear the last _eclipse_ mentioned, I think of the
+place I was in at that time, the company I was with, the anecdotes
+told, &c. In the first instance we have casual contiguity in place,
+and in the second in place and time both. I see the moon on the
+meridian, and think of the tides in our rivers. I see a magnet, and I
+think of its attraction for iron; here is necessary contiguity in
+time, and in the last instance in place too. Upon this last species of
+contiguity is dependent that most important of all relations, the
+relation of cause and effect, and of premises and conclusions.
+
+In unison with the division here made of the associating principles,
+it is easy to explain the character of three distinct orders of mind,
+which will of course appear widely different in the conversational
+displays of the social circle. There is, first, the _common mind_,
+associating its ideas together by palpable resemblance or contrast
+among them, and by the mere casual and loose contiguity in time and
+place. Secondly, _the poetical or sentimental mind_, associating
+principally by resemblance or contrast in the effects produced by
+objects or the emotions which they excite. And thirdly, the
+_philosophical mind_, associating principally by necessary contiguity
+in time and place, by cause and effect, premises and conclusions.
+
+Such a mind as the first, is most impressed with the details and
+occurrences around. It never ascends to the original contemplation of
+ideas and thoughts which belong to the region of philosophy and
+poetry. It may, it is true, recollect sometimes, distant and beautiful
+analogies, or even philosophical associations, but it is purely
+because it has heard these things spoken of by others, and not from
+original conception. Such a mind has no creative power of its own; as
+it receives so does it pour forth, without alteration. It has been
+well compared to the cistern into which water is poured; you have
+nothing to do but turn the cock and out it comes (as one of our
+newspaper editors recently observed, in relation to a different
+subject,) "water, dirt, sticks, bugs, pine tags and all!" Such a mind
+has no _productive power_ whatever. In this flood of details, you see
+no connecting principle like cause and effect, premises and
+conclusions, &c.--but this thing is remembered because it is like
+that. This fact is now related because it was spoken at the same time
+with that, or in the same place. Such an individual as this has, as
+Diderot expresses it, "une tête meublée d'un grand nombre de choses
+disparates," which he says resembles a library with mismatched books,
+or a German compilation garnished, without reason and without taste,
+with Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, and Latin.
+
+Such individuals as these are more pleasing and amusing to us in
+conversation, when the mind is not otherwise engaged, than most of us
+are willing to allow. They spread before us a promiscuous feast of
+neighborhood news, and like Mathews the comedian, although there be
+but one speaker, they give you the _sayings_, the _conjectures_, the
+_shrugs_, and the _winks_ of all the parties concerned, and thus give
+to their communications quite a dramatic effect. Barbers, midwives,
+seamstresses, hostesses, &c. cultivate this kind of association to the
+greatest pitch of perfection. Their professions may be said to demand
+it.
+
+Such individuals, when called into court to give testimony, are
+sometimes exceedingly amusing, from the pertinacity with which they
+detail all, even the most minute circumstances, and when interrupted
+because of the irrelevancy or illegality of their testimony, they are
+very apt to begin again at the very beginning of their narrative. In
+the minuteness of their remembrances they are like Mrs. Quickly in the
+play, when she wishes to make Falstaff remember the time when he
+promised to marry her.[10] The _Cicerone_ of Italy have generally
+memories of the same description.
+
+[Footnote 10: This has generally been adduced by the metaphysicians
+since the time of Lord Kames, as an exemplification of this minute
+memory, and it illustrates so well the remarks which I have been
+making above, that I cannot forbear to add it in a foot note.
+
+_Falstaff_. What is the gross sum that I owe thee?
+
+_Hostess_. Marry, if thou wast an honest man, thyself and thy money
+too. Thou didst swear to me on a parcel gilt goblet, sitting in my
+Dolphin Chamber, at the round table, by a sea coal fire, on Wednesday
+in Whitsun week, when the prince broke thy head for likening him to a
+singing man of Windsor, thou didst swear to me then, as I was washing
+thy wound, to marry me, and make me my lady, thy wife. Canst thou deny
+it? Did not good wife Keech, the butcher's wife, come in then, and
+call me gossip Quickly? coming in to borrow a mess of vinegar; telling
+us she had a good dish of prawns; whereby thou didst desire to eat
+some; whereby I told thee they were ill for a green wound. And didst
+not thou when she was gone down stairs desire me to be no more
+familiarity with such poor people, saying that ere long they should
+call me Madame! and didst thou not kiss me, and bid me fetch thee
+thirty shillings? I put thee now to thy book oath, deny it if thou
+canst.--_Sec. Part, Hen. 4, Act 2d. Scene 2_.]
+
+Individuals of this character are the little chroniclers of the day.
+They are the little historians of the little events transpiring around
+them. They form a sort of cement for society--they furnish a species
+of connecting link between the past and the present. They embalm for a
+few years the memory of those who would otherwise have passed away and
+been forgotten. The smallest and greatest of the human race love fame.
+The temple at Ephesus was burnt down for fame, and it is the character
+which I have just been describing that gives a little fame to classes
+that would never have been heard of, and in old age such a being can
+tell the young around him of the deeds and achievements of their sires
+and grandsires and great grandsires. Such individuals as these are
+remarkable for very exact memories, and as they are never persons of
+much comprehension of mind, it has been generally imagined that good
+memories are rarely accompanied with good understandings. Hence the
+couplet of Pope,
+
+  "When in the mind the Memory prevails,
+   The more solid power of the understanding fails."
+
+This however is but one form which the memory assumes, and
+consequently we must draw no enlarged inferences from it. Women have
+generally much more of this memory than men. The sphere in which they
+move, the occupations in which they are engaged, the lesser necessity
+on their part for original thought and action of mind, all tend to
+produce this character.
+
+The second class of mind, according to the division made above, is the
+poetic or sentimental--that species of mind which associates by the
+more distant analogies and resemblances, or contrast in objects, in
+their effects, or in the emotions which they excite. Imagination is
+the essence of such a mind as this. It enables us to see resemblances
+and contrasts where others see none. "How many are there," says Doct.
+Brown, "who have seen an old oak, half leafless amid the younger trees
+of the forest, and who are capable of remembering it when they think
+of the forest itself, or of events that happened there! But it is to
+the mind of Lucan that it rises _by analogy_, to the conception of a
+veteran chief:
+
+                  'Stat magni nominis umbra
+  Qualis frugifero quercus sublimis in agro.'"
+
+What a scene for the enjoyment of love and friendship--what a group of
+delightful and beautiful images has Virgil brought together in two
+lines of his Eclogues!
+
+  "Hic gelidi fontes, hic mollia prata Lycori,
+   Hic nemus: hic ipso tecum consumerer oevo."
+
+Many have seen a starling in a cage, but it is a Sterne who in
+imagination sees a captive in his dungeon, half wasted away with long
+expectation and confinement. Pale and feverish, the western breeze for
+thirty years had not fanned his blood. He sees him sitting upon the
+ground in the farthest corner, on a little straw, alternately his
+chair and bed, with a little calendar of small sticks, and etching
+with a rusty nail another day of misery to add to the heap.
+
+When this species of association is dwelt on too much the individual
+is characterized by a sort of sickly, morbid sentimentality, which is
+both highly unnatural, and very disagreeable. He is ever trying to
+display the effects of what Mary Woolstonecraft calls a "pumped up
+passion." Those writers whom Dr. Smith in his Theory of Moral
+Sentiments calls whining philosophers, possess minds of this order.
+They can never see happiness in one part of the world but to reflect
+on the misery which is experienced in another. Is our country at
+peace, happy and prosperous, than rejoice not at it, for there are
+millions of human beings suffering in China, Japan, Hindostan, and
+Bengal. Thompson's writings are deeply imbued with this whining
+philosophy, and so perhaps are Cowper's, as was to be expected from
+the state of his mind.
+
+It is, however, the association by distant resemblances in objects, by
+analogies in effects and in emotions which furnishes the mind with
+perhaps the most interesting materials for social converse. Such a
+mind is what the world calls _brilliant_. We soon tire of it, however,
+if it does not occasionally relax, and give us a few of those details
+and minutiæ, which belong to the mind of the first order in our
+division. As was said of the poetry of Thomas Moore, we do not like
+always to feed upon the _whip syllabubs_ we soon become hungry for
+_bread and meat_.
+
+Such a mind as the one I have just been describing, has rarely a very
+accurate or exact memory. The imagination is too active for the
+fidelity of the memory. Pope has well asserted, that
+
+  "Where beams of warm imagination play,
+   The memory's soft figures melt away."
+
+Men possessing such minds as these rarely make good historians or
+profound philosophers. They neither narrate with fidelity, nor can
+they philosophize with ability. Their imagination gilds and varnishes
+the knowledge they have accumulated. Events, as Boswell expresses it,
+_grow mellow_ in their memories.[11] But for this very reason do they
+become exceedingly brilliant in conversation, when they have the power
+of communicating their ideas well. Mr. Stewart tells as that Boswell
+himself was a striking exemplification of his own remark, "for his
+stories," says Mr. S. "which I have often listened to with delight,
+seldom failed to _improve_ wonderfully in such a keeping as _his_
+memory afforded. They were much more amusing than even his printed
+anecdotes; the latter were deprived of every chance of this sort of
+_improvement_, by the scrupulous fidelity with which (probably from a
+secret distrust of the accuracy of his recollection) he was accustomed
+to record every conversation which he thought interesting, a few hours
+after it took place."
+
+[Footnote 11: "I have often experienced," says Boswell in his tour
+through the Hebrides with Dr. Johnson, "that scenes through which a
+man has past _improves by lying in the memory: they grow mellow_."]
+
+With regard to the order of mind which we have just been considering,
+it may be said that although a few men may cultivate it to a much
+higher pitch of perfection than it is generally found to exist among
+women, yet taking the sexes together, it is rather a characteristic of
+the weaker sex, at least in as much as the associations are dependent
+on similarity or contrast in emotions. Women, taking the whole sex
+together, have undoubtedly more imagination than men, especially
+inrelation to what I would term the sentimental and romantic portions
+of our nature. They have nicer discernment and tact, more feeling,
+sympathy, emotion and curiosity of all descriptions, and so far as
+these furnish materials for association, they are superior to our sex.
+Now these are precisely the materials which are most interesting when
+properly clothed in the fascinating unaffected phraseology of a well
+educated lady. Moreover, although men may perhaps display more
+originality generally in the species of association falling under our
+second division, yet I apprehend for that very reason they have less
+variety, and, as we shall soon see, less quickness and ease in calling
+up their associations.
+
+The third class of minds, according to our arrangements is the
+_philosophical_ mind--that which associates principally by the
+relation of _necessary_ contiguity in time and place, by cause and
+effect, premises and conclusions. This is undoubtedly the mind of the
+first quality, and much the rarest in the human family. Knowledge,
+however, which is acquired by associations of this character, is too
+abstruse and unintelligible to the great mass of mankind to be
+interesting in the social circle, and persons who have this order of
+mind rarely have the other two in any perfection, and consequently
+their conversation is not of that attractive character which pleases
+by its ease, grace, and variety. Individuals of this character very
+rarely display a good memory for mere words and details. Their
+knowledge is arranged under certain general principles, and when they
+wish to arrive at the detail, they are obliged to reason down from the
+principle to the fact which is arranged under it. Such a mind has
+rather a knowledge of general principles, than of particular facts and
+incidents. General abstract subjects rarely produce much impression on
+the mind of the mass. This is one reason why divines, who have the
+most grand and sublime theme to descant on, nevertheless often fail to
+produce much effect on their audiences. Their subject, although grand,
+is yet a general one. The vices against which they preach are the
+vices of the human race. The awful judgment of which they speak, is a
+judgment to come at some indefinite time hereafter. Mankind to be
+moved and interested must be addressed specially and personally. You
+must not come before them clothed in abstractions and generalizations.
+Look to that celebrated sermon of Massillon, pronounced by Voltaire in
+his article on Eloquence, in the _Encydopedie Francaise_, to be one of
+the most eloquent effusions of modern times, and examine particularly
+that portion which had so startling an effect on the audience as to
+make them spring simultaneously from their seats, and you will see
+that it was just at that moment that the eloquent divine dropped all
+his abstractions and generalities and applied his subject to those
+very persons who were listening to him. "Je m'arrête _à vous_, mes
+freres, qui êtes _ici_ assemblées. Je ne parle plus du reste des
+hommes," &c. And again, "Je suppose que c'est _ici_ votre derniere
+heure, et la fin de l'univers; que les cieux vont s'ouvrir sur vos
+têtes--Jesus Christe paraitre dans sa gloire au milieu de _ce
+temple_," &c.
+
+It is useless to say that men much oftener have minds of the third
+class in our arrangement than women; not because there is any natural
+difference between the sexes in this particular, but because ours is
+placed in a situation requiring the cultivation of this species of
+mind more than the other. Our professions and occupations exert, if I
+may say so, a more effectual demand for the development of this order
+of intellect, than those of woman. Men in their passage through life,
+are obliged to examine into the _necessary_ connection between events;
+they must adapt means to ends; they must attain their purposes by well
+arranged plans, according to the relation of cause and effect. Woman,
+on the contrary, from the nature of the sphere in which she moves, and
+the character of the occupations in which she is engaged, is more
+conversant with objects than with their _necessary_ connections and
+relations. She is not obliged to arrange so many concatenated plans;
+her mind is more alive to the perception of the objects around her,
+and less to the _causæ rerum_. Her feelings and sympathies are most
+exquisite, but she attends less to their relations and dependences.
+She is in fine a creature of emotion rather than of philosophy.
+
+It is for this reason that women rarely make good metaphysicians,
+although their feelings and sympathies are of the most exquisite
+character. Yet they are not in the habit of reflecting upon
+them--arranging them into classes, according to their necessary
+connections, and thence deducing the general principles and laws of
+the mind. Mr. Stewart says that the taste for the philosophy of the
+human mind is rarer among the sex, than even for pure mathematics. He
+seems to think that there are but two names in the whole catalogue of
+female authors, at all celebrated for deep metaphysical research--Miss
+Edgeworth and Madame de Stael; and he deems it not unfortunate for the
+world that the former was early diverted from such unattractive
+speculations, to that more brilliant career of literature which she
+has pursued with so unrivalled a reputation.[12]
+
+[Footnote 12: In regard to Madame de Stael, it is proper to remark,
+that although certainly an able metaphysician--perhaps the very ablest
+that has ever appeared of her sex--yet you see throughout her writings
+the character of the woman. Her isolated aphorisms and maxims are most
+splendid; but when you come to examine any one of her productions as a
+whole, you see the want of system and complete connection between the
+parts. Her descriptions of our emotions and feelings are almost
+unrivalled for pathos and beauty; but when she would put together the
+different parts of the mind, and sketch out a heroine or a hero--a
+_Corinne_ or her _lover_--she presents incongruous beings such as
+nature never produces. Her mind, after all, was but the mind of a
+woman--a mind that could furnish the very best materials in the world
+for a philosopher to weave into his systems--a mind too susceptible of
+emotion to philosophize on abstract principles--a mind that relied on
+feeling, rather than reason, to guide it to truth. In her work on the
+French Revolution, though certainly very able, you see how her mind is
+warped by her affection for her father, (M. Necker.) You see how her
+conceptions of the Revolution as a whole, are biassed and prejudiced
+by too intense a consideration of the scenes and events transpiring
+immediately around her, and concerning her family. Goethe seems to
+think that Madame de Stael had no idea what duty meant, so completely
+was she a creature of feeling.]
+
+Having described three distinct and separate orders of mind,
+remarkable for different kinds of associations, and all widely
+differing in the possession of that information suited to social
+converse, I come now to compare the sexes together, in relation to the
+second point essential to conversation, the power of communicating our
+knowledge pleasantly and attractively to others. He undoubtedly is the
+most pleasing companion in the social circle whose mind is of that
+capacious, well stored kind that is capable of ranging at will through
+the various classes of associations just pointed out, giving you at
+one time connections and relations of abstract principles, or
+philosophical deductions--at another, of analogies between objects,
+effects, and emotions--and at another, interesting and circumstantial
+details of the common events of every day life. "Conversation," says a
+modern writer, "may be compared to a lyre with seven
+chords--philosophy, art, poetry, politics, love, scandal, and the
+weather. There are some professors who, like Paganini, 'can discourse
+most eloquent music' upon one string only, and some who can grasp the
+whole instrument, and with a master's hand, sound it from the top to
+the bottom of its compass." Such individuals as these are very rare.
+Perhaps Dr. Johnson,[13] McIntosh and Coleridge might be cited as
+specimens in England, and Schlegel in Germany. Individuals of this
+character are very rare, because in the first place, there are very
+few whose minds are capable of ranging through the whole extent of
+knowledge; and secondly, it does by no means follow, that those
+possessing the information, might be able to communicate it to others
+with that brilliancy of diction, and judgment in the selection of
+matter and its quantity, which will insure complete success in the
+social circle.
+
+[Footnote 13: Johnson's style in conversation must have been too
+grandiloquent and studied, to have admitted of that variety and ease
+so necessary to the social circle.]
+
+I will make a few promiscuous remarks on these two points. Men of
+deeply philosophic minds, are almost sure, from the character of their
+speculations, to glide imperceptibly into habits of abstraction, and
+to withdraw their attention from the scenes and occurrences
+transpiring around them, to the contemplation of that world of thought
+in which they dwell. Their thoughts are not the thoughts of other men;
+the world in which they live is not the world of others. A Newton,
+while wrapt in these philosophic visions, can sit for hours in the
+cold, half dressed, eyes fixed, unconscious of all around him; he can
+forget to dine; he can, in fine, forget himself, his friends, and the
+world in which he lives. An Adam Smith, while studying the great laws
+which regulate the accumulation, distribution, and consumption of
+wealth, can so far forget himself and the world, as to mimic with his
+cane, a soldier, who presents arms to him through respect, and march
+after him when he moves off; he can be present when toasts are drunk,
+and know nothing of what is passing.[14] Minds of this order are
+almost sure to neglect associations of a lighter character. They fail
+to acquire that species of information which is most pleasing in
+conversation. And, moreover, they are apt to have what are called
+_slow_ memories; they cannot call up their knowledge quick, and utter
+it with volubility. The process by which they hive their wisdom is
+slow and tedious, depending on patient thought, and persevering
+reflection. Such a mind has been compared, in the social circle, to a
+ship of the line run a ground in a creek. It is too massive and
+ponderous for the element and space in which it floats. It is said
+that Newton was rather slow and dull in conversation even upon
+philosophical subjects. Many an individual in Europe, of far inferior
+genius, was more brilliant in conversation than himself, even upon his
+own discoveries. Descartes, whose mind was of the first order, was
+silent in mixed company. It was said that he received his intellectual
+wealth from nature in _solid bars_, not in _current coin_.[15] Men
+like these are better pleased with the contemplation of the solid
+wealth in their possession, than with the means of making it glitter
+and attract the gaze of the world. They value ideas more than
+words--knowledge more than the _media_ of communication. They think it
+better, as Spurzheim on Education says, to have two ideas with one
+mode of expressing them, than one idea with two modes of expression.
+Such men as these then are apt, unless stimulated by very peculiar
+circumstances, to be deficient, first, in that variety requisite for
+agreeable conversation, and secondly, in the style and power of
+communicating their ideas to others.
+
+[Footnote 14: It is said that Dr. Smith was one day present, when the
+toast to "absent friends" was drank by the company. A friend who sat
+by the Doctor, told him that he had just been toasted, whereupon he
+thanked the company for the honor, and apologised for his absence of
+mind, very much of course to the amusement of his friends so well
+aware of his habits of abstraction.]
+
+[Footnote 15: The character of Oliver Cromwell in this respect is well
+known. He did not, during his whole parliamentary career, make one
+single lucid, perspicuous speech. In fact, his speaking was almost
+unintelligible; and yet his course of conduct, although that of an
+usurper and tyrant, marks most generally, clearness of judgment, and
+great decision of character. Of course I am not here considering his
+moral character, which was detestable.]
+
+Again, men of poetic or miscellaneous minds, possessing that varied
+store of knowledge and thought so well calculated to form the staple
+of conversation, may nevertheless, from various causes, be unable to
+make any display in the social circle. They may write beautifully
+whilst they converse badly. Addison's dulness in company is well
+known. Peter Corneille, who has been called the Shakspeare of France,
+it is said, did not _speak_ correctly that language of which he was so
+perfect a master in his composition. His answer to his friends, when
+laughing at his spoken language was, "_I am not the less Peter
+Corneille!_" Virgil is said to have been dull in the social circle. La
+Fontaine, whose writing was the very model of poetry, was coarse,
+heavy, and stupid in conversation. Chaucer's silence was said to be
+much more agreeable than his talking. And Dryden says of himself, "My
+conversation is slow and dull, my humor saturnine and reserved." Thus
+do we find that it is not only necessary that the mind should be
+stored with pleasing and varied knowledge, in order that we may
+converse well; but we must have besides the power of communicating
+that knowledge agreeably to others--a power which is by no means
+universally coupled with the knowledge.
+
+Let us then for a moment examine into the character of woman in this
+respect. We have already seen that she has more of the _proper
+materiel_ for conversation than man. If then her power and manner of
+communicating be better, she may certainly be pronounced his superior
+in the social circle. In the first place I would remark, that she has
+in general much less professional bias than man. When men arrive at
+the age of maturity, they generally engage in some one profession or
+occupation, which employs most of their time and exertion. Their
+intellectual characters are, to a very great degree, modelled by their
+employments. Hence an inaptitude to acquire what does not belong to
+one's business--an indocility upon all subjects not strictly
+professional. I recollect once to have been a member of a country
+debating society, in which we had divines, lawyers, doctors, farmers,
+schoolmasters, &c., and upon all topics discussed, it was easy to
+determine at once the profession of the speaker. You saw immediately
+the professional bias and the professional language and knowledge.
+Woman is in general, except so far as affected by her husband, free
+from this influence, which is so unfavorable to that varied and
+brilliant conversation suited to promiscuous society.
+
+Again, the social circle is the field in which woman wins her
+trophies, displays her accomplishments, and achieves her conquests.
+The art of pleasing by conversation is all and all to her. The power
+of colloquial display is her greatest accomplishment--her most
+irresistible weapon. Hence, while man in general aims to make himself
+plain and perspicuous, woman endeavors not only to be understood, but
+to delight and fascinate the hearer at the same time by her style and
+manner. "Man in conversation," says Rousseau, "has need of
+knowledge--woman of taste." We are instructed profoundly in a _few
+things_ by the conversation of an intelligent man. The conversation of
+woman embraces _many things_, and though we may not be profoundly
+instructed in any, yet we have a living and moving panoramic view
+presented to the mind, which sooths and charms it by the beauty,
+variety, and brilliancy of the parts. Rousseau was so struck with the
+differences between the sexes in conversation, that he seems (I think
+erroneously) to imagine a natural difference in this respect between
+them. "Women," says he, "have a more flexible tongue: they speak
+sooner, more easily, and more agreeably than men. They are accused of
+speaking more. That is just as it should be; this should be considered
+an ornament of the sex, and not a reproach. Their mouth and eyes have
+the same activity, and for the same reason."
+
+The occupations of women are generally of such a character as to allow
+full scope for their conversational talents, while their work is
+advancing. Knitting, sewing, &c. invite to a free use of the tongue,
+while the occupations of men will generally allow of no such
+indulgence. Moreover, the business of woman is oftener social; it can
+be carried on in society; whereas that of man cannot, being generally
+much more solitary. This difference in the occupations of the two,
+produces a much greater effect on the social differences between the
+sexes than most persons are aware of. Lastly, the greater _docility_
+of woman, her greater susceptibility to impression, have a tendency to
+generate more conversational talent than is developed in man. Woman,
+as we have frequently remarked, is made physically weaker than man;
+she is, therefore, dependent on him, and looks up to him as a
+protector. Man is the governing member of the human family all over
+the world. Woman submits to his guidance and direction. She adapts
+herself to him, and endeavors to conform to his nature. Hence a quiet
+submissiveness on the part of the weaker sex to control and dictation,
+even when very intelligent, and able to act for themselves. I have
+known intelligent women look up to their husbands for direction in
+most matters, and with pleasure submit to their will, when it was
+evident to the whole world that they were vastly superior in
+intellectual endowments to those whose dictation and direction they
+thus seemed to court. All a woman's ambition is for the promotion of
+her husband. Her own elevation is generally a secondary matter,
+because always derived from his. Shakspeare makes even the fiendish
+acts of Lady Macbeth, to proceed from a desire to elevate her own
+husband rather than herself. This condition of woman makes her more
+docile and susceptible of impression. Her nature becomes more pliant
+and flexible. At one period of her life she may be the wife of a
+divine, at another of a lawyer, and at a third of a physician: and she
+can quickly conform to these different natures with which she has to
+deal. Her docility is far superior to that of man. Mr. Stewart thinks
+that women learn languages even with greater quickness, and pronounce
+them much better than men. He says Fox spoke French better than any
+Englishman of his acquaintance, but he knew many females who spoke it
+better than he.
+
+Now this greater docility and susceptibility of impression, while it
+admirably adapts the weaker to the stronger sex, at the same time
+improves greatly the conversational powers of woman. She is alive to
+all that is passing around; she sees what our duller eyes fail to
+behold. She thus gathers more, and details it more vividly and
+impressively. While we are gathering general and stale news, she
+collects that which is more special and impressive. Every one who has
+ever been in the habit of paying what are called morning visits, with
+intelligent ladies, must have remarked the great difference between
+the sexes in this respect.
+
+Before leaving the subject of conversation, I shall take leave to make
+a few remarks on the practice so prevalent among the married and
+elderly gentlemen, of separating themselves from the rest of the
+company at dinner parties and evening gatherings, to talk among
+themselves on those topics more congenial to their feelings and
+business. Such an abstraction as this leaves the young to themselves,
+and frees them from a restraint which may sometimes be irksome, but is
+almost always salutary. The elderly portion are in the habit of
+excusing themselves, by saying the conversation of the young is too
+frivolous for their attention; that their tastes have changed, and
+they take now no pleasure in the gaieties, pastimes, and frivolities
+of youth. But they should recollect that this division is calculated
+to produce that very frivolity of which they complain. Separate the
+old and intelligent from the young and thoughtless, and you
+immediately give a loose to all the wild, buoyant feelings of youth.
+Lycurgus could never have succeeded in Sparta in enforcing so
+completely his celebrated system of laws, but for the public tables,
+which brought the old and young, intelligent and simple together. The
+young learned modesty in the presence of the old, and the ignorant
+imbibed wisdom from the instruction of the intelligent. If our most
+intelligent men would always mingle in the social circle, they would
+elevate the character of the topics discussed, while they would
+stimulate the young to more thought and intellectual exertion. The
+young would be improved by the instruction they would receive, and the
+laudable ambition that would be exerted by the example of the old and
+intelligent; and the latter would be compensated by the great
+improvement which social intercourse produces on all our finer
+feelings, tastes, and emotions, by the cultivation of talents which
+would otherwise become dormant and useless, and the consequent opening
+of new sources of enjoyment. But duty to the rising
+generation--particularly to that portion for whom we feel the warmest
+solicitude, because the weaker and more dependent--absolutely demands
+this intercourse. It would elevate the intellectual character of the
+sex, and thereby improve the general condition of society. Our wives
+and daughters would become fit companions for intelligent husbands,
+and the social circle would lose its unmeaning conversation and
+reckless frivolity in the presence of age and intelligence.
+
+The social circles of France are greatly improved by the free and
+unrestrained intercourse of all ages together. There is no man in
+Paris, it matters not what is his standing or intelligence, but has
+social ambition; he aims at distinction in conversation, at reputation
+in the social circle, no less than he does at winning trophies in the
+field, or fame in the senate chamber. The consequence is, that,
+frivolous as we consider that people as a nation, they far excel us in
+the social circle, both in the dignity of the topics discussed, and
+the ability displayed by both sexes, especially by the females, in
+conversation. Women who enjoy the society and conversation of the
+wittiest and greatest men of their country will themselves become
+witty and clever. "I was talking," says Bulwer in his France, "one
+evening with the master of the house where I had been dining, on some
+subject of trade and politics, which I engaged in unwillingly in the
+idea that it was not very likely to interest the lady. I was soon
+rather astonished, I confess, to find her enter into conversation with
+a knowledge of detail and a right perception of general principles
+which I did not expect. 'How do you think,' said she, when I afterward
+expressed my surprise, 'that I could meet my husband every evening at
+dinner, if I were not able to talk on the topics on which he has been
+employed in the morning.'" Let us then at least imitate the French in
+this particular, certain that it will in the process of time be
+productive of the most marked and happy result.
+
+For the same reason that woman surpasses man in conversation, she is
+superior to him in epistolary composition. Her letters are generally
+more varied, more lively and impressive, more replete with interesting
+facts and details, than those of our sex. A gentleman, in writing a
+mere letter of friendship, is engaged in a business which rather
+breaks in on his habits, and interrupts for a time the accustomed
+routine of his thoughts and tastes. He is very apt to run off upon the
+general news of the day, and commence prosing upon some subject which
+we would find perhaps infinitely better handled in the public prints
+than in his letter. He has no variety; he forgets to tell us of our
+friends, and of what they are doing and saying. He forgets that we
+have hearts, and thinks only of our heads. He omits to mention
+trifles, because he considers them "light as air," when some of these
+trifles might touch a chord that would vibrate to the heart, and fill
+the soul with joy and gratitude. When Mr. Dacre writes to the Duke of
+Fitzjames, in the Young Duke, and says in conclusion, "_Mary_ desires
+me to present her regards to you"--this was worth all the letter
+besides to the young duke; 'twas this he read over and over again, and
+forgot his estates and his debts, while his heart was reeling with
+gratitude for just this little kindness from _her_ whom he loved so
+devotedly. With woman, letter writing is in complete unison with her
+condition in society. The details of most interest to her
+correspondents are precisely those with which she is most conversant.
+She presents no mutilated picture; she gives that which delights. She
+is apt to know, too, the little Goshen of our hearts, and to pay all
+due attention to it. And she is sure to tell, as if by accident,
+precisely the _sweetest_ things in the world to _us_. She writes with
+ease, variety, and interest--because she pursues the course of the
+celebrated Madame de Sévigné, (who has never perhaps had an equal in
+our sex for epistolary composition.) "Il faut un peu entre bons amis,"
+says Madame de S. "laisser trotter les plumes comme elles veulent, la
+mienne a toujours la bride sur le cou."
+
+I had intended, before concluding my remarks on the intellectual
+differences of the sexes, to offer some considerations in favor of
+improving the system of female education; but my number has already
+expanded to a size greatly beyond my anticipations when I commenced
+it. This subject I must therefore postpone for the present, and resume
+it in my next, if my time and occupations will permit me.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+TO F----.
+
+
+  And could'st thou F---- then believe
+    That I had thought thy guileless heart
+  Would prompt thee meanly to deceive,
+    And stoop to play a treacherous part?
+
+  No, lady no!--I saw thee move,
+    Artless in unsuspecting youth;
+  That heart I saw had learn'd to love
+    The hallowed sanctity of _truth_.
+
+  Could F----'s throbbing bosom beat
+    Victims on victims to ensnare:
+  Point to the lovers at her feet,
+    And proudly count the captives there?
+
+  No, lady no! to honor true,
+    Thou would'st not--could'st not thus appear--
+  Triumphs like these would seem to you,
+    Too dearly purchased to be dear.
+
+  These, these are arts alone allied
+    To spirits yet akin to earth;
+  The generous soul with nobler pride
+    Spurns the poor trick, and trusts to worth.
+
+  Yes, lady yes! such worth as thine,
+    Which kindred worth and genius rules,
+  To baser spirits may resign
+    The mad idolatry of fools.
+
+H.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+TO MARY.
+
+  _Tune_.--Gramachree.
+
+
+  The vernal month comes on with flowers
+    To deck the plains around,
+  No more the frown of winter lowers,
+    Or chills the fertile ground.
+
+  The snow-white lily, nature's pride,
+    Now blooms in every vale,
+  The rose breathes fragrance far and wide,
+    And perfumes every gale.
+
+  The vocal thrush pours forth her note
+    To hail the gladsome morn,
+  And every warbler strains his throat,
+    From garden, brake, and thorn.
+
+  Come then, dear Mary, let us fly
+    To join the impassioned lay,
+  And pluck each flower whose modest eye
+    Just opens into day.
+
+  And whilst we view the sweetest charms
+    That grace the new born year,
+  I'll fold thee gently in my arms,
+    And crush each budding care.
+
+  I'll say the blush upon thy cheek
+    Outvies the rose's hue,
+  The lily blooming o'er the vale,
+    No purer is than you.
+
+  But soon kind nature's sweetest flowers
+    Will wither and decay,
+  And that bright glow which decks thy cheek,
+    Like them will fade away:
+
+  But let not this alarm thy peace,
+    Nor tremble at thy doom,
+  For though the flush of youth will cease,
+    Thy soul shall ever bloom.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+SONG.
+
+
+  I will twine me a wreath of life's withering flowers,
+    And bind with their brightness this aching heart,
+  And wear a smile through the long, long hours,
+    As if in their gladness I bore a part.
+
+  I will seek mid the gay and festive throng,
+    To check each thought of the love I cherished,
+  And playfully murmur his favorite song,
+    As if not a tone of its sweetness had perished.
+
+  Tho' the flowers of feeling are fallen and faded,
+    Yet the fragrance of memory may still remain:--
+  And the heart by their withered leaves o'ershaded,
+    May hide the wound though it nurse the pain.
+
+  And if ever we meet upon earth again,
+    He shall not know it by word or by token:
+  For the eye shall still sparkle, though only with pain,
+    And the lip wear a smile, while the heart may be broken.
+
+MORNA.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+REMEMBER ME, LOVE.
+
+By the late Mrs. ANN ROY, of Mathews county, Virginia.
+
+
+    When afar thou art roaming love,
+  In sunny climes where maidens' eyes
+  Beam bright as their own glowing skies,
+  Where lofty domes and scented bowers
+  Gleam with the golden orange flowers;
+  And many a column and fallen fane
+  Tell of Italia's buried fame:
+    Oh! then remember me, love!
+
+    When woo'd by the proud and gay, love,
+  And mirthful smiles and voices sweet,
+  As angel's lutes united meet
+  Thy eager ear, thy raptured glance,
+  As they pass thee by in the joyous dance,
+  Ah pause and think of the _lonely_ one,
+  Whose bosom throbs for _thee_ alone:
+    Oh! then remember me, love!
+
+    Fame's glittering wreath allures thee, love;
+  Ah, when thou bindest it round thy brow,
+  And heartless crowds around thee bow;
+  When stern ambition's meed is won,
+  Ah, think of her who urged thee on
+  To climb the proudest height of fame,
+  And carve thyself a deathless name:
+    Oh! then remember me, love!
+
+    And should grief or death assail me, love,
+  While thou art o'er the dark blue wave,
+  And carest not to soothe or save,
+  My latest sigh shall be breathed for thee,
+  On my fading lips thy name shall be,
+  And my dying words shall be a prayer
+  To heaven that thou mayest love me there:
+    Oh! then remember me, love!
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+TO SARAH.
+
+
+  When melancholy and alone,
+  I sit on some moss-covered stone
+    Beside a murm'ring stream;
+  I think I hear thy voice's sound
+  In every tuneful thing around,
+    Oh! what a pleasant dream.
+
+  The silvery streamlet gurgling on,
+  The mock-bird chirping on the thorn,
+    Remind me, love, of thee.
+  They seem to whisper thoughts of love,
+  As thou didst when the stars above
+    Witnessed thy vows to me;--
+
+  The gentle zephyr floating by,
+  In chorus to my pensive sigh,
+    Recalls the hour of bliss,
+  When from thy balmy lips I drew
+  Fragrance as sweet as Hermia's dew,
+    And left the first fond kiss.
+
+  In such an hour, when are forgot,
+  The world, its cares, and my own lot,
+    Thou seemest then to be,
+  A gentle guardian spirit given
+  To guide my wandering thoughts to heaven,
+    If they should stray from thee.
+
+SYLVIO.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+BON-BON--A TALE.
+
+BY EDGAR A. POE.
+
+"Notre Gulliver"--dit le Lord Bolingbroke--"a de telles
+fables."--_Voltaire_.
+
+
+That Pierre Bon-Bon was a Restaurateur of uncommon qualifications, no
+man who, during the reign of ----, frequented the little Câfé in the
+Cul-de-sac Le Febvre at Rouen, will, I imagine, feel himself at
+liberty to dispute. That Pierre Bon-Bon was, in an equal degree,
+skilled in the philosophy of that period is, I presume, still more
+especially undeniable. His _Patés à la fois_ were beyond doubt
+immaculate--but what pen can do justice to his essays _sur la
+Nature_--his thoughts _sur l'Ame_--his observations _sur l'Esprit_? If
+his _omelettes_--if his _fricandeaux_ were inestimable, what
+_literateur_ of that day would not have given twice as much for an
+'_Idée de Bon-Bon_' as for all the trash of all the '_Idées_' of all
+the rest of the _savants_? Bon-Bon had ransacked libraries which no
+other man had ransacked--had read more than any other would have
+entertained a notion of reading--had understood more than any other
+would have conceived the possibility of understanding; and although,
+while he flourished, there were not wanting some authors at Rouen, to
+assert "that his _dicta_ evinced neither the purity of the Academy,
+nor the depth of the Lyceum"--although, mark me, his doctrines were by
+no means very generally comprehended, still it did not follow that
+they were difficult of comprehension. It was, I think, on account of
+their entire self-evidency that many persons were led to consider them
+abstruse. It is to Bon-Bon--but let this go no farther--it is to
+Bon-Bon that Kant himself is mainly indebted for his metaphysics. The
+former was not indeed a Platonist, nor strictly speaking an
+Aristotelian--nor did he, like the modern Leibnitz, waste those
+precious hours which might be employed in the invention of a
+_fricassée_, or, _facili gradu_, the analysis of a sensation, in
+frivolous attempts at reconciling the obstinate oils and waters of
+ethical discussion. Not at all. Bon-Bon was Ionic. Bon-Bon was equally
+Italic. He reasoned _a priori_. He reasoned also _a posteriori_. His
+ideas were innate--or otherwise. He believed in George of Trebizond.
+He believed in Bossarion. Bon-Bon was emphatically a--Bon-Bonist.
+
+I have spoken of the philosopher in his capacity of Restaurateur. I
+would not however have any friend of mine imagine that in fulfilling
+his hereditary duties in that line, our hero wanted a proper
+estimation of their dignity and importance. Far from it. It was
+impossible to say in which branch of his duplicate profession he took
+the greater pride. In his opinion the powers of the mind held intimate
+connection with the capabilities of the stomach. By this I do not mean
+to insinuate a charge of gluttony, or indeed any other serious charge
+to the prejudice of the metaphysician. If Pierre Bon-Bon had his
+failings--and what great man has not a thousand?--if Pierre Bon-Bon, I
+say, had his failings, they were failings of very little
+importance--faults indeed which in other tempers have often been
+looked upon rather in the light of virtues. As regards one of these
+foibles I should not have mentioned it in this history but for the
+remarkable prominency--the extreme _alto relievo_ in which it jutted
+out from the plane of his general disposition. Bon-Bon could never let
+slip an opportunity of making a bargain.
+
+Not that Bon-Bon was avaricious--no. It was by no means necessary to
+the satisfaction of the philosopher, that the bargain should be to his
+own proper advantage. Provided a trade could be effected--a trade of
+any kind, upon any terms, or under any circumstances, a triumphant
+smile was seen for many days thereafter to enlighten his countenance,
+and a knowing wink of the eye to give evidence of his sagacity.
+
+At any epoch it would not be very wonderful if a humor so peculiar as
+the one I have just mentioned, should elicit attention and remark. At
+the epoch of our narrative, had this peculiarity _not_ attracted
+observation, there would have been room for wonder indeed. It was soon
+reported that upon all occasions of the kind, the smile of Bon-Bon was
+wont to differ widely from the downright grin with which that
+Restaurateur would laugh at his own jokes, or welcome an acquaintance.
+Hints were thrown out of an exciting nature--stories were told of
+perilous bargains made in a hurry and repented of at leisure--and
+instances were adduced of unaccountable capacities, vague longings,
+and unnatural inclinations implanted by the author of all evil for
+wise purposes of his own.
+
+The philosopher had other weaknesses--but they are scarcely worthy of
+our serious examination. For example, there are few men of
+extraordinary profundity who are found wanting in an inclination for
+the bottle. Whether this inclination be an exciting cause, or rather a
+valid proof of such profundity, it is impossible to say. Bon-Bon, as
+far as I can learn, did not think the subject adapted to minute
+investigation--nor do I. Yet in the indulgence of a propensity so
+truly classical, it is not to be supposed that the _Restaurateur_
+would lose sight of that intuitive discrimination which was wont to
+characterize, at one and the same time, his _Essais_ and his
+_Omelettes_. With him Sauterne was to Medoc what Catullus was to
+Homer. He would sport with a syllogism in sipping St. Peray, but
+unravel an argument over Clos de Vougeot, and upset a theory in a
+torrent of Chambertin. In his seclusions the Vin de Bourgogne had its
+allotted hour, and there were appropriate moments for the Côtes du
+Rhone. Well had it been if the same quick sense of propriety had
+attended him in the peddling propensity to which I have formerly
+alluded--but this was by no means the case. Indeed, to say the truth,
+_that_ trait of mind in the philosophic Bon-Bon _did_ begin at length
+to assume a character of strange intensity and mysticism, and, however
+singular it may seem, appeared deeply tinctured with the grotesque
+_diablerie_ of his favorite German studies.
+
+To enter the little _Café_ in the _Cul de Sac_ Le Febvre was, at the
+period of our tale, to enter the sanctum of a man of genius. Bon-Bon
+was a man of genius. There was not a _sous-cuisinier_ in Rouen, who
+could not have told you that Bon-Bon was a man of genius. His very cat
+knew it, and forbore to whisk her tail in the presence of the man of
+genius. His large water-dog was acquainted with the fact, and upon the
+approach of his master, betrayed his sense of inferiority by a
+sanctity of deportment, a debasement of the ears, and a dropping of
+the lower jaw not altogether unworthy of a dog. It is, however, true
+that much of this habitual respect might have been attributed to the
+personal appearance of the metaphysician. A distinguished exterior
+will, I am constrained to say, have its weight even with a beast; and
+I am willing to allow much in the outward man of the _Restaurateur_
+calculated to impress the imagination of the quadruped. There is a
+peculiar majesty about the atmosphere of the little great--if I may be
+permitted so equivocal an expression--which mere physical bulk alone
+will be found at all times inefficient in creating. If, however,
+Bon-Bon was barely three feet in height, and if his head was
+diminutively small, still it was impossible to behold the rotundity of
+his stomach without a sense of magnificence nearly bordering upon the
+sublime. In its size both dogs and men must have seen a type of his
+acquirements--in its immensity a fitting habitation for his immortal
+soul.
+
+I might here--if it so pleased me--dilate upon the matter of
+habiliment, and other mere circumstances of the external
+metaphysician. I might hint that the hair of our hero was worn short,
+combed smoothly over his forehead, and surmounted by a conical-shaped
+white flannel cap and tassels--that his pea-green jerkin was not after
+the fashion of those worn by the common class of _Restaurateurs_ at
+that day--that the sleeves were something fuller than the reigning
+costume permitted--that the cuffs were turned up, not as usual in that
+barbarous period, with cloth of the same quality and color as the
+garment, but faced in a more fanciful manner with the particolored
+velvet of Genoa--that his slippers were of a bright purple, curiously
+filagreed, and might have been manufactured in Japan, but for the
+exquisite pointing of the toes, and the brilliant tints of the binding
+and embroidery--that his breeches were of the yellow satin-like
+material called _aimable_--that his sky-blue cloak resembling in form
+a dressing-wrapper, and richly bestudded all over with crimson
+devices, floated cavalierly upon his shoulders like a mist of the
+morning--and that his _tout ensemble_ gave rise to the remarkable
+words of Benevenuta, the Improvisatrice of Florence, "that it was
+difficult to say whether Pierre Bon-Bon was indeed a bird of Paradise,
+or the rather a very Paradise of perfection."
+
+I have said that "to enter the _Café_ in the _Cul-de-Sac_ Le Febvre
+was to enter the sanctum of a man of genius"--but then it was only the
+man of genius who could duly estimate the merits of the sanctum. A
+sign consisting of a vast folio swung before the entrance. On one side
+of the volume was painted a bottle--on the reverse a _Paté_. On the
+back were visible in large letters the words _Æuvres de Bon-Bon_. Thus
+was delicately shadowed forth the two-fold occupation of the
+proprietor.
+
+Upon stepping over the threshold the whole interior of the building
+presented itself to view. A long, low-pitched room of antique
+construction was indeed all the accommodation afforded by the _Café_
+in the _Cul-de-Sac_ Le Febvre. In a corner of the apartment stood the
+bed of the metaphysician. An array of curtains, together with a canopy
+_à la Gréque_ gave it an air at once classic and comfortable. In the
+corner diagonally opposite appeared, in direct and friendly communion,
+the properties of the kitchen and the _bibliothéque_. A dish of
+polemics stood peacefully upon the dresser. Here lay an oven-full of
+the latest ethics--there a kettle of duodecimo _melanges_. Volumes of
+German morality were hand and glove with the gridiron--a toasting fork
+might be discovered by the side of Eusebius--Plato reclined at his
+ease in the frying pan--and cotemporary manuscripts were filed away
+upon the spit.
+
+In other respects the _Café_ de Bon-Bon might be said to differ little
+from the _Cafés_ of the period. A gigantic fire-place yawned opposite
+the door. On the right of the fire-place an open cupboard displayed a
+formidable array of labelled bottles. There Mousseux, Chambertin, St.
+George, Richbourg, Bordeaux, Margaux, Haubrion, Leonville, Medoc,
+Sauterne, Bârac, Preignac, Grave, Lafitte, and St. Peray contended
+with many other names of lesser celebrity for the honor of being
+quaffed. From the ceiling, suspended by a chain of very long slender
+links, swung a fantastic iron lamp, throwing a hazy light over the
+room, and relieving in some measure the placidity of the scene.
+
+It was here, about twelve o'clock one night, during the severe winter
+of ----, that Pierre Bon-Bon, after having listened for some time to
+the comments of his neighbors upon his singular propensity--that
+Pierre Bon-Bon, I say, having turned them all out of his house, locked
+the door upon them with a _sacre Dieu_, and betook himself in no very
+pacific mood to the comforts of a leather-bottomed arm-chair, and a
+fire of blazing faggots.
+
+It was one of those terrific nights which are only met with once or
+twice during a century. The snow drifted down bodily in enormous
+masses, and the _Café_ de Bon-Bon tottered to its very centre, with
+the floods of wind that, rushing through the crannies in the wall, and
+pouring impetuously down the chimney, shook awfully the curtains of
+the philosopher's bed, and disorganized the economy of his Paté-pans
+and papers. The huge folio sign that swung without, exposed to the
+fury of the tempest, creaked ominously, and gave out a moaning sound
+from its stanchions of solid oak.
+
+I have said that it was in no very placid temper the metaphysician
+drew up his chair to its customary station by the hearth. Many
+circumstances of a perplexing nature had occurred during the day, to
+disturb the serenity of his meditations. In attempting _Des Æufs à la
+Princesse_ he had unfortunately perpetrated an _Omelette à la
+Reine_--the discovery of a principle in Ethics had been frustrated by
+the overturning of a stew--and last, not least, he had been thwarted
+in one of those admirable bargains which he at all times took such
+especial delight in bringing to a successful termination. But in the
+chafing of his mind at these unaccountable vicissitudes, there did not
+fail to be mingled a degree of that nervous anxiety which the fury of
+a boisterous night is so well calculated to produce. Whistling to his
+more immediate vicinity the large black water-dog we have spoken of
+before, and settling himself uneasily in his chair, he could not help
+casting a wary and unquiet eye towards those distant recesses of the
+apartment whose inexorable shadows not even the red fire-light itself
+could more than partially succeed in overcoming.
+
+Having completed a scrutiny whose exact purpose was perhaps
+unintelligible to himself, Bon-Bon drew closer to his seat a small
+table covered with books and papers, and soon became absorbed in the
+task of retouching a voluminous manuscript, intended for publication
+on the morrow.
+
+"I am in no hurry, Monsieur Bon-Bon"--whispered a whining voice in the
+apartment.
+
+"The devil!"--ejaculated our hero, starting to his feet, overturning
+the table at his side, and staring around him in astonishment.
+
+"Very true"--calmly replied the voice.
+
+"Very true!--what is very true?--how came you here?"--vociferated the
+metaphysician, as his eye fell upon something which lay stretched at
+full length upon the bed.
+
+"I was saying"--said the intruder, without attending to Bon-Bon's
+interrogatories--"I was saying that I am not at all pushed for
+time--that the business upon which I took the liberty of calling is of
+no pressing importance--in short that I can very well wait until you
+have finished your Exposition."
+
+"My Exposition!--there now!--how do _you_ know--how came _you_ to
+understand that I was writing an Exposition?--good God!"
+
+"Hush!"--replied the figure in a shrill under tone; and arising
+quickly from the bed he made a single step towards our hero, while the
+iron lamp overhead swung convulsively back from his approach.
+
+The philosopher's amazement did not prevent a narrow scrutiny of the
+stranger's dress and appearance. The outlines of a figure, exceedingly
+lean, but much above the common height, were rendered minutely
+distinct by means of a faded suit of black cloth which fitted tight to
+the skin, but was otherwise cut very much in the style of a century
+ago. These garments had evidently been intended _a priori_ for a much
+shorter person than their present owner. His ankles and wrists were
+left naked for several inches. In his shoes, however, a pair of very
+brilliant buckles gave the lie to the extreme poverty implied by the
+other portions of his dress. His head was bare, and entirely bald,
+with the exception of the hinder part, from which depended a _queue_
+of considerable length. A pair of green spectacles, with side glasses,
+protected his eyes from the influence of the light, and at the same
+time prevented our hero from ascertaining either their color or their
+conformation. About the entire person there was no evidence of a
+shirt; but a white cravat, of filthy appearance, was tied with extreme
+precision around the throat, and the ends hanging down formally side
+by side, gave, although I dare say unintentionally, the idea of an
+ecclesiastic. Indeed, many other points both in his appearance and
+demeanor might have very well sustained a conception of that nature.
+Over his left ear he carried, after the fashion of a modern clerk, an
+instrument resembling the _stylus_ of the ancients. In a breast-pocket
+of his coat appeared conspicuously a small black volume fastened with
+clasps of steel. This book, whether accidentally or not, was so turned
+outwardly from the person as to discover the words "_Rituel
+Catholique_" in white letters upon the back. His entire physiognomy
+was interestingly saturnine--even cadaverously pale. The forehead was
+lofty and deeply furrowed with the ridges of contemplation. The
+corners of the mouth were drawn down into an expression of the most
+submissive humility. There was also a clasping of the hands, as he
+stepped towards our hero--a deep sigh--and altogether a look of such
+utter sanctity as could not have failed to be unequivocally
+prepossessing. Every shadow of anger faded from the countenance of the
+metaphysician, as, having completed a satisfactory survey of his
+visiter's person, he shook him cordially by the hand, and conducted
+him to a seat.
+
+There would however be a radical error in attributing this
+instantaneous transition of feeling in the philosopher to any one of
+those causes which might naturally be supposed to have had an
+influence. Indeed Pierre Bon-Bon, from what I have been able to
+understand of his disposition, was of all men the least likely to be
+imposed upon by any speciousness of exterior deportment. It was
+impossible that so accurate an observer of men and things should have
+failed to discover, upon the moment, the real character of the
+personage who had thus intruded upon his hospitality. To say no more,
+the conformation of his visiter's feet was sufficiently
+remarkable--there was a tremulous swelling in the hinder part of his
+breeches--and the vibration of his coat tail was a palpable fact.
+Judge then with what feelings of satisfaction our hero found himself
+thrown thus at once into the society of a--of a person for whom he had
+at all times entertained such unqualified respect. He was, however,
+too much of the diplomatist to let escape him any intimation of his
+suspicions, or rather--I should say--his certainty in regard to the
+true state of affairs. It was not his cue to appear at all conscious
+of the high honor he thus unexpectedly enjoyed, but by leading his
+guest into conversation, to elicit some important ethical ideas which
+might, in obtaining a place in his contemplated publication, enlighten
+the human race, and at the same time immortalize himself--ideas which,
+I should have added, his visiter's great age, and well known
+proficiency in the science of Morals might very well have enabled him
+to afford.
+
+Actuated by these enlightened views our hero bade the gentleman sit
+down, while he himself took occasion to throw some faggots upon the
+fire, and place upon the now re-established table some bottles of the
+powerful _Vin de Mousseux_. Having quickly completed these operations,
+he drew his chair _vis a vis_ to his companion's, and waited until he
+should open the conversation. But plans even the most skilfully
+matured are often thwarted in the outset of their application, and the
+_Restaurateur_ found himself entirely _nonplused_ by the very first
+words of his visiter's speech.
+
+"I see you know me, Bon-Bon,"--said he:--"ha! ha! ha!--he! he!
+he!--hi! hi! hi!--ho! ho! ho!--hu! hu! hu!"--and the devil, dropping
+at once the sanctity of his demeanor, opened to its fullest extent a
+mouth from ear to ear so as to display a set of jagged, and fang-like
+teeth, and throwing back his head, laughed long, loud, wickedly, and
+uproariously, while the black dog crouching down upon his haunches
+joined lustily in the chorus, and the tabby cat, flying off at a
+tangent stood up on end and shrieked in the farthest corner of the
+apartment.
+
+Not so the philosopher: he was too much a man of the world either to
+laugh like the dog, or by shrieks to betray the indecorous trepidation
+of the cat. It must be confessed, however, that he felt a little
+astonishment to see the white letters which formed the words "_Rituel
+Catholique_" on the book in his guest's pocket momentarily changing
+both their color and their import, and in a few seconds in place of
+the original title, the words _Regitre des Condamnés_ blaze forth in
+characters of red. This startling circumstance, when Bon-Bon replied
+to his visiter's remark, imparted to his manner an air of
+embarrassment which might not probably have otherwise been observable.
+
+"Why, sir,"--said the philosopher--"why, sir, to speak sincerely--I
+believe you _are_--upon my word--the d----dest--that is to say I
+think--I imagine--I _have_ some faint--some _very_ faint idea--of the
+remarkable honor----"
+
+"Oh!--ah!--yes!--very well!"--interrupted his majesty--"say no more--I
+see how it is." And hereupon, taking off his green spectacles, he
+wiped the glasses carefully with the sleeve of his coat, and deposited
+them in his pocket.
+
+If Bon-Bon had been astonished at the incident of the book, his
+amazement was now increased to an intolerable degree by the spectacle
+which here presented itself to view. In raising his eyes, with a
+strong feeling of curiosity to ascertain the color of his guest's, he
+found them by no means black, as he had anticipated--nor gray, as
+might have been imagined--nor yet hazel nor blue--nor indeed yellow,
+nor red--nor purple--nor white--nor green--nor any other color in the
+heavens above, or in the earth beneath, or in the waters under the
+earth. In short Pierre Bon-Bon not only saw plainly that his majesty
+had no eyes whatsoever, but could discover no indications of their
+having existed at any previous period, for the space where eyes should
+naturally have been, was, I am constrained to say, simply a dead level
+of cadaverous flesh.
+
+It was not in the nature of the metaphysician to forbear making some
+inquiry into the sources of so strange a phenomenon, and to his
+surprise the reply of his majesty was at once prompt, dignified, and
+satisfactory.
+
+"Eyes!--my dear Bon-Bon, eyes! did you say?--oh! ah! I perceive. The
+ridiculous prints, eh? which are in circulation, have given you a
+false idea of my personal appearance. Eyes!!--true. Eyes, Pierre
+Bon-Bon, are very well in their proper place--_that_, you would say,
+is the head--right--the head of a worm. To _you_ likewise these optics
+are indispensable--yet I will convince you that my vision is more
+penetrating than your own. There is a cat, I see, in the corner--a
+pretty cat!--look at her!--observe her well. Now, Bon-Bon, do you
+behold the thoughts--the thoughts, I say--the ideas--the
+reflections--engendering in her pericranium?
+
+"There it is now!--you do not. She is thinking we admire the
+profundity of her mind. She has just concluded that I am the most
+distinguished of ecclesiastics, and that you are the most superfluous
+of metaphysicians. Thus you see I am not altogether blind: but to one
+of my profession the eyes you speak of would be merely an incumbrance,
+liable at any time to be put out by a toasting iron or a pitchfork. To
+you, I allow, these optics are indispensable. Endeavor, Bon-Bon, to
+use them well--_my_ vision is the soul."
+
+Hereupon the guest helped himself to the wine upon the table, and
+pouring out a bumper for Bon-Bon, requested him to drink it without
+scruple, and make himself perfectly at home.
+
+"A clever book that of yours, Pierre"--resumed his majesty, tapping
+our friend knowingly upon the shoulder, as the latter set down his
+glass after a thorough compliance with this injunction.
+
+"A clever book that of yours, upon my honor. It's a work after my own
+heart. Your arrangement of matter, I think, however, might be
+improved, and many of your notions remind me of Aristotle. That
+philosopher was one of my most intimate acquaintances. I liked him as
+much for his terrible ill temper, as for his happy knack at making a
+blunder. There is only one solid truth in all that he has written, and
+for that I gave him the hint out of pure compassion for his absurdity.
+I suppose, Pierre Bon-Bon, you very well know to what divine moral
+truth I am alluding."
+
+"Cannot say that I----"
+
+"Indeed!--why I told Aristotle that by sneezing men expelled
+superfluous ideas through the proboscis."
+
+"Which is--hiccup!--undoubtedly the case"--said the metaphysician,
+while he poured out for himself another bumper of Mousseux, and
+offered his snuff-box to the fingers of his visiter.
+
+"There was Plato too"--continued his majesty, modestly declining the
+snuff-box and the compliment--"there was Plato, too, for whom I, at
+one time, felt all the affection of a friend. You knew Plato,
+Bon-Bon?--ah! no, I beg a thousand pardons. He met me at Athens, one
+day, in the Parthenon, and told me he was distressed for an idea. I
+bade him write down that '_o nous estin augos_.' He said that he would
+do so, and went home, while I stepped over to the Pyramids. But my
+conscience smote me for the lie, and, hastening back to Athens, I
+arrived behind the philosopher's chair as he was inditing the
+'_augos_.' Giving the gamma a fillip with my finger I turned it upside
+down. So the sentence now reads '_o nous estin aulos_,' and is, you
+perceive, the fundamental doctrine of his metaphysics."
+
+"Were you ever at Rome?"--asked the _Restaurateur_ as he finished his
+second bottle of Mousseux, and drew from the closet a larger supply of
+Vin de Chambertin.
+
+"But once, Monsieur Bon-Bon--but once. There was a time"--said the
+devil, as if reciting some passage from a book--"'there was an anarchy
+of five years during which the republic, bereft of all its officers,
+had no magistracy besides the tribunes of the people, and these were
+not legally vested with any degree of executive power'--at that time,
+Monsieur Bon-Bon--at that time _only_ I was in Rome, and I have no
+earthly acquaintance, consequently, with any of its philosophy."[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: Ils ecrivalent sur la Philosophie (_Cicero_, _Lucretius_,
+_Seneca_) mais c'etait la Philosophie Grécque.--_Condorcet_.]
+
+"What do you think of Epicurus?--what do you think
+of--hiccup!--Epicurus?"
+
+"What do I think of _whom_?"--said the devil in astonishment--"you
+cannot surely mean to find any fault with Epicurus! What do I think of
+Epicurus! Do you mean me, sir?--_I_ am Epicurus. I am the same
+philosopher who wrote each of the three hundred treatises commemorated
+by Diogenes Laertes."
+
+"That's a lie!"--said the metaphysician, for the wine had gotten a
+little into his head.
+
+"Very well!--very well, sir!--very well indeed, sir"--said his
+majesty.
+
+"That's a lie!"--repeated the Restaurateur dogmatically--"that's
+a--hiccup!--lie!"
+
+"Well, well! have it your own way"--said the devil pacifically: and
+Bon-Bon, having beaten his majesty at an argument, thought it his duty
+to conclude a second bottle of Chambertin.
+
+"As I was saying"--resumed the visiter--"as I was observing a little
+while ago, there are some very _outré_ notions in that book of yours,
+Monsieur Bon-Bon. What, for instance, do you mean by all that humbug
+about the soul? Pray, sir, what is the soul?"
+
+"The--hiccup!--soul"--replied the metaphysician, referring to his MS.
+"is undoubtedly"--
+
+"No, sir!"
+
+"Indubitably"--
+
+"No, sir!"
+
+"Indisputably"--
+
+"No, sir!"
+
+"Evidently"--
+
+"No, sir!"
+
+"Incontrovertibly"--
+
+"No, sir!"
+
+"Hiccup!"--
+
+"No, sir!"
+
+"And beyond all question a"--
+
+"No, sir! the soul is no such thing." (Here the philosopher finished
+his third bottle of Chambertin.)
+
+"Then--hic-cup!--pray--sir--what--what is it?"
+
+"That is neither here nor there, Monsieur Bon-Bon," replied his
+majesty, musingly. "I have tasted--that is to say I have known some
+very bad souls, and some too--pretty good ones." Here the devil licked
+his lips, and, having unconsciously let fall his hand upon the volume
+in his pocket, was seized with a violent fit of sneezing.
+
+His majesty continued.
+
+"There was the soul of
+Cratinus--passable:--Aristophanes--racy:--Plato--exquisite:--not
+_your_ Plato, but Plato the comic poet: your Plato would have turned
+the stomach of Cerberus--faugh! Then let me see! there were Noevius,
+and Andronicus, and Plautus, and Terentius. Then there were Lucilius,
+and Catullus, and Naso, and Quintius Flaccus--dear Quinty! as I called
+him when he sung a _seculare_ for my amusement, while I toasted him in
+pure good humor on a fork. But they want _flavor_ these Romans. One
+fat Greek is worth a dozen of them, and besides will _keep_, which
+cannot be said of a Quirite. Let us taste your Sauterne."
+
+Bon-Bon had by this time made up his mind to the _nil admirari_, and
+endeavored to hand down the bottles in question. He was, however,
+conscious of a strange sound in the room like the wagging of a tail.
+Of this, although extremely indecent in his majesty, the philosopher
+took no notice--simply kicking the black water dog and requesting him
+to be quiet. The visiter continued.
+
+"I found that Horace tasted very much like Aristotle--you know I am
+fond of variety. Terentius I could not have told from Menander. Naso,
+to my astonishment, was Nicander in disguise. Virgilius had a strong
+twang of Theocritus. Martial put me much in mind of Archilochus--and
+Titus Livy was positively Polybius and none other."
+
+"Hic--cup!"--here replied Bon-Bon, and his majesty proceeded.
+
+"But if I _have a penchant_, Monsieur Bon-Bon,--if I _have a
+penchant_, it is for a philosopher. Yet let me tell you, sir, it is
+not every dev-- I mean it is not every gentleman who knows how to
+_choose_ a philosopher. Long ones are _not_ good, and the best, if not
+carefully shelled, are apt to be a little rancid on account of the
+gall."
+
+"Shelled!!"
+
+"I mean taken out of the carcass."
+
+"What do you think of a--hiccup!--physician?"
+
+"_Don't_ mention them!--ugh! ugh!" (Here his majesty retched
+violently.) "I never tasted but one--that rascal Hippocrates!--smelt
+of asafoetida--ugh! ugh! ugh!--caught a wretched cold washing him in
+the Styx--and after all he gave me the cholera morbus."
+
+"The--hiccup!--wretch!"--ejaculated Bon-Bon--"the--hic-cup!--abortion
+of a pill-box!"--and the philosopher dropped a tear.
+
+"After all"--continued the visiter--"after all, if a dev-- if a
+gentleman wishes to _live_ he must have more talents than one or two,
+and with us a fat face is an evidence of diplomacy."
+
+"How so?"
+
+"Why we are sometimes exceedingly pushed for provisions. You must know
+that in a climate so sultry as mine, it is frequently impossible to
+keep a spirit alive for more than two or three hours; and after death,
+unless pickled immediately, (and a pickled spirit is _not_ good,) they
+will--smell--you understand, eh? Putrefaction is always to be
+apprehended when the spirits are consigned to us in the usual way."
+
+"Hiccup!--hiccup!--good God! how _do_ you manage?"
+
+Here the iron lamp commenced swinging with redoubled violence, and the
+devil half started from his seat--however with a slight sigh he
+recovered his composure, merely saying to our hero in a low tone, "I
+tell you what, Pierre Bon-Bon, we _must_ have no more swearing."
+
+Bon-Bon swallowed another bumper, and his visiter continued.
+
+"Why there are _several_ ways of managing. The most of us starve: some
+put up with the pickle. For my part I purchase my spirits _vivente
+corpore_, in which case I find they keep very well."
+
+"But the body!--hiccup!--the body!!!"--vociferated the philosopher, as
+he finished a bottle of Sauterne.
+
+"The body, the body--well what of the body?--oh! ah! I perceive. Why,
+sir, the body is not _at all_ affected by the transaction. I have made
+innumerable purchases of the kind in my day, and the parties never
+experienced any inconvenience. There were Cain, and Nimrod, and Nero,
+and Caligula, and Dionysius, and Pisistratus, and--and a thousand
+others, who never knew what it was to have a soul during the latter
+part of their lives; yet, sir, these men adorned society. Why is'nt
+there A----, now, whom you know as well as I? Is _he_ not in
+possession of all his faculties, mental and corporeal? Who writes a
+keener epigram? Who reasons more wittily? Who----but, stay! I have his
+agreement in my pocket-book."
+
+Thus saying he produced a red leather wallet, and took from it a
+number of papers. Upon some of these Bon-Bon caught a glimpse of the
+letters MACHI----, MAZA----, RICH----, and the words CALIGULA and
+ELIZABETH. His majesty selected a narrow slip of parchment, and from
+it read aloud the following words:
+
+"In consideration of certain mental endowments which it is unnecessary
+to specify; and in farther consideration of one thousand _louis d'or_,
+I, being aged one year and one month, do hereby make over to the
+bearer of this agreement all my right, title, and appurtenance in the
+shadow called my soul." (Signed) A----[2] (Here his majesty repeated a
+name which I do not feel myself justifiable in indicating more
+unequivocally.)
+
+[Footnote 2: Quære--Arouet?--_Editor_.]
+
+"A clever fellow that A----"--resumed he; "but like you, Monsieur
+Bon-Bon, he was mistaken about the soul. The soul a shadow truly!--no
+such nonsense, Monsieur Bon-Bon. The soul a shadow!! ha! ha! ha!--he!
+he! he!--hu! hu! hu! Only think of a fricasséed shadow!"
+
+"_Only_ think--hiccup!--of a f-r-i-c-a-s-s-e-e-d s-h-a-d-ow!!" echoed
+our hero, whose faculties were becoming gloriously illuminated by the
+profundity of his majesty's discourse.
+
+"Only think of a--hiccup!--fricasseed shadow!!! Now
+damme!--hiccup!--humph!--if _I_ would have been such
+a--hiccup!--nincompoop! _My_ soul, Mr.--humph!"
+
+"_Your_ soul, Monsieur Bon-Bon?"
+
+"Yes, sir--hiccup!--_my_ soul is"--
+
+"What, sir!"
+
+"_No_ shadow, damme!"
+
+"Did not mean to say"--
+
+"Yes, sir, _my_ soul is--hiccup!--humph!--yes, sir."
+
+"Did not intend to assert"--
+
+"_My_ soul is--hiccup!--peculiarly qualified for--hiccup!--a"--
+
+"What, sir?"
+
+"Stew."
+
+"Ha!"
+
+"Souflée."
+
+"Eh?"
+
+"Fricassée."
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+"Ragout or Fricandeau--and I'll let you have it--hiccup!--a bargain."
+
+"Could'nt think of such a thing," said his majesty calmly, at the same
+time arising from his seat. The metaphysician stared.
+
+"Am supplied at present," said his majesty.
+
+"Hiccup!--e-h?"--said the philosopher.
+
+"Have no funds on hand."
+
+"What!"
+
+"Besides, very ungentlemanly in me"--
+
+"Sir!"
+
+"To take advantage of"--
+
+"Hiccup!"
+
+"Your present situation."
+
+Here his majesty bowed and withdrew--in what manner the philosopher
+could not precisely ascertain--but in a well-concerted effort to
+discharge a bottle at "the villain," the slender chain was severed
+that depended from the ceiling, and the metaphysician prostrated by
+the downfall of the lamp.
+
+
+
+
+THE UNITIES.
+
+
+Aristotle's name is supposed to be authority for the three unities.
+The only one of which he speaks decisively is the unity of action.
+With regard to the unity of time he merely throws out an indefinite
+hint. Of the unity of place not one word does he say.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+LINES IN REMEMBRANCE OF THOS. H. WHITE,
+
+Who died in Richmond, Va. October 7, 1832, aged 19 years.
+
+
+    When nations prosper, they grow proud and vain,
+  And give the reins to luxury and pleasure,
+  Spurn their Creator and defy his power:
+  To check their pride, Jehovah from his throne,
+  Scatters his judgments o'er a guilty world.
+  Forth from that idol land, where on the Ganges,
+  The Mother to false Gods devotes her offspring,
+  Or mounts the funeral pile--o'er half the earth
+  Speedeth the Pestilence. Nor cold, nor heat,
+  Mountains nor seasons can its course arrest.
+  Realm after realm hath bowed beneath its power,
+  Till o'er the vast Atlantic to our shores
+  It brings the work of death. In early life
+  I fell a victim to this deadly foe.
+    Thanks to that blessed volume, which hath brought
+  Light, Life and Immortality to Man,
+  Death has no terror to the heir of heaven--
+  It is the portal to his Father's throne.
+  This world is full of care, and toil, and suff'ring;
+  Its joys are transient, vain and fleeting all,
+  Illusive as a shadow. Happy he
+  At peace with God, who quits it earliest
+  For purer bliss. Rather rejoice than mourn
+  That I so soon have earth exchanged for heaven.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+A MANIAC'S ADDRESS TO THE MOON.
+
+
+  Thou pale!--thou beautiful!--to thee I kneel,
+    Watching thy wandering thro' yon dark blue sky
+  In silent gaze--as if my heart could feel
+    Deep adoration for thee, and was nigh
+  To a bright being that had look'd on me
+  Ev'n from the first days of my infancy.
+
+  Is it not so? Near to those yellow shores
+    Where roll my native streams, oh! hast thou not
+  Seen my young pleasures, when our busy oars
+    O'er the cool wave at dusky night would sport
+  On that bright pathway where thy silvery beam
+  Fell beautiful upon the glossy stream.
+
+  When thou didst rise at evening's twilight hour,
+    A mighty crescent o'er the broken tower,
+  Then would I wander 'neath the crumbling wall,
+    Or chase my playmates thro' the ruined hall,
+  Nor fearing any Spectre-Knight would play
+  His frightful gambols in thy harmless ray.
+
+  Away--away!--and when we there did sweep
+    The deep black billows of the roaring ocean,
+  Still high amid the heavens thou didst keep
+    Steady and bright; and with a wild emotion
+  Guiarra trembling did look up to thee
+  To guide him safely o'er that dismal sea,
+  And kindly light his weary hands to spread
+  The rattling canvass o'er his giddy head.
+
+  These skies are foreign, and I tread the ground
+    My fathers saw not: yet while thou art flinging
+  Upon the hills, the woods, the vales around
+    Thy gentle beam, ev'n though my heart be clinging
+  To other lands, still it can hold most dear
+  This stranger home since it can meet thee here.
+
+  We'll climb yon hill--we'll wander o'er yon plain--
+    We'll skim yon lake: Moon! we will roam together
+  Till mother earth call home her child again:
+    Then part we!--part we! fair Moon!--aye, for ever!
+  'Tis not for a bright thing like thee to glow
+  In the deep shades where the departed go.
+
+  Yet thou canst look upon the road that leads
+    To my far dwelling place: there will be flowers
+  And fresh green blades, and moss, and harmless weeds
+    To point the passage. Oh! at midnight hours
+  Wilt thou not smile upon those things that bloom
+  All wild, all heedlessly above my tomb?
+
+  I sit, and weave beneath thy gentle light
+    A wreath of cypress and of roses bright,
+  And ere it wither, or its glow be fled,
+    I'll gaily bind it round my dying head.
+  'Twill still the throbbing of my fever'd brow
+    To wear those flowers pluck'd from the tender stem
+  Where they were springing beautiful--and thou
+  As beautiful wast shining above _them_.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+TO AN INFANT NEPHEW IN ENGLAND.
+
+By the late Mrs. ANN ROY, of Mathews county, Virginia.
+
+
+  Tho' Ocean's _pride_ be thy home, my boy,
+  I have heard thy laugh of infant joy;
+  Tho' Albion's breezes fan thy rest,
+  I have seen thee smile on thy mother's breast.
+
+  Like the forms that float in the summer heaven,
+  Fair Fancy's dreams have often given
+  Thy cherub beauty to my sight
+  Than those fairy tints more soft, more bright.
+
+  Yes, I have watched in sleep thine eye,
+  More darkly blue than the starlit sky,
+  By thy fringed lids now hid--now beaming
+  Like harebells mid a snow-wreath gleaming.
+
+  And I've longed thy ruby lip to press,
+  And I've sighed thy sunny brow to bless,
+  And to teach thee thy father's land to love,
+  So come o'er the wave, my island dove!
+
+  For here the sun doth brightly beam
+  Mid the feathery foam of the mountain stream,
+  And o'er the lake's clear beautiful face,
+  The dark trees bend with a shadowy grace.
+
+  And in rosy bowers the Eglantine
+  With the golden blossoms of Jasmine twine,
+  And the fruits and flowers wear a brighter hue,
+  And the heavens look on us more cloudlessly blue;
+
+  And from each hearth at the quiet even,
+  The voice of prayer ascends to heaven;
+  And the wild birds carol with joyous glee,
+  In our own fair land of the happy and free.
+
+  Come list to the music of every rill,
+  Which sends through our bosoms a magical thrill;
+  Dream not of the depths of the dark blue sea,
+  For the heavens will surely smile on thee.
+
+  Sweet scion of Columbia's race,
+  Come to thy kindred's fond embrace!
+  Come to the land once thy parents home,
+  Never again from her shores to roam!
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+LINES.
+
+BY ALEX. LACEY BEARD.
+
+
+  O! there are many brilliant things
+    To light this darksome life,
+  And many bright imaginings
+    With wild enjoyment rife.
+  The flashing of the sparkling stream--
+    The billows bounding free--
+  The glittering of the sunny beam
+    Upon the dark green sea.
+  The lightning flash that rends the air--
+    The meteor's dazzling light
+  That fiercely gleams with fitful glare
+    Amid the starless night.
+
+  And there are many lovely things
+    That grace the smiling earth--
+  The gushing of a thousand springs--
+    The laughing streamlet's mirth--
+  The swift deer bounding through the wood--
+    The merry singing bird;--
+  Its sweet tones in the solitude
+    Of lonely forests heard.
+  The greenwood and the grassy plain--
+    The silent mountain glen
+  Where nature sways her wild domain,
+    Far from the haunts of men.
+
+  The mountain where the cedars high
+    Bend to the passing breeze--
+  The murm'ring pines that softly sigh--
+    The music of the trees--
+  The sparkling dew-drop on the grass--
+    The river's golden sand--
+  The flitting of the shades which pass
+    In grandeur o'er the land.
+  The whippoorwill's sad cry at night,
+    Heard from some lonely dell--
+  The streaming of the pale moonlight,
+    Old nature's magic spell.
+
+  The rainbow's arch that spans the sky--
+    The shining stars above--
+  The glancing of a kindling eye--
+    The tones of one we love.
+  The glowing kiss all fondly pressed
+    On lips both warm and true--
+  The beating of a tender breast,
+    Which only throbs for you.
+  These gild with sunshine and delight
+    The paths of life, and throw
+  Upon its darkling streams a bright,
+    And never fading glow.
+
+
+
+
+By what _bizzarrerie_ does it happen that Sardanapalus is discovered
+in Greek literature under the name of Tenos Concoleros?
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+EXTRACTS FROM MY MEXICAN JOURNAL.
+
+Visit to Tescuco--Bath of Tescusingo--Otumba--Aqueduct of
+Zempoala--Agave Americana--Pyramids of Teotihuacán.
+
+
+DECEMBER 25, 1825. Mr. P. and myself left Mexico at half past nine
+this morning for _Tescuco_. We travelled in a Mexican coach, equipped
+in the usual style, and loaded with the usual encumbrances of beds,
+&c. Following the road which leads towards _Vera Cruz_ as far as the
+little Indian town of _Los Reyes_, we there left it to cross the dry
+bed of the lake of _Tescuco_, upon the border of which we had been
+riding, to the small village of _La Magdalena_; and soon reached a
+pretty and well cultivated country, strewed thickly with villages and
+farmhouses (_haciendas_). After passing Chiquluapa and Quautlalpa, we
+again were in view of the lake, which an intervening ridge had
+intercepted. On the left, less than a league from Tescuco, is the fine
+_hacienda_ of Chapingo, owned by the Marquis of Vivanco. Between this
+and the town, we passed what is called "El puente de los
+Bergantines"--a pile of strongly cemented stone, through which the
+road is cut, presenting not the slightest resemblance to a bridge. But
+this is classic ground, for here Cortes is said to have launched his
+vessels into the lake upon that memorable occasion which preceded the
+destruction and capture of the seat of the Mexican Empire. On entering
+a place so celebrated in the histories of the Conquest, the wretched
+adobe-built houses near the gate of the town, might well diminish the
+enthusiasm of the traveller and the antiquarian, were not his
+attention caught by a large artificial pile, now in ruins, without the
+gate to the right. Every thing connected with this remarkable people
+is interesting, even although the remaining vestiges are too slight to
+enable one to trace them distinctly and satisfactorily. Such is the
+nature of this ruin; but the presumption may not be altogether
+unfounded, that this was the site of an ancient temple, and perhaps
+the centre of this once great city.
+
+We arrived at two o'clock, the distance from Mexico being seven
+leagues by the route we were obliged to travel, but only five across
+the lake. After an introduction to the ladies of the house, to which
+we had been kindly invited, we were conducted to the cock-pit, where
+we were presented to our host. We found it filled with men, women, and
+children, all taking a lively interest in the scene; but as we were
+less ardent sportsmen, we soon left the place, eager to commence our
+rambles in search of antiquities.
+
+We were directed first to the Aduana--custom house--in the _patio_ or
+court of which lay a coiled rattlesnake, tolerably well sculptured out
+of a block of gray porphyry--its head, however, appeared
+disproportionally large. It still wears the mark of paint, although it
+has been exposed many years to the weather. Several other figures were
+shown to us--one a female with a finely turned shoulder--another was
+the arms of Spain, made probably shortly after the conquest--the rest
+were imperfect. Thence we were conducted to a house, outside the door
+of which was planted for a seat, a part of a human figure, of large
+size. In the degraded position it occupied, we could form no opinion
+of its excellence.
+
+Thence we strolled to what is called the palace of the Tescucan kings.
+Its site fills the western side of the _Plaza_. Traces of its great
+extent are every where visible, but not clearly defined, for the
+ground it covered has been long cultivated, and a part of it is
+planted in _magueyes_. Several large stones still retain the position
+they must have occupied in the edifice--those which no doubt formed a
+corner, being squared and cut nicely, in a manner which would not be
+discreditable to the workmen of the present day in Mexico. At regular
+distances of about fifteen feet were placed others, the upper surfaces
+of which are rounded irregularly. In an excavation distant a few paces
+is a portion of a column, so covered that we could not discover its
+dimensions. If a conjecture can be hazarded, these stones were parts
+of corridors, supported by stone columns--possibly an excavation may
+disclose apartments below. It is, however, futile to form plans upon
+such insufficient data. The cutting of a ditch through the western
+section of the ruins, has exposed to view stones curiously scooped
+out, as if for the use of the founder; and near the centre of the
+square is another of a different figure, cut apparently for the same
+purpose--perhaps to mould a kettle which should rest on three corners
+or feet--the bottom hollowed. We continued our investigations until
+nearly dark, when we walked to the church of _San Francisco_, near by,
+in the pavement before the door of which, are several of these
+anciently wrought stones--some of very large dimensions--one is
+circular with a carved surface, but so much worn that we could not
+trace its figures.
+
+The walls of the fortress which Cortes is represented to have
+constructed for his quarters, were next shown to us. Their height is
+about twenty feet--their width at the base about six or seven,
+decreasing towards the top. Some pronounce this the work of a more
+remote age, but the manner of its construction is sufficient evidence
+to the contrary. That it is a work of the Conqueror is a more
+reasonable conjecture, though even this is beset with difficulties.
+The time Cortes is said to have occupied the city of _Tescuco_,
+appears too short to have completed so huge a building: to this,
+however, it may be said, that he possessed ample means, with so many
+thousand Indians under his orders. But where was the necessity of
+raising such strong walls against adversaries so feeble, when, without
+so much severe labor, he might have defended himself equally well, and
+in the event of his being compelled to abandon it, he would have
+encountered less difficulty in recovering possession of it?
+
+Thence we proceeded some distance--the moon shone brightly--to see
+other remains of an ancient structure, but being unsuccessful in our
+search, we returned to the house of our kind friends, the Camperos.
+
+The town of _Tescuco_ now contains about 5,000 inhabitants--the houses
+are of one story only--with regular but unpaved streets, not very
+neat. Its modern mediocrity must contrast strongly with its ancient
+magnificence, if the early historians of Mexico are to be credited.
+During the revolution a ditch was dug around it, in order to repel the
+attacks of cavalry. It was assailed several times, and suffered some
+injury. It is by no means a pretty town, but is situated amid a pretty
+country, and supplied with good water.
+
+DEC. 26. We appointed to-day to visit the mountain of _Tescusingo_.
+Before setting out, we made another circuit about the town, and found
+on a wall in front of one of the churches, a circular stone, the
+circumference of which was curiously carved. Near the northwestern
+corner of the _Plaza_ is a well constructed arch of _tetzontli_,
+cemented with lime, which had been discovered in opening a ditch--the
+extent and purpose of it are alike unknown. We next visited the house
+of the Most Holy Trinity, La Casa de la Santissima Trinidad, to
+examine an arch of stone, said to have been taken from the ruins of
+the palace. Its figure is beautiful--the whole is well wrought--and
+would do credit to any edifice. If an antique, of which there seems
+very little doubt, it proves beyond any thing I have yet seen, the
+civilized state which the Indians of Mexico had attained prior to the
+conquest. The arch of three pieces, and four stones which support it,
+believed to have once formed a portal in the palace, are perfect. The
+latter now are the sides of an entrance to a stable, the arch lies
+neglected in the yard--two stones are wanting to complete the supports
+to the arch.
+
+We continued our walk to the ruins of an extensive building, upon
+which are growing numerous plants of the _maguey_. The layers of
+cement are seen distinctly--very smooth and hard. An old woman who
+lives near, has collected large pieces of this cement with which she
+has paved the _patio_ of her house; so solid is it, that one of our
+companions believed it to be stone, until he had tested it with the
+hammer.
+
+At eleven o'clock we set out in our coach for the mountain distant
+near two leagues to the eastward of _Tescuco_. About a quarter of a
+mile from the town, we observed two circular carved stones which we
+had not time to examine. After riding a league over the plain, we
+stopped at the Molino de las Flores--mill of flowers--a most romantic
+spot. Great labor has been expended upon the race for conducting the
+water to the mill from the natural dam of rocks, over which the stream
+during the rainy season, dashes in torrents into a rugged bed. The
+plain from thence to the foot of the mountain being broken by deep
+_barrancas_--gullies--our carriage was unable to proceed farther. We
+were, therefore, compelled to walk, against our inclinations, for the
+sun was scorching, and we were aware of the labor we must encounter in
+the ascent of the mountain.
+
+A walk of two miles brought us to the foot of the mountain of
+Tescusingo, the steep sides of which covered with _nopal_,[1] we began
+to climb slowly. After winding about midway up on the western side,
+our guide conducted us to the mouth of an apparently artificial
+cavern, with an entrance about six feet high--descending a dozen steps
+it takes a new direction. Having no lights we were obliged to leave it
+unexplored. Continuing to ascend, we passed towards the southern
+declivity, and soon met with cement, which in various parts of the
+mountain denotes extensive remains of ancient edifices--with walls
+constructed of _tetzontli_--and particularly with a large square stone
+hollowed neatly like a drain; and a reservoir for water appeared to
+have existed below it. We were now about three-fourths of the distance
+up the mountain, and had attained a terrace, along which we walked to
+the _Bath of Tescusingo_--the chief object of our visit. This
+remarkable work is cut out of a solid rock--hard feldspar
+porphyry--which hangs like a bird's nest upon the steep side, which
+faces to the south. An irregular platform of seven feet and a half
+diameter appears to have been first cut into the rock--the sides of
+the rock forming a wall smooth on the inside, nearly two feet and a
+half high, the outside left as nature made it--in the centre of this
+platform a circular bath is cut out, with a diameter of four feet
+seven inches, two feet deep, with two steps to descend into it. A
+perforation in one part of the platform shows where the water was
+admitted, and it escaped from the bath by a cleft which extends from
+top to bottom. The bath was probably covered with a roof--cavities in
+the rock seeming to indicate where posts once stood.
+
+[Footnote 1: _Nopal_, a species of cactus.]
+
+The view from this spot is the most beautiful that could have been
+selected on the mountain; and warmed by the sun, and sheltered from
+the winds of the north, it was, also, the most delightful. The city of
+Mexico is seen distinctly, the lake of _Tescuco_ and populous plains
+intervening, in the southwest; and to the south rise the snowy
+mountains of _Puebla_.
+
+From the bath, we continued our walk along the terrace, upon which
+still exist traces of an aqueduct, which, at the eastern extremity of
+_Tescusingo_, crossed from the contiguous mountain upon an artificial
+pile of stone, conveying water, we were informed, a distance of seven
+or eight leagues. We were yet several hundred feet from the top.
+Ascending farther, we encountered other remains of structures, and
+came to a levelled surface about fifty feet square. All these are
+convincing proofs of the numerous edifices which once existed upon
+this mountain, but we must ever remain ignorant of their nature and
+purpose. Upon the summit, which commands a fine view of the
+surrounding country, is a rock of huge size, in which seats have been
+cut.
+
+In our descent on the northern side, which is very rough and steep, we
+discovered accidentally a flight of seven steps cut out of a single
+rock--of these, our guide, an Indian antiquarian of _Tescuco_, had
+heretofore been ignorant. Many objects worthy of investigation will no
+doubt reward those who should diligently extend their researches upon
+the mountain of _Tescusingo_. We reached the foot without further
+incident, and rejoined our carriage at the mill, much fatigued with
+our ramble under a burning sun. Soon after four we were again under
+the roof of our kind host.
+
+After dinner, our friend, Don Nicolas Campero, conducted us to the
+ruins which I have already mentioned to be just without the gate of
+the town. Their structure and extent are marked by the revolutionary
+trenches which surround them. The occasional layers of cement are
+perpendicular as well as horizontal, and between them are laid
+_adobes_--unburnt bricks--which compose the work. Judging from
+appearances, it would not be rash, perhaps, to conjecture that this
+was the site of the Great Temple, which, we are assured, was always
+constructed upon eminences like this. Its distance from the palace
+amply proves the extent of the ancient city of _Tescuco_ to have been
+very great.
+
+DEC. 27. After breakfast, we rode a league to see the
+_ahuahuetes_[2]--cypress trees--of large dimensions, some of them are
+not less than fifty feet in circumference. A large edifice, it is
+believed, stood once in the midst of them. There are traces of
+buildings. The regularity with which these trees are disposed, proves,
+beyond a doubt, that they were planted. They are so regular, that in
+order to enclose three sides of a square it was necessary to lay a few
+_adobes_ only between them. Two rows of these trees form a long
+street. This grove of _ahuahuetes_ is seen distinctly from the city of
+Mexico, their deep green contrasting strongly with the dry and open
+plain which surrounds them.
+
+[Footnote 2: _Cupressus disticha_. The largest tree known of this
+description is at the village of Atlixco, in the state of Puebla. It
+is in circumference 23.3 metres, or 76½ English feet.--_Humb. New
+Spain_, _l. 3. c. 8, p. 154. Ed. of 1827_.]
+
+We employed the afternoon in revisiting the antiquities of _Tescuco_.
+We were also conducted to the garden belonging to the convent of San
+Francisco, where a remarkable carved stone lies neglected under a
+tree. It is round and represents a man, whose nose is prodigious, in a
+kneeling attitude, holding something--what it is we could not
+discover--in his hands; behind him is another figure, which defied all
+our efforts to decipher it.
+
+At night, we accompanied the young ladies of the house to a ball given
+by the principal merchant of the town. The room was filled with men,
+women, and cigar smoke. This compelled us to make an early retreat,
+for our eyes were not yet insensible to its effect.
+
+DEC. 28. After an early breakfast, and the completion of some repairs
+to our coach, we took leave of the excellent family who had
+entertained us most hospitably. We now directed our steps towards
+_Otumba_. Passing several small villages--some of them are very
+picturesque, with their enclosures of the _cactus cylindricus_, which
+grows to the height of fifteen or eighteen feet--the country became
+barren and uninteresting, until we reached the fine hacienda of _San
+Antonio_. Here we deviated from the direct route, but were compensated
+for the loss of time by the sight of an extensive stone wall, built to
+contain water for the purpose of irrigating the estate, and for the
+use of the cattle. This large _presa_--or pond--was the work of the
+Jesuits, who formerly owned the finest property in New Spain, and who
+were sagacious and industrious in improving their possessions.
+Retracing our steps, we passed the extensive buildings of _San
+Antonio_, leaving immediately upon our left its beautiful wheat
+fields, which the laborers were then engaged in watering. This is the
+dry season, and wheat will grow only where it can be irrigated
+frequently.
+
+Beyond the village of _San Pedro_, we ascended the _tepetate_[3]
+lomes--_lomas_--of the eastern side of the plain of Mexico, upon which
+soil the roads are always worn deep and rough. On arriving at the
+summit of a low ridge which we were crossing, the Pyramids of
+Teotihuacán unexpectedly presented themselves to our view. Though
+ignorant that we were so near to them, yet we could not mistake them,
+their figure is still so well preserved, whilst centuries have rolled
+away since their construction.
+
+[Footnote 3: A hard white clay peculiar to the plains of Mexico,
+devoid of vegetation, and very painful to the eyes under a burning
+sun. The _lomas_ are the rising ground between the plains and the
+mountains.]
+
+Leaving the pyramids and village of San Juan de Teotihuacán to our
+left, we travelled on two leagues farther to _Otumba_, where we
+arrived at three o'clock, having been six hours on the road from
+_Tescuco_. We were told the distance was only seven leagues. It is
+true we once lost our way, and our kicking mules occasioned some
+detention, but I think another league may be safely added.
+
+A gentleman of _Otumba_, to whom we had brought a letter of
+introduction, being unfortunately absent, we were directed to the only
+_meson_--public house--in the place, where we took a hasty meal in the
+kitchen, having, in the mean time, sent our letter to the gentleman's
+brother, who might, we thought, aid us in our research for
+antiquities. But this man sent us an uncourteous answer, and we
+sallied out in quest of the curate, who was absent also; but we found
+what perhaps was better--a remnant of an ancient column in the
+churchyard. We met a well dressed man, from whom we expected to glean
+some information. He proved to be a stupid lay-priest, who knew
+nothing of the existence of any antique in _Otumba_, but he undertook
+to inquire at a store near the _plaza_. Those he asked were as
+ignorant as himself; but our foreign appearance having by this time
+excited some curiosity, several of the inhabitants collected around
+us, and learning our wish to find an ancient column which we
+understood to exist there, conducted us to the centre of the _plaza_,
+where the object of our search was lying prostrate. It is a column of
+reddish sand stone, the base, and a portion of the shaft only
+remaining, the entire length of which is eight feet two inches. The
+shaft is an octagon of unequal sides, and carved with diamond figures
+interchained with each other. The lower part of the shaft, one foot
+and a half next the base, is of a bulbous figure, also carved. The
+diameter of the column is one foot and three quarters. In another
+spot, a cleft fragment was shown, seven feet two inches long, said to
+have formed a part of the column above described--if so, augmenting
+its entire length to fifteen and a half feet, without the capital, of
+which we could discover no traces. We were told that this column,
+previously to the revolution, was standing in the _plaza_, supporting
+the arms of Spain. During the war it was thrown down--has been broken
+for various purposes, and its remains now lie neglected, an object of
+interest to the curious traveller only.
+
+All our new friends now volunteered to show us something, and we had
+nearly seen nothing in the contest of each to carry us to different
+places. At length, we effected a compromise, and were carried to
+search a _corral_ or cattle yard for the capital of the column. We
+looked in vain in yard and stable, notwithstanding one present assured
+us he had seen it. We abandoned the pursuit of the evanescent block,
+and were conducted by an old man (who was called Cortés, and who
+affected to be of pure Indian blood, and to despise all others who
+were not,) to his house, in a corner of which was worked a carved
+stone--evidently an antique, but it was a work posterior to the
+conquest, for it represented an armed man on horseback. Cortés then
+carried us to the rear of the church, to see another carved stone, but
+it was placed so high in the wall that we could scarcely distinguish
+it, but enough appeared to convince us that it bore the arms of Spain.
+These instances prove how cautious we must be in adopting the opinions
+of the natives on antiquarian matters.
+
+It was now dark, and we returned to our _meson_, as miserable and
+cheerless a house of entertainment as traveller ever entered. We made,
+nevertheless, a good supper of eggs, _frijoles_ (beans), and wine, of
+which we partook in the kitchen.
+
+On making inquiries respecting a celebrated aqueduct which we
+understood to exist in the vicinity of _Otumba_, we learned that it
+was distant nearly five leagues. We had intended to return to Mexico
+on the morrow, but we now determined to visit this work. During the
+evening, one of our lately formed acquaintances called to introduce
+one of his friends, who politely offered us horses, a favor which we
+gladly accepted.
+
+DEC. 29. We rose early, and joined by three of our new acquaintances,
+were soon on horseback. One of those who attended us, was manager of
+two fine _haciendas_, which we visited on our way to the arches of
+Zempoala. The first, Soapayuca, owned by the _Conde de Tepa_, a
+Spanish nobleman, is about a league from _Otumba_. Having been burnt
+during the revolution it has been rebuilt on an extensive scale. Our
+road ran along the _lomes_ of the mountains, through fields of the
+_maguey_. About two leagues and a half from _Otumba_, we were shown,
+on our left, the plain of _San Miguel_, where Cortes is represented to
+have gained his celebrated victory, in the retreat from Mexico to
+_Tlascala_. A ride of three leagues brought us to the _hacienda_ of
+_Ometusco_--an estate from which _pulque_ only is made, which gives to
+its owner, Don Ignacio Adalid, of Mexico, a nett profit, as we were
+informed, of $15,000 a year. Here we took breakfast, and after viewing
+the buildings, pursued a narrow path through the _magueyes_ to the
+_Arcos de Zempoala_.
+
+These arches are sixty-eight in number, crossing a deep valley from
+north to south, and are eleven hundred paces in length. The greatest
+height is one hundred twenty-two and a half feet, where two arches,
+one supported above the other, are thrown across the deep _barranca_.
+The width above is four feet and a half, with a narrow, and shallow
+channel in the centre for the conveyance of the water. This is a work
+of great antiquity, constructed about the year 1540, under the
+direction of a Franciscan Monk, to supply Otumba with good water, of
+which it is sadly in want. Though made at an immense expense, the
+aqueduct is now wholly useless, but the arches are in an excellent
+state of preservation.[4]
+
+[Footnote 4: Torquemada relates--Monarquia Indiana, l. 20, c. 63--that
+a Franciscan Friar, Francisco de Tembleque, undertook and accomplished
+this work, achieving an exploit "which great and powerful kings would
+scarcely have undertaken to accomplish, nor would he have engaged in
+such a work (although the poet says, fortune favors the bold) if he
+had not been inspired by heaven, and aided especially by divine grace,
+which overcomes all obstacles and provides the means of easily
+surmounting the greatest difficulties." The time taken to execute this
+work was 16 or 17 years, five of which were consumed on the principal
+arches; "which," our author says, "may be regarded as one of the
+wonders of the world." According to his statement, there are
+sixty-seven arches (we counted sixty-eight) extending 1059½
+_varas_--about 975 yards. The middle arch is 42½ _varas_, about 118
+feet high--and 23½ _varas_, about 21½ yards wide, "which fills with
+astonishment and wonder those who see so marvellous a work." There are
+two other ravines, one crossed by thirteen the other by forty-six
+arches. The entire length of the aqueduct was 160,496 Spanish
+feet--more than fifteen leagues. Torquemada gives no dates, but this
+work appears to have been constructed soon after Tembleque arrived
+from Spain, which was in 1538; and our author mentions, that though
+built seventy years (he wrote about 1610 or 12) it had not sustained
+the smallest injury.
+
+As a specimen of Torquemada's credulity, I extract the following "most
+pure truth"--_purisma verdad_. He says that "the good Father Francisco
+de Tembleque, had no other companion during this long and painful work
+than a large yellow cat, which hunted in the fields by night, and at
+daybreak brought to his master the fruits of his hunt, hares or
+partridges, for the day's subsistence, which may seem incredible, but
+it is a most pure truth: many clergy witnessed this wonderful thing,
+who, passing by, stopped at the hermitage at night for the sole
+purpose of seeing the fact, and of convincing themselves of the care
+of the cat, for it was commonly reported through the land, how he
+sustained himself and his master."]
+
+After taking a rough measurement of this magnificent work, we retraced
+our steps to the _hacienda_ of Ometusco, where our kind host showed us
+the entire process of making _pulque_. A good plant of the _Agave_,[5]
+under the most favorable circumstances, reaches maturity in eight
+years. This state is indicated by a disposition in the central leaves
+to throw up a stalk, which, when permitted to grow, rises to the
+height of twelve or fourteen feet, branching at the top not unlike a
+chandelier. In this critical state a large incision is made with a
+sharp iron bar in the heart; a large basin, as it were, is scooped out
+with much care, and being then filled with dry leaves or rubbish, is
+permitted to rest unmolested for about six months, when it begins to
+yield juice in abundance and of good quality. On being taken from the
+plant, which operation an Indian performs morning and evening with a
+long gourd acting as a syphon, the _agua miel_, or honey water, as it
+is then called, is of a sickening sweetness; but after being poured
+into large vats--made of untanned hides, with the hair inside--in one
+week it effervesces; but when poured, as in common, upon the lees of
+old _pulque_, it is prepared in one or two days, and is carried to
+market in hogs' skins. After yielding during six months, from 200 to
+250 gallons, and sometimes more, the plant dies, and a young sucker is
+planted to succeed it. A plant ready to yield, is worth from eight to
+twelve dollars, and produces three or four _cargas_, or mule loads: a
+_carga_ is sold in market at four dollars.
+
+[Footnote 5: The American aloe.]
+
+_Pulque_ is intoxicating to those who use it too freely. The taste is
+far from pleasant to me, and the odor of it is sickening; but it
+improves with use, and when taken moderately is thought to be
+wholesome.
+
+The _Agave Americana_ is a most valuable plant. Independently of its
+agricultural profits upon barren soils where little else would grow,
+it serves a great variety of uses. From _pulque_, a strong brandy is
+distilled. This and _pulque_ are the common drink of the people. The
+fibres of the leaf of the _maguey_ are manufactured into coarse
+cloths, which are used for bagging, as saddlecloths, and for the
+_aparejos_, packsaddles; they form thread of every texture, twine, and
+rope of the largest size; and the juice of the leaf is efficacious in
+the cure of ulcers, especially of the galls and sores of brute
+animals: the leaf itself acts in place of gutters and spouts for the
+cabins of the Indians, and makes a roof to their rude dwellings: its
+prickle or thorn, is a needle in case of necessity; and at certain
+stages of its growth the _maguey_ may be taken as food, and was so
+used during the revolution by many hungry wanderers.
+
+Thus this plant may be the food, drink, and clothing of the Mexicans;
+and from the variety of purposes to which it may be applied, the
+_Agave Americana_ may safely be said to be the most valuable of the
+vegetable creation.
+
+It was dark when we returned to our lodgings in _Otumba_, having
+consumed the whole day in seeing what we might have accomplished in a
+few hours; but our friends were so polite, that we were obliged to
+submit to their dilatory movements.
+
+DEC. 30. Provided again with horses, we set out at an early hour for
+the Pyramids, leaving our carriage to join us at _San Juan de
+Teotihuacan_. After a ride of nearly two leagues, we alighted at the
+foot of the smaller pyramid, which, although the ascent was steep,
+rough, and overgrown with weeds, we soon surmounted. This, more
+dilapidated than the larger one, still preserves its pyramidal shape,
+so as easily to be distinguished. The construction seems to be of
+stones thrown indiscriminately together, and, at occasional intervals,
+a layer of lime crosses it horizontally. Upon its summit are the
+remains of a small stone building, which bears abundant evidence of
+being the work of the Conquerors. It was probably a chapel, built to
+fill the place of the temple which it usurped. At the southern foot of
+this pyramid is a circle surrounded either by diminutive pyramids, or
+by the ruins of small edifices, or perhaps both intermingled. Near the
+centre of this circle is a similar ruin, from which proceeds a regular
+street forty or fifty feet wide, running north and south, and bounded
+on both sides by ruins of apparently small pyramids, on which are
+distinct traces of the walls of houses divided into small apartments.
+At the head of the street is a large rough stone, with a circle
+sculptured on one side of it; beyond the wall of this circle, on the
+west, we were shown a singularly cut stone of large size. It is ten
+feet three inches long, five feet one inch wide, and four feet five
+inches high above the ground, in which it seems partly buried. We
+collected every where various wrought pieces of obsidian.
+
+The larger pyramid is a little distant from the street to the east of
+it. As our time was limited I ascended it hastily, and found that,
+except in size it differs only in one respect from the other: about
+midway a terrace extends around it. The faces of both pyramids
+correspond with the four points of the compass. The view from them
+extends over the lake of _Tescuco_ to the city of Mexico, and beyond
+the western barrier of the plain to the snow-capped mountain of
+_Toluca_.
+
+The large pyramid of _Teotihuacan_ is called _Tonatiuh Ytzaqual_, or
+House of the Sun. According to _Oteyza's_ measurements[6] its base is
+208 metres--682½ English feet--its perpendicular height is 55
+metres--180.4 feet. The base of the other pyramid is much less than
+that of the former. This is called _Mextli Ytzaqual_, or House of the
+Moon: its height is 144.4 feet.
+
+[Footnote 6: Humb. T. 2. l. 3. c. 8. p. 66.]
+
+The construction of these pyramids is ascribed to the _Tolteck_
+nation, in which event they were built in the eighth or ninth
+century.[7] It has been asserted that these and the other Mexican
+Pyramids are hollow; but as far as investigations have been carried,
+their solidity seems established. Constructed as they are, if they
+were hollow the destructive influence of so many centuries which have
+elapsed since their erection, would have discovered it. The
+supposition is equally ill-founded that they are mere casings or
+crusts to natural eminences. So far as rains have laid them open, or
+the hand of man exposed to view their interior, all is artificial. It
+is idle to argue that if they were completely artificial, the
+materials which form them must have been dug from some contiguous
+spot, and that this has no where been discovered. Places are seen from
+which the materials have been collected; and the circumjacent plain is
+strewed thickly with _tetzontli_, quite abundant enough to build other
+pyramids, without being reduced to the necessity of digging into the
+earth.
+
+[Footnote 7: Humb. T. 2. l. 3. c. 8. p. 67.]
+
+At _San Juan_, about half a league from the pyramids, we rejoined our
+carriage, and at 11 A. M. set out for Mexico, distant ten leagues. We
+travelled rapidly over a dreary but not a bad road, and passing
+_Tololcingo_, crossed the dry bed of the lake of _Tescuco_, shortening
+our ride a league or so. At a _venta_, or small inn, near _Santa
+Clara_, we had the good fortune to meet with an idol, dug up in the
+vicinity, which we bought; it represents a naked female, her hands
+crossing her breast, her nose of prodigious size, and hair plaited
+down the back. The figure is about two feet high.[8]
+
+[Footnote 8: This idol was sent to the museum of the college at
+Charleston, S. C.]
+
+We arrived at _Guadalupe_ at 3 P. M. and an hour's ride over a good
+_calzada_, bordered with pretty aspins, brought us to the capital. Our
+jaunt has been very delightful, and we have met with great kindness.
+From what we have seen of the antiquities of Mexico, we are impressed
+with a far more favorable opinion than we had entertained of the
+civilized state of the Indians before the Conquest.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+MR. WHITE:
+
+The subjoined copy of an old Scotch ballad, contains so much of the
+beauty and genuine spirit of by-gone poetry, that I have determined to
+risk a frown from the fair lady by whom the copy was furnished, in
+submitting it for publication. The ladies sometimes violate their
+promises--may I not for once assume their privilege, in presenting to
+the readers of the Messenger this "legend of the olden time," although
+_I promised not_? Relying on the kind heart of the lady for
+forgiveness for _this breach of promise_, I have anticipated the
+pardon in sending you the lines, which I have never as yet seen in
+print.
+
+SIDNEY.
+
+
+BALLAD.
+
+
+  They have giv'n her to another--
+  They have sever'd ev'ry vow;
+  They have giv'n her to another,
+  And my heart is lonely now;
+  They remember'd not our parting--
+  They remember'd not our tears,
+  They have sever'd in one fatal hour
+  The tenderness of years.
+    Oh! was it weal to leave me?
+    Thou couldst not so deceive me;
+    Lang and sairly shall I grieve thee,
+      Lost, lost Rosabel!
+
+  They have giv'n thee to another--
+  Thou art now his gentle bride;
+  Had I lov'd thee as a brother,
+  I might see thee by his side;
+  But _I know with gold they won thee_,
+  And thy trusting heart beguil'd;
+  Thy _mother_ too, did shun me,
+  For she knew I lov'd her child.
+    Oh! was it weal to leave me?
+    Thou couldst not so deceive me;
+    Lang and sairly shall I grieve thee,
+      Lost, lost Rosabel!
+
+  They have giv'n her to another--
+  She will love him, so they say;
+  If her mem'ry do not chide her,
+  Oh! perhaps, perhaps she may;
+  But I know that she hath spoken
+  What she never can forget;
+  And tho' my poor heart be broken,
+  It will love her, love her yet.
+    Oh! was it weal to leave me?
+    Thou couldst not so deceive me;
+    Lang and sairly shall I grieve thee,
+      Lost, lost Rosabel!
+
+
+
+
+  From the Baltimore Visiter.
+
+THE COLISEUM. A PRIZE POEM.
+
+BY EDGAR A. POE.
+
+
+  Type of the antique Rome! Rich reliquary
+  Of lofty contemplation left to Time
+  By buried centuries of pomp and power!
+  At length, at length--after so many days
+  Of weary pilgrimage, and burning thirst,
+  (Thirst for the springs of lore that in thee lie,)
+  I kneel, an altered, and an humble man,
+  Amid thy shadows, and so drink within
+  My very soul thy grandeur, gloom, and glory.
+
+  Vastness! and Age! and Memories of Eld!
+  Silence and Desolation! and dim Night!
+  Gaunt vestibules! and phantom-peopled aisles!
+  I feel ye now: I feel ye in your strength!
+  O spells more sure than e'er Judæan king
+  Taught in the gardens of Gethsemane!
+  O charms more potent than the rapt Chaldee
+  Ever drew down from out the quiet stars!
+
+  Here, where a hero fell, a column falls;
+  Here, where the mimic eagle glared in gold,
+  A midnight vigil holds the swarthy bat:
+  Here, where the dames of Rome their yellow hair
+  Wav'd to the wind, now wave the reed and thistle:
+  Here, where on ivory couch the Cæsar sate,
+  On bed of moss lies gloating the foul adder:
+  Here, where on golden throne the monarch loll'd,
+  Glides spectre-like unto his marble home,
+  Lit by the wan light of the horned moon,
+  The swift and silent lizard of the stones.
+
+  These crumbling walls; these tottering arcades;
+  These mouldering plinths; these sad, and blacken'd shafts;
+  These vague entablatures; this broken frieze;
+  These shattered cornices; this wreck; this ruin;
+  These stones, alas!--these gray stones--are they all--
+  All of the great and the colossal left
+  By the corrosive hours to Fate and me?
+
+  "Not all,"--the echoes answer me; "not all:
+  Prophetic sounds, and loud, arise for ever
+  From us, and from all Ruin, unto the wise,
+  As in old days from Memnon to the sun.
+  We rule the hearts of mightiest men. We rule
+  With a despotic sway all giant minds.
+  We are not desolate--we pallid stones;
+  Not all our power is gone; not all our fame;
+  Not all the magic of our high renown;
+  Not all the wonder that encircles us;
+  Not all the mysteries that in us lie;
+  Not all the memories that hang upon,
+  And cling around about us as a garment,
+  Clothing us in a robe of more than glory."
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+LINES
+
+Written in the Village of A----, Virginia.
+
+
+  Sweet village of the mountain glen!
+    Thy verdant shades are dear to me;
+  I shun the busy haunts of men,
+    And to thy peaceful bosom flee;
+  For smiling nature's summer home
+    Is found beside thy flashing rills,
+  And when the winter-tempests come,
+    She reigns upon thy rugged hills.
+
+  Upon thy rocks the tow'ring pine,
+    The hemlock and the cedar grow;
+  And high the wild and flow'ring vine,
+    Its tendrils round their branches throw.
+  'Tis sweet to stray thy paths along,
+    Beside some bright and rippling stream
+  Whose waters with a murm'ring song,
+    Glance gaily in the sunny beam.
+
+  Through distant lands my feet may roam,
+    In foreign climes my dwelling be,
+  Unchang'd where'er I make my home,
+    My heart will still abide with thee.
+  Yes! still with thee, in joy or woe,
+    On desert land, or stormy sea,
+  In pain or bliss, where'er I go,
+    My love will ever dwell with thee.
+
+A. L. B.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+_Extracts from the Auto-biography of Pertinax Placid_.
+
+MY FIRST NIGHT IN A WATCHHOUSE.
+
+CHAP. II.
+
+  This was our hero's earliest scrape; but whether
+    I shall proceed with his adventures is
+  Dependent on the public altogether:
+    We'll see, however, what they say to this.
+                                            [_Don Juan_.
+
+
+We found Fenella in much trouble. That buoyant mind which the
+vicissitudes of a changing and precarious profession could not sadden
+or subdue, proved itself vulnerable to the weapons of ridicule.
+
+"And so, my young deserter, you have come at last. Here have I been
+grieving myself to death at the malice of Mc----, and you have felt no
+sympathy in my trouble, or have been too indolent or indifferent to
+give me one word of comfort. Shame on you! Is this your friendship?"
+
+I made my excuses with the best grace I could assume, and assured her
+I had just learned the cause of her uneasiness. She readily believed
+me, for she was too sincere herself to doubt the sincerity of others.
+
+"I do not know," said she, "but my annoyance at this affair may seem
+overstrained. To those who call themselves philosophers, it may appear
+childish in me to grieve at such an attempt to render me ridiculous.
+But I am a mere woman, and no philosopher; besides, my case is a
+peculiar one. On the stage we have so often, I might say so
+habitually, to overstep what by other women are considered the bounds
+of modesty, that she who preserves the essential principle of that
+great charm of the sex, is most jealous in keeping her claim to it
+inviolate. The world gives us credit for but little feminine
+delicacy--and the world reasons correctly in doing so. But correct
+reasoning does not always reach the facts of peculiar cases. It may be
+thought strange, but I know it to be true, that a woman who in the
+presence of hundreds suffers herself to be embraced, kissed, and
+fondled by men of gross character and disgusting manners, and who
+embraces and caresses them in turn, should revolt at the idea of
+permitting such liberties in private. I know this to be so in my own
+case. And even were all those women whose lot is unfortunately cast
+upon the stage, as licentious as both the virtuous and the vicious are
+pleased to suppose them, they must indeed be debased and degraded, to
+yield themselves to that indiscriminate licentiousness which the
+world's censure would imply. Few know how far the enthusiasm of an
+artist, his aspirations after excellence, his love of abstract beauty,
+may check and overcome every prurient thought, every low born
+imagination. The sculptor, when he moulds the beings of his fancy into
+forms of loveliness, is alive only to the spirit of his art; his mind
+is filled with the beauty of his conceptions, and is purified by the
+intenseness of his desire to attain the summit of excellence, from
+every grovelling idea. He is not, surely, to be classed with those
+who, looking upon his works with vulgar eyes, find in them food for
+lascivious thoughts, and stimulants to unhallowed passions. So it is
+with acting. The actress has placed before her a mark of excellence
+which she is ambitious to attain, and in striving for its attainment,
+all minor considerations are thrown aside. The exhibition of a passion
+must not be shorn of its accessories; and whatever is necessary to its
+full development she yields to, with as little thought of grossness or
+indelicacy in caressing an individual who represents her husband or
+her lover, as the artist indulges when painting Eve in the undress of
+nature. It would be well for such as suppose that these exhibitions
+indicate a want of modesty, to know how totally the mind is absorbed
+in the desire to embody the conceptions of the poet, when an actress
+in Belvidera or Monimia gives a loose rein to the passions, and
+regardless of the being with whom she is associated, contributes, by
+the very freedom which the over-virtuous delight to censure, in
+producing the delusion of the scene. In playing her part, not one
+thought is given to the man whom she embraces. No--she is for the time
+a fictitious character--the character of the scene, insensible to any
+other feeling but that which the poet has delineated. But how
+differently do the work-a-day world argue this matter. They seldom, if
+ever, separate the _actress_ from the _woman_--and every action is
+judged of according to the gross ideas of the vulgar minded, or the
+fastidious scruples of those who measure a dramatic representation by
+the rules which prevail in private society. I know full well the
+invidious position which, as an actress, I occupy in the opinion of
+the public; and a consciousness that in my unfortunate profession,
+every step towards the achievement of excellence must be gained by a
+sacrifice of personal respect, often gives me melancholy sensations.
+Do you then wonder at the pain I have suffered from this malignant
+endeavor of Mc----'s to render me ridiculous?"
+
+"But still," said Nichols, "the attack in itself is unworthy of
+notice. The same talent might render the proudest woman in the city an
+object of equal ridicule."
+
+"Very true, but it would not find the public disposed to laugh with
+the caricaturist. The general sentiment would be against him, for he
+would have outraged what every man would be ready to defend--the
+sanctity of female privacy, and the decencies of social life. But such
+a case is strongly contrasted with mine, and it is that which renders
+it to me so peculiarly painful. The actress lives in the full glare of
+public observation, and the libeller who holds her up to contempt,
+invades no sanctuary which all hold sacred; he only makes her
+subservient to public amusement in a new character. If her pride be
+wounded, if her delicacy be shocked--she has few to sympathise with
+her, for few believe she possesses either pride or delicacy, and none
+deem it their duty to defend her from the attacks of her enemy."
+
+Fenella paused, and I saw the tears glisten upon her cheek; but she
+turned away her face, and hastily brushed them off, as if ashamed that
+her weakness should be observed.
+
+"You do your friends injustice," said I. "You do indeed. There are a
+few who do not think thus lightly of your feelings, and who are ready
+to defend you from assaults of whatever kind."
+
+"Doubtless there are a few," said she, "who feel for me. It would be
+unjust in me to doubt it. But it is the want of that _general_ feeling
+of sympathy which would be excited in favor of any other woman, that I
+feel most keenly. To know that in proportion as my professional
+exertions are admired, my private feelings are disregarded, gives
+point to the malice of Mc----, and renders that a cause of pain and
+mortification which ought to be the object of contempt. But we will
+say no more upon the subject. Perhaps I have said too much, for I see
+that you and Nichols are distressed by my complaints. I will not
+repeat them; but endeavor to display more of what Nichols calls
+philosophy."
+
+The train of our conversation was broken off by the entrance of Selden
+and Cleaveland. Fenella's spirits were soon restored, and she became
+as gay and fascinating as usual. Various topics were discussed, and
+much pleasant _badinage_ filled up the time until tea--which Fenella
+particularly patronized, in spite of the fashion--made its appearance.
+
+"Pray, Master Pertinax," said Fenella, "how have you employed your
+time since I last saw you? You have lost a deal of green room scandal,
+and missed seeing some of the finest of green room absurdities, by
+your long estrangement from the Theatre."
+
+"Well, saving your presence, I have been occupied with better
+things--a hard student have I been--and although the merry bells of
+the Driving Club sounded their peals under my windows twice during my
+seclusion; although I saw their gorgeous train of _carioles_ piled
+with buffalo robes, and flaunting in blue and crimson trimmings, glide
+merrily by; and though among the furred and feathered _demoiselles_
+who sat within them, I knew there was one whom it would have been
+delightful to be near; nay more, although under a silver-grey
+Chinchilla bonnet, there shone forth two lustrous black eyes--yet did
+I resist the lure, and turn again to my studies. I have declined three
+balls where I knew I should meet that 'Cynthia of the minute,' with
+whom, at this particular time, I cannot but believe I am most
+foolishly in love. I have resisted the temptation of skating, and a
+special invitation from the Curling Club to witness an important
+match. All these and many more allurements have failed to withdraw me
+from my books."
+
+"Bless me, what a Solomon you will become, if you persevere in your
+labors! But your stoicism surprises me. Can it be possible that Marian
+Lindsay's _load-stars_ failed in attraction?"
+
+"Nonsense! I have said nothing of Marian Lindsay or her load-stars, as
+you are pleased to call them. Her eyes are not _black_, nor are they
+those I spoke of."
+
+"What, a new attraction! Well, I see that I must relinquish the task
+of keeping you steady. I had hopes, when I prudently endeavored to
+prevent your falling in love with me, (which you cannot deny you had
+more than half a mind to do,) by directing your amorous disposition
+towards a proper object, that your fancy would endure at least a month
+or two. Do you not now perceive what a folly I should have been guilty
+of, had I suffered you to dangle, as you wished, at my apron string?"
+
+"I do indeed. Still, I may say with honest Jack Falstaff, 'ere I knew
+_thee_, I knew nothing.'"
+
+"Yes," said she, "and I can finish the sentence with equal truth--'and
+now art thou little better than one of the wicked.' But I deny your
+declaration, for you have confessed to the truth of your intrigues
+with the little Canadian milliner, and the blue eyed _Irlandaise_."
+
+"I admit it; but those were unsophisticated flirtations."
+
+"Unsophisticated! Mercy on us!"
+
+"Oh yes," said Selden, "and he stoutly denies having ever sighed to
+you, Fenella; and talks a deal of nonsense about friendship, as though
+such a feeling ever existed between a lad of nineteen and a lady under
+twenty-five."
+
+"Upon that subject," replied Fenella, "we can at least keep our own
+counsel."
+
+"Come, Cleaveland," said I, "we are bound in the same direction. I
+have a few words to say to you, and if you are at leisure we will
+walk."
+
+"I hope I have not driven you away," said Selden.
+
+"Pshaw! I am not so easily driven."
+
+Tea was over, and Cleaveland and I rose to depart. Fenella accompanied
+us to the door, and said to me in a monitory tone: "Now, Pertinax, be
+careful what you do in relation to the caricature. Keep out of
+difficulty with Mc----. You cannot be of any service to me in that
+affair, and may injure yourself by your interference. I know your
+disposition to serve me; but I also know that your impetuosity is more
+likely to involve you in difficulty than to bring me out of it. Be
+cautious, I beseech you."
+
+"Do not be alarmed," said I, somewhat piqued, "my _indifference_ will
+be my protection."
+
+"I do not believe that, nor do I believe that you are indifferent to
+my feelings; and the caution I now give you is a proof that I do not
+think so."
+
+A pressure of the hand was my only reply to this conciliatory speech;
+and we left the house.
+
+It was early in the evening, and quite dark, as we mounted the ice in
+the middle of the street, preferring the risk of being run down by
+_traineaus_ or _carioles_, on that narrow pass, to stumbling against
+steps, cellar doors, and other obstructions on the _trottoir_ of an
+avenue, feebly lighted by here and there a dim and solitary lamp. We
+pursued our way down St. Paul's street, and in passing the shop where
+"Timothy Crop, Fashionable Hair Dresser and Perruquier," shone in gilt
+letters, illuminated by a lamp, a glance shewed us two copies of
+Fenella's effigy, displayed with most provoking prominence in a
+bow-window, which was brilliantly lighted.
+
+"Curses on that fellow," said I. "Is there no way in which this
+nuisance can be prevented? You are fertile in schemes, Cleaveland;
+cannot you contrive some plan, if not to stop the issue of these
+libels, to revenge the insult offered to our friend?"
+
+"Not I indeed, unless we hire _Felix Sans Pitié_[1] to thump the
+artist, or get _Piquet_,[2] the retired bully, to break his right
+arm."
+
+[Footnote 1: There was a family of _Sans Pitiés_, belong to a
+neighboring seignory, celebrated for their muscular frames and
+pugilistic powers. They were _Voyageurs_ in the service of the North
+West, or Hudson's Bay Companies, at the time when those associations
+were at deadly feud, out of which grew the massacre at Red River. In
+the spring, previous to the setting out of the North West expeditions,
+the _voyageurs_ of these companies had their rendezvous in Montreal
+for a day or two, during which they were generally intoxicated, and
+scarcely an hour passed that was not distinguished by a pugilistic
+combat in the old market place, which was their peculiar haunt. The
+_Sans Pitiés_ when present were the champions, and challenged all
+comers with nearly uniform success. I have never seen more magnificent
+forms than these brothers displayed, when stripped for a fight. Their
+chests and shoulders would have been fine models for a Hercules, so
+muscular were they, and devoid of superfluous flesh. Their style of
+hitting was peculiar, and differed entirely from the English system,
+being far more rapid and eccentric. In general an English pugilist was
+more than a match for the best Canadian bully; but in one instance the
+youthful gladiator referred to in the text, was triumphant over a
+skilful pupil of Crib. It is worthy of remark, that the English bully,
+when completely _sewed up_, (to use a phrase of the prize ring)
+declared in a faint voice, that he had been beaten contrary to all
+rule, and that _Sans Pitié_ knew no more about boxing than a horse.
+But the Canadian champion was once well beaten by an antagonist as
+little skilled as himself in the arts and mysteries of the Five's
+Court. I was witness to this conflict between him and an English
+sailor, not half his weight. The Jack-tar completely overcame his
+Herculean opponent, when it seemed to me that had his frame been made
+of any material softer than iron, he must have been demolished by
+_Sans Pitié's_ blows.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Monsieur _Piquet_ was about this time a member of the
+Provincial Parliament. How he got there I do not exactly know: the
+station seemed rather inconsistent with the situation occupied by him
+in early life. He was a man of uncommon muscular vigor; and had in his
+youth been employed by the North West Company, as the _bully_ of their
+expeditions. His duty was to punish any refractory subordinate by the
+application of the fist. The _voyageurs_ were an ignorant and lawless
+set of men, engaged by the company to navigate their _batteaux_, and
+to carry the merchandize which constituted their freight, across the
+portages. The goods were arranged in sacks containing about ninety
+pounds each and were transported (or perhaps _toted_ would be a more
+proper word in our latitude) by the _voyageurs_ where the navigation
+failed. Their labors were consequently very severe; and it may readily
+be believed that few but the most reckless and unworthy characters
+enlisted in these expeditions. They were generally accompanied and
+conducted by one or two clerks or partners, who required some strong
+executive power to keep their followers in due submission. Some trusty
+individual of uncommon strength and hardihood was selected to perform
+this duty--and such was the situation held by _Piquet_. He was
+successful in his enterprizes, and as I was told amassed considerable
+wealth. At any rate, I knew him as a legislator. I was once in company
+with this man, when he related some of his early adventures;
+particularly one, in which, being necessitated to quell the turbulent
+spirit of a refractory _voyageur_, he broke the arm of the brawler
+with one blow of his fist--an achievement of which Monsieur _Piquet_
+seemed not a little proud.]
+
+"Not bad ideas, but impracticable. Felix is at Red River, or
+thereabouts--and Piquet is in Parliament, which should argue that his
+powers of maiming are fully employed upon the laws of the province."
+
+We had paused involuntarily before the window. The shop was thronged
+with customers, and we saw the barber take down one of the caricatures
+and exhibit it to an individual, who laughed immoderately as he
+examined it. My blood boiled as I witnessed this scene. I had been
+deeply impressed by Fenella's description of her defenceless
+condition, and the absence of that general feeling of resentment in
+her case, which would have existed had any other woman been the object
+of such ridicule. The hearty laugh of the examiner of the picture--the
+gusto with which he enjoyed the ludicrous figure before him, inspired
+me with most unchristian feelings, and I could, with the greatest good
+will, have tweaked his nose with the hot curling irons which the man
+of hair was applying to his head.
+
+As we moved away, I vowed that I would be revenged on the malicious
+barber--that he at least should not escape. A few moments brought us
+to my lodgings in the _Vieux Marché_. We sat down by a hot stove, and
+after having listened to Cleaveland's description of the last party at
+Madame Feronnier's, without hearing one word, I broke silence.
+
+"Cleaveland," said I, "will you join me in a scheme which I have been
+revolving since we left that infernal barber's?"
+
+"I shall be better prepared to give you an answer, when you tell me
+what you propose."
+
+"Then you will not enlist until you know my plan."
+
+"Not I. It is my luck to engage in so many hairbrained scrapes of my
+own, that I will be led blindfold into none of your planning."
+
+"But you must not fail me. I have set my heart on your assistance. If
+I had asked it of Selden, he would have stifled me with prudent
+advice. Nichols has not hardihood enough for any wicked act; and
+Marryatt is so completely bewitched with his brunette beauty in the
+Recolet Suburbs, that he cannot find time for any other roguery. Now
+for a stirring adventure you are just the lad--first, because you like
+it, and secondly, because you have the spirit to go through with it."
+
+"Really you speak of your enterprize in the Hotspur vein, for like him
+it seems you are about to
+
+  ----'read me matter deep and dangerous,
+  As full of peril and adventurous spirit,
+  As to o'erwalk a current roaring loud,
+  On the unsteadfast footing of a spear.'
+
+But be it what it may, propose to me any reasonable mischief, and _je
+suis à vous_."
+
+"It is nothing very dangerous in the performance, and the consequences
+must take care of themselves. I only intend to smash, and that
+shortly, the bow-window of our friend the barber--to scatter his
+perfumes about his own head, and give his next door neighbor, the
+glazier, a job?"
+
+"Is that all? Bless me, how reasonable! Selden himself could not have
+advised a more rational and moral mode of punishing this impudent
+barber.--Why, Pertinax, I did not think you capable of a conception so
+brilliant. As to breaking the window and scattering the perfumery, 'we
+may do it as secure as sleep'--and for the consequences, I have
+nothing to say on that subject, because they come _afterwards_; and as
+Father De Rocher used to tell us, questions must be considered in
+their proper order: besides, all the wise ones say that _fore_-thought
+is better than _after_-thought. But independent of these
+considerations, it would be inconsistent in me, who never yet gave a
+thought to consequences, to do so now; and some political proser in
+the _Spectateur_, said the other day that consistency was a jewel."
+
+"Then you enlist in the service."
+
+"Yes, my Hotspur; 'it is a good plot as ever was laid--an excellent
+plot. My Lord of York commends the plot, and the general course of the
+action.' So here is my hand. We will take some pains to do that which
+will cost Timothy Crop many panes to remedy; and if we escape the
+pains and penalties therefor, all will be well."
+
+"We must rely upon our heels for that. Give me six yards the start,
+and I defy any barber in the Canadas to overtake me. We must show
+Master Timothy that we have not played at cricket, or run foot races
+on the wind-mill common for nothing."
+
+"But what missiles shall we use?--have you thought of that, _Mon
+Général_?"
+
+"What can be better than these?" said I, taking up a couple of billets
+of oak from the stove-pan.
+
+"Admirable! And when shall we proceed to business?"
+
+"Now--this very hour--we cannot wish a darker night; and the sooner we
+carry our design into effect the better."
+
+"Very true, for Shakspeare says, that
+
+  'Between the acting of a dreadful thing
+   And the first motion, all the interim is
+   Like a phantasma, or a hideous dream.'
+
+We will dream as little upon it as possible."
+
+"_Allons donc!_ Take your billets, and let us march."
+
+We sallied forth into the street. It was about nine o'clock, and all
+was quiet. The light from Crop's window shone brightly in the
+distance, and invited us to our revenge.
+
+The heavy falls of snow are a serious inconvenience in the narrow
+streets of Montreal, and the manner in which it is disposed of, gives
+to them a peculiar appearance. When a storm subsides, the whole town
+is alive with the business of shovelling the snow from the side-walks
+into the middle of the street, which in the course of a few weeks
+after the winter sets in, is elevated several feet above its natural
+level. On the top of this ridge vehicles of all descriptions are
+forced to pass, and while guiding a _cariole_ along the height, you
+nod to your pedestrian friends on the side-walks, many feet below you,
+and peep, if you have any curiosity, into the windows of your
+neighbor's second story. By gradual packing and freezing, this
+_high_-road becomes a complete rampart of ice, along which _carioles_
+and _traineaus_ are driven with alarming velocity--to a strange eye
+presenting the constant prospect of their being hurled down to the
+side-walk. But such accidents seldom happen. In their own awkward
+fashion, the Canadian drivers are uncommonly expert, and their hardy
+little horses are equally so.
+
+We kept the side-walk until we reached the corner of St. Nicholas and
+St. Paul streets, and here we stopped to confer.
+
+"By the way," said I, "we had better decide upon the manner of running
+away. Crop is a tall fellow and long in the legs. It will not do for
+us to keep together. My plan is this--I will dive into the alley,
+leading up to the city hotel, cross St. Peter's street and get into
+the Jesuits's grounds.[3] You had better take to the opposite
+side-walk, for you will be perfectly safe there, as you may turn the
+left corner of St. Peter, and skim away towards the _Soeurs Gris_,
+before Tim can climb to that side of the street. When we have
+confounded the chase, we will rendezvous in front of the _Petit
+Seminaire_, in College street. We shall be near the Mansion House,
+where we may refresh ourselves with a bottle of Martinant's London
+particular, and call at Fenella's on our way home."
+
+[Footnote 3: These grounds have since been devoted to public use, and
+are now intersected by Lemoine, St. Helen, and Recolet streets. They
+were formerly attached to the religious establishment of the
+brotherhood, the building of which faced upon Notre Dame street, and
+were filled with noble elms, all of which have I believe fallen
+beneath the axe. The accommodations were spacious; but the buildings,
+with the exception of the Recolet church, which occupies nearly a
+centre position, had been appropriated to other than monastic uses
+long before my recollection. During and just after the last war they
+were used as the barracks of a regiment of British infantry, and at
+the grated windows which once let in the light upon the ascetic
+pursuits and rigid ceremonials of these bigoted religionists--soldiers
+were seen scouring their muskets or whitening their belts. More
+recently, the southern portion has been occupied as a Young Ladies
+Seminary, and the northern as the City Watch-house. The buildings had
+become public property by the operation of some condition relative to
+the decrease of the numbers of the order. One only was alive in my
+time; and he was often seen in the streets, wearing a small black
+skull cap, and a long black robe fastened around his body by a white
+woollen girdle. The Recolet church is to this day a place of Catholic
+worship, opened on stated days and uncommon occasions. Whether it has
+been embellished or altered since I saw it, I know not--but at that
+time it presented a melancholy appearance of decay and dilapidation.
+It was remarkable for a rude carving over the entrance representing
+two hands and arms issuing out of the sea, and crossing each other.
+The carving was colored most unnaturally, and the waves of the sea
+resembled a congregation of pewter platters.]
+
+"I see no objection to your plan, Pertinax, only that your part of it
+is the most hazardous. If Crop pursues, he will naturally stick to his
+own side-walk, and you must leap in front of him from the street into
+the alley."
+
+"Oh, never fear for me--I shall be scudding through the old Jesuits's
+elms, long before he will find the hole by which I make my escape.
+Recollect the rendezvous at the College."
+
+Our plan of retreat having been settled, we mounted into the middle of
+the street, and were in two minutes opposite the devoted shop-window.
+The lights burned brightly, and at a glance we saw that there was no
+one within but Crop and a little boy. The window was filled with
+bottles of _Eau de Cologne_, _Eau de jasmin_, _extrait de bergamotte_,
+with pots of _pommade extraordinaire_, and the like; and there still
+hung the offending caricatures. We were elevated some feet above the
+window, and it presented the finest imaginable mark.
+
+"Now," said Cleaveland, "let us separate a few paces, that we may give
+our object a raking fire, and do the more execution."
+
+We were just about to proceed to business, when the sharp sound of a
+horse's hoofs rang upon the ice near the corner of St. Peter's street.
+We drew back from the glare of the window to allow the horse and his
+rider to pass--when, as they approached us, we perceived Marryatt,
+mounted on his shaggy Shetland pony.
+
+"Hey dey," said he, as we made our appearance--"what mischief is in
+the wind now?"
+
+"Stay a moment," said I, "and see us demolish Crop's bow window."
+
+"Oh ho, is that the project? Well I will witness the crash, as I have
+especial means of escape. I cannot say as much for you or Cleaveland.
+Crop will catch one or both of you to a certainty."
+
+"That is our own concern--but he shall have a race for it. Stay where
+you are Marryatt, and witness the performance."
+
+Cleaveland and I then approached the window, and levelling our billets
+simultaneously, they fell with unerring aim in the centre of the
+window, scattering pictures, pomatum and perfumery in every direction.
+A second billet from each of us completed the work of destruction, and
+we took to our heels. Cleaveland slipped down to the pavement on the
+opposite side, and vanished in an instant. I was about ten paces from
+the alley, (which entered St. Paul street on the same side with the
+barber's shop,) but before I had cleared that short distance, I was
+sensible that Crop was in pursuit. From the high ridge of ice on which
+I stood, to the pavement was at least five feet, and on coming
+opposite the alley I made a flying leap across the side-walk into its
+entrance. But alas for human hopes!--I had neglected to substitute a
+pair of shoes for my boots on coming out, and my boot heels were
+covered with plates of brass, in conformity to a very ridiculous
+fashion. I cleared the side-walk in gallant style; but I alighted on
+my heels in a spot covered with the smoothest ice. The consequence
+was, that my feet flew from under me, and I fell prostrate. But this
+was not the worst--I struck my knee upon the ice with a force which
+might have broken a joint of iron. I made an effort to rise, which was
+at first ineffectual. The sound of Timothy's feet struck on my ear as
+he turned the corner. He was within two paces of me, and in a second
+more would have stumbled over me in the dark. But the idea of being
+captured gave me sudden vigor, and overcame the pain of my bruised
+knee. I sprang upon my feet, and bounded away towards the entrance of
+the City Hotel, turned short to the left, and crossing St. Peter's
+street by another alley, kept on under the wall of Thatcher's livery
+stables.
+
+Rapidly as I had taken leave of Timothy, he had not lost sight of me
+for a second, until I turned the farther corner of the stables. At
+this point there had been, a few weeks previous, a gap in the
+enclosure of the Jesuits's grounds, through which I had often passed;
+and by means of this opening I had intended to lead the chase into
+those grounds, with all the turnings of which I was well acquainted,
+and where a number of old elms would serve to cover my retreat.
+
+What was my consternation on reaching the spot, to find that the
+opening had been closed! I was completely cornered, without means of
+escape, except by the steep path up which I had come. Along that path
+I heard the footsteps of my pursuer, as he picked his way in the dark.
+Not a moment was to be lost, and my determination was instantly taken.
+I again turned the corner of the stables, and ran down the path with
+my utmost speed, intending to overthrow Timothy by running against
+him. As I approached him, he stopped, and seeming to comprehend my
+object, veered a little from the path, so as to break the force of the
+shock, and grasped at me with both his hands.
+
+And here but for my boot heels I might have escaped; but again they
+failed me, I slipped, and Timothy and I were rolling on the ground
+together--he clutching to hold me fast, and I struggling to get away.
+By mutual consent we soon rose upon our feet--he still holding on with
+the tenacity of a bull-dog, upon the collar and breast of my clothing.
+
+I had not lived five years in Montreal without becoming sensible of
+the value of _science_ in the use of the fist, and I had taken a
+series of rude lessons from an Irish sergeant--Fuller not having then
+appeared in Canada to teach the 'manly art of self-defence.' The
+moment that we were on our feet, I attacked Timothy, in hopes that he
+would loosen his hold in showing fight, and give me another
+opportunity of escape. But he was a philosopher in his way, and did
+not regard pugilistic _punishment_ so much as the retention of his
+prisoner. He allowed me therefore to _mill_ him without mercy, dodging
+to avoid my blows, but making no offensive demonstration. I pommelled
+him severely, and might possibly have broken his hold by my repeated
+attacks, but for the slippery place on which we stood. Several times I
+lost my footing and came to the ground. At last yielding to necessity,
+I relinquished the contest and walked quietly with him to the street,
+determined when on better ground, to make another effort for liberty.
+
+Instead of returning towards his shop, as I supposed he would have
+done, he turned up St. Peter's street, and led the way towards Notre
+Dame. I did not then perceive his object--perhaps I was too much
+flurried to think of it. We paced along in a very friendly manner,
+until we reached the corner of St. Sacrament street, running midway
+between and parallel with St. Paul's and Notre Dame. Here the snow was
+firm, and the spot inviting to my purpose, for St. Sacrament offered
+me a number of places of retreat, where I might have defied the scent
+of my antagonist.
+
+At this corner therefore I made a halt, and while Timothy was
+endeavoring to force me forward, I struck him a right handed blow in
+the face, which made him bound from his feet and brought him down like
+a shot. But true to his object he still held to my coat with his right
+hand, and while I was endeavoring to disengage his grasp, he rose
+again to his feet, and matters assumed their former aspect. Grown
+desperate by my disappointment, I fell upon Timothy without mercy,
+hitting right and left whenever I could bring him within the range of
+my blows--for he avoided many of them by leaping aside. At length a
+chance blow took effect on his throat and I was momentarily freed from
+his hold, but I was so weakened by my exertions that I stumbled, and
+again measured my length on the snow. Before I could recover myself,
+Timothy had as firm a grasp upon me as ever.
+
+Up to this time, not a syllable had passed the lips of either: but at
+this juncture, Timothy opened his mouth, and to some purpose,
+bellowing "Watch!" at the top of his voice. Instantly the rattles were
+heard at no great distance; and Timothy repeating the call, we were
+soon surrounded by half a dozen watchmen, with staves, rattles and
+lanterns.
+
+I saw plainly that the game was up with me, and yielding with a good
+grace, I followed them in silence. I was much surprised to find that
+we had turned the left corner of Notre Dame Street, and were entering
+the decayed gate of a building which was once an appendage of the
+Recolet Church, and part of the establishment of the decayed
+brotherhood of Loyola. This building had recently been occupied as a
+watchhouse; a fact of which I was ignorant, or master Timothy Crop
+would not have led me so easily into the lion's den.
+
+We entered the building, and found ourselves in a rude barrack-like
+room, around which were the "guardians of the night," as they are
+poetically termed, sitting, standing, and lying--eating, drinking, and
+smoking. They were nearly all Canadians; and in their blue and grey
+_capots_ with the addition of slouched hats, they might have been
+taken for a gang of banditti in their cavern.
+
+When the door closed upon us, and not 'till then, Timothy Crop
+loosened his hold upon my raiment. I turned to look at him, and saw
+sufficient proof that my blows, although aimed in the dark, had not
+been made in vain. His visage exhibited various contusions, and
+streams of _claret_ were trickling from his nostrils. But Timothy, to
+do him justice, was true _game_; and he returned the smile which his
+pickle brought into my face, with a triumphant expression that raised
+him much in my estimation.
+
+While we were eyeing each other an inner door opened, and the captain
+of the watch made his appearance. Timothy gave me in charge, and the
+man of authority conducted me with all due ceremony into his innermost
+den, where he invited me to take a seat by the stove, and pointing to
+a dirty straw pallet in a corner of the room, gave me to understand
+that upon it I was to spend my first night in a watch-house.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+The following translations pretend to no other merit than fidelity.
+The only aim of the translator has been to give as literal a version
+as the genius of the languages would permit. He has not presumed to
+blend his own with the pure conception of his author, or to obscure
+with ornament the inimitable beauty of his chaste, unaffected
+expression; he regrets that the necessity of a measure has obliged him
+more than once perhaps, to expand a thought whose concentration he
+admired:--the sin, however, was involuntary.
+
+
+Lib. 1. Ode v. AD PYRRHAM.
+
+  Quis multâ gracilis te puer in rosâ
+  Perfusus liquidis urget odoribus
+    Grato, Pyrrha, sub antro?
+      Cui flavam religas comam,
+  Simplex munditiis? heu! quoties fidem,
+  Mutatosque Deos flebit, et aspera
+    Nigris æquora ventis
+      Emirabitur insolens,
+  Qui nunc te fruitur credulus aureâ:
+  Qui semper vacuam, semper amabilem
+    Sperat, nescius auræ
+      Fallacis! miseri, quibus
+  Intenta nites. Me tabulâ sacer
+  Votivâ paries indicat uvida
+    Suspendisse potenti
+      Vestimenta maris Deo.
+
+
+Translation.
+
+  What slender youth whom liquid odors lave,
+  Courts thee on roses in some pleasant cave
+      Pyrrha?--for whom with care
+      Bind'st thou thy yellow hair
+  Plain in thy neatness? Oft alas! shall he
+  On faith and changed Gods complain, and sea
+      Rough with black tempests ire
+      Unwonted shall admire!
+  Who now enjoys thee credulous--all gold--
+  For him still vacant, lovely to behold
+      Hopes thee: of treacherous breeze
+      Unmindful. Hapless these
+  To whom untried thou shinest dazzling fair.
+  Me Neptune's walls, with tablet vowed, declare
+      My shipwrecked weeds unwrung
+      To the sea's potent God to have hung.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+ADRIANUS AD ANINAVULAM.
+
+  Animula, vagula, blandula;
+  Hospes, comesque corporis!
+  Quo nunc abibis in loco
+  Pallidula, rigida, nudula?
+  Nec ut soles dabis jocos.
+
+
+Translation.
+
+  Little rambling, coaxing sprite,
+  Tenant and comrade of this clay,
+  Into what distant regions say
+  Pale, naked, cold, wingst thou thy flight?
+  Nor wilt thou joke as wont in former day.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Lib. 1. Ode xxxv. AD FORTUNAM.
+
+  O Diva, gratum quæ regis Antium,
+  Præsens vel imo tollere de gradu
+    Mortale corpus, vel superbos
+      Vertere funeribus triumphos:
+  Te pauper ambit solicitâ prece
+  Ruris colonus; te dominam æquoris,
+    Quicunque Bithynâ lacessit
+      Carpathium pelagus carinâ.
+  Te Dacus asper, te profugi Scythæ,
+  Urbesque, gentesque, et Latium ferox,
+    Regumque matres barbarorum, et
+      Purpurei metuunt tyranni,
+  Injurioso ne pede proruas
+  Stantem columnam; neu populos frequens
+    Ad arma cessantes ad arma
+      Concitet, imperiumque frangat.
+  Te semper anteit sæva Necessitas,
+  Clavos trabales et cuneos manu
+    Gestans ahenâ; nec severus
+      Uncus abest, liquidumque plumbum.
+  Te Spes, et albo rara Fides colit
+  Velata panno, nec comitem abnegat,
+    Utcunque mutatâ potentes
+      Veste domos inimica linquis.
+  At vulgus infidum, et meretrix retro
+  Perjura cedit: diffugiunt cadis
+    Cum fæce siccatis amici,
+      Ferre jugum pariter dolosi.
+  Serves iturum Cæsarem in ultimos
+  Orbis Britannos, et juvenum recens
+    Examen Eois timendum
+      Partibus, Oceanoque Rubro.
+  Eheu! cicatricum et sceleris pudet,
+  Fratrumque: quid nos dura refugimus
+    Ætas? quid intactum nefasti
+      Liquimus? unde manum juventus
+  Metu Deorum continuit? quibus
+  Pepercit aris? O! utinam novâ
+    Incude diffingas retusum in
+      Massagetas Arabasque ferrum.
+
+
+Translation. TO FORTUNE.
+
+  Goddess whose mandate lovely Antium sways,
+  Prompt at thy will from humblest grade to raise
+    Weak mortals, or proud triumphs turn
+      To the sad funeral urn!
+  Thee the poor rustic sues with anxious prayer:
+  Thee, Arbitress of Ocean all revere,
+    Who with Bithynian keel adventurous brave
+      The rough Carpathian wave.
+  Thee wandering Scythians, thee the Dacian boor
+  Cities and nations, Latium fierce adore:
+    Mothers of barbarous kings grow pale,
+      Tyrants in purple quail
+  Lest with insulting foot thou spurn their proud,
+  Unshaken column: lest th' assembled crowd
+    Laggards to arms, to arms should wake,
+      And their dominion break.
+  Ruthless Necessity before thy band
+  Forever walks: in her resistless hand
+    Wedges and spikes: the hook severe
+      And molten lead still near.
+  Thee Hope attends, and spotless Faith so rare,
+  Robed in pure white: nor then departs whene'er,
+    With vestments changed and hostile lower,
+      Thou leav'st th' abodes of power.
+  But shrink the faithless herd and perjured quean:
+  Friends too skulk off, the casks drained dry, unseen:
+    Too treacherous equally to brook
+      Adversity's hard yoke.
+  Guard Cæsar bound 'gainst Britain's distant land,
+  Limit of earth--preserve the new-formed band
+    Of Youths, by Eastern realms to be
+      Feared, and by the Red Sea!
+  Alas! I blush for public crimes and rage;
+  For brothers too: what have we, hardened age,
+    Eschewed? what vice untried disdained?
+      When have our youth restrained
+  Their hands through fear of Heav'n? what altars spared?
+  Grant to reforge, on anvil new-prepared,
+    From civil strife our blunted swords,
+      'Gainst Scythian and Arabian hordes!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Lib. 3. Ode iii.
+
+  Justum, et tenacem propositi virum
+  Non civium ardor prava jubentium,
+    Non vultus instantis tyranni
+      Mente quatit solidâ, neque Auster,
+  Dux inquieti turbidus Adriæ,
+  Nec fulminantis magna Jovis manus:
+    Si fractus illabatur orbis,
+      Impavidum ferient ruinæ.
+  Hâc arte Pollux, et vagus Hercules
+  Innixus, arces attigit igneas:
+    Quos inter Augustus recumbens
+      Purpureo bibit ore nectar.
+  Hâc te merentem, Bacche pater, tuæ
+  Vexêre tigres, indocili jugum
+    Collo trahentes: hâc Quirinus
+      Martis equis Acheronta fugit.
+
+Translation.
+
+  The upright man tenacious of design,
+  Nor civil rage commanding acts malign,
+    Nor tyrant's frown,[1] in fierce career,
+    Shakes in his firm resolve with fear:
+  Nor Auster, restless Adria's stormy king,
+  Nor Jove's strong hand upraised the bolt to wing.
+    Should Heaven's burst vault sink on his head
+    The wreck would strike him undismayed.
+  Pollux, and wandering Hercules, sustained
+  By arts like these, the starry summits gained,
+    Mid whom reclining Cæsar sips
+    Rich nectar with empurpled lips;
+  Thee, Bacchus, thus deserving virtue's prize
+  With yoke on neck indocile to the skies
+    Thy tigers bore--thus Rhea's son
+    On steeds of Mars 'scaped Acheron.
+
+[Footnote 1: _Glance_ would perhaps be more expressive. Translator.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Lib. 2. Ode xvi. AD GROSPHUM.
+
+  Otium Divos rogat in patenti
+  Prensus Ægoeo, simul atra nubes
+  Condidit Lunam, neque certa fulgent
+        Sidera nautis;
+  Otium bello furiosa Thrace,
+  Otium Medi pharetrâ decori,
+  Grosphe, non gemmis, neque purpura ve-
+        nale, nec auro.
+  Non enim gazæ, neque consularis
+  Summovet lictor miseros tumultus
+  Mentis, et curas laqueata circum
+        Tecta volantes.
+  Vivitur parvo bene, cui paternum
+  Splendet in mensâ tenui salinum;
+  Nec leves somnos timor aut Cupido
+        Sordidus aufert.
+  Quid brevi fortes jaculamur oevo
+  Multa? quid terras alio calentes
+  Sole mutamus? patriæ quis exul
+        Se quoque fugit?
+  Scandit æratas vitiosa naves
+  Cura; nec turmas equitum relinquit,
+  Ocior cervis, et agente nimbos
+        Ocior Euro.
+  Loetus in præsens animus, quod ultra est
+  Oderit curare, et amara lento
+  Temperet risu. Nihil est ab omni
+        Parte beatum.
+  Abstulit clarum cita mors Achillem:
+  Longa Tithonum minuit senectus:
+  Et mihi forsan, tibi quod negârit,
+        Porriget hora.
+  Te greges centum, Siculæque circum
+  Mugiunt vaccoe; tibi tollit hinnitum
+  Apta quadrigis equa: te bis Afro
+        Murice tinctæ
+  Vestiunt lanoe: mihi parva rura, et
+  Spiritum Graioe tenuem Camenoe
+  Parca non mendax dedit, et malignum
+        Spernere Vulgus.
+
+Translation. TO GROSPHUS.
+
+  For ease, to Heaven the seaman prays,
+  Caught in the wide Ægean seas
+    When black clouds wrap the sky,
+  Nor moon nor well known star to guide
+  His barque along the treacherous tide,
+    Shines to his practised eye.
+  For ease the Thracian fierce in fight
+  And Parthian graced with quiver light,
+    To Heaven incessant sigh.
+  Ease, which nor gold, nor gems can buy,
+  Nor robes of Tyria's costly dye.
+    For wealth or power can quell
+  No wretched tumults of the breast,
+  Nor cares, aye fluttering without rest,
+    Round sculptured domes, dispel.
+  Well does he live in humble state,
+  Whose father's salt-stand--his sole plate,
+    Shines on his frugal board.
+  Nor fears to lose disturb his rest,
+  Nor sordid avarice goads his breast
+    To gain a useless hoard.
+  Why daring aim beyond our span,
+  Through distant years at many a plan
+    When life so brief we find?
+  Why long 'neath other suns to roam?
+  What exile from his native home
+    Has left himself behind?
+  Fell care ascends the brazen poop,
+  Nor yet forsakes the horseman's troop,
+    Outstrips the stag and wind.
+  Pleased with the present--ills beyond,
+  The man who loves not to despond,
+    To trace will wisely shun:
+  And when they come with tempering smile
+  The bitter of his cup beguile
+    Or sweeten ere 'tis done.
+  In youth the great Peleides sunk,
+  With tardy age Tithonus shrunk,
+    For nought is wholly blest.
+  So time perhaps extends for me
+  The hour he still denies to thee,
+    Of choicest gifts possest.
+  Thee--numerous flocks and herds surround,
+  Thy neighing coursers paw the ground,
+    For princely chariot meet.
+  Rich fleeces steeped in murex bright
+  Invest thy limbs with purple light
+    And flow around thy feet.
+  To me content, veracious heaven
+  A little farm to till has given
+    In independence proud,
+  A gentle breath of Grecian muse
+  Its airy visions to infuse
+    And scorn the envious crowd.
+
+
+
+
+CRITICAL NOTICES AND LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.
+
+
+_Visit to the American Churches, by Doctors Reed and Matheson; 2 vols.
+New York: Harpers._--This work is excellent in its way--being a fine
+addition to the already numerous commentaries of the English upon our
+country. The writers, in the present instance, were delegated, about
+two years since, by the dissenting churches in Great Britain, to visit
+the United States, for inquiry into our religious condition and
+character, and were favorably received by our countrymen. They have
+shown themselves peculiarly free from unworthy prejudice, and have
+gleaned, with indefatigable zeal, and surprising accuracy, a mass of
+secular as well as religious information in relation to the United
+States. The book consists of six hundred closely printed pages,
+abounding with acute comment, and replete with valuable statistical
+details. It has a value, too, particularly its own, as exhibiting the
+real views of two well-educated English clergymen upon the
+_religious_, more especially than upon the political and social aspect
+of our land. The volumes are well written, and likely to do much good
+in England as well as in the United States. Our readers will remember
+Doctor Reed as the author of _No Fiction_, and _Martha_, both of which
+publications were favorably noticed in a former number of the
+Messenger.
+
+_The Black Watch, by the author of the Dominie's Legacy; 2 vols. E. L.
+Carey and A. Hart._--This is perhaps the best of all the writings of
+this author. The _soubriquet_ of "The Black Watch" is familiar in the
+anecdotary annals of our country. We all remember its celebrity at
+Crown Point, and among the wild doings at Lake George. We should be
+pleased, did it not interfere too much with our arrangements, to give
+an extract from this novel in our present number. We must, however,
+confine ourselves to a general recommendation.
+
+_Magpie Castle; 1 vol.: by Theodore Hook. E. L. Carey and A.
+Hart._--This is one of the finest trifles we have had the pleasure of
+looking into for many years. Hook is a writer more entirely original
+in his manner of thinking and speaking than many of his literary
+brethren who possess a greater reputation.
+
+_The American Journal of Science and the Arts, by Benjamin Silliman,
+M.D., L.L.D. &c. Vol. XXVII--No. 11. New Haven: Hezekiah Howe &
+Co._--We are glad to see that this admirable Journal is no longer in
+immediate danger of decline. It is the only work of the kind in the
+United States, and it would be positively disgraceful to let it perish
+from a want of that patronage which, in the opinion of all proper
+judges, it so pre-eminently deserves. We perceive a suggestion in the
+New York American on this subject--an appeal to the lovers of sound
+knowledge, calling upon them for their aid in behalf of the Journal,
+and urging them not to let slip any opportunity of speaking a word in
+its favor. To this appeal we take pleasure in cordially responding. We
+positively can call to mind, at this moment, _no work whatever_, more
+richly deserving of support; and it _must_ be supported, if only for
+the justice of the thing--it _will_ be supported, we believe, for the
+credit of the country. The present number, among many well written
+articles of pure science, contains not a few of universal and
+practical interest to the people. We beg leave also to call the
+attention of our readers to the very interesting paper entitled "An
+Ascent to the summit of the Popocatepetl, the highest point of the
+Mexican Andes, eighteen thousand feet above the level of the sea." We
+have been nearly tempted to extract the entire article.
+
+_The Manual of Phrenology; 1 vol. 350 pp. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea &
+Blanchard._ This is a summary of Dr. Gall's system, and a translation
+from the fourth Paris edition. We might as well make up our minds to
+listen patiently.
+
+_Recollections of an Excursion to the Monasteries of Alcobaca and
+Batalha, by Beckford, the author of Vathek,_ have been recently
+published in London. We have had occasion before to speak of the
+author of Vathek, and, without having seen this his last production,
+we have taken up an idea that it must bear a family resemblance to
+that heterogeneous, tumid, and blasphemous piece of _Easternism_, by
+which Mr. Beckford has acquired so much notoriety. We hope not,
+however, for the writer's sake, who is undoubtedly a man of genius and
+fine imagination. However this matter may eventuate--whether we prove
+to be true prophets, or false--one thing is certain: the work of which
+we are now speaking, as indeed any book whatever from the same pen,
+will be read with eagerness; and this for no better reason which we
+can discover, than that the world have habituated themselves to mix up
+in their fancy the mind and writings with the former fine house and
+furniture of Mr. Beckford--the gorgeous nonsense of Vathek, with the
+vast and absolute magnificence of the Abbey of Fonthill. We predict
+for the book a rapid sale in this country. The notices which we have
+seen merely speak of it as a charming specimen of a book made up from
+nothing at all. It is said, however, to give a faithful picture of
+monastic life, and a sprightly view of Portugal in 1794.
+
+P. S. It appears that we have not been altogether mistaken in our
+pre-supposition touching this book. The _Recollections_ consist of
+little more than a glowing description of monastic epicurism and
+_gourmandise_.
+
+_The Wife and Woman's Reward_, by the Hon. Mrs. Norton, editress of
+the London Court Journal, has been republished by the Harpers. We have
+merely glanced at the book, and can therefore say very little about
+it. Mrs. Norton's name however is high authority. She has written some
+of the most touching verses in the language, imbued with poetry and
+passion; and since we saw her lately at breakfast in Frazer's
+Magazine, we have fallen positively in love with her, and intend to
+look with a favorable eye upon each and all of her future productions.
+
+_The Brothers, a Tale of the Fronde; 2 vols. New York: Harper and
+Brothers._--This novel is from the pen of Mr. Herbert of New York, one
+of the editors of the American Monthly Magazine. Detached chapters of
+it have appeared from time to time in that journal, and gave
+indication of the glowing talent which is now so apparent in the
+entire work. As an historical novel, in excellent keeping, written
+with great fluency and richness of diction, we know of (nothing?) from
+the American press possessing higher claims than _The Brothers_ of Mr.
+Herbert.
+
+_Letters to Young Ladies; by Mrs. L. H. Sigourney._ W. Watson of
+Hartford, has just published a second edition of this little volume.
+It contains 200 pages, and consists of twelve letters on subjects
+appertaining to the female character. Mrs. Sigourney blends a strong
+and commanding good sense, with the loftier qualities of the poet. She
+has written nothing which is not, in its particular way, excellent.
+
+Hilliard, Gray & Co. have just published _The Comprehensive
+Pronouncing and Explanatory Dictionary of the English Language, with
+Pronouncing Vocabularies of Classical, Scriptural and Modern
+Geographical Names, by J. E. Worcester; 1 vol. 12 mo._ Also--_An
+Elementary Dictionary for Common Schools, &c. &c.; by the same._ The
+latter of these two works is merely a condensation of the former; and
+is in so much to be preferred, as it omits references and
+authority--giving, in cases of doubt, what is deemed upon the whole
+the proper pronunciation. The Comprehensive Dictionary was first
+published in 1830. Several editions have been since printed. It
+contains 6000 words more than Walker.
+
+Matsells, of Chatham, New York, has published _A Few Days in Athens,
+being a translation of a Greek M.S. discovered in Herculaneum; by
+Frances Wright._--We have been sadly puzzled what idea to attach to
+this very odd annunciation--the book itself we have not yet been able
+to obtain. What it is, and what it is not, must deeply concern every
+lover of Fanny Wright, pure Greek, and perfect independence.
+
+We perceive that J. N. Reynolds' Voyage of the United States' Frigate
+Potomac--Dr. Bird's Infidel--Tocqueville's Democracy in
+America--Professor Longfellow's Outre-Mer--and John P. Kennedy's
+Horse-Shoe Robinson--all of which we noticed favorably in the
+Messenger--are highly praised in the London Literary Gazette.
+Outre-Mer sells in that city for nearly $5--Horse-Shoe Robinson, and
+the Infidel, for $6 50 each.
+
+A superb work has appeared in Paris--_Descriptions of the French
+Possessions in India_, viz: Views of the Coromandel and Madras
+Coasts--Sketches of the Temples, Gods, Costumes, &c. of the
+inhabitants of French India. The book is richly ornamented with
+lithographic plates of exquisite finish, and altogether the
+publication is worthy of the government under whose direction it has
+been gotten up.
+
+The July number of the London New Monthly Magazine contains a portrait
+of Mrs. Hemans (from the bust by Angus Kecher,) engraved on steel by
+Thompson. This is the only likeness of Mrs. Hemans ever published.
+There is also an article by Willis entitled _The Gipsey of Sardis_.
+Since the secession of Campbell in 1831, Samuel Carter Hall has edited
+the New Monthly--the editorship of Bulwer only enduring for a short
+interval.
+
+_Robert Gilfillan_, of Edinburg, the Scottish lyrical writer, has
+published a second edition of his songs. Some of them are said to be
+of surpassing beauty.
+
+Mr. Hoskins' _Travels in Ethiopia above the Second Cataract of the
+Nile_, are very highly spoken of. The work is a large quarto; and the
+expense of getting it up has been so great, as to leave its author no
+chance of remuneration. It contains ninety illustrations, by a
+Neapolitan artist of great eminence. The risk attending the
+publication of so valuable a book, will operate to deter any American
+bookseller from attempting it.
+
+The new number of Lardner's Cyclopædia is _A History of Greece, vol.
+1, by the Rev. C. Thirwall, M.A., Fellow of Trinity College,
+Cambridge_. There will be three volumes of it. Alas, for our old and
+valued friend, Oliver Goldsmith! The book is said to be faithful--but
+very stupid.
+
+_Anecdotes of Washington, illustrative of his patriotism and courage,
+piety and benevolence_, is the title of one of the last of the "_Books
+for the Young_." It is a Scottish publication.
+
+Sir James Mackintosh has just issued _A View of the Reign of James II,
+from his accession to the enterprize of the Prince of Orange. The
+History of the Revolution in England in 1688_, a late work by the same
+author, sold for three guineas: it was reprinted by the Harpers. The
+present book is said to be nothing more than a part of the former work
+in a new dress.
+
+The Honorable Arthur Trevor has issued a volume of _The Life and Times
+of William III, King of England, and Stadtholder of Holland_.
+
+_Irving's Crayon Sketches, Parts I and II_, have been reprinted in
+Paris by Galignani. _Fanny Kemble_ has been also reprinted there.
+
+Captain Ross, the hero of the North Pole, is losing ground in public
+favor. Singular discrepancies are said to have been discovered in his
+last volume, between his map and his text.
+
+_Sketches of American Literature_, by Flint, are in course of
+publication in the London Athenæum. They are not very highly spoken
+of--being called abstruse and dull.
+
+The finest edition ever yet published of Milton's Paradise Lost, is
+that of Sir Egerton Brydges, of which the first volume is already
+issued. It contains the first six books--an engraving from Romney's
+picture "Milton Dictating to his Daughter," and a fine vignette, "The
+Expulsion," by J. M. W. Turner, R.A. The edition will be completed in
+six vols.
+
+The Right Hon. J. P. Courtney has in press _Memoirs of the Life,
+Works, and Correspondence of Sir William Temple_.
+
+James, the author of Darnley, has completed the _Life of Edward the
+Black Prince_.
+
+Lady Dacre, who wrote the _Tales of a Chaperon_, has published _Tales
+of the Peerage and Peasantry_. The work is ostensibly _edited_ by Lady
+Dacre, but there can be no doubt of her having written it. Every lover
+of fine writing must remember the story of _Ellen Wareham_ in the
+Tales of a Chaperon. Positively we have never seen any thing of the
+kind more painfully interesting, with the single exception of the
+Bride of Lammermuir. The Tales in the present volumes are _The
+Countess of Nithsdale_, _The Hampshire Cottage_, and _Blanche_.
+
+Willis' _Pencillings by the Way_ are regularly republished in the
+Liverpool Journal.
+
+The _Canzoniere of Dante_ has been translated by C. Lyell with
+absolute fidelity, and of course with correspondent awkwardness.
+
+Barry Cornwall's _Life of Edmund Kean_ is severely handled in
+Blackwood's Magazine for July.
+
+The seventh Bridgewater Treatise has appeared in two volumes. It is by
+the Rev. W. Kirby, the naturalist, and treats of _The History, Habits,
+and Instincts of Animals_. The article on the Bridgewater Treatises in
+the London Quarterly (we believe,) is one of the most admirable essays
+ever penned--we allude to the paper entitled _The Universe and its
+Author_.
+
+A second edition of _Social Evils_, by Mrs. Sherwood, has appeared.
+Mrs. S. is now well advanced in years.
+
+A political novel is also in press--_Mephistopheles in England, or the
+Confessions of a Prime Minister_.
+
+_The Life of Edward, Earl of Clarendon_, is in preparation by Lister,
+author of Granby.
+
+Joanna Baillie is about to issue three new volumes of _Dramas on the
+Passions_. She is, in our opinion, the first literary lady in England.
+
+The London Quarterly Review is especially severe on Fanny Kemble's
+Journal--while an article on the same subject in the last New England
+Review is as particularly lenient. The paper in the Quarterly is from
+the pen of Lockhart.
+
+Dr. Bird is preparing for the press a new novel under the name of _The
+Hawks of Hawk's Hollow_. The adventures of a band of refugees, who
+during the revolutionary war infested the banks of the Delaware, will
+form the groundwork of the story.
+
+_Halleck's Poems_ are in press, and will speedily be published. This
+announcement has been received with universal pleasure. As a writer of
+light, airy and graceful things, Halleck is inimitable.
+
+Mr. Simms, author of the _Yemassee_, has in preparation a novel
+founded upon incidents in the war of the revolution in South Carolina.
+He will thus find himself at issue with Mr. Kennedy in Horse-Shoe
+Robinson. De Kalb, Marion, Gates, and a host of other worthies will
+figure in the pages of Mr. Simms.
+
+We are looking for _The Gift_ with great anxiety. This annual will
+have few, perhaps no rivals any where. Its embellishments are of the
+very highest order of excellence; and a galaxy of talent has been
+enlisted in its behalf. It is edited by Miss Leslie, and will be
+issued from the press of Carey and Lea early in September.
+
+In conclusion. Charles Kemble is reported to have said that Fanny's
+is, beyond doubt, the best and truest book ever published, with the
+exception of Byron and the Bible.
+
+
+
+
+TO READERS AND CORRESPONDENTS.
+
+
+It has been our custom, hitherto, to offer some few _Editorial
+Remarks_ explanatory, complimentary, or otherwise, upon each
+individual article in every Messenger. For this we had many reasons
+which it will be unnecessary to mention in detail. But although, in
+the infancy of our journal, such a course might have seemed to us
+expedient, we are _now_ under no obligation to continue it. We shall
+therefore, for the future, suffer our various articles to speak for
+themselves, and depend upon their intrinsic merit for support.
+
+In our next will appear No. VIII of the Tripoline Sketches: No. III of
+the Autobiography of Pertinax Placid: and many other papers which we
+have been forced for the present to exclude. Many poetical favors are
+under consideration.
+
+We avail ourselves of this opportunity again to solicit contributions,
+especially from our Southern acquaintances. While we shall endeavor to
+render the Messenger acceptable to all, it is more particularly our
+desire to give it as much as possible a _Southern_ character and
+aspect, and to identify its interests and associations with those of
+the region in which it has taken root.
+
+As one or two of the criticisms in relation to the Tales of our
+contributor, Mr. Poe, have been directly at variance with those
+generally expressed, we take the liberty of inserting here an extract
+from a _letter_ (signed by three gentlemen of the highest standing in
+literary matters) which we find in the Baltimore Visiter. This paper
+having offered a premium for the best Prose Tale, and also one for the
+best Poem--_both_ these premiums were awarded by the committee to Mr.
+Poe. The award was, however, subsequently altered, so as to exclude
+Mr. P. from the second premium, in consideration of his having
+obtained the higher one. Here follows the extract.
+
+"Among the prose articles offered were many of various and
+distinguished merit; but the singular force and beauty of those sent
+by the author of the _Tales of the Folio Club_, leave us no room for
+hesitation in that department. We have accordingly awarded the premium
+to a Tale entitled _MS. found in a Bottle_. It would hardly be doing
+justice to the writer of this collection to say that the Tale we have
+chosen is the best of the six offered by him. We cannot refrain from
+saying that the author owes it to his own reputation, as well as to
+the gratification of the community, to publish the entire volume, (the
+Tales of the Folio Club.) These Tales are eminently distinguished by a
+wild, vigorous, and poetical imagination--a rich style--a fertile
+invention--and varied and curious learning.
+
+  (Signed)
+
+  JOHN P. KENNEDY,
+  J. H. B. LATROBE,
+  JAMES H. MILLER."
+
+We presume this letter must set the question at rest. Lionizing is one
+of the Tales here spoken of--The Visionary is another. The _Tales of
+the Folio Club_ are sixteen in all, and we believe it is the author's
+intention to publish them in the autumn. When such men as Miller,
+Latrobe, Kennedy, Tucker, and Paulding speak unanimously of any
+literary productions in terms of exalted commendation, it is nearly
+unnecessary to say that we are willing to abide by their decision.
+
+In every publication like ours, a brief sentence or paragraph is often
+wanted for the filling out a column, and in such cases it is customary
+to resort to selection. We think it as well, therefore, to mention
+that, in all similar instances, we shall make use of _original_
+matter.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol.
+I., No. 12, August, 1835, by Various
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 58729 ***