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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59383 ***
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+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, SEPTEMBER 1835.  [No. 13.
+
+T. W. WHITE, PRINTER AND PROPRIETOR.  FIVE DOLLARS PER ANNUM.
+
+
+
+
+The present number closes the first volume of the Messenger; and
+accompanying it, the Publisher will transmit to each subscriber a
+title page and copious Index to the volume. Gratified that his past
+endeavors to please, have been crowned with success--the Publisher
+anticipates with confidence that, with the continued patronage of the
+public, the forthcoming volume shall in no respect be behind, if it
+does not greatly outstrip its predecessor.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+SKETCHES OF THE HISTORY
+
+And Present Condition of Tripoli, with some account of the other
+Barbary States.
+
+No. VIII.--[_Continued_.]
+
+
+In the beginning of April 1816, Admiral Lord Exmouth, Commander of the
+British naval forces in the Mediterranean, arrived at Algiers
+commissioned by his Government to negotiate with the Dey, in favor of
+some of the inferior powers, which were in alliance with or under the
+protection of Great Britain, and in order to give greater weight to
+his arguments, he was accompanied by a fleet consisting of six sail of
+the line, and nineteen frigates and smaller vessels.
+
+The particulars of this negotiation have never been made public; from
+what has transpired, it appears that the Admiral began by exacting
+conditions much less favorable to Algiers, than those which he finally
+subscribed. Whatever may have been those terms, the Dey refused to
+admit them, and demonstrations were made on both sides, of an appeal
+to arms; the negotiations were however renewed, and on the 4th,
+engagements were concluded, to which upon the whole the Dey could have
+made no objections. The Ionian Islands which had been placed under the
+protection of Great Britain, were to be respected as part of the
+British dominions; and thirty-three slaves, natives of Malta and
+Gibraltar (British possessions) were liberated without ransom. A
+treaty of peace was made with Sardinia, by which that country was
+placed on the same footing with Great Britain, except that a present
+not exceeding in value five thousand pounds sterling, was to be paid
+on the arrival of each of its Consuls at Algiers; the Sardinian
+captives were to be restored, on payment by that Government of five
+hundred dollars per man. These terms may be considered as fair, and
+the King of Sardinia who had just received Genoa from the hands of the
+British, acknowledged his obligations for this additional favor. But
+the treaty by which the Government of the Two Sicilies was bound to
+ransom its subjects at the price of one thousand dollars each, and to
+pay an annual tribute of twenty-four thousand dollars, besides
+Consular presents, could scarcely have been considered as a boon in
+Naples, and it must have consoled Omar for the concessions made to
+other two powers.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: The King of Sardinia, besides the Island from which his
+title is derived, possesses Savoy, Piedmont and Genoa on the continent
+of Europe; he likewise styles himself sovereign of Corsica, Sicily,
+Rhodes, Cyprus and Jerusalem. The King of Naples is styled the King of
+the Two Sicilies.]
+
+Before the departure of Lord Exmouth, an American squadron of two
+frigates and two sloops of war, under Commodore Shaw, came to Algiers
+with the ostensible purpose of presenting to the Dey a copy of the
+treaty, signed in the preceding year, with the ratifications by the
+President of the United States. Other circumstances however had
+rendered its appearance necessary.
+
+The treaty concluded with the United States under the guns of
+Decatur's ships, was more mortifying to the Algerines than any which
+had previously been made with a Christian nation; captives had been
+surrendered without ransom, property seized had been restored, and the
+right of demanding tribute or presents had been distinctly renounced.
+The Dey saw that his credit would be seriously impaired when these
+engagements should become publicly known; he suspected that had he
+held out longer, he might have escaped the humiliation, and he
+flattered himself that he might still retrieve what had been lost. No
+Barbary sovereign ever considered it incumbent on him to observe a
+treaty longer than it was compatible with his interests; yet every
+man, however rude may be his ideas of moral conduct, knows the
+advantage of being, or of seeming to be in the right. With these views
+Omar determined to seek, and he accordingly soon found a pretext for
+quarrel.
+
+It has been stated that the Algerine brig taken by the Americans and
+sent into Carthagena, had been there detained by the authorities, on
+the plea of irregularity in the capture, but really in order that the
+Spanish Government might obtain some concessions from the Dey in
+return for the vessel. Omar did not fail to express to the Consul, at
+first his surprise, then his indignation at this delay, which he
+insisted was a violation of the treaty. Mr. Shaler endeavored to
+reason with him, and renewed his assurances that the brig would be
+soon restored; but he became daily more open in his threats, and more
+insulting in his language, until the Consul not knowing to what
+lengths his arrogant folly might lead him, requested Commodore Shaw
+who had just reached Mahon, to come with his whole force to Algiers.
+
+Immediately after the arrival of the squadron the Consul demanded an
+audience of the Dey, and presented to him the ratified treaty, in
+which no alteration had been made by the American Government. Omar was
+at that moment elated by his success in obtaining such immense sums
+from Sardinia and Naples, through the agency of their kind and
+generous patrons the British, and he determined if possible to make
+the Americans pay as dearly for his friendship. He therefore at first
+pretended not to understand the meaning of this second treaty as he
+termed it; he however admitted though with apparent unwillingness the
+explanation of Mr. Shaler, and having called for the original Arabic
+copy signed in the preceding year, compared it with that now offered.
+This examination being ended, the Dey insisted that the treaty
+ratified by the President was essentially different from his own copy;
+that several clauses had been varied, and others which he had been
+particular in having inserted, were altogether omitted; among the
+latter he cited one binding the United States to pay a certain sum on
+the presentation of each of their Consuls, which indeed existed in the
+Arabic version but had been fraudulently introduced without the
+knowledge of the American Commissioners. He dwelt on the delay in
+restoring the brig, as an instance of flagrant disregard of
+engagements on the part of the Americans, who he considered had thus
+shewn themselves unworthy of confidence, and concluded by declaring
+that the treaty with them was null and void. The next day the Prime
+Minister returned the ratified copy to Mr. Shaler using the most
+insulting language on the occasion; and when the Consul warned him of
+the consequences which might ensue, he replied with a sneer that his
+master entertained no apprehensions, "as he had been assured by the
+British that the Americans had neither ships nor money."
+
+Mr. Shaler at this immediately retired on board the squadron; Omar
+then became more reasonable, and after some days negotiation, he
+agreed to submit the questions of the brig and of the future relations
+between the two countries to the President of the United States in a
+letter from himself, and to observe the treaty of 1815 until the
+answer could be received. He accordingly wrote to the President on the
+24th of April, recapitulating, according to his own views, the
+occurrences which attended the signature of the treaty, and declaring
+that as it had been violated by the Americans themselves, a new one
+must be made, to which effect he proposed a renewal of the treaty of
+1796.
+
+Lord Exmouth having obtained the results above stated at Algiers,
+sailed with his fleet for Tunis where similar arrangements were
+subscribed at once by the Bey; the Sardinian captives were restored
+without ransom, and the Neapolitans were liberated on payment by the
+Sicilian Government of three hundred dollars for each. The Pasha of
+Tripoli also willingly got rid of his remaining slaves from those
+countries at the prices proposed by the British Commander, and the
+Sovereigns of both these Regencies promised, that prisoners taken in
+war with Christian nations should not in future be made slaves. The
+Admiral then returned to Algiers, where he at length ventured to
+require from the Dey a similar abolition of slavery in his dominions.
+Omar in reply manifested his surprise at this demand, which was indeed
+at variance with those made and assented to a few weeks before; he
+however submitted it to his Divan[2] and soldiery, and having received
+assurances of their support, he declared that as Algiers was a
+dependency of the Porte, he could not enter into such an engagement
+without authority from his Suzerain, and he therefore required six
+months delay before he could give a final answer. Lord Exmouth granted
+him but three hours, and gave evidences of an intention to bombard the
+city. Omar showed no backwardness, and considering the war begun, he
+imprisoned the British Consul, and sent orders to the Governors of the
+other ports of the Regency to seize all vessels which might be lying
+in them under the flag of his enemies; the Admiral however thought
+proper to agree to a truce during the time demanded by him, and even
+sent a frigate to bear his Ambassador to Constantinople.
+
+[Footnote 2: The Divan of Algiers consisted originally of all the
+soldiers and civil officers of the Government; it had however become a
+mere name, and was scarcely ever convened, until Omar formally
+assembled one, on a much more limited scale however, in order to
+deliberate upon the propositions of Lord Exmouth. It then again
+acquired importance; which it lost when the Dey in 1817 transferred
+his residence to the Casauba. The members of the Government of Algiers
+besides the Dey were, the Hasnagee or Minister of Finance, the Aga who
+was Commander in Chief and Minister of War, the Vikel Adgee or
+Minister of Marine, the Khogia de Cavallas or Adjutant General, and
+the Bet el Mel or Judge of inheritances.]
+
+The treaty between the United States and Algiers having been by this
+time published in Europe, its conditions excited great attention, as
+they were infinitely less favorable to the latter party than those
+which had been obtained up to that period, by any Christian Power;
+numerous speculations were formed by politicians as to the probability
+of their being maintained, and the movements of the American squadron
+in the Mediterranean were attentively noted in the public prints. The
+eighteenth article of this treaty provides--that American armed
+vessels should be allowed to bring their prizes into the ports of the
+Regency and to dispose of them there, while those of nations at war
+with the United States were to be obliged to depart with their prizes
+as soon as they had procured the requisite supply of provisions and
+water. The evident partiality displayed in this article induced Lord
+Exmouth to demand explanations on the subject from the Dey; Omar
+however soon satisfied his Lordship by an assurance that he had no
+intention to observe it or any other stipulation contained in the
+treaty.
+
+The British fleet quitted Algiers about the middle of May and returned
+to England where a great portion of the seamen were discharged, and
+the ships were ordered to be dismantled. No official announcement had
+been made of the results of the expedition, but the general tenor of
+the engagements entered into were sufficiently understood, and the
+newspapers of England and France were filled with articles, in which
+they were severely reprobated and contrasted with those dictated by
+the Americans with the aid of a trifling force. In Parliament Mr.
+Brougham on the 18th of June, called for the production of the treaty
+which had been made with Algiers, declaring that if the terms were
+really such as were supposed, "a great stain would be fixed on the
+character of the country, as they distinctly acknowledged the right of
+depredation exercised by these Barbarians by providing a ransom for
+the slaves whom they had made." Lord Cochrane insisted that "two sail
+of the line would have been sufficient to compel the Dey of Algiers to
+any terms." Lord Castlereagh the Secretary of State for Foreign
+Affairs evaded the call for the treaty, stating however "that the
+cause of humanity had been materially advanced by the negotiations
+which had been carried on, as it was for the first time agreed to by
+the Dey of Algiers, that captives should be considered and treated on
+the European footing as prisoners of war, and set at liberty at the
+conclusion of every peace." This declaration was probably considered
+by that ingenious statesman as _a necessary fiction_. The British
+Government however felt that more was required of it by the nation,
+and a circumstance soon occurred which afforded an excuse for the
+employment of measures better calculated to secure the public voice in
+its favor.
+
+The rocks at the bottom of the sea near some parts of the shores of
+Algiers and Tunis are covered with coral of the finest quality; on
+these coasts, the British and French have long maintained
+establishments, to which persons provided with their license annually
+resorted in the spring in order to fish for this substance. The
+establishments of the French were at Calle and Bastion-de-France,
+where they had forts and even claimed the sovereignty of the
+territory, paying however a large sum yearly to the Governments of
+those Regencies. The coral fishers under British license were nearly
+all natives of the Italian States and islands; they assembled
+principally at Bona, a small and ruinous place in Algiers about four
+hundred miles west of the capital, occupying the site of the
+celebrated ancient city of Hippo-Regius, where resided a Vice Consul
+of Great Britain, and a number of magazines were erected for the
+reception of the coral and of goods brought for sale; there was no
+fort and no pretension was made to jurisdiction over the territory.
+While the British fleet was lying before Algiers, and the Dey was
+momentarily in expectation of an attack, he despatched an order to his
+Aga or Governor of Bona, to secure all persons living there under the
+protection of Great Britain. Owing to the great distance from Algiers,
+this order did not arrive until the 23d of May, by which time the
+truce with Great Britain had been agreed to, and the fleet had quitted
+the African coast. The Aga on receiving the commands of the Dey,
+instantly sent out his whole force to seize the Christians, but the
+latter being more numerous than the Algerines, made resistance and
+several persons were killed on both sides. The people of the country
+and neighborhood, however coming to the aid of the soldiers, the
+Europeans were overpowered, some escaped in their boats, and some were
+murdered by the exasperated soldiers and populace; the rest were
+dragged to prison, and their magazines and dwellings including that of
+the British Vice Consul were pillaged. This is a simple statement of
+the facts as subsequently ascertained; the occurrence was indeed to be
+lamented, but there is no reason for attributing it to any
+predetermined motive either on the part of the Dey or of his agents;
+it might have happened in the best regulated country, and as Shaler
+observes, is by far more defensible than the massacre of the American
+prisoners by the British soldiers at Dartmoor. That the Dey had a
+right to order the seizure of persons living in his dominions under
+the flag of a nation with which he conceived himself engaged in
+hostilities, cannot be disproved; and the Europeans by their
+resistance subjected themselves to the chances of war. Mr. Shaler
+justly censures Lord Exmouth for not having taken measures to protect
+the sufferers at Bona which he might easily have done as he passed by
+the place on his way from Tunis.
+
+The British government however chose to regard the affair as an act of
+signal atrocity, and without waiting to demand explanations on the
+subject, prepared immediately to avenge the cause of humanity, and to
+chastise the Algerines for the insult offered to the national flag. A
+fleet of five sail of the line, five frigates, five sloops of war and
+forty smaller vessels, accordingly sailed from Gibraltar under Lord
+Exmouth on the 14th of August, 1816; and having been joined by a Dutch
+squadron of five frigates and a sloop, under Admiral Van Capellen, the
+whole armament appeared before Algiers on the 27th of that month.
+Before detailing the operations of this force, it will be proper to
+give some account of the situation and defences of the place against
+which it was sent.
+
+Algiers stands on the western side of a semicircular bay, the shore of
+which between the two Capes at its extremities, extends about fifteen
+miles. Of these Capes the eastern is called Cape Matifou; the shore of
+the bay on this side and on the south, is low and level, offering
+every where facilities for landing, which circumstances induced
+Charles the Fifth to disembark his army there, on his unfortunate
+expedition in 1541. Since that period, a number of strong batteries
+have been erected along the edge of the bay, connected by lines which
+if well manned would render landing impracticable. The western side of
+the bay is formed by a ridge of hills, which terminate on the north in
+a bold promontory called Ras Acconnater or Cape Caxine; this ridge
+separates the bay of Algiers from that of Sidi Ferruch where the
+French forces landed in 1830.
+
+The city is built upon the declivity of a steep hill, about three
+miles south-east of Cape Caxine. Its general form presents a
+triangular outline, and the houses being all white it has the
+appearance of a sail when seen from a distance at sea. One side is on
+the bay, the walls on the other two sides extend up the hill from the
+water's edge; they are about thirty feet in height and twelve in
+thickness, built of brick, with towers at intervals, and a shallow
+ditch on the outside. At the place where these walls meet, is situated
+the Casauba or citadel, an octagon fort separated from the houses of
+the town by a deep moat, and which has served since 1817 as the
+treasury and palace of the Dey. About a mile south-east of the Casauba
+on a hill completely commanding the city, was a square castle of
+brick, mounting sixty guns, called the Kallahai or Emperor's Castle,
+which name it derived from occupying the spot where Charles the Fifth
+pitched his tent. Two other forts situated near the shore, one north
+of the city called Akoleit, and the other south called Babazon,
+mounting about thirty guns each, completed the fortifications of the
+place on the main land as they existed in 1816. They were of little
+importance in a military point of view, being intended principally to
+keep the inhabitants in order; they however served as effectual
+protections against the attacks of the Arabs and Kabyles. The whole
+circumference of the town does not exceed a mile and a half, and there
+are scarcely any suburbs, the ground around the walls being devoted to
+cemeteries and gardens. The houses are closely built, the streets
+being with one or two exceptions narrow tortuous lanes, many of them
+covered over: the mosques, bazaars and public buildings are generally
+inferior in size and style. The population has been variously
+estimated, but the researches made by the French since their capture
+of the place, show that it has never exceeded fifty thousand,
+including the Turkish garrison, the number of which varied between
+seven and ten thousand.
+
+The defences on the sea side were indeed formidable. Opposite and
+eastward of the city, at the distance of two hundred and fifty or
+three hundred yards was a little island, from which the place derives
+its name _Al Gezeir_ or _the island_; it has been however connected
+with the main land by a solid causeway of stone, and the whole
+together forms a continued mole. The space of sea opposite the city
+thus partially enclosed by the mole is the harbor, which opens
+directly to the south, and does not exceed seven acres in extent. On
+the mole are the offices and magazines of the marine department which
+are surrounded by fortifications, mounting at that time two hundred
+large guns and fourteen mortars.
+
+The Dey had received notice of the approach of this expedition, and
+made every exertion to place his capital in a state to resist it. The
+ships were all called in and disposed in the harbor so as to present
+of themselves a formidable show of guns; the fortifications were
+strengthened, and temporary batteries were thrown up on proper points
+which made the whole line not less than three miles in length. In
+addition to the garrison on the bay a number of Arabs said to be forty
+thousand, were collected to secure the place against an attack by
+land.
+
+The combined squadrons having every thing in readiness, on the morning
+of the 27th a flag of truce was sent to Algiers, to urge the Dey once
+more to accept the conditions of peace; after a delay of three hours,
+the flag returned without any answer having been received. Omar did
+not think proper, or did not dare assent to the terms offered; there
+was probably however much discussion in the Divan: it is otherwise
+difficult to account for the circumstance that the British Consul was
+not disturbed until after the action was begun, or for the oversight
+committed by the Algerines, in allowing the enemy's ships to advance
+and take their stations without interruption. Lord Exmouth was so much
+surprised at this inaction, that as he says, "he began to suspect a
+full compliance with the terms offered." Omar afterwards endeavored to
+excuse his fault, by asserting that he had been deceived by the
+advance of the British, under the false pretext of the flag of truce.
+
+The British Admiral being thus undisturbed, passed the morning in
+arranging his forces according to the plan previously resolved on,
+which was to concentrate their effects entirely on the mole and
+shipping, his object being to destroy the fortifications and navy as
+soon as possible, and to do no injury which could be avoided to the
+town. His own ship the Queen Charlotte of one hundred guns was drawn
+up and anchored within fifty yards of the southern extremity of the
+mole, the others were distributed at points more or less distant from
+the batteries, but all much nearer than had been customary on previous
+occasions of a similar nature. At three o'clock the action was begun
+by a shot from the mole at the Queen Charlotte which being instantly
+returned the action became general. In twenty minutes the marine
+batteries were silenced, and the defenders endeavoring to escape from
+them along the causeway, were mowed down by the guns of the ships;
+they however returned to their posts and kept up a desultory fire
+throughout the afternoon. At eight o'clock the whole of the Algerine
+shipping in the harbor was in flames, presenting a spectacle of
+terrific sublimity; the fortifications of the mole were soon after
+abandoned by the defenders, being reduced to an untenable state by the
+effects of the bombardment and of the explosion vessels. At ten
+o'clock the ammunition of the attacking fleet began to fail, but the
+British Admiral saw that sufficient damage had been done; he therefore
+took advantage of a breeze which sprung up at that time and drew off
+his ships.
+
+The next morning Lord Exmouth again sent to know whether the Dey would
+accept the terms offered on the 27th. Omar declared his own
+unwillingness to yield, and his readiness to abandon the city in
+preference; but he was overruled by his Divan, and having reluctantly
+agreed to submit to them, the Chevalier d'Ankarloo the Swedish Consul,
+(since Chargé d'Affaires of Sweden in the United States,) was
+requested by him to go on board the British fleet and make the
+necessary arrangements in behalf of Algiers. On the 29th a convention
+was signed, the conditions of which were--the delivery of all slaves
+in Algiers without ransom, and the abolition of christian slavery in
+those dominions for ever--the restitution of all sums paid as ransom
+within the year 1816, including three hundred and fifty-seven thousand
+dollars which had been paid by Naples and twenty-five thousand five
+hundred by Sardinia, according to the terms of the treaty signed in
+April preceding--reparation to the British Consul for all losses
+sustained by him in consequence of his confinement, and an apology to
+be made by the Dey publicly in presence of his ministers and officers.
+
+Of the combined fleets no vessel was lost; the number of killed on
+board them was one hundred and fifty-one, of wounded seven hundred and
+fifty-seven. On the side of the Algerines, there is no means of
+ascertaining with precision the amount of killed and wounded; the
+result of the inquiries made, however, gives every reason for
+believing it to have been much less than that sustained by the
+attacking party. The city was severely damaged; the houses bordering
+on the harbor being but little protected by defensive works, were
+nearly demolished; among these was the dwelling of the American
+Consul, who did not leave it during the action, but continued at his
+post calmly recording his observations, while the shells were bursting
+around him. The fortifications of the mole were much injured; the
+arsenal and magazines of the marine, with the greater part of the
+timber, ammunition and stores were destroyed; and the whole navy,
+consisting of four large frigates, five corvettes, and thirty
+gun-boats was consumed.
+
+Information of what had been effected at Algiers, was instantly
+communicated to the British Consuls at Tunis and Tripoli, who were
+instructed to recommend to the sovereigns of those Regencies the
+instant liberation of their Christian slaves. To this, under the
+influence of their fears, they immediately assented; and since that
+period, it is supposed that no Christians have been held in slavery in
+any part of Barbary; captives have however been since compelled to
+labor, and ransom has been paid for them. Treaties were also
+negotiated on terms of equality between each of them, and the Kingdoms
+of Sardinia and of the Two Sicilies. The Dutch Admiral also concluded
+a treaty, "renewing and confirming all the articles of peace and
+friendship agreed to in 1757, between the States' General and the
+Government of Algiers." He then sailed with his victorious fleet for
+Tripoli, where he signed another convention, by which his Government
+engaged to pay to that Regency an annual tribute of five thousand
+dollars!!
+
+The bombardment of Algiers by the combined fleets was made the subject
+of triumph in Great Britain, and of congratulation throughout Europe;
+it was extolled as "one of the most glorious achievements in the
+history of naval warfare," and "as most truly honorable to the British
+nation, which had, with its characteristic generosity, entirely at its
+own expense, and purely for the general benefit of mankind, performed
+this great public service of putting down, with the strong hand, a
+system of rapacity and cruelty." We may be permitted to examine how
+far this eulogium is merited.
+
+From the accounts already given of the occurrences in April and May
+preceding the expedition, some judgment may be formed of the motives
+by which it was occasioned. It has been stated that the British
+Admiral in May, gave up the immediate prosecution of the demands to
+enforce which he had visited Algiers with his immense fleet, agreeing
+to await the decision of the Sultan, with regard to their admission by
+the Dey. Now the independence of Algiers had long been recognized by
+treaties, and was known to exist _de facto_; the reference to the
+Porte could only have been a pretext on the part of the Dey, in order
+to adjourn the decision of the question, and it is difficult to
+conceive how Lord Exmouth could have viewed it in any other light.
+However the British Government on his return must either have
+calculated upon the Dey's accession to the conditions required, or
+have determined to abandon their enforcement; for certainly we cannot
+otherwise account for the dismantling of the fleet, and the discharge
+of the seamen, when they would have been required at the end of six
+months. The probability is strong, that the ministry had no intentions
+to quarrel with "their ancient ally," until public opinion forced them
+to do so; and that they seized on the "massacre at Bona," as the
+pretext, when there was no other means of escaping the necessity.
+
+The British expedition against Algiers was indeed prepared and
+supported entirely at the expense of the British nation, and conducted
+to its conclusion with that skill and gallantry, for the display of
+which the experience of ages gave the strongest assurance. For the
+first time also, was the abolition of Christian slavery in general,
+and the delivery of all Christian slaves required of a Barbary Power.
+These were indeed benefits to mankind, and the fact that Christians
+have not been since enslaved in Barbary, would seem of itself to offer
+a sufficient justification of the expedition; but history in every
+page warns us against estimating the propriety of measures by the
+importance of their consequences, however well ascertained. The
+engagement made by the Dey to abolish slavery in his dominions, was
+only of value as it gave those to whom it was made, a right to enforce
+its observance; experience had already proved that national faith was
+unknown in Barbary, and within three years after the promise had been
+given by Omar, his successor refused to abide by it. Algiers was left
+by Lord Exmouth in enjoyment of all the rights of an independent
+nation; the Dey could make war on whom he pleased, provided he did not
+enslave his prisoners, that is to say compel them to labor. Now this
+enslavement was but a small portion of the evil caused by the Barbary
+States; the number of persons reduced to servitude in them was never
+large, and the produce of their labor added to the sums received for
+their ransom, was scarcely more than sufficient to pay the expense of
+keeping them; their condition was indeed generally better than that of
+the prisoners of war in other countries. Piracy was the true ground of
+complaint against the Barbary Regencies, and more on account of the
+restraint it imposed upon the commerce of the lesser nations, than of
+the outrages actually committed. Without the support and encouragement
+of Great Britain, it would long since have ceased, and if the world
+owes her Government any thanks, it is for the adoption of a more just
+course of conduct by itself, for the abandonment of that selfish
+policy to which the Barbary States had so long been indebted for their
+impunity. Those who now entertain the political opinions which guided
+the British Administration in 1815 regard the bombardment of Algiers
+as a blunder, similar to the destruction of the Turkish fleet at
+Navarino, and the Conservative Journals of London occasionally express
+their regrets at the pursuance of that system which allows the vessels
+of all nations to navigate the Mediterranean without dreading the
+pirates of Africa.[3]
+
+[Footnote 3: That no war was expected, appears clearly from the
+statement made in the House of Lords on the 3d of February, 1817, by
+Viscount Melville, then first Lord of the Admiralty, that "in the
+month of June when Lord Exmouth returned from the Mediterranean, with
+the fleet under his command, as usual at the close of a war, that
+fleet was dismantled and the crews paid off and disbanded. When the
+expedition against Algiers was determined upon, it became necessary to
+collect men," &c. On the same day Lord Castlereagh stated in the House
+of Commons, that "during the last session, when the thanks of the
+House were given to several of our gallant officers for their conduct
+in the late war, he entertained an earnest hope that a long course of
+years would have elapsed before it would be again necessary to perform
+that ceremony."]
+
+Notwithstanding the Dey's promise to Mr. Shaler, that he would observe
+the treaty of 1815 with the United States, the Consul saw from various
+circumstances, that he had determined to break it on the first
+favorable opportunity; and as a large American force was expected in
+the Mediterranean in the course of the summer, he sent letters to
+Gibraltar requesting the officer who might command it, to visit
+Algiers as soon as convenient. The American squadron consisting of a
+ship of the line, three frigates and two sloops under Commodore Isaac
+Chauncey, entered the Mediterranean about the middle of August, and
+appeared before Algiers immediately after the departure of the
+combined fleets. On its arrival Omar saw that he had been deceived as
+to the power of the Americans, and he therefore at once requested,
+that things might remain as they were until the receipt of the
+President's letter. Algiers was then entirely defenceless, the
+fortifications were in ruins, the soldiers dispirited and the people
+rebellious; a few broadsides from the American force would have
+battered the town to pieces. But it was determined between the Consul
+and Commodore Chauncey, that no advantage should be taken of the
+condition of things, to exact a specific acceptance of the treaty, and
+the Dey's request was acceded to; Mr. Shaler however quitted Algiers
+with the squadron, which sailed for Gibraltar to await the arrival of
+orders from the United States.
+
+The President's reply came in December; it is but justice to the
+eminent persons (Madison and Monroe) who signed it, to say that it is
+remarkable for the dignity and temperance which pervade it. A series
+of arguments based on abstract principles of International Law or
+Political Economy, would have been addressed in vain to a merely
+clever barbarian, while diplomatic finesse would have been equally
+ineffectual, with those who never sincere themselves always suspect
+knavery in others. The impropriety of the complaints respecting the
+delay in restoring the brig, is simply and dearly exposed; and the
+fixed determination of the American Government with regard to a return
+to the principles on which the treaty of 1798 had been based, is
+conveyed in the assurance that "the United States while they wish for
+war with no nation, will buy peace with none, it being a principle
+incorporated into the settled policy of America, that as peace is
+better than war, so war is better than tribute." In conclusion, Mr.
+Shaler and Commodore Chauncey were authorized to communicate with the
+Dey, "for the purpose of terminating the subsisting differences by a
+mutual recognition and execution of the treaty of 1815."
+
+The Commodore and Mr. Shaler on receiving their commissions, instantly
+sailed for Algiers with two of the ships, and proposed that the
+negotiation should be immediately commenced. Omar had been actively
+engaged, since the departure of Mr. Shaler in repairing his
+fortifications; but not considering them yet able to withstand an
+attack, he endeavored to gain time by insisting that the _statu quo_
+should continue for eight months, on the plea that the President had
+taken that space to make a reply to his letter. The Commissioners
+refusing to admit of any delay the Dey yielded; accordingly, the
+conduct of the negotiation on the part of the United States having
+been committed entirely to Mr. Shaler, he landed and on the 17th of
+December presented a note containing the _ultimatum_ of his
+Government. The Dey was required to admit as a preliminary, that the
+stipulations of the treaty with regard to the restoration of the
+vessels had been scrupulously fulfilled by the United States; this
+being admitted, the treaty was to be renewed exactly in its original
+form, except that the eighteenth article might be altered, so as to
+annul that portion of it, which gave to the United States advantages
+in the ports of Algiers over the most favored nations; finally, as it
+was ascertained that a clause had been introduced into the Arabic
+translation of the said treaty, contrary to the understanding between
+the Dey and the American Commissioners who signed it, by which the
+United States were made to engage to pay a certain sum to Algiers, on
+the presentation of each of their Consuls, it was distinctly declared,
+"that no obligation binding the United States to pay any thing to the
+Regency or to its officers on any occasion whatever, will be agreed
+to."
+
+The Dey struggled to avoid this additional humiliation, which he had
+brought upon himself by his ill-timed breach of faith; for he saw
+clearly that by submitting to it he was hastening the downfall of
+Algiers and his own destruction. But Shaler possessed in an eminent
+degree, these two essential qualities of a negotiator, courage and
+knowledge of the human heart; his contempt of danger had been
+manifested during the bombardment of the 27th of August; he had never
+deceived Omar, nor ever suffered him for a moment to suppose that he
+had been deceived by him, and by thus acting always, fairly and
+honestly towards him, he had acquired his respect and confidence.
+After a few days of discussion, the Dey in despair declared, that as
+misfortune had deprived him of the means of resistance, he would agree
+to the terms proposed or to any others which might be demanded,
+provided the Consul would give him a certificate under his hand and
+seal, that he had compelled him to do so. This was a strange request
+from an absolute sovereign; however Shaler saw that the unfortunate
+Omar was no longer at liberty to act as he pleased, but was the mere
+agent of his Divan; he therefore gave him the required acknowledgment,
+and the treaty was signed as dictated by the American Commissioners on
+the 23d of December, 1816.
+
+From that period to the overthrow of the Algerine Government, the
+intercourse between the United States and this Regency was strictly
+peaceful. The treaty was rigidly observed by both parties, and a few
+trifling differences of a personal nature which occurred between the
+officers of the Government and those attached to the Consulate, were
+speedily and satisfactorily arranged. This continuation of pacific
+intercourse, is to be attributed in a great measure to the personal
+character of the American Consuls, to the respect which they acquired,
+nay, we are even warranted in saying, to the influence which they
+maintained over the members of the Algerine Government.
+
+Omar continued his exertions to repair the losses occasioned by the
+bombardment, and he soon placed the city in a defensible condition;
+the Sultan presented him with a frigate and two corvettes, and he
+caused other ships of war to be built at Leghorn. But his popularity
+had been destroyed by the many adverse circumstances which had marked
+his reign; he was stigmatized as the _unlucky_, and a plague which
+ravaged Algiers in 1817 was attributed by the ignorant populace and
+soldiery to the influence of their ruler's evil star. Several
+conspiracies were formed against him, which he eluded by his
+vigilance, but he saw that his end was near, and with honorable
+forethought, he placed his mother and relations out of danger, by
+sending them back to his native isle of Mytelene. A plot was at length
+arranged, which was successful; the principal contrivers were Ali, a
+violent and fanatical Turk, who had assumed the title of Khogia or
+_the scribe_, a high literary and theological distinction, and Hussein
+an officer of repute for his talents, bravery and military skill. The
+soldiery and Divan entered into the conspiracy, and Omar was strangled
+on the 8th of September, 1817, without a hand or a voice having been
+raised in his defence.
+
+Ali Khogia was immediately proclaimed Pasha, and he showed his
+gratitude to his coadjutor Hussein by making him his Prime Minister.
+The new Sovereign soon proved himself to be a monster of vice and
+cruelty, which were rendered still more shocking by his affectation of
+superior learning and sanctity. "When on public occasions, he was
+visited by the foreign Consuls," says Shaler, "they, after stumbling
+over scores of murdered carcases on their way to the hall of audience,
+always found the Pasha superbly dressed, surrounded by his guards,
+with a book in his hands, in the contemplation of which he would
+affect to be interrupted and precipitately lay it aside on their
+entrance." He set at naught the treaties with foreign nations, acting
+with violence towards persons living under the protection of their
+flags, and sending his cruisers to sea with orders to search their
+vessels, while the plague was raging in Algiers. By the active
+interposition of Mr. Shaler, the commerce and flag of the United
+States were respected, but several French and Sardinian vessels were
+taken under various pretences and brought into the ports of the
+Regency.
+
+Ali Khogia was one of the many Deys, who endeavored to get rid of the
+foreign soldiery, and to render the crown hereditary in his own
+family. With this view he transferred his residence and the immense
+treasures of the State, from the old palace in the city, to the more
+secure residence of the Casauba, where he surrounded himself by a
+guard formed of natives; he then commenced his attacks on the Turks,
+of whom he is said to have despatched fifteen hundred during his short
+reign of four months. His course was suddenly arrested by the plague,
+of which he died in January, 1818.
+
+On the death of Ali Khogia, Hussein his Prime Minister assumed the
+crown, without election and without opposition. He was a native of
+Salonica, and then about fifty-four years old, a man of bold and
+unscrupulous character, possessing much sagacity, and even some ideas
+of true policy; but his irascibility often led him into difficulties,
+from which his haughtiness and obstinacy prevented his retreating. He
+was supposed to have councilled the persecution commenced against the
+Turks by his predecessor; but if so, he must have despaired of its
+success, for he instantly put an end to it, and invited other soldiers
+from the East to supply the place of those who had fallen. He however
+retained the Moorish guards, and continued to reside at the Casauba.
+
+In November, 1818, a Congress composed of Representatives of the
+Sovereign Powers of Europe, was convened at Aix la Chapelle; where
+among other things, a resolution was taken, to oblige the Barbary
+States to conform with the usages of Christian nations, in their
+intercourse or wars with them; that is to say, to abstain from piracy,
+not to require tribute as the price of peace, and not to enslave their
+prisoners taken in war, but to treat them with humanity until they
+were exchanged. The Kings of Great Britain and France were charged by
+the other Powers with carrying this resolution into effect; and in
+consequence a combined English and French squadron under Admirals
+Freemantle and Jurien de la Graviere appeared at Algiers on the 1st of
+September, to make known to the Dey the will of their Sovereigns, and
+to require his compliance. Hussein after deliberating some days,
+formally refused "to surrender rights, which had been recognized by
+solemn treaties, and respected by all the world during a succession of
+ages;" and declared that he would "maintain his privilege to enslave
+the subjects of those nations with which he had no treaties, or which
+paid him no tribute." This reply was certainly at variance with the
+engagements to Lord Exmouth in 1816, but the Admirals could get no
+other by negotiation, and their force was not sufficient to authorize
+an attack on the place; perhaps also, they conceived that the appeal
+made by the Dey to the past, might find a responsive echo in the
+bosoms of those by whom they were commissioned, and who were so
+careful in resisting innovations in their own States. The squadrons
+therefore sailed for Tunis where the answer obtained from Mahmoud was
+even less satisfactory. In Tripoli, the Pasha met them by expressing
+his surprise that such a demand should be made of him, when it must
+have been well known, that he had long reprobated the practice, and
+shewn every disposition to live in harmony with Christian nations.
+This latter reply was trumpeted throughout Europe, as a signal
+advantage secured for the interests of humanity, through the exertions
+of France and England, while those given by the rulers of Algiers and
+Tunis were studiously concealed.
+
+This appears to have been the only effort made by the European powers
+in concert, to enforce the observance by the Barbary States of the
+principles which regulate intercourse and warfare among more civilized
+nations; the Governments of Britain and France however, as we shall
+see, continued separately to maintain those principles; of the other
+powers each acted for itself, paying, threatening or fighting, as it
+conceived most proper for its own interests and honor.
+
+In 1812 and 1823, when the insurrection of the Greeks had already
+assumed so formidable a character, as to require the utmost exertions
+on the part of the Sultan, each of the Barbary States sent ships to
+his aid; on this occasion, the Government of Great Britain exacted
+from the Bey of Tunis a declaration that the Greeks who might be taken
+by his forces should not be enslaved, but be treated as prisoners of
+war. No such promise appears recorded on the part of the Dey of
+Algiers, and the propriety of requiring it for the interests of
+humanity, may be doubted; a powerful incentive to the continuance of
+the war against the Greeks would indeed be thus removed; but on the
+other hand, it might have been supposed that little mercy would be
+shown to captives who if preserved were to be supported at an expense,
+while nothing was to be obtained from their labor or for their ransom.
+This supposition is strengthened by the fact, that an Algerine
+Ambassador who was sent to London in 1819, propounded to the Secretary
+for Foreign Affairs the question--"Whether, as his Government had
+engaged to make no Christian slaves, its cruisers might without
+offending Great Britain, put to death those of their prisoners whom by
+treaty they could not reduce to slavery?"
+
+The Algerines sent eight ships to the Archipelago, which returned in
+the autumn of 1823; how they conducted themselves in the war it is not
+easy to ascertain; the Dey chose to consider that they had acquired a
+title to immortal renown, and while elated by their real or fancied
+successes, he ventured to commit an act of violence against the
+British Consul, which caused Algiers to undergo another humiliation.
+
+The greater part of the laborers and domestic servants of Algiers,
+particularly those employed by Foreign Consuls, are of the race of
+Kabyles, who as before stated, inhabit the mountainous districts of
+the Regency, and are with good reason supposed to be the descendants
+of the aboriginal _Nomades_. One of these tribes having made some
+attacks on the people in the vicinity of Bugia, the Dey on the 22d of
+October, ordered all the Kabyles in Algiers to be put in confinement.
+The Consuls of some of the smaller European powers, after a little
+hesitation, surrendered those in their service; the Agent of the
+Netherlands offered to his the choice of remaining under his
+protection, or of escaping; they chose the latter, and his premises
+were not disturbed. The French Consul at first made a show of refusal
+to deliver his domestics, but afterwards adroitly got rid of the
+difficulty, by _paying and discharging them_; they were of course
+immediately arrested. Mr. Shaler and the British representative
+Macdonnell each indignantly resisted this invasion of privileges,
+which had always been held as most sacred in Barbary. Mr. Shaler
+placed his Kabyle servants in his cabinet, where he remained with
+them, declaring to the Dey that they could only be removed from thence
+by force, and warning him of the consequences which would attend such
+an insult to his nation; this determined conduct produced the desired
+effect, the guards were withdrawn, and the servants of the American
+Consulate were effectually protected. In treating with
+semi-barbarians, much depends on the personal character of the agent;
+Mr. Macdonnell, a mild and amiable old gentleman, devoted to rural
+pursuits, could not secure for himself that respect, which was enjoyed
+by the shrewd, energetic and intrepid Shaler; so that notwithstanding
+he had hoisted the flag of his nation, and placed its seal on the
+doors of his house, it was forcibly entered by the Algerine guards,
+and its most private apartments were ransacked in search of the
+unfortunate servants.
+
+Mr. Macdonnell complained to his Government of this insult, and a
+frigate was in consequence despatched to Algiers in January 1824, for
+the purpose of demanding satisfaction, and of requiring that the
+rights of British Consuls should be guarantied by additional articles
+to the treaty. These articles were presented to the Dey for his
+signature; he refused to agree to them, and Mr. Macdonnell embarked
+with his family on board the frigate, leaving his property under the
+care of Mr. Shaler.[4] A large British force was soon collected before
+the city under the command of Admiral Sir Harry Burrard Neale, who
+endeavored to negotiate the acceptance of the conditions proposed; the
+Divan were unanimous in wishing to yield points so unimportant, but
+Hussein was obstinate, and although he at length on the 28th of March
+agreed to admit the articles, he would not consent that Mr. Macdonnell
+should return as Consul to Algiers. The Admiral then declared that war
+was begun, and that the place was blockaded; but he continued his
+endeavors to make peace on the terms he had first proposed. At length
+on the 24th of July, the British force being increased to twenty-three
+sail, a fire was commenced on the city and batteries, which was
+instantly returned. On this occasion, a steam vessel was employed, for
+the first time it is believed in naval warfare; its appearance excited
+much astonishment on the part of the Algerines, and caused them to
+direct their fire particularly at it, which was done with so much
+effect that the wheels were in an instant rendered useless. After a
+few minutes the Admiral displayed a flag of truce, which having been
+answered by a similar signal from the Casauba, the firing ceased on
+both sides, and an officer was sent on shore again to submit the
+demand which had first been made. Two days having been spent in
+messages and negotiations, the affair was adjusted; the Dey signed the
+articles containing stipulations for the protection of the British
+Consul and the support of his rights, and confirmed the engagement
+made with Lord Exmouth in 1816, that in any future wars with European
+powers, the prisoners should not be consigned to slavery, but be
+treated with humanity until regularly exchanged. Respecting the return
+of Mr. Macdonnell nothing is said in the documents signed by the Dey;
+in the negotiation, he declared that he had no personal objections to
+that gentleman, yet that he had made himself most obnoxious to the
+inhabitants, and that no assurance could be given of his safety should
+he attempt to land. This was notoriously untrue, yet the Admiral
+thought proper to waive a point which he had before considered so
+important, and after the trouble and expense of a four months blockade
+and an attack upon the city, he accepted exactly what had been offered
+in March. Thus by the determination of the American Consul, were his
+privileges maintained, and a rupture between his Government and that
+of Algiers was prevented; while the agent of the most powerful nation
+on earth, from possessing less energy, was himself insulted, and his
+country placed in the necessity of requiring satisfaction by arms.
+
+[Footnote 4: Mr. Shaler quitted Algiers in 1829 having been appointed
+Consul of the United States in Havana, where he died of cholera in the
+spring of 1833. He was succeeded as Consul General for the Barbary
+Regencies, by Henry Lee of Virginia, who remained in that office at
+Algiers, until the city was taken by the French.]
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+THE VICTIM OF DISAPPOINTMENT.
+
+
+  'Tis vanishing!--'tis vanishing!--
+    The last bright star that shed
+  Its cheering light upon a path,
+    Whence all light else had fled!
+
+  'Tis vanishing!--'tis vanishing!--
+    As night steals on the day,
+  And slowly wraps the glowing west,
+    In its dark cloak of gray.
+
+  So, silently, o'er me advance
+    The shades of dark despair,
+  And fade away the hopes that shone
+    But yesterday, so fair!
+
+  Aye! when they shone so fair, and seemed
+    As soon to be enjoyed,
+  And I (fond fool!) believed so, came,
+    The blight that hath destroyed!
+
+  I might have known it would be so!
+    There is an evil sprite,
+  That, ever present, watches me,
+    My every joy to blight!
+
+  I never grasp'd the cup of bliss,
+    And, raising, thought to sip,
+  But, straight, the envious demon came,
+    And dash'd it from my lip!
+
+  I never keenly strove to win
+    What heart was set upon,
+  But, when I thought it surely mine,
+    And grasp'd at it--'twas gone!
+
+  And now, the cherished dream, that hath
+    So long, so deeply blessed--
+  That gave me heart to struggle on,
+    Hath vanished--_with the rest!_
+
+P. H.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+MR. WHITE,--Having long believed that Education was by far the most
+important subject on which the talents of either public or private men
+could be exercised, I have ever deemed that man in some degree a
+public benefactor, who contributed even a mite towards its promotion.
+To the study therefore of _this subject_, much more than of any other,
+I have devoted my time and thoughts for the last twenty or thirty
+years; vainly perhaps, hoping that I also might contribute something
+in aid of this most momentous work. How far the labor has been
+productive of any good, must be determined by others; but _their_
+approbation, although it would certainly gratify my feelings, has
+operated, I trust, only as a secondary motive. To contribute
+something, be it ever so little, towards the good of my fellow
+creatures, has been the chief purpose of my existence since I came to
+years of serious reflection; and the consciousness of having achieved
+this good in any degree, would be (could I once possess it) my highest
+reward in the present life.
+
+Influenced by such sentiments and considerations, I now send you five
+manuscript lectures, delivered about two years ago, before the Lyceum
+of Fredericksburg, "On the Obstacles to Education arising from the
+peculiar faults of Parents, Teachers, Scholars, and those who direct
+and control our Schools and Colleges."
+
+Trite as the subject of Education is, it can never cease to be
+deeply--nay, vitally interesting, so long as the happiness of the
+whole human race--both in their private and public relations--both in
+this world and the next, so entirely depends upon the nature of the
+objects embraced by it, and the manner in which it is conducted. Deep
+and deadly too will be the guilt of any wilful neglect, error, or
+perversion, on the part of all those who direct the physical and
+intellectual training of the youth of our country. Unless both become
+what they should be, neither our forms of government, nor our
+political nor literary institutions, can ever accomplish any of the
+great ends for which they were designed.
+
+I remain, dear sir, yours with regard,
+
+JAMES M. GARNETT.
+
+_Elm-Wood, August 1835_.
+
+
+INTRODUCTORY LECTURE
+
+To a Course on "The Obstacles to Education arising from the peculiar
+faults of Parents, Teachers, Scholars, and those who direct and
+control our Schools and Colleges," delivered before the Fredericksburg
+Lyceum, by James M. Garnett.
+
+
+Once more, my friends, I am about to address you--although at present,
+on a subject by far the most important that can engage the attention
+of intelligent, social, and moral beings. This subject is _Education_;
+in regard to the true meaning and object of which, as many and as
+fatal errors have been committed, as in relation to any other term in
+our language--although nothing less than our happiness in both worlds
+depends upon its being rightly understood, and properly applied. From
+the earliest ages to the present day, men have differed widely, not
+only as to the particulars which should be comprehended under the term
+itself, and the modes and the means by whose instrumentality they
+should be taught; but a large portion of society have attached the
+utmost importance to certain acquirements which others have deemed at
+least useless, if not actually and deeply pernicious. Literally,
+Education means an elicitation, a drawing or leading forth--and when
+applied to a human being, should be understood to indicate such a full
+development of all his powers and faculties, both physical and
+intellectual, as will best promote his own happiness, and that of his
+fellow-creatures; in a word, it embraces "every influence by which man
+becomes what he is, or may be made what he should be," and never
+ceases until death terminates our earthly pilgrimage. Every one, I
+think, may agree that any other general definition less comprehensive
+of this all-important term would be false, and consequently lead to
+mistakes. But the great misfortune is, the moment we approach the
+details, vital differences of opinion present themselves, which often
+give rise to practices decidedly hostile to each other--thereby
+demonstrating, that until all such as are erroneous can be exploded,
+the good will be unavoidably counteracted if not entirely superseded,
+by the bad. The removal then, of all the obstacles to the universal
+adoption of the former, is the great, the truly arduous task to be
+performed; and the first step towards its achievement, will be to show
+what these obstacles really are.
+
+Although perfectly aware that many of the ablest writers in every age
+and nation, have been so frequently and long engaged in efforts to
+promote the cause of Education, as almost to preclude the possibility
+of saying any thing new on the subject, still I believe there is one
+view of it which has not yet been taken to a sufficient extent for all
+the salutary purposes to be accomplished by it:--I mean a connected
+and full exposure, apart from all other matter, of the various
+obstacles which have long impeded, and still greatly retard its
+progress among us. These I propose to examine thoroughly, and to trace
+to their respective sources, in such a manner as to lead, if possible,
+to their final removal. All of them, I believe, will be found in what
+may be called the peculiar mental maladies, and moral diseases, (if I
+may so express myself,) of parents, teachers, scholars, and that
+portion of society by whom our literary institutions are directed and
+controlled. This shall hereafter be made more fully to appear. In the
+meantime, before I commence the very delicate task of apportioning
+censure among such large classes of my fellow-citizens, I beg to
+premise that special care shall be taken so to generalize my remarks,
+that no just cause of offence shall be afforded either to any
+individual persons or schools. Nothing shall intentionally be said
+which can, by possibility, be fairly construed into invidious
+personalities, nor be with justice ascribed to any motives whatever
+but such as I have avowed. Having no other object in view--none other
+at heart, than to mark for universal reprobation and avoidance the
+many fatal obstructions to the general adoption of those great
+fundamental principles of instruction, without which neither public
+nor private Education can ever become what it should be, my hearers
+may rest perfectly assured, that every example, allusion, argument, or
+illustration I may use, shall be directed, in perfect sincerity and
+good faith, to this end and to this alone. Previously however, to any
+specifications of the obstructions interposed by either of the classes
+of persons already enumerated, I beg to be indulged in several general
+observations. These appear to me essential, by way of introduction to
+that minute exposure of their respective prejudices, faults, and vices
+which I design to exhibit--not like a faint hearted recruit, who shuts
+his eyes when he pulls trigger, and recoils from the report of his own
+piece--but with the resolute purpose of killing, if I can, what I wish
+to destroy.
+
+The attainment of most of the objects of human pursuit, would be a
+work of comparative ease, if nothing was necessary to be done but to
+devise the best ways and means of acquiring them. By far the most
+difficult achievement is to remove those numerous obstacles to their
+attainment which the ignorance, the folly, and the vices of mankind
+either create entirely, or aggravate; for unless _this_ be first done,
+all our labor will be utterly thrown away, or must fall very short of
+accomplishing what otherwise might be effected. While these obstacles
+remain, the task of applying the proper ways and means, and producing
+the desired end, is little less discouraging than to begin building a
+house without foundation or scaffolding, or to render the earth
+productive of wholesome food without first clearing away the stumps
+and roots, the briers and noxious weeds with which it is encumbered.
+To nothing within the whole scope of our desires and efforts does this
+remark apply with more truth and force, than to the great object of
+Education. Hindrances and impediments, vast in number, and formidable
+in degree, surround it on almost every side. Many of these have their
+source in long established, but very erroneous practice--while others
+are intrenched in some of the most deeply rooted prejudices of
+mankind. Hence they oppose barriers of nearly insurmountable strength
+to all individual skill, however great--to all isolated exertion,
+however well directed.
+
+The most prominent and pernicious of these barriers or obstacles are
+so glaring, that any attempt to point them out will escape, I hope,
+all imputation of presumption. No extraordinary sagacity is necessary
+to detect, nor any great power of language to expose, what all who
+have had any thing to do with the business of Education must long have
+experienced, and deeply deplored. In fact, the undertaking to educate
+the youth of our country as they should be educated, will be almost a
+hopeless task, until most of these impediments are removed; and the
+fortunate individual who could discover the effectual means to
+eradicate them, would much better deserve a public triumph for so
+glorious a victory over human prejudices and passions, than any
+warrior ever gained by the most splendid of his conquests. The more
+free our government and institutions generally, the more necessary
+will good Education continually become to preserve them, since neither
+sound morals, nor wise and salutary laws, nor social and political
+happiness can exist without its general diffusion. But before such
+Education can possibly be imparted to any great extent, the minds of
+all the parties concerned must be entirely disenthralled from every
+opposing obstacle. In regard to bodily maladies, to know the cause and
+nature of the disease is said to be half the cure. Why then, may it
+not be equally true in relation to the mind? Experience tells us that
+so much depends upon this previous knowledge, as to render the course
+both of the mental and bodily physician exceedingly dangerous without
+it. Neither must make a quackery affair of his business. No guess-work
+nor chance-medley will do in either case; for the death both of soul
+and body often follows the administration of improper medicine. Many
+constitutions of excellent original stamina have been utterly
+destroyed by physic, when all that was really wanting was healthful
+diet, and proper exercise; and numerous minds of the fairest promise
+have been blasted forever, by the equally injudicious--equally fatal
+application of unsuitable intellectual regimen. This surely ought to
+happen much less frequently than in bygone times, since schools of
+every grade, especially for females, have greatly multiplied of late
+years--and consequently, many more mothers than formerly, ought to be
+qualified so far as schools can effect it, for the arduous task of
+imparting to children at least the elementary branches of knowledge.
+Yet I believe it is unquestionably true that private, domestic
+Education, is less common than it used to be. But two rational
+explanations can be given of this fact. Either mothers and fathers
+must be so naturally averse to teaching their own children as very
+rarely to do it when avoidable, and therefore less often attempt it,
+since it has become easier to transfer the duty to others--or the
+prevalent systems of Education itself have had the effect of
+preventing parental affection from exerting itself in this way. To the
+last cause I hope it must be ascribed; for it would be shocking to
+believe that parents generally were so barbarous, as voluntarily to
+surrender the care and instruction of their helpless, innocent
+offspring, to others, when they themselves were equally well qualified
+for this most tender and all-important office; at the same time that
+nature herself seems evidently to have destined them to fulfil,
+whenever practicable, these paramount duties. _Home_ is,
+unquestionably, the best place suited in all respects, at least for
+_female_ education; nor should it ever be relinquished for any other,
+but in cases of the strongest, most obvious necessity--such as a
+thorough conviction of incompetency on the part of the parents, and of
+very superior qualifications in those to whom the sacred trust is to
+be confided. It is under the parental roof, and immediately under the
+parental supervision and guidance, that young girls can most easily be
+protected from the corrupting influence of bad companions and bad
+examples. It is there, if _any where_, that all the best affections of
+the heart can be most readily excited and cultivated; and it is _there
+alone_ that they can best acquire all those admirable domestic virtues
+and habits, to the exercise of which much the greater part of their
+lives, after they leave school, should be devoted, as the sure means
+of imparting to private life its greatest charm and highest
+embellishment. If this be admitted, as I think it must, then the
+nearer the management of any public school, whether large or small,
+especially for girls, can be made to resemble that of a well regulated
+private family, the better it will be calculated to attain the true,
+legitimate purposes of all seminaries of Education. The more easy will
+it be also to prove, when this point is conceded, that there are very
+many radical defects in a large portion of such establishments in our
+country. For example, in what well regulated private family will you
+ever find numerous restraints enforced, which obviously have nothing
+else in view but the more ease and convenience of the heads of the
+establishment, entirely apart from all moral influence to be produced
+on the individuals upon whom these restraints are imposed? In what
+family of the kind do you see the children often _exhibited for show_,
+as at public examinations--always encouraged and goaded to strive with
+might and main for victory over each other in all their scholastic
+exercises, and continually stimulated to toil and struggle for public
+applause, as the highest earthly felicity; and all this too without
+the least regard for the sufferings and mortifications of the
+unsuccessful competitors? So far is this from ever being done in any
+private family under proper management, that every imaginable cause of
+jealousy, ill-will, heart-burning and envy, is most carefully
+avoided--every symptom of distrust and animosity anxiously
+removed--and brotherly love of the most tender, affectionate kind,
+sedulously cultivated, as the best possible preparation of the
+intellectual soil for the reception, growth and maturity of the seeds
+of knowledge and virtue. Here then, at once, in the very threshold of
+our temples of public instruction, do we meet with an obstacle of such
+magnitude, as effectually to bar, if it be not removed, all attempts
+to decorate and embellish the interior of the building with any
+ornaments, such as good taste, sound judgment, and just principles
+would deem most appropriate. In the moral code of far too many of
+these temples, the admirable virtue of true Christian humility--that
+virtue which so pre-eminently adorned the character of the blessed
+Saviour himself, has no abiding place whatever; but numerous
+expedients and artifices are adopted to prevent the possibility of its
+entrance. The pupils are not even taught what it means, unless they
+find it out while turning their dictionaries for other words; and so
+far are they from ever being required to act on the principle of not
+letting one hand know what the other doeth, that every effort, both of
+hands and head, is most studiously directed towards giving the
+greatest possible publicity to all their proceedings: first, and above
+all, that the fame of their school and its teachers may be widely
+diffused; and secondly, that they themselves may be talked about every
+where. To accomplish this, weeks and months are spent by the students
+in preparing for public examinations, during which no advances are
+made in the general course of their studies, but the whole time is
+sacrificed to the feeding their vanity and ambition at the expense of
+real utility, common sense, and intellectual progress in useful
+knowledge. A great portion of this period of strenuous uselessness is
+consumed, by all the aspirants after collegiate honors, in composing,
+writing, committing to memory and reciting again and again something
+which is to be called an oration. This too, is often in a language
+utterly unintelligible to nine-tenths of the auditors, or rather
+spectators, commonly assembled upon such occasions, who are drawn
+together more by idle curiosity than by any other motive. I will
+readily admit that occasional revisions of past studies may be useful
+to fix them in the memory; I will also admit, that to be examined in
+them by or before good judges, convened especially for the purpose,
+_but without any notice to the scholars of the precise time when such
+examination would take place_, would also be beneficial, particularly
+in schools for boys. But _any thing_ beyond this, whether it be called
+examination, commencement, or what you please--especially if exhibited
+(after many weeks preparation) before hundreds and thousands of
+spectators who know little or nothing of what is going on--is, to
+speak the plain, unvarnished truth, sheer waste of time, if nothing
+worse. It is to treat young men as if they were always to be children,
+incapable of being interested in any thing much above the toys and
+playthings of childhood. Such _shows_, for they deserve no better
+name, should never be suffered in female schools; for their only use
+_there_ is to discourage the timid, the bashful, the modest--and to
+render the bold, the forward, and the presumptuous still more
+conspicuous for these disgusting, unfeminine qualities. Already too
+anxious, like rival milliners, always to be displaying their finery at
+their shop-windows, to the public gaze, the more opportunities you
+give them for making this exhibition, the more eager they become to
+attract visiters, admirers, and purchasers. Flattery is the chief
+thing they covet; base as it really is, it is the treasure upon which
+this kind of scholastic training learns them to set their hearts, and
+seldom are they paid with any thing better. Whatever they do is to be
+done because it will be popular, becoming, and will make a great
+noise--not because it is recommended and enjoined by the precepts of
+our holy religion. Moreover, to insure that the former shall be the
+ruling, all-efficient motive of action, the ever restless,
+soul-corroding spirit of emulation is infused into them in every
+possible way that ingenuity can devise. That this is utterly
+incompatible with the pure spirit of Christian humility, it needs no
+argument to prove; in fact, oil and water could just as soon coalesce,
+or enter into complete chemical union. Does it not, then, most deeply
+concern us all to inquire whether this principle of emulation, which
+may truly be called the present master-spirit of nearly all our
+literary institutions, should still be suffered to prompt and to
+govern all their operations? Can any societies--but especially such as
+have been avowedly established for the great, the Godlike purpose of
+making men wiser and better, be rationally expected to thrive, if they
+run counter to the plainest dictates of wisdom and virtue, which
+command us to do nothing that the gospel of Christ either expressly
+forbids, or impliedly, but plainly discountenances? Does not this code
+most explicitly enjoin us to "be kindly affectioned one to another
+with brotherly love, in honor preferring one another." "That nothing
+be done through strife or vain glory; but in lowliness of mind let
+each esteem others better than themselves." And does it not class
+emulations with "idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, wrath,
+strife, seditions, heresies, envyings," &c.? Are these nothing more
+than mere abstract texts for ministers of the gospel to preach on; or
+are they practical, imperative rules of conduct to govern us both for
+time and eternity? If they are the latter, as all true believers in
+the gospel of Christ pronounce them to be, how can they possibly be
+obeyed, when every effort of our bodies and our minds, while at
+school, is made to induce the world to prefer, to honor, and to esteem
+_us_ far above all our companions and associates, at whatever expense
+of mental suffering and anguish it may be done to them? Shall we be
+told that such feelings should not be indulged by those whom we
+conquer or surpass in the scholastic struggle for pre-eminence, and
+therefore, that their mortification, however deep and distressing,
+should not disturb us? But how can they help it, when _they_ also have
+been taught that _their_ greatest honor, _their_ highest pleasure, was
+to consist _in conquering and surpassing us_, and that _we had
+disappointed them_? Yet this principle of emulation is a cardinal
+article in the creed and practice of almost every public school of
+which I have any knowledge; indeed, I might add, of a great majority
+of private families. To this article might be added several others,
+all going to prove that the whole course of proceeding in these
+schools, whatever may be the religious principles of their managers,
+partakes much more of the compromising spirit of worldly wisdom and
+worldly ethics, than of the unbending, self-denying morality of the
+gospel of Christ. It can never be a question among true Christians,
+which should govern not only all schools, but all mankind; yet it
+would be well worth the attention of all who are _not Christians_, to
+inquire which would be best, _even for the present life only_. I would
+send them no farther on this search for proof than to the past history
+of the government--the monied institutions, and trading associations
+of our own country. In this history they would most assuredly find,
+that for every cent which these bodies had lost by any acknowledged
+member of any Christian society, they had been defrauded and robbed of
+thousands upon thousands by the open scoffers at, and known despisers
+of religion. This fact alone speaks volumes of most salutary
+instruction to the present generation, if they would only read them
+right. It proclaims as intelligibly as if it were written on the vault
+of heaven by the finger of God himself, in letters visible as the
+cloudless sun, that the much lauded code of your mere worldly
+morality, (admitting every thing that can be said in its favor,) is
+utterly insufficient even for this poor world; although it is admitted
+that thousands have lived, and do live under it alone, with very fair,
+amiable characters. It is, however, like living in the midst of
+contagious, pestilential and deadly diseases, without any sure charm
+or antidote to protect us from destruction. I say not this to wound
+unnecessarily the feelings of any one--no, God forbid! but because I
+consider it a most momentous truth, which should be placed before the
+public in as strong relief as language can exhibit it--since it
+involves the safety, welfare and happiness, not only of thousands yet
+living, but of millions yet unborn. If this highly boasted code,
+founded merely on human opinion, subject to all its fluctuations, and
+which tolerates drunkenness on the pretext of conviviality, while it
+makes murder a duty under the term _duelling_, will not, with any
+thing like certainty, restrain its professors from the meanest, most
+degrading vices, from the most shocking and atrocious crimes, what can
+it possibly avail in withholding them from committing acts of far more
+dubious character, but often little less injurious to the peace,
+order, and happiness of society? Could this code bear any sort of
+comparison with that which we have ventured to contrast with it, as
+furnishing the best possible rules for human conduct, even considering
+the present life as the _only one_, would it not be able to support
+its claim to our preference, by producing a greater number of persons
+reclaimed from the paths of vice by _its superior power_, than have
+ever been recovered by the influence of _the Christian code_? But how
+stands the fact? Examine it, I beseech you, as impartially as
+possible. I may answer, I believe, without fear of contradiction, that
+while the Christian code can show its thousands, rescued by its agency
+from the lowest depths of profligacy and crime, not one solitary case
+can be found, nor indeed has ever been heard of, wherein the code of
+worldly morality has alone effected any such restoration. The utmost
+scope of _its_ power has never extended beyond carrying a small
+minority of its votaries through the world, with fair characters, who
+have never been strongly tempted to give them up for something which
+they more passionately desired. Its influence, at best, is merely of
+the _preventive_, not the _reclaiming_ kind, and therefore never
+brings back, under the power of its own laws, any who have once broken
+through the feeble barriers which they interpose. The worldly code,
+besides sanctioning many practices which the Christian code pronounces
+criminal, looks not beyond the outward seeming of our actions, because
+when man, who is made the sole judge of its fulfilment, attempts to
+penetrate to their source, he is incapable of doing more than making
+mere approximations to the truth. On the other hand, the Christian
+code, having an all-wise, infallible God for _its_ judge, allows no
+actions to be _right_, but such as proceed from _right motives_. These
+being the only certain test--the test by which every Christian
+assuredly believes that we shall all be finally tried, make the latter
+code, from this circumstance alone, as far superior to the former, as
+absolute certainty is, at all times and under all circumstances, much
+better than uncertainty. All who faithfully obey the requisitions of
+the last, must really _be_ what they _seem to be_, or they are _not
+moral_ in the Christian sense. Whereas the professors of the last, who
+look only to the present life for their rewards, can obtain them all,
+simply by feigning well the character they wish to possess.
+
+No sweeping denunciation is here intended against those who have the
+unspeakable misfortune to be destitute of religion; for I know many,
+and doubt not that many more are to be found in every class of
+society, who fulfil the duties of the present life in such an
+exemplary manner, as to be well worthy of our esteem and love. What I
+mean to assert, and deem it all important for the cause of Education
+to establish, is, that the above fact furnishes no adequate proof of
+the sufficiency of the worldly code of morals, either to preserve or
+to reclaim mankind from vice and crime. If their propensities happen
+to be vicious, their desires criminal, no obstacle whatever exists to
+their indulgence, but the ever variable opinions of the particular
+society in which they live, and the fear of detection by mere human,
+frail, and fallible witnesses. Their code may well be called a system
+of compromise between sensual appetites and regard for appearances--a
+calculation of chances and probabilities--a rule for conduct whose
+standard has no well defined, certain marks, by which right and wrong
+can always be accurately distinguished--no omnipotent sanction to
+sustain all its requirements; and consequently, that, as the governing
+principle of our whole lives, it will bear no just comparison whatever
+with the Christian code of morality, where every thing is not only
+sure, but forever unchangeable--full not only of the happiest
+assurances in regard to the present life, but of the most
+soul-cheering hopes as to that which is to come.
+
+I have expressed the belief, justified, as I think, by my own
+observation, that the prevalent system of Education, has had the
+effect of diminishing the number of instances wherein mothers teach
+their own children. Yet it is unquestionably true, that the progress
+and improvement which girls or boys either make at public schools,
+depend much more upon this domestic, elementary Education, than upon
+any subsequent course of scholastic discipline under which they may be
+elsewhere placed. First impressions, and above all, _those made by a
+mother_, are always more permanent than almost any that can be made at
+a later period of life, after parental instruction is changed for that
+of strangers. In confirmation of my own observations, teachers of
+great experience have assured me, that where natural talent has been
+equal, they have invariably found those pupils the most docile, most
+intelligent, most correct in their conduct, and best informed, who
+have longest received the benefit of a parent's tuition, although they
+may not actually have gone to school longer than others who have been
+taught only in public seminaries. It is therefore of the highest
+imaginable importance that the lessons given to children at home,
+previously to going abroad to school, should all be such as are
+calculated to give them good tempers, amiable dispositions, and sound
+moral principles; for unless this all essential work be performed
+under the parental care, it is rarely, if ever accomplished
+afterwards. The power indeed, of _feigning them_, may be acquired by
+the constant suggestion of worldly and prudential considerations; but
+the actual possession is scarcely ever gained under any other
+instructer than the parent. Nay, _how can it be_, when the proportion
+of pupils under public teachers, compared with the children of one
+mother, is often ten, fifteen, twenty to one; when the indispensable
+attention of the instructers to the usual scholastic exercises of
+their scholars, engages nearly their whole time; and when the forming
+the heart to virtue, the regulation of the passions, the strengthening
+the understanding and judgment, which are the only really valuable
+ends of all Education, cannot possibly be attained in the very short
+time commonly allowed for the public instruction, (at least of our
+daughters,) and under all the circumstances in which they must
+necessarily be placed at all large public schools. Hence, in a great
+measure, the numerous failures of the best public teachers to do what
+is too often expected of them; that is, in a few months, or even in a
+year or two, to reform the dispositions and characters of their
+pupils, at the same time that their minds are required to be stored
+with all imaginable learning; although the conviction alone of the
+vicious propensities and bad habits which they may have contracted at
+home, would require a much longer period than the whole time usually
+allotted for all scholastic acquirements put together. Public schools
+may well be called _moral hospitals_, which, like some others of a
+different kind, contain not only many patients the removal of whose
+diseases requires a very long course of most skilful and judicious
+treatment, but others who may well be designated
+"_incurables_"--rendered so too, by moral distempers contracted under
+the parental roof, but for which these hospitals and their doctors
+have very often to bear all the blame.
+
+Well aware that the charges which I have brought against our prevalent
+systems of Education, both private and public, (greatly improved as I
+admit them to be in many important respects) are of a very serious
+nature, I feel myself bound to endeavor to establish them. But in
+these introductory remarks, I shall do no more, in addition to what
+has already been said, than give the general heads of my
+accusation--reserving "the counts in the indictment" (as the lawyers
+would say) for another time. These heads are--that mere external
+observances are much too often substituted for internal
+principles--that a puerile smattering in many comparatively trivial
+things, has been made to pass for thorough knowledge in
+essentials--that _emotions_ of the body and limbs in attitudinizing
+(if I may so express myself,) at the harp, at the piano, and in the
+dance, have been much more cultivated than the _emotions_ of the heart
+and soul; and that the mere mechanical operations of the fingers and
+feet have been preferred to that heavenly operation of the spirit of
+God on the mind, which alone can give any real value to actions, or
+intrinsic worth to character. The sciences and arts for acquiring
+wealth, fame, and aggrandizement--for securing bodily comforts,
+luxuries, and amusements are taught every where, with quite as much
+assiduity and zeal as any can believe they deserve. But the great art
+of extracting from all the events, circumstances, and conditions of
+life, whatever true substantial good and happiness they are capable of
+affording, and using the whole as a preparation for entering into
+_another_ state of existence, where we must account for all we have
+done in _this_, is no where systematically taught, unless from the
+pulpit. Even there it is far too often pretermitted, for the sake of
+indulging in vague speculations which lead to no profitable result,
+and the useless discussion of those deeply mysterious doctrines which
+all believe it passeth man's understanding to comprehend, except those
+rash theological sciolists who vainly imagine that it is given to them
+alone to penetrate them.
+
+The great majority of mankind who judge solely from appearances, are
+deceived by this external Education, into a pernicious belief that all
+must be right _within_, because all which they behold _without_, is
+fair to the eye and agreeable to contemplate; and so superficial is
+their examination generally, that if they find all the pupils
+presented for their inspection, have pleasing exteriors, and voluble
+tongues in their public exercises, every thing else is taken for
+granted. It is never even suspected, that like the trees of the
+forest, many may be hollow-hearted and worthless, although all their
+branches and leaves appear in the full vigor of perfect health. Boys
+who go passably well through certain evolutions, for which they have
+been regularly drilled for weeks and months together, doing little if
+any thing else the whole time, are held forth in all public journals
+as rapid and successful travellers in the high road to the greatest
+attainable mental improvement--while a large portion of the
+individuals engaged in this pernicious puffing, know little or nothing
+of the real progress of the pupils thus lauded, who may, for aught
+their eulogists can tell, have only the parrot's knowledge of nearly
+all they have been heard to repeat. Many instances I have known of
+this in our colleges, and still more in schools of inferior grade.
+Here many of the examiners (as they are called,) are not unfrequently
+persons destitute of literature and science themselves, who still
+boldly certify to the quantum of each possessed by those whom they are
+supposed to examine; and their awards go forth to the world, as
+satisfactory proofs of the excellence of particular schools, and the
+proficiency of the scholars in them, when in fact, such testimonials
+are proofs of nothing but the inexcusable vanity or thoughtlessness of
+the certifiers. The case of girls, at _their_ public examinations, is
+far worse. Much less being expected from them, fewer qualified judges
+assemble to witness _their_ performances; and if they manage to appear
+with clean faces and frocks, in regular marchings to and fro, with
+nicely measured steps, with prim and demure looks in the presence of
+their unknown viewers, a rapid volubility in their often repeated
+recitations, and all this finished off with a little music, dancing,
+and drawing, they pass with their surface-skimming spectators for
+marvellously accomplished girls. But woful indeed is often the
+mistake, and pregnant with evil consequences. The constant tendency of
+such exhibitions, although not always producing their full effect, is
+to make the pupils of such schools greatly undervalue that species of
+acquirement, which, although it can hardly become the subject of
+newspaper notice, should always be considered of transcendent
+importance in every school for either sex; I mean moral and religious
+knowledge--moral and religious habits. It is true, that there is
+almost always a kind of general promise promulgated of great and
+unremitted attention to these matters. But every body's experience,
+who has taken much notice of the manner in which schools are generally
+conducted, is sufficient to convince them that such promises are more
+matters of profession than practice; or, that they are complied with
+in such a way, as unavoidably to impress the pupils with a belief that
+it is rather an affair of form than substance. Does any one doubt this
+fact? let him only take the trouble to ask the majority of the
+scholars of any school the following questions, and his skepticism
+will soon vanish. "What has been the course of your moral and
+religious instruction? What books have you read, or have been read to
+you on these subjects? What do you know of the principles of Ethics
+and Christianity? How many times a week or month have you received
+lessons on them? If nothing has been read specially on these
+all-important topics, what has been the manner in which they have been
+recommended to your attention? Has it been both by precept and
+example, or by the first only; and what rank have your teachers
+assigned to such studies, in the scale of importance?" Need I add,
+that unless such questions can be answered to the entire satisfaction
+of all such persons as really believe that the eternal welfare of the
+rising generation is a matter of infinitely deeper interest than any
+thing which can possibly happen to them in the present life, the
+conclusion is inevitable, that _in all such cases_, by far the most
+important part of Education has been either shamefully neglected, or
+miserably and wickedly perverted. Let such tests be applied to _all_
+schools, from the highest to the lowest, and we shall soon remove much
+the most powerful of the many causes which prevent them from answering
+so fully as they ought to do, the great purposes for which they have
+been established and should be sustained, until the heads of every
+family become capable of educating their own children--the girls
+_entirely_, and the boys until the few last years of their pupilage.
+
+The neglect of moral and religious instruction in schools generally,
+may arise, in a great measure, from a belief in the teachers, that
+this all essential work has been properly attended to at home. But it
+should never be forgotten, that the injunction "to train up a child in
+the way he should go," should be deemed obligatory during the whole
+period of pupilage, on all concerned in his Education, lest if it be
+intermitted at any time, the effects of the whole previous training
+should be lost. It should always be remembered too, by those who have
+the care of youth of either sex, that the oftener the young coursers
+are permitted to run out of this track of moral and religious
+training, the more apt they will be "to fly the way," not only while
+the training is managed by others, but after it becomes their own
+exclusive duty. It _must therefore_, be made a primary and vital
+object, throughout the entire course of Education--not only at home,
+but abroad--not only in the private, domestic circle, but in every
+public school to which young people may be sent, or the great moral
+ends and purposes of instruction will inevitably be defeated. The
+_hearts_ of the pupils must first be educated, and all their motives
+and dispositions brought, as nearly as practicable, to what they ought
+to be, or it will be utterly vain to expect that _their actions_ can
+be either generally or permanently right. It is true, that a right
+action--that is, one so called--because beneficial to others, may
+sometimes be performed from a wrong motive. But this can do no
+possible good to the agent, whose condemnation in the eyes of God is
+only the greater, when he plays the hypocrite to gain his ends.
+
+I will not go so far as to affirm that the prevalent systems of our
+schools will certainly make vain, ambitious, worldly minded men of our
+sons, and actresses and _figurantes_ of our daughters, rather than
+qualify the boys for fulfilling all their moral and religious duties
+in the best possible manner, and the girls for becoming modest,
+virtuous, intelligent, exemplary wives and mothers. But I _will say_,
+that if these systems do not work such mischief in most cases, it will
+be more owing to some powerfully counteracting anterior cause, over
+which they have had no control, than to the doctrines which they
+inculcate, the branches of human learning which they most recommend,
+or the practices which they cause to be followed. It is entirely
+immaterial _what_, or _how much_ instruction they profess to give, or
+really do impart in all other things, but such as will insure the
+fulfilment of our moral and religious duties; the vital objects of all
+correct Education will be utterly lost, if matters are so managed in
+our schools, that the ever restless, insatiate desire for general
+admiration becomes the main spring of action, rather than the love of
+knowledge for its own sake, and for the power it will give us of
+contributing to human happiness. If once _such_ desire be substituted
+for _such_ love, the fountain head of our whole conduct is literally
+poisoned. No pure water can possibly flow from such a source; no
+essential good--none I mean, which can impart real value to character,
+or contribute one mite towards the eternal felicity of the individual,
+can ever be effected by him. The only result to be calculated on with
+any certainty is, that an eager pursuit of merely external arts and
+showy attainments, will take the place of sincere, steady, deep
+solicitude to enrich the heart and adorn the understanding with all
+those principles of really useful knowledge and exemplary conduct,
+which alone can fit us both for time and eternity. Let the project be
+tried when, where, and by whom it may, of stamping indelibly on the
+human heart such principles of action as all admit it should have, at
+least all whose opinions should be regarded in so momentous and vital
+a concern, and it will prove abortive as certainly as it is
+undertaken, unless "religion, pure and undefiled" as it came from the
+voice of God himself, be made the basis of the whole proceeding. _Is
+this generally done in our schools, either public or private?_ I most
+conscientiously believe it is not--at least, as the gospel commands
+us--"line upon line, and precept upon precept;" or even as a matter to
+be taught first and above all others. But if any man attempt "_to
+build on other foundation_,"--if he strive ever so much to erect the
+edifice of Education on any other groundwork, he may possibly rear a
+very showy and even attractive house, but most assuredly his materials
+will be nothing better than "straw and stubble," continually liable to
+take fire from every flying spark--forever in danger of being blown
+down by every assailing wind.
+
+In determining on the proper course of Education for our children, is
+it not of the highest importance, first to decide in regard to the
+situations in which they will probably be placed, and the
+circumstances under which they are most likely to spend their lives,
+that all the instruction given may have some bearing on such
+destination--some peculiar aptitude to fit them for the particular
+stations which they will fill? Until society is organized differently
+from what it is, all the various honest trades, professions and
+callings into which it is divided, must have persons specially
+educated for them. But how can this all essential plan be
+accomplished, if our children are made too proud for any thing but
+playing ladies and gentlemen, or following some two or three
+professional pursuits, distinguished from the rest by the dignified
+title--"_liberal_?" Ought it to suffice with people in their sober
+senses, to hear it urged in opposition to so reasonable a scheme as
+that of adapting early Education to the probable destiny of each
+individual in after life, that _in our country_ every child ought to
+be educated for all imaginable conditions in what is called high life,
+because any, possibly, may be attained by any? Surely this would be
+the perfection of folly, unless it amounted almost to certainty that a
+very large majority of our youth of both sexes would reach such
+elevated situations. But it so happens that there is a moral certainty
+the other way, and that an infinitely larger portion of mankind will
+live and die in obscurity, than can ever become conspicuous for the
+possession of wealth, extraordinary talent, or official station. This
+obscurity however, would be no bar to the enjoyment of great
+happiness, provided half the pains were taken to inculcate principles,
+tastes and habits suitable to the future circumstances in which they
+would probably be placed, that are very frequently taken to impress
+their minds with insatiate cravings after all the highest conditions
+of society. _This world_, and this alone, with all its vanities,
+follies, and seductive vices, is made the God of their idolatry; and
+every thing in future life which is calculated to impede their
+worship, becomes a source of unavailing discontent, if not of actual
+and lasting misery. To pursue such a course with children is little
+short of real madness, even on the supposition that there is no other
+state of existence but the present; unless indeed, this life had been
+made a scene of uninterrupted enjoyment, instead of one abounding with
+much unavoidable suffering--a scene in which to escape sickness, pain,
+and poverty, is among our greatest blessings--a scene whose modicum of
+happiness consists not in any of those merely selfish, sensual
+pursuits, so generally deemed the chief good of life, but in the
+diligent culture and exercise of all the powers of our mind--of all
+the best affections of our hearts. How is this to be done, especially
+in our female schools, which in fact are the great laboratories for
+forming elementary teachers for our whole population,--if nearly, or
+quite half the time of the pupils be taken up in learning to dance, to
+draw, to play on musical instruments, and to acquire polite manners,
+by going at stated times to private assemblies, to plays, and operas,
+as we have heard is the practice in some city schools. One of two
+things invariably follows from this course; either the whole stock of
+accomplishments, (as they are called,) however costly it may have
+been, is entirely abandoned the moment the girls get married, because
+the acquisition has always been to them a kind of up-hill work, for
+which they had not the smallest taste--or, such a passionate fondness
+is contracted for them, that they can find pleasure in no other
+occupation. The fatal disease of discontent is the result in both
+those cases. But suppose the last to be the most common. Are domestic
+habits, so indispensable to the comfort and happiness of married life,
+to be formed by acquiring a passion for public spectacles, for
+company-keeping, and for all the preparatory equipments of costly
+apparel, and other personal decorations? Can the tranquil pleasures of
+retirement, the occupations of housekeeping, the necessary management
+of all the domiciliary concerns of which the mistresses of families
+must always take cognizance, have any charms for ladies educated in
+what is called the fashionable style? Will not all such things rather
+be insupportably irksome, if not actually disgusting? How will such
+ladies be prepared to meet the numerous inconveniences and troubles,
+the many unpleasant, and often painful occurrences that take place,
+sometimes even in the happiest families? How can they bear all the
+fatigues, the various trials of temper, the actual labors incident to
+domestic life, if the sole object of the chief lessons which they have
+received at school, has been to attract attention and admiration to
+themselves? What, but the most inordinate selfishness and vanity can
+be the fruit of such training? Will such preparatory studies teach
+them how to keep their houses and families in order--to train their
+offspring in the paths of knowledge and virtue--to administer
+consolation to the sick and the dying--in a word, to turn all the
+numerous incidents of domestic life to the moral and religious
+improvement of those over whom it is their business and sacred duty to
+exercise a constant and parental supervision? Alas! my friends, there
+is scarcely any thing in all nature so illy qualified to fulfil these
+momentous obligations, as a young lady educated in what is called the
+fashionable style--unless, by the providence of God, she may have been
+first imbued under the parental roof, with moral and religious
+principles too strong to be overcome by such powerful engines of
+destruction as are constantly at work to destroy them, in what are
+called, by way of pre-eminence, "fashionable schools." I do not mean
+to say that the extirpation of moral and religious principle is really
+the object there aimed at. No, far from it; for I dare affirm that
+many of the persons thus busily engaged, perhaps the whole of them,
+really believe that they are fast accomplishing a very great and good
+work. But the sum and substance of it, when stript of all its vain
+illusions, is nothing more nor less, in fact, than a very laborious
+and excessively expensive process to unfit the unfortunate subjects of
+it for every kind of life but such as they are taught to lead at
+school; _and that is_, to value all merely external acquirements far
+above every moral qualification, and to seek their chief happiness in
+the amount of admiration they can procure for these very superficial
+and comparatively worthless attainments. They come forth admirably
+prepared for a life of alternate excitement and gratification; but for
+the real Christian life of self-control, self-denial, and humble
+righteousness, they probably have not so much as heard of it, unless
+perchance when they have gone to church. They can use their hands,
+feet and eyes most exquisitely in attracting admiration; but when
+compelled to apply themselves to any of the homely, but really
+essential purposes of life, they find themselves most sadly
+embarrassed, if not utterly at a loss how to proceed. Are the poor
+girls to blame for all this? Far from it; they must have been
+something more or less than human beings to turn out differently. The
+fault--nay, I must call it the crime--if such misapplication of the
+talents which God has given them for far different purposes be
+criminal, lies chiefly at the parent's door. _But for them_ there
+would be no such course of Education in the world. It is indeed a
+course which prepares them admirably for what may truly be called
+_public life_; instead of qualifying them to adorn that which is
+almost entirely private and domestic--that in which an immense
+majority of females are destined to live and to die. What is the
+consequence of this incongruity--this manifest disagreement between
+the matters taught, and the ends to which they must generally be
+applied? What is the aptitude of the means to the great purposes which
+parents should aim to accomplish? Are they favorable or not to
+domestic happiness? If music, drawing, dressing, and dancing, with a
+smattering of some living foreign language, garnished with a few
+beggarly elements of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Geology, and
+Botany, are the principal ingredients in _this happiness_, then are
+the chief pursuits of fashionable female Education eminently
+calculated to promote it. But if the following view from one of our
+most distinguished moral and religious writers of what female
+Education _should be_, has any truth or justice in it, our prevalent
+systems of fashionable Education exhibit a most lamentable deficiency
+in almost all essential points. This admirable writer says, in the
+form of advice to a young man--"For my own part, I call
+_Education_--not that which smothers a woman with accomplishments, but
+that which tends to consolidate a firm and regular system of
+character--that which tends to form a friend, a companion, a wife. I
+call Education, not that which is made of the shreds and patches of
+useless arts, but that which inculcates principles, polishes taste,
+regulates temper, cultivates reason, subdues the passions, directs the
+feelings, habituates to reflection, trains to self-denial, and _more
+especially_, that which refers all actions, feelings, sentiments,
+tastes, and passions to the love and fear of God." Elsewhere the same
+author remarks--"In character as in architecture, just proportion is
+beauty. The ornaments which decorate, do not _support_ the edifice."
+Again it is said--"A man of sense who loves home, and lives at home,
+requires a wife who can and will be at half the expense of mind
+necessary for keeping up the cheerful, animating, elegant intercourse
+which forms so great a part of the bond of union between intellectual
+and well bred persons. The _exhibiting, the displaying wife_ may
+entertain your company; but it is only the informed, the refined, the
+cultivated woman, who can entertain yourself; and I presume whenever
+you marry, you will marry primarily for _yourself_, and not for _your
+friends_; you will want a companion--_an artist you may hire_."
+
+Should any person doubt the preference usually given to what are
+called accomplishments, over matters of infinitely higher real value,
+let them ask as many pupils as they please, "what inquiries do your
+parents, guardians, and friends most frequently make relative to your
+studies and progress at school?" The answers will furnish undeniable
+proof; for a very large proportion will be found to have been
+substantially like the following: "How do you come on in your Music,
+your Dancing, your Drawing, or your French?" according as they have
+been striving to acquire one or more of these inestimable outfits for
+their progress through Time to the realms of Eternity. It is pitiable,
+most pitiable, to see the thousands of innocent little girls
+throughout our country, many of them without the slightest taste or
+talent for these things, still laboring four, five, or six hours in
+every twenty-four, to gain a little elementary knowledge of what they
+will generally abandon immediately after leaving school, or at
+farthest, as soon as they get married--to gain which knowledge has
+been the chief object, the painful toil for so many irrevocable years
+of all this warring against nature, common sense, and moral fitness.
+But suppose the success of such training as ample as heart can wish,
+and the poor little creatures are made prodigies of early proficiency
+in arts, which are very soon to be of little or no real use to them?
+Is it politic--is it wise--in fact, is it not a most sinful breach of
+parental duty, to impart to our daughters, as among the most desirable
+things in life, strong tastes which they can scarcely gratify at all
+without frequently seeking company abroad, nor often indulge at home,
+unless by neglecting some of those important, indispensable domestic
+employments which devolve exclusively on the mistress of the family?
+
+Let it not be inferred from any of the foregoing remarks, that I am an
+enemy to what are called fashionable schools--my enmity extends _only
+to some of their practices_. Let _them_ be reformed, and I shall have
+no enmity whatever to the title "fashionable," if it be deemed
+essential to gain scholars for those who keep them. Let them make it
+fashionable to fit their pupils for private life, and for all its
+necessary duties, by giving them genuine moral and religious
+principles first and above all things; then let accomplishments follow
+in their proper, but very subordinate place, and they will have no
+warmer friend than myself.
+
+I am well aware that I subject myself to the charge of great
+presumption in censuring, as I have done, many of the principal
+matters taught at present in fashionable, as well as other schools,
+both for boys and girls; and to this charge I am prepared patiently to
+submit, provided it be made, if at all, after a full, fair, and candid
+examination of all that I have said on these topics. To retract
+however, my accusations, will be impossible, unless I could rid myself
+of the conscientious belief, and thorough conviction, that not only
+the temporal, but eternal happiness, both of the present and future
+generations, depends on a radical change being made in regard to the
+principal objects of Education, as well as in the means of attaining
+them. These _must be_ to prepare us for this life--not as an _end_,
+but only as the means of attaining happiness in the next.
+
+My business, however, being more to point out faults, than
+remedies--rather to describe diseases, than to offer nostrums for
+their removal, I shall leave the curative process to other hands,
+sincerely hoping that it may be attempted by some much abler moral
+physicians, who will apply themselves to the Herculean task with a
+degree of zeal, vigor, and perseverance fully commensurate to the
+difficulty and vital importance of the undertaking. There can be no
+greater object of human ambition--no more exalted purpose for human
+effort--nor any human occupation, the results of which, if the
+laborers in this sacred vineyard be successful, can compare with this
+either in degree or extent--since human happiness, both temporal and
+eternal, is its end, and must be its final consummation. Riches often
+perish, and are followed by poverty, wretchedness, and extreme
+suffering. Honors frequently fade away, or are snatched from us, to be
+succeeded by persecution, calumny, hatred, and disgrace. Sensual
+gratifications may never come at all, or _if they do_, bitter
+recollections, bodily diseases--nay, incurable remorse for their
+indulgence, rarely fail to come soon after; and all this too in
+defiance, as it were, of what the world generally calls "good
+Education." But pure Religion and true Christian morality impart a
+peace to the soul which nothing in nature can destroy, nor even long
+disturb; while the unutterable joys and delights of a well spent life
+are the sure fruits, the certain rewards of every system of
+instruction well followed out, which, without any exclusion either of
+science, literature, foreign languages, or tasteful accomplishments,
+makes the gospel of our blessed Saviour its beginning, its middle, and
+its end.
+
+
+
+
+Milton is indebted for some of the finest passages in the Paradise
+Lost to Marino's "Sospetti D'Herode."
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+LOSS OF BREATH.
+
+A TALE A LA BLACKWOOD. BY EDGAR A. POE.
+
+  O breathe not, &c.--_Moore's Melodies_.
+
+
+The most notorious ill-fortune must, in the end, yield to the untiring
+courage of philosophy--as the most stubborn city to the ceaseless
+vigilance of an enemy. Salmanezer, as we have it in the holy writings,
+lay three years before Samaria: yet it fell. Sardanapalus--see
+Diodorus--maintained himself seven in Nineveh: but to no purpose. Troy
+expired at the close of the second lustrum: and Azoth, as Aristæus
+declares upon his honor as a gentleman, opened at last her gates to
+Psammitticus, after having barred them for the fifth part of a
+century.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Thou wretch!--thou vixen!--thou shrew!"--said I to my wife on the
+morning after our wedding--"thou witch!--thou hag!--thou
+whippersnapper!--thou sink of iniquity!--thou fiery-faced quintessence
+of all that is abominable!--thou--thou--" Here standing upon tiptoe,
+seizing her by the throat, and placing my mouth close to her ear, I
+was preparing to launch forth a new and more decided epithet of
+opprobrium which should not fail, if ejaculated, to convince her of
+her insignificance, when, to my extreme horror and astonishment, I
+discovered that _I had lost my breath_.
+
+The phrases "I am out of breath," "I have lost my breath," &c. are
+often enough repeated in common conversation, but it had never
+occurred to me that the terrible accident of which I speak could _boná
+fide_ and actually happen! Imagine--that is if you have a fanciful
+turn--imagine I say, my wonder--my consternation--my despair!
+
+There is a good genius, however, which has never, at any time,
+entirely deserted me. In my most ungovernable moods I still retain a
+sense of propriety, _et le chemin des passions me conduit_--as
+Rousseau says it did him--_à la philosophie veritable_.
+
+Although I could not at first precisely ascertain to what degree the
+occurrence had affected me, I unhesitatingly determined to conceal at
+all events the matter from my wife until farther experience should
+discover to me the extent of this my unheard of calamity. Altering my
+countenance, therefore, in a moment, from its bepuffed and distorted
+appearance, to an expression of arch and coquettish benignity, I gave
+my lady a pat on the one cheek, and a kiss on the other, and without
+saying one syllable, (Furies! I could not,) left her astonished at my
+drollery, as I pirouetted out of the room in a _Pas de Zephyr_.
+
+Behold me then safely ensconced in my private _boudoir_, a fearful
+instance of the ill consequences attending upon irascibility--alive
+with the qualifications of the dead--dead with the propensities of the
+living--an anomaly on the face of the earth--being very calm, yet
+breathless.
+
+Yes! breathless. I am serious in asserting that my breath was entirely
+gone. I could not have stirred with it a feather if my life had been
+at issue, or sullied even the delicacy of a mirror. Hard fate!--yet
+there was some alleviation to the first overwhelming paroxysm of my
+sorrow. I found upon trial that the powers of utterance which, upon my
+inability to proceed in the conversation with my wife, I then
+concluded to be totally destroyed, were in fact only partially
+impeded, and I discovered that had I, at that interesting crisis,
+dropped my voice to a singularly deep guttural, I might still have
+continued to her the communication of my sentiments; this pitch of
+voice (the guttural) depending, I find, not upon the current of the
+breath, but upon a certain spasmodic action of the muscles of the
+throat.
+
+Throwing myself upon a chair, I remained for some time absorbed in
+meditation. My reflections, be sure, were of no consolatory kind. A
+thousand vague and lachrymatory fancies took possession of my
+soul--and even the phantom Suicide flitted across my brain; but it is
+a trait in the perversity of human nature to reject the obvious and
+the ready, for the far-distant and equivocal. Thus I shudderd at
+self-murder as the most decided of atrocities, while the tabby cat
+purred strenuously upon the rug, and the very water-dog wheezed
+assiduously under the table, each taking to itself much merit for the
+strength of its lungs, and all obviously done in derision of my own
+pulmonary incapacity.
+
+Oppressed with a tumult of vague hopes and fears, I at length heard
+the footstep of my wife descending the staircase. Being now assured of
+her absence, I returned with a palpitating heart to the scene of my
+disaster.
+
+Carefully locking the door on the inside, I commenced a vigorous
+search. It was possible, I thought, that concealed in some obscure
+corner, or lurking in some closet or drawer, might be found the lost
+object of my inquiry. It might have a vapory--it might even have a
+tangible form. Most philosophers, upon many points of philosophy, are
+still very unphilosophical. William Godwin, however, says in his
+"Mandeville," that "invisible things are the only realities." This,
+all will allow, is a case in point. I would have the judicious reader
+pause before accusing such asseverations of an undue quantum of
+absurdity. Anaxagoras--it will be remembered--maintained that snow is
+black. This I have since found to be the case.
+
+Long and earnestly did I continue the investigation: but the
+contemptible reward of my industry and perseverance proved to be only
+a set of false teeth, two pair of hips, an eye, and a bundle of
+_billets-doux_ from Mr. Windenough to my wife. I might as well here
+observe that this confirmation of my lady's partiality for Mr. W.
+occasioned me little uneasiness. That Mrs. Lacko'breath should admire
+any thing so dissimilar to myself was a natural and necessary evil. I
+am, it is well known, of a robust and corpulent appearance, and, at
+the same time somewhat diminutive in stature. What wonder then that
+the lath-like tenuity of my acquaintance, and his altitude which has
+grown into a proverb, should have met with all due estimation in the
+eyes of Mrs. Lacko'breath? It is by logic similar to this that true
+philosophy is enabled to set misfortune at defiance. But to return.
+
+My exertions, as I have before said, proved fruitless. Closet after
+closet--drawer after drawer--corner after corner--were scrutinized to
+no purpose. At one time, however, I thought myself sure of my prize,
+having, in rummaging a dressing-case, accidentally demolished a bottle
+(I had a remarkably sweet breath) of Hewitt's "Seraphic and
+Highly-Scented Extract of Heaven or Oil of Archangels"--which, as an
+agreeable perfume, I here take the liberty of recommending.
+
+With a heavy heart I returned to my _boudoir_--there to ponder upon
+some method of eluding my wife's penetration, until I could make
+arrangements prior to my leaving the country, for to this I had
+already made up my mind. In a foreign climate, being unknown, I might,
+with some probability of success, endeavor to conceal my unhappy
+calamity--a calamity calculated, even more than beggary, to estrange
+the affections of the multitude, and to draw down upon the wretch the
+well-merited indignation of the virtuous and the happy. I was not long
+in hesitation. Being naturally quick, I committed to memory the entire
+tragedies of ----, and ----. I had the good fortune to recollect that
+in the accentuation of these dramas, or at least of such portion of
+them as is allotted to their heroes, the tones of voice in which I
+found myself deficient were altogether unnecessary, and that the deep
+guttural was expected to reign monotonously throughout.
+
+I practised for some time by the borders of a well-frequented
+marsh--herein, however, having no reference to a similar proceeding of
+Demosthenes, but from a design peculiarly and conscientiously my own.
+Thus armed at all points, I determined to make my wife believe that I
+was suddenly smitten with a passion for the stage. In this I succeeded
+to a miracle; and to every question or suggestion found myself at
+liberty to reply in my most frog-like and sepulchral tones with some
+passage from the tragedies, any portion of which, as I soon took great
+pleasure in observing, would apply equally well to any particular
+subject. It is not to be supposed, however, that in the delivery of
+such passages I was found at all deficient in the looking asquint--the
+showing my teeth--the working my knees--the shuffling my feet--or in
+any of those unmentionable graces which are now justly considered the
+characteristics of a popular performer. To be sure they spoke of
+confining me in a straight jacket--but good God! they never suspected
+me of having lost my breath.
+
+Having at length put my affairs in order, I took my seat very early
+one morning in the mail stage for ----, giving it to be understood
+among my acquaintances that business of the last importance required
+my immediate personal attendance.
+
+The coach was crammed to repletion--but in the uncertain twilight the
+features of my companions could not be distinguished. Without making
+any effectual resistance I suffered myself to be placed between two
+gentlemen of colossal dimensions; while a third, of a size larger,
+requesting pardon for the liberty he was about to take, threw himself
+upon my body at full length, and falling asleep in an instant, drowned
+all my guttural ejaculations for relief, in a snore which would have
+put to the blush the roarings of a Phalarian bull. Happily the state
+of my respiratory faculties rendered suffocation an accident entirely
+out of the question.
+
+As however, the day broke more distinctly in our approach to the
+outskirts of the city, my tormentor arising and adjusting his
+shirt-collar, thanked me in a very friendly manner for my civility.
+Seeing that I remained motionless, (all my limbs were dislocated, and
+my head twisted on one side,) his apprehensions began to be excited;
+and arousing the rest of the passengers, he communicated, in a very
+decided manner, his opinion that a dead man had been palmed upon them
+during the night for a living _boná fide_ and responsible
+fellow-traveller--here giving me a thump on the right eye, by way of
+evidencing the truth of his suggestion.
+
+Thereupon all, one after another, (there were nine in company)
+believed it their duty to pull me by the ear. A young practising
+physician, too, having applied a pocket-mirror to my mouth, and found
+me without breath, the assertion of my persecutor was pronounced a
+true bill; and the whole party expressed their determination to endure
+tamely no such impositions for the future, and to proceed no farther
+with any such carcasses for the present.
+
+I was here accordingly thrown out at the sign of the "Crow," (by which
+tavern the coach happened to be passing) without meeting with any
+farther accident than the breaking of both my arms under the left hind
+wheel of the vehicle. I must besides do the driver the justice to
+state that he did not forget to throw after me the largest of my
+trunks, which, unfortunately falling on my head, fractured my skull in
+a manner at once interesting and extraordinary.
+
+The landlord of the "Crow," who is a hospitable man, finding that my
+trunk contained sufficient to indemnify him for any little trouble he
+might take in my behalf, sent forthwith for a surgeon of his
+acquaintance, and delivered me to his care with a bill and receipt for
+five and twenty dollars.
+
+The purchaser took me to his apartments and commenced operations
+immediately. Having, however, cut off my ears, he discovered signs of
+animation. He now rang the bell, and sent for a neighboring apothecary
+with whom to consult in the emergency. In case, however, of his
+suspicions with regard to my existence proving ultimately correct, he,
+in the meantime, made an incision in my stomach, and removed several
+of my viscera for private dissection.
+
+The apothecary had an idea that I was actually dead. This idea I
+endeavored to confute, kicking and plunging with all my might, and
+making the most furious contortions--for the operations of the surgeon
+had, in a measure, restored me to the possession of my faculties. All,
+however, was attributed to the effects of a new Galvanic Battery,
+wherewith the apothecary, who is really a man of information,
+performed several curious experiments, in which, from my personal
+share in their fulfilment I could not help feeling deeply interested.
+It was a source of mortification to me nevertheless, that although I
+made several attempts at conversation, my powers of speech were so
+entirely _in abeyance_, that I could not even open my mouth; much less
+then make reply to some ingenious but fanciful theories of which,
+under other circumstances, my minute acquaintance with the
+Hippocratian Pathology would have afforded me a ready confutation.
+
+Not being able to arrive at a conclusion, the practitioners remanded
+me for further examination. I was taken up into a garret; and the
+surgeon's lady having accommodated me with drawers and stockings, the
+surgeon himself fastened my hands, and tied up my jaws with a pocket
+handkerchief--then bolted the door on the outside as he hurried to his
+dinner, leaving me alone to silence and to meditation.
+
+I now discovered to my extreme delight that I could have spoken had
+not my mouth been tied up by the pocket-handkerchief. Consoling myself
+with this reflection, I was mentally repeating some passages of the
+----, as is my custom before resigning myself to sleep, when two cats,
+of a greedy and vituperative turn, entering at a hole in the wall,
+leaped up with a flourish _à la Catalani_, and alighting opposite one
+another on my visage, betook themselves to unseemly and indecorous
+contention for the paltry consideration of my nose.
+
+But, as the loss of his ears proved the means of elevating to the
+throne of Cyrus, the Magian or Mige-Gush of Persia, and as the cutting
+off his nose gave Zopyrus possession of Babylon, so the loss of a few
+ounces of my countenance proved the salvation of my body. Aroused by
+the pain, and burning with indignation, I burst, at a single effort,
+the fastenings and the bandage. Stalking across the room I cast a
+glance of contempt at the belligerents, and throwing open the sash to
+their extreme horror and disappointment, precipitated myself--very
+dexterously--from the window.
+
+The mail-robber W----, to whom I bore a singular resemblance, was at
+this moment passing from the city jail to the scaffold erected for his
+execution in the suburbs. His extreme infirmity and long-continued ill
+health, had obtained him the privilege of remaining unmanacled; and
+habited in his gallows costume--a dress very similar to my own--he lay
+at full length in the bottom of the hangman's cart (which happened to
+be under the windows of the surgeon at the moment of my precipitation)
+without any other guard than the driver who was asleep, and two
+recruits of the sixth infantry, who were drunk.
+
+As ill-luck would have it, I alit upon my feet within the vehicle.
+W----, who was an acute fellow, perceived his opportunity. Leaping up
+immediately he bolted out behind, and turning down an alley, was out
+of sight in the twinkling of an eye. The recruits aroused by the
+bustle, could not exactly comprehend the merits of the transaction.
+Seeing, however, a man, the precise counterpart of the felon, standing
+upright in the cart before their eyes, they were of opinion that "the
+rascal, (meaning W----) was after making his escape," (so they
+expressed themselves) and, having communicated this opinion to one
+another, they took each a dram, and then knocked me down with the
+but-ends of their muskets.
+
+It was not long ere we arrived at the place of destination. Of course
+nothing could be said in my defence. Hanging was my inevitable fate. I
+resigned myself thereto, with a feeling half stupid, half acrimonious.
+Being little of a cynic, I had all the sentiments of a dog. The
+hangman, however, adjusted the noose about my neck. The drop fell. My
+convulsions were said to be extraordinary. Several gentlemen swooned,
+and some ladies were carried home in hysterics. Pinxit, too, availed
+himself of the opportunity to retouch, from a sketch taken upon the
+spot, his admirable painting of the "Marsyas flayed alive."
+
+I will endeavor to depict my sensations upon the gallows. To write
+upon such a theme it is necessary to have been hanged. Every author
+should confine himself to matters of experience. Thus Mark Antony
+wrote a treatise upon drunkenness.
+
+Die I certainly did not. The sudden jerk given to my neck upon the
+falling of the drop, merely proved a corrective to the unfortunate
+twist afforded me by the gentleman in the coach. Although my body
+certainly _was_, I had, alas! no breath _to be_ suspended; and but for
+the shaking of the rope, the pressure of the knot under my ear, and
+the rapid determination of blood to the brain, should, I dare say,
+have experienced very little inconvenience.
+
+The latter feeling, however, grew momentarily more painful. I heard my
+heart beating with violence--the veins in my hands and wrists swelled
+nearly to bursting--my temples throbbed tempestuously--and I felt that
+my eyes were starting from their sockets. Yet when I say that in spite
+of all this my sensations were not absolutely intolerable, I will not
+be believed.
+
+There were noises in my ears--first like the tolling of huge
+bells--then like the beating of a thousand drums--then, lastly, like
+the low, sullen murmurs of the sea. But these noises were very far
+from disagreeable.
+
+Although, too, the powers of my mind were confused and distorted, yet
+I was--strange to say!--well aware of such confusion and distortion. I
+could, with unerring promptitude determine at will in what particulars
+my sensations were correct--and in what particulars I wandered from
+the path. I could even feel with accuracy _how far_--to _what very
+point_, such wanderings had misguided me, but still without the power
+of correcting my deviations. I took besides, at the same time, a wild
+delight in analyzing my conceptions.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: The general reader will I dare say recognize, in these
+_sensations_ of Mr. Lacko'breath, much of the absurd
+_metaphysicianism_ of the redoubted Schelling.]
+
+Memory, which, of all other faculties, should have first taken its
+departure, seemed on the contrary to have been endowed with quadrupled
+power. Each incident of my past life flitted before me like a shadow.
+There was not a brick in the building where I was born--not a dog-leaf
+in the primer I had thumbed over when a child--not a tree in the
+forest where I hunted when a boy--not a street in the cities I had
+traversed when a man--that I did not at that time most palpably
+behold. I could repeat to myself entire lines, passages, names, acts,
+chapters, books, from the studies of my earlier days; and while, I
+dare say, the crowd around me were blind with horror, or aghast with
+awe, I was alternately with Æschylus, a demi-god, or with
+Aristophanes, a frog.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A dreamy delight now took hold upon my spirit, and I imagined that I
+had been eating opium, or feasting upon the Hashish of the old
+Assassins. But glimpses of pure, unadulterated reason--during which I
+was still buoyed up by the hope of finally escaping that death which
+hovered, like a vulture above me--were still caught occasionally by my
+soul.
+
+By some unusual pressure of the rope against my face, a portion of the
+cap was chafed away, and I found to my astonishment that my powers of
+vision were not altogether destroyed. A sea of waving heads rolled
+around me. In the intensity of my delight I eyed them with feelings of
+the deepest commiseration, and blessed, as I looked upon the haggard
+assembly, the superior benignity of _my_ proper stars.
+
+I now reasoned, rapidly I believe--profoundly I am sure--upon
+principles of common law--propriety of that law especially, for which
+I hung--absurdities in political economy which till then I had never
+been able to acknowledge--dogmas in the old Aristotelians now
+generally denied, but not the less intrinsically true--detestable
+school formulæ in Bourdon, in Garnier, in Lacroix--synonymes in
+Crabbe--lunar-lunatic theories in St. Pierre--falsities in the Pelham
+novels--beauties in Vivian Grey--more than beauties in Vivian
+Grey--profundity in Vivian Grey--genius in Vivian Grey--every thing in
+Vivian Grey.
+
+Then came, like a flood, Coleridge, Kant, Fitche, and Pantheism--then
+like a deluge, the Academie, Pergola, La Scala, San Carlo, Paul,
+Albert, Noblet, Ronzi Vestris, Fanny Bias, and Taglioni.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A rapid change was now taking place in my sensations. The last shadows
+of connection flitted away from my meditations. A storm--a tempest of
+ideas, vast, novel, and soul-stirring, bore my spirit like a feather
+afar off. Confusion crowded upon confusion like a wave upon a wave. In
+a very short time Schelling himself would have been satisfied with my
+entire loss of self-identity. The crowd became a mass of mere
+abstraction.
+
+About this period I became aware of a heavy fall and shock--but,
+although the concussion jarred throughout my frame, I had not the
+slightest idea of its having been sustained in my own proper person;
+and thought of it as of an incident peculiar to some other
+existence--an idiosyncrasy belonging to some other Ens.
+
+It was at this moment--as I afterwards discovered--that having been
+suspended for the full term of execution, it was thought proper to
+remove my body from the gallows--this, the more especially as the real
+culprit had now been retaken and recognized.
+
+Much sympathy was now exercised in my behalf--and as no one in the
+city appeared to identify my body, it was ordered that I should be
+interred in the public sepulchre early in the following morning. I
+lay, in the meantime, without signs of life--although from the moment,
+I suppose, when the rope was loosened from my neck, a dim
+consciousness of my situation oppressed me like the night-mare.
+
+I was laid out in a chamber sufficiently small, and very much
+encumbered with furniture--yet to me it appeared of a size to contain
+the universe. I have never before or since, in body or in mind,
+suffered half so much agony as from that single idea. Strange! that
+the simple conception of abstract magnitude--of infinity--should have
+been accompanied with pain. Yet so it was. "With how vast a
+difference," said I, "in life and in death--in time and in
+eternity--here and hereafter, shall our merest sensations be
+imbodied!"
+
+The day died away, and I was aware that it was growing dark--yet the
+same terrible conceit still overwhelmed me. Nor was it confined to the
+boundaries of the apartment--it extended, although in a more definite
+manner, to all objects, and, perhaps I will not be understood in
+saying that it extended also to all _sentiments_. My fingers as they
+lay cold, clammy, stiff, and pressing helplessly one against another,
+were, in my imagination, swelled to a size according with the
+proportions of the Antoeus. Every portion of my frame betook of their
+enormity. The pieces of money--I well remember--which being placed
+upon my eyelids, failed to keep them effectually closed, seemed huge,
+interminable chariot-wheels of the Olympia, or of the Sun.
+
+Yet it is very singular that I experienced no sense of weight--of
+gravity. On the contrary I was put to much inconvenience by that
+buoyancy--that tantalizing _difficulty of keeping down_, which is felt
+by the swimmer in deep water. Amid the tumult of my terrors I laughed
+with a hearty internal laugh to think what incongruity there would
+be--could I arise and walk--between the elasticity of my motion, and
+the mountain of my form.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The night came--and with it a new crowd of horrors. The consciousness
+of my approaching interment, began to assume new distinctness, and
+consistency--yet never for one moment did I imagine _that I was not
+actually dead_.
+
+"This then"--I mentally ejaculated--"this darkness which is palpable,
+and oppresses with a sense of suffocation--this--this--is indeed
+_death_. This is death--this is death the terrible--death the holy.
+This is the death undergone by Regulus--and equally by Seneca.
+Thus--thus, too, shall I always remain--always--always remain. Reason
+is folly, and Philosophy a lie. No one will know my sensations, my
+horror--my despair. Yet will men still persist in reasoning, and
+philosophizing, and making themselves fools. There is, I find, no
+hereafter but this. This--this--this--is the only Eternity!--and what,
+O Baalzebub!--_what_ an Eternity!--to lie in this vast--this awful
+void--a hideous, vague, and unmeaning anomaly--motionless, yet wishing
+for motion--powerless, yet longing for power--forever, forever, and
+forever!"
+
+But the morning broke at length--and with its misty and gloomy dawn
+arrived in triple horror the paraphernalia of the grave. Then--and not
+till then--was I fully sensible of the fearful fate hanging over me.
+The phantasms of the night had faded away with its shadows, and the
+actual terrors of the yawning tomb left me no heart for the bug-bear
+speculations of Transcendentalism.
+
+I have before mentioned that my eyes were but imperfectly closed--yet
+as I could not move them in any degree, those objects alone which
+crossed the direct line of vision were within the sphere of my
+comprehension. But across that line of vision spectral and stealthy
+figures were continually flitting, like the ghosts of Banquo. They
+were making hurried preparations for my interment. First came the
+coffin which they placed quietly by my side. Then the undertaker with
+attendants and a screw-driver. Then a stout man whom I could
+distinctly see and who took hold of my feet--while one whom I could
+only feel lifted me by the head and shoulders. Together they placed me
+in the coffin, and drawing the shroud up over my face proceeded to
+fasten down the lid. One of the screws, missing its proper direction,
+was screwed by the carelessness of the undertaker deep--deep--down
+into my shoulder. A convulsive shudder ran throughout my frame. With
+what horror, with what sickening of heart did I reflect that one
+minute sooner a similar manifestation of life, would, in all
+probability, have prevented my inhumation. But alas! it was now too
+late, and hope died away within my bosom as I felt myself lifted upon
+the shoulders of men--carried down the stairway--and thrust within the
+hearse.
+
+During the brief passage to the cemetery my sensations, which for some
+time had been lethargic and dull, assumed, all at once, a degree of
+intense and unnatural vivacity for which I can in no manner account. I
+could distinctly hear the rustling of the plumes--the whispers of the
+attendants--the solemn breathings of the horses of death. Confined as
+I was in that narrow and strict embrace, I could feel the quicker or
+slower movement of the procession--the restlessness of the driver--the
+windings of the road as it led us to the right or to the left. I could
+distinguish the peculiar odor of the coffin--the sharp acid smell of
+the steel screws. I could see the texture of the shroud as it lay
+close against my face; and was even conscious of the rapid variations
+in light and shade which the flapping to and fro of the sable hangings
+occasioned within the body of the vehicle.
+
+In a short time however, we arrived at the place of sculpture, and I
+felt myself deposited within the tomb. The entrance was secured--they
+departed--and I was left alone. A line of Marston's "Malcontent,"
+
+  "Death's a good fellow and keeps open house,"
+
+struck me at that moment as a palpable lie. Sullenly I lay at length,
+the quick among the dead--and _Anacharsis inter Scythas_.
+
+From what I overheard early in the morning, I was led to believe that
+the occasions when the vault was made use of were of very rare
+occurrence. It was probable that many months might elapse before the
+doors of the tomb would be again unbarred--and even should I survive
+until that period, what means could I have more than at present, of
+making known my situation or of escaping from the coffin? I resigned
+myself, therefore, with much tranquillity to my fate, and fell, after
+many hours, into a deep and deathlike sleep.
+
+How long I remained thus is to me a mystery. When I awoke my limbs
+were no longer cramped with the cramp of death--I was no longer
+without the power of motion. A very slight exertion was sufficient to
+force off the lid of my prison--for the dampness of the atmosphere had
+already occasioned decay in the woodwork around the screws.
+
+My steps as I groped around the sides of my habitation were, however,
+feeble and uncertain, and I felt all the gnawings of hunger with the
+pains of intolerable thirst. Yet, as time passed away, it is strange
+that I experienced little uneasiness from these scourges of the earth,
+in comparisons with the more terrible visitations of the fiend
+_Ennui_. Stranger still were the resources by which I endeavored to
+banish him from my presence.
+
+The sepulchre was large and subdivided into many compartments, and I
+busied myself in examining the peculiarities of their construction. I
+determined the length and breadth of my abode. I counted and recounted
+the stones of the masonry. But there were other methods by which I
+endeavored to lighten the tedium of my hours. Feeling my way among the
+numerous coffins ranged in order around, I lifted them down, one by
+one, and breaking open their lids, busied myself in speculations about
+the mortality within.
+
+"This," I reflected, tumbling over a carcass, puffy, bloated, and
+rotund--"this has been, no doubt, in every sense of the word, an
+unhappy--an unfortunate man. It has been his terrible lot not to walk,
+but to waddle--to pass through life not like a human being, but like
+an elephant--not like a man, but like a rhinoceros.
+
+"His attempts at getting on have been mere abortions--and his
+circumgyratory proceedings a palpable failure. Taking a step forward,
+it has been his misfortune to take two towards the right, and three
+towards the left. His studies have been confined to the Philosophy of
+Crabbe.
+
+"He can have had no idea of the wonders of a _Pirouette_. To him a
+_Pas de Papillon_ has been an abstract conception.
+
+"He has never ascended the summit of a hill. He has never viewed from
+any steeple the glories of a metropolis.
+
+"Heat has been his mortal enemy. In the dog-days his days have been
+the days of a dog. Therein, he has dreamed of flames and
+suffocation--of mountains upon mountains--of Pelion upon Ossa.
+
+"He was short of breath--to say all in a word--he was short of breath.
+
+"He thought it extravagant to play upon wind instruments. He was the
+inventor of self-moving fans--wind-sails--and ventilators. He
+patronized Du Pont the bellows-maker--and died miserably in attempting
+to smoke a cigar.
+
+"His was a case in which I feel deep interest--a lot in which I
+sincerely sympathize."
+
+"But here," said I--"here"--and I dragged spitefully from its
+receptacle a gaunt, tall, and peculiar-looking form, whose remarkable
+appearance struck me with a sense of unwelcome familiarity--"here,"
+said I--"here is a wretch entitled to no earthly commiseration." Thus
+saying, in order to obtain a more distinct view of my subject, I
+applied my thumb and forefinger to his nose, and, causing him to
+assume a sitting position upon the ground, held him, thus, at the
+length of my arm, while I continued my soliloquy.
+
+--"entitled," I repeated, "to no earthly commiseration. Who indeed
+would think of compassionating a shadow? Besides--has he not had his
+full share of the blessings of mortality? He was the originator of
+tall monuments--shot-towers--lightning-rods--lombardy-poplars. His
+treatise upon 'Shades and Shadows' has immortalized him.
+
+"He went early to college and studied Pneumatics. He then came
+home--talked eternally--and played upon the French horn.
+
+"He patronized the bag-pipes. Captain Barclay, who walked against
+Time, would not walk against _him_. Windham and Allbreath were his
+favorite writers. He died gloriously while inhaling gas--_levique
+flatu corrumpitur_, like the _fama pudicitiæ_ in Hieronymus.[2] He was
+indubitably a"----
+
+[Footnote 2: _Tenera res in feminis fama pudicitiæ et quasi flos
+pulcherrimus, cito ad levem marcessit auram, levique flatu
+corrumpitur--maxime_, &c.--Hieronymus ad Salvinam.]
+
+"How _can_ you?--how--_can_--you?"--interrupted the object of my
+animadversions, gasping for breath, and tearing off, with a desperate
+exertion, the bandage around his jaws--"how _can_ you, Mr.
+Lacko'breath, be so infernally cruel as to pinch me in that manner by
+the nose? Did you not see how they had fastened up my mouth--and you
+_must_ know--if you know any thing--what a vast superfluity of breath
+I have to dispose of! If you do _not_ know, however, sit down and you
+shall see. In my situation it is really a great relief to be able to
+open one's mouth--to be able to expatiate--to be able to communicate
+with a person like yourself who do not think yourself called upon at
+every period to interrupt the thread of a gentleman's discourse.
+Interruptions are annoying and should undoubtedly be abolished--don't
+you think so?--no reply, I beg you,--one person is enough to be
+speaking at a time. I shall be done, by and bye, and then you may
+begin. How the devil, sir, did you get into this place?--not a word I
+beseech you--been here some time myself--terrible accident!--heard of
+it I suppose--awful calamity!--walking under your windows--some short
+while ago--about the time you were stage-struck--horrible occurrence!
+heard of 'catching one's breath,' eh?--hold your tongue I tell you!--I
+caught somebody else's!--had always too much of my own--met Blab at
+the corner of the street--would'nt give me a chance for a
+word--could'nt get in a syllable edgeways--attacked, consequently,
+with Epilepsis--Blab made his escape--damn all fools!--they took me up
+for dead, and put me in this place--pretty doings all of them!--heard
+all you said about me--every word a
+lie--horrible!--wonderful!--outrageous!--hideous!--incomprehensible!--et
+cetera--et cetera--et cetera--et cetera"----
+
+It is impossible to conceive my astonishment at so unexpected a
+discourse; or the extravagant joy with which I became gradually
+convinced that the breath so fortunately caught by the gentleman--whom
+I soon recognized as my neighbor Windenough--was, in fact, the
+identical expiration mislaid by myself in the conversation with my
+wife. Time--place--and incidental circumstances rendered it a matter
+beyond question. I did not however, immediately release my hold upon
+Mr. W.'s proboscis--not at least during the long period in which the
+inventor of lombardy poplars continued to favor me with his
+explanations. In this respect I was actuated by that habitual prudence
+which has ever been my predominating trait.
+
+I reflected that many difficulties might still lie in the path of my
+preservation which extreme exertion on my part would be alone able to
+surmount. Many persons, I considered, are prone to estimate
+commodities in their possession--however valueless to the then
+proprietor--however troublesome, or distressing--in precise ratio with
+the advantages to be derived by others from their attainment--or by
+themselves from their abandonment. Might not this be the case with Mr.
+Windenough? In displaying anxiety for the breath of which he was at
+present so willing to get rid, might I not lay myself open to the
+exactions of his avarice? There are scoundrels in this world--I
+remembered with a sigh--who will not scruple to take unfair
+opportunities with even a next door neighbor--and (this remark is from
+Epictetus) it is precisely at that time when men are most anxious to
+throw off the burden of their own calamities that they feel the least
+desirous of relieving them in others.
+
+Upon considerations similar to these, and still retaining my grasp
+upon the nose of Mr. W., I accordingly thought proper to model my
+reply.
+
+"Monster!"--I began in a tone of the deepest indignation--"monster!
+and double-winded idiot!--Dost _thou_ whom, for thine iniquities, it
+has pleased Heaven to accurse with a two-fold respiration--dost
+_thou_, I say, presume to address me in the familiar language of an
+old acquaintance?--'I lie,' forsooth!--and 'hold my tongue,' to be
+sure--pretty conversation, indeed, to a gentleman with a single
+breath!--all this, too, when I have it in my power to relieve the
+calamity under which thou dost so justly suffer--to curtail the
+superfluities of thine unhappy respiration." Like Brutus I paused for
+a reply--with which, like a tornado, Mr. Windenough immediately
+overwhelmed me. Protestation followed upon protestation, and apology
+upon apology. There were no terms with which he was unwilling to
+comply, and there were none of which I failed to take the fullest
+advantage.
+
+Preliminaries being at length arranged, my acquaintance delivered me
+the respiration--for which--having carefully examined it--I gave him
+afterwards a receipt.
+
+I am aware that by many I shall be held to blame for speaking in a
+manner so cursory of a transaction so impalpable. It will be thought
+that I should have entered more minutely into the details of an
+occurrence by which--and all this is very true--much new light might
+be thrown upon a highly interesting branch of physical philosophy.
+
+To all this, I am sorry, that I cannot reply. A hint is the only
+answer which I am permitted to make. There were circumstances--but I
+think it much safer upon consideration to say as little as possible
+about an affair so delicate--so _delicate_, I repeat, and at the same
+time involving the interests of a third party whose resentment I have
+not the least desire, at this moment, of incurring.
+
+We were not long after this necessary arrangement in effecting an
+escape from the dungeons of the sepulchre. The united strength of our
+resuscitated voices was soon efficiently apparent. Scissors, the Whig
+Editor, republished a treatise upon "the nature and origin of
+subterranean noises." A reply--rejoinder--confutation--and
+justification followed in the columns of an ultra Gazette. It was not
+until the opening of the vault to decide the controversy, that the
+appearance of Mr. Windenough and myself proved both parties to have
+been decidedly in the wrong.
+
+I cannot conclude these details of some very singular passages in a
+life at all times sufficiently eventful, without again recalling to
+the attention of the reader the merits of that indiscriminate
+philosophy which is a sure and ready shield against those shafts of
+calamity which can be neither seen, felt, nor fully understood. It was
+in the spirit of this wisdom that, among the ancient Hebrews, it was
+believed the gates of Heaven would be inevitably opened to that
+sinner, or saint, who with good lungs and implicit confidence, should
+vociferate the word "_Amen!_" It was in the spirit of this wisdom that
+when a great plague raged at Athens, and every means had been in vain
+attempted for its removal, Epimenides--as Laertius relates in his
+second book of the life of that philosopher--advised the erection of a
+shrine and temple _to prostekonti Theo_--"to the proper God."
+
+
+
+
+The "Acajou et Zirphile" of Du Clos is a whimsical and amusing Fairy
+Tale, ingeniously composed in illustration of a series of grotesque,
+and extravagant engravings, whose figures, rats, apes, butterflies,
+and men, have no earthly meaning or connection but that given by the
+pen of the writer.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+CUPID'S SPORT.
+
+  "And is this Cupid's realm?--if so, good by!
+   Cupid, and Cupid's votaries I fly:
+   No offering to his altar do I bring--
+   No bleeding heart, nor hymeneal ring."
+
+
+In the third number of the Messenger, my good reader, you and I were
+engaged in taking a peep at Cupid's Sport. Unless you have fallen out
+with me, (as I certainly have not with you,) we will again travel
+together, in a half merry, half serious mood, through some three or
+four pages. We shall perhaps be forced to scramble over hedges matted
+with brambles, or amble along some grassy mead or velvet lawn; it may
+be we
+
+  "Must pore where babbling waters flow,
+   And watch unfolding roses blow."
+
+You no doubt remember in what a sad plight we left our young friend
+Timothy Wilberforce; how he had been gradually led on by Cupid, buoyed
+up and transported, till he attained within a step of the pinnacle of
+bliss--and then, how the mischief-making God had precipitated him to
+the very brink of despair; how, like Sisyphus,
+
+  "Up the high hill he heav'd the huge round stone;"
+
+and how
+
+  "The huge round stone resulting with a bound,
+   Thunder'd impetuous down, and smoked along the ground."
+
+In fine, he had been caught and caged, manacled, cuffed, and then
+_kicked_, (that's the word,) by our good little, sweet little Molly,
+to his heart's content. Alas! this truly is one of the miseries of
+human life. Had Tim received a kick from a man fashioned like himself,
+he might at least have returned the blow. Had it been bestowed by one
+fashioned after the manner of the Houyhnims, with hock and hoof, or
+had it been driven full in his face by an ass, shod with a double set
+of irons, he might have consoled himself with the reflection that some
+skilful surgeon would replace the mangled elements, or kind nature
+reproduce a healthy action. But the impress of a damsel's foot upon a
+generous heart was far more difficult to efface. The wound it
+inflicted, had baffled through all ages the skill of anatomists,
+phrenologists, and philosophers. Tim then, could only bewail the
+hopelessness of his situation in the mournful strains of the gentle
+Corydon:
+
+  "She is faithless, and I am undone.
+   Ye that witness the woes I endure,
+   Let reason instruct you to shun
+   What it cannot instruct you to cure."
+
+These were the first sensations of his softened soul, but as time
+moved on with his unslackened wing, other thoughts unbidden sprung
+upon his mind. Memory indeed, for awhile continued to brood over "the
+ills that flesh is heir to," but the good Tim, at last, came to the
+same conclusion with the wise McPherson, that
+
+  "To cut his throat, a brave man scorns,
+   So, instead of his throat, he cut--his corns."
+
+Tim, like all honest bachelors, swore most roundly, that he would
+never more be caught by woman's wiles; that she was heartless,
+faithless, deceitful, "and desperately wicked." Alas! poor Tim knew
+not the susceptibility of his own heart; and Cupid but smiled to think
+how easily he could hold our hero in magic thraldom. Tim indeed could
+cry out in the agony of woe,
+
+  "Have I not had my brain sear'd, heart riven,
+   Hopes sapp'd, name blighted, life's life lied away?"
+
+but still, blindfold and unconscious, he would find himself worse than
+ever entangled and ensnared. A ringlet tastefully displayed, a soft
+melting eye, it might be a keen piercing one, it mattered not to him,
+a dimpled cheek, a laughter making mouth, were to him more attractive,
+than a diamond to a miser, a ship with her canvass swelling to the
+breeze to the jolly tar, or a well fed steed to a Dutchman's fancy.
+The very hopes he once cherished, now nipped and blighted; his former
+fondness for society which he now shunned and despised, served by the
+contrast to make him doubly gloomy and alone,
+
+  "Lone--as the corse within its shroud,
+   Lone--as a solitary cloud,
+         A single cloud on a sunny day,
+         While all the rest of heaven is clear,
+         A frown upon the atmosphere,
+         That hath no business to appear
+         When skies are blue, and earth is gay."
+
+Feeling so doubly lone, Tim would again seek a partner to sympathize
+in his sorrows, and to whom could he go? to man--cold calculating man?
+What is man worth in sorrow? Has he the tender sensibility, the warm
+hearted sympathy that is ever alive in a female's bosom? If you tell
+him your love sick tale, he will laugh you to scorn, he will frown you
+down for a puling blockhead; but woman will listen to your griefs,
+will alleviate your pain, assuage your sorrow, and if she but smiles,
+Tim would exclaim,
+
+  "How she smiled, and I could not but love."
+
+With feelings such as these, Tim _accidentally_ became acquainted with
+"the lass with the auburn curls." These accidents occur sometimes, so
+happily and apropos, that we are tempted to believe them not merely
+the result of casualty; my own opinion is, that they are all devised,
+planned and executed by that wily urchin cupid, to bring those
+together, upon whom to sport his strange fantastic freaks.
+
+One autumn's eve, when the sun was low, Catherine and her Cousin Tony
+issued forth, to ramble along the winding banks of the James River
+Canal. They were admiring the beauty of the scenery, and occasionally
+turning to view the dazzling brilliancy of many of the windows in the
+city, caused by the reflection of the setting sun, producing the
+effect of an illumination shifting from house to house as they changed
+their position.
+
+They had progressed along the canal as far as the first water-fall,
+the situation of which, many of my readers will no doubt remember; not
+as it is at present, but as it existed a few years ago, before the
+polishing hand of art had shorn it of half its beauties. There is an
+arch turned there, spanning the ravine, over which the canal passes at
+its usual level, and is thus raised, some thirty feet perhaps, above
+the base of the ravine. Under this arch a pellucid rivulet gently
+ripples, till reaching the brink of the acclivity below, it leaps and
+bounds towards the river. Above the sides of this arch, the waste
+water from the canal rushed headlong, mingling with the clear waters
+of the rivulet, and dashing foamingly along, or eddying and bubbling
+among a rugged bed of granite. On the east side of this fall, there
+was once a rock, raised high above the rest, by the side of which a
+little cedar grew, over and around whose boughs the wild grape and
+sweet brier intertwined their branches until they hung a verdant
+canopy above. This place, adorned as it was with its native drapery,
+had obtained the name of "Cupid's Cavern,"--for here, many a loving
+couple, after an evening's walk, would rest, feasting upon the
+beauties of the surrounding scenery. And here, many a tale of love had
+been told, which the roar of the water-fall deafened to all, but the
+ears into which they had been whispered. On the rock just mentioned,
+by the side of the cavern, Tony and Kate at length seated themselves,
+and will you believe it, Tony was actually endeavoring to persuade his
+_cousin_ to permit him, to call her, by a more endearing title.
+
+Tim too, had been attracted by the delicious softness of the evening,
+to gaze upon the same beauties; he was a little behind them during the
+walk, but had been so absorbed with his own reflections, that he had
+scarcely noticed that any one was before him. Here, he had often
+walked with his once sweet Molly in the days of his happiness, and
+although he now boasted that his heart was free as air, association
+necessarily brought to his mind, her whom he wished to banish, and
+spite of himself, he more than once repeated,
+
+  "Alas! where with her I have stray'd,
+   I could wander with pleasure alone."
+
+A few yards above the fall I have vainly endeavored to describe, there
+was a little bridge across the canal, then formed of two logs, each
+about a foot wide, but without railing or safeguard of any kind. From
+its proximity to "Cupid's Cavern," it might well have been termed the
+"Bridge of Sighs." These logs had been so long exposed to the weather,
+and were so much used and worn, as to have become very much decayed
+and absolutely dangerous. Still, through mere habit, they were daily
+crossed by many, and their dilapidated condition was scarcely noticed.
+One had evidently, already, partially given way near the middle, while
+the other was not in a much more sound condition.
+
+Upon the end of this bridge, Tim determined to rest, and while
+thoughtfully musing, his eyes fell upon the cousins I have just
+described, seated on the rock below.
+
+Reader, I cannot tell you all that Tony or Kate said; I wish I could.
+A word or two must suffice. It is not what they said I care about. I
+desire you to look at Kate, and then tell me if you can blame Tim for
+looking too.
+
+"Cousin Kate," said Tony, "Did you ever feel as if you would choke
+when you attempted to speak?" This was a plain, common place question,
+and Catherine might have answered straight forward, "Yes, cousin Tony,
+I have,"--or "No, Tony, I have not;" or "I do not know cuz;"--but,
+some how or other, girls are strange beings. Catherine said not one
+word, but began to blush. "I have called you _cousin_," said Tony,
+"long enough, Kate." Here the perspiration stood upon Tony's brow, and
+Kate blushed crimson. "Cousin Tony," said Kate, "It is time for us to
+be returning home." "Ah Kate," said Tony, "you know how long and how
+ardently I have loved you; may I not, one day, drop that epithet of
+Cousin?" Tony looked at Kate for some reply. "Cousin Tony," said
+Catherine, summoning up all her courage, "we can never be more than
+friends and cousins." Then Kate's brow began to cool, but whenever
+Tony would press the matter, all he saw was new blown blushes, for
+Kate had seen that Tim's eyes were fastened upon her, and from Tony's
+eager gaze and manner, she well knew a stranger's suspicions must be
+roused.
+
+Gentle reader, I have told you thus much of Tony's courtship, that
+you, as well as Tim, might see a few of Katy's blushes. She was as
+delicately refined in thought and sentiment as you can possibly
+conceive. Her's was
+
+  "A beautiful transparent skin,
+   Which never hides the blood, yet holds it in;"
+
+so soft, and thin, and white, that you might perceive each pulse as it
+ebbed and flowed; indeed, whenever her heart was excited by any sudden
+emotion, the delicate ruby would come and go, till the consciousness
+of blushing would make her doubly crimson. She would endeavor to
+conceal her emotions,
+
+  "But o'er her bright brow flashed a tumult strange,
+   And into her clear cheek the blood was brought,
+   Blood red, as sunset summer clouds, which range
+   The verge of heaven."
+
+Good reader, I hate formal introductions, and therefore I have not
+introduced you formally to my heroine, but since I have let you into
+the secret that Kate's foible was blushing, I must go a little
+further; when she did blush, she had a habit, as if to cool her brow,
+of parting her ringlets, and then, carelessly, throwing them back,
+there wantonly hung
+
+  "Down her white neck, long floating auburn curls,
+   The least of which, would set ten poets raving."
+
+You are not to consider this a description of Katy's person; when I
+attempt such a delineation, it will be with a flourish of trumpets,
+louder and longer than Joshua made, when he encompassed the walls of
+Jericho and blew them into fragments. At present, you see our
+Catherine in a simple, neat, white dress, which
+
+  "Like fleecy clouds about the moon, play'd 'round her."
+
+All this time, Tim, that most notorious contemner of beauty, and the
+man of all others who could most manfully resist loveliness, "in any
+shape, in any mood," sat drinking in these unconscious exhibitions of
+Katy's character and mind. He saw not Tony, much less did he hear or
+imagine what he said. All he perceived was Catherine's face, and those
+rich, floating curls. It was indeed cruel in Cupid to place him there.
+At every succeeding blush, a poisoned arrow flew from his silver bow,
+and Tim's poor heart fluttered in his bosom. Determining for once,
+however, to out general Cupid, Tim gallantly resolved upon a hasty
+flight; accordingly, he took himself across the little bridge, and
+began sauntering away on the opposite hill.
+
+About the same time, Catherine again insisted upon returning, and Tony
+finding all effort at persuasion perfectly hopeless, began to put upon
+the matter the best face he could muster. Taking his cousin's arm he
+insisted she should vary the walk, by crossing to the other side of
+the canal, and return to the city in that direction. Kate expressed
+her uneasiness at crossing this insecure bridge, but as Tony was
+importunate, she reluctantly consented, not desiring farther to add to
+his mortification by a positive refusal. Tony, as a man of gallantry
+naturally would do, placed Catherine upon the soundest of the logs, he
+himself walking by her side on the weaker of the two, not reflecting
+that the weaker log would much more easily bear her weight than his.
+As fate would have it, Catherine became alarmed by the trembling of
+the bridge, and leaned the more heavily upon Tony for support, and as
+he was not in a mood to care much whether he broke his own neck or
+not, he insisted upon proving to his cousin, that the bridge was
+perfectly secure, and that all her fears were totally groundless. So
+taking her by the arm, in a careless way, and telling her gaily, "Now
+mind what you are about," he raised himself upon his feet several
+times, so as to produce an oscillating motion in the log. At this
+moment, Tim had turned about to cast one lingering look, merely to
+inquire with himself, what lassie that might be, when perceiving the
+danger they were in, he shouted at the top of his voice, "Take
+care!"--but it was too late,--down went the log with a terrible crash,
+and poor Tony and sweet Kate were precipitated into the water below,
+in the middle of the canal, at the deepest point. If ever you have
+seen in the hand of some ruthless urchin, an innocent bird (which he
+has just succeeded in securing from his trap,) flurried, gasping and
+panting with fright, you will have a correct idea of Katy. She gave
+one shriek as she fell, and then rose almost breathless, gasping and
+panting in an agony of alarm. Luckily the water was not more than
+waist deep. Tony went down feet foremost, following the decayed
+timbers, (pity he had not fallen on his head,) but Catherine, clinging
+to his arm at the time of the accident, and having her support
+suddenly taken from her, was precipitated at full length into the
+water. In an instant, Tim rushed to the spot. Into the canal he went,
+and catching the terrified Kate in his arms, he brought her safely to
+the shore. Tony did all he could, but poor fellow he was completely
+involved among the broken fragments, and though he strove to rescue
+Kate, it was as much as he could do to extricate himself. Tim knew
+there was no danger of Tony's drowning, and so he left him to struggle
+for himself, giving all his attention to Kate, who was truly an object
+worthy of his care, and yet not the less of his admiration. She,
+though thoroughly wet, withal looked so grateful, and her countenance
+expressed so many thanks, and her pitiable situation, together with
+the freshness of the water, heightened the bloom of her cheek to such
+a degree, that Tim never once noticed her dress. Well might he have
+imagined her the beauteous Goddess Thetis, with her silvery drapery,
+as she issued from her watery mansion. But when she took off her
+fragile bonnet, to adjust her dishevelled hair, and he viewed
+
+  "O'er her white forehead the gilt tresses flow,
+   Like the rays of the sun on a hillock of snow,"
+
+who could have blamed him, if he had given way to his raptures, and
+exclaimed,
+
+  "My heart for a slave to gay Venus I've sold,
+   And bartered my freedom for ringlets of gold."
+
+As for Tony, if you could have seen him, as he crept out of the water,
+with his "long tailed blue," tapering to a point, and dripping like an
+old rooster under a cart, on a rainy day, with his head up and his
+tail down, you really would have pitied him; he knew not which way to
+look, nor what to say. I have seen a dog caught in the act of killing
+sheep; have seen a wet rat creeping out of a tub; and I saw the gay
+Tony sneaking out of the canal after having been turned off by his
+sweetheart, and each of these animals, dog, rat, and Tony, had the
+same identical sickly phiz. The dog slunk to his kennel, the rat crept
+to his hole, but Tony was forced to his mistress, who with all
+imaginable sweetness forgave him in an instant. He ought, if he could,
+to have crept into an augur hole and hid himself there forever.
+
+However, finding Tim was an old friend of his, he thanked him kindly
+for his timely assistance, and introduced him to her, of all others,
+with whom Tim most desired some farther acquaintance.
+
+In a little time, our three friends began to laugh the matter over as
+well as they could, and being thoroughly drenched, they endeavored to
+keep each other in countenance, on their way homeward. Tim accompanied
+Kate to her door, and then, wishing she might experience no farther
+inconvenience from her accident, and having received a polite
+invitation to visit the family, retired with Tony to procure a drier
+suit.
+
+My kind reader, you must listen to me with patience; hereafter, I will
+not ramble so much at large, but will hasten on with my story. Time's
+magic wing sped on, and days, weeks and months rolled by. In the mean
+time, Tim continued his visits to Kate. Sometimes, at an interval of a
+fortnight; at other times but a week would elapse; then this short
+week began to appear an entire month; finally, weeks were reduced to
+days, and days to hours, and Tim was not satisfied unless he paid a
+visit at least twice a day.
+
+The gossips of the city were thus furnished with a new theme to run
+riot with, and Tim and Catherine were bandied about at a merciless
+rate. Some thought it passing strange--others thought it natural
+enough. "Did you hear Mr. Wilberforce was courting?" said one; "Did
+you know Miss Catherine was engaged?" said another; "I'll bet my life
+they will be married!" "I know she has turned him off!" "She will
+never have him in the world," said a third, "for she is already
+engaged to her cousin Tony." And thus, Tim was known to be courting,
+engaged, turned off and jilted, before he himself had ascertained what
+his fate would be; but the latter opinion, that he was certainly
+turned off, gained the more currency, particularly as our friend was
+suddenly called off, by business, to a distant city, where he was
+compelled to remain for several months. The busy bodies could not but
+notice, with what a heavy heart he departed, and there could be no
+possibility of doubt about it. Tim had certainly received his walking
+papers. No matter, friend Tim, thou must learn
+
+  "What it is to admire and to love,
+   And to leave her we love and admire."
+
+My best wishes attend thee wherever thou goest.
+
+Most persons would suppose, that after the honest denial, and the
+decent ducking Tony had obtained, that the ardor of his love would
+have been somewhat cooled, and that he would have been the last person
+who would ever have attempted again to mention love in Catherine's
+presence. Not so, Tony. He had been more than once rejected already by
+his cousin, but because they were cousins, and Catherine had always
+treated him kindly, Tony was still induced to harbor hope, when almost
+any other person would only have welcomed despair. He found it
+impossible "to look and not to love." He was one of those luckless
+wights, who love and are not beloved, and yet cannot bring themselves
+to give up the loved object--who, though driven from the presence of
+their fair ones, continue to cast a lingering look behind, to catch a
+glimpse of relenting compassion. He reminded me of the glowing
+description of Lot's wife, once given by an humble divine, when he
+endeavored to explain to his flock why it was that she continued to
+look back as she fled from the ill-fated Sodom. "Ah, my brethren," he
+said, "no doubt the good woman had a pleasant little garden there,
+filled with all kinds of vegetables, and the remembrance of her
+greens, and her turnips, her potatoes, tomatoes, her squashes and
+beans, about which she had experienced many moments of anxiety and
+vexation, caused her heart to cling to the world, and so from the top
+of every little knob, she looked,--and looked,--and there she stands,
+a pillar of salt." If Tony but received a look of recognition, it was
+sufficient encouragement for him. If he accidentally received a civil
+bow, in return for a gracious smile, he would imagine himself welcomed
+to her arms. If he offered his hand, and she did not put her arms
+akimbo, and look like a very virago, he would return the next morning,
+and if he was again told of _friendship_ merely, Tony would only
+express his astonishment, and say, "Why then did you give me such
+encouragement,--why did you look in that way?" Look in that way! Now
+the fact is, no matter which way Catherine might have looked, it would
+have been all the same to Tony. If she looked mild and placid, or
+fierce and acid; if she had been pensive and musing, or laughing and
+romping; had she looked out of her right eye athwart her nose, or out
+of her left athwart her shoulder, or had she not looked at all, "like
+Paddy, when he shut his eyes to peep in the glass, to see how he
+looked when asleep," Tony would have discovered ample cause for
+indulging in hope in each smile, frown, curl of the lip, or play of a
+muscle. But though, continuing in the same hopeless condition, he
+always consoled himself by saying,
+
+  "She gaz'd as I slowly withdrew,
+   My path I could hardly discern,
+   So sweetly she bade me adieu,
+   I thought that she bade me return."
+
+Time still moved onward. And Catherine still attracted and received
+the admiration of all who beheld her. One day, as she was seated alone
+in her parlor, in a somewhat melancholy mood, (for it was a rainy,
+dreary day,) with a book in her hand, her back to the door, and her
+head leaning against the sash of the window, she began to hum to
+herself a little song a friend had lately given her. She would sing a
+line or two, and pause,--and then again would raise her mellow voice.
+
+  "If he return not, ah, she said,
+   I'll bid adieu to Hope to-morrow."
+
+And this was sung with so much feeling, you could plainly see her
+heart had given utterance to its inmost sentiments. Her singing was so
+sweet, we might truly say,
+
+  "It was the carol of a bird;
+   It ceased, and then it came again,
+   The sweetest song ear ever heard."
+
+The notes however died away, and Kate still sat in a seeming reverie.
+When we are fairly in one of these musing moods, we will sit for
+hours, without being able to tell upon what object our eyes or
+thoughts have been so keenly rivetted. Our senses seem to be closed
+against ordinary impressions. At any rate, while Catherine continued
+thus leaning, some one walked lightly into the room, and discovering
+he was not noticed, gently placed his hands over her eyes without
+speaking.
+
+"Now, cousin Tony," said Kate, "none of your tricks; I am not in a
+humor for trifling to-day." Tony was not satisfied with feeling cousin
+Katy's eyes, but turning her head gently back, was feasting on the
+face, which a little vexation had slightly ruffled. "I'll pay you for
+this, Tony," she said, in a sprightlier tone, "I know it is you, so
+let me go." Tony had often played this trick before. "I thought, after
+what passed," said Kate, and she was about saying something harsh, but
+checking herself, she added, "Never mind, Tony." "Indeed, Kate, it is
+not Tony," said the gentleman, releasing his prisoner.
+
+Reader, you have seen blushes! Had you been with me that day, you
+would have witnessed "smiles playing with dimples, suffused with
+blushes, Aurora alone could rival." You would have seen surprise and
+joy chasing away sorrow from a pensive brow; and from the "joy
+sparkling in their dark eyes like a gem," you would have sworn that
+these were acknowledged lovers.
+
+  "Oh, there are looks and tones that dart
+   An instant sunshine through the heart."
+
+Who do you think could have thus intruded and taken such a liberty,
+other than cousin Tony? It was our old friend Timothy Wilberforce,
+returned from his travels.
+
+Any one of ordinary comprehension, who could have witnessed this
+meeting, and seen these looks, would have felt no hesitation in making
+affidavit to the fact, that Kate had not only never rejected Tim, but
+that they were upon _pretty reasonable terms_.
+
+Some of my fair readers, I have no doubt, have already determined, if
+any engagement actually existed, that Tim was a cold, phlegmatic,
+inanimate being, or he would have kissed her at every hazard. I know
+one young lady, who jilted a beau, because he never offered to salute
+her,--she "had no idea of icicles"--not she. And I know another, who
+swears! (ladies never swear,) who "vows, 'pon honor, she would turn
+off any man under the sun, who would have the presumption to approach
+her with such an intention even." But if the doors were closed, blinds
+drawn, and they were all alone, and she was sure nobody could see
+them, I rather think it would not be quite as shocking as some people
+might imagine. The fact is, my dear madam, Tim was excessively remiss
+on this occasion, but he must be excused, because, just as he was in
+the very act, with one hand under Katy's chin, and the other at the
+back of her head, and just as her little lips began to crimson, in
+came Katy's dear old aunty! I take my oath, I would have gone the
+whole figure, and old aunt Tabby might have gone to the ----. (I beg
+pardon.) Tim and Kate took it out in looking, and
+
+  "In the large dark eyes mutual darted flame,"
+
+enough was said and felt to compensate the loss.
+
+Now, you must understand, that for some cause, I never could divine
+what, aunt Tabby had taken up a mortal antipathy to our friend Tim;
+indeed, she was his evil genius, and she always managed to step in, at
+the very moment of all others, when her company was least desired. If
+he paid a morning visit, and the rest of the family kindly dropped off
+one by one, (each, by the bye, making a lame excuse for his or her
+absence,) just as Tim would draw up his chair close along side, and
+begin those endearments, which all know how to use, but few to
+express,
+
+  "The gentle pressure and the thrilling touch,
+   The least glance, better understood than words,"
+
+in would pop aunt Tabby, and down she would sit, like a cat at a hole,
+and sit there for hours. Oh how Tim's heart would sicken. If he made
+an evening call, and sat till all the family retired to repose, good
+aunt Tabby did not think it proper for young ladies to be left alone
+with young gentlemen; such things were not tolerated in her day. Thus
+did the old lady keep her nightly vigils, rattling away about ten
+thousand fooleries, and fretting honest Tim more than a legion of
+devils, and at last, after vainly spending the evening, the poor
+fellow would slowly depart, growling smothered curses:
+
+  "So turns the lion from the nightly fold,
+   Though high in courage, and with hunger bold,
+   Long galled by herdsmen, and long vex'd by hounds,
+   Stiff with fatigue, and fretted sore with wounds:
+   The darts fly round him from an hundred hands,
+   And the red terrors of the blazing brands:
+   'Till late, reluctant, at the dawn of day,
+   Sour he departs, and quits the untasted prey."
+
+Some readers will say, "what difference would it make if aunt Tabby
+was present?" I set all such down as utter boobies; for if any one
+could carry on a courtship, or after engagement could carry on a
+conversation with his intended, when the "Mother of Vinegar" was
+present, in the shape of an old maid, and that old maid a sworn enemy,
+I would unhesitatingly pronounce, that Cupid had nothing in the world
+to do with the matter.
+
+Tim and Kate however, found opportunities, at other times, to elude
+even the vigilance of aunt Tabby, and the old lady finding matters
+were going on swimmingly, in spite of her interruptions and vigils,
+only became the more determined to break off the match, if it could by
+possibility be accomplished. The dear old lady never failed to whisper
+into Katy's ear, every idle slander that the fertility of her own mind
+enabled her to invent, or that she accidentally picked up among the
+malicious gossips of the neighborhood, and more than once Katy's faith
+had been shaken by her plausible inventions. Nevertheless, as yet, Tim
+was smoothly gliding on the unruffled wave of happiness; all was quiet
+and calm, and but a few days had elapsed since Kate appointed the
+period for the consummation of their nuptials.
+
+On a former occasion, when Tim and little Molly were engaged, my
+readers will remember how Tim endeavored to break the matter to his
+mother. How he began with a desire to have the old house in which they
+lived, newly painted, and how, before they came to the conclusion to
+do so, the matter was suddenly terminated, by the unlucky intrusion of
+a small _friendly_ epistle, which not only rendered it unnecessary to
+paint the house, but actually caused Tim to kick up more dust and
+soot, than could be effaced by the best coat of English lead that
+could be procured.
+
+At the present juncture, the first intimation the old lady had of the
+matter, was afforded her by an army of carpenters, bricklayers,
+stone-masons and painters, scaling her house with ladders and
+scaffolds, and turning the whole concern, topsy turvy, from the garret
+to the cellar. Here ran the painters devils, rubbing every thing with
+sand paper; there shouted the bricklayer, "mortar! bricks here!" Here
+whistled the carpenter, and jarred the old timbers with his hammer,
+banging and whacking away with the force of a giant.
+
+"In the name of common sense," said the old lady, "good people what do
+you mean?" If ever you saw a hen fluttering when a hawk made a sudden
+dart at one of her brood, you would have some idea of the old lady on
+this memorable occasion. It was as plain as the nose in her face, that
+something was to pay, and she half suspected what it was; but that Tim
+should go to work without any consultation was unaccountable, and more
+than that, it was unreasonable. She hallooed for Tim; he was not
+forthcoming. She asked the carpenter what he was about? "Mr.
+Wilberforce had ordered him to mend every thing that required
+mending." She inquired of the bricklayer what he was doing? "Mr.
+Wilberforce told him to cap the chimnies, relay the hearths and mend
+the whole concern." She asked the painter what he meant by all this
+preparation? "Mr. Wilberforce sent him to paint the house all over."
+"You must have made a mistake in the house," said Tim's mother.
+"No--there was no mistake. It was to be done, and in the best style,
+and in the shortest possible time." The old lady packed off the
+servants in all directions for Tim, and in the mean time continued
+fluttering about, stowing away this thing and that thing, into this
+hole and that cuddy, until she had fatigued herself into a perfect
+fever. At length, Tim arrived. "My dear son," said she, "what in the
+world has got into you? Do you mean to ruin yourself, Tim?" "Mother,"
+says Tim, kindly, "I told you I was going to be married." "No you
+did'nt." "Well, I tell you so now, and I think our house wants a
+little furbishing." Now, the old lady had frequently of late, been
+charging Tim with being in love with Kate, and though he never exactly
+denied it, yet he never had admitted it; and though she had no decided
+objection to the match, yet she never had made up her mind to it, and
+therefore she seated herself and began to cry. She did'nt ask Tim, who
+he was to marry? Where the young lady lived? What she was like?
+Whether she had a fortune or not? But she sat down, as one bereft of
+all hope, and tuned up her pipes. Alas for Tim! He had been too
+precipitate. Such matters require some introduction.
+
+The truth was, nothing could give the old lady so much happiness, as
+to contribute in any way to Tim's comfort and felicity, or to know
+that he was happy; but then, she and Tim had lived so long together,
+now that he was going to be married, it seemed to her as though she
+and he were to be divorced forever, and a thousand conflicting
+feelings rushed into her bosom. Tim asked his mother if she was
+dissatisfied with the match? "No," she said, in a tone of
+inextinguishable grief, and then burst forth into fresh weeping.
+
+Now, gentle reader, I have told you that the painters were making
+terrible preparations for their work, and while Tim and his mother
+were engaged, as we have just seen,--he, endeavoring to soothe the old
+lady's unreasonable and ill-timed grief, and she, exhibiting as much
+woe as she could possibly have done, had Tim been wrapped in his
+winding sheet before her,--one of these aforesaid daubers kept
+continually passing in and out at the door, until he had heard enough
+to satisfy him that Tim was going to be married, and that the old lady
+was most vehemently opposed to the match. He had not heard her deny
+her opposition, but he had seen and heard her weepings and wailings,
+which convinced him that she would never consent to the match in the
+world. So, on his way home that day, he happened to meet his cousin
+Patsy Wiggins, and stopping her in the street,--"Did you know, cousin
+Patty, that young Mr. Wilberforce is going to be married?" said
+brushy. "But I tell you what, it has kicked up a terrible rumpus. I
+just left the old lady, breaking her heart about it, and poor Mr. Tim
+is in a peck of troubles." Brushy went his way, and so did cousin
+Patty, but meeting her dear friend Miss Deborah Dobbins, as she was
+gossiping about the neighborhood; "Ah, my dear Deb," says she, "have
+you heard the news? Old Mrs. Wilberforce says, she will see her son in
+his grave, before she will give her consent to his marrying, and
+what's more, Miss Catherine Turberville shall never darken her doors
+while her head is hot. You may rely upon it, they will have monstrous
+work of it." So off posted the friendly Deborah Dobbins, to visit her
+crony, good Miss Catherine's dear aunt Tabby. "Aunt Tabby," said Deb,
+"I am afraid I have bad news to tell you." "What is it child?" "I know
+it will _distress you_ to hear it, but Mrs. Wilberforce has just heard
+that her son and your niece are engaged, and she has told her son, in
+the most peremptory manner, that her family shall never be disgraced
+by such a connexion--that your niece is beneath his notice, and if he
+does not break off the match immediately, he never more shall see her
+face. Now, Mr. Tim swears he will marry her in spite of all
+opposition, and so the whole house is in an uproar. If I were Kate,
+I'd let them know who was disgraced."--"Beneath them!" said aunt
+Tabby, turning up her nose until it nearly twisted over the back of
+her head--"Beneath them, indeed!" "Darken her doors!" "She disgraced
+by my niece!" "She!"
+
+Gentle reader, you may readily imagine what else these good people
+said and devised; but while this tale was going the rounds, gathering
+as it rolled, Tim had entirely reconciled his mother to his intended
+marriage, and as he unfolded his little plans, for his own and her
+future comfort, the old lady cheered up and resumed her wonted good
+humor.
+
+The next day, Tim as usual, called to see his dearest Catherine, but
+he was told she was not at home that morning. In the evening he called
+again. "Miss Catherine was so unwell, she had taken to her bed." Early
+the day after, Tim called to inquire how Catherine was. "Tell Miss
+Catherine," said Tim, "I called to see her, and hope she is better."
+Tim rambled about the lower part of the house. "Miss Catherine was not
+so well." In this way, Tim called for several days, vainly hoping to
+see his Kate, or at any rate to receive some kind word or message. At
+last, he was honored with the following letter.
+
+"_Richmond, March 10th_.
+
+"I hope Mr. Wilberforce will pardon me for having denied myself so
+often. At first, it was to me as painful as it could have been to him,
+but if he knew the reason which prompted the course I have adopted, he
+could not fail to applaud, what he now, no doubt, condemns. In
+determining not to see him again, I have consulted not only his peace,
+and the felicity of those dearest to him, but I am convinced, my own
+happiness also. My reasons would satisfy the most scrupulous--but as I
+cannot divulge them, I must bear the scoffs of the world, for the
+fickleness and coquetry which my conduct apparently justifies. I hope
+my friend will bear this blow with becoming fortitude. The
+determination I have made is painful to myself, but it is irrevocable.
+If it will afford my friend any satisfaction to know, that nothing
+that he has said or done, has produced this sudden change in my
+purposes, I freely acknowledge the fact. He is in every respect worthy
+of the best and loveliest. Forgive me, as freely as I acquit you. Our
+engagement is terminated.
+
+  CATHERINE TURBERVILLE."
+
+Tim sat down,--his elbow on the table,--his head on his hand.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+MY TONGS. BY ----.
+
+
+During the very cold weather which ushered in our last spring, I was
+one night sitting in my dormitory, before a blazing fire, luxuriating
+in that most selfish of all pleasures, _vulgo_ a "brown study." There
+was something so indescribably comfortable in my situation, that,
+although I had half a dozen unprepared lectures for the next morning
+staring me in the face, I found it a matter of utter impossibility to
+open a text book, still less to direct my attention even for the
+shortest time to its contents. Stretched in my capacious arm chair--my
+feet toasting before the aforesaid blazing fire--I lay listening with
+a dreamy sort of consciousness, to the continual, dull, unceasing hum
+of the falling snow. Regardless and entirely independent of the cold
+and storm without, my eyes fixed on the fanciful figures, changeable
+as the images of the Kaleidescope, which the burning coals assumed--in
+a word, settled in that position, a description of which has been so
+often attempted--and which every man who has one particle of soul
+about him has often and oftentimes enjoyed, I fell into a long train
+of reflections as absorbing and delightful as they were false and
+illusory. The future--the present--the past--castles in the air--my
+far distant home--were the most prominent and strongly marked images
+in the scenes which flitted across the magic mirror of my fancy.
+
+  "I thought about myself and the whole earth,
+   Of man the wonderful, and of the stars,
+   And how the deuce they ever could have birth;
+   And then I thought of earthquakes and of wars;
+   How many miles the moon might have in girth;
+   Of air balloons, and of the many bars
+   To perfect knowledge--of the boundless skies."
+
+I know not how long I had been in this situation, when my dreaming was
+suddenly interrupted in a most singular manner. My tongs, which were
+but little removed from the direct line of my vision, seemed suddenly
+to become extremely uneasy. The simple, unoffending tongs, which,
+except when used, had quietly occupied their allotted station in the
+corner during the whole session, appeared to be seized with a strange
+propensity for locomotion, and at the same time to be altering the
+figure of their outward self in a manner singular, wonderful,
+unaccountable. The general appearance--the "_tout ensemble_" was, it
+is true, nearly the same, but still there seemed to have been effected
+a certain change, which attracted my wandering attention rather more
+immediately towards them. You may smile perhaps, and say that either I
+was rather light headed, or that I was neither more nor less than
+dreaming in reality. But there before my eyes, which were as wide
+awake as they are at this moment, upon the round knob which I had so
+often and so unceremoniously grasped, was as quaint and humorous a
+face as ever came from the pencil of Hogarth. A slight glance now gave
+me an insight into the whole figure. Imagine the long spindle legs
+cased in a pair of rusty looking "shorts"--the body, what little there
+was of it, surrounded by one of those comfortable old garments, which
+have been, not inaptly denominated quaker coats--and the rest of the
+clothing in strict keeping with a style which, all who can recollect,
+or even have heard much of the good old days of our grandfathers, will
+at once recognise. Just imagine, I say, this odd figure, thus
+garmented up, and you will form a good idea of the general appearance
+of my visiter--(For I cannot believe it was the same _boná fide_ pair
+of tongs, which are now so peacefully reposing before me.) The first
+glance was sufficient for an introduction. A slight start on my side,
+and a familiar "at home" sort of nod on his--and all was settled. His
+first motion was to seat himself on my fender, where he deliberately
+crossed his legs--his first remark was on the subject that last
+engaged my thoughts. A voice sweet and delightful as the first waking
+notes of distant serenade, but perfectly full and distinct, stole over
+my enraptured senses.
+
+"You will doubtless be surprised to learn that I have been _listening
+to your thoughts_ for the last half hour. But know" said he, a little
+pompously I thought, "that if your breast had in it the imaginary
+window of Momus, your slightest meditations would not be more plain
+and open to inspection than they are to me now. They have been running
+rather in a scattered and unconnected manner, but like those of most
+young men, they are principally directed to your own future destiny
+and the choice you are to make with regard to your pursuits and
+efforts hereafter. In a word, as a matter of considerable importance
+to yourself, you are weighing the comparative advantages of political
+and literary fame. Both are sufficiently attractive, but to most young
+men, and particularly to those of your country, the former is
+especially enticing. Perhaps there are at times, doubts resting upon
+the minds of all men, whether these attractions are not far greater in
+anticipation than the reality would authorize. Even if these doubts
+were well founded, I would not attempt to damp your bright and
+delightful hopes, by pouring into your ears the dull, cold voice of a
+desponding prophesy. But such is not the case. The pleasure of
+possession is real, and though in our ignorance we sometimes decide,
+that when a balance is struck between the bitter and sweet, in that
+mixture called the enjoyment of honors, it is heavy in favor of the
+former--though we hear the pursuit after worldly honors daily decried
+as a chase after some gaudy and painted insect, which, when gained
+with difficulty, when grasped with all the fervor and delight of
+gratified success, vanishes from the sight and leaves nothing behind
+but the pain and agony of its sting--though men who have never enjoyed
+them, often condescend to pity their unhappy possessors--still do I
+assure you that possession _is_ delightful--even as delightful perhaps
+as your wildest dreams may have painted it. The very eagerness with
+which all strive for it, who can do so with any probability of
+success--the unconquerable perseverance with which they hold it when
+obtained--are sufficient proofs that it _is_ worth the pursuit, and
+well rewards the winner. But you have already decided on this point;
+perhaps your only doubts are, upon which of the two principal (and in
+the present peaceful days, I may almost say _only_,) roads to honor,
+will a man find the best reward for the necessary exertions required
+to obtain it.
+
+"The Hill of Fame on which your attention is fixed, is divided into
+two summits. To the one every step of the path is plain, and open to
+your view. You are at once sensible of the enjoyments as well as the
+difficulties, which are found in the various parts of the ascent,
+while those who journey upward are seen by all from the moment they
+start. You perceive along this path the most delightful pleasures
+awaiting those who may be so happy as to reach them--and increasing in
+number as they rise. But you see dangers and difficulties of every
+kind interspersed among them and also increasing to the very top. The
+flowers when plucked have often a poisonous insect enclosed in
+them--the finest fruit grows upon precipices the most steep and
+frightful--or when gathered 'turns to ashes in the mouth.' Yet in
+spite of these dangers you see many rising free and uninjured, higher
+and higher, till they attain even to the summit. But here, though
+pleasures are more abundant, the dangers are likewise
+increased--though the flowers are more beautiful and more numerous,
+the fruit large, and more delicious--the poison is also more deadly,
+the precipices are higher, and the fall from them more certainly
+fatal. But still is that summit, bright and glorious as it is--the
+brilliant object on which is fixed the ardent, anxious, devoted gaze
+of all who toil up the sides of the mountain. This is the Hill of
+Political Fame. Now let us turn to the other; it presents us quite a
+different aspect; its sides and bottom are covered with a dim mist,
+through which no objects are distinctly seen; we can only perceive
+that the way, though extremely steep and laborious, is as free from
+the precipices and dangers of the first, as it is deprived of its
+pleasures and enticements. Those who are toiling on their way to its
+summit, have nothing to cheer them in their dreary task but the
+prospect of the bright vision above them--which like the beacon signal
+to the worn mariner, holds out comfort and repose--cheering and
+inspiring him with fortitude--nerving his limbs with new vigor, and
+instilling renewed hope into his heart. Nor _do_ you see them assailed
+by many imminent perils; yet many faint and sink on their tedious
+way--and few, very few are so fortunate as to gain the bright summit
+which rears its head above--free from the shades and mists which
+envelope the skies--brilliant and glorious as its opposite neighbor,
+and at the same time undisturbed by its dangers. Even of those who do
+ultimately reach this rich goal of their hopes--this happy end of
+their labors--how very few enjoy their hard earned rewards--many of
+them supported alone by their hopes on their wearisome journey--fall
+as soon as they reach the top, and gain only after death the glorious
+distinction for which they spent--to which they devoted their lives.
+This is the Hill of Literary Fame.
+
+"And now examine each and decide for yourself, which you will choose
+as the scene of your future efforts--choose, and pursue that choice
+with determination. One road alone can you follow. Some, it is true,
+have, when tired of the one, pursued the other for a time. _But no man
+ever reached the top of both._ You are then to decide in favor of
+_one_, and having decided, steadily to pursue it, or content yourself
+with remaining unnoticed in the crowd which fills the plain beneath.
+That you may form your decision more correctly, look into the history
+of those who have sought and gained pre-eminence, in either kind of
+fame. Let us then (laying aside our metaphors) judge from past
+history, and by that let your future course be decided. In the
+histories of those who have even stood highest as writers, poets, &c.
+you often find much calculated to disgust you with the pursuit which
+they followed--how little do you find to envy in the lot of the beggar
+Homer--the blind and half starved Milton--the miserable Otway dying,
+choked with the morsel of food which he had begged of a friend;
+Goldsmith, Johnson, &c. It is true, that in contrast to these we may
+name Newton, Bacon, Shakspeare, Byron, who succeeded in gaining during
+(and some of them early in) their lives the fame they so eagerly
+sought. But more numerous are the instances on record, where literary
+merit has been unrewarded except by posthumous renown. Of genius the
+most brilliant--of minds the most powerful, which have gained their
+hard earned mede of praise--when their bodies were mouldering in the
+grave--when the head which conceived, and the hand which penned their
+bright aspirations, as well as the heart which so ardently beat for
+glory and honor--have mingled with the dust, alike unmindful and
+indifferent to praise or reproach, to fame or obloquy. When the bright
+etherial spirit, which once so strongly throbbed for a 'name among
+men,' has taken its flight to a truer home, where the glory of this
+world is nothing--then is paid to the memory the honor which the man
+deserved--which would have made him so completely happy. His life
+perhaps was spent in grinding poverty, in misery and wretchedness,
+imbittered by that chill cold neglect of the world, which so withers
+the sensitive heart--for what? A name after death. Let us turn from
+this dismal picture, to the other. Here at least, are some substantial
+pleasures, however they may be alloyed by the attendant evils, dangers
+and difficulties. Here at least, honor is nearly always rendered, if
+bestowed at all, whilst it can be appreciated. And now let us see
+whether the dangers and difficulties I have mentioned, may not be
+really less than we were at first inclined to believe them, and
+whether with care they may not be almost entirely avoided. It is true,
+that he who once becomes a public servant, throws his character in the
+hands of every man, and lays himself open to the attacks of every
+scribbler. He is exposed to the malicious accusations of men, who are
+neither able nor anxious to see his actions in their true light; his
+slightest faults held up on high to become marks of scorn among
+men--buts at which every vindictive slanderer may wing a poisoned
+shaft--even his very virtues distorted and perverted till they become
+in appearance vices. This I grant, _is_ the life which all public men
+must lead; but let not this picture startle you. If really innocent,
+he will rise above the abuse which is poured upon him. Confident in
+the great decision of a candid _world_, he is superior to this sort of
+scandal. And have we not reason to believe that here as in other
+cases, custom renders one indifferent to that which at first would
+make him miserable? And that the most sensitive mind may soon begin to
+look on these as troublesome insects, which may at the time incommode,
+but which should create no lasting disturbance. The best proof of
+this, as I have before told you is, that men who have succeeded at all
+in public life, will, however disagreeable it may appear, cling to it
+as strongly as if in this, lay the very light of their existence. How
+sweet it is to have one's name in the mouths of all--to be the theme
+of admiration and wonder with the crowd--to have power. But there is
+even a purer and better enjoyment. How perfect the pleasure which
+animates the bosom of the statesman when he knows that to his
+talents--to his efforts--millions are indebted for their greatest
+comforts--that a whole nation looks up to him as their
+benefactor--that through his means"----
+
+My visiter had proceeded thus far, when a villainous log of wood
+became suddenly discontented with its situation and rolled out upon
+the hearth, scattering its sparks over me. Though deeply interested,
+my first and most natural impulse was to grasp the tongs and set every
+thing to rights. At the next instant my recollection returned and I
+carefully replaced them. But it was too late. I saw nothing before me
+but the cold and senseless instrument. The mild expression of the
+features was gone--the quaint old figure had vanished, and the faint
+sound of that sweet voice melted away on my ear, like the dying ring
+of a harp, leaving me alone and disconsolate in my solitary room.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+TO MRS. ----,
+
+Whose husband was absent in the United States Navy. On seeing her in a
+gay company.
+
+
+  Canst thou forget, amidst the gay and heartless,
+    One far away whom thou hast vowed to love?
+  Thou'rt lovely, and thou seemest pure and artless,
+    And innocent and gentle as the dove.
+  Dost thou forget, or do thy blue eyes brighten
+    Only with thoughts of his return to thee?
+  Dost thou the pains of absence seek to lighten,
+    In scenes like this of mirth and revelry?
+
+  Ah, pause awhile, mid sounds of song and dancing,
+    While thoughts of conscious beauty paint thy cheek,
+  While eyes, admiring eyes, around thee glancing,
+    Volumes of warmest admiration speak--
+  Think, if 'tis well for one whose faith is plighted,
+    To shine among the free unfettered gay--
+  Think, should those lovely eyes with smiles be lighted
+    At homage which no heart but one should pay?
+
+  Oh keep those smiles, so full of light and gladness,
+    To welcome one whom thou canst call thine own;
+  And may no darkling shade of gloom or sadness
+    Come o'er thy life, thou bright and peerless one!
+
+E. A. S.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+LINES WRITTEN IN AN ALBUM.
+
+
+  Eliza!--let thy generous heart
+    From its present pathway part not:
+  Being every thing which now thou art,
+    Be nothing which thou art not.
+
+  So with the world thy gentle ways--
+    Thy unassuming beauty--
+  And truth shall be a theme of praise
+    Forever--and love a duty.
+
+E. A. P.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+GENERAL WARREN.
+
+STORIES ABOUT GENERAL WARREN--By a Lady of Boston, 1835, pp. 112,
+12mo.
+
+
+The sneers of those grown up readers,--who may choose to sneer at a
+review of so very juvenile a book as this, we brave, for the sake of
+bringing it, and its subject, somewhat into notice--pointing out some
+phraseological errors--doing justice to its merits--and, above all,
+freshening the memories, if not informing the minds, of the less
+fastidious among our countrymen, as to a few of the incidents
+preceding and attending the commencement of that great struggle, of
+which the cherished remembrance conduces so much to preserve in
+American bosoms a catholic, American, liberty-loving spirit. These
+incidents will be found naturally to imbody themselves in a brief
+account of the life of General Warren, drawn chiefly from the volume
+above mentioned. Those who may incline to despise either so simple a
+book, or a narrative of (to them) such trite facts, as these of which
+we shall speak, are probably not aware how shallow and narrow is the
+knowledge existing through the country, and even in some minds that
+claim to be considered as _enlightened_, with regard to our own
+history. "Mr. President!"--recently, at a public dinner in Virginia,
+vociferated a young orator of the Milesian school--a lawyer, we took
+him to be--"Mr. President! I give you, sir, the memory of the gallant
+General Warren, who fell at the battle of LEXINGTON!" And but a few
+months before, a friend as dear to us as ourselves, and whose age and
+opportunities should certainly have made him know better, confounded
+_Sir William Berkeley_, Governor of Virginia in the times of Charles I
+and II, with Norborne Berkeley, Lord Botetourt, viceroy of George III,
+in 1769 and 1770! It would not surprise us, to hear a lawyer or a
+physician--still less a gentleman at large--talk of the burning of
+Charles_ton_ as simultaneous with the battle of Sullivan's Island,
+because Charles_town_ burned while the battle of Bunker Hill was
+fighting--as "John Bull in America" passes in half an hour from
+Boston, where the folk make wooden nutmegs, roast witches, and bake
+pumpkin pies, into Charleston, where they gouge and stab, drink mint
+juleps, eat young negroes, and feed old ones upon cotton seed.
+
+The narrative before us is couched in a dialogue, between a mother and
+her two children; and, being obviously designed for gentlemen and
+ladies not much higher than mamma's rocking chair, has frequently an
+infantine simplicity of style, that makes us marvel at our own moral
+courage, in daring to serve up such a baby's mess. Convinced, however,
+that _children's reading_ may afford both amusement and instruction to
+grown people, (witness "Early Lessons," "Frank," "The Parent's
+Assistant," "Sandford and Merton," and "Evenings at Home," _cum
+pluribus aliis_;) believing, at any rate, that among the palates for
+which it is our duty to cater, there are some youthful ones to which
+this dish may be both pleasant and useful; hoping, too, that by having
+her faults of composition noted, the authoress may be induced to cure,
+or "others in like cases offending" be moved to shun them, we make the
+venture. Indeed, not only the book's childishness of style, but many
+offences far more atrocious in a critic's eyes--sins against grammar,
+idiom, and good taste--are in great part redeemed by the good sense
+and justness of its reflections, the interesting tenor of its
+incidents, and the virtuous glow it is calculated to kindle. The sins
+are very many. "_Lay_," used for "_lie_," is wholly
+unwarranted--scarcely palliated--even by the example of Byron, in the
+Fourth Canto itself: for he was compelled by duress of rhyme; a
+coercion, which the most tuneful and the most dissonant are alike
+powerless to resist. "Mr. Warren, the father of Joseph, while walking
+round his orchard to see if every thing was in good order, as he was
+looking over the trees, _he_ perceived," &c. Here is a nominative
+without any verb. There is a four or five fold vice in the second
+member of the following sentence, in which, as it stands, the writer
+may be defied to show a meaning: "It often happens that a mother is
+left with a family of young children, and is obliged to bring them up
+without the controlling power of a father's care; it is therefore the
+duty of every female so to _educate_ her own mind, and _that_ of her
+daughters, as to _enable_ her, if she should be placed in this
+responsible situation, _to be able_ to guide aright the minds of those
+under her care." _Enable_ her _to be able!_ _Educate_ her own mind!
+and _that_ of her daughters! Are they to be supposed to have but _one_
+mind among them, as the Sirens had but one tooth? The use of _educate_
+for _train_, is a match for the Frenchman's blunder, who, finding in
+the Dictionary that to _press_ means to _squeeze_, politely begged
+leave to _squeeze_ a lady to sing. "Enable HER." Enable whom? Why
+_herself_ and _her daughters_: and she should have said so. Never,
+surely, was prosing, _bona fide_, printed prosing, to so little
+purpose. Again: "A mother should always possess ... _a firm principle_
+of action." Does she need _but one_ firm principle of action? If so,
+it is to be hoped the next edition will say what that one is; for it
+must be valuable. A common blunder in the _times_ of the infinitive
+mood, occurs repeatedly in this book: "How I should have admired _to
+have gone_ to see her!" "It would have been a pity for us to _have
+followed_ his example, and thus have _lessened_," &c.--"must have
+ardently desired _to have been_ present"--"must have wished very much
+_to have seen_," &c. We cannot see the propriety of using the word
+"_admired_," as it is in one of these quotations. "Tell us if he did
+get in, and how he contrived to?" We protest against this fashion
+which our Yankee brethren are introducing, of making _to_, which is
+but the _sign_ of the infinitive, stand for the infinitive itself.
+This is one of the few cases, in which we are for _going the whole_.
+"He began to _practice_"--"I know it was not _him_"--"he _whom_ I told
+you was the first one"--"to respect, _was_ added admiration and
+love"--"this tax bore very _heavy_"--"soldiers _which_"--"your country
+has much to hope from you, both in _their_ counsels and in the field."
+These errors, a very moderate skill in orthography and syntax would
+have sufficed to avoid. Such a vulgarism as "_nowadays_," or such
+provincialisms as "pay _one single copper_," and "walked _back and
+forth_ the room," (meaning _to and fro_, or _backwards and forwards_
+in the room) would not have occurred, if the author had remembered,
+that the _simplicity_ which suits children's minds, is altogether
+different from _vulgarity_. There is such a thing as _neat_ and
+_graceful_ simplicity in writing, as well as in dress and manners.
+"They had contemplated making some attack on the British, or at least
+to endeavor to destroy their shipping." Contemplated _to_ destroy! We
+will not further pursue this unwelcome task; pausing, short of the
+middle of the book, and having already passed over several faults
+without animadversion. Let the author be entreated to get the aid of
+some friend who is master (if she is not mistress) of grammar and
+taste enough, to reform these and the other errors of her little work,
+and then give us a new edition, calling in all the copies of the
+first, that are within her reach.--And now to our tale.
+
+JOSEPH WARREN was born in 1741, in the village of Roxbury, one or two
+miles south from Boston, Mass. His father, a rich farmer, inhabited a
+house, the ruins of which are still visible; and was famous for
+raising the best fruit in that neighborhood. He was killed by a fall
+from one of his own apple trees, leaving a widow and four sons, of
+whom Joseph, the eldest, was 16, and John, the youngest, was 4 years
+old. This excellent woman appears to have much resembled the mother of
+Washington, in the skill and care with which she infused generous
+sentiments and virtuous principles into the bosoms of her children:
+and she reaped almost as richly as Mrs. Washington, the fruits of her
+labors. Her sons passed through life, all honored and loved, and more
+than one of them distinguished. Her nature seems to have had more of
+amiable softness than Mrs. Washington's; who, it must be confessed,
+blended something of the sternness with the purity and nobleness of a
+Spartan matron. Mrs. Warren's door was always open for deeds of
+hospitality and neighborly kindness. It is not easy to imagine a
+lovelier scene than one paragraph presents, of the evening of a well
+spent life, still warmed and brightened by the benign spirit, which
+had been the sun of that life's long day.
+
+"In her old age, when her own children had left her fireside, it was
+one of her dearest pleasures to gather a group of _their_ children, or
+of the children of others around her. She did all in her power to
+promote their enjoyment, and her benevolent smile was always ready to
+encourage them. On Thanksgiving-day,[1] she depended on having all her
+children and grand children with her; and _until she was 80 years of
+age, she herself made the pies with which the table was loaded!_ Not
+satisfied with feasting them to their heart's content while they were
+with her, she always had some nice great pies ready for them to take
+home with them."
+
+[Footnote 1: _Thanksgiving-day_ is in New England, what Christmas is
+in the Southern States and England. It is always in November, on a day
+fixed by Proclamation of the Governor of each State, in each year.
+Christmas, from the anti-Catholic zeal of the Puritan Pilgrims, is
+almost entirely neglected; being, with all its train of quips, cranks,
+gambols and mince-pies, thought to savor too strongly of popery.]
+
+Joseph's education, till his fourteenth year, was at the public school
+in Roxbury; one of those _common schools_, which, from the earliest
+times of New England, have been planting and nurturing in her soil the
+seeds and shoots of virtue and freedom. Even in boyhood, our hero was
+manly, fearless and generous: always taking the part of his weaker
+school-fellows against a strong oppressor--always the
+
+  "village Hampden, that with dauntless breast,
+   The little tyrant of his fields withstood."
+
+At fourteen, he entered Harvard University. His talents, perseverance,
+gentleness and courage, here gained him unrivalled popularity. That he
+did not acquire or preserve the regard of his fellow students by any
+base compliances with vice or disorder, the following incident shews.
+
+Some of them had once resolved on some breach of the laws, which, from
+the sturdiness of his principles, they knew that young Warren would
+disapprove, and by his powerful influence probably prevent. They
+therefore met in an upper room of the college, to arrange their plans
+secretly; fastening the door against him. He found what they were
+about; and seeing the window of their room open, crept out, through a
+_scuttle door_, upon the roof--crawled to the eaves--and there,
+seizing a water-spout nearly rotten with age, he swung and slid down
+by it to the window, and unexpectedly sprang in amongst the
+conspirators. The spout, at the instant of his quitting it, fell with
+a crash to the ground, and was shivered to pieces. Only saying, in
+answer to the exclamations of astonishment that burst from his
+comrades, "it stayed up just long enough for my purpose," he commenced
+an expostulation against their intended misdemeanor, and _succeeded in
+diverting them from it_.
+
+On leaving college, he studied medicine, and began to practise at the
+age of 23, just previously to a visit of the small pox to Boston, with
+those fearful ravages which usually attended its march, before the
+virtues of vaccination were known. Dr. Warren's judgment, tenderness,
+and skill, made him pre-eminently successful in treating the disease.
+And it is said, that his gentle and courteous deportment completely
+neutralized the usual tendency of such professional success, to
+enkindle the jealousy of his brethren. His mild features and winning
+smile, true indexes, for once, to the soul within, gained every heart;
+his knowledge and talents added respect to love. Thus, by the same
+qualities which had distinguished him at school and at college, did he
+acquire among his fellow townsmen an influence which no other man of
+his age and day possessed.
+
+When the British Parliament and Crown began, in 1764, that course of
+unconstitutional legislation, which was destined, after eleven years
+of wordy war, to end in a war of blood, Dr. Warren was among the first
+to stand forth for the rights of America--to assert, and to labor in
+demonstrating to his countrymen, that the _power to tax them_
+(claiming, as they did, all the liberties of Englishmen) could not
+exist in a government of which no representatives of theirs formed a
+part. Fostered by him, and by others like him, the spirit of
+resistance to tyranny grew daily more strong. The inhabitants of the
+whole country, and especially of Boston, gave token after token of
+their fixed resolve, to spurn the chain which they saw preparing for
+them. In 1768, Col. Dalrymple with two royal regiments, reinforced
+afterwards by additional troops, entered that devoted town, with more
+than the usual "pomp and circumstance" of military bravado; and there
+remained in garrison, to repress what the king and ministry were
+pleased to call "the seditious temper" of the people. Never was
+attempt at restraint more impotent; nay, more suicidal. The curb,
+feebly and capriciously or unskilfully plied, served but to infuriate
+the noble animal it was meant to check and guide: and no wonder that
+the rider was at length unseated, and stretched in the dust. The New
+Englanders--we should rather say, the _Americans_--were too stubborn
+to be driven, and too shrewd to be circumvented. Every measure of
+tyranny, they met with an appropriate measure of resistance. Tea had
+been brought from India, to be the vehicle of unconstitutional
+taxation. They threw part of it into the sea; another part they
+hindered from being landed; and the remainder they excluded from use,
+by mutual pledges to "touch not, taste not" "the unclean thing."
+Judges were sent over to judge them--creatures of the king--the
+panders of ministerial oppression. The people would not suffer them to
+mount the judgment seat--closed the court houses--referred all their
+differences to arbitrators chosen by the parties--and even so far
+tamed the spirit of litigation and disorder, as to make tribunals of
+any sort in a great degree needless.[2] Between the British troops and
+the Boston people, animosities soon ran high. The soldiers seized
+every opportunity to exasperate the people: the people assembled in
+mobs, to revenge themselves on the soldiers. Amidst these tumults, Dr.
+Warren repeatedly exposed his life to soothe and restrain his
+countrymen. His eloquent persuasions were generally successful. At
+first, the more violent would endeavor to repel him, and would clamor
+to drown his voice. "While they did this, he would stand calmly and
+look at them. His intrepidity, his commanding and animated
+countenance, and above all, their knowledge that he was on their side
+so far as it was right to be, would soon make them as eager to hear as
+he was to speak: and finally, they would disperse to their homes with
+perfect confidence that they could not do better than to leave their
+cause in such hands." Those who seek to restrain the excesses of
+contending factions, may always expect rough usage from both sides.
+Warren incurred the occasional displeasure of his own party; but he
+did not escape insult and outrage from the British. They often called
+him _rebel_, and threatened him with a rebel's doom. One day, on his
+way to Roxbury, to see his mother, he passed near several British
+officers, standing in the _Neck_, which joins the peninsula of Boston
+to the main land. Not far before him stood a gallows. One of the
+officers called out, "Go on, Warren, you will soon come to the
+gallows:" and the whole party laughed aloud. Walking directly up to
+them, he calmly asked, which of them had thus addressed him? Not one
+was bold enough to avow the insolence, and he left them, crest-fallen
+and ashamed.
+
+[Footnote 2: We have grouped together here, the events of several
+years, in the rapidity of our narrative. The dependence of the judges
+for their salaries on the _Crown_, instead of on the Colonial
+Legislatures, (whence we date their meriting to be called _creatures_
+and _panders_,) began in 1772: and the tea was thrown into Boston
+Harbor, Dec. 16th, 1773.]
+
+Distinguished for his eloquence, our young physician was repeatedly
+called on to address the people, upon the great and soul-stirring
+topics of the times. Far the most interesting of these, was the
+Massacre of the Fifth of March. Our authoress has passed too slightly
+over this incident. Let us be a little more full.
+
+Insults, recrimination, and outrage, between the soldiers and
+citizens, were at length, on the 5th of March, 1770, consummated, by
+the former's firing upon the latter in the streets of Boston, and
+killing five men--with circumstances shocking to humanity. After one
+of the slain (Mr. Gray,) had been shot through the body, and had
+fallen on the ground, a bayonet was pushed through his skull, and his
+brains fell out upon the pavement. This was the first bloodshed,
+consequent on the long festering irritations of the period. The
+officer (Capt. Preston) who gave the word "fire!" and six of the
+soldiers who had so fatally obeyed it, were in the ensuing October
+tried before a Boston jury: and, defended, in spite of obloquy,
+popular clamor, and the remonstrances of timid or prudent friends, by
+John Adams and Josiah Quincy, Jr., were even by that jury,
+_acquitted_. It grieves us that we cannot pause here, to bestow a
+merited tribute on the moral courage of the illustrious counsel who
+dared defend, on the steady justice of the tribunal that could acquit,
+and on the virtue and good sense of the multitude who, when the first
+paroxysm of natural excitement was over, could applaud that defence
+and approve that acquittal[3]--horrible as had been the
+deed--maddening as had been the antecedent circumstances. But though
+the killing happened not to be murder, (because the people had been
+the assailants,) still, the violent destruction of five human lives by
+an armed soldiery in the streets of a free and peaceful city, was too
+impressive an example of what mischiefs may come of standing armies
+and lawless government, to pass unimproved. It was determined to
+solemnize each anniversary of that day, by a public exposition of
+those mischiefs; by an oration, commemorative of the tragedy, and of
+those great principles, the disregard of which had led to its
+perpetration. Warren delivered two of these orations.[4] His first was
+on the 5th of March, 1772. It is not contained in the little book now
+before us, but we have seen it elsewhere: and on reading it, no one
+need be surprised at its having well nigh urged the people, even at
+that early day, to forcible measures. Its masterly argumentation is
+equalled by its burning appeals to the passions. All the four first of
+these orations had wrought so powerfully upon the public mind, that
+the British officers declared there should be no more of them: and
+that whoever undertook to deliver another, should do so at the peril
+of life. This menace daunted others, but only roused Warren. Not
+wailing to be _invited_, he _solicited the task_ of addressing the
+people; and prepared himself accordingly for the fifth anniversary of
+the massacre--1775. Meanwhile, the givings out of the officers, and
+the rumors among the populace, imported mortal hazard to him if he
+should persist. He persisted but the more resolutely. Early in the
+day, the Old South Meeting House--which, as the scene of these
+orations, deserves, better than Faneuil Hall, to be termed the cradle
+of liberty--was crowded to its very porch. Many a devoted friend of
+Warren's was there, determined to see him safely through, or to fall
+in his defence. British officers and soldiers filled the aisles, the
+pulpit steps, and even the pulpit. Thinking that if he pushed through
+them to his place, a pretext might be seized for some disturbance,
+which would take from him and his audience the desirable degree of
+calmness, he procured a ladder to be placed outside, and by it,
+climbed through the window into the pulpit, just as all were expecting
+his entrance at the door. The officers quailed and receded, at his
+sudden appearance and dauntless air: while he, far from sure that his
+first word would not be answered by a bayonet-thrust or a pistol-shot,
+addressed the silent, breathless multitude. His countenance was
+lighted up with more than its usual glow of patriotic enthusiasm: but
+every other face was pale; every auditor could distinctly hear the
+throbbings of his own heart. The speech is given at length in the
+appendix to the work under examination; from the original, as we may
+conjecture, which, in the orator's own hand writing, is now in the
+possession of his nephew, Dr. John C. Warren. The opening was brief
+and simple: but in it we discern that curbed energy, that impassioned
+moderation--_une force contenue, une rèserve animée_--so
+characteristic of a great mind, concentrating its powers for some
+gigantic effort: and as he passes on from the unaffected humility of
+his exordium "to the height of his great argument," we have bodily
+before our fancy's eye, a nobler personification of wisdom, courage,
+eloquence and virtue, than Homer has displayed in the form of Ulysses.
+
+"MY EVER HONORED FELLOW CITIZENS,
+
+"It is not without the most humiliating conviction of my want of
+ability, that I now appear before you; but the sense I have, of the
+obligation I am under to obey the calls of my country at all times,
+together with the animating recollection of your indulgence, exhibited
+upon so many occasions, has induced me once more, undeserving as I am,
+to throw myself upon that candor, which looks with kindness upon the
+feeblest efforts of an honest mind.
+
+"You will not now expect the elegance, the learning, the fire, the
+enrapturing strains of eloquence, which captivated you when a Lovell,
+a Church, or a Hancock spake: but you will permit me to say, that with
+a sincerity equal to theirs, I mourn over my bleeding country: with
+them I weep at her distress, and with them, deeply resent the many
+injuries she has received from the hands of cruel and unreasonable
+men."
+
+[Footnote 3: Mr. Adams was, at the time, 35 years old; Mr. Quincy only
+26. They were both threatened with loss of friends, of popularity, and
+of all prospect of political preferment. The "Memoirs of Quincy" (by
+his son Josiah, once a prominent federal leader in Congress, now
+President of Harvard University,) contain a letter from his venerable
+father, earnestly expostulating upon the step. The young barrister's
+reply is also given--a triumphant vindication of the motives, and even
+of the prudence of his resolution, to undertake the defence. In the
+success of that defence, in the universal approbation which soon
+followed it, and in the professional and political advancement of the
+generous advocates, they found ample rewards for having breasted the
+storm of popular feeling, in obedience to the call of duty.]
+
+[Footnote 4: The oration of 1771 was delivered by James Lovell; that
+of 1772 by Joseph Warren; of 1773, by Dr. Benjamin Church; of 1774, by
+John Hancock; of 1775, by Joseph Warren. These, and eight others of
+succeeding years, down to 1783, we have in Mr. H. Niles' inestimable
+collection of "Revolutionary Acts and Speeches."]
+
+Having laid down as axioms, the natural right of every man to personal
+freedom and to the control of his property, the orator sketched, with
+a master's hand, the history of English America: and, deducing the
+right of the colonists to the soil from their treaties with the
+Indians, and not from the grants of King James or King Charles, (whose
+pretended claims of right they undoubtedly despised--whose patents
+they probably accepted only "to silence the cavils of their enemies,"
+and who "might with equal justice have made them a grant of the planet
+Jupiter,") he proved by unanswerable reasoning the rights of America,
+and painted in deep and living colors the usurpations and injustice of
+England. He traced the progress of these wrongs: he depicted the
+halcyon peace, the mutual benefactions, and the common happiness of
+the two countries, marred by successive and heightening
+aggressions--reaching, at length, that last aggravation short of civil
+war--the quartering of an insolent, hireling soldiery upon the people,
+to enforce submission to unjust and unconstitutional laws. The danger
+of standing armies, always, to liberty--the incompatibility of martial
+law with the government of a well regulated city--the certainty of
+disputes between the soldier and the citizen, especially when they are
+in each other's eyes, respectively, a rebel, and an instrument of
+tyranny--all made it but just to fear the most disagreeable
+consequences. "Our fears, we have seen," continued the orator, "were
+but too well grounded."
+
+"The many injuries offered to the town, I pass over in silence. I
+cannot now mark out the path which led to that unequalled scene of
+horror, the sad remembrance of which takes full possession of my soul.
+The sanguinary theatre again opens itself to view. The baleful images
+of terror crowd around me, and discontented ghosts, with hollow
+groans, appear to solemnize the anniversary of the FIFTH OF MARCH.
+
+"Approach we then the melancholy walk of death. Hither let me call the
+gay companion; here let him drop a farewell tear upon that body, which
+so late he saw vigorous and warm with social mirth; hither let me lead
+the tender mother, to weep over her beloved son: come, widowed
+mourner, here satiate thy grief! behold thy murdered husband gasping
+on the ground; and, to complete the pompous show of wretchedness,
+bring in each hand thy infant children to bewail their father's fate:
+take heed, ye orphan babes, lest, while your streaming eyes are fixed
+upon the ghastly corpse, _your feet slide on the stones bespattered
+with your father's brains!_ Enough! this tragedy need not be
+heightened by an infant weltering in the blood of him that gave it
+birth. Nature, reluctant, shrinks already from the view; and the
+chilled blood rolls slowly backward to its fountain. We wildly stare
+about, and with amazement, ask, _who spread this ruin round us?_ Has
+haughty France or cruel Spain, sent forth her myrmidons? Has the grim
+savage rushed again from the distant wilderness? Or does some fiend,
+fierce from the depth of hell, with all the rancorous malice which the
+apostate damned can feel, twang her destructive bow, and hurl her
+deadly arrows at our breast? No, none of these. It is the hand of
+_Britain_ that inflicts the wound! The arms of George, our rightful
+king, have been employed to shed that blood, when justice, or the
+honor of his crown, had called his subjects to the field!
+
+"But pity, grief, astonishment, with all the softer movements of the
+soul, must now give way to stronger passions. Say, fellow citizens,
+what dreadful thought now swells your heaving bosoms? You fly to
+arms--sharp indignation flashes from each eye--revenge gnashes her
+iron teeth--death grins an hideous smile, secure to drench his jaws in
+human gore--whilst hovering furies darken all the air! But stop, my
+bold, adventurous countrymen; stain not your weapons with the blood of
+Britons! Attend to reason's voice. Humanity puts in her claim, and
+sues to be again admitted to her wonted seat, the bosom of the brave.
+Revenge is far beneath the noble mind. Many, perhaps, compelled to
+rank among the vile assassins, do, from their inmost souls, detest the
+barbarous action. The winged death, shot from your arms, may chance to
+pierce some breast, that bleeds already for your injured country.
+
+"The storm subsides: a solemn pause ensues: you spare, upon condition
+they depart. They go; they quit your city: they no more shall give
+offence. Thus closes the important drama.
+
+"And could it have been conceived that we again should see a British
+army in our land, sent to enforce obedience to acts of Parliament
+destructive to our liberty?... Our streets are again filled with armed
+men; our harbor is crowded with ships of war: but these cannot
+intimidate us: our liberty must be preserved: it is far dearer than
+_life_--we hold it even dear as our _allegiance_. We must defend it
+against the attacks of _friends_, as well as _enemies_: we cannot
+suffer even Britons to ravish it from us. No longer could we reflect,
+with generous pride, on the heroic actions of our American
+forefathers; no longer boast our origin from that far famed island,
+whose warlike sons have so often drawn their well tried swords to save
+her from the ravages of tyranny;--could we, but for a moment,
+entertain the thought of giving up our liberty. The man who meanly
+will submit to wear a shackle, contemns the noblest gift of Heaven;
+and impiously affronts the God that made him free."
+
+Highly wrought as these passages may appear, they accorded, perfectly,
+with the minds to which they were addressed.
+
+It may be doubted, if any scene of the kind ever possessed more of the
+moral sublime, than that which our young countryman presented,--daring
+thus, amidst armed and frowning enemies, to denounce them and their
+masters, and to speak forth the startling truths of justice and
+freedom, with the naked sword of tyranny suspended over his head. The
+rising of Brutus, "refulgent from the stroke of Cæsar's fate," shaking
+his crimsoned steel, and hailing Tully aloud as the "father of his
+country"--Tully's own denunciations of Catiline, Verres and
+Anthony--or the more illustrious Philippics of Demosthenes--all remote
+from personal danger--the objects of their enmity and invective being
+absent, defenceless, or prostrate--cannot be compared, for moral
+sublimity, with the splendid boldness of Warren. And, whatever
+classical anathemas await us for it, we are heretical enough to
+venture the opinion, that for true _eloquence_, blendedly pathetic and
+argumentative, _his_ oration outstrips any that we have read of
+Cicero's, and _equals_ aught that we have seen of Demosthenes. To the
+most effective effusions of the latter, indeed, it bears the closest
+resemblance--rapid, condensed, inornate, impassioned: similar, too, in
+its result, if we consider the difference of their auditories--the one
+a mercurial mob, ever liable to be swayed by whim or convulsed by
+passion; the other a grave, reflecting people, who subjected every
+thing--feeling, imagination, and even the love of liberty--to REASON.
+The oratory of Demosthenes made the Athenians cry out, "Let us march
+against Philip!" When Warren ended, a glow of admiration and respect
+pervaded even the hostile bosoms around him; but the people of Boston
+were ready at once to abjure allegiance to Great Britain. For this,
+however, affairs were not yet ripe.
+
+The celebrated Josiah Quincy, Jr. was at this time in England, on a
+mission of remonstrance and observation. His interesting letters, and
+more interesting journal, (for parts of which we are indebted to the
+"Memoirs" before referred to,) shewed his conviction that the pending
+disputes must come to the arbitrament of arms. His countrymen, he
+said, "must seal their cause with their blood." This, he was assured
+by Warren, (one of his warmest and dearest friends) they were ready to
+do. "It is the united voice of America" (Warren wrote him) "to
+preserve their freedom, or lose their lives in its defence." Warren
+was President of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts. He writes
+thus to Quincy concerning it: "Congress met at Concord at the time
+appointed. About 260 members were present. You would have thought
+yourself in an assembly of Spartans, or ancient Romans, had you seen
+the ardor of those who spoke on the important business they were
+transacting." Quincy remained but six months in England, and then
+embarked for his home in an advanced stage of consumption: having, as
+he told the seaman who attended his sick bed, but one desire--that he
+might live long enough to have one more interview with Samuel Adams
+and Joseph Warren. His prayer was not granted. He died on ship board,
+just entering Cape Anne Harbor, on the 26th of April, 1775,[5] eight
+days after the battle of Lexington; where, unknown to him, his
+countrymen had already "sealed their cause with their blood."
+
+[Footnote 5: Love for his country and her liberties, may be safely
+considered the ruling passion of this man's pure and splendid and too
+short life. He displayed it also "strong in death." His last reported
+words were in a letter to his family, dictated to his sailor nurse; in
+which he breathes a dying wish for his country. And his Will contains
+the following clause: "I give to my son, when he shall arrive to the
+age of 15 years, Algernon Sidney's Works, John Locke's Works--Lord
+Bacon's Works--Gordon's Tacitus, and Cato's Letters. May the spirit of
+Liberty rest upon him."]
+
+Warren (now a brigadier general of the Massachusetts militia) was not
+unconcerned in that battle. Scouts of his had notified him on the 18th
+of April, that a detachment of troops was to march that night towards
+Concord: and then, remaining himself upon the watch, he saw Colonel
+Smith and 8 or 900 men embark for Charlestown. Knowing the stores and
+ammunition at Concord to be their object, he instantly sent messengers
+over the surrounding country, to give the alarm; and himself rode all
+night--passing so near the enemy, as to be more than once in great
+danger of capture. His messenger to Lexington was Col. Revere; who, on
+suddenly turning a corner as he passed through Charlestown, found
+himself close to a party of the British. In a moment he put his horse
+at full speed, dashed through them, and before they could well
+ascertain him to be a foe, was beyond the reach of the balls which
+they fired after him. It was his summons, that called forth the
+company of Lexington militia, upon whom, about sunrise on the 19th,
+was begun that bloody drama, of which the progress was to shake two
+continents, and the catastrophe to dissever an empire. Warren,
+sleepless and in motion throughout the night, hurried to the scene of
+action: and, when the enemy were retreating from Concord, he was among
+the foremost in hanging upon their rear, and assailing their flanks.
+By pressing them too closely, he once narrowly escaped death. A musket
+ball took off a lock of hair, which curled close to his head, in the
+fashion of that time.
+
+When his mother first saw him after the battle, and heard of this
+escape, she entreated him with tears not again to risk a life so
+precious. "Where danger is, dear mother," he answered, "there must
+your son be. _Now_ is no time for any of America's children to shrink
+from any hazard. I will see her free, or die."
+
+An exchange of prisoners was soon afterwards agreed on, to be carried
+into effect at Charlestown. Generals Warren and Putnam with two select
+companies of Massachusetts troops, repaired thither for the purpose.
+Here was a touching scene. The British and American officers, on
+meeting once more as friends after the recent strife had so rudely
+sundered their long subsisting ties of hospitality and mutual
+kindness, melted with tenderness, and rushed into each other's arms.
+The soldiers caught the infection: and mingled tears, and hands
+cordially shaken, softened for awhile the rugged front of war. Putnam
+and Warren entertained the British as guests, as sumptuously as the
+occasion allowed.
+
+A few days afterwards, Warren was appointed Major General of the
+Massachusetts forces: but still retained his post as President of the
+Provincial Congress. He seems to have combined, with rare felicity,
+the qualities of a civil and a military leader. Cool yet brave, gentle
+yet decided and firm, he was precisely fitted to teach and enforce
+order and discipline. Mingling in the ranks, and talking with
+individual soldiers as with brothers, he gained their love, and
+infused into them his own ardor and sanguine confidence. He acted with
+equal talent in civil council. He spent a part of each day in sharing
+the deliberations of the Congress, which sat now at Watertown, ten
+miles northwest from Boston. His labors ended there, he would gallop
+to the camp at Cambridge. When the American commanders deliberated
+upon the seizure and fortification of Dorchester Heights and Bunker
+Hill, with a view to strike at the enemy's shipping, or to anticipate
+them in a similar movement,--Warren opposed it. Our raw troops, he
+thought, were not yet ready to cope with the trained veterans of
+England. Putnam, then commander-in-chief at Cambridge, thought
+differently. Warren renewed his opposition before the committee of
+safety and the council of war: but when these bodies successively
+resolved upon the measure, he promptly gave his whole heart to promote
+its success; repeating his determination, to be, himself, ever at the
+post of greatest danger. On the 16th of June, when Col. Prescott
+received his orders, and marched with his thousand men to fortify
+Bunker's Hill, the session at Watertown was so protracted, that Warren
+could not leave it until late at night. So soon as he could, he
+prepared to join Prescott--despite the dissuasion of his friends. To
+their assurances, that most of the detachment, and especially
+he--daring and conspicuous as he was--would in all probability be cut
+off; and that he could not be spared so soon from the cause; he
+replied, "I cannot help it: I must share the fate of my countrymen. I
+cannot hear the cannon and remain inactive." Among the most intimate
+of these friends, was the afterwards distinguished Elbridge Gerry;
+with whom he lodged regularly in the same room, and, on that last
+night, in the same bed. To him;--when they parted after midnight,
+Warren uttered the sentiment--so truly Roman, and in this instance so
+prophetic--"_dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori_." By day-break, he
+was at the camp in Cambridge; where, finding that the British had not
+shewn themselves, and sick with an aching head, from mental and bodily
+toil, he lay down, to snatch a little repose. But he was soon roused
+by tidings, that the enemy were in motion: and instantly rising, he
+exclaimed, "my headache is gone." Others doubted what the object of
+the enemy's threatened movement was. He at once saw it to be, the
+unfinished fortification upon Bunker Hill. The committee of safety
+(which sat in the house where he was) having resolved immediately to
+despatch a reinforcement thither, Warren mounted his horse, and with
+sword and musket, hastened to the scene of strife. He arrived just as
+the fight began, and seeking out General Putnam, (who was already
+there) desired to be posted where the service was to be most arduous.
+Putnam expressed his sorrow at seeing him, in a place so full of
+peril: "but since you have come," added he, "I will obey your orders
+with pleasure." Warren replied, that he came as a volunteer--to obey
+and fight; not to command. Putnam then requested him to take his stand
+in the redoubt, where Prescott commanded, and which was considerably
+in advance of the slighter defence, behind which Putnam and his men
+were stationed. On his entering the redoubt, he was greeted with loud
+huzzas: and Prescott, like Putnam, offered him the command. He again
+refused it; saying, that he was a mere volunteer, and should be happy
+to learn service from so experienced a soldier. We cannot, thrilling
+as they are to our recollections, undertake to narrate the well known
+particulars of that great day. But we commend the story, as told by
+the authoress before us, to the attention of our readers. Our business
+is with General Warren. He was constantly active; going through the
+ranks, cheering on his comrades, sharing their perils, and plying his
+musket against the advancing enemy. When the British had twice been
+driven from the height, with a thousand slain; when the exhaustion of
+powder and ball, leaving the Americans no means of resistance but
+clubbed guns, against fixed bayonets and fourfold numbers, necessarily
+made the third onset successful--Warren was the last to leave his
+station. The slowest in that slow and reluctant retreat, he struggled
+for every foot of ground; disdaining to quicken his steps, though
+bullets whizzed and blood streamed all around him. Major Small, of the
+British army, recognized him; and eager to save his life, called upon
+him for God's sake to stop, and be protected from destruction. Warren
+turned and looked towards him: but sickening at the sight and the
+thought of his slaughtered countrymen and of the lost battle, again
+moved slowly off as before. Major Small then ordered his men not to
+fire at the American General: but it was too late. Just as the order
+was given, a ball passed through his head; he fell, and expired.
+
+His body lay on the field all the next night. When one who knew his
+person, told General Howe the next morning that Warren was among the
+slain, he would not believe it; declaring it _impossible_ that the
+President of the Congress should have been suffered to expose himself
+so hazardously. An English surgeon, however, who had also known
+Warren, identified his corpse; and, to prove the daring of which he
+was capable, added, that but five days before, he had ventured alone
+into Boston in a small canoe, to learn the plans of the British; and
+had urged the surgeon to enter into the American service. General Howe
+declared, that the death of one such adversary balanced the loss of
+500 of his own men. Warren's body was buried with many others, English
+and American, near the spot where he fell; whence, sometime
+afterwards, it was removed to the Tremont burying ground, and finally
+to the family vault under St. Paul's Church, in Boston. His brothers,
+at the first disinterment, knew his remains by an artificial tooth, by
+a nail wanting on one of his fingers, and by his clothes, in which he
+was buried just as he fell. His youngest brother, Dr. John Warren, at
+first sight of the body, fainted away, and lay for many minutes
+insensible on the ground. We draw a veil over the grief of his mother,
+when, after a torturing suspense of three days, the dreadful truth was
+disclosed to her. In General Warren's pocket, an English soldier found
+a prayer book, with the owner's name written in it. The soldier
+carried it to England, and sold it for a high price to a kind-hearted
+clergyman, who benevolently transmitted it to a minister in Roxbury,
+with a request that he would restore it to the general's nearest
+relation. It was accordingly given to his youngest brother, whose son,
+Dr. John C. Warren, still retains it. It was printed in 1559, in a
+character remarkably distinct, and is strongly and handsomely bound.
+
+If our due space had not already been exceeded, we would include in
+this sketch several other interesting particulars, connected with its
+illustrious subject: but we must forbear.
+
+There were ample contemporaneous testimonials to the merits of General
+Warren. Amongst others, was a vote of the general Congress, that a
+monument should be erected to his memory, "as an acknowledgment of his
+virtues and distinguished services;" and that his children should be
+supported at the public charge. Like the prayers of Homer's heroes,
+this vote was half dispersed in empty air: the other half took effect,
+so far as the annual payment of a moderate sum went, towards the
+maintenance and education of the children. It is not until she has
+mentioned this fact, that our authoress bethinks her of saying, that
+General Warren was married to an excellent and amiable woman, who died
+three years before him; and that he left four orphan children. So
+important an event in human life might surely have been earlier told,
+and more regardfully dwelt upon. We would fain have had something said
+of _his_ domestic life, who filled so large a space in his country's
+eye; something to exemplify what we hold as an everlasting truth--that
+a good son and a true patriot is sure to make a true husband and a
+good father. Situated as she is, our authoress cannot fail, by
+reasonable diligence of inquiry, to learn many things, worthy of the
+improved edition which we hope to see, of her interesting and
+valuable, though so faulty production.
+
+We, as one of the posterity whose gratitude and admiration General
+Warren so richly earned, can read in his destiny more than a
+fulfilment of the augury contained in the official account of the
+Battle of Bunker Hill, drawn up by the Provincial Congress. It speaks
+of him as "a man, whose memory will be endeared to his countrymen, and
+to the worthy in every part and age of the world, so long as VALOUR
+shall be esteemed among mankind." To VALOUR, we would add the lovelier
+and nobler names of COURTESY, GENEROSITY, and INTEGRITY.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+TO CHRISTIANA.
+
+
+  Sister, while life and joy are young,
+  While the sweet lyre of hope is strung,
+  Ere thou hast known a crowd of cares,
+  Earth's vain regrets and burning tears--
+  Ere the sick heart of grief is thine,
+  Or rapture's thrilling pulse decline--
+  Ere wounded pride and love shall tell
+  That thou hast served the world too well,
+  Turn thou to worship at the shrine
+  Of faith and holy love divine!
+  Bring all thy strength of feeling there;
+  Wait not to waste affection where
+  No harvest ever can repay
+  For all thou losest by delay.
+  Seek the bright path the saints have trod;
+  At his own altar worship God;
+  And find that peace whilst kneeling there
+  The world can neither give nor share.
+  Mourn thou with hope--with fear rejoice;
+  List to that small but awful voice,
+  Which tells us all things fade and die
+  To bloom no more beneath the sky.
+  Earth's brightest dreams soon melt away,
+  Her forms of loveliness decay--
+  And disappointment's chilling gloom
+  Blights all her flowers of fairest bloom;
+  But oh, remember, there is bliss
+  In a far better land than this:
+  Look thou beyond this world of care,
+  And hope a fadeless crown to wear.
+  Then may distress and sorrow come,
+  _Thy_ soul can ever find a home!
+
+E. A. S.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+THE FRIENDS OF MAN.
+
+
+    The young babe sat on its mother's knee,
+    Shaking its coral and bells with glee,
+    When Hope drew near with a seraph smile,
+    And kiss'd the lips that had spoke no guile,
+        Nor breath'd the words of sorrow.
+      Its little sister brought a flower,
+        And Hope still lingering nigh,
+      With sunny tress and sparkling eye,
+      Whisper'd of buds in a brighter bower
+        It might cull for itself to-morrow.
+
+    The boy came in from the wintry snow,
+      And mus'd by the parlor fire,--
+    But ere the evening lamps did glow
+    A stranger came with a thoughtful brow;
+    "What is that in your hand?" she said;
+    "My new-year's gift, with its covers red."
+    "Bring hither the book, my boy, and see
+        The magic spell of Memory;--
+    That page hath gold, and a way I'll find
+    To lock it safe in your docile mind:
+    For books have honey, the sages say,
+  That is sweet to the taste, when the hair is grey."
+
+    The youth at midnight sought his bed,
+      But ere he closed his eyes
+    Two forms drew near with a gentle tread,
+      In meek and saintly guise;
+    One struck a lyre of wondrous power,
+      With thrilling music fraught,
+    That chain'd the flying summer hour,
+      And charm'd the listener's thought--
+    For still would its tuneful cadence be,
+        "Follow me! Follow me!
+    And every morn a smile shall bring
+    As sweet as the merry lay I sing."
+
+      But when she ceas'd, with serious air
+        The other made reply,
+      "Shall he not also be my care?
+      May not I his pleasures share?
+        Sister! Sister! tell me why?
+    Need Memory e'er with Hope contend?
+  Doth not the virtuous soul still find in both a friend?"
+
+        The youth beheld the strife,
+          And earnestly replied,
+      "Come, each shall be my guide--
+        Both gild the path of life:"
+    So he gave to each a trusting kiss,
+  And laid him down, and his dream was bliss.
+
+      The man came forth to run his race,
+        And ever when the morning light
+      Rous'd him from the trance of night,
+        When singing from her nest
+      The lark went up with a dewy breast,
+    Hope by his pillow stood with angel grace--
+        And as a mother cheers her son,
+        She girded his daily harness on.
+    And when the star of eve from weary care
+        Bade him to his home repair;
+  When by the hearth-stone where his joys were born,
+        The cricket wound its tiny horn,
+        Sober Memory spread her board,
+        With knowledge richly stor'd,
+  And supp'd with _him_, and like a guardian blest
+          His nightly rest.
+
+      The old man sat in his elbow-chair,
+        His locks were thin and grey--
+      Memory, that faithful friend was there,
+        And he in a querulous tone did say,
+      "Hast thou not lost with careless key
+    Something that I have entrusted to thee?"
+        Her pausing answer was sad and low,
+        "It may be so! It may be so!
+      The lock of my casket is worn and weak,
+    And Time with a plunderer's eye doth seek:
+      Something I miss, but I cannot say
+      What it is he hath stolen away--
+    For it seems that tinsel and trifles spread
+      Over the alter'd path we tread:
+  But the gems thou didst give me when life was new,
+    Look! here they are, all told and true,
+    Diamonds and rubies of changeless hue."
+
+        Thus, while in grave debate,
+      Mournful and ill at ease they sate,
+        Finding treasures disarranged,
+  Blaming the fickle world, when they themselves were chang'd,
+      Hope, on a brilliant wing did soar,
+    Which folded neath her robe she long had wore,
+    And spread its rainbow plumes with new delight,
+  And hazarded its strength in a bold heavenward flight.
+
+        The dying lay on his couch of pain,
+      And his soul went forth to the angel train--
+    Yet when heaven's gate its golden bars undrew,
+        Memory walked that portal through,
+      And spread her tablet to the Judge's eye,
+  Heightening with clear response the welcome of the sky.
+        But at that threshold high,
+      Hope faltered with a drooping eye,
+        And as the expiring rose
+    Doth in its last adieu its sweetest breath disclose,
+          Laid down to die.
+
+      As a spent harp its symphony doth roll,
+          Faintly her parting sigh
+    Greeted a glorious form that stood serenely by:
+          "Earth's pilgrim I resign;
+  I cheered him to his grave--I lov'd him--he was mine;
+        Christ hath redeemed his soul--
+          Immortal Joy! 'tis thine."
+
+L. H. S.
+
+_Hartford, Con. Sept. 1835_.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+THOUGHTS.
+
+
+  Oh Britain! on thy far, far distant shores,
+    Mid scenes of grandeur, scenes with beauty fraught,
+  Oft do I wish to stray, when fancy pours
+    Her rainbow colors in the urn of thought.
+
+  Each crumbling tower, and each enchanted wood,
+    And every haunted glen by Poets sung--
+  Each mountain, forest, valley, field, or flood,
+    O'er which romance her magic veil has hung;
+
+  Thy "stately homes," the beautiful, the grand--
+    Each "breezy lawn," and each embowering tree,
+  In Albion clothed by nature's partial hand
+    In bloom and verdure--all I seem to see.
+
+  I picture to myself thy regal halls,
+    Where pomp and splendor hold an equal sway;
+  Thy palaces, within whose time-stained walls
+    Kings have been born, have lived, and passed away;
+
+  That ancient pile,[1] where gloom and silence keep
+    Their vigils o'er the great and honored dead--
+  Where princes proud, and gifted poets sleep,
+    Each laid forever in his narrow bed;
+
+  The spots that hallowed in thy history stand,
+    The graves of those whose mem'ries cannot die,
+  With living gems that still adorn thy land,
+    All, all appear to fancy's ardent eye.
+
+  Parent thou art of many a cherished son,
+    And many a daughter crowned with wreaths of fame,
+  Whose talents high, or virtues rare have won
+    An ever glorious, ever honored name.
+
+  A Milton's genius awfully sublime,
+    A Shakspeare's wit in nature's garments drest,
+  A Scott whose fame can only end with time,
+    Sprung from thy soil, and sleep within its breast.
+
+  A Campbell's pure and chastened flow of thought,
+    A Hemans' skill poetic flowers to twine,
+  A Bulwer's matchless page with interest fraught,
+    A Landon's love-tuned lyre, all--all are thine!
+
+  But oh, between my own blest land and thee
+    Old Ocean's wide and restless waters spread;
+  Thy gifted great I may not hope to see,
+    And on thy shores I know I ne'er shall tread.
+
+  Yet the free spirit roves where I would go,
+    To other climes, the beautiful and bright,
+  Through fields of air, o'er ocean's trackless flow,
+    Eager, unchecked and chainless in its flight!
+
+E. A. S.
+
+[Footnote 1: Westminster Abbey.]
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+KING PEST THE FIRST.
+
+A TALE CONTAINING AN ALLEGORY--BY ----.
+
+  The Gods do bear and well allow in kings
+  The things which they abhor in rascal routes.
+        _Buckhurst's Tragedy of Ferrex and Porrex_.
+
+
+About twelve o'clock, one sultry night, in the month of August, and
+during the chivalrous reign of the third Edward, two seamen belonging
+to the crew of the "Free and Easy," a trading schooner plying between
+Sluys and the Thames, and then at anchor in that river, were much
+astonished to find themselves seated in the tap-room of an ale-house
+in the parish of St. Andrews, London--which ale-house bore for sign
+the portraiture of a "Jolly Tar."
+
+The room, it is needless to say, although ill-contrived,
+smoke-blackened, low-pitched, and in every other respect agreeing with
+the general character of such places at the period--was, nevertheless,
+in the opinion of the grotesque groups scattered here and there within
+it, sufficiently well adapted for its purpose.
+
+Of these groups our two seamen formed, I think, the most interesting,
+if not the most conspicuous.
+
+The one who appeared to be the elder, and whom his companion addressed
+by the characteristic appellation of "Legs," was also much the most
+ill-favored, and, at the same time, much the taller of the two. He
+might have measured six feet nine inches, and an habitual stoop in the
+shoulders seemed to have been the necessary consequence of an altitude
+so enormous.
+
+Superfluities in height were, however, more than accounted for by
+deficiencies in other respects. He was exceedingly, wofully, awfully
+thin; and might, as his associates asserted, have answered, when
+sober, for a pennant at the mast-head, or, when stiff with liquor,
+have served for a jib-boom. But these jests, and others of a similar
+nature, had evidently produced, at no time, any effect upon the leaden
+muscles of the tar. With high cheek-bones, a large hawk-nose,
+retreating chin, fallen under-jaw, and huge protruding white eyes, the
+expression of his countenance, although tinged with a species of
+dogged indifference to matters and things in general, was not the less
+utterly solemn and serious beyond all attempts at imitation or
+description.
+
+The younger seaman was in all outward appearance, the antipodes of his
+companion. His stature could not have exceeded four feet. A pair of
+stumpy bow-legs supported his squat, unwieldy figure, while his
+unusually short and thick arms, with no ordinary fists at their
+extremities, swung off, dangling from his sides like the fins of a
+sea-turtle. Small eyes, of no particular color, twinkled far back in
+his head. His nose remained buried in the mass of flesh which
+enveloped his round, full, and purple face; and his thick upper-lip
+rested upon the still thicker one beneath with an air of complacent
+self-satisfaction, much heightened by the owner's habit of licking
+them at intervals. He evidently regarded his tall ship-mate with a
+feeling half-wondrous, half-quizzical; and stared up occasionally in
+his face as the red setting sun stares up at the crags of Ben Nevis.
+
+Various and eventful, however, had been the peregrinations of the
+worthy couple in and about the different tap-houses of the
+neighborhood during the earlier hours of the night. Funds even the
+most ample, are not always everlasting: and it was with empty pockets
+our friends had ventured upon the present hostelrie.
+
+At the precise period then, when this history properly commences,
+Legs, and his fellow Hugh Tarpaulin, sat, each with both elbows
+resting upon the large oaken table in the middle of the floor, and
+with a hand upon either cheek. They were eyeing, from behind a huge
+flagon of unpaid-for "humming-stuff," the portentous words "No Chalk,"
+which to their indignation and astonishment were scored over the
+door-way by means of that very identical mineral whose presence they
+purported to deny. Not that the gift of decyphering written
+characters--a gift among the commonalty of that day considered little
+less cabalistical than the art of inditing--could, in strict justice,
+have been laid to the charge of either disciple of the sea; but there
+was, to say the truth, a certain twist in the formation of the
+letters--an indescribable lee-lurch about the whole--which foreboded,
+in the opinion of both seamen, a long run of dirty weather; and
+determined them at once, in the pithy words of Legs himself, to "pump
+ship, clew up all sail, and scud before the wind."
+
+Having accordingly drank up what remained of the ale, and looped up
+the points of their short doublets, they finally made a bolt for the
+street. Although Tarpaulin rolled twice into the fire-place, mistaking
+it for the door, yet their escape was at length happily effected--and
+half after twelve o'clock found our heroes ripe for mischief, and
+running for life down a dark alley in the direction of St. Andrew's
+Stair, hotly pursued by the landlord and landlady of the "Jolly Tar."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At the epoch of this eventful tale, and periodically, for many years
+before and after, all England, but more especially the metropolis,
+resounded with the fearful cry of "Pest! Pest! Pest!" The city was in
+a great measure depopulated--and in those horrible regions, in the
+vicinity of the Thames, where amid the dark, narrow, and filthy lanes
+and alleys, the Demon of Disease was supposed to have had his
+nativity, awe, terror, and superstition were alone to be found
+stalking abroad.
+
+By authority of the king such districts were placed _under ban_, and
+all persons forbidden, under pain of death, to intrude upon their
+dismal solitude. Yet neither the mandate of the monarch, nor the huge
+barriers erected at the entrances of the streets, nor the prospect of
+that loathsome death which, with almost absolute certainty,
+overwhelmed the wretch whom no peril could deter from the adventure,
+prevented the unfurnished and untenanted dwellings from being
+stripped, by the hand of nightly rapine, of every article such as
+iron, brass, or lead-work, which could in any manner be turned to a
+profitable account.
+
+Above all, it was usually found, upon the annual winter opening of the
+barriers, that locks, bolts, and secret cellars had proved but slender
+protection to those rich stores of wines and liquors which, in
+consideration of the risk and trouble of removal, many of the numerous
+dealers having shops in the neighborhood had consented to trust,
+during the period of exile, to so insufficient a security.
+
+But there were very few of the terror-stricken people who attributed
+these doings to the agency of human hands. Pest-Spirits,
+Plague-Goblins, and Fever-Demons were the popular imps of mischief;
+and tales so blood-chilling were hourly told, that the whole mass of
+forbidden buildings was, at length, enveloped in terror as in a
+shroud, and the plunderer himself was often scared away by the horrors
+his own depredations had created; leaving the entire vast circuit of
+prohibited district to gloom, silence, pestilence, and death.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was by one of these terrific barriers already mentioned, and which
+indicated the region beyond to be under the Pest-Ban, that, in
+scrambling down an alley, Legs and the worthy Hugh Tarpaulin found
+their progress suddenly impeded. To return was out of the question,
+and no time was to be lost, as their pursuers were close upon their
+heels. With thorough-bred seamen to clamber up the roughly fashioned
+plank work was a trifle; and, maddened with the twofold excitement of
+exercise and liquor, they leaped unhesitatingly down within the
+enclosure, and holding on their drunken course with shouts and
+yellings, were soon bewildered in its noisome and intricate recesses.
+
+Had they not, indeed, been intoxicated beyond all sense of human
+feelings, their reeling footsteps must have been palsied by the
+horrors of their situation. The air was damp, cold and misty. The
+paving stones loosened from their beds, lay in wild disorder amid the
+tall, rank grass, which sprang up hideously around the feet and
+ancles. Rubbish of fallen houses choked up the streets. The most fetid
+and poisonous smells every where prevailed--and by the occasional aid
+of that ghastly and uncertain light which, even at midnight, never
+fails to emanate from a vapory and pestilential atmosphere, might be
+discerned lying in the bypaths and alleys, or rotting in the
+windowless habitations, the carcass of many a nocturnal plunderer
+arrested by the hand of the plague in the very perpetration of his
+robbery.
+
+But it lay not in the power of images, or sensations, or impediments
+like these, to stay the course of men who, naturally brave, and at
+that time especially, brimful of courage and of "humming-stuff," would
+have reeled, as straight as their condition might have permitted,
+undauntedly into the very jaws of the Archangel Death. Onward--still
+onward stalked the gigantic Legs, making the desolate solemnity echo
+and re-echo with yells like the terrific warwhoop of the Indian: and
+onward--still onward rolled the dumpy Tarpaulin, hanging on to the
+doublet of his more active companion, and far surpassing the latter's
+most strenuous exertions in the way of vocal music by bull-roarings
+_in basso_, from the profundity of his Stentorian lungs.
+
+They had now evidently reached the strong hold of the pestilence.
+Their way at every step or plunge grew more noisome and more
+horrible--the paths more narrow and more intricate. Huge stones and
+beams falling momentarily from the decaying roofs above them, gave
+evidence, by their sullen and heavy descent, of the vast height of the
+surrounding buildings, while actual exertion became necessary to force
+a passage through frequent heaps of putrid human corpses.
+
+Suddenly, as the seamen stumbled against the entrance of a gigantic
+and ghastly-looking building, a yell more than usually shrill from the
+throat of the excited Legs, was replied to from within in a rapid
+succession of wild, laughter-like, and fiendish shrieks.
+
+Nothing daunted at sounds which, of such a nature, at such a time, and
+in such a place, might have curdled the very blood in hearts less
+irrecoverably on fire, the drunken couple burst open the pannels of
+the door, and staggered into the midst of things with a volley of
+curses. It is not to be supposed however, that the scene which here
+presented itself to the eyes of the gallant Legs and worthy Tarpaulin,
+produced at first sight any other effect upon their illuminated
+faculties than an overwhelming sensation of stupid astonishment.
+
+The room within which they found themselves, proved to be the shop of
+an undertaker--but an open trap-door in a corner of the floor near the
+entrance, looked down upon a long range of wine-cellars, whose depths
+the occasional sounds of bursting bottles proclaimed to be well stored
+with their appropriate contents. In the middle of the room stood a
+table--in the centre of which again arose a huge tub of what appeared
+to be punch. Bottles of various wines and cordials, together with
+grotesque jugs, pitchers, and flagons of every shape and quality, were
+scattered profusely upon the board. Around it, upon coffin-tressels,
+was seated a company of six--this company I will endeavor to delineate
+one by one.
+
+Fronting the entrance, and elevated a little above his companions, sat
+a personage who appeared to be the president of the table. His stature
+was gaunt and tall, and Legs was confounded to behold in him a figure
+more emaciated than himself. His face was yellower than the yellowest
+saffron--but no feature of his visage, excepting one alone, was
+sufficiently marked to merit a particular description. This one
+consisted in a forehead so unusually and hideously lofty, as to have
+the appearance of a bonnet or crown of flesh superseded upon the
+natural head. His mouth was puckered and dimpled into a singular
+expression of ghastly affability, and his eyes, as indeed the eyes of
+all at table, were glazed over with the fumes of intoxication.
+
+This gentleman was clothed from head to foot in a richly embroidered
+black silk-velvet pall wrapped negligently around his form after the
+fashion of a Spanish cloak. His head was stuck all full of tall, sable
+hearse-plumes, which he nodded to and fro with a jaunty and knowing
+air, and, in his right hand, he held a huge human thigh-bone, with
+which he appeared to have been just knocking down some member of the
+company for a song.
+
+Opposite him, and with her back to the door, was a lady of no whit the
+less extraordinary character. Although quite as tall as the person who
+has just been described, she had no right to complain of his unnatural
+emaciation. She was evidently in the last stage of a dropsy; and her
+figure resembled nearly in outline the shapeless proportions of the
+huge puncheon of October beer which stood, with the head driven in,
+close by her side, in a corner of the chamber. Her face was
+exceedingly round, red, and full--and the same peculiarity, or rather
+want of peculiarity, attached itself to her countenance, which I
+before mentioned in the case of the president--that is to say, only
+one feature of her face was sufficiently distinguished to need a
+separate characterization: indeed, the acute Tarpaulin immediately
+observed that the same remark might have applied to each individual
+person of the party; every one of whom seemed to possess a monopoly of
+some particular portion of physiognomy. With the lady in question this
+portion proved to be the mouth. Commencing at the right ear, it swept
+with a terrific chasm to the left--the short pendants which she wore
+in either auricle continually bobbing into the aperture. She made,
+however, every exertion to keep her jaws closed and look dignified, in
+a dress consisting of a newly starched and ironed shroud coming up
+close under her chin, with a crimped ruffle of cambric muslin.
+
+At her right hand sat a diminutive young lady whom she appeared to
+patronize. This delicate little creature, in the trembling of her
+wasted fingers, in the livid hue of her lips, and in the slight hectic
+spot which tinged her otherwise leaden complexion, gave evident
+indications of a galloping consumption.
+
+An air of extreme _haut ton_, however, pervaded her whole
+appearance--she wore in a graceful and _degagé_ manner, a large and
+beautiful winding-sheet of the finest India lawn--her hair hung in
+ringlets over her neck--a soft smile played about her mouth--but her
+nose, extremely long, thin, sinuous, flexible, and pimpled, hung down
+far below her under lip, and, in spite of the delicate manner in which
+she now and then moved it to one side or the other with her tongue,
+gave an expression rather doubtful to her countenance.
+
+Over against her, and upon the left of the dropsical lady, was seated
+a little puffy, wheezing, and gouty old man, whose cheeks hung down
+upon the shoulders of their owner, like two huge bladders of Oporto
+wine. With his arms folded, and with one bandaged leg cocked up
+against the table, he seemed to think himself entitled to some
+consideration.
+
+He evidently prided himself much upon every inch of his personal
+appearance, but took more especial delight in calling attention to his
+gaudy colored surcoat. This, to say the truth, must have cost no
+little money, and was made to fit him exceedingly well--being
+fashioned from one of the curiously embroidered silken covers
+appertaining to those glorious escutcheons which, in England and
+elsewhere, are customarily hung up in some conspicuous place upon the
+dwellings of departed aristocracy.
+
+Next to him, and at the right hand of the president, was a gentleman
+in long white hose and cotton drawers. His frame shook in a ludicrous
+manner, with a fit of what Tarpaulin called "the horrors." His jaws,
+which had been newly shaved, were tightly tied up by a bandage of
+muslin; and his arms being fastened in a similar way at the wrists,
+prevented him from helping himself too freely to the liquors upon the
+table; a precaution rendered necessary, in the opinion of Legs, by the
+peculiarly sottish and wine-bibbing cast of his visage. A pair of
+prodigious ears, nevertheless, which it was no doubt found impossible
+to confine, towered away into the atmosphere of the apartment, and
+were occasionally pricked up, or depressed, as the sounds of bursting
+bottles increased, or died away, in the cellars underneath.
+
+Fronting him, sixthly and lastly, was situated a singularly
+stiff-looking personage, who, being afflicted with paralysis, must, to
+speak seriously, have felt very ill at ease in his unaccommodating
+habiliments. He was habited, somewhat uniquely, in a new and handsome
+mahogany coffin.
+
+The top or head-piece of the coffin pressed upon the scull of the
+wearer, and extended over it in the fashion of a hood, giving to the
+entire face an air of indescribable interest. Arm-holes had been cut
+in the sides, for the sake not more of elegance than of
+convenience--but the dress, nevertheless, prevented its proprietor
+from sitting as erect as his associates; and as he lay reclining
+against his tressel, at an angle of forty-five degrees, a pair of huge
+goggle eyes rolled up their awful whites towards the ceiling in
+absolute amazement at their own enormity.
+
+Before each of the party lay a portion of a scull which was used as a
+drinking cup. Overhead was suspended an enormous human skeleton, by
+means of a rope tied round one of the legs and fastened to a ring in
+the ceiling. The other limb, confined by no such fetter, stuck off
+from the body at right angles, causing the whole loose and rattling
+frame to dangle and twirl about in a singular manner, at the caprice
+of every occasional puff of wind which found its way into the
+apartment. In the cranium of this hideous thing lay a quantity of
+ignited and glowing charcoal, which threw a fitful but vivid light
+over the entire scene; while coffins, and other wares appertaining to
+the shop of an undertaker, were piled high up around the room, and
+against the windows, preventing any straggling ray from escaping into
+the street.
+
+It has been before hinted that at sight of this extraordinary
+assembly, and of their still more extraordinary paraphernalia, our two
+seamen did not conduct themselves with that proper degree of decorum
+which might have been expected. Legs, having leant himself back
+against the wall, near which he happened to be standing, dropped his
+lower jaw still lower than usual, and spread open his eyes to their
+fullest extent: while Hugh Tarpaulin, stooping down so as to bring his
+nose upon a level with the table, and spreading out a palm upon either
+knee, burst into a long, loud, and obstreperous roar of very ill-timed
+and immoderate laughter.
+
+Without, however, taking offence at behavior so excessively rude, the
+tall president smiled very graciously upon the intruders--nodded to
+them in a dignified manner with his head of sable plumes--and,
+arising, took each by an arm, and led him to a seat which some others
+of the company had placed in the meantime for his accommodation. Legs
+to all this offered not the slightest resistance, but sat down as he
+was directed--while the gallant Hugh removing his coffin-tressel from
+its station near the head of the table, to the vicinity of the little
+consumptive lady in the winding-sheet, plumped down by her side in
+high glee, and, pouring out a scull of red wine, drank it off to their
+better acquaintance. But at this presumption the stiff gentleman in
+the coffin seemed exceedingly nettled, and serious consequences might
+have ensued, had not the president, rapping upon the table with his
+truncheon, diverted the attention of all present to the following
+speech:
+
+"It becomes our duty upon the present happy occasion"----
+
+"Avast there!"--interrupted Legs looking very serious--"avast there a
+bit, I say, and tell us who the devil ye all are, and what business ye
+have here rigged off like the foul fiends, and swilling the snug 'blue
+ruin' stowed away for the winter by my honest shipmate Will Wimble the
+undertaker!"
+
+At this unpardonable piece of ill-breeding, all the original company
+half started to their feet, and uttered the same rapid succession of
+wild fiendish shrieks which had before caught the attention of the
+seamen. The president, however, was the first to recover his
+composure, and at length, turning to Legs with great dignity,
+recommenced.
+
+"Most willingly will we gratify any reasonable curiosity on the part
+of guests so illustrious, unbidden though they be. Know then that in
+these dominions I am monarch, and here rule with undivided empire
+under the title of 'King Pest the First.'
+
+"This apartment which you no doubt profanely suppose to be the shop of
+Will Wimble the undertaker--a man whom we know not, and whose plebeian
+appellation has never before this night thwarted our royal ears--this
+apartment, I say, is the Dais-Chamber of our Palace, devoted to the
+councils of our kingdom, and to other sacred and lofty purposes.
+
+"The noble lady who sits opposite is Queen Pest, and our Serene
+Consort. The other exalted personages whom you behold are all of our
+family, and wear the insignia of the blood royal under the respective
+titles of 'His Grace the Arch Duke Pest-Iferous'--'His Grace the Duke
+Pest-Ilential'--'His Grace the Duke Tem-Pest'--and 'Her Serene
+Highness the Arch Duchess Ana-Pest.'
+
+"As regards"--continued he--"your demand of the business upon which we
+sit here in council, we might be pardoned for replying that it
+concerns and concerns _alone_ our own private and regal interest, and
+is in no manner important to any other than ourself. But in
+consideration of those rights to which as guests and strangers you may
+feel yourselves entitled, we will furthermore explain that we are here
+this night, prepared by deep research and accurate investigation, to
+examine, analyze, and thoroughly determine the indefinable spirit--the
+incomprehensible qualities and nare of those inestimable treasures of
+the palate, the wines, ales, and liqueurs of this goodly Metropolis:
+by so doing to advance not more our own designs than the true welfare
+of that unearthly sovereign whose reign is over us all--whose
+dominions are unlimited--and whose name is 'Death.'"
+
+"Whose name is Davy Jones!"--ejaculated Tarpaulin, helping the lady by
+his side to a scull of liqueur, and pouring out a second for himself.
+
+"Profane varlet!"--said the president, now turning his attention to
+the worthy Hugh--"profane and execrable wretch!--we have said, that in
+consideration of those rights which, even in thy filthy person, we
+feel no inclination to violate, we have condescended to make reply to
+your rude and unseasonable inquiries. We, nevertheless, for your
+unhallowed intrusion upon our councils, believe it our duty to mulct
+you and your companion in each a gallon of Black Strap--having drank
+which to the prosperity of our kingdom--at a single draught--and upon
+your bended knees--you shall be forthwith free either to proceed upon
+your way, or remain and be admitted to the privileges of our table
+according to your respective and individual pleasures."
+
+"It would be a matter of utter impossibility"--replied Legs, whom the
+assumptions and dignity of King Pest the First had evidently inspired
+with some feelings of respect, and who arose and studied himself by
+the table as he spoke--"it would, please your majesty, be a matter of
+utter impossibility to stow away in my hold even one-fourth of that
+same liquor which your majesty has just mentioned. To say nothing of
+the stuffs placed on board in the forenoon by way of ballast, and not
+to mention the various ales and liqueurs shipped this evening at
+different sea-ports, I am, at present, full up to the throat of
+'humming-stuff' taken in and duly paid for at the sign of the 'Jolly
+Tar.' You will, therefore, please your majesty, be so good as take the
+will for the deed--for by no manner of means either can I or will I
+swallow another drop--least of all a drop of that villainous
+bilge-water that answers to the hail of 'Black Strap.'"
+
+"Belay that!"--interrupted Tarpaulin, astonished not more at the
+length of his companion's speech than at the nature of his
+refusal--"Belay that you lubber!--and I say, Legs, none of your
+palaver! _My_ hull is still light, although I confess you yourself
+seem to be a little top-heavy; and as for the matter of your share of
+the cargo, why rather than raise a squall I would find stowage-room
+for it myself, but"----
+
+"This proceeding"--interposed the president--"is by no means in
+accordance with the terms of the mulct or sentence which is in its
+nature Median, and not to be altered or recalled. The conditions we
+have imposed must be fulfilled to the letter, and that without a
+moment's hesitation--in failure of which fulfilment we decree that you
+do here be tied neck and heels together, and duly drowned as rebels in
+yon hogshead of October beer!"
+
+"A sentence!--a sentence!--a righteous and just sentence!--a glorious
+decree!--a most worthy and upright, and holy condemnation!"--shouted
+the Pest Family altogether. The king elevated his forehead into
+innumerable wrinkles--the gouty little old man puffed like a pair of
+bellows--the lady of the winding sheet waved her nose to and fro--the
+gentleman in the cotton drawers pricked up his ears--she of the shroud
+gasped like a dying fish--and he of the coffin looked stiff and rolled
+up his eyes.
+
+"Ugh!--ugh!--ugh!"--chuckled Tarpaulin without heeding the general
+excitation--"ugh!--ugh!--ugh!--ugh!--ugh!--ugh!--ugh!--ugh!--ugh!" "I
+was saying," said he,--"I was saying when Mr. King Pest poked in his
+marling-spike, that as for the matter of two or three gallons more or
+less Black Strap, it was a trifle to a tight sea-boat like myself not
+overstowed--but when it comes to drinking the health of the
+Devil--whom God assoilzie--and going down upon my marrow bones to his
+ill-favored majesty there, whom I know, as well as I know myself to be
+a sinner, to be nobody in the whole world but Tim Hurlygurly, the
+organ-grinder--why! its quite another guess sort of a thing, and
+utterly and altogether past my comprehension."
+
+He was not allowed to finish this speech in tranquillity. At the name
+of Tim Hurlygurly the whole Junto leaped from their seats.
+
+"Treason!"--shouted his Serenity King Pest the First.
+
+"Treason!"--said the little man with the gout.
+
+"Treason!"--screamed the Arch Duchess Ana-Pest.
+
+"Treason!"--muttered the gentleman with his jaws tied up.
+
+"Treason!"--growled he of the coffin.
+
+"Treason! treason!"--shrieked her majesty of the mouth; and, seizing
+by the hinder part of his breeches the unfortunate Tarpaulin, who had
+just commenced pouring out for himself a scull of liqueur, she lifted
+him high up into the air, and dropped him without ceremony into the
+huge open puncheon of his beloved ale. Bobbing up and down, for a few
+seconds, like an apple in a bowl of toddy, he, at length, finally
+disappeared amid the whirlpool of foam which, in the already
+effervescent liquor, his struggles easily succeeded in creating.
+
+Not tamely however did the tall seaman behold the discomfiture of his
+companion. Jostling King Pest through the open trap, the valiant Legs
+slammed the door down upon him with an oath, and strode towards the
+centre of the room. Here tearing down the huge skeleton which swung
+over the table, he laid it about him with so much energy and good
+will, that, as the last glimpses of light died away within the
+apartment, he succeeded in knocking out the brains of the little
+gentleman with the gout. Rushing then with all his force against the
+fatal hogshead full of October ale and Hugh Tarpaulin, he rolled it
+over and over in an instant. Out burst a deluge of liquor so
+fierce--so impetuous--so overwhelming--that the room was flooded from
+wall to wall--the loaded table was overturned--the tressels were
+thrown upon their backs--the tub of punch into the fire place--and the
+ladies into hysterics. Jugs, pitchers, and carboys mingled
+promiscuously in the _melée_, and wicker flagons encountered
+desperately with bottles of junk. Piles of death-furniture floundered
+about. Sculls floated _en masse_--hearse-plumes nodded to
+escutcheons--the man with the horrors was drowned upon the spot--the
+little stiff gentleman sailed off in his coffin--and the victorious
+Legs, seizing by the waist the fat lady in the shroud, scudded out
+into the street followed under easy sail, by the redoubted Hugh
+Tarpaulin, who, having sneezed three or four times, panted and puffed
+after him with the Arch Duchess Ana-Pest.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+EARLY ADVENTURES.
+
+  Dissolve frigus--lignum super focus large reponens.--_Horace_.
+
+
+Towards the end of a raw and blustering day in October, I was
+comfortably seated in my easy chair before a blazing fire, which
+diffused a cheerful light and a genial warmth through the apartment.
+My feet, cased in morocco slippers, rested on a footstool, whilst I
+carelessly sipped a glass of Madeira, supplied from a decanter which
+reared its rosy form on a table hard by. To an eye-witness I must have
+seemed the picture of comfort and happiness. On turning to help myself
+to another glass of the nectar-like fluid that glistened so temptingly
+by the ruddy light, my eye caught the gold edge of a note which lay on
+the table, half concealed by a book, and which, upon perusal, I
+discovered to contain a polite invitation from a wealthy and
+fashionable acquaintance to spend the next evening at her house. The
+emphatic N. B. "_Mrs. M. would be glad to see her friends in fancy
+dresses,_" soon brought to my experienced mind the nature of the
+_fête_ to which I had the honor of an invitation. I arose to consult
+my prints and books to discover the most appropriate costume wherein
+to conceal my noble self. But not being able to suit exactly my
+somewhat fastidious taste, I resolved to consult the accomplished,
+beautiful, talented, and "last but not least," the wealthy Miss ----,
+who performed on the piano like another Handel, and tripped it on the
+light fantastic toe, with almost as much ease and grace as the fairy
+Taglioni. I had long looked on Miss ---- with affection--or perhaps
+love: and I had the vanity to suppose my feelings were reciprocated.
+But of the latter surmise I could only judge by "circumstantial
+evidence"--for the Cerberus-like vigilance of the matron under whose
+protection she lived, (and who had married my father's brother,)
+prevented me from forming any correct judgment of the extent of her
+affection for me--or if she possessed any, from taking advantage of
+it. The old lady (my aunt) who had found the yoke of Hymen not so
+easily borne, and who knew by experience the hazard that was to be
+encountered in forming matrimonial connexions, zealously opposed the
+various attempts I made to win the heart of the mistress of my
+adoration. Seeing all my designs frustrated, and my schemes overthrown
+by the superior knowledge and oversight of my feminine antagonist, I
+resolved, like a prudent general, to "beat a retreat," while it was in
+my power to effect one without loss of force or reputation.
+Nevertheless, I deemed it not imprudent to make one vigorous effort to
+obtain the five thousand dollars a year, along with the person of Miss
+----, before I retired from the contest. Fraught with this intention,
+I resolved to visit Miss ---- immediately, to consult her about
+_something_ beside the _fancy dress_. Having exchanged the gown in
+which I had been so luxuriously enveloped, for a dress coat, cut by
+the inimitable hands of Nugee, and attired the rest of my person in
+the most approved style, I sallied forth to the residence of my
+charmer.
+
+The wind had gradually subsided during the last half hour, until it
+had nearly died away. The fresh air, with the exercise of walking,
+produced that racy and dancing stir of the blood, which all action,
+whether evil or noble in its nature, raises in our veins. The full
+moon now rose in all the splendor of its matchless beauty, and bathed
+in silvery light the gorgeous piles of snow-white clouds that calmly
+reposed on the surface of the dark blue sky. The walk was too pleasant
+to be of long duration, and before it seemed a moment had elapsed, I
+found myself on the marble steps of the house to which I had been
+directing my course. At my aristocratic pull of the door-bell, a
+servant immediately made his appearance, and to my inquiry if Mrs.
+D---- was at home, he answered in the negative. "Did Miss ----
+accompany her, or did she remain?" said I in a hesitating tone of
+voice. "_She_ is within," said the servant, and he forthwith ushered
+me in. In a few moments Miss ---- entered the room, looking as fresh
+and beautiful as Aurora "when first she leaves her rosy bed." It is
+useless to trespass upon the patience of the reader by giving a prolix
+account of a scene he has read of in every novel, romance, or tale,
+that has been written since the time of Clovis. Be it sufficient to
+say, that with "accents sweet" I poured forth the impassioned tale of
+my love--and with all that eloquence which love (and the hope of the
+five thousand per annum only) could have inspired. My suit was
+accepted; and to escape the vigilance of my aunt, it was agreed that
+she should attend the fancy ball the next evening, habited in the
+costume of a "Novice," at which place I should meet her as Young
+Norval. Soon as the clock should toll the hour of twelve we should
+leave the "festive scene," while all would be too busy to notice our
+departure. Immediately we were to repair to the residence of my aunt,
+when, after changing our dresses for some more suitable, we should
+hasten to a country seat about twenty miles distant, possessed by a
+near relative of mine, where we should be united in the holy band of
+matrimony.
+
+This arrangement being made, with a heart buoyant with hope, and an
+elastic tread, I soon regained my apartment. And
+
+  "Now the latter watch of wasting night
+   And setting stars to sweet repose invite;"
+
+but the high excitement under which I had been, banished
+
+  "Tired nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep,"
+
+from my pillow.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Conformably to the plan arranged between Miss ---- and myself, I drove
+to Mrs. M ----'s at the usual hour, and halted some distance from the
+house, in the rear of about a hundred carriages. The rooms were
+already full when I entered--and after being announced in character
+and introduced to the lady of the house, I mingled with the motley
+crowd.
+
+For the first hour the scene was grotesque in the extreme. The guests
+paraded the rooms with all the gravity of well-bred persons of the
+sixteenth century, looking stiff and very uncomfortable in their
+ill-adjusted habiliments. At the announcement of supper the prospect
+for pleasure brightened, and the guests felt themselves more at home.
+The gaudy figures moving about in the full blaze of the numberless
+chandeliers, produced a brilliant effect; and the various characters
+mingling together, made a splendid show of the burlesque. Here a "Red
+Man" from the "Far West," with his beautifully variegated moccasins,
+and a glass of "golden Sherry" in his hand, was descanting on the
+beauties of the latest tie with a superb "Spanish Cavalier," who
+haughtily fingered his jet black moustache, and sipped his Sherbet.
+Next him stood a "Knight of Malta," with his magnificent stars and
+diamonds, in close converse with a "Peasant Girl." The "Arch Bishop"
+set the whole table in a roar by his jokes; and "His Holiness" the
+Pope, giggled with "Anne Boleyn" over an ice-cream. The Jew was
+detected with ham-sandwich; while "King Lear" forgot the ingratitude
+of his daughters over champagne.
+
+I finding the assignated time approaching, detached myself from the
+brilliant crowd around the supper table, and took a seat on a sofa in
+the next _room_. I had not been seated many minutes before I perceived
+"The Novice" approaching, and at that instant a clock near me tolled
+the midnight hour. I dashed up to the object of my search, and
+observing it was now time to go, she immediately took my arm, and we
+marched out. At the door I handed her into a carriage, and ordered the
+coachman to drive as rapidly as possible to ---- street. In a few
+moments we arrived at the house, and seeing her rather slow, I
+requested her to unveil, as we had no time to lose. Slowly she raised
+her hand, and removing the dark veil from her face, disclosed the
+features of--_my aunt_. Overwhelmed with rage and disappointment I
+rushed from the house, and meeting one of the servants, learned that
+Miss ---- had suddenly heard of the death of a relative to whom she
+was much attached, and had been unable to attend the ball. It appears
+she had written to me, but the note, by some unpardonable negligence
+of the domestic to whom it was entrusted, had never been delivered.
+Learning these particulars I hurried down the street, and seeing a
+stage-coach standing before a hotel door, I leaped into it, and drove
+off. The motion of the carriage produced a dull, heavy sensation on my
+frame, and at length I fell asleep. I was aroused from my slumber by
+the sounds of laughter, and soon discovered that it arose from my
+fellow-passengers, who were diverting themselves at the oddity of my
+appearance and dress. Some took me for a madman. But one old gentlemen
+in pepper and salt dress, and with a red nose, assured the company
+that I was some theatrical character who had eloped from his
+creditors. Never was he of the "Grampian Hills" worse treated. At
+length I arrived at an inn, where I procured a suit of clothes, and
+resolved either to commit suicide, or drown my cares in a bottle of
+_Champagne_.
+
+J. C.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+SHADOW. A FABLE--BY ----.
+
+
+Ye who read are still among the living, but I who write shall have
+long since gone my way into the region of shadows. For indeed strange
+things shall happen, and many secret things be known, and many
+centuries shall pass away ere these memorials be seen of men. And when
+seen there will be some to disbelieve, and some to doubt, and yet a
+few who will find much to ponder upon in the characters here graven
+with a stylus of iron.
+
+The year had been a year of terror, and of feelings more intense than
+terror for which there is no name upon the earth. For many prodigies
+and signs had taken place, and far and wide, over sea and land, the
+black wings of the Pestilence were spread abroad. To those,
+nevertheless, cunning in the stars, it was not unknown that the
+Heavens wore an aspect of ill; and to me, the Greek Oinos, among
+others it was evident, that now had arrived the alternation of that
+seven hundred and ninety-fourth year when, at the entrance of Aries,
+the planet Jupiter is conjoined with the red ring of the terrible
+Saturnus. The peculiar spirit of the skies, if I mistake not, greatly
+made itself manifest, not only in the physical orb of the earth, but
+in the souls, imaginations, and meditations of mankind.
+
+Over some flasks of the red Chian wine, within the walls of a noble
+hall, in a dim city by the melancholy sea, we sat, at night, a company
+of seven. And to our chamber there was no entrance save by a lofty
+door of brass: and the door was fashioned by the artizan Corinnos, and
+being of rare workmanship was fastened from within. Black draperies,
+likewise, in the gloomy room shut out from our view the moon, the
+lurid stars, and the peopleless streets--but the boding and the memory
+of Evil, they would not be so excluded. There were things around us
+and about of which I can render no distinct account--things material
+and spiritual. Heaviness in the atmosphere--a sense of
+suffocation--anxiety--and above all, that terrible state of existence
+which the nervous experience when the senses are keenly living and
+awake, and meanwhile the powers of thought lie dormant. A dead weight
+hung upon us. It hung upon our limbs--upon the household
+furniture--upon the goblets from which we drank; and all things were
+depressed, and borne down thereby--all things save only the flames of
+the seven iron lamps which illumined our revel. Uprearing themselves
+in tall slender lines of light, they thus remained burning all pallid
+and motionless; and in the mirror which their lustre formed upon the
+round table of ebony at which we sat, each of us there assembled
+beheld the pallor of his own countenance, and the unquiet glare in the
+downcast eyes of his companions. Yet we laughed and were merry in our
+proper way--which was hysterical; and sang the songs of
+Anacreon--which are madness; and drank deeply--although the purple
+wine reminded us of blood. For there was yet another tenant of our
+chamber in the person of young Zoilus. Dead, and at full length he
+lay, enshrouded--the genius and the demon of the scene. Alas! he bore
+no portion in our mirth, save that his countenance distorted with the
+plague, and his eyes in which Death had but half extinguished the fire
+of the pestilence, seemed to take such interest in our merriment as
+the dead may take in the merriment of those who are to die. But
+although I, Oinos, felt that the eyes of the departed were upon me,
+still I forced myself not to perceive the bitterness of their
+expression, and, gazing down steadily into the depths of the ebony
+mirror, sang with a loud and sonorous voice the songs of the son of
+Teios. But gradually my songs they ceased, and their echoes rolling
+afar off among the sable draperies of the chamber became weak, and
+indistinguishable, and so fainted away. And lo! from among those sable
+draperies where the sounds of the song departed, there came forth a
+dark and undefined shadow--a shadow such as the moon when low in
+Heaven might fashion from the figure of a man: but it was the shadow
+neither of man, nor of God, nor of any familiar thing. And quivering
+awhile among the draperies of the room, it at length rested in full
+view upon the surface of the door of brass. But the shadow was vague,
+and formless, and indefinitive, and was the shadow neither of man nor
+God--neither God of Greece, nor God of Chaldæa, nor any Egyptian God.
+And the shadow rested upon the brazen doorway, and under the arch of
+the entablature of the door, and moved not, nor spoke any word, but
+there became stationary and remained. And the door whereupon the
+shadow rested was, if I remember aright, over against the feet of the
+young Zoilus enshrouded. But we, the seven there assembled, having
+seen the shadow as it came out from among the draperies, dared not
+steadily behold it, but cast down our eyes, and gazed continually into
+the depths of the mirror of ebony. And at length I, Oinos, speaking
+some low words, demanded of the shadow its dwelling and its
+appellation. And the shadow answered, "I am SHADOW, and my dwelling is
+near to the Catacombs of Ptolemais, and hard by those dim plains of
+Helusion which border upon the foul Charonian canal." And then did we,
+the seven, start from our seats in horror, and stand trembling, and
+shuddering, and aghast: for the tones in the voice of the shadow were
+not the tones of any one being, but of a multitude of beings, and,
+varying in their cadences from syllable to syllable, fell duskily upon
+our ears in the well remembered and familiar accents of a thousand
+departed friends.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+CURSE OF THE "BETRAYED ONE."
+
+A FRAGMENT--BY HUGH BLAIR.
+
+
+  They moved her couch, that the whispering breath
+    Of evening might come with its balmy sigh,
+  And fan her brow, e'er the film of death
+    Spread over her dark and beautiful eye.
+
+  But she heeded not the whispering wind,
+    For her burning thoughts afar were roaming;
+  Madness had seized on her wretched mind,
+    And her high brow throb'd, and her lips were foaming!
+
+  And the beautiful curls of her sable hair
+    Streamed wildly over her fevered pillow--
+  And her bosom heaved in its whiteness there,
+    As the breeze heaves up the snowy billow--
+
+  And her teeth with convulsive grasp were set,
+    And her eye burned bright as a beam of day--
+  She twined her hand in her locks of jet,
+    And tore their glittering curls away!
+
+  And she screamed with a wild, convulsive shriek,
+    Then uttered a low protracted groan--
+  As ye've heard the wind thro' your lattice break,
+    And die away with a hollow moan.
+
+  But at length, through the evening's gathering gloom,
+    Her voice came forth from the riven chords
+  Of her broken heart, as from a tomb!
+    And she utter'd these wild and fearful words:
+
+    "I've loved thee, man, with an ardent love;
+  I've sworn it by each orb above--
+  By the glorious Sun when he sank to rest,
+  And lit with his beams the glowing west--
+  By the pallid Moon, when her silver beam
+  Danced gladly o'er yon murmuring stream,
+  Upon whose verdant banks with you
+  I've stood that holy orb to view--
+  And by every lamp which the dusk of even
+  Hung out in the glittering arch of heaven.
+  I cannot _now_ deny the flame
+  Which has wasted thus my wretched frame--
+  For I've told it thee by many a word
+    Which came from the core of my bleeding heart,
+  As you touched each thrilling, aching chord,
+    By that hellish power, thy fiendish art.
+  I've told it thee by many a sigh,
+  By many a tear in my weary eye,
+  By many a sob, and many a groan,
+  Which burst from the lips of thy '_lovely one_'--
+  And I've told it thee by the burning streak
+  Which so often lit my fevered cheek,
+  As you played with each glittering curl of jet
+  That waved on the neck of '_Thy Martinette!_'
+  Come hither thou fiend and gaze upon me;
+    Behold the wreck of thy hellish power--
+  Come hither, I have a _blessing_ for thee,
+    Which thou shalt hear in my dying hour.
+
+    "That maiden, she of the lovely face,
+  Who holds in thy heart _my_ wretched place,
+  Shall become thy bride, and her first born son
+  Be a monster, hideous to gaze upon!
+  And the sight of the thing shall drive her mad!
+    And while she's screaming in accents wild,
+  She shall call upon thee in tones most sad,
+    Thyself to murder her hideous child!
+  Oh, she shall shriek in her wild despair,
+  And her phrensied eye, with a fearful glare,
+  Full on thy faithless face shall gleam--
+    And with lips of foam and teeth close set,
+  Her voice full in thy ear shall scream,
+    'Remember the curse of _thy Martinette!_'
+  And with fingers of blood she shall rend her cheek--
+    And those lips which now in their freshness part,
+  Shall utter as wild and terrific a shriek
+    As ever yet burst from my broken heart;
+  And her every shriek and her every groan
+  Shall wither thy heart, thou faithless one!
+  And thus she shall die, ere reason's dawn
+  The veil from her wildered soul hath drawn.
+  But her blasted babe, that hideous thing,
+  Shall live--and its frightful presence shall bring
+  Galling thoughts, which shall have the power
+  To blast thy every peaceful hour!
+  By its blasted form thou shalt never forget
+  The dying curse of _thy Martinette!_"
+
+  She spoke, and sunk back on her dying bed,
+    And the blood gushed forth from her lips of foam!
+  They raised her again--but the spirit had fled
+    Away, away to its secret home!
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+TO MRS. B. G. S.
+
+
+      When Summer sheds her soft perfume
+          The bowers among--
+      When all the earth is rich in bloom,
+          The sky in song--
+  When evening's golden clouds like shadows flee,
+  Turn for an instant then your thoughts on me.
+
+      When Winter in her frozen zone
+          Robs earth of green--
+      When only Friendship can atone
+          For what has been--
+  When round the hearth your other friends you see,
+  It is the hour I love--think then of me.
+
+      In days of bliss when hope is nigh,
+          And life is dear,
+      Your heart with joy elate beats high,
+          And friends are near--
+  Forget not there is one will ever be
+  Glad of thy gladness; cast a thought on me.
+
+      And when the darksome days
+          Of age or ill
+      The bright and cheering rays
+          Of hope shall chill,
+  Think there is one whose love can never be
+  Changed with Time's changes--oh remember me.
+
+E. A. S.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+THE SEA BIRD'S REVEL.
+
+BY GILES McQUIGGIN.
+
+
+  Look out upon the ocean wave--
+    Look from the lonely shore;
+  See how the mountain billows rave,
+    Hark how the waters roar!
+
+  Darkly hangs the tempest cloud,
+    From windward to the lee;
+  The thunder mutters hoarse and loud
+    Above the foaming sea.
+
+  'Tis nature in her revel hour--
+    She sweeps a stormy wing;
+  Old Ocean trembles at her power,
+    As wild his surges fling.
+
+  The sea bird rides upon her wrath,
+    Rocks on the tempest's ire--
+  Surveys the lurid lightning's path,
+    And shouts amid its fire.
+
+  The proud bird breasts the storm alone,
+    Mounts through its misty height--
+  The summit is his lofty throne,
+    The thunder his delight.
+
+  While gazing on the horrors round,
+    His burning eye-balls glare;
+  King of the storm, with lightnings crown'd,
+    He fears no terrors there.
+
+  When he for very gladness shrieks,
+    It deafens ocean's roar--
+  O'er nature in her wildest freaks
+    The proud storm king may soar.
+
+  Ride on aerial charioteer,
+    The tempest hails thy form;
+  Thou lov'st a sky forever clear,
+    Go seek it through the storm.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+I MET THEE BY MOONLIGHT ALONE.
+
+BY M. S. LOVETT.
+
+  _Air_--"Oh! meet me by moonlight alone."
+
+
+  I met thee by moonlight alone,
+    The blue sky was cloudless above;
+  And dew-gems around us were thrown,
+    To gladden our meeting of love.
+
+  I met thee by moonlight alone,
+    My heart trusting wholly to thee:
+  Was it prudent? Alas! I will own
+    That I asked not, for _thou_ wast with me.
+
+  How buoyant my heart, and how sweet
+    The zephyrs that waved through my hair!
+  Low murmured the stream at my feet,
+    Its tale to the summer-night air.
+
+  But ah! did the sky cease to smile?
+    The Moon--were her silver rays gone?
+  Did _each_ beauty but tarry the while
+    We met--love, by moonlight alone?
+
+  Oh no, for the sky is still bright,
+    The dew-drops still nightly have shone:
+  On _me_ fell the darkness and blight:
+    I met thee by moonlight alone!
+
+  And the pale Moon while wand'ring above,
+    Oft hears its sad votaries own,
+  That too often the Altar of Love
+    Is lighted by moonlight alone.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+LETTERS FROM A SISTER.
+
+LETTER TWENTY-FIRST.
+
+Places of Protestant Worship in Paris--History of Mr. Lewis Way an
+English Divine.
+
+
+PARIS, ----.
+
+_Dear Jane_:
+
+Here is an interesting narrative to amuse you, which I have just heard
+related. In the _Champs Elysées_, there stands a beautiful protestant
+chapel, where we attend divine service almost every Sabbath; if we do
+not go there, we repair to the oratorio, a protestant church in the
+Rue St. Honoré, or to the English Ambassador's, where there is public
+worship every Sunday, or to another temple consecrated to our form of
+worship, (the Church of the Visitation,) in the Rue Saint Antoine.
+Bishop Luscombe officiates at the oratorio, and Mr. Wilkes, a
+Presbyterian clergyman, assembles his congregation in an upper
+apartment adjoining the church. The history in question is that of the
+Rev. Mr. Lewis Way, who owns the chapel in the Champs Elysées and
+preaches there; he is extremely eloquent and energetic, and speaks
+plain truths to his flock without hesitation, when necessary. It is
+said that when a youth he had an ardent desire to be educated for the
+church, but his parents being extremely poor, and not having any
+relatives to assist him, he became a student of law at the temple, and
+was one morning proceeding to his labors, when he observed his own
+name inscribed on the door plate of a handsome dwelling. He
+immediately ascended the steps and requested to speak with the master
+of the house, and on his appearance, after apologizing for the liberty
+he was taking, told his story, represented his forlorn situation, and
+begged to be informed if there was any relationship between them. On
+comparing notes he found there was _not_ and was taking leave, but the
+gentleman, who was an odd old bachelor, insisted on his prolonging his
+visit, and in the interim, sent a trusty servant to inquire his
+character of the lawyer under whom he studied, and who happened to be
+the one whom he (Mr. Way, _Senior_,) usually employed. The lawyer's
+answer was highly creditable to his pupil, and from that moment the
+old gentleman adopted him, enabled him to take orders, and dying soon
+afterwards, bequeathed him a fortune of 300,000 pounds sterling. The
+sudden accession of such wealth affected his brain, and he was crazy
+for several years. Now, _I_ think he must have been so, when he
+introduced himself so strangely to his benefactor; but be that as it
+may, on regaining his senses, he resolved to make Paris his future
+home, and to devote his time to the protestants in that city. He
+accordingly came over here, purchased the hotel Marboeuf his present
+abode, and converted a portion of it into the tasteful little chapel,
+where he addresses and edifies a numerous congregation on all holy
+days. The seats of the chapel are covered with cerulean velvet, the
+windows ornamented with paintings, and there is a good organ, upon
+which one of his daughters (for he has married and has several
+children,) always performs. A shady and pleasant garden adds to the
+beauty and comfort of the place. And thus ends my story, for the truth
+of which remember I do not vouch. But as I have had it told to me,--so
+I have detailed it unto thee; and with this flourishing rhyme
+conclude.
+
+Yours,
+
+LEONTINE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+LETTER TWENTY-SECOND.
+
+Excursion to Lagrange--Count de Tracy and Madame La Fayette--Theatre
+of Monsieur Compte--Chinese Baths.
+
+
+PARIS, ----.
+
+I thank you beloved sister! for your affectionate letter of the ----
+instant, and shall not delay answering it, for I am impatient to
+inform you of our recent agreeable excursion to Lagrange. On Friday,
+we availed ourselves of the kind General's invitation, and rising very
+early, commenced our journey to his castle. We partook of coffee,
+eggs, and bread and butter, at a village some leagues hence, and
+having rested the horses, went on so rapidly as to reach Lagrange in
+time for dinner; met with a cordial reception from all the family, and
+were introduced to several distinguished guests. Among these, were the
+venerable Count de Tracy and the celebrated Monsieur Constant. The
+former is the father of Madame G. Lafayette, and a charming old
+gentleman he is. The latter, the intimate friend of Madame de Stael
+and the leader of the liberal party in the Chamber of Deputies, I have
+described to you in a previous letter. Madame George Lafayette is the
+presiding hostess of Lagrange, and has uncommonly affable and
+affectionate manners; indeed the whole family (as I have already
+remarked) are extremely amiable, and so charitable, that many poor
+persons in their neighborhood are supported by their bounty. Madame
+Lafayette Senior, you know, died of a malady contracted by her, in the
+damp and noxious dungeon of Olmutz, while she shared her husband's
+captivity. Her memory is deservedly venerated by him, and I am told
+that he cannot speak of her, without shedding tears of sorrow and
+gratitude, at the recollection of her sufferings and self-sacrifice
+for his sake. He shewed us a miniature of their jailor, which was
+taken by his eldest daughter, Madame de Maubourg, during their
+imprisonment, in the following singular manner. She drew it first on
+her thumb nail with a _pin_, not being allowed a pencil or paper;
+however, having found means to obtain a piece of crayon and a blank
+leaf from a book, she copied the head sketched on her nail, and as the
+resemblance was striking, her father has since had it painted in oil
+colors, by an artist, who has enlarged the design; by portraying the
+old Cerberus with a huge bunch of keys, and in the act of unlocking
+the prison door. It is quite an interesting little picture.
+
+I will now describe the farm, for we examined all parts of it. Order
+and neatness reign throughout the domain, and the General himself sees
+that nothing is neglected. He has a numerous flock of merino sheep,
+well guarded by a shepherd and two faithful dogs. Their sagacity and
+vigilance are remarkable; if one of the flock separated itself from
+the others only a few feet, these dogs would observe it in an instant,
+and hasten to drive back the wanderer to its place, which they always
+did with evident tenderness. The horses, cows and swine were in a
+thriving condition, looking contented, fat and sleek. The poultry yard
+contains foreign as well as domestic fowls; they are accommodated
+according to their habits, and form an amusing spectacle. The
+regulations of the kitchen, the dairy, the ice-house, stables and
+pig-styes, are admirable, and you may tell Albert that I advise him to
+come over and take a lesson in such useful arrangements, though I will
+answer for it, _you_ entertain so exalted an opinion of his knowledge
+on all subjects, that you deem more acquirements or improvements
+unnecessary. "Mais revenons au Chateau." It is a stone building
+enclosing three sides of a square court. There are five towers, one at
+each corner, and the fifth in the centre of the left side of the
+castle, as you enter through a large arch which leads into the square
+court; it is surrounded by a thickly spreading ivy, which was planted
+by our great statesman, Charles James Fox, more than twenty years ago,
+while on a visit to Lagrange. You approach the arch by a bridge,
+thrown over a moat, bounding two sides of the castle, and terminating
+in a small lake. Here may sometimes be seen floating an American boat,
+that in 1824 beat an English one, in a race on the water at New York,
+and was afterwards presented to the good General. He is adored by the
+Americans and quite devoted to them and their interests. His drawing
+room is decorated with the portraits of their Presidents, and in an
+adjoining room may be seen in golden frames, their declaration of
+independence and the farewell address of Washington; also, the colors
+of the "Brandywine," the ship they sent out with him when he returned
+from an excursion to their country four years ago. These colors were
+presented to him by the officers of that vessel, and the midshipmen
+gave him as a testimony of their respect, a handsome silver urn, with
+an appropriate inscription. The library and a cabinet of curiosities,
+are likewise supplied with American productions. In the first, are
+beautiful engravings of various parts of the United States, some
+American works and the cane of Washington; and in the second, divers
+odd articles of Indian manufacture. On Saturday we took leave of La
+Grange and its inmates; their kindness and attention to us, and the
+pleasure we derived from our visit to them, we can never forget; they
+will be associated with our most agreeable reminiscences of France.
+Last night we went to the theatre of Monsieur Compte, where all the
+performers are children; the little creatures acted remarkably well
+and with great spirit, and we were highly diverted. Monsieur Compte is
+considered the best ventriloquist in Europe. Edgar and Sigismund have
+been taking lessons in swimming; there are several excellent schools
+here for teaching the art, and one for _ladies_; and Marcella, Leonora
+and myself had serious thoughts of entering as pupils, but finally
+concluded we had enough of _water works_ at the delightful "Chinese
+Baths," on Wednesdays and Saturdays, our regular bathing days, when we
+usually rise extremely early, so as to accomplish our purpose, and get
+back in time for breakfast. The "Chinese Baths" are so called, because
+the building containing them, is in the Chinese style; in front is a
+parterre of flowers, and beyond this masses of artificial rocks, with
+a couple of Chinese figures among them; the whole arrangement is
+singular and picturesque. The H----'s have returned to town for a few
+weeks, and we are engaged to pass this evening with them. I do not
+covet going however, for their parties are said to be very stiff.
+
+With our usual affectionate greetings to aunt Margaret, Albert, and
+yourself, I conclude.
+
+LEONTINE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+LETTER TWENTY-THIRD.
+
+A sociable evening at the ex-Minister's of the Marine--Museum of
+Artillery--Bay Market--Corn Market--St. Germain l'Auxerrois.
+
+
+PARIS, ----.
+
+_Dear Jane_:
+
+Our stay here is drawing to a close and consequently during the last
+ten days, we have been so occupied in shopping, visiting and
+_sight-seeing_, that I have found it impossible to write; but here is
+a rainy day and I take advantage of it to resume our correspondence.
+We called yesterday to take leave of Monsieur and Madame de N----, and
+they looked happier, I assure you, in their own residence in the
+Faubourg du Roule, than they did when inhabiting the sumptuous edifice
+of the "Admiralty," on the place "_Louis Quinze_." I suppose you have
+learnt from the newspapers that Monsieur de N---- thought it prudent
+to resign his office, and has been succeeded by Monsieur ----.
+
+We found him and Madame de N---- surrounded by friends, who had
+accidentally dropped in as well as ourselves, and the evening being
+sultry, the company were regaled with delicious _sorbets_ and iced
+creams. _Ecarté_ was soon introduced among the elder gentry, and
+several of Mr. de Neuville's young nieces being there, our brothers
+and two other youthful beaux, the girls and myself joined them in
+playing "Tierce" and Blindman's-buff in the saloon. We enjoyed
+ourselves thus, till quite a late hour. One of the most curious and
+interesting places that has recently attracted our attention, is the
+"Museum of Artillery," in the street of the University. It is the
+depôt of a great variety of antique armor, ordnance and implements of
+war, and among the first we beheld the coat of mail of many a famous
+champion and that of Joan of Arc, which we thought uncommonly large to
+fit a woman. Every article is kept beautifully neat and bright, and a
+number of the things are labelled, which saves the trouble of a guide
+to explain their names and use. Another most singular place we have
+seen is the "_Marché du Vieux Linge_," or "rag fair." This is an
+enormous building divided into four halls, containing 800 stalls or
+petty shops. And oh! the queer articles that are in these
+shops!--tawdry second hand hats and dresses--old shoes, old gloves,
+old ribbons, old trunks, old carpets, bedding, chairs, and other
+furniture. These castaways are vamped up for sale, and wo betide the
+unfortunate wight whose path lies through or near the market; he is
+sure to be assailed and deafened with loud importunities from every
+quarter, to "come and buy," and may think himself lucky if he be not
+seized and absolutely forced into some of the stalls, to behold their
+wonders. _We_ went out of mere curiosity and were glad to hurry out as
+quickly as our feet could carry us, the people were so rude and
+presuming. The "Halle au Blé," or "corn market," well merits
+examination. It is a large circular edifice of stone, enclosing one
+immense hall with a vaulted roof of sheet iron supported on an immense
+framing of cast iron; from a window in the centre of which the light
+descends. The bags of corn are heaped in enormous masses at regular
+distances, and through the myriad of narrow passages formed by these
+you thread your way. To-day we visited the venerable church of St.
+Germain l'Auxerrois, the bell of which tolled the signal for the
+Catholics to commence their direful murders on the eve of St.
+Bartholomew, in 1572. It was once rich in pictures and statues; at
+present, it is remarkable only for its antiquity and the curious
+carving around its portal. Its founder was the cruel and superstitious
+Childebert, and two statues of stone, near the entrance, are said to
+represent him and his wife. On the _fête de_ Dieu, the royal family
+walk there in procession from the palace of the Tuilleries, to hear
+mass. They are magnificently arrayed and attended by a concourse of
+priests and soldiers, and by a band of females clad in white, who
+strew roses in their path. From St. Germain, we hastened to the palace
+of the fine arts on the quay Conti. For an account of it, you must
+wait till my next letter reaches you; this, you perceive, is almost
+full, so while I have room, I had better insert the name of your
+attached
+
+LEONTINE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+LETTER TWENTY-FOURTH.
+
+Packers--The Muette de Portici--The Whale--Place Louis
+Quinze--Manufacture of Chocolate--Iced Creams--Champs de
+Mars--Racing--Palace of the Fine Arts and Royal Academy or Institute.
+
+
+PARIS, ----.
+
+"What! again at your pen Leontine?" inquires Marcella, "assuredly you
+are a most indefatigable scribe or an exceedingly devoted sister!"
+"Leave out the _or_," I answer, "for I am _both_." You, dearest Jane,
+can bear witness to the truth of my assertion, and I hope it will ever
+be my pride to merit the second appellation. Indeed it would be
+shameful if I did not endeavor to deserve it, as you continually set
+me the example. This will be my last letter from Paris, for the
+signals of our departure are resounding through the saloon, from the
+hammers of the packers there busily engaged. Here, for five francs,
+you may have your fine dresses and hats, &c. &c. safely and neatly
+arranged for travelling, by men who thus gain their living, and it is
+surprising with what adroitness and fitness they adjust each article,
+depositing more in _one_ box or trunk than we could in _two_, and
+fixing every thing so securely that it cannot get injured, no matter
+how violent the motion of the carriage may be. On Wednesday, we shall
+set out for the borders of the Rhine. Papa has determined to proceed
+to Strasbourg and thence descend the river as far as Nimueguen, where
+we shall abandon the steamboat for the stage and commence our tour
+through Holland. How I shall regret to part with the Danvilles! Poor
+Edgar, it will cost him a severe pang to bid farewell to Marcella,
+though I verily believe she has refused him, judging from certain
+indescribable, but very _expressive_ symptoms in their recent
+behaviour towards each other. Alas! we shall probably never see her
+again. Mr. Danville has promised to rejoin us at Morven Lodge, about
+the period of your marriage. Papa without assigning the reason of his
+request has urged him to be with us there by the 10th of April, but I
+have been so loquacious as to explain all to Leonora, and we have
+decided on acting as bride's maids, which you must own is extremely
+kind. Pray don't scold me in your next, for tattling, and don't tell
+Albert of my volubility; you know, he always insists that the stale
+and foolish saying, "a woman cannot keep a secret," is correct, and he
+would be sure to crow over my frailty. This evening we are going to
+see the opera of the "_Muette de Portici_," in which there is a
+representation of Mount Vesuvius in a state of eruption, and the
+imitation is considered excellent and wonderful. Our party will be
+large, but I suspect not gay, for the reflection, that in two days we
+shall be far separated, will doubtless cast a gloom over the mind of
+each. As for me, I cannot bear to dwell upon the subject in thought or
+word, so will hasten to another. Who should drop in upon us yesterday
+evening, while we were at tea, but Ernestus Blanford, and he rendered
+himself doubly welcome by delivering your despatches. Thank you for my
+share of them and for the beautiful embroidered reticule. Mamma is
+much pleased with her's. Really, you are cunningly skilled in
+producing, _Love in a Mist_, _Heart's Ease and Bachelor's Buttons_;
+may you be as successful in creating the first and second in the
+hymeneal state; for the third, there will then be no demand. Our
+father and brothers desire their acknowledgments for the watch guards
+you wove them, and Sigismund bids me say, that if the chains with
+which you have encircled Albert are as soft and silken as those just
+received, he is no longer amazed at his tame submission to thraldom.
+We took a farewell drive through the city this morning, and visited
+the whale now exhibiting on the place "Louis Quinze," in a neat
+edifice erected for its reception; and what do you think of their
+having converted the poor dead monster into a reading room. It is a
+fact, that the interior of the carcass is decorated and furnished for
+that purpose, and is the resort of the newsmonger as well as the
+curious! It was on the place "Louis Quinze," (from the centre of
+which, the view of palaces, avenues, colonnades and bridges, is
+superb) that the royal martyrs and thousands of other victims of the
+reign of terror, met their fate, at the foot of a statue of Liberty,
+erected during that bloody period on the ruins of an equestrian statue
+of Louis XV. This was overthrown by the remorseless revolutionists,
+although it was universally regarded as an exquisite piece of
+sculpture, (especially the horse) and was the chéf d'oeuvre of
+Bouchardon. Issuing like Jonah from the whale, but probably with less
+_velocity_, we went to the Bazaar to purchase some rolls of sweet
+chocolate, which we are advised to carry with us, as being agreeable
+and wholesome to eat early in the morning, when travelling a long
+distance to breakfast. While the woman who sold it was tying up the
+package, we questioned her about the conflagration of the old Bazaar,
+that happened several years ago, and among other things she told us
+that two Anacondas, confined in a room of the building, perished in
+the flames, and during their torments shrieked like human creatures.
+It is quite amusing to remark the variety of forms into which
+chocolate is cast here. Tiny boots and shoes, pots and kettles, bugs
+and nuts, little men and little women, and numerous other objects are
+represented by the ingenious manufacturer of that luxury. As for the
+bugs with their wire legs, and the divers sorts of nuts, you can
+distinguish them from real ones, only by the touch or taste. While on
+the subject of eatables, let me mention the peculiar manner in which
+iced creams are served at balls and parties. Each kind is moulded into
+the shape of the fruit with which it is flavored, and frequently a
+peach or apple dexterously tinged with red, to render the semblance of
+nature more complete. The plates containing them are usually in the
+form of a golden grape leaf; the stem turned up constitutes a handle,
+and golden spoons accord with the burnished leaf. When an
+entertainment is given, it is only necessary for the master or
+mistress to send a mandate for the requisite number of ices, to
+Tortoni, Hardi, or any other adept in the _freezing_ art, and at the
+appointed hour they arrive, disposed in the tasteful order just
+described.
+
+We have lately witnessed a race on the "Field of Mars," the spot
+appropriated to such sports and to military parades. It is a vast
+plain, in front of the military school, and is capable of admitting
+the evolutions of 10,000 soldiers within its boundaries. These consist
+of rows of trees and a verdant bank, or a wide wall of turfed earth,
+which affords a safe and convenient station for the spectators of the
+scene below. The race road is immediately beneath the bank, and
+separated from the area of the plain by stone pillars connected with
+iron chains--beyond these the carriages and horsemen are ranged. We
+observed several ladies dashing about on horseback at a fearless rate,
+and among them the pretty Mrs. W. the Yankee wife of a rich banker. On
+one side there was a pavillion wherein we procured seats, and the
+royal family occupied another near it, which had been prepared for
+them. The little duke of Bordeaux and his youthful sister, were in
+extacies whenever the horses ran by. The chief contention was between
+a courser of Monsieur Casimir Perier and one belonging to Lord
+Seymour. The French steed gained the victory much to the delight of
+the populace. But some Englishmen surmised that if Purdy had been
+there, matters would have ended differently. I asked Mr. Danville who
+they meant by Purdy, and he informed me that he is a countryman of
+ours, who once distinguished himself in America, (at the city of New
+York, I think he said,) by mounting a famous horse, _ycleped Eclipse_,
+and wresting the palm from Henry, a celebrated racer of the South. At
+present I must fulfil my promise of describing to you the "palace of
+the arts," anciently termed the college of the four nations, because
+it was designed by its founder Cardinal Mazarin, for the reception of
+pupils from among the four nations subdued by Louis the great. It is a
+handsome structure, extending for many yards along the borders of the
+Seine. Its designation has been changed and it is now used by the
+"Royal Academy or Institute," for their private meetings and general
+assemblies. This corps of Savans was established in the reign of
+Louis, and is composed of the élite of the philosophers, artists and
+literary men of the kingdom. They correspond with the literati of all
+countries, and have done much in the cause of literature and the arts
+and sciences. They have ranged themselves into four classes; the first
+is devoted to the improvement of natural philosophy, chemistry and
+mathematics, and is denominated the "Academy of Sciences;" the second
+makes the language and literature of France its care, and is called
+the "French Academy;" the third applies itself to history and ancient
+learning, and bears the title of the "Academy of Inscriptions and
+Belles Lettres," and the fourth, the "Academy of the Fine Arts," is
+employed on music, painting, sculpture and architecture. The classes
+meet separately once a week, and hold each general annual association,
+in the months of March, April, July and October; at which times prizes
+are awarded by the Academy of the Fine Arts, to such as deserve them;
+who are afterwards permitted to repair to Rome and remain there some
+years to improve themselves in their vocations, the government paying
+their expenses. The hall in which the general meetings are held, was
+formerly a chapel; beneath it Cardinal Mazarin lies buried. The
+members wear a costume of black and green, and the successful
+candidates are sometimes crowned with wreaths of laurel. The hall and
+several apartments leading to it, are decorated with statues of
+various distinguished characters,--as Bossuet, Fenelon, Sully, Pascal,
+Descartes, Rollin, Molière, and others, whose names are venerated by
+the learned and good. The post hour has arrived, so farewell to my
+"bonny Jean"--we shall soon be still farther from you, but any where
+and every where I shall still be your devoted sister
+
+LEONTINE.
+
+
+
+
+The following specimen of a translation of Homer's Iliad, by the late
+William Munford, is now ushered before the public for the first time.
+We have been permitted to make this extract from the work, and will
+continue to present our readers with other specimens in our succeeding
+numbers. It is needless to say to our Virginia readers who the author
+was, for he was known to the state at large, not only as one of the
+best of men, but as a most laborious public servant, and as a scholar
+of deep research and profound learning. His fame as a poet depends
+upon the reception which this translation may meet with. Of the work,
+the author himself has expressed the hope, that "the _lovers_ of HOMER
+will not be unwilling to behold their favorite author arrayed in such
+various suits of apparel, as may be furnished by artists of different
+tastes. Pope has equipped him in the fashionable style of a modern
+fine gentleman;--Cowper displays him (like his own Ulysses) 'in rags
+unseemly,' or in the uncouth garb of a savage. Surely, then, there is
+room for an effort to introduce him to the acquaintance of my
+countrymen, in the simple, yet graceful and venerable costume of his
+own heroic times. The design, at least, will be admitted to be good,
+however imperfect the execution."
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+THE SCENE BETWEEN HECTOR AND ANDROMACHE.
+
+BOOK VI.
+
+
+    This said, the chief of heroes, Hector, thence
+  Departing, soon his splendid palace reach'd
+  And courts commodious:--but he found not there
+  His white-arm'd princess, fair Andromache;--
+  For, with her child and maid of graceful garb,
+  She stood in Ilion's tower, moaning sad,
+  Weeping and sighing.--Finding not within
+  His blameless wife, he on his threshold stood,
+  And of his servants, thus inquiry made.
+  Be quick, and tell me truly; whither went
+  My lovely consort, fair Andromache?--
+  To any of my sisters, did she go;--
+  Or brother's wives;--or to Minerva's fane,
+  Where other Trojan dames with flowing hair,
+  The dreadful Goddess by their prayers appease?
+  His household's faithful governess replied;--
+  Oh Hector, (since thou bidst me tell thee true,)
+  To none of all thy sisters did she go,
+  Or brother's wives;--nor to Minerva's fane,
+  Where other Trojan dames with flowing hair,
+  The dreadful Goddess by their prayers appease:--
+  But she is gone to Ilion's lofty tower,
+  Urg'd by the direful news, that in the field
+  The Trojans suffer much, and Greeks prevail.
+  Alarm'd and seeming frantic, to the wall
+  She hurried, and the nurse her infant bore.
+  So spake the prudent dame.--Impetuous, thence
+  Great Hector rush'd, retracing (through the streets
+  With beauteous buildings grac'd,) his former way.
+  But, through the spacious city, when he reach'd
+  The Scoean portals, whence into the field
+  He meant to hasten, there his faithful wife
+  Andromache, to meet her Hector ran;--
+  His wife with wealthy dowry, daughter fair
+  Of fam'd Eëtion,--chief magnanimous,
+  Who dwelt, in Hypoplacus' sylvan land,
+  At Hypoplacian Thebes,--Cilicia's king;--
+  His daughter wedded Hector great in arms,
+  And now to meet him sprang:--with her the nurse,
+  Who, in her bosom, bore the tender babe,
+  Their only son, and joy of Hector's heart,--
+  Who, bright in youthful beauty, like a star
+  Resplendent shone.--Scamandrius was the name
+  That Hector gave him;--others call'd the boy
+  Astyanax, in honor of his sire,
+  Sole guard and bulwark of the suff'ring town.
+  He smil'd in silence, gazing on his son!--
+  But sad Andromache beside him stood,
+  With anxious fondness shedding tender tears:
+  She, sorrowing, clasp'd his hand, and thus she spake:
+  Ah, rashly brave! thy courage will thyself
+  Destroy:--nor dost thou pity this thy son
+  In helpless infancy, and me thy wife,
+  Unhappy, doom'd a widow soon to be;
+  For soon the Greeks will slay thee,--all combined
+  Assailing:--but for me, of thee bereft,
+  Better it were to sink beneath the ground;--
+  For no relief or solace will be mine
+  When thou art dead; but unremitting grief.--
+  No more have I a father;--now no more
+  My honor'd mother lives.--Achilles slew
+  My father, and laid waste Cilician Thebes,
+  His town, well-peopled, grac'd with lofty gates.
+  He slew Eëtion;--yet, with rev'rence touch'd,
+  Despoil'd him not, but burn'd the breathless corse
+  With all it's splendid armor, and, above
+  It's ashes, heap'd a monument of earth.
+  The mountain nymphs, of Ægis-bearing Jove
+  Immortal daughters, planted round the tomb
+  A grove of elms, in honor of the dead.--
+  My brethren, too,--seven gallant heroes,--all
+  In one sad day, to Pluto's dark abode
+  Went down together; for the swift and strong
+  Achilles slew them all, among their herds
+  And fleecy flocks.--My mother, who had reigned
+  The queen of Hypoplacus' sylvan land,
+  Was hither brought, with other spoils of war,
+  And, for a ransom infinite, releas'd;--
+  But, home return'd, within her father's halls,
+  Diana's arrow pierc'd her mournful heart.--
+  Yet, Hector, thou alone, art all to me;--
+  Father, and honor'd mother, brother too;--
+  My husband dear, and partner of my youth.
+  Oh then, have pity now, and here remain
+  Upon this tower; lest thy hapless son
+  An orphan, and thy wife a widow be.--
+  The people, station at the fig-tree, where
+  The town is most accessible, and wall
+  May be ascended:--there, a fierce assault,
+  The bravest of our foes have thrice essayed;--
+  The two Ajaces, fam'd Idomeneus,
+  Th' Atridæ also, and the mighty son
+  Of Tydeus;--whether by some soothsay'r mov'd
+  In heavenly tokens skill'd, or their own minds
+  Impelling them with animating hope.
+  To her the mighty Hector made reply:--
+  All thou hast said, employs my thoughtful mind.
+  But, from the Trojans, much I dread reproach,
+  And Trojan dames whose garments sweep the ground,
+  If, like a coward, I should shun the war:--
+  Nor does my soul to such disgrace incline;
+  Since, to be always bravest, I have learn'd,
+  And with the first of Troy to lead the fight;--
+  Asserting so, my father's lofty claim
+  To glory, and my own renown in arms:--
+  For well I know, in heart and mind convinc'd,
+  A day will come, when sacred Troy must fall,
+  And Priam, and the people of renown'd
+  Spear-practis'd Priam!--Yet, for this to me
+  Not such concern arises;--not the woes
+  Of all the Trojans;--not my mother's griefs;--
+  Not royal Priam's, nor my brethren's death,
+  Many and brave, (who, slain by cruel foes,
+  Will be laid low in dust,)--so wring my heart,
+  As thy distress, when some one of the Greeks
+  In brazen armor clad, will drive thee hence,
+  Thy days of freedom gone, a weeping slave!--
+  Perhaps, at Argos, thou may'st ply the loom
+  For some proud mistress, or may'st water bring
+  From Messa's or Hyperia's fountain;--sad,
+  And much reluctant, stooping to the weight
+  Of hard necessity; and some one, then,
+  Seeing thee weep, will say--"behold the wife
+  Of Hector, who was first in martial might
+  Of all the warlike Trojans, when they fought
+  Around the walls of Ilion!"--So will speak
+  Some heedless passer by, and grief renew'd
+  Excite in thee, for such an husband lost,
+  Whose arm could slavery's evil day avert.
+  But me, may then an heap of earth conceal
+  Within the silent tomb, before I hear
+  Thy shrieks of terror and captivity.
+  This said, illustrious Hector stretched his arms
+  To take his child; but, to the nurse's breast
+  The babe clung crying, hiding in her robe
+  His little face;--affrighted to behold
+  His father's awful aspect;--fearing too,
+  The brazen helm, and crest with horse-hair crown'd,
+  Which, nodding dreadful from its lofty cone,
+  Alarm'd him!--Sweetly, then, the father smil'd,
+  And sweetly smil'd the mother!--Soon the chief
+  Remov'd the threat'ning helmet from his head,
+  And plac'd it on the ground, all-beaming bright.
+  Then, having fondly kiss'd his son belov'd,
+  And toss'd him playfully, he thus, to Jove
+  And all th' immortals, pray'd:--Oh grant me, Jove,
+  And other powers divine, that this my son
+  May be, (as I am,) of the Trojan race
+  In glory chief!--So let him be renown'd
+  For warlike prowess, and commanding sway,
+  With power and wisdom join'd; of Ilion king!
+  And may his people say, "This chief excels
+  His father, greatly;" when, from fields of fame
+  Triumphant he returns, bearing aloft
+  The bloody spoils, (some hostile hero slain,)
+  And his fond mother's heart expands with joy.
+  He said, and plac'd his child within the arms
+  Of his beloved spouse:--she him receiv'd,
+  And softly on her fragrant bosom laid,
+  Smiling with tearful eyes.--To pity mov'd,
+  Her husband saw:--with kind consoling hand
+  He wip'd the tears away, and thus he spake.
+  My dearest love! grieve not thy mind for me
+  Excessively!--no man can send me hence
+  To Pluto's hall, before th' appointed time;--
+  And surely, none, of all the human race,
+  (Base, or e'en brave,) has ever shunn'd his fate;
+  His fate fore-doom'd when first he saw the light.
+  But now, (returning home,) thy works attend,
+  The loom and distaff, and command thy maids
+  To household duties;--while the war shall be
+  Of _men_ the care;--of all indeed,--but most
+  The care of _me_, of all in Ilion born.
+  So saying, Hector glorious chieftain took
+  His crested helm again.--His wife belov'd
+  Homeward return'd; but often turned her head,
+  With retrospective eye, and tears profuse.
+  At length she reach'd the palace of her lord,--
+  The stately palace with commodious rooms,
+  Of Hector terror of his foes, and found
+  Her numerous maids within; among them all,
+  Exciting sorrow!--They, with doleful cries,
+  Hector (tho' living still) as dead, bewailed,
+  In his own house;--expecting never more
+  To see the chief, returning from the war,
+  Escap'd the strength and valor of the Greeks.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+THE DOOR-LATCH.
+
+RECOLLECTIONS OF A MARRIED MAN.
+
+
+"Go back and shut that door!" roared I in a voice of thunder.
+
+"How can you, my dear," said Julia, with a supplicating glance, "speak
+so _very_ loud, when I have just told you that my head is bursting
+with pain."
+
+"Because," said I, "I can bear it no longer. It is now ten years since
+we moved into this room, and ten times every day have I been compelled
+to get up and shut that door after one and another. I have talked--and
+talked--but it is all of no use: the door still stands wide open, and
+I cannot bear it--No! and I _wont_ bear it any longer--I'll sell the
+house sooner than endure it another week."
+
+Her tiny white hand was pressed against her throbbing forehead, as I
+finished the sentence with a glance at her of undissembled sternness,
+and the mild look of patient suffering and imploring submission with
+which she returned my angry frown--it cut me to the heart! I could
+read my own death warrant at this very hour with less of pain than I
+felt at that moment, as she raised her blue eyes glistening with
+suppressed tears, and with all the innocence and affection of an
+expiring saint, begged me in the silent eloquence of nature to spare
+her whom I had promised to "cherish and to love."
+
+"I have never seen you troubled," said she, (uncomplaining spirit!
+there was no emphasis--no! not the _least_, on the word _troubled_!)
+"I have never seen you troubled at any thing except that door--and
+gladly would I remedy it, but you know that I cannot. Were a very
+little filed from the inside of the catch it would shut without
+difficulty--I should never think of it," added she after a pause, "on
+my own account, but it causes you so much vexation."
+
+It was true as she had said, that I had felt more anger in consequence
+of that unfortunate door than all the other untoward events which I
+had experienced from the time of my marriage. A _heavy_ loss--a _sore_
+disappointment--a _great_ calamity, I could endure with composure. The
+trial required philosophy for its support, and the exercise of
+philosophy was a gratification to pride. But a door-latch! What
+occasion could that give for philosophy? None, and therefore I let it
+gall me _to the quick_!!! It was, as I observed, so easy to shut it,
+with a little care--such a _little_ thing, if only attended to.
+"True!" whispered Philosophy in my ear, "but such a 'little thing' to
+get angry about! such a 'little thing' to make you miserable for an
+hour every day! for shame, Mr. Plowman!" To tell the truth I did begin
+to feel a little ashamed when I recollected how much unhappiness it
+had caused not only myself--but _through_ me my dearer wife.
+
+"I declare, my dear!" said I, "that if that door-latch had only been
+filed ten years ago, it would have saved each of us one year of pain
+before this time!"
+
+Thomas had brought in a file before my speech was finished, and in a
+few moments the door shut as easily and firmly as ever door did. I
+swung it a few times on the hinges with an air of triumph, and I
+verily believe that the work of that single moment conferred more
+happiness on Julia as well as myself, than all his blood-bought
+triumphs ever yielded to the conqueror.
+
+"The root of bitterness," said I, "is removed at last, and I can only
+wonder at my own stupidity in not thinking of the simple remedy
+before--but Heaven forgive me! I had entirely forgotten your headache:
+the sound of that file must have been _torture_ to you!"
+
+She smiled sweetly as she leaned her head on my shoulder,
+declaring--although her forehead burnt my hand, and the blood was
+_raging_ through her veins, that it was "quite cured, _since the door
+shut so easily_!!" Uncomplaining, devoted, self-sacrificing treasure
+of my heart! How could I do less than clasp her to my bosom and swear
+to cherish her with tenfold care, and pray--while I kissed away the
+tear from her eye--that my own cruel thoughtlessness might never fill
+its place with another.
+
+Such pleasure was too rare and valuable to be interrupted at the
+moment of its birth--so I look my arm chair from the corner, and
+sitting down at the side of Julia, who, while she held my hand, looked
+me in the face with very much of that expression of innocent delight,
+which so rarely survives childhood. I pursued my cogitations somewhat
+in the following order. "Life is made up of moments. Our happiness or
+unhappiness during any one of these moments depends almost invariably
+upon the merest _trifles_. If these momentary trifles are in the scale
+of happiness, life is happy. Take care then of trifles, and _great_
+events will take care of themselves. (Somewhere about here I began to
+think _aloud_!) I lost a grandfather--an amiable, excellent, and most
+affectionate grandfather--and my grief was _great_. Nevertheless, I do
+believe that if the _hard bottomed_ chair, [N. B. It was of white
+oak.] in which I have sat for the last eight--yes! nine years--if this
+chair had but been well covered with a good, soft sheepskin--that
+sheepskin--purchased at the cost of ninepence,--would have saved me
+from a greater grief than the death of my grandfather!"
+
+"It is a mortifying reflection," said Julia, interrupting my
+soliloquy, "and one which at first thought would seem to speak little
+for your heart--yet a true one perhaps; and not more true with you
+than with many others."
+
+"And still," said I, "I am without the sheepskin. Why? Because the
+pain endured in a single moment is so trifling that if we do not take
+the trouble to add all the moments together and look at the pain _in
+the aggregate_, one would hardly turn his hand upside down to be freed
+from it."
+
+"But why not purchase the sheepskin, now that you _have_ added the
+moments together?" said she.
+
+"After all my reflection I should never have thought of that but for
+you. But a sheepskin! It will never do! A green velvet cushion may
+answer instead; and as the old one in your rocking chair seems to be
+somewhat worn I must even buy another for you."
+
+"Oh! _green_ velvet by all means!" said she. "It will correspond so
+well with the carpet and the new hearth rug which you promised me a
+month since. That was to have _green_ for its border, you know."
+
+I could not withstand the hint, and brought in the rug with the
+cushions that evening--and, to one who has ever _seen_ my wife, I need
+not say that the smile that lit up her face and beamed from her eye
+was worth the price of a thousand.
+
+G.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+DESART GRIEF.
+
+BY LUCY T. JOHNSON.
+
+
+  There are no dews in desart lands--
+    No showers refresh their skies;
+  But oft the winds sweep o'er their sands,
+    And breathe their voiceless sighs
+  Thro' depths profound, where naught hath been
+  To glad the ever wearied scene.
+
+  So weeps the soul in ripened years,
+    Mid life's turmoil and grief;
+  When the last fount of balmy tears
+    Hath lent its last relief,--
+  And when the lips oft pour their sighs
+  O'er blighted hopes and broken ties.
+
+  O! in this world so full of tears,
+    There is not one for me--
+  The fountain of my early years,
+    Of heavenly drops so free,
+  Hath ceased to pour its natal tide
+  When cares oppress, or ills abide.
+
+  Where is the balm to Israel blest,
+    That Gilead gave of yore?
+  Can it not sooth the heart to rest
+    As it hath done before?
+  Methinks I hear a voice doth say--
+  Pray thou, in fervent meekness pray.
+
+  Tis done--that prayer was not in vain;
+    Its incense reached to heaven;
+  And sweet's the joy that springs again
+    In chaste emotion given.
+  Flow on, flow on, ye balmy tears,
+  As ye have flow'd in other years.
+
+  So falls the dew on desart sands,
+    And showers refresh their skies,
+  When from the founts of distant lands
+    Some grateful mist may rise,
+  And pour its fresh'ning breath at last
+  On all the melancholy waste.
+
+_Elfin Moor, Va. September 1835_.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+SONG OF THE PIRATE'S WIFE,
+
+ON HER PASSAGE FROM CORUNNA TO NEW YORK.
+
+Air--"Meeting of the Waters."
+
+"The wife of the Spanish Pirate, Bernardo de Soto, hearing in Corunna,
+in Spain, of the trial and condemnation of her husband in Boston,
+immediately freighted a small schooner, and leaving her three
+children, sailed for Boston. She visited Washington to intercede for
+her husband, returned to New York, and hastened to Boston to afford
+him the solace of her presence."
+
+
+  Adieu to the shores of my dear native clime,
+  The land of the olive and pale-tinted lime!
+  Your bright orange tree, and your clustering vine,
+  No pleasure can yield to this sad soul of mine.
+
+  I go from the land of my dear cottage-home--
+  My babes, they are there--from my babes I must roam;
+  A mother's fond heart, it hath bid them adieu,
+  And fatherless children left motherless too.
+
+  That cheek, from my own I have torn it away,
+  Unlock'd the dear arms that would force me to stay;
+  All eloquent, vainly, the big tears did flow,
+  The heart of the wife bade the mother to go.
+
+  Blow breezes! blow breezes! fill kindly the sail--
+  My panting heart leaps at the voice of the gale;
+  Swift onward! swift onward! his doom may be seal'd,
+  Unheard my petition, my love unreveal'd.
+
+  They're gone, the bright shores of my dear native clime,
+  The land of the olive and pale-tinted lime--
+  All tearless, bright shores, I can see you depart,
+  For stronger than death is the love of my heart.
+
+  The stain of his hands, though the crimson of blood,
+  That may not be blanch'd with the deep ocean-flood--
+  The sin of his soul against mercy and truth
+  Cannot wean from the pirate the wife of his youth.
+
+  For mercy! for mercy!--to offer my plea,
+  Nor ocean nor land can have terrors for me;
+  From country and home I can heedlessly part--
+  The cell of the pirate is home to my heart.
+
+  There's pardon! there's pardon! and long shall his life,
+  Unsullied by crime, be the bliss of his wife--
+  And blessed, thenceforward, most blessed shall be
+  The home of Senora, beneath the lime tree.
+
+ELIZA.
+
+_Maine_.
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+ANOTHER VISIT TO THE VIRGINIA SPRINGS
+
+OR THE ADVENTURES OF HARRY HUMBUG, ESQ.
+
+_A new version of an old story_.
+
+  Too much rest is rust,
+    There's ever cheer in changing;
+  We tyne by too much trust,
+    So we'll be up and ranging.
+                           _Old Song_.
+
+
+In order to recommend myself and the article, which, to use the
+fashionable phraseology, is now being prepared for the Messenger, to
+the favorable consideration of its readers, I beg leave to premise
+that I am a gentleman of good education and respectable talents--that
+I am in circumstances of ease and leisure, and what is a still
+stronger recommendation at the present alarming crisis, I am both from
+conviction and expediency, a decided anti-abolitionist. You must know,
+Mr. Editor, that besides having been afflicted all my life with that
+rabid propensity, which in classical dialect is called _cacoethes
+scribendi_, I have been troubled with another inconvenient and rather
+expensive malady, which I shall call the _cacoethes perigrinantis_, by
+which I mean, that about the time of the dog-days I am generally beset
+by an unconquerable desire for locomotion, an irresistible propensity
+to change my place of abode and all its multiform incidents and
+relations, and to launch forth as it were into a new creation--to look
+abroad upon Nature and Nature's works, and to contemplate my
+fellow-worms in some of their new antics and attitudes.
+
+Accordingly, during the late summer, attracted by the fame of the
+Virginia Springs and the salubrious region in which they lie, I
+deposited my frame (none of the smallest) in one of those republican
+vehicles called a mail coach, a true and happy invention by the way,
+for bringing discordant spirits into close communion with one
+another--an admirable machine for levelling all artificial
+distinctions--a kind of itinerant temple where Patrician and Plebeian,
+both masculine and feminine, where mountebank and statesman, puritan
+and profligate, and all the moods and genders of character may nestle
+together and worship at the same altar of democracy. But for certain
+drawbacks and inconveniences which will readily suggest themselves to
+the reader--such as the dangers of dislocation and fracture, and
+sundry annoyances too tedious to mention--a man of observation like
+myself would find it as agreeable to spend his summers in a stage
+coach as any where else. It is a kind of moral Kaleidescope, where at
+every turn some new combination or some curious variety in human
+character is presented to the eye. It above all imparts a refreshing
+hilarity to the spirits, which are too apt to stagnate when chained
+down to one solitary spot on the earth's surface. But this is a
+digression. Having deposited myself in the vehicle as before
+mentioned, I shall not entertain the reader as is the custom with some
+of the more learned fraternity of tourists, by long and elaborate
+details of the several points of arrival and departure--by curious and
+profound dissertations upon the philosophy of a coach wheel revolving
+upon its axis--nor by beautiful and extatic bursts about the blue
+skies and verdant meadows and lofty forests. Suffice it to say, that I
+found myself on the evening of an August day, on the summit of the
+Warm Spring Mountain which overlooks the first thermal fountain in the
+Pilgrim's path to Hygeia. Here I commence my adventures. This is the
+starting point of my story, and it is henceforth of course that I
+shall expect my gentle reader to sharpen his attentive faculty--and as
+Mark Anthony said to his countrymen at Cæsar's funeral, "lend me his
+ears." Gently and by slow degrees had we surmounted the ascent of this
+celebrated mountain, (celebrated at least in the Old Dominion and by
+all travellers to the Springs,) and now we were about to pass down
+into the valley of the warm waters. Kind reader, if your steps have
+never led you thither, I must inform you that the descent on the
+western side is most exceedingly and _unaccommodatingly_ abrupt. The
+pilot, however, _alias_ driver, who in this instance at least
+entertained some regard for his living freight, used the precaution of
+_locking_, to speak technically, or rather of _shoeing_ one of his
+hinder wheels--but no sooner had the yet untired steeds commenced
+their downward course, (the coach with its ton weight at least of
+flesh and bone rapidly following,) than spang went the lock chain
+asunder! and away flew the mettlesome animals as fast as their heels
+would carry them. _Now_, we plunged onward as if driving through the
+mountain forest,--then, suddenly turning, rolled at some distance on
+the margin of a frightful precipice, each moment expecting to be
+dashed headlong down its angry side. Here gliding as swiftly as an
+arrow over a tolerably smooth surface, and there jolting and rattling
+over some rocky gutter, which communicated its jarring vibration to
+each sensitive nerve--and then what confusion and consternation
+within! There was my unlucky self, for example, tossed to and fro, in
+a manner which reminded me of poor Sancho in the memorable blanket
+scene. First thrown in one direction, I found one of my elbows
+actually goring the side of a stout nullifier from the Palmetto
+State--then hurled to the opposite point of the compass by another
+pitch of the coach, I found myself in the act of suffocating a little
+New Yorker, whom I took to be an abolitionist. Next, by another cross
+movement, I detected myself almost in the lap of a fat middle aged
+lady, who weighed at least thirty pounds more than myself, and
+presently I came almost in contact with the lips of a rosy cheeked
+damsel of seventeen, who was about to make her _debut_ at the White
+Sulphur. And then what a crowding and jostling of knees, and what a
+thumping and bruising of shins! The ladies screamed--the nullifier
+roared and threatened, and the little Manhattaner protested that in
+case of any serious accident to the party, the coroner's inquest would
+be murder in the first degree against both the driver and proprietor.
+As for me, I confess that my thoughts were multitudinous and not very
+delightful. First I thought of Capt. John Gilpin, and wished most
+heartily that I might come off as well as that renowned officer of the
+London militia--then I thought of that silly old fellow Phoebus, who
+from paternal weakness alone committed the reins of his golden chariot
+to a foolish boy, and lastly I was harrowed in imagination at the
+terrible idea of Ixion revolving forever on his infernal wheel.
+Neither did I forget that classical sentence which flashed across my
+memory, and which I fear is too true in more senses than that in which
+the poet used it--
+
+  _Facilis descensus Averni_, &c.
+
+Fortunately, however, the genius of terror passed over us without
+exacting any of the usual sacrifices of broken bones and dislocated
+limbs, and in a short time our Palinurus (who to do him the justice
+performed his part handsomely) landed us in front of the spacious
+portico of the Warm Spring Hotel.
+
+Every person in the world (I mean that portion of the world which goes
+to the Virginia Springs,) who knows any thing of the great hotel at
+which we stopped--knows that it is kept by Col. Fry--one of the most
+polite, accommodating and facetious landlords that ever lived from the
+time of "Mine Host of the Garter" down to the present day. He will not
+only give you the best which his ample house affords, but he is always
+ready to say a good thing with a good grace, in order, I suppose, to
+put his guests in the most comfortable humor imaginable. The visitors
+to the Springs however never remain long at the Colonel's Caravansera
+at the commencement of the season. Those who come from the north and
+east generally give "mine host" a passing salutation attended by a
+stout promise to devour his substance as they return from their merry
+circuit. He on the other hand is not backward in hastening their
+return somewhat after the following manner. "After being well charged,
+gentlemen, with Calwell's sulphur--well _salted_ by Erskine and
+Caruthers--your pulsations equalized--and your expectations realized
+by Burke--your palates feasted and _sweetened_ at the bubbling
+fountain of friend Rogers--and your carcases _boiled_ and sweated by
+Dr. Goode--you may then safely return and be _fried_ under my special
+direction." All this terrible process it seems I was destined to
+undergo, and accordingly I gave my valedictory blessing to the
+Colonel, who take him for all in all is "a fellow of infinite jest and
+most excellent humor." Being again reconciled to my mail coach,
+notwithstanding recent alarms, I soon found myself alighted in the
+spacious lawn of the far-famed _White Sulphur Springs_. All who visit
+the mineral region are bound by a law more absolute than that of
+gravitation to wend to this favorite spot. It is the great magnet
+which alike attracts the way worn valetudinarian and the votary of
+fashion. Imagination depicts it as the very elysium of hope and the
+paradise of enjoyment! It is the _Almacks_ of watering places, where
+all the dignitaries of the land--the learned and unlearned--the young,
+the gay and the beautiful, submit to humiliation and sacrifice, in
+order to gain admission. The multitudes who thronged the porches of
+the pool of Bethseda, looked not with more anxiety for the coming of
+the angel who troubled the waters, than do the hundreds who crowd
+around King Calwell's throne, await the approving smile (the
+_Introito_) of his principal Secretary of State. Woe be unto the
+luckless wight who is found at a crisis of pressure, in a public
+conveyance,--who does not bring along with him a flaming equipage and
+attendants; he is laid on the shelf, or to use the customary phrase,
+is _turned off_ with the same _sang froid_ with which a Netherlander
+smokes his pipe, or a Westerner shoots his rifle. To me, however, the
+stars were propitious, and when the little Grand Vizier tipt me the
+nod of assent, I followed the guide to my dormitory with as light a
+heart and elastic a step as if I had been appointed an ambassador with
+full powers. What became of my stage companions I did not stop to
+inquire. I was indeed so much elated with my own good fortune that for
+once I forgot my usual benevolence, and it was not until the next
+morning that I learned that a due proportion of them were sentenced to
+perform quarantine in the neighborhood. Here then, said I to myself,
+have I at last reached the goal of my desires! This is the spot where
+so many thousands are sighing to come without being gratified--where
+so many love sick city nymphs and whiskered beaux are panting to try
+their luck in the wheel of life's lottery. What a lucky dog am I to
+have gained admittance into this region of delight!
+
+I continued to soliloquize in this rapturous strain, until Blackamore
+(it was night fall on my arrival) conducted me to my chamber,--where,
+being somewhat fatigued, I proposed to retire at an early hour and to
+rise with the morning sun, renovated and refreshed for all the
+countless enjoyments of the next day. The serene current of my
+thoughts was, to be sure, somewhat ruffled, when on reaching my
+apartment I found it to be a quadrangle of about eight feet
+dimensions, with a cot and mattress on each side of the door arranged
+for two lodgers. A couple of chairs, a wash stand, and a fractured
+mirror about the size of the Jack of Spades, constituted the sum total
+of the furniture. "My worthy descendant of Ethiop!" I exclaimed, "here
+is some mistake! Do you take a gentleman of my size and respectability
+into a room not larger than a closet? No fire either to warm my limbs
+in the chilly night air of these mountains? I will forthwith complain
+to the Prime Minister!"
+
+"Lod masser," answered Syphax, or Juba or Jugurtha, (I forget his
+name) "complaining will do no more good than saying nothing at all.
+Take a nigger's advice and keep quiet--for you ought to remember, sir,
+that mass Calwell _don't charge not a cent for board nor lodging_."
+
+"Thou son of old Sycorax!" I replied fiercely, "do you take me for a
+strolling mendicant? I will teach you and your master too, and his
+Grand Vizier to boot, that I expect to pay for my accommodations, and
+must therefore have them to my taste."
+
+"You're a high larned gentleman," said old Cato, (I think Cato was the
+name) "but nigger speaks the truth for all that. Mass Calwell not
+charge a four pence ha'-penny for eating and sleeping, but he charge
+_eight dollars a week for use of de water_."
+
+Notwithstanding that I was upon the verge of permitting the organ of
+my destructiveness to preponderate over that of my benevolence, I
+could not forbear smiling at the old negro's logic. "Eight dollars a
+week for water!" exclaimed I--"A fellow might drink his pint a day of
+the very best London particular for one half of that sum--Well, sir,
+we will try this precious elixir to-morrow morning. In the meantime,
+thou worthy descendant of Ham, I shall be inexpressibly obliged to you
+if you will lead me down to the drawing room, in order that I may warm
+these wearied and rheumatic limbs before retiring to rest."
+
+"Drawing room, sir," said old Cato, "I believe there is no such thing
+in the whole establishment. If folks want _warming_ here they must go
+to mass Plumb's bar room, which is way down in the cellar."
+
+"Bar room, sir!--Bar room!" I retorted, "can it be possible that men,
+rational men, can abandon the Spring--nature's own sweet medicinal
+compound, for those deleterious mixtures--those pernicious products of
+the corrupt art of distillation?" I forgot however that Cato had not
+entered into all the elaborate views and recondite reasonings of the
+Temperance Society--and I forthwith checked the rein of my
+imagination. I found that the best that I could do under all
+circumstances, was to betake myself to rest, and although I must
+confess that I had descended some few rounds on that golden ladder,
+which like Jacob's of old, I verily believed had led to the seventh
+heaven,--I consoled myself with the hope that _to-morrow_--delightful
+to-morrow--would spread a new and brighter coloring over my prospects.
+Cato being dismissed, I retired and slept soundly for the space of two
+hours at least; at the expiration of which time, I was suddenly
+startled by a noise immediately underneath me, which to my classical
+fancy seemed to resemble the shrieks of the ancient Bacchæ, the
+Priestesses of the Vine-loving God. Let that however pass! There was a
+mixture of music in it, or of something intended for music, which kept
+me in a tolerable humor and smoothed over those porcupine points which
+began to shoot forth at the unpleasant disturbance to my repose. The
+mystery was soon solved. Cato by direction of the Prime Minister, had
+placed me directly over the ball room--a most confounded location to
+be sure for a man fond of sleep--but still I thought that every one
+was bound to make some sacrifice in order to promote the enjoyments of
+others. "Tired nature's sweet restorer," lulled me once more into
+oblivion as soon as the clamor and screeching (for music it was not)
+had somewhat subsided. Again had the leaden God touched me with his
+wand, and again were my slumbers invaded by the arrival of my fellow
+lodger at midnight. _I began to descend a few more rounds on my golden
+ladder._ I thought of Sancho's exclamation, "Blessed is the man who
+first invented sleep!"--but what, thought I, is the invention worth if
+a man cannot use it even in this free country.
+
+Morning at last dawned--but oh! what a morning? The rain fell in
+torrents--and the wind came whistling down the mountain hollows as if
+old Æolus had resolved that his voice should be distinctly heard and
+his strength clearly understood. What was I to do? To walk abroad was
+impossible--so I even resolved to lay quietly ensconced in my cot,
+_hard_ as it was, until my fellow lodger, who was one of the Saturnine
+breed, should take his departure, and the merry bell should invite me
+to breakfast. My naturally sweet temper had become a little soured at
+my various discomforts--but my appetite was keen, and I thought with
+the immortal dramatist, that "when the veins are unfilled, we are
+neither apt to give nor forgive." When the hour arrived, I hastened
+with the aid of umbrella and cloak to the banquetting hall. The crowd
+had assembled in the long portico awaiting the signal of admission. A
+few only of the fairer part of creation were interspersed, and
+they--were any thing but fair. I presumed that the more delicate and
+fragile of the sex would not encounter "the peltings of the pitiless
+storm." The doors being opened, the multitude rushed in. What a
+resistless force thought I, is caused by the concurrent movement of
+400 human appetites about to engage at the breakfast table. It was a
+new discovery in mechanical philosophy, and I felt confident that the
+_momentum_ was at least equal to a hundred horse power. "Body of
+Bacchus!" as the Italians say, what a furious set-on there was! I sat
+at one end of the table in silent consternation! At length I ventured
+to ask one waiter for a hot cup of coffee--of another I civilly
+requested a chop--and a third I respectfully solicited to hand me a
+roll. I might as well have addressed my language to the door post. The
+menials rushed by me like a whirlwind. It seems, as I afterwards
+learned, that every mother's son of them had been bribed to wait on
+particular gentlemen; and if I had screamed at them loud enough to
+rupture a blood vessel, the knaves would have been as deaf as adders.
+At length I addressed myself to a juvenile looking man who was sitting
+not far to my right, and who though young in years was evidently a
+veteran in that sublime science called _Number One_; for I perceived
+that by a good understanding with the members of the Kitchen Cabinet
+and the black Alguazils of the breakfasting room, he had gathered
+around him as many tit-bits as would have feasted a London Alderman.
+"Pray sir," said I, "will you be so kind as to help me to one of those
+extra dishes in your vicinity!" The youngster looked at me with
+perfect amazement. I might as well have asked him for one of his
+wisdom teeth! By the by, I am not certain that he had cut either of
+them,--at all events I was confident of one thing, and that was, that
+the youth had never graduated in good manners. So I let him pass. But
+why relate my melancholy and fruitless efforts and my innumerable
+rebuffs at the table. There I had to sit a full three quarters of an
+hour at least, before my longing appetite was appeased. _Regaled_ it
+was not,--unless a cold mutton chop which retained the flavor of the
+wool, and a cup of decoction compounded by the rule of three grains of
+coffee to a gallon of water--can be said to constitute the highest
+felicity of eating.
+
+I arose from the table and _descended a few more rounds on my gilded
+ladder of hope_. What was I to do? The rain continued to fall in such
+torrents that Neptune himself could not have surpassed them, had he
+held his throne in the clouds. Cato had informed me the over night
+that there was no drawing room--and I was cold--my limbs were
+shivering. I resolved to visit the subterranean regions of the bar
+room and post office. There, to my unutterable grief, I found groups
+of individuals gathered together in such motley disorder, and withal
+forming so complete a blockade to every avenue approaching the
+fire--that I stood like a statue of despair. A cluster on my right
+were discoursing in grandiloquent style on the recent discoveries in
+the moon--another on my left were discussing the attempted
+assassination of the King of the French--a third were denouncing the
+whole army of abolitionists and lamenting that Tappan and Thompson did
+not find it convenient to visit the White Sulphur Springs--a fourth
+were denouncing the vengeance of Judge Lynch against the _Chevaliers
+D'Industrie_--anglicè black legs,--a fifth were pouring a volley of
+exterminating epithets upon the head of Amos Kendall and the Little
+Magician; and a sixth, did not even spare his majesty King Calwell
+himself and his minister of the home department, for putting them in
+_Fly Row_ to be devoured by those _cantackerous_[1] vermin, the fleas.
+I forgot that there was a seventh circle standing near Mr. Plumb's
+cabinet--who were very intently engaged at the early hour of ten--not
+in discussing domestic or foreign politics--lunar discoveries or
+abolition--but with all the ardor which distinguished the disputants
+on those several topics, were trying experiments upon a quart glass of
+genuine ice-crowned mint julep; and judging from the rapid fall of the
+fluid in the vessel which contained it, I thought that their
+experiments were likely to prove very successful. Unhappy me, that I
+was unable to participate in any of these conversational or bibaceous
+enjoyments! "I will not despair," thought I to myself, as between the
+hours of eleven and twelve the elements had ceased their strife, and a
+few spots of azure were already visible in the clouded vault.
+Presently the monarch of day himself peeped out from behind the black
+curtain which had hidden his shining countenance. I looked out and saw
+multitudes hastening to the Spring. This, said I, is the grand
+climacteric of my happiness!--now will I revel in the joys of that
+ambrosial fount which will console me for the sorrows of
+disappointment. The statue of the Nymph Hygeia[2] which surmounted the
+dome of the Spring house, looked more white and beautiful, as
+refreshed by the morning's shower bath she reflected the beams of her
+venerable grandsire.[3] Down I went to the Spring--and whilst the
+throng which preceded me were eagerly quaffing the delicious beverage,
+I had leisure to survey their countenances and to gather materials for
+reflection. It was evident that upon the pallid cheeks of some,
+wasting consumption had fixed her fatal seal. Others bore the
+jaundiced and cadaverous marks of obstructed bile. A few were the
+hobbling victims of hereditary or acquired gout, and were either
+suffering for the sour grapes which their fathers devoured, or paying
+the penalties of their own luxurious indulgence. By far the greater
+portion however had the ruddy complexions and smiling countenances of
+health. "Wonderful elixir!" said I to myself--"incomparable panacea!
+which not only cures all diseases, but is even beneficial to health
+itself." I hastened to dip my glass in the flowing nectar, and realize
+my fond anticipations. Alas! alas! the saying of the wise man of
+Greece rushed upon my memory--"_Desire nothing too much!_" My dream of
+bliss was suddenly dispelled! Instead of nectar, I smelt and tasted a
+mixture of brimstone and eggs in a state of putrescency! What an
+extinguisher to my air-built hopes and delusive fancies! And is it for
+this, I exclaimed within myself, that hundreds and thousands toil up
+craggy precipices and swelter under August suns? _Is it worth eight
+dollars per week to partake of this "villainous compound?"_ Must we
+sacrifice home and comfort, and real enjoyment, in order to
+_sacrifice_ also to this heathen block[4] which sits upon the top of
+the dome? Reason, prudence and common sense forbid it! I left the
+Spring with a degree of disappointment bordering upon despair! In the
+fulness of time the dinner bell tolled. It was indeed the knell of
+sorrow rather than the merry peal which invites to innocent enjoyment.
+Shall I describe that dinner?--no, not for a thousand dinners, "with
+all their appliances and means to boot;"
+
+  "I should do Brutus wrong, and Cassius wrong,
+   Whom you all know are _honorable_ men."
+
+Neither will I describe what occurred "about the sixth hour when men
+sit down to that nourishment they call supper." I went to my
+apartment, all desolate and fireless as it was, to prepare for the
+_Ball_.
+
+[Footnote 1: See Mr. Forsyth's Speech in the United States Senate.]
+
+[Footnote 2: The gift of Mr. Henderson, a wealthy gentleman of New
+Orleans.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Hygeia was the daughter of Æsculapius, and was
+granddaughter of Apollo or the Sun.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Mr. Henderson's White Lady was no doubt a liberal
+donation; but alas! it is nothing but a block of painted wood.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+(_To be continued_.)
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+JOSEPHINE.
+
+Suggested by a Scene in the Memoirs of the Empress Josephine.
+
+
+  In sorrow's stern and settled gloom,
+  The father sat--the silent tomb
+  Enclosed his earthly joy and pride;
+  His son, his only son had died.
+  His bosom heaved no natural sighs--
+  No tears relieved his burning eyes;
+  Alive to love's sweet voice no more,
+  The look of dark despair he wore:
+  Unmoved and hopeless, heeding not
+  Soft words of comfort, he forgot
+  That yet a source of joy remained--
+  That earth a blessing still contained.
+
+  Fair Buonaparte the mourner sought,
+  By pure maternal feelings taught--
+  Saw with an angel's pitying eye
+  His deep and hopeless agony.
+  She led, in all her beauty's pride,
+  His blooming daughter to his side;
+  To her kind heart his babe she press'd,
+  And kneeling thus before Decrest,
+  Seemed a bright spirit from above
+  Sent on some embassy of love.
+  Surprised and startled at the view,
+  Across his brow his hand he drew,
+  While tears, the balmy dew of grief,
+  Gave to his bursting heart relief--
+  And conscious, once again he blessed,
+  And clasped his children to his breast.
+
+  Yes, Josephine-'twas thine to feel
+  The joys of sympathy--to heal
+  The wounded heart,--while he whose fate
+  Heaven linked with thine, was _called_ the great,
+  Thine was true greatness of the soul,
+  Swayed by pure virtue's soft control:
+  Patient in sorrow--meek in power--
+  Beloved e'en to thy latest hour--
+  Thou hadst a bliss he could not know,--
+  Thou ne'er hadst caused a tear to flow.[1]
+  While victory's wreath his temples bound,
+  Thou wast with brighter honors crowned;
+  For by the poor thy name was blessed,
+  And thy sweet influence confessed
+  By him whose proud, ambitious mind,
+  Scarce earth's vast empire had confined.
+  Thou wast his solacer in care,
+  His triumphs thou didst fondly share--
+  And even when exiled from his throne,
+  Thy faithful heart was all his own.
+  A happier lot than his was thine!
+  Brighter thy name on Mem'ry's shrine!--
+  Whilst blood-stained laurels o'er him wave,
+  _Love_ placed the marble on thy grave![2]
+
+E. A. S.
+
+[Footnote 1: In her last hours she said, that "she had never caused a
+single tear to flow."]
+
+[Footnote 2: Her tomb was erected by her children.]
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+TO CLAUDIA.
+
+
+  Oh! dost thou remember that gladsome hour,
+    When I bowed the knee to thee,
+  And feigned the love of thy captive knight,
+    In playful mimicry?--
+  When the chiding word, on thy trembling lip,
+    Died, faintly murmuring, there,
+  And the ill-feigned smile, on thy blushing cheek,
+    Was drown'd in a bursting tear?
+
+  Ah! little thou think'st of the years of pain
+    I've paid for that giddy hour,
+  And the anxious thoughts that have ever lain
+    In its memory's magic power:
+  Yet, with all its sorrow, and all its care--
+    Its dreary and hopeless woe--
+  I'd not, its luxury of despair,
+    For the wide world's hopes forego.
+
+  'Tis my bosom's dearest and purest shrine,
+    And fountain of holiest thought,
+  Where all that is sacred or divine,
+    Is in deep devotion brought.
+  That smile and tear are the relics there--
+    Embalmed in tears of mine--
+  And the image that claims each fervent prayer,
+    Is that bright, fair form of thine.
+
+  Thou wast then just op'ning to life's gay bloom,
+    Like springtide's sweetest gleam;
+  And I played with thee, without thought of gloom,
+    Or of startling "Love's young dream."
+  'Twas the last glad hour of my mirthful youth--
+    My parting hour with thee--
+  And of thy sweet smile of light and truth,
+    'Twas the last I'll ever see.
+
+  Since, many a care-cloud of dark'ning blight
+    Hath shaded my youthful brow;
+  And many a sorrow of deadly weight,
+    Lies cold on my bosom now.
+  I've tested the falsehood of life's whole scope,
+    And heed not the clouds that lower;
+  But, mid all the wrecks of my early hope,
+    I cling to that parting hour.
+
+  Oft, from the dance, and its wild delight,
+    The world, and its hollow glee,
+  I've fled to the silence of moonlit night,
+    To live o'er that hour with thee.
+  'Tis the one bright spot in this wide, wide waste,
+    That blooms in its beauty yet;
+  And to that I'll turn, while life shall last,
+    From the world's whole love and hate.
+
+_Augusta, Ga._
+
+
+
+
+  For the Southern Literary Messenger.
+
+CANTILENA AMATORIA.
+
+BY GILES McQUIGGIN.
+
+
+  Not love thee, Lelia! ask the rocks
+    That gird the mountain stream;
+  Whereon I've knelt and notch'd thy name,
+    By Cynthia's borrowed beam.
+  Not love thee! ask the moss that spreads
+    From Wye-head to the tide,
+  How oft I've roved at midnight's noon,
+    And thought of thee and sigh'd.
+
+  The ravine winding through the wood,
+    The terrace walk, the grove,
+  Are all the faithful witnesses
+    Of my enduring love.
+  Night's latest star can tell the times
+    I've watch'd it as it rose,
+  When none but it, lone wanderer,
+    Was watcher of my woes.
+
+  Pale Cynthia! how I've gaz'd on thee,
+    And thought of her whose frown
+  To sorrow's deepest ecstasy
+    Had borne my spirit down.
+  Her doubt is worse than death to one
+    Whose all of earthly bliss
+  Is in the smile that gives her love
+    In sweet return for his.
+
+  Not love thee, Lelia! witness Heaven,
+    How oft before thy throne,
+  I've bent in humble attitude,
+    To worship thee alone;
+  And her dear image intervened
+    Between my thoughts and thee:
+  Forgive the sin, her sacred form
+    Seemed dear as _thou_ to me.
+
+  Not love thee! when the life-blood chills
+    That warms my system now--
+  And to the monster's mandate all
+    My body's powers must bow,--
+  Then Lelia thou shalt just begin
+    A holier love to share;
+  And if there are blest homes on high,
+    We'll meet and feel it there.
+
+
+
+
+CRITICAL NOTICES.
+
+
+_Mephistopheles in England, or the Confessions of a Prime Minister, 2
+vols. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blanchard._ In a long poetical
+dedication this book is inscribed "to the immortal spirit of the
+illustrious Goethe"--and the design, title, and _machinery_ are
+borrowed from the Faust of that writer. The author, whoever he may be,
+is a man of talent, of fine poetical taste, and much general
+erudition. But nothing less than the vitiated state of public feeling
+in England could have induced him to lavish those great powers upon a
+work of this nature. It abounds with the coarsest and most malignant
+satire, at the same time evincing less of the power than of the _will_
+for causticity--and being frequently most feeble when it attempts to
+be the most severe. In this point it resembles the English Bards and
+Scotch Reviewers. The most glaring defect, however, in the structure
+of the book is its utter want of _keeping_. It appears, moreover, to
+have no just object or end--unless indeed we choose to consider _that_
+its object which is the object of the _hero proper_ himself--"the
+hell-doomed son of Sin and Death Mephistopheles"--to cherish and
+foster the malice, the heart-burnings, and all evil propensities of
+our nature. The work must, therefore, as a whole be condemned,
+notwithstanding the rare qualities which have been brought to its
+composition. To prove that these qualities exist in a very high degree
+in the writer of Mephistopheles, it would only be necessary to spread
+before our readers the scene of the Incantation in the Hartz. It is
+replete with imagination of the most etherial kind--is written with a
+glow and melody of language altogether inimitable--and bears upon
+every sentence the impress of genius. It will be found a seasonable
+relief from the mingled coxcombry, pedantry, and gall which make up
+the body of the book. But we will confine ourselves at present to an
+extract of a far different nature, as affording a better
+exemplification of what we have previously said.
+
+"Between the acts the curtain rose for a _divertisement_, in which the
+incomparable Taglioni made her appearance. She was greeted with the
+loudest demonstrations of popularity from her numerous patrons, which
+she acknowledged by several graceful courtesies. 'Behold!' said
+Mephistopheles, directing my attention to the evolutions of the
+dancer, 'the progress of civilization. If all this were not so
+graceful it would be indecent, and that such an exhibition has a moral
+tendency is more than doubtful. Look at that young girl in the pit.
+She has seen sufficient to crimson her face, neck, and shoulders with
+a blush of shame, and she hides her head from a sight which has
+shocked her sense of decency. There is no affectation there. She is an
+innocent girl fresh from the country who never saw a ballet in her
+life. Yet all the rest, man, woman and child, gaze on delighted. Every
+glass is raised the more closely to watch the motions of the
+figurante. Look!--she makes a succession of vaults, and her scanty
+drapery flying above her hips discloses to her enraptured admirers the
+beauty of her limbs. A thousand hands beat each other in approbation.
+Now she pirouettes, and observe the tumult of applause which follows.
+She stands on her left foot, on the point of her great toe nail,
+extending her right leg until the top of her foot is in a parallel
+line with the crown of her head. In this position she bends with an
+appearance of the greatest ease, till her body nearly touches the
+ground, and then gradually rises with the same infinite grace amid
+enthusiastic bravos and ecstatic applause. Now on her tip-toe, her
+right leg still extended, she moves slowly round, liberally extending
+to all her patrons within sight the most favorable opportunity of
+scrutinizing the graces of her figure, while the whole house testify
+their infinite gratification at the sight by every species of
+applause. Again she comes from the back of the stage, turning round
+and round with the speed of a tetotum but with an indescribable and
+fascinating grace that seems to turn the head of every young man in
+the theatre. During the storm of approbation which ensues she stands
+near the footlights, smiling, courtseying, and looking as modest as an
+angel. Then comes Perrot, who is as much the idol of the ladies as
+Taglioni is the goddess of the gentlemen. He leaps about as if his
+feet were made of India rubber, and spins around as if he intended to
+bore a hole with his toe in the floor of the stage. Then a little
+pantomime love business takes place between the danseur and the
+danseuse, and they twirl away, and glide along, and hold eloquent
+discourse with their pliant limbs; and the affair ends by the
+gentleman clasping the lady round the waist, while he, bending his
+body in the most graceful attitude, so that his head shall come under
+her left arm, looks up in apparent ecstacy into her smiling face as
+the lady raised high above him on the extreme point of her left foot,
+extends her right hand at right angles with her body, and looks down
+admiringly upon her companion. Thus grouped the curtain drops, and
+every one cries _bravo!_ thumps the floor with his stick, or beats his
+palms together till such a din is raised as is absolutely deafening.'
+
+"'She is a charming dancer,' I observed.
+
+"'Yes'--replied he--'she understands the philosophy of her art better
+than any of her contemporaries; it is to throw around sensuality such
+a coloring of refinement as will divest it of its grossness. For this
+she is paid a hundred pounds a night, and is allowed two benefits in
+the season which generally average a thousand pounds each. While you
+are thus liberal to a dancer, some of the worthiest of your ministers
+of religion receive about fifty pounds per annum for wearing out their
+lives for the good of your souls; and many of your most exalted men of
+genius are left to starve. Such is the consistency of human nature.'"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_The District School, or National Education, by J. Orville Taylor.
+Third Edition. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blanchard._ This work has
+met with universal approbation, and is worthy of it. The book was
+first published only a short time ago, and the third impression will
+speedily be exhausted, as parents have a direct personal concern in
+the matter, and in the important truths, duties, and responsibilities,
+herein pointed out. Mr. Taylor is entitled to the gratitude of his
+countrymen for that beneficial impulse which his work has been, and
+will be the means of giving to the great cause of General Education.
+"If a parent," says Mr. Taylor, "does not educate his child--the world
+will." We sincerely hope so. As the _District School_ now appears it
+has been entirely re-written, and such alterations and additions made
+as the experience of the author suggested. We heartily wish it all the
+success it so eminently deserves.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_The New England Magazine for September_ is unusually rich. Among its
+numerous and very excellent articles we would particularly notice a
+paper called "My Journal"--and more especially Scraps of Philosophy
+and Criticism from a recent work of Victor Hugo's. One of these Scraps
+_on Style_, we are sure we shall be pardoned for extracting.
+
+"If the name here inscribed were a name of note--if the voice which
+speaks here were a voice of power--we would entreat the young and
+brilliant talents on which depends the future lot of a literature for
+three ages so magnificent to reflect how important is their mission,
+and to preserve in their _manner_ of writing the most worthy and
+severe habitudes. The Future--let them think well of it--belongs only
+to the masters of _style_. Without referring to the admirable works of
+antiquity, and confining ourselves to our National Literature, try to
+take from the _thought_ of our great writers the expression which is
+peculiar to it. Take from Moliere his lively, ardent, frank, and
+amusing verse, so well made, so well turned, so well finished--take
+from Lafontaine the simple and honest perfection of detail--take from
+the phrase of Corneille the vigorous muscle, the strong cords, the
+beautiful forms of exaggerated vigor, which would have made of the old
+poet half Roman, half Spanish, the Michael Angelo of our tragedy if
+the elements of genius had mingled as much fancy as thought--take from
+Racine that touch in his style which resembles Raphael, a touch
+chaste, harmonious, and repressed like that of Raphael, although of an
+inferior power--quite as pure but less grand, as perfect though less
+sublime--take from Fenelon, the man of his age who had the best
+sentiment of antiquity, that prose as melodious and severe as the
+verse of Racine of which it is the sister--take from Bossuet the
+magnificent bearing of his periods--take from Boileau his grave and
+sober manner at times so admirably colored--take from Pascal that
+original and mathematical style with so much appropriateness in the
+choice of words, and so much logic in every metaphor--take from
+Voltaire that clear, solid, and indestructible prose, that crystal
+prose of Candide, and the Philosophical Dictionary--take from all
+these great writers that simple attraction--_style_: and of Voltaire,
+of Pascal, of Boileau, of Bossuet, of Fenelon, of Racine, of
+Corneille, of Lafontaine, of Moliere--of all these masters what will
+remain? It is _style_ which insures duration to the work, and fame to
+the poet. Beauty of expression embellishes beauty of thought, and
+preserves it. It is at the same time an ornament and an armor. _Style_
+to the idea is like enamel to the tooth."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_The Western Journal of the Medical and Physical Sciences, edited by
+Daniel Drake, M.D. Professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine in
+Cincinnati College, and formerly Professor of the same in Transylvania
+University, and the Jefferson Medical College. Doctors C. R. Cooper
+and S. Reed, Assistant Editors and Proprietors. Vol. IX, No. 33._ We
+have received this Journal with the greatest pleasure, and avail
+ourselves of the present opportunity to express our opinion concerning
+it. It is an invaluable addition to our Medical and Scientific
+Literature, and at the same time one of the very cheapest publications
+in the country, each number containing 168 pages of closely printed
+matter, and the subscription price being only $3 per annum. The work
+is issued on the first day of July, October, January, and April, and
+has lately been incorporated with the Western Medical Gazette. We
+sincerely wish the publication every possible success--for it is well
+worthy of it. Its typographical and mechanical execution altogether
+are highly creditable to Cincinnati, and the able and well known
+collaborators, a list of whose names is upon the opening page of each
+number, and whose editorial offices are engaged in the service of the
+Journal, will not fail to impart a sterling character and value to the
+Medical, as well as purely Literary portions of the work. We take the
+liberty of extracting from page 79, of the present number, (that for
+July) an interesting account of a cure of partial spontaneous
+combustion, occurring in the person of Professor H. of the University
+of Nashville. The portion extracted is contained in a Review of _An
+Essay on Spontaneous Combustion, read before the Medical Society in
+the State of Tennessee, at their annual meeting in May 1835. By James
+Overton, M.D._
+
+"Prof. H., of the University of Nashville, is a gentleman 35 years
+old, of middle size, light hair, hazle eyes, and sanguinolymphatic
+temperament; he has been extremely temperate as to alcoholic
+stimulation of every kind; led a sedentary and studious life; and been
+subject to a great variety of dyspeptic affections. On the 5th of
+January, 1835, he left his recitation room at 11 o'clock, A. M., and
+walked briskly, with his surtout buttoned round him, to his residence,
+three quarters of a mile. The thermometer was at 8°, and the barometer
+at 29.248--the sky clear and calm. On reaching home he engaged in
+meteorological observations, and in 30 minutes, while in the open air
+about to record the direction of the winds--
+
+"'He felt a pain as if produced by the pulling of a hair, on the left
+leg, and which amounted in degree to a strong sensation. Upon applying
+his hand to the spot pained, the sensation suddenly increased, till it
+amounted in intensity to a feeling resembling the continued sting of a
+wasp or hornet. He then began to slap the part by repeated strokes
+with the open hand, during which time the pain continued to increase
+in intensity, so that he was forced to cry out from the severity of
+his suffering. Directing his eyes at this moment to the suffering
+part, he distinctly saw a light flame of the extent, at its base, of a
+ten cent piece of coin, and having a complexion which nearest
+resembles that of pure quicksilver. Of the accuracy in this latter
+feature in the appearance of the flame, Mr. H. is very confident,
+notwithstanding the unfavorable circumstances amidst which the
+observation must have been made. As soon as he perceived the flame, he
+applied over it both his hands open, united at their edges, and
+closely impacted upon and around the burning surface. These means were
+employed by Mr. H. for the purpose of extinguishing the flame by the
+exclusion of the contact of the atmosphere, which he knew was
+necessary to the continuance of every combustion. The result was in
+conformity with the design, for the flame immediately went out. As
+soon as the flame was extinguished, the pain began to abate in
+intensity, but still continued, and gave the sensation usually the
+effect of a slight application of heat or fire to the body, which
+induced him to seize his pantaloons with one of his hands and to pinch
+them up into a conical form over the injured part of the leg, thereby
+to remove them from any contact with the skin below. This operation
+was continued for a minute or two, with a design of extinguishing any
+combustion which might be present in the substance of his apparel, but
+which was not visible at the time. At the beginning of the accident,
+the sensation of injury was confined to a spot of small diameter, and
+in its progress the pain was still restricted to this spot, increasing
+in intensity and depth to a considerable extent, but without much if
+any enlargement of the surface which it occupied at the beginning. A
+warmth was felt to a considerable distance around the spot primarily
+affected, but the sensation did not by any means amount in degree to
+the feeling of _pain_. This latter sensation was almost, if not
+entirely confined to the narrow limits which bounded the seat of the
+first attack, and this sensation was no otherwise modified during the
+progress of the accident, than by its increasing intensity and deeper
+penetration into the muscles of the limb, which at its greatest degree
+seemed to sink an inch or more into the substance of the leg.
+
+"'Believing the combustion to have been extinguished by the means just
+noticed, and the pain having greatly subsided, leaving only the
+feeling usually the effect of a slight burn, he untied and pulled up
+his pantaloons and drawers, for the purpose of ascertaining the
+condition of the part which had been the seat of his suffering. He
+found a surface on the outer and upper part of the left leg, reaching
+from the femoral end of the fibula in an oblique direction, towards
+the upper portion of the grastrochnemi muscles, about three-fourths of
+an inch in width, and three inches in length, denuded of the
+scarfskin, and this membrane gathered into a roll at the lower edge of
+the abraded surface. The injury resembled very exactly in appearance
+an abrasion of the skin of like extent and depth, often the effect of
+slight mechanical violence, except that the surface of it was
+extremely _dry_, and had a complexion more livid than that of wounds
+of a similar extent produced by the action of mechanical causes.' pp.
+25-26.
+
+"His drawers, composed of silk and wool, immediately over the abraded
+skin, were burnt entirely through, but the scorching had not extended
+in the slightest degree beyond. The pantaloons, made of broadcloth,
+were uninjured; but over the affected spot, the extremities of the
+wool were tinged with a kind of dark, yellowish matter, which could be
+easily scraped off with a knife.
+
+"'Considering the injury not to be of a serious character, Mr. H.
+bestowed upon its treatment no particular care or attention, but
+pursued his usual avocations within doors and in the open air, which
+was very cold, until the evening of the succeeding day. At this time
+the wound became inflamed and painful, and was dressed with a salve,
+into the composition of which the rosin of turpentine entered in
+considerable proportion. This treatment was continued for four or five
+days, during which time the wound presented the usual aspect of a burn
+from ordinary causes, except in its greater depth and more tardy
+progress towards cicatrization, which did not take place till after
+thirty-two days from the date of the infliction of the injury. The
+part of the ulcer which healed last was the point of inception and
+intensity of the pain at the time of attack, and which point was
+evidently the seat of deeper injury than any other portion of the
+wounded surface. About the fifth day after the accident, a physician
+was requested to take charge of the treatment, and the remedies
+employed were such chiefly, as are usual in the treatment of burns
+from other causes, except that twice a week the surface of the ulcer
+was sprinkled over with calomel, and a dressing of simple cerate
+applied above it. In the space between the wound and the groin there
+was a considerable soreness of the integuments to the touch, which
+continued during the greatest violence of the effects of the accident,
+and then gradually subsided. The cicatrix is at this time, March 24th,
+entire; but the surface is unusually scabrous, and has a much more
+livid aspect than that of similar scars left after the infliction of
+burns from common causes. The dermis seemed to have been less
+perfectly regenerated than is usual from burns produced by ordinary
+means, and the circulation through the part is manifestly impeded,
+apparently in consequence of atony of its vessels, to an extent far
+beyond any thing of a similar nature to be observed after common
+burns.'" pp. 27-28.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_The Classical Family Library. Numbers XV, XVI, and XVII. Euripides
+translated by the Reverend R. Potter, Prebendary of Norwich. Harper &
+Brothers, New York._ These three volumes embrace the whole of
+Euripides--Æschylus and Sophocles having already been published in the
+Library. A hasty glance at the work will not enable us to speak
+positively in regard to the value of these translations. The name of
+Potter, however, is one of high authority, and we have no reason to
+suspect that he has not executed his task as well as any man living
+could have done it. But that these, or that any poetic versions can
+convey to the mind of the merely general reader the most remote
+conception of either the manner, the spirit, or the meaning of the
+Greek dramatists, is what Mr. Potter does not intend us to believe,
+and what we certainly should not believe if he did. At all events, it
+must be a subject of general congratulation, that in the present day,
+for a sum little exceeding three dollars, any lover of the classics
+may possess himself of complete versions of the three greatest among
+the ancient Greek writers of tragedy.
+
+Ardent admirers of Hellenic Literature, we have still no passion for
+Euripides. Truly great when compared with many of the moderns, he
+falls immeasurably below his immediate predecessors. "He is
+admirable," says a German critic, "where the object calls chiefly for
+emotion, and requires the display of no higher qualities; and he is
+still more so where pathos and moral beauty are united. Few of his
+pieces are without particular passages of the most overpowering
+beauty. It is by no means my intention to deny him the possession of
+the most astonishing talents: I have only stated that these talents
+were not united with a mind in which the austerity of moral principle,
+and the sanctity of religious feelings were held in the highest
+honor."
+
+The life, essence, and characteristic qualities of the ancient Greek
+drama may be found in three things. First, in the ruling idea of
+Destiny or Fate. Secondly, in the Chorus. Thirdly, in Ideality. But in
+Euripides we behold only the decline and fall of that drama, and the
+three prevailing features we have mentioned are in him barely
+distinguishable, or to be seen only in their perversion. What, for
+example is, with Sophocles, and still more especially with Æschylus,
+the obscure and terrible spirit of predestination, sometimes mellowed
+down towards the catastrophe of their dramas into the unseen, yet not
+unfelt hand of a kind Providence, or overruling God, becomes in the
+handling of Euripides the mere blindness of accident, or the
+capriciousness of chance. He thus loses innumerable
+opportunities--opportunities which his great rivals have used to so
+good an effect--of giving a preternatural and ideal elevation to moral
+fortitude in the person of his heroes, by means of opposing them in a
+perpetual warfare with the arbitrations and terrors of Destiny.
+
+Again; the Chorus, which appears never to have been thoroughly
+understood by the moderns--the Chorus of Euripides is not, alas! the
+Chorus of his predecessors. That this singular, or at least apparently
+singular feature, in the Greek drama, was intended for the mere
+purpose of preventing the stage from being, at any moment entirely
+empty, has been an opinion very generally, and very unaccountably
+received. _The Chorus was not, at any time, upon the stage._ Its
+general station was in the orchestra, in which it also performed the
+solemn dances, and walked to and fro during the choral songs. And when
+it did not sing, its proper station was upon the _thymele_, an
+elevation somewhat like an altar, but with steps, in front of the
+orchestra, raised as high as the stage, and opposite to the
+scene--being also in the very centre of the entire theatre, and
+serving as a point around which the semi-circle of the amphitheatre
+was described. Most critics, however, have merely laughed at the
+Chorus as something superfluous and absurd, urging the folly of
+enacting passages supposed to be performed in secret in the presence
+of an assembled crowd, and believing that as it originated in the
+infancy of the art, it was continued merely through caprice or
+accident. Sophocles, however, wrote a treatise on the Chorus, and
+assigned his reasons for persisting in the practice. Aristotle says
+little about it, and that little affords no clew to its actual meaning
+or purpose. Horace considers it "a general expression of moral
+participation, instruction, and admonition;" and this opinion, which
+is evidently just, has been adopted and commented upon, at some
+length, by Schlegel. Publicity among the Greeks, with their republican
+habits and modes of thinking, was considered absolutely essential to
+all actions of dignity or importance. Their dramatic poetry imbibed
+the sentiment, and was thus made to display a spirit of conscious
+independence. The Chorus served to give verisimilitude to the dramatic
+action, and was, in a word, _the ideal spectator_. It stood in lieu of
+the national spirit, and represented the general participation of the
+human race, in the events going forward upon the stage. This was its
+most extended, and most proper object; but it had others of a less
+elevated nature, and more nearly in accordance with the spirit of our
+own melo-drama.
+
+But the Chorus of Euripides was not the true and unadulterated Chorus
+of the purer Greek tragedy. It is even more than probable that he did
+never rightly appreciate its full excellence and power, or give it any
+portion of his serious attention. He made no scruple of admitting the
+_parabasis_ into his tragedies[1]--a license which although well
+suited to the spirit of comedy, was entirely out of place, and must
+have had a ludicrous effect in a serious drama. In some instances
+also, among which we may mention the Danaidæ, a female Chorus is
+permitted by him to make use of grammatical inflexions proper only for
+males.
+
+[Footnote 1: The _parabasis_ was the privilege granted the Chorus of
+addressing the spectators in its own person.]
+
+In respect to the Ideality of the Greek drama, a few words will be
+sufficient. It was the Ideality of conception, and the Ideality of
+representation. Character and manners were never the character and
+manners of every day existence, but a certain, and very marked
+elevation above them. Dignity and grandeur enveloped each personage of
+the stage--but such dignity as comported with his particular station,
+and such grandeur as was never at _outrance_ with his allotted part.
+And this was the Ideality of conception. The cothurnus, the mask, the
+mass of drapery, all so constructed and arranged as to give an
+increase of bodily size, the scenic illusions of a nature very
+different, and much more extensive than our own, inasmuch as actual
+realities were called in to the aid of art, were on the other hand the
+Ideality of representation. But although in Sophocles, and more
+especially in Æschylus, character and expression were made subservient
+and secondary to this ideal and lofty elevation--in Euripides the
+reverse is always found to be the case. His heroes are introduced
+familiarly to the spectators, and so far from raising his men to the
+elevation of Divinities, his Divinities are very generally lowered to
+the most degrading and filthy common-places of an earthly existence.
+But we may sum up our opinion of Euripides far better in the words of
+Augustus William Schlegel, than in any farther observations of our
+own.
+
+"This poet has at the same time destroyed the internal essence of
+tragedy, and sinned against the laws of beauty and proportion in its
+external structure. He generally sacrifices the whole to the effect of
+particular parts, and in these he is also more ambitious of foreign
+attractions, than of genuine poetical beauty."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_The Early Naval History of England. By Robert Southey, L.L.D. Poet
+Laureate. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blanchard._ The early naval
+history of England, and by so fine a writer as Southey undoubtedly is,
+either in poetry or prose, but more especially in the latter, cannot
+fail of exciting a lively interest among readers of every class. In
+the subject matter of this work we, as Americans, have moreover a
+particular feeling, for it has been often remarked that in no national
+characteristic do we bear a closer analogy to our progenitors in Great
+Britain than in the magnificence and glory of our many triumphs both
+over and upon the sea. To those who know Southey well, and we
+sincerely hope there are not a few of our readers who _do_ know him
+intimately, through the medium of his writings at least, we shall be
+under no necessity of giving any assurance that the History of which
+we are now speaking, is a work of no common merit, and worthy of all
+their attention. Southey is a writer who has few equals any where,
+either in purity of truly English prose, or in melody of immortal
+verse. He is great in every department of Literature which he has
+attempted. And even did we feel inclined at present, with his very
+happily executed Naval History before us, to quarrel with some of his
+too zealous friends for overrating his merely poetical abilities, we
+could not find it in our hearts to place him second to any one--no,
+not to our own noble Irving in--we will not use the term classical,
+but prefer repeating our former expression--in _truly English_,
+undefiled, vigorous, and masculine prose. Yet this the North American
+Review has ventured to do, not having, we think, before its eyes the
+fear of flat and positive contradiction from all authorities whose
+opinions are entitled to consideration. Comparisons of this nature,
+moreover, rarely fail of _appearing_, even although they really _be
+not_, invidious; and in the present instance we are really aware of no
+reason, or rather of no possibility for juxta-position. There are no
+points of approximation between Irving and Southey, and they cannot be
+compared. Why not say at once, for it could be said as wisely, and as
+satisfactorily, that Dante's verse is superior to that of
+Metastasio--that the Latin of Erasmus is better than the Latin of
+Buchanan--that Bolingbroke is a finer prose writer than Horne Tooke,
+or coming home to our own times, that Tom Moore is to be preferred to
+Lord Brougham, and the style of N. P. Willis to the style of John
+Neal? We mean to deal, therefore, in generalities, when we disagree
+with Mr. Everett in what he has advanced. Irving is _not_ a better
+prose writer than Southey. We know of no one who is. In saying thus
+much we do not fear being accused of a deficiency in patriotic
+feeling. No true--we mean no sensible American will like a bad book
+the better for being American, and on the other hand no sensible man
+of any country, who pretends to even common freedom from prejudice,
+will esteem such a work as the Naval History of Great Britain the less
+for being written by a denizen of any region under the sun.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+_The Gift: A Christmas and New Year's Present for 1836. Edited by Miss
+Leslie. Philadelphia: E. L. Carey and A. Hart_--We are really sorry
+that we have no opportunity of noticing this beautiful little Annual
+at length, and article by article, in our present number: and this the
+more especially as the edition is even now nearly exhausted, and it
+will be hardly worth while to say any thing concerning the work in our
+next, by which time we are very sure there will not be a copy to be
+obtained at any price. The Gift is highly creditable to the enterprise
+of its publishers, and more so to the taste and talents of Miss
+Leslie. This we say _positively_--the ill-mannered and worse-natured
+opinion of the Boston Courier to the contrary notwithstanding. Never
+had Annual a brighter galaxy of illustrious literary names in its
+table of contents--and in no instance has any contributor fallen below
+his or her general reputation. The embellishments are _not all_ of a
+high order of excellence. The Orphans, for example, engraved by Thomas
+B. Welch from a painting by J. Wood, is hard and scratchy in manner,
+and altogether unworthy of the book--while the head of the child in
+the Prawn Fishers, engraved by A. W. Graham from a painting by W.
+Collins, R.A. has every appearance of a cabbage. But the portrait of
+Fanny Kemble by Cheney, from Sully, is one of the finest things in the
+world, notwithstanding a certain wiriness above the hair. The likeness
+is admirable--the attitude exquisite--and the countenance is beaming
+all over with intelligence. The gem of the book, however, is the
+Smuggler's Repose, engraved by W. E. Tucker from a painting by J.
+Tennant. We repeat it, this is absolutely a gem--such as any Souvenir
+in any country might be proud to possess, and sufficient of itself to
+stamp a high character upon the Gift.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol.
+I., No. 13, September, 1835, by Various
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59383 ***